The Great WOTLK Cataclysm

The Great WOTLK Cataclysm is a period of time in CSM history that began two weeks after the release of WOTLK and ended with the release of patch 3.2. During this time period, the guild went through more raiders than it probably did during the entirety of TBC. It was caused by a number of reasons: Content being extremely boring, the snowballing effect of more and more members quitting, shitty raid atmosphere, more and more gay/annoying members joining.

Blizzard's decision to capitalize on its casual player base contributed greatly towards this period. WOTLK's introductory tier of raiding included a recycled and heavily dumbed-down version of Naxxramas, and two brand new instances that were each 1-boss in length. These instances were so easy that they could be pugged, resulting in many members feeling like one of the main reasons behind hardcore raiding (the near-privilege of doing content that no one else is doing) was completely gone. This, coupled with the recycling of the once great Naxxramas, which plenty of us had already run to death in Classic and even during TBC, were too much for many people to handle.

In addition, Blizzard decided to follow on their TBC philosophy of balancing the classes around arena. During the early stages of WOTLK the changes were so plentiful that people felt the game was changing way too fast. Some classes, like Paladins, Hunters and Death Knights received a ridiculous amount of changes through many hotfixes and mini-patches before Patch 3.1 was released.

The announcement of Ulduar and the subsequent BETA testing session sparked new hope in many CSM raiders who were aching for a return to hard content. However, and barely 3 months into Ulduar, Blizzard decided to crush all hopes by announcing the next tier of raiding, the Crusader's Coliseum. Pressed to start a new season of arena and true to their philosophy of having PvE and PvP progression go hand by hand, Blizzard scrambled to design a new, half-assed raiding instance to justify the start of a new arena season. The Crusader's Coliseum is best described as Ring of Blood 2.0, with NOT ONE, but TWO Jormungar Worms as well as Anub'barak thrown in as the last boss to keep lore nuts interested. The instance was so hastily put together that the traditional teaser trailer for the patch consisted of nothing but footage they recorded from the players that BETA tested the instance on the PTR.

Major members who quit or went casual during this period

• Zelf: Grew increasingly dissatisfied with the WoW raiding game since the Sunwell days as well as the loss of multiple old CSM members who didn't finish TBC. The recycling of Naxxramas as the WOTLK introductory instance, and later Ulduar, sealed the deal for him.

• Cromich: Tired of playing his mage switched mains to his rogue, Verick. After a couple nights of raiding completely lost interest in the raiding aspect of the game and went casual for good.

• Atena: Another victim of the recycling of Naxxaramas and the absurdness that was the first tier of raiding content in WOTLK. The release of Ulduar renewed his interest in raiding, but this interest was crushed with the announcement of Patch 3.2 and the Crusader's Coliseum. Now spends most of the day AFK in Crystalsong Forest.

• Haywire: Never a fan of the Achievement-driven difficulty of WOTLK raids, and completely appalled at Blizzard's decision to reuse a once great instance, decided to call it quits a few weeks before Ulduar was released.

Lingering spirits.

• Darkspectre: Expressed his frustration with the state of the game to several officers. Agreed to stay a bit and help while a new priest was found, but couldn't take it anymore after a long night of Firefighter wipes and logged off, never to be seen again. We'll miss you Bandwagon.

• Samjay: Quickly grew bored of Ulduar and decided to spend more time with his girlfriend (now his fiance) instead.

• Vossler: By his own admission, never enjoyed WOTLK raiding. The absurd amounts of RNG found in some Ulduar hard modes (Freya, for example) took a toll on his attitude, deteriorating it. Despite this, he tried to stick around and help as long as he could. He called it quits 3 weeks before 3.2 was released.

• Supa: Game sucked, raiding sucked.

• Faex: Got progressively angry and frustrated during the later stages of Ulduar progression. One night after a quality Farm status kill of Iron Council, Timmers jokingly gkicked him for the rest of the night. Did not log on again until the release of 3.2, about a week later. Got a reinvite as a casual.

• Bloodreign: Another player who is not a big fan of Achievement-driven difficulty. Loves new content, but hates raiding the same instance for Achievements over and over. He was always available to help whenever needed, even though he continuously threatened to fill the officer's front yards with the corpses of dead niggers every time he was called to raid.

• Asmodean: His work schedule made it impossible for him to raid.

• Minimoose: His new job had him working very late at night, way past the raid start time. Still helped with several raids whenever needed.

• Scynzy: With a work schedule that changes from week to week, he could no longer commit to a full time raiding spot. Later returned to help and raid semi casually during the last few weeks of 3.1.

• Kendoch: His work schedule and studies, coupled with a lack of quality ISP options in his area forced him into early retirement.

• Churagar: Moved to the East Coast after finishing his University degree. Started training that had him waking up at 7:00 am and could no longer meet the raiding requirements. Eventually decided to put his personal health and his career over the game.

• Isiah: Appointed raid leader early in WOTLK, first quit a month before 3.2 when he felt frustrated over the little help he was getting from the other officers. Was convinced to come back by some members only to transfer off to join another guild 1 week after. He lasted all of 3 raiding nights with his new guild before realizing how much he missed CSM and quitting again, this time for good.

• Sadou: Faced with an ever-changing work schedule or raiding and starvation, finally decided to quit raiding in favor of hard work.

• Goris: Despite being a good player, decided to follow his friend Hbx to Nightmare's Asylum. Later regretted his decision and went casual.

• Timmers: Decided to go play with his old Nova friends. A number of things motivated his decision, amongst them: his dislike for leadership positions (he had just been promoted to officer), his dislike for the new officership, and the fact that Antagonist drove him crazy.

• Inordinate: A power surge blew up his computer. Being unable to get it running in a timely manner, decided to quit.

• Outclassed: Got tired of running Ulduar hardmodes when Blizzard released a mind-numbingly easy new tier of content and announced a revamped Onyxia that would have better loot than Algalon/Yogg+0.

• Gordonramsay: Transferred to raid on an East coast schedule.

• Caliskunk: Transferred off server to make real life easier after getting married. Attempted to leave us with replacements, however the attempted recruits turned down guild invites when they learned Cali was gone.

(Probably Incomplete) List of minor members who came and went during this period

• Klaimed

• Socialize

• Creepingdeth

• Powrslave

• Saga

• Deja

• Nost

• Thraxia

• Nycca

• Immaculate

• Billmoyer

• Oponn

• Sophistical

• Buttah