Raiding

Last night Mezztastic from Amenta asked if we would like to raid with their alliance.

I'm torn on this. One the one hand I think it may mean some guys not getting to play but on the other, it would be nice for when we dont have enough on.

My thoughts are, we usually raid fri/sat they raid sat/sun. The best option for us really i think be to let any guys they have join us on a friday, our guys who want to raid extra. join them on a Sunday and each do their own raids on a saturday.

Dunno how they'd feel about that though.

thoughts please guys........

I don't really mind Just if we have things scheduled for Sunday i think it should have priority over the raid with them maybe? I usually can't make Friday raids anyways so it would only be Sat/Sunday that i could

As long as it doesn't mean someone in guild needs to sit out becouse of any of them being in the raid it's ok I guess...
my opinion is guild member always have priority over outsiders.

I am pretty sceptical about actual raid alliances as I have never seen one form that has not led to a guild split ultimately in any game I have ever played in and we have seen it in various forms happen in Vg too (though not to us).

that fact aside obviously we have had a recent issue, but Shad and I at least have discussed the raiding aspect to MNR and indeed our membership levels in that regard.

Its not been great of late I know, so lets not dwell on the fact, In theory we have enough mains to raid. realistically I think we will push to 12 man (sometimes more sometimes less).
I am very much in favour of recruiting (if findable) 6 more peeps (50% of which MUST be raid capable) this would resolve our raid issues.

Further to this I would be open to a raid alliance in the future but i think we have to choose very carefully with whom we go with, both from the raid experience offered and our own members and priorities... obviously lock out timers etc are pretty important in this.

recently Shad (and Mho) have discussed linking up with TSS in a similar combine as their raid alliance formally comes to an end on 28/12 as SoTD have basically asset stripped all the other raid alliance guilds (forgive my cynical opinion) and TSS are left with non hardcore raiders as well.

I think all the options need exploring as personally I am not really interested in making raids easier for us by utilising group 4 till the later levels when it is actually needed, to do so early takes away all challenge and basically reduces the first half of APW into a loot grind, and I (personally) am still opposed to using group 4 in raids full stop for this reason and indeed to ensure the raid itself is something that all enjoy and benefit from... just being dragged along is a very crap way to raid even if you are getting loot, I did it early on with Ancient Heroes and it makes APW experience meaningless. Add to the fact we will soon seee a higher level cap (and thus APw getting slightly easieer) makes me want to avoid exceeding the 18 man limit we have tried to stick to) even more.

However all that aside I do believe that the lower 50% of APW will need the 18 group and I am not sure we will be able to do that further making me think a raid alliance of somekind WILL ultimately be needed. I just think we need to make sure its right for us on a more Adhoc than formal basis and with the right guild/group of guilds.

Again my personal feelings lend to an approach with TSS on the subject as they (now raiders are absent) are more akin to us in perception of game than a raiding guild that is light on numbers... so discuss further and then we can judge the feedback and maybe even have a big online chat with skype and GC it just needs to be calm to avoid being chaotic.. I do think we should decide quickly though so that we can push in whatever direction we choose.

A lot of people said to me that new raiders would not be able to 12 man the raid APw stuff and we did it, I still think that we are a pretty solid raid group when in top form, and we deliver raids with few rules and an informal manner which is a BIG +.
So MNR first, MNr with a casual raid partner second.lol am rambling now on spelling edit as I have lost me thread so thats it haha
Just my initial reactions I am sure more discussion will ensue, but I dont think we should jump at this more view it very carefully.

I think we can manage on our own for the time being

keep in mind that family Cass joint Amenta !
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all in all we should explore our own goals and targets.

do we want a vital guild for long terms in Vanguard ?
do we wanna focus on raids and high end content ?
do we want to stick together beyond Vanguard ?

please see a raiding questionnairre i have compiled in the group hunts section...

Its pretty basic but I want to try and get a feel for what people want from guild hunts generally speaking.

well from the general impression i'm getting, the feeling is that as a guild, we should try to keep to ourselves regarding raid alliances.

Of course this doesn't stop guys going into apw with other guilds and groups, in fact, that can be very useful for getting info for us, for when we do take the guild in, as we are seeing now with pred.

I found that passage by myself ^^