Project Lore

Each time a new Vault of Archavon boss is added, it seems that a PUG's chances of actually completing a full run decrease more and more.

VoA, when you're in a situation like mine in that your faction rarely holds Wintergrasp, can be a tough raid to pre-plan. Once you hold Wintergrasp, your regular 10- or 25-man groups likely aren't entirely on, and other guildies may already be saved to the raid. But those two Emblems of Frost for each kill of Toravon are precious loot that you don't want to pass up; usually, the situation calls for a PUG.

 For many PUGs entering the vault, the main problem won't be actually taking down Toravon and his stony buddies, but instead staying together long enough to get through all four bosses. Perhaps because of this issue (or perhaps to ensure that you don't get saved to the instance before taking down Toravon in case some of your raid comrades aren't the most well-geared or competent players around), most raids I've been in start off with the newest boss.

Hopefully you'll get him down within a couple of tries (he's not the toughest guy around, especially for a crew that's geared for Icecrown Citadel). And hopefully your loot-divvying process will be completed without any would-be ninjas.

Then, just when you're ready to head to Koralon, someone drops the group. If you're lucky, it's not the main tank, a healer, or one of the top dps'ers. If it is one of those, others may also start to drop like flies, and you'll be hard-pressed to continue. Or, it may just take you a few minutes to reconfigure your group based on players' off-specs. You won't be able to recruit anyone new now that Toravon is down, and the Wintergrasp clock is ticking. So you continue on.

And so the process continues. After each boss (or after any wipes), a group's makeup gets more and more volatile as it loses more raiders. Granted, you don't need a full raid to take out Koralon, Emalon or Archavon, but you also are unlikely to succeed at all if you lose half the group. Also, I'm sure there are some groups that collectively agree beforehand that they only want a shot at Toravon. And in that case, more power to them. But for those groups that would like a crack at the other bosses, having that fair shot taken away is frustrating.

I know there's plenty of reasons why some people would have to drop group, some legitimate. Perhaps putting the group together put way longer than expected, and theyre just busy with RL. But others seem to drop after the first boss because they don't want the Emblems or Triumph or the gear that the other bosses drop, and don't care whether the rest of the group might want a chance at those items for off-specs or a fair chance at the Grand Black War Mammoth.

Without all those hurdles along the way, VoA is not a long instance and can be completed in about the same amount of time as a WotLK heroic.

I wish there was some system that could be implemented to encourage players to complete the full raid.  Perhaps upon downing each of the four bosses, another high-level loot chest becomes unlocked (with fewer pieces than what each boss gives individually). Or, after all four are slain, the player receive one additional Frost emblem. Or a loot bag with a random (even rare) shot at a piece of gear or epic gems. Anything that would encourage raiders to stay.

What do you think would be an appropriate reward? Or what other solutions do you see for a successful VoA PUG?