Steve

Over a year ago, Lunacy killed Anub’arak for the first time in Trial of the Grand Crusader. At the time, we were the only guild on Proudmoore to have defeated both Alone in the Darkness and heroic Anub. But Lunacy stopped raiding shortly after this. And, since then, we’ve been extremely casual in nature.

Over the past year, I’ve had a chance to reflect on what is necessary to maintain a guild that can be healthier than Lunacy was in both of its eras (the serious and the casual).

Now, I’m sure some of you might be thinking, “What could be healthier than being the top raiding guild on the server?” The answer is simple. It’s being in a guild that can better recover from the hardships it faces. It’s being in a guild that can easily draw from within and without its membership to do what its members hope to accomplish. And it’s being in a guild that has the tools to cut the fat without jeopardizing our ability to run a raid or BG group.

With this in mind, I’ve decided to restructure Lunacy and rekindle our role in Proudmoore’s metascape. But the guild will be different than it was in the past.

Rather, instead of focusing simply on raiding, we will be structured in a manner where we can have different subgroups within the guild, each focusing on a different area and style of play. This means we can have a group that focuses on competitive rated BG play. It also means we can have a group focused on competitive raiding.

That we will have multiple groups should prove beneficial to the guild overall. For example, if a raid loses its main tank, a PvPer might be able to fill in temporarily until the raid finds a new one. Or, if we have both an American and Aussie raid, an American can fill in for the Aussie raid with an alt to help the raid when someone is going to be absent.

But to get to a point where we will have multiple established groups within the guild will not be accomplished overnight. At first, there will only be two official groups.

One group will be an American-based rated BG team, which aims to compete at a high level in the US server region. This group will be led by me, Steve (aka Lilume). With my experience as a founder and leader of the guild throughout much of its glory days, as well as my experience leading top clans in other games, I am more than capable of setting up and leading a BG team that can compete at this level. You can find more information about the team here.

The other group will be an Aussie-based 10-man raid, led by Ruined. Its goal is to defeat all “available content in a stable, efficient, and enjoyable environment,” while competing for server firsts. If you’re an Aussie, and you’re looking to shed the stresses that often come with raiding as part of a 25-man guild, but wish to maintain a competitive level of play as part of a 10-man, this is the crew for you. You can find more information about this raid here.

Over time, I will sanction new groups to fill the guildscape, so long as their goals do not conflict with the goals of groups that have already been established. But it takes a special kind of person to lead these groups, and I will be taking the care necessary to make certain the right people are in the positions to lead. That being said, I fully expect our members to occasionally run PUGs and alt raids and teams. It is this type of activity that will serve as the foundation from which new leaders and groups arise.

What Happens from Here

From here, you’re going to see some dramatic changes happening on the site. I’ll be redesigning the front page to better support the guild’s new structure. I’ll also be archiving and keeping the old site available for people to see. I think it’s important to remember and commemorate our guild’s history, especially given the great times and success we had together.

From there, we’ll be working hard to increase the guild’s activities. Even through the site redesign, we’ll be working to get people involved and to set the foundations for Cataclysm. However, while Ruined plans to be running ICC10 and evaluating people during the redesign, I won’t be running BG premades until I finish converting our forums and the site.

But I expect to get that done as fast as humanly possible, and hope to have it done well before the release of Cataclysm. So keep an eye on the site or our forums to see when I begin running premades. And keep an eye on the forums for Ruined’s notices on recruitment.

I’m excited for the future of the guild and I’m confident this new era will bring us great success and enjoyment. And hopefully this will reinvigorate the spirit many of us remember so fondly.

Here’s to the future of Lunacy!