We can finally consider Tribute's progression within the Trial of the Grand Crusader complete as we chalked up yet another realm first on Wednesday. We completed the appropriately named "A Tribute to Insanity," which requires a guild to clear all five raid encounters without wiping a single time.









Even though this realm first is limited to 25 players, it was truly the result of every Tribute raider playing flawlessly throughout the night. Every person who was in at some point for any encounter helped with the overall achievement and I thank the guild as a whole for coming together and finishing this before our holiday break.

Speaking of a holiday break... it might just be an extreme case of deja vu but it seems like I remember Tribute defeating a new boss right before the holidays some years ago...

Does anyone remember an eredar by the name of Archimonde?



12-16-2007
(Is that Varro before his sex change in the center?)

Ah yes, it's all coming back to me now. Boy time does fly. As far as I'm concerned that was a two-year aniversary well spent (and not a bad belated birthday present for me either).

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(H) Trial of the Crusader | Anubarak  (Realm First! Grand Crusader)  12/16/09 Loot:

Bracers of Dark Determination -> Matchyous
BRK-1000 -> Matchyous
Regalia of the Grand Protector -> Esspert
Bolvar's Devotion -> Sunchips
Regalia of the Grand Conqueror -> Hayase
Regalia of the Grand Vanquisher -> Willzard
Trophy of the Crusade -> Emptronic
Strength of the Nerub -> Zermus
Band of Deplorable Violence -> Jaroon
Footpads of the Icy Floe -> Euthymius
Regalia of the Grand Protector -> Chalay

Months behind, but we finally spent some (more) time in Ulduar for what's considered the hardest raid achievement currently in game: defeating Yogg-saron without the help of any keepers.



In general, the encounter relies heavily on three individuals to not fuck up twice throughout the encounter (in our case, Dibul, Clipsee and Zermus) and a bit of sanity RNG.



Our reward was a title and a shiny robotic helicopter mount reminiscent of Dr. Robotnik's hovercraft: [Mimiron's Head]. Euthymius was the deserved recipient of such a prize, seen center in the above screenshot.



Also, Merb's UI is bad. We know. He knows.

In other news, we also completed "A Tribute to Mad Skill (25)," clearing Trial of the Grand Crusader with over 45 attempts remaining on the 'wipe counter.'

Stay tuned for 'A Tribute to Insanity' and some Icecrown Citadel progress upon it's release in December.

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Ulduar | Yogg-Saron  (Realm First! Death's Demise)  11/24/09 Loot:

Fragment of Val'anyr -> Hypnotize
Mimiron's Head -> Euthymius
Legguards of Cunning Deception -> Gramz
Mantle of the Wayward Conqueror -> Reico

After some drama nonsense and too much practice over the last few weeks, Anub'arak has finally been defeated.



ToC is a fairly bland instance in general: quite possibly Blizzard's worst progression instance ever released. We're all pretty bored by now, so we're going to be working on A Tribute to Insanity and Alone in the Darkness until Icecrown comes out. Expect more server-wide spam.

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(H) Trial of the Crusader | Anubarak  (Server First)  11/05/09 Loot:

Trophy of the Crusade -> Chalay
Stormpike Cleaver -> Indera
Strength of the Nerub -> Chalay
Footpads of the Icy Floe -> Asillia
Gloves of Bitter Reprisal -> Zermus
Regalia of the Grand Protector -> Hypnotize
Regalia of the Grand Protector -> Hoofit