We have a new guild address up on the forums, feel free to peruse its contents! I recommend that all guild members do this.

There have been other subtle changes to the website as well, over on the right you can now see some additional links to content our guild uses, namely the switch from KTM to Omen2, and the introduction of WWStats. WWStats is a raid stat generator, it is designed to report overall raid damage, healing, and DPS. This is by no means a method for people to flex their e-peens, but is intended as a tool to help gauge where folks are sitting and help us troubleshoot any sticking points members might have with their class so we can be successful with our raids.

New policies are in place. Members need to have forum accounts made if they would like to join us in future raids, we are going to start cracking down on some of the laziness we have seen in the guild lately. The latest version of Omen and Ventrilo are also requirements. You do not need to have a mic to use Vent, but you do need to be on there to hear the dress-down and directions for boss fights. GEM members also take priority when it comes to raid rosters, if you for some reason cannot sign up on GEM, we will also start recording rosters here on the forums, raid times can be checked over on the right hand side with the calendar. Hover your mouse pointer over raid days to see times and comments. Help us to help you.

With that said, good luck raiding, we hope to see you soon in 25-mans.

Okay, with the recent flux of new members, we are going to have to bust our humps to get folks geared and raid ready for 25-mans. Here are some key things I want to point out for our new and old raiders alike:

First and foremost, get comfortable with each other. We have a lot of new folks, some who have raided before, some who have not - and for the life of me I have never seen so many shy people. Feel free to post on the forums, get on vent, and get noisy on the guild channel. We won’t bite hard, I promise.

With that said, members who are interested in raiding need to check on our minimums for raiding and intro to raiding over in the guild strategy library on the forums.

Finally, tanks. Tanks are always in short supply, it is a sad fact of life, but the make the raid go around. So, for all those tanks out there looking for a home- we could use you! Currently we are seeking tanks with T4 to intro-T5 equivalent gear. Pre-Kara tanks may be accepted, however they will be responsible for being Kara ready on their own time if they wish to join in on the Kara farming teams.

Currently we are seeking tanks of varying flavors for primary and backup roles, notably:

- (2) Protection Warriors

- (1 to 2) Feral Druid(s)

It is possible that we could use another pally tank, but variety is one of the spices of life and we seem to attract pally tanks quite well.

So, NTH has been around for a decent length of time, nearly a full year now since its creation. But, that casual hurdle seems to be more difficult to cross versus that of other guilds. Maybe it is the server we are on, or maybe it is because we are starting up raid content practically over a year after its release, but it seems that logistical battle is ever ongoing and very much difficult. We make a damn good showing in 10-man content, learning and full-clearing Kara in under two weeks, placing it on farm within the third. I am damn proud of how quickly people have learned to coordinate and work as a raid group. We are ready to move on to Z’A, but then that pull from much larger, further-progressed guilds comes knocking setting us back to square one essentially, farming Kara in hopes of pulling in enough people once again to move on to deeper content (25-mans) and ensuring people are geared for the forays into Zul’Aman. And at this point it is really kind of sad, the ‘core’ raiding group for the most part has T6 equivalent gear just from badges alone, but neither the T6 experience or progression to show for it. Not to say this is a bad thing, as hey, it will greatly help us when WotLK finally rears its ugly mug… But, the lack of successfully being able to raid T5/T6 content puts me in the doldrums. WoW gets boring and I can only imagine Z’A will lose its excitement and flavor when we eventually have it on farm as well.

But, the turning point also comes when we, hopefully, do achieve the logistical means to begin 25-man raiding. This is the point at which most people consider casual guilds stop being casual and it is hardcore raiding from here on out. And I can totally agree on that point to an extent. Yes, we may have to devote a bit more time to learning content and getting each and every fight down to its perfect art form, but by that point that will probably be the only concern. Thanks to the change in the badge system, we will not have to spend the weeks upon weeks laddering ourselves off sparce token drops and random epics, but for the most part completely focus on the essential raid aspects of making the necessary kill. In short, that is a huge time saver. But that still does not mean a great deal of time will not be spent just learning the associated content and making a raid into a well-greased machine. Still, this is putting the cart before the horse and we need to have a consistent number of people who can show they have online presence and are willing to engage with each other within the guild. (e.g. Stop being lazy).

I, and I imagine several other people within the guild who have successfully been farming Kara for quite some time now, would love nothing more than to see T5/T6 content if only to see it. But the trappings of the stigma towards casual guilds not being able to push past Kara/Z’A is really disheartening and severely limiting, because I know it can and has been done (this I know from first hand experience within another guild). So, I suppose the question remains, how can we best push ourselves forward without sacrificing all that it is we have set before ourselves? We do not want to completely shift to the hardcore raiding paradigm just to move into higher content, but we want to create the appeal necessary to pull in the allotment of players needed. What should our next step be to ensure we can maintain the success we have seen in the past, and still be able to forge a foothold into an even more successful future?

