I’m a member of a tweener guild. I feel the tweener pain. Are you a tweener?
Wuzzat? You don’t know what I mean by a “tweener” guild? I suppose I should start there.
Tweener Guild:
A tweener guild is a guild that has Kara on farm, yet can’t quite make the jump to 25 man content. There could be a number of reasons for this. Perhaps your guild can get together 10 people pretty easily, but gathering 25 well-equipped players of appropriate classes is difficult. Maybe you have tried Gruul and Magtheridon, perhaps even SSC, but members got despondent over early struggles. You, my friend, are in a tweener guild.
I have been a member of a tweener guild for some time. We have had Kara on farm for a long, long time. We probably run it 3 or more times a week, clearing it fairly easily with just about any group make up. There are people who have equipped 3 or more characters through the instance, but a lot of those people are now bored. So what can you do? There are a few options, as I see it.
Work on Zul’Aman
Many thought this would be the natural progression from Karazhan, but it hasn’t quite worked out that way. (Read my previous post on ZA, if you like.) If you are looking to choose this route, you must be prepared. ZA is FAR more difficult than Karazhan, and requires a good deal more coordination and dedication if you are to clear it. It is also a bit of a gear check, as you may find that your Kara-equipped group members are still lacking a little bit for real success. To remedy this, you can continue to work on the earlier, easier bosses (Bear, Eagle, perhaps Dragonhawk) to gear up your team. There are quite a few nice drops for most classes early on to help you along.
You are also going to need to spend a good deal of time “learning” the instance. The trash pulls in here can be quite dangerous. You’ll also find that group makeup is a bit more important. You want a diverse group of skilled players - you can’t carry along a green-geared fresh 70, as you can in Kara. The rewards for ZA are nice, both in terms of gear and experience, if you can fight through the difficulty.
PVP
Here is another option that you could focus on to keep your guild together. Put together some arena teams, maybe form some Battleground premades, or maybe just have your own guild duel tourneys. There is also some great gear to be had if you can stay dedicated. This can help shake things up on non-Kara nights or be a new challenge entirely for a lot of players that may have ignored PvP altogether.
Master Heroics
Even the tough ones. Maybe your guild has avoided Arcatraz or Shadow Labyrinth when they were the respective dailies. Maybe you fear the heroic mode of Magisters’ Terrace. Now is the time to master these tough heroics and get them on farm status. You will benefit from overcoming some of these more difficult five man challenges in terms of gear, skill and badges. After all, who doesn’t want badges right now?
Now, if you simply MUST move on to 25 man content, you do have some options.
Recruit!
Perhaps what you really need is a few more members to bring up your overall number of raiders. Trust me, there are a lot of people out there that are looking for a guild just getting started in raiding. The hardcore raiding guilds have uber requirements in terms of gear and attendance, and a more “casual” raiding policy can often draw in new members. People also like the idea of getting in on the ground floor with a new raiding guild. They relish the though of conquering the 25 man challenges, one by one. Let people know what you’re looking to do, and start recruiting!
Form an Alliance
Here is another option for smaller, more casual guilds as far as raiding. Form an alliance with similarly minded guilds. Maybe you find you’re often filling your Kara groups with members from a particular guild. See if they would be interested in forming an alliance dedicated to raiding. There’s a good chance that they are looking for the same things you are.
Now, it’s not easy to run an alliance successfully. You have to have a few people take the reigns, and it can be difficult to get all the moving parts organized. Strong leadership can overcome this, and there are some very successful raiding “alliances” out there. This also allows you to keep your “family” feel while allowing for progression. Perhaps at some point you will decide a merger with guilds in your alliance is in order, who knows?
Get your alliance started with runs at Gruul’s Lair or Magtheridon. I don’t recommend trying to jump right into SSC or TK, you need to get all your ducks in a row and make sure things are working as intended. This also gives you the opportunity to continue gearing up folks in the alliance.
Conclusion
So there you have it. Don’t fret, friend. There are options for all the tweener guilds out there, you just have to decide on how important raiding is to you and yours. Make sure you ask your guild members what they would like to see. Perhaps they are fine with continuing to farm Kara, or maybe the majority of them would like to move on. If you want to keep your guild together, the most important thing is communication. If you don’t have a site or message board for your guild, now might be a good time to get one!
In my guild, we have tried to run some 25 man content in house with some success. At some point we hope to be able to move beyond Gruul and Mags. We do have a good alliance going, and have members that are now participating in weekly SSC and TK raids, including yours truly. I like the way a good alliance allows you to progress without compromising the character of your present guild.
If all else fails, it shouldn’t be too long till Wrath of the Lich King hits, then we’ll all be too busy leveling to care! Thanks for reading!
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