No, it isn't the name of the
latest Legendary item to appear in Azeroth, although it certainly possess that kind of power. Summer, with all of its sunshine, growth, and activities, may not be in Azeroth directly, but the season is a force to be reckoned with nonetheless. With school over for most kids, nearly every human being is going to want to enjoy their few months of sunshine. Me? Well I turn in to a freckled lobster when those rays lick my skin, so I do my best to avoid the giant ball of fusion.
Here's the rub, my guild isn't full of pale Irish people who's only natural UV defense is to catch a tan through a screen. Due to this pesky little "evolutionary" trait I have found summer to be an incredibly boring period inside World of Warcraft, at best. At worst, it's nearly caused my (two times former) guild to collapse, twice, and my former guild to all but disappear from the WoW. Now I am fearing if my current guild will have a similar fate.
Looking back, it seems like previous summers were set up to be a disappointment. By the time kids left school the most recent content was incredibly stale. To boot there was nothing on the immediate horizon, a dangerous pairing of inactivity and zero hype. I would never think that Blizzard would plan such a thing on purpose, after all, letting people escape the game for too long is dangerous, but the early days of WoW were marred with inconsistent content development that caused these unfortunate coincidences.
Fast forward to June 2009 and it looks like we
might be safe. First and foremost, Ulduar is still fresh to nearly the entire playerbase - especially Chinese players, a group that hasn't even received Wrath yet! Backing up, or filling out if you prefer, the new raid content is the excitement around Patch 3.2. We already know
some basics, and
major changes, have an inkling of the
upcoming Battleground and have been teased with
massive additions to the Argent Tournament grounds. As guilds begin to put Ulduar on farm (I don't see this happening for at least another month) players will increasingly turn to waiting for the next big thing. But the hype can only hold onto us for so long. I think Blizzard timed Ulduar correctly, whether by coincidence, or on purpose, who knows, but here's to hoping Ulduar stays fresh for the summer. If not, then let's hope that Patch v3.2 comes out in a timely fashion.
Has your guild been destroyed or nearly so by a past summer? Do any of the GMs, officers or raid leaders have any tips to keeping things running during these lax months? The second time All That Remains almost failed we rolled the bored players into PvP groups and tore apart Magtheridon's horde for a solid month. The mass genocide of five races held us over till the end of the summer. Twas an interesting way to save a hardcore PvE guild to say the least.
We'll see how things play out, but I am looking forward to spending a portion of my lazy summer days in Azeroth. I just hope there will be others to play with.
Click to read more ...
iTZKooPA on 