Tuesday (27 Apr) - No Joy in ICC

Tuesday (27 Apr) - No Joy in ICC

The Tuesday night ICC 25 man raid never got off the ground. There were only 18 sign ups and we never came close to getting 25 raiders for what amounted to a farming run. The gods of WoW are determined to keep Wild out of the first wing of ICC, where there are NINE items that Wild would dearly love to have. Compare that to the second wing, which Wild has tackled numerous times and already gotten several drops, where there are only two items left on Wild's wish list. There are three parts to the problem: (1) we're unlucky that several regular raiders had real life issues at the same time; (2) the raid leader also reported that as many as five regular raiders have either left the guild or have stopped coming in frustration with our progress; and (3) the next expansion, Cataclysm, has been officially announced for a November 2010 release.

Not much we can do about the real life issues. The attrition of guildies is much more serious. I suspect that most if not all of those who have left the guild and/or the raid are from the raiders that joined as a collective group not too long ago. They joined specifically to raid ICC 25, and despite the fact that the guild has made huge progress, with their help of course, apparently their expectations were even higher. There were some regulars that did not even bother to respond to the raid calendar invites.

A frustrated raid leader asked everyone to help recruit players so that we can keep the raid alive, saying that he would rather get lesser geared folks who really wanted to be here over highly geared raiders who could not be depended on. I sense an opening for Sis and DER if ya'll are interested.

Underneath all that is Cataclysm. It happens to guilds every time a new expansion is announced - players start looking toward the "next thing" and begin losing interest in the current game. Players spend less time in game, they try other games, they fiddle with their alts, that next piece of gear in ICC doesn't seem so important anymore, and they stop showing up for raids. Wild keeps his raid commitments, but even I have to admit that Wild spends a lot less time in game than he used to.

Raiding isn't over for the guild. I think we'll still be able to get 25 mans together. But it really looks like a step backward, and that is very hard to recover from, since it becomes almost self fulfilling. Raiders stop showing up because they figure there won't be enough to raid. Ironically, the solution could be an easy one, but is pretty much an impossible dream for Wild. The MM guild no longer raids 25 man ICC due to lack of numbers. Between the two guilds, though, I'd bet there would be plenty to fill the raid. But there are some very hard feelings between individuals in both guilds, and that is not likely to be even considered.