In what is probably the last "first" post I'll be making until we get to tear into Wrath (my money's on November, by the way), Deus Vox (Laughing Skull-A) has gotten the US first kill of Kil'jaeden (SK Gaming achieved the world first three days ago). Congratulations to Deus Vox! Glad to see the North American realms stepping up, even if it does take us a few days. Anyone have any speculation on why the European realms are usually ahead of us?

Their loot was:

• Hand of the Deceiver
• Sunflare
• Borderland Paingrips
• Helm of Burning Righteousness, which was converted into Helm of Uther's Resolve

And, presumably, some Sunmotes and Badges. The winning raid here was two druids, two hunters, one mage, two paladins, four priests, three rogues, five shamans, three warlocks, and three warriors; for more details on this and Armory links, check World of Raids.

This makes, as WoR notes, four KJ kills without any drop of Thori'dal, so maybe there is one more "first" post in the making after all. The world-second and third kills were scored by Method and Nihilum, both European guilds and both yesterday.

Something strange is afoot in the wee ours of the morning here, as Nihilum is reporting that the Death and Taxes guild on the Korgath US PvP server has disbanded. This guild has long been considered perhaps the premiere raiding guild of the US Servers. As of this writing, there is no further word on why they have disbanded, only that they have and that some of them will reroll Horde.

The front page of the official Death and Taxes site does not have any sort of news post on the issue, but does have a banner that reads "Rest In Peace Death and Taxes, Beta 2004-May 2008," and has a list of their world and US first kills. The forum's name has been changed to "Death and Taxes - Keep in Touch," though there does not appear to be a forum post accessible by a basic account that gives any insight or information as to the disbanding. Hopefully more information is revealed soon.

Death and Taxes has been hot on the raiding scene for some time, gaining US and world firsts starting in AQ40 and Naxxramas, and continuing into the Burning Crusade, including their most recent US first kill of Illidan Stormrage and a few key PTR kills in the Sunwell Plateau as well.

For now, we'll watch and see if more information comes forth. Perhaps they may be like Risen, believing the end-game progression is worthless but possibly reappearing in WoTLK. Either way, their achievements were many, and they will be missed.

Thanks to Liam for tipping us off on this.

Update: A poster called Flux (who is not a DnT member but claims he has talked to some), posting on Nihilum's forum thread on the disbanding, claims that they were having trouble retaining guild members due to the long stretch of time between Illidan's downing and any new content, and that the first week of Sunwell raiding was difficult. After attempts to mass-recruit to fill holes ended in a lower level of raiding ability than they were used to, DnT's leaders decided to disband. Apparently, many DnT members will be rerolling Horde on Blackrock.

You might want to take this information with a grain of salt, but it's the best we have for now.

Behind the cut is a list of Death and Taxes' world and US first kills.

Hot on the heels of SK-Gaming's world-first kill of M'uru, the penultimate Sunwell Plateau boss, the US guild Exodus has scored a place in the hall of records by being the first in the region to kick his Naaru butt, early this morning. Exodus live on Kel'thuzad, Horde-side, and apparently just got sponsored a few days ago, which endowed them with a brand-new website and plenty of bandwidth just in time.

If you want to see one of their players' personal thoughts on the fight, you can check it out on their forum (NSFW language). Apparently it was a nine-hour attempt (!), and they used six healers, four tanks, and 15 DPS, in case you were wondering. Edit: looks like that entire thread was a parody of a Nihilum thread about their Eredar Twins kill. I shouldn't post before I've had my coffee. One of the items that dropped for them was something we figured M'uru had, and is in my gallery from yesterday (Sin'dorei Band of Dominance), but the rest of them were not on that list: Harness of Carnal Instinct, Garments of Serene Shores, and Robes of Faltered Light. Congrats to Exodus!

Congratulations to Premonition of Alleria on the first kill of the Eredar Twins in the US! From what I hear, it was a tight race to first place yesterday, but Premonition was ahead of the pack.

They walked away with the Golden Bow of Quel'Thalas, Shroud of Redeemed Souls, Shoulderpads of Vehemence, Sin'dorei Pendant of Triumph, and some lucky Warrior/Hunter/Shaman walked away with a pair of Tier 6 Bracers. Though Nihilum beat them to the world first, there's no denying they put plenty of work into this kill. Congratulations to Premonition, and good luck on M'uru when Rohendor decides to get out of the way!

I must add, it's neat to see some of the old school sets in many of these first-kill shots. They're still way cool, but you can see Blizzard's trend of making things more and more over the top as WoW evolves. I can't honestly say I have a problem with that. As much as I adore Faith, Absolution blows it away as far as style and the smaller details.