Dear Scumbags,
As we're finishing up with Highmaul and moving on to the next step in WoD raiding with Blackrock Foundry, we have gotten ourselves into a pretty great position. We have, as it turns out, exactly 20 raiders at the moment. We are also among the most progressed guilds on the server, despite a two week break for the holidays and an extra week on top of that waiting for those bastards Hallaer and Aarroun to return. Plus, we've managed to accomplish this on a fairly relaxed schedule and with a very relaxed atmosphere and attitude. These facts speak volumes about the quality of our members and the structures and principles of our guild.
But it was not easy. There have been significant challenges over the last three months as we have transitioned not only back into raiding after a very long break, but also as we have been growing from a 10 person guild back up to a 20+ person guild. We have met these challenges and overcome them, and there are a great many guilds who would not have been able to do that. So first and foremost, this is a big Thank You to our members. Thank you for your commitment to the guild and for the consistency of your raid attendance. Thank you for the trust you've placed in me, I do not take it lightly. Thank you for being friends and teammates first, individual raiders second, and asshole pricks never. This April 1st will be the five year anniversary of the guild, and whether you've been a member since Ice Crown, or if you just joined last week, thank you for being a part of The Art of Ruin.
We should definitely take this moment to pat ourselves on the back, because like I already mentioned, we have officially reached the 20 raider mark. This, of course, does not mean we are immediately ready for Mythics. We still have a lot of work to do, and many more difficult challenges to overcome, but nonetheless we set a goal before the expansion to reach this point, and now we have achieved it. That deserves a moment, at least. We need to continue recruiting