Ok, someone needs to set the record straight. I keep seeing AM responding to the barrage of jokes with things like " its summer bro" and " well we owned the server for 3 years bro". Let's not rewrite history here. Awakened dominated AM. It wasn't until "He Who Shall Not Be Named" started his assault against AW and its leadership did AM start to gain a foothold. AW was raid suspended for 4 consecutive months, culminating in its eventual destruction. "Change leadership or be raid banned for life" was the ultimatum, essentially. After bleeding hardcore raiders for months, and months of raid suspensions, AM finally became what it was up until recently. So let's not act like they were some elite org that dethroned the former master. The scales were heavily tilted for "healthy competition", or the mirage of it anyway. Here's a video of this "elite guild" cothing up to Lady Nev for no fucking reason. They literally cothed like 50 people up there before realizing no dragon even spawned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4Lmb6-A_yk
The remnants of AW, splintered as they were (another story), formed Tempest, Core, and joined other guilds. Tempest was a shell of the former guild, mainly due to so many people leaving/going casual/internal issues after being fucked with by the <Matrix>. Even so, we competed against the Zerg that was AM. They had recruited most of the raiding server as the only viable option to even see end game content, given AW's demise. And boy what a zerg they were! I remember Tempest killing Kreizenn and other NTOV dragons with 35-40 people ROUTINELY, while AM logged in 100 people to stand around and watch us. AM fielding 100 plus, even for mobs like Ikatiar, was the norm. Tempest killed Doze once with like, 25 people. So....yea.
Even though Tempest was 1/4 the size of AM, and we lost almost all our Euros, we still were able to compete for the spiciest of dragons, especially if they popped friendly to our timezone. There was a time when Tempest was even beating AM on Doze. Imagine that. A guild crushed by suspensions, now with 25% of the manpower, no Euro players, and still beating the "Strike Force" or whatever the fuck they call themselves. Gimme a fucking break. Here's just a few Doze FTE that I was involved in during the Coth meta, there was plenty more I wasn't. They were slow as shit on every single one of these. "sTrIkE fOrCe"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XISpJkRD9Sg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPZg6rapPGk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do2apfSlnYE
So let's stop this "unroot the dragons, bro" bullshit. When put up against real competition and no guide interference, you got wrecked during the CoTH meta. "RIOT IS A ZERG BRO. MERGE LIKE 4 GUILDS BRO". Really? *Most* of Riot is actually just the same people who splintered out of AW, coming back together after all this time. Finally after all this time, the band has gotten back together, and boy are you SALTY! Imagine AM calling another guild a zerg. The audacity!
<Agent Smith> is out of power, and the raiders he sidelined with his antics are back in play, and organized. And now, for the first time in a long time, another guild can field the numbers you can and actually compete on the same scale, and you wanna offer some bullshit excuses and revisionist history? All it takes is root and one 7 day raid ban and you throw in the towel? Where is your fucking honor? WE WERE RAID BANNED FOUR MONTHS AND STILL CAME BACK TO COMPETE WITH A QUARTER OF THE FORCES WE ONCE HAD! Your free crack at the loot pinata is over, so quit bullshitting everyone and be honest: now that competition is back, you're taking your ball and going home.
Everything above is facts with plenty of receipts on deck, if you believe anything different you are a victim of fake news by ANN (Aftermath News Network).