Changes ahead?

Chaotic Divinity is a casual raid group, I'm no longer sure how much longer than can be the case.

We post four official raids a week and for the last few months, they've been exclusively for Serpentshrine Cavern or Tempest Keep. Karazhan, Zul'Aman, even Magtheridon and Gruul have been relegated to free-for-all raids on offnights.

We have a core of people who show up for around 75% of those official nights, learn the tactics get flasks/buff food and make sure their gear is fully enchanted. In as much as you can apply the term to someone in a casual group, they are the hardcore. And I suppose I'm one of them.

Then we have those who because of commitments outside game can only show up for maybe one or two raids per week. Those people are usually in over subscribed classes and end up being rotated out of some of those raids they do sign for. They'll occasionally go a week in between raids, and their gear suffers as a result of it. If they're DPSers, then their DPS usually sits noticably below the main block of DPSers and just above the tanks.

The core of CD as it stands pretty much outgears the Tier 5 content thanks to drops, badge rewards and the like. With the removal of attunements next patch, there's an overwhelming urge to say "screw Tier 5, let's go gank Mount Hyjal!". Of course at that point, the genuinely casual player probably doesn't have much hope of seeing a raid. They're barely contributing in SSC, so what chance do they have in MH? At the same time, I can appreciate the desire of our regulars to push on with the new content, being one of those myself. I've been wanting to tank Mount Hyjal waves since I first heard about it!

There are, of course, Tier 6 level badge rewards being introduced next patch, but even they'll require extensive farming, which a lot of the casual players won't have a chance to do.

I can feel a split coming in CD's near future and I'm not sure how I feel about it.