Gather round, grots and grunts, it’s time for a tale of the Blacktooth Grin. What began as a crazy desire from Gorfrunch (the original Smashblade) for an old school orcish clan for role play and PVP has become the stuff of server legends. I mean, you don’t strike fear into the hearts of the Alliance at the sound of THOK MOG THOK! for doing nothing.

The Grin has traditionally held Stonard in the Swamp of Sorrows as its base, though has stretched into content-specific holdfasts as the content demands. Though we’ve waxed and waned over the years, there are a number of folks amongst the Grin who have stuck around, and more popping back in every day. The Grin is and has been home to many over the decade of its existence, and we certainly want to welcome that. Like the game, we’ve changed how we distribute information as well- from small websites and forums to a big Enjin site, and most recently a Facebook page.

We wanted to put this website out to still get some way to get new recruits, and distribute neat RP things as they happen rather than drag people into forums that may never be checked. Ideally, this website will be something people can check occasionally (and add content to!) to get up to date with what happened over the last week.

Traditionally, the Grin has been the mass of black armored war wolves charging down the road to defend or attack an Alliance stronghold, and indeed we are hoping to continue the tradition of disciplined PVP raids and patrols. That said, Legion kicked WPVP in the face somewhat, meaning we get exponentially less out of PvP than we used to. That said, we’re also going to try that other thing…PvE content. This is something the Grin hasn’t done, and to anybody that’s experienced a patented ‘Grin Run’ of a dungeon knows…it’s going to get messy. But hey, that’s what a guild is for.

Something we’ve also changed recently, in light of this fact, is a change in our rank structure. The Grin has, for the longest time, been structured as: Grot, Grunt, Raider, Champion, Sythegar, and Warchief, with a spare rank in there once in a while for Warlord or what have you. This typically meant: somebody who is new or unlucky, somebody who did some stuff around when an event was, somebody who won that one event that one time, somebody who has been around forever, an officer, and the GM. As time passed, and events drew fewer in number, grots were less often promoted, and people who were in one of the highest ranks possible had simply been around the longest. (For the longest time, ‘Champion’ rank was noted on the websites as ‘There is one Champion of the Grin, and it is not you.’ Clearly, that used to mean something that was long forgotten!)

As of now, we’ve restructured the ranking to be a twin-fold path, still beginning with Grot and Grunt, and ending with Sythegar and Warchief, but with different (but equal!) ranks depending on the ‘path’ one wishes to take: PvP or PvE focused. So, for the time being, we’ve reverted everybody (and we mean everybody!) to a Grunt, with the exception of existing grots and alts. Grot is now the ‘alt’ rank in addition to its previous state as a probationary rank, as we’re trying to follow the lead that Legion set for character-centric progression; if the character is indeed an alternate to one’s main character, then they can climb the ranks like everybody else, from grot to Sythegar. Don’t worry- we’ve also taken note of who was a Champion or Raider in the past in the officer note, so we know who was what! We will be posting how to progress soon, once we get people seeing this website!

For now, I’m going to sign off, and wish you all luck. FEAR THE GRIN!

-Vosgonar