INTRODUCTION

<Cause And Effect> is a friendly, relaxed 'World of Warcraft' guild, part of the Horde faction on the EU-Shattered Halls server. We focus primarily on high-level PvE content, with three raidnights per week - Thursday, Sunday, and Tuesday, with invites being issued at 20:30 server-time.

PHILOSOPHY

Although raiding is inevitably the PvE end-goal, we also take the view that levelling through new content for the first time can be just as enjoyable (particularly for those players interested in the storyline of Warcraft), and thus with each new expansion we encourage our members to level at their own pace rather than expecting everyone to race to the level-cap in the shortest possible amount of time. The majority of our members also partake in some or all of the various forms of PvP (battlegrounds, arena, world PvP and twinking) as well as other activities such as alt-levelling, exploration, collecting in-game 'vanity' items such as pets and mounts, and accomplishing Achievements under that in-game system.

When it comes to raiding, it is true that we spend less time raiding than many other guilds; despite that, however, we reject the 'casual' label and the negative connotations it brings with it. Success in raiding requires commitment, perseverance, awareness, attention to detail, and a desire to succeed, and that applies whether you raid five nights a week or just one. Our members are expected to understand and abide by that philosophy, and players who frequently turn up late, are unprepared, fail to listen to instructions, and then attempt to excuse it all with "we're only casual anyway" will quickly find their time in the guild to be short-lived.

Going into 'Wrath of the Lich King', we fully expect that while we may not be part of the raiding elite, we will nevertheless maintain solid and respectable progress by focusing on quality of raiding rather than quantity of raiding.

OUR HISTORY

<Cause And Effect> was formed in January 2007, shortly after the release of The Burning Crusade expansion, by a small group of seven friends and acquaintances - the majority of whom had not played before. Our very modest aims at the time were to gain access to a chat channel that we could all take part in (party-chat having the obvious five-person limitation), as well as building a visual identity via a guild tabard. The in-game guild charter was purchased by Grarl, who thus became the guild's defacto leader.

From those humble beginnings, questing and grouping up to face Ragefire Chasm and Wailing Caverns, the guild gradually grew as the officers levelled. With no desire to rush to the level-cap on our very first characters, we maintained a relaxed atmosphere and pace that allowed us to expand through recruiting other like-minded players as we encountered them. In June 2007 our members started to make their way to the Dark Portal to take their first steps into Outland.

In late 2007, the guild <Aumakua> merged into ours. This provided a major injection of quality players that would go on to play an instrumental part in our later success. This also prompted the introduction of the 'Veteran' rank, bridging the gap between the <Cause And Effect> leadership and the influx of ex-<Aukamua> players and helping to smooth the integration process.

In the first week of January 2008, one year after our formation, we entered Karazhan and started on the long road to becoming a raiding guild. Our achievements in that first week were modest, with Attumen falling quickly but Moroes resolutely standing after a now-legendary 1% wipe that will never be forgiven nor forgotten! The first full-clear of Karazhan was achieved in April 2008, at which point the position of guildmaster was handed to Davegotsu who set about preparing us for the step up from 10-man to 25-man raiding.

July saw a sudden burst of progress, with Magtheridon, Maulgar and Gruul all falling within the space of two weeks. Further progress followed in Tier 5, and by the released of patch 3.0.2 the guild's progress comprised full-clears of Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair and Zul'Aman, as well as reaching 2/6 in Serpentshrine Cavern, 2/4 in Tempest Keep and 1/5 in Hyjal. In the interlude period between 3.0.2 and the release of 'Wrath of the Lich King', we went on to kill both Lady Vashj and Kael'thas Sunstrider and progress to 4/5 in Mount Hyjal and 4/9 in Black Temple.

With 'Wrath of the Lich King' now looming on the horizon, we look set to make a good early start at level-80 raiding, building on the experience and success of our first year of raiding.

RECRUITMENT

If you wish to join us, your first port of call should be to read our Recruiting Requirements thread for details of the classes we're interested in and our other requirements. Once done, you may either make a forum post detailing your application in your own format, or alternatively you may fill in our Application Form and submit that.