Congratulations, NTH! Kara is one more full clear away from being classified as “on farm”! Let’s keep it up on the recruiting and gearing, we’re just about ready to run a second group through as well! I am extremely proud of you guys, I cannot wait to see how well we perform when we get to T5 content.

Congratulations to NTH! Nightbane is down and the rest of the Karazhan ilk are down, we are almost ready to place it on farm status.

It is always a good sight to go from this:

To this:

Great work, guys! Keep it up!

To note, new recruits wanting to join us for raiding need to download GEM, Deadly Boss Mods, and a compatible threat meter (usually the latest Omen/KTM). Keep gearing up guys, we hope to see you raiding with us soon! Zul’Aman and Gruul’s Lair are up next!

So, what is wrong with the above picture? If you guessed three out four in the picture are NTH’ers you are quite correct! (Albeit, it is a bit hard to see). Regardless, we have been doing Kara for a while, generally we bring in about four to eight of the requisite raiders (except in the above case) and round off the odds and ends with various puggers and two of our very good buddies from Knights of Winter. The good news is, we are getting even closer to fielding more. Heck- we even have the numbers to push two groups at once already.

So what is the deal?

Lethargy seems to strike casual raiders rather wickedly, and it is quite prevalent when we could potentially pull all our resources together, kill Gruul and move on to Zul’Aman and T5 content but can never seem to gather enough people to field just one Karazhan crew. Now, it is no new fact that casual guilds try to make hardcore raiding guild accomplishments with a non-hardcore schedule- and in reality… that is totally impossible, as generally is made evident with T5 to T6 content. Then there are the members who take ‘casual’ in hand with lazy and show no real drive to perform in endgame raiding even though they voice their wantings for it. It is fairly disappointing, especially since I know a good number of our members have the competence and capability to take us very far, but just absolutely do not feel the urge to push forward in their own efforts.

Not all is bad, this behavior is changing, and folks are getting better about their commitments. Yet, there is plenty of ground still to cover and the changes are subtle if not slow. The only substantial carrot on a stick that can be held out in front to motivate people is the option to raid, and if that succeeds, the option to progress. Still, it often seems like it is not enough.

I know that we have to keep plugging away at things, keep pulling in new recruits, solidify our farm status in T4 raid content even with other folks snickering at the plight of another “Karazhan Guild”, and continue to poke people with sharp pointy sticks. However, I continue to ask myself, is there a better way? Can I make my, my officers, and my guild’s efforts more efficient? It is a continual learning process, and I will be damned if it is not frustrating sometimes. But, by the powers that be, I love it. I love it so much, I just cannot quit.

	Alliance				Horde
	2,516 9%	1,426 5%	1,871 6%	4,292 14%	4,815 16%	5,023 17%	2,136 7%	2,621 9%	1,688 6%	3,371 11%

Emerald Dream is looking fairly healthy compared to others out there in both ratio and population. We need to continue our recruitment efforts but new blood looks to be difficult to find as of late as new players hit a lull on the server due to queue times. With the recent offering by Blizzard to off-load players to The Underbog (PvP) server for free, we might cut some of the fat and get another chance for an influx of new and seasoned players, or at least kill some of the queue for a little while. Keep your eyes open for guildless players, run dungeons with random groups, get our name even more known. Not Too Hordecore will only continue to grow with the more exposure we provide ED.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It is looming over the horizon. Folks are achieving 70 at a rapid pace and we already have some people working on their Pre-Kara gear via Heroics. Keep it up!

As more folks hit 70, be sure you round out your tradeskills and start posting your masteries on the forums in the tradeskill section if we have not marked you down already. We need to start pooling together our resources for pre-raid gear and raid consumables. Regular Heroic runs will be added to the list so we can ensure folks get the badges they need. Additionally, as more folks hit 70, some time is freed up so those who are needing assistance getting their old-world content done we can blitz people through it soon. However, if you do not ask, we cannot help as we are not mind readers.

Look for information on your minimum raid requirements on the forums. Raid policies and raid scheduling will be discussed over the upcoming weeks.

I am extremely pleased at how quickly the guild is progressing and congratulations to all the various fellow members who are joining us. As we begin to approach Outlands, recruiting will be pushed up another notch so we can begin working our way up to raid content as quickly as possible and with a bit of luck have two groups eventually primed and ready for Kara when we reach that point. Naturally, this is looking well into the future, but being prepared never hurt anyone.

As a reminder, be sure to familiarize yourself with the guild ranking system and policies. Thanks!