They Are Making a Comeback!

As I’m patrolling the WoW recruiting forums for additional DPS players, one of the common themes I’ve noticed is that players are looking for core raiding positions within guilds. Not only that, but their progression isn’t generally high enough to make that type of demand. It looks like the 4.2 patch might just be the massive rejuvenation the raiding player base has been hoping for. Players who were thought to have permanently retired from the game look to be dusting off their WoW accounts. Combine the new encounters in 4.2 with summer being here and players having additional time to do stuff, this might be looking good for everyone in general.

Ner’zhul itself is down to something like 5 competitive 25 man raiding guilds on Alliance side (if that). Undoubtedly, there are way more 10 mans. I wonder what this means though for players who are looking to get back into the game. I presume that 10 man raiding rosters tend to be more stable and have way less turnover compared to the 25 man guild raiding counterparts.

I don’t know. What do you think, 10 man guilds? Are your rosters rock solid?

Raiding in 25s might offer easier access. But the scarcity of them might mean that its harder to find one that fits times and playstyles. It looks like its going to be a buyers market for guilds looking to augment their raiding force going into Firelands because of all the new free agent players coming back.

Speaking of recruiting tools, more on this later.

11 thoughts on “They Are Making a Comeback!”

  1. Question is, though, are these people going to stick around, or are they going to get bored again and bail midway through heroic progression only to return once more when tier 13’s a few weeks out?

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  2. I’m not sure about 10-man rosters not having as much turn-over. Sure, you’ll see more of the same people every raid, but if you lose someone, realistically, how difficult is it to replace one person? In a 25-man environment 1 person likely won’t break a raid… in a 10-man it might.

    If you lose 2 in 10-mans, it can be catastrophic (haha) to a raid team, especially if you haven’t planned for backups. In a 25, maybe not so bad — it all depends on your preparation.

    By now, I’m sure you’ve heard from Lodur about my husband apping. It’s pretty safe to assume I’m not far behind.

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  3. I know the core of my 10 man roster is solid. Basically 7 players that are always there. But the last 3 spots are somewhat up in the air as to who’s going to be on, both in and out of guild that night.

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  4. Take Sarlalian’s comment and double it. I’ve spent the better part of three months trying to get a consistent handle on the last 3 spots in my raid (healer, main spec tank, ranged DPS), but it’s been a chore. If even one person doesn’t show, we’re pretty much hosed if it’s a progression night, esp. since we’re only 8/12 normal at the moment.

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  5. While I play on a tiny server, the 25 mans have far more success then 10s. Ally side there is only 1 even reasonably competitive 10, and only at 6/13hm. For 25 there are 4 guilds that you could join to get in the raiding game. Seems you have the reverse situation on your server.

    It is interesting how the 10 and 25 man guilds see each other. Really, we have mostly the same problems I think…

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  6. Turnover in 10s is high as well. Not in changing complete rosters, but finalizing them is hell. In the last 6 months we went through 6 mages and 5 holy paladins, on top of few other people coming and going. Most of them just stopped playing without a word, some just left guild on raid day and changed servers, you name it. We got 7-8 stable and proven raiders, the rest is pain in the ass to fill… As well-

    Looking at the EU recruitment forums, you see 10+/13 guilds jumping blue geared players and whatnot so our 5/13 just isn’t interesting enough. What the hell is up with this sort of thing anyways? I’ve seen a guy who took break at start of Cataclysm, killed something like 3/12 demanding(!) at least 12/13 guild, prefferably 13/13 core spot(this was like month ago, so no FL recruitment). And he got some of those guilds posting in his thread. I mean, are they so desperate to take on ungeared and presumably rusty raider for hardmode progression in Firelands? I understand it may pay off, but the risk just seems too high for me.

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    • What risk though?

      You can transfer realms, faction swap and it costs the host guild nothing but a little bit of time.

  7. Warcraftrealms is showing a bit of an uptick, but it’s still small compared to the massive decline from early January.

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  8. Matt this blog seems to be an amazing recruitment tool for you, how do I get one?

    Our ten man team has been pretty stable leading up to summertime, but there always seems to be 1 or 2 players slowly heading for the door. Gotta keep recruitment up! (Hunters and Chickens come find me, we want you.)

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  9. Our 25 man guild has had some “long since gone” players come back as well. Although they are good players they aren’t getting fast tracked into raid spots because we know they will disappear again when we have cleared 7/7 in Firelands since they disappeared before when we hit 12/12.

    As for those players who demand core spots in the guild recruitment forum etc, unfortunately it is still a buyers market for raid spots. What we have seen is a few 25 man guilds fall apart around us and we have been able to pick up some of their better players. Also we’ve taken in some promising looking people who very much want to raid and geared them through alt runs etc. They may last or they may not but their attitude has been great and they have fit into our guild culture well. Even with helping people gear we haven’t had anyone past recruit hop to a more progressed guild for the entirety of Cataclysm.

    Our server is in the top 30s for 25 mans but sitting in the 80s for 10 mans so thankfully 25 mans are still taken more seriously by the raiders on this server.

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  10. My guild had a lot of turnover till about 2 months ago. However we finally stabilized and now have 11 members that make every single raid.

    We are a casual guild, 5 hours a week, but have cleared 12/12 & 1/13

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