The 2007 World of Firepower event concluded on Friday with the Winner's Prize Ceremony. A large crowd of competitors, judges and spectators gathered to celebrate this historic event and to congratulate the champions, Team USA!
Over two hundred avatars had taken part in the event, representing 28 nations. Months of intense competition had ensued, devastating Calypso's countryside with a show of spectacular firepower. By the end of May only three nations remained - Sweden, Romania and the USA. Tactics, skills and sheer determination had seen them through to the 2007 WoF Final and all were worthy of their place. But there could be only one winner, and it was to be decided over three hours of manic Hogglo slaughter!
Team Romania, represented by BlackHawk, Mikass, Combo and Sir Attack in the Final, were arguably the underdogs but got off to a great start and continued well, scoring a total of 197 points - more than any team had scored in a match previously! Team Sweden got off to a rather slow start despite the stellar cast of Starman, Skalman, Stormer and Proppen. At one point they found themselves nearly 100 points behind the leader USA but a spectacular finish took it right down to the wire as they tallied up an amazing 287 points! Team USA had been strong throughout the tournament though, and Stryker, Neomaven, Star and Rei managed to maintain their lead despite Sweden's sprint-finish, notching up a truly remarkable 308 points!
And thus, Team USA had emerged triumphant as the first ever WoF Champions. All that remained was to award their prize, 12 specially designed green WoF Jackets - one for each member of the team. As the organiser of the WoF, Hurrikane presided over the ceremony, already dressed in a unique red WoF jacket of his own.
A crowd of about forty avatars had gathered at Chug's Hideout to celebrate the occasion. The Champagne was flowing, fireworks were booming, and for good measure there were even a few global swirlies from people who'd abandoned their hunting teams to come to the event! And perhaps inevitably, as a sign of things to come in next year's WoF, it didn't take long for the new grenade launchers to come out. Even though the ceremony was in a PVP-safe area it was clear to everyone how much devastation these new weapons can cause, and they'll no doubt be a key part of the 2008 WoF Champion's armory!
Eventually it was time to hand out the WoF jackets. After a short speech, Hurrikane presented a jacket to Darth Skippie Boobie, Flerin Neomaven Flerinsson, Ogulak Da Basher, James Jimmy Stryker, Kitten KittyLee Hermes and Jenna Star Mercury.
The other six USA team members, Ford Zippo LincolnMercury, Cunning Linguist, Quing Jao Rei Fei-Tzu, Jay Beene Lee, David Manic Goliath and Jon NEVERDIE Jacobs weren't able to attend, but will have jackets presented individually to them at a later date.
Left-to-right: Neomaven, Skippie, Stryker, Star, Da, KittyLee
AkiranBlade, who had competed in the WoF with Team England, then presented Hurrikane with a collection from the community in thanks for all the hard work he'd done in conceiving the WoF and running it. The award of 2800 PED and a Karadi painting was to be the final, and most deserved, silent-HOF of the 2007 World of Firepower event. It was greeted with a traditional "OMG!" from Hurrikane and then it was time to get the party started!
The merry mood continued for some time as the WoF was celebrated with more Champagne, fireworks and dancing. Amidst clouds of dust from the grenade launchers being shown-off, Chug's Hideout became a makeshift dancefloor for a while. The crowd told jokes and looked forward to next year's WoF as they danced the evening away. One of the WoF Champions had come prepared, and so there was even some disco strobe lighting as Neomaven performed an entertaining trick with a resurrection chip!
Everyone wanted one of the new Level 8 Disco Chips
Eventually the party petered out, as people went back to their hunting duties and it was time to bid a fond farewell to the WoF for a while.
EntropiaForum looks forward to the return of WoF in 2008! In the meantime, big congratulations go to the 2007 winners USA, the runners-up Sweden and Romania (who also won prizes in the form of 1-year Improved and Adjusted
EF memberships) and indeed all the other contestants who made the WoF the success it was. A big thank-you goes to Hurrikane for all the work he put into the WoF, to Clam Jamphrie for all the scorekeeping and great artwork that brought the WoF alive to everyone here at the forum, and also to all the judges who kept track of the many, many globals as they came in during the course of the event!
Team USA - 2007 WoF Champions