As our Ulduar 25 man’s now stand, we have more people who want to go than we have spots for. Who gets priority? As someone who is not in Prolific nor DP, I am only interested in the raid as a whole. What I saw last night had me slightly irritated.

I realize that you want Prolific members to get priority, but how do you justify bringing in a new recruit over someone who has been here almost every night for the last two months? 25 man is not the place to be testing anyone, especially if we find out that they don’t know the fights. I am probably one of the few people that doesn’t care about my repair bill and could wipe all night and still have fun. However, if I can understand a fight, I feel that anyone can. No one is a bigger ditz than me. If they don’t understand the fight, why are they there? We are wiping when we could have had someone in the raid that knows what they’re doing and would have been an asset.

How do you justify bringing in a Prolific member that none of us has seen for months over someone in DP who’s been here almost every night? Because they’re in Prolific? I realize that the guild is your baby, however, your guildie abandoned us and you. They conveniently disappeared around the time Ulduar came out and now suddenly they’re back. Maybe it’s coincidence, but either way, it doesn’t look good for them. When you brought in the Vet rolls and people complained that they didn’t have one, your response was, “Yeah, you had great attendance in Naxx. Where have you been for Ulduar?” I am asking the same thing. Congratulations, Mr. Prolific Member, I remember seeing you around a lot for Naxx, but where have you been for Ulduar? The answer is ultimately NOT HERE. Whereas, DP members have been here.

With the introduction of Veteran rolls and encouragement for attendance, by taking Prolific members who we’ve never seen or haven’t seen in months and giving them a spot over the people who have been attending but aren’t in Prolific nor can they be, it’s sending a mixed message. You are getting the attendance you want, but then you’re turning around and slapping some people in the face by saying Prolific members have priority just because they’re in the guild.

If this is truly a raid with progression as the goal then the priority should go to those with the attendance.

I am happy to agree that Prolific members should get invites first – if they’ve been here. If they haven’t been here, honestly, they aren’t helpful or even beneficial. They are a hindrance and should be sent to your 10 man’s in order to learn the fights and where we don’t have to stop the raid in order to explain it to them and ensure they aren’t going to wipe us.

In much the same way the I earned the rights to get shards over healers in Prolific, I feel that some people have earned rights over Prolific members to have a spot in the raid. In my mind, this is who has priority (myself and Morrissa not included because we’re just there):

1.      Prolific members who’ve been attending raids regularly

2.      DP members who’ve been attending regularly

3.      Any other regulars (like Mez or Nathon)

4.      Prolific members that we haven’t seen since Naxx

5.      DP members we haven’t seen since Naxx

6.      Prolific new recruits (Unless they’ve been raiding with us for a time already)

7.      DP members we’ve never seen

8.      PUGs

However, you are awarding spots simply because one is in Prolific, not because they have been here helping us. I realize that you have an obligation to your guild, but at the same time your guildies should have an obligation to you as well: you asked them to be here for Ulduar, and they were not. Others rose up to help you out so that we could get into Ulduar and start making it through. Now those who were there to help are being asked to step aside so that someone who hasn’t helped us at all can come in and take up some space.

If you’re goal is not progression, but to make this a purely Prolific run, then that’s fine. However, you have stated that this is a progression run. If that’s the case, why does Mihimaru sit over Kudan? Why did Angrylitlman almost come in over, again, Mihimaru/Jaltis? Honestly, that last example is what has me writing this. Now, I like Angry, and knew and ran with him before I even joined the Prolific raids. However, he hasn’t been here in Ulduar with us. I haven’t seen him in months – not on my friend’s list and not in Prolific channel. That so many people were asking for him to come in over Mihimaru, who asked for an invite when they went out, who has sat multiple times now for others, quite simply makes no sense to me. Last night I even thought it was rude.

I know you as much as the rest of us want to get through Ulduar. We shouldn’t be sitting the people who have helped us get there in favor of people who haven’t been in unless we have the space for them. When you have 30 regulars who want to go one night and you put it in someone who hasn’t even been in, it looks like you don’t appreciate what they’ve helped us all accomplish. If one night you were to tell me that you have a new recruit, they’re a healer, and they’re to take my spot for the night, honestly I’d be a little put out. I would take it personally. I invest my time with you because I like Prolific, and DP too, and I enjoy spending my evenings raiding with you guys. If you were to tell me that, and to tell me that they have a spot simply because they’re in Prolific, it would be a blow to my esteem. It would mean that I mean nothing to you because I’m not in your guild. But I’m as much a person as those in your guild, as is anyone else in the raid. We have all invested our time with you. We have all put in many more hours that just the raid times because we had to go out and farm hundreds of gold to pay for our repair bills at the end of the night and go only one or two bosses down to show for it. Why should that be cast aside, why should it mean nothing, just because someone “is in Prolific?”

I love your guild and I love the people in it, and I consider myself a member even if I don’t have the tag under my name. When alts need gear, I’m there healing Naxx 10 for them. I am happy to help out. I’m also happy to help out DP when they’re running their monthly Naxx 25, just as they’re happy to help out Prolific with some of their alts or toons who were unable to attend Ulduar 10 when we need people. It’s a nice relationship. Honestly, I don’t think it’s unfair to ask some Prolific members to sit over DP people who’ve been attending 25 man with us unless they can offer more justification than “I’m in Prolific.” Earn a spot, don’t just expect one because you think you’re special.

When you were deciding how to deal with fragments, your solution was to pick the person with the highest attendance to give them to. You didn’t simply give them to a Prolific healer because they’re in Prolific. Why not give out raid spots the same way? We’re not ready yet to carry new people through unless we have to. Why force it? In the end it only means we progress less, when we could be heading forward. If the goal is progression, then let’s go for it. Either way, people are going to be unhappy because they’re not in and someone else is. But, in much the same way that Carmuh and Yoseketh were all for me getting shards, I would think people would understand that someone who has put it in more than them has earned more than them.