Torn

Now I know you dont run an advice column, but I find myself in a similar situation one you were in and I thought you might possible give me the insight granted of your experience. Im currently in a very small guild. We've only got 6 core players. We're all friends from work. These friends are the reason I even started playing wow. I just dinged 70 and I find myself wanting more than my guild can give. We are barely in posistion to run heroics. And to be honest only 4 of our players, myself included, have enough skill to even be successful in the heroics. But I want to see more of the game then that. I know WotLK is coming and so of the dynamics will be changing, but still my guild is not in any situation to even be close to taking the new 10 man's. My dillema is that I have been requested by a guild who's doing Kara and ZA and running Gruuls and even venturing in MH. I dont want to leave my friends high and dry without a tank. They've helped me level and get my engineering up. But I feel like if I stay with them Im doomed to PuGs and will never really progress. I guess the rub is that i hate letting people down. And I feel like I'd be letting real life friends down. One of friends who's a hunter in the guild also feels the same way, but he's not leaving because he feels the same way about letting our other friends down. - Torn

Dear Torn,

You have a unique opportunity in that all 6 of your know each other outside of game.

I'd encourage you to identify the issues the two 'less skilled' players have. Are they DPSers who do low DPS, or are they healers who struggle to with mana management or tanks who have trouble holding threat or staying alive? Perhaps you can work with them and help them raise their skill level.

Let me give you an example from "Of Teeth and Claws", she writes:

We have a mage who was consistently clocking in at 500dps, which is pathetic for a 25-man raider. After speaking with her, it was decided that the deep fire spec she was playing was no fun for her (she had adopted it to try to increase her dps), so she went back to deep frost. In addition, it came out that she lagged badly when raiding. This was resolved by walking her through lowering her video settings. The difference these two changes has made was amazing - just this week I drafted her for an "A" team run into SSC.
Work with those guys and bring them up to your level. It will be a win for everyone involved.

I'd suggest you guys all go out to lunch one day and talk about what your plans are both individually and as a guild are for the Wrath.

When I started playing WoW I had no idea what the 'endgame' was or what 'raiding' was and the kind of decisions you have to make.

If the 6 of you agree that Raiding is something you want to do at level 80, all you really need to do is pickup about 9 more people that you meet in PuGs as you level up, and you can have a solid 10 man group.

As for right now, we are probably two or threee weeks from patch 3.0 hitting and really changing the game, especially for Paladins. Prot Paladins change probably moreso than any other class. (Note to self, do post on Prot Paladin changes).

Most guilds have stopped 25 man raiding at this point, or if they haven't, 3.0 will likely put a stop to their raiding as they adjust to the new mechanics.

I'd run with the Kara guild as long as they let you run as a PuG and let you stay in your current guild.

Now if you guys are split on whether you want to Raid at 80, then you have to decide if you want to turn your guild into a raiding guild or go join a raiding guild elsewhere.

Good luck, and don't hesitate to email me again.