WoW is about to go through an extremely turbulent time with the issue of the TBC expansion pack. Underlying the problems that will become evident shortly is the change Blizzard has made to the raid instances where the 40 person instance is now being reduced to a maximum of a 25 person instance. Guilds are structured to support 40 person raid groups (SOG has two raid groups), but Blizzard has decided to change the player limit in instances and this will force (and is already forcing) some dramatic changes in Guilds.
Already we have seen most top raiding guilds break up or even in some cases disband. Righteous, Anything, Equanimity, Drunken Dragons, Chronicles of Chaos and many other top guilds are starting to break up in members' anticipation of smaller instance limits and radical changes to the guild structures to fit the new game mechanics under the TBC expansion.
Vargen (Guild Master) has just quit as GM (his access to this forum section has been removed). He has stated he just wants to sit back and be a member, but I know from other sources and from contacts made directly to me he is intending to join a new and smaller but more dedicated raid/PVP guild. Of the remaining Field Marshalls (me included) I suspect all of them have been approached to join other new breakaway guilds.
Why am I posting this here? I believe that SOG will have a serious problem post TBC as I already know of significant numbers who intend to leave to set up there own guild. I believe that SOG will shrink dramatically and may even implode totally.
I feel in a particularly awkward position as I have loyalty to dMw. However, given the potential changes in SOG I am not sure that I want to remain in SOG if I do not get the enjoyment from the game or cannot raid with my firends. Whilst there will no doubt be dMw members who remain in SOG, my best in-game friends (those that want the same things from the game as me) are not in dMw and might not remain in SOG. If this happens, I almost certainly might not remain in SOG.
My SOG future is unclear, but I am posting this to forewarn of potential changes coming in the next 4 weeks for SOG as part of dMw. I hope and suspect that most of Raid Group 2 (led by DarkAngel) will remain in SOG, but I suspect that RG1 will break up into smaller units to form new guilds. I will work to try to ensure that if I leave SOG that there will be a dMw member in SOG's membership, but there are no guarantees in this world.
TL.
Thanks for the detailed update, TL.
Have you considered starting a new, dMw badged WoW guild?
With you as GM would your preferred raiding partners join you in such a venture?
It would mean disbanding SOG and starting from new but it's not impossible to achieve. It would also mean that the dMw facilities would still be available to you - something they wouldn't be if your new guild was totally divorced from dMw.
I was aware that Vargen had given up the GM position but not of the forthcoming upheavel due to instance changes.
I have a feeling that Smite et al may have the dMw guild name - I can't remember but I think it was "reserved" for want of a better word. Could just be senility kicking in early of course.
I have thought about a dMw Guild, but to be honest I am suffering some burn out from the admin that has had to be done on not just keeping SOG runnign day to day, but also the trmendous amount of time I researching and developing strategies for new raid bosses. I am no longer prepared to restrict my 'fun' time in order to do 'admin'. Right now I just want to play the game and not have to lead and take on the immense workload that high level raiding and running a guild entails. If a dMw Guild were formed I feel I would inevitably be drawn into running a raid group and the other guild admin which right now I do not want any longer. A dMw guild would no doubt be a great place for alts or social characters, but it is highly unlikely to provide the top end instance raiding that I really enjoy. You can probably tell from the length and detail of the SOG Naxxramus or AQ40 tactics pages and the hours you know we raid that the time & effort required to raid at the top end is huge and not really one that we would have sufficient dMw to support.
Currently the way I feel is that I want to experience the new raiding in TBC and to succeed again in top end instance raiding. If SOG become unable to do this then another Guild becomes a probability (at least for my raid main character, my alts would stay in SOG or if SOG folded then I woudl move to ACL or whichever dMw guild was available).
The group of people who have the knowledge and the capability to succeed in top end instance raiding is relatively small. Due to the problems of trying to fit a 58 person raid squad into a new 25 person raid squad, the easiest route is seen as breaking away with the key raiding people (the ones with the knowledge), reforming and starting a new Guild. This is what I am hearing is going to happen to most of the top end guilds, not just SOG. Blizzard's change in the raid mechanics are directly to blame for this and will cause a huge number of Guilds to fold. This will almost certainly leave SOG with less resources than will be needed to provide the very high end raiding we have been undertaking in RG1.
RG2 is more likely to retain the majority of its squad and combined with those from RG1 that remain will probably form a new and competitive but not top end raid squad.
Nothing is certain, in fact things are highly fluid at the moment, but I am getting the whispers, feeling the under-current and trying to guess which way things are flowing. What I have set out is what I currrently believe will happen.
If SOG folds then yes I am quite happy to help set up a dMw Guild with my alts, but I want high end raiding - that's the bit I enjoy. In order to do that I need to make sure I am surrounded by other people with the same goals. Currently there are about 9 top end Guilds that are capable of providing raiding at the highest level. That's a player pool of about 450 people. The leaders and dedicated raiders of those raid groups will be the ones who will end up in the new 25 person raid groups. As a result that pool of players drops to approximately 280 out of a server population of about 18,000.
I do not wish to lead any more. I have been Raid Leader for RG1 for over a year now and I now feel it is time for me to step down and let someone else do the research, the tactics write ups and the strategic plannign needed for end-game raiding. I just want to play.
The ironic thing is that 3 ACL players applied and joined SOG RG2 just a fortnight ago as they wanted to raid. In addition Smite approached me last night to move another 5 L60 players from ACL into SOG as the loss of the 3 who joined SOG dropped their guild group to below the critical mass needed for their smaller 5 or 10 person raid nights. :sad:
I'll keep you posted.
TL.
It's sad to see this happening and I hope it all works out for you TL.
Having SOG here has been really good for dMw. It has helped introduce us to a lot of like minded individuals who otherwise would not have found dMw. I am certain the CS community would be in a far worse state, if it wasn't for the players who came from SOG to see what makes dMw special and liked what they saw.
Sadly at this time it looks like the picture that TL has painted is starting to become reality and quite possibly SOG will not survive the ramp up to TBC. As of today i was informed that TL himselfs will be leaving, and i honestly dont know what i will do yet.
I have PM'd Bastet with some comments that I am happy for him to share with you if he wants. A post will be made available to members of SOG in due course, probably later today. My decision will not necessarily prove the downfall of SOG, but it is going ot be a bumpy ride and I will continue to offer whatever help to Bastet that I can, although I will no longer be a SOG officer or member. I have not yet issued the in-game /gquit (guild quit) as members have not yet been advised, but this will happen imminently.
I apologise if this causes trouble, but for me the decision was to either quit WoW or to try a new Guild and I did not want to quit WoW just yet.
TL.
No apologies needed ol' buddy.
Good luck with the new guild :thumb:
Good luck with the new Business TL. As we always say RL has to come first. Hope you find what you want in Genesis and that you get the enjoyment from the game that you are looking for. At the end of the day that's why we play games, for fun (if i played them to win I would have given up years ago:roflmao:)
ill still bother you loads with spellchecking and pacifing my texts, and you know it, you aint getting rid of me that eazyly :narnar: