Okay, so I haven’t done much in the way of providing “eclectic musings for [any] WoW player” of late, but I did warn you there’d be more to this blog than “just WoW.”

However, in the past month, a lot has changed, so I should bring everyone up to date.

Guild Merger

Just before I left on vacation early last month, The Oroborus entered discussions with Closed about a raiding alliance, so both guilds could more easily take part in 25-man Ulduar raids. At the time, we (The Oroborus) were having problems just fielding a 10-man raid for more than one night each week, while Closed was falling a few short of filling a 25-man raid.

Just as my vacation began, we started raiding with Closed, and fairly successfully too. In short order, the combined group was able to down Ignis (whom we couldn’t get down even in 10-man), past XT to Auriaya, Kologarn, Iron Council and Hodir.

Within a couple weeks, discussion turned to a merger, which occurred a bit faster than many (including, I confess, myself) might have liked. Although initially the information we were provided was that DKP would be looked at, we ended up using Closed’s Zero-Sum system. As a result, many (myself included, but not big deal for me) had negative DKP based on the conversion rates used.

The Oroborus was essentially absorbed by Closed, and our GM and one other officer became officers in the new guild, joining the three officers originally managing Closed. While I maintained some reservations, I can safely say those have been dissipated since my return.

There was a lot of angst—and anger—in our (Oroborus) officer forum for a week or so, but we’ve managed to iron everything out, and generally, folks are satisified. I say “generally”: There are a few who are not happy, especially with how DKP turned out. Ironically, one of those is the person who determined the conversion formula, and who also is in the plus column. By the same token, he believes we gave up more than we should have with the merger. However, we also had the most to gain, so I can’t help but see the merger as a huge win for us.

It’s been great to raid 25-man content again, and know we have a solid shot at clearing stuff every night we raid. (Normal schedule is 7:30-11 PM Tue-Thu, with 10-mans generally on Friday and Saturday. We’re also trying to run some 10- and 25-man Naxx to gear up other folks; eventually, we’d like to have two 25-man raids, or at least a 10- and 25-man Ulduar running simultaneously.)

Progression…and Regression

Progression…we haz it! The Oroborus had downed Flame Leviathan on 25-man. We had downed up through XT on 10-man (but not Ignis). Since I got back from vacation and started raiding again, we’ve killed all the bosses from FL through XT twice, including a hard mode FL. Kologarn has fallen (including a 1-shot last night), as has Iron Council. In 10-man, we’ve added Hodir to the kill list.

Personally, I’ve made out like a burglar, despite my negative DKP. I’ve increased my WoW Heroes score from right around 2100 to 2336 as of last night, including best-in-slot Ironmender in my off-hand.

In addition, we ran 25-man VoA as a guild on Friday—my first time in there since Emalon was added. Not only did I snag my T-8 legs, but I won the roll on the Grand Black War Mammoth! (Saturday, Kestrel went on a guild 10-man run, and Archavon dropped both hunter items; I was the only hunter! Sadly, neither was a true upgrade for me.)

Unfortunately, two weeks ago we were unable to down Hodir (25-man) and last week, we failed miserably on Freya. Maybe we’re in a slump: Last night, we skipped Ignis and Razorscale to give ourselves more attempts at either Freya or Hodir. [Cue laugh track.] We sucked horribly at Auriaya, after one-shotting Kologarn, so we moved over to Iron Council. Suffice to say, our efforts there were even worse (although we had Council down to 107K before we wiped: one rogue was DC’d for the entire fight; epic fail there).

I’m not sure I’ll be able to raid tonight or tomorrow (we’re entertaining our daughter-in-law and granddaughter for a few weeks), but I certainly hope we have more success than we had last night.

Wrapping Up

While there may be some negative aspects of our merger with Closed, overall the pluses—25-man raids, progression, and gear upgrades, in that order—outweigh the minuses. And even if some former Oro folks may still be disaffected, my loyalties are with Closed, for better or for worse.

Meanwhile, back in WoW… is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie