Current status (10.09.2009): We are currently considering all exceptional applications for recruitment
Progression
Time for a little update.
Over the last three months or so progression through ICC10 has been going a bit up and down. Generally we would have many sign ups for the Wednesdays, which then would be drastically reduced towards the end of the raiding week. Too often this resulted in canceled raids and little time to no time to spend on the difficult bosses. We've also had some trouble with gearing up some new players just to see them promptly disappear, and then having to find replacements. And then we've had several of our regular raiders with commitments outside the game and thus unable to raid. Throughout that period I've also heard a lot of questions about the option of recruiting back to 25-man raiding status. All combined, it has been fairly troubling and frustrating and I figured I would write down what the current situation is and the outlook for the future.
Currently, out 10-man raids seem in fairly good shape, with the recent additions to the group and the progress we've been making on the Lich King encounter, I think we should be able to move on to heroic modes in 10-man within the next week or so. Last night we got very close to phase three, and as that one is supposed to be a bit easier than phase 2. we should get through that soon. We may still get one or two additional people into UL to generate a little bit extra backup with the summer slump in mind but we'll be discussing that over the next two weeks or so.
As for recruiting back to 25-man status, there are several reasons why I don't really want to move in that direction. The most important reason is that I want to maintain a quality group for raiding that is able to have fun. I want UL to be raiding the final content of the game, and that at a decent level. First kills on the server aren't my priority, but I don't want us to be stuck somewhere halfway due to lack of quality either. Seeing how hard it has been to get enough people to sign up for the tough bosses on 10-man, getting 25-people willing to do that is going to be a huge job. Keep in mind that we have the summer slump incoming, and that we would have to weed through all the applications - selecting the good from the bad - and hopefully get matching personalities to avoid drama. I fear that it is just an exercise in futility. Then there was the recent post by Blizzard stating that in Cataclysm the 25-mans and 10-mans will drop the same loot (same ilvl as well) and will share the lockout, the only real difference being the amount of loot and gold dropped. This removes the "need" to run 25-mans just to get the best gear in game, and validates the existence of 10-man raiding guilds like ours. It is still early days and Cataclysm is probably still at least half a year away, but I'll keep an eye out for how this will develop. A final reason for not moving into 25-man raiding again is simply a lack of time, properly organizing 25-man raids requires lots of it and I don't have it. So unless we have some very motivated people jump up and tell me "yes, I would love to organize that, you just come and tank for us" it isn't likely to happen in the near future.
To sum it up, I think we're in good shape as far as 10-mans are concerned. Cataclysm looks to support our current guild style in a great way (I can't wait to see what they will do with the "guild talents"). UL is very much alive and kicking the Lich King. He'll be on his face soon!
