Ainx, Part 3

In late 2005 and early 2006 I started PvPing a lot more. Being a healer gave me the advantage of being wanted in premade groups running on Kilrogg. Specifically in early 2006 I became acquainted with a large group of players from Domus Fulminata, Ascension and Conquest. Lots of these guys PvPed together in Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin and they would toss me an invite whenever they needed a healer. In time, I would also be able to bring my rogue to these premades as I made a name for myself as a competent and sought-after player. Some of the best games I had were between Conquest's and TI's premades in Warsong Gulch. As it happened, eventually I got on so well with these guys that Nimloth recruited me and in April of 2006 I joined Conquest.

At this point, CQ had already beaten Ahn'Qiraj and I believe I left Tempest just after killing Princess Huhuran, so theoretically I skipped three fights ahead. Despite that, I was one of the better geared people in CQ mostly due to the fact that a bunch of them had just come back from a hiatus. Conquest was a famous guild in Everquest - one of the top in the world - and the pioneers of raiding in Molten Core. Many guilds used Conquest's MC guide to defeat the encounters for the first time. Helped that CQ folks were friends with Blizzard employees, too. In any case, having joined Conquest, and in anticipation of the next raid dungeon - Naxxramas - I spent many nights farming ingredients for potions, flasks and food.

When Naxxramas came out, we hit it hardcore. Raids started at 4pm and ended at 9pm. This was on weekdays, and then on Saturdays we raided for 8 hours straight with a 30 minute dinner break. Sundays were a day off, but we went to Ahn'Qiraj to keep finding upgrades for people who were still in blues. Essentially our raid schedule approached 40 hours every week which essentially meant that raiding had become another job. This was not without an impressive result though, as Conquest ended up ranking in the world top 10 on many of the encounters in Naxx, sweeping up a couple world firsts (most famously Heigan the Unclean which was hotly contended by Death and Taxes who claimed we exploited the encounter by standing in a "safe spot" behind Heigan's platform). During Conquest's reign in Naxxramas, its useful mod called RDX got leaked by the brother of one of its members. Suddenly, RDX and all its boss mods enabled guilds to catch up to Conquest, but hilariously only to the encounters for which the leaked copy had the developed boss timers. As Conquest's scripter continued developing boss mods for Thaddius, Loatheb, Four Horsemen and beyond, guilds without the updated RDX addon again fell behind.

Ultimately, Conquest ended up clearing the entirety of Naxxramas. They were the only guild on Kilrogg to do so. Although I was able to complete entire Tier 3 armor set on Itada, the experience I gained raiding Naxx with CQ would make me question my dedication to the guild and the game when the first WoW expansion pack hit the shelves.

End, Part 3