Anyone who has had a passing interest in the state of Horde PvE on Silvermoon over the last few months will have witnessed some quite apocalyptic times. Virtually every major end-game guild has splintered, broken, sundered and split. Sometimes it has been quite amicable and sometimes it has been very very painful indeed. New guilds have come and gone, mixing and matching members of the other guilds. It has been a very turbulent time.
However, it has thrown up one marvelous achievement. A metaphoric shoot of hope growing through the ashes of the pre-Burning Crusade destruction.
The High End 'Elite' PUG!
See, the new smaller guilds so not quite have enough people to run a full MC run. Some don't have enough people to do Zul Gurub. However, they do have burgeoning friends lists and more than enough people scattered around guilds who can vouch for people to join their raids.
So what does this mean? It means that the horrid guild snobbishness that prevailed has been forced to disappear. I was lucky enough to be on a Molten Core run with players from half a dozen guilds - including some that had previously been plundering Naxx and AQ40. I was thrilled that there was no 'looking down the nose' and no patronisation. These players who have gone far beyond where I have simply seemed to assume that I - well, tbh, we - knew what we were doing and could get on with our job. And we did.
Now there are plans for PUB Blackwing Lair runs (!), regular MCs, a frantic schedule of ZGs and some AQ20s. I even saw a PUG AQ40 yesterday!!
So what makes this era of inter-guild cooperation so bizarre? Well, two things really. Prior to the Great Sundering, a lot of guilds (including my own) were very stand-offish about being included with other guilds. We were superior to many and inferior to most and we knew our place in the hierarchy. Now thats all gone to pot and the 'strata' of player that you place yourself next to in comparison is less guild based and more activity based. Hell, it's like which team you get picked for at school.
The second thing is the loot rules: ironic in that this was the silliness that caused the downfall of the Dungeoneers. The accepted rules are simply stated at the start of the raid (usually 1 epic per person unless all pass, and T2 priority to mains) and everyone unquestioningly agrees. No mess, no fuss, no points, no lists - just need and greed.
*shakes head*
Who would have thought eh?
Neil
1 comment:
I agree, the new way guilds are just banding together is great. And the way loot is now being distributed across these elite pugs is sort of ironic.
At the same time, I suspect it is purely situational, and I suspect all will go back to normal when the new endgame is reached - especially on the looting front.
Still, you never know, now people have learned that all that loot WILL be replaced come another expansion, and a lot more casual-like people will be doing raids (due to how they are structured and the 25-man cap), you never know :)
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