Huuuuuuuge gap in time since the last post. Sorry about that, part busy part lazy mixed together there. If you've been following Blizzcon, you know that the WoW raiding scene is going to see some changes, Blizz says in order to streamline things going forward.
For those that have no idea what I am talking about, Blizz is change raiding structures some. Our current "normal" mode is going to be what the difficulty of "current flex" is in the next expansion, meaning anywhere from 10-25 players. Current "heroic" is going to be the "normal" raids, and it will also be the flex style for raid size. They are then introducing "Mythic", which will be the new static size of raiding, which is 20 man (no more 10/25), and will be the same in difficulty as the current "heroic" we have now.
So, to recap, LFR will exist, then it goes to Flex Normal, then Flex Heroic, then 20m Mythic. And everything but Mythic will be cross realm from day one.
So 10man teams are going to have to double up, and 25man teams are cutting down a few.
A lot of people are already in freakout mode. The 25's probably not as much as the 10's though. It's easy to drop people than recruit new players, for sure. I hope this gives Blizz the ability to design better content with this streamlined approach, but we'll just have to wait and see on that.
For me though, and more specificly for my wife Cillie who does almost all the recruiting, this means we have to start planning now for the future. We've been trying for a very long time (since before ToT came out) to get a second raid team going. Now, it looks like one might be getting a really good start. They've only been a raid team for a couple weeks about and they are already 5/14N.
Naturally, the questions are already starting. "Will I be on the 'Mythic' team?" "How many from group 2 will join the main team?" Lots of questions like these. The easy answer is...maybe.
If you've read any of my previous posts, you may have an idea of the type of raider, player, person, I look for. You have to be a certain caliber to be on the "main team". We're looking for the total package type of player. Raid awareness, class ability, role ability, punctuality and attendance, communication. All these are factors for being one of our raiders. Patience, not being a douche, etc also.
Also, if you play on Eldre'Thalas, horde side, the heroic raiding scene would not exist at all if it weren't for EQ just about. Now, hopefully server mergers will give us an influx of raiders from other servers (one could say we would be the influx into other raiding communities, but it's the same thing either way). This, plus our own stable of raiders, will probably give us the ability to field a Mythic team.
Here is what many progression oriented teams need to start thinking about. It will take time to recruit people, more or less depending on your server population. More for us, barrig server mergers treating us to 50k new horde. Any "new" teams/guilds will also be trying to poach players. And besides recruiting, there is a process, mostly trial and error, of weeding people out.
Let me give you an idea. During MoP, we had about three people from the Cata team not even play MoP. We went through a dps and two healers and a tank before having a semi stable team up until around our 2nd heroic kill where we had to replace another tank.
More shuffling around and we get to ToT, where we replace a healer again. We actually live through most of ToT normal without any personelle issues...until the very first week we could do heroics and the guild splits (Remix to Equilibrium).
Two members replaced. We get another stable team for the most part, until SoO, and we have to replace a tank. We hadn't even cleared normals yet, and we went through about three different people before finding someone, from Australia!
That's a lot of stress, people, emotions, in a years time. And that is just for a 10man. Double that, and that's what Mythic raiding is going to be like. Probably more so.
Our team has its own culture, a way of making fun of ourselves, hazing each other, and also a way of getting serious and doing work. If you have a very large influx of people very fast, it's going to be volatile. No matter how nice and civil people are, people will show their asses and do stupid shit. We had to kick a non-raiding guildie out because of BMAH crap. Somethig as simple as that got some assclown kicked from the guild.
So yeah, recruiting has already started for the smart guilds, and the ones that never clear content won't bother until WoD. And if you are the type of player that is jonesing to see progression raiding on our server, start sales pitching us now. We took a player from freaking Australia, so don't think that being a local gives you any kind of advantage.
I'll be posting some of my own thoughts on all the stuff from Blizzcon that we got to see in the next few days, so be ready for more idle ramblings!
