There was quite a lot of loot since Cermillion was the end boss and this was a world first kill. Many raiding guilds decided to distribute loot based on points which are allocated points for attendance, progression fights, and a host of other factors. Points are reduced when you bid and purchase an item that the guild has defeated and if there are any penalties for tardiness or the like.

Being a smaller and tighter knit guild, the Misfits had decided to distribute loot based on how it helped the raiding team. Players were encouraged to suggest who should get the loot; however, ultimately Sean, Cheezus, and Berry had the final say on any loot. Typically, the raiders would figure it out amongst themselves. The goal was to distribute loot not necessarily to the player that ‘deserved it’ or even who would benefit the most, but rather how it would best overall improve the raid’s performance.

Larger guilds had the additional complication of dealing with having to rotate in various different players to try to distribute loot fairly while still considering that not everyone would always be in attendance and that same players might even have to sit out a key progression fight. Fortunately, the Misfits were a very small raiding guild and had exceptionally high attendance. For the raid to go off without a hitch, everyone needed to show up and for the most part everyone did. This alone made the process of distributing loot a lot easier.

Cermillion had also dropped gold, three rare items, a dragon mount, and new quest items. First, thousands of pieces of gold were evenly distributed amongst the raiders. Secondly, all of the players would receive a new elemental mount and tabard declaring that they were champions of Cermillion’s Keep. Third, there were three rare items which consisted of: a healing trinket, a DPS dagger, and a wand. The items were quickly assigned to Linca, Cheezus, and Deathberry, based on who could use the items and what would be most beneficial for the guild. Fourth, the decision had to be made for who got the dragon mount. This was a purely ornamental mount; however, it was a great prestige item. Fortunately, the plan was to put this fight on farm and eventually everyone would get a miniature Cermillion mount. Sean decided that everyone would roll for the mount and whoever got the highest roll would get it. After a few oohs and aahs, Sean’s roll was deemed the highest and the mount was assigned to him. Finally, everyone received a scroll which contained a quest that would start them in a new instanced zone. Only those who had completed Cermillion Keep and obtained the scroll could access this area.

The Misfits had come a long way. It was amazing to think that only two years ago they had first met. The guild started with just Sean’s co-worker at the time, Kevin aka Krok. The two of them had leveled up together. Kevin as Krok, the Mystic Assassin who had great utility and buffs and Sean as Smashit, a Knight with the ability to switch from a two-handed DPS style to a more traditional sword and board tanking style.

Sean had eventually convinced another colleague of theirs, Miles, to join them on Champions. Miles chose to play Cheezustabs, a Rogue with several incredible DPS abilities. Miles and Sean had been acquaintances before playing the game but became close friends while leveling up and mastering the game.

In one of the most memorable moments the three of them had in game or otherwise, Sean recalled that Miles had been the one to suggest that they begin three manning five-person dungeons at level. At first it seemed absurd that three players could possibly win while doing that but Miles’ proposition had seemed like a really fun challenge to Sean at the time. Soon, he began putting together strategies so the three of them could overcome the mechanics of each of the dungeons they encountered. For some boss fights Sean would switch over and all three of them would DPS while Cheezus and Krok would kite. Miles suggested the name the Misfits as they successfully beat their first five-man dungeon which was supposed to require a tank, three DPS, and a healer but had in fact been beat by three DPS. Sean and Krok agreed and the name stuck. It was those fights that had required such close coordination that build the foundation of a lot of what the Misfits could do today.

While they were grinding on their fifth dungeon: wiping, running back, discussing strategy and wiping again, they were approached by a fourth member. Thag had sent a text chat to Sean while they were wiping and asked if they wanted a hand. Apparently, Thag had been grinding mobs in the area and saw them running back to the dungeon over and over again. Sean said they’d love to have the help but they still would probably die with no healer. Thag said that she was game to try. After another twenty wipes they finally cleared the last of the dungeon. Sean had invited Thag to the guild on the spot after seeing that type of rare dedication. Afterwards, it had taken them several weeks to finally get Thag to finally join voice chat. Apparently, Emmy had previously been ostracized for playing a tank in her old guild but Sean and the rest of the Misfits were thankful to have such a skilled player join them.

One of the final members to join their small guild was Deathberry. By this time the Misfits had been regularly raiding and were usually doing pick-up groups or PUGing for their final member. They had been working their way through Oceania, a water dungeon that featured a number of tricky mechanical fights on boats. They been making good progress; however, they were struggling with one particular fight that included fighting pirates on ship. The pirates themselves were fairly straightforward. The only nuance with them was how the raid dealt with the ranged versus melee pirates. The second part of the fight got a little bit more difficult as a Kraken joined the fray and started grabbing different player characters with its tentacles. This mechanic required that ranged DPS switch to free those players. However, the trickiest phase and the one that they were wiping on most was the third and final phase. This consisted of the same two mechanics of the first phases as well as an ink spray the Kraken would lay down every thirty seconds that did massive area of effect or AOE damage.

After a series of frustrating wipes, one of the other PUGs that they had picked up rage quit. They were down to nine players and dealing with a very difficult boss. Deathberry, who Sean later learned was controlled by a player named Tim, offered Sean some advice in private chat. He suggested that he would use his pet to off tank several of the melee pirates that were currently had assigned to Thag. He had a direct link with his pet that allowed him to heal it as he did more and more damage. This would reduce the amount of healing required for the tanks and allow the healers to focus more on healing the heavy AOE ink spray when it hit the raid. He also provided some other suggestions for their configuration to improve their overall DPS output. With those new tactics in place, the Misfits quickly overcame the pirate ship boss. After the fight Sean noticed that Deathberry was unguilded. Of course, that could have been for any number of reasons but despite his doubts, Sean asked Deathberry to join and Berry quickly accepted. With this final addition to their guild they soon began to blaze up the raid rankings.

Sean shook off his musings about their past. They had a victory to celebrate after all. The Misfits exited the raid and made their way to Strongkeep. Strongkeep was the central town for the world of Champions that was closest to Cermillion’s Keep and where nearly all the high-level players gathered to raid. Strongkeep was a mountain fortress with high spires and the banners shone brightly in the morning sun as they arrived. The Misfits flew over the crowds of NPCs and players towards the central ramparts. This was the location where raiders would take winning photos of their raids and if there was a special mount they would fly it around town showing off.

The Misfits jumped on their elemental mounts and Sean jumped on his new miniature Cermillion and snapped their picture. He would post it later on the forums. The guild continued to hover in mid-air as more and more players arrived. Hundreds of other players crowded onto the ramparts and flew around them. Sean recognized some of the other characters in the crowd. There were several other prominent raiding guilds who had gathered to see them take their victory picture on their elementals. Sean's notifications list dinged repeatedly as he got congratulations from other players, top rated raid leaders, and even several of the games GM's.