Yesterday I devoted a few words to the upcoming expansion and its possible effects on the major aspects of our game. As directed in the final passage of that post, today I'd like to bring things closer to home and look at what MoP may hold in-store for Saurfang as a realm.
I wish to resist getting all formulaic (typical considering my real-life profession) and break down consequences along the lines of PVE and PVP etc. Instead I think it best to take a step back and consider Saurfang and its overall development. For the unaware, Saurfang was opened as a transfer server to address the horrendous queue problems for Oceanic players in the opening week of WoTLK release (I still have screenshots of queue numbers in the 1000's and wait times over 30 minutes). <Ajantis> was one of the 'major' guilds to make the change from Aman'thul and I naturally came over with the rest of the guild. We transferred within the first 48 hours of Saurfang going live (most of us) and as such I consider myself to be as much of an 'origin' player on Saurfang as one could possibly be.
The curious thing about Saurfang is that it is unique in terms of the evolution and development of both its progress and player base when compared to other transfer servers. It is commonly said that transfer servers are held in a negative regard, some going as far to tell me they are "cesspools of filth". They tend to die tragic, slow deaths from a diminished player base and no guild or guilds build a substantial base from which they consistently raid successfully at a high level.
Saurfang is an anomaly; it's player base has grown in the face of an overall decline in subscriptions for the game worldwide, Cataclysm proved our strongest raiding results yet as a realm with the defeat of Heroic Ragnaros and there are a number of guilds who are developing a strong and proud history... not to mention a growing community of vibrant and very different characters.
I've always vehemently disagreed with those who speak ill of our home. Considering our beginnings, our relative youth and the state of the game, I can not think of a better place from which to play Mists of Pandaria. We have gone from strength to strength with each expansion and my scouting has led me to believe that the Alliance will be closer or equal with the Horde in prowess for Mists. A more balanced ledger is in the interest of everyone, especially when it comes to encouraging some World PVP (withhold the groans about World PVP on a PVE realm if you can - one can dream).
While I can not play the primary role as I did through Wrath, I too hope to contribute positively to our realm through this blog and other avenues as time allows. We may not be a Manchester United or Real Madrid, but even the smaller clubs have their diehard fans and I'm proud to say I'm a Saurfangian through and through.
We have got plenty to be excited about as a collective player base for the future of our server...
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