Weekend (2 Jan '11) - It's A New Year

Weekend (2 Jan '11) - It's A New Year

In the last post Wild reviewed the prior year. I couldn't cover everything and probably forgot a few things, so feel free to add your own retrospective as well. Interestingly enough, after reporting on all of the guild machinations of the prior year, one of the first items for the new year were a few changes in the MM guild.

The guild leader for MM is Wb. Wild hasn't raided with him all that much as he led the G1 ICC group, and Wild raided primarily with G2. As part of the mere rank and file, Wild also hasn't much interaction with him on guild issues, either. That doesn't mean that he is not an active guild leader. Far from it. He doesn't mind telling folks that he has two accounts and the maximum twenty toons, at least one of every class, and many of them level 80 and probably soon to be level 85. I know of two he already leveled to 85. He likes to play and is in game a great deal of the time.

Prior to the Cata expansion Wb had let the guild know that he was planning some changes. A few days ago he posted those changes on the guild website. It was a long post, but here is the summary. When the guild organization was originally established, Wb laid out a rather large organizational structure to support what was expected to be an active raiding guild in both 10 and 25 man dungeons. That didn't happen, and much of that large organization never materialized or had little to do. As a result, Wb announced a much streamlined organization that essentially boiled down to the guild leader, three raid leaders, and a rank and file of only two ranks - members and recruits.

There were a number of comments and concerns, but the two primary issues that were raised consisted of the handling of the administration of the guild, and issues regarding raiding. The admin issue - since raid leaders would focus exclusively on raids, and there were really no other officer ranks per se, would Wb have the time to be the sole person handling administrative functions (including guildie complaints, etc). The short answer from Wb was that yes, he would handle all of that, and was in game often enough to be available as needed. If that grew too large a responsibility, he would make adjustments. The raiding issue focused on the informal nature of the guild structure, and concerns that it felt more like a casual/social guild than a raiding guild and might not be sufficient to support everything that a raiding guild needed. MM was large guild, and more raid organization was needed to support a raiding guild that also had a social element to it.

I initially agreed with the concerns. Wb, in his response, cut to the chase. MM has 426 members. However, most guildies have more than one toon in the guild, and MM has many guildies who have been inactive for some time. Wb also noted that MM has anywhere from 10-30 players in game at any given time, a number that is larger than normal because of the Cata expansion. Wb expected that he could manage 10-30 players at any given time.

His next statement kind of hurt, but then the truth can be painful. I quote: "On the subject of MM being a raid guild, it has become apparent that we are in fact NOT a raid guild, and thus, one of the primary reasons for the changes." Wb then made his case for that assessment. MM completed/cleared only three raids in the last several tiers of content (Naxx 10/25, ToC10, and with difficulty ICC10). MM never cleared Ulduar, ToC25, or ICC25. "This is not the mentality of a raid guild."

He was right, of course. He also said that he had wanted and planned for a "raiding guild with a casual atmosphere," but that what we are (and there is nothing wrong with what we are) is a "casual guild that raids." He then hammered home that point. "We have not enforced raid attendance. We have not penalized members that show up late or not at all. We do not have a structured loot system that rewards loyalty and diligence to the raid in question. And this is all just fine. Many of us have jobs and families or both to contend with and to assume that someone can just drop everything or somehow bend life to their will is ludicrous."

There was more, but the bottom line is that Wb's assessment is that guildies like the way the guild is now. We will certainly continue to raid, but that is only one reason that players join MM. The focus will be on ten man raiding, but there may be opportunities to do 25 man as well. A full time Cata 25 raid isn't likely. The silver lining to that last statement is that the new Cata 10/25 raids have the exact same loot in them in. In the 25 man more loot per raider is dropped, but that is the only difference. Wild likes 25 man raiding, but at least part the reason is that in the pre-cata raids the loot was better in 25 man. Now it's the same. Wild likes ten man raiding, too. And there are several new raids to conquer.

The coming year should be a lot of fun!

There wasn't a lot of activity over the weekend. I'm afraid that the worgen druid is still a level 1. I'm under orders to pack up and store all of the Christmas decorations today (Monday), so I'm not sure if I'll get to the worgen before tonight.

Wild did make progress improving his gear. Wild completed enough of the quests in Mount Hyjal to reach Revered rep with the Hyjal faction, and that got him a nice i333 cape and access to the head enchant that only Hyjal will offer. Wild also worked on Therazane rep and is almost to Revered. Therazane is where the best shoulder enchants will be found, and there is an i346 ring waiting for Wild when he hits Revered as well. In addition, Wild made the call to spend 2200 of his justice points for an i346 helm with a meta socket. Wild has just enough socketed gear to be able to activate that meta socket, but the gems cost him a small fortune. Philly is chomping at the bit to start skilling her jewel crafting, but I don't think Happy can afford what that will cost. Wild's enchanting skill is up to 501 (the max is 525). Wild's next goal is to get enchanting to 515 so he can craft the new high end enchanting rod he needs. Happy is going to faint when he hears what that will cost him. Wild's average gear ilvl went up to 327, two short of the i329 he needs to start Heroics via the dungeon finder.

In raiding news the first MM Cata raid will be Baradin Hold, and it will start this coming Wednesday. Sign ups have been posted. Wild is still a bit behind in gear, so I can't be sure he'll get an invite. Wild will have to wait and see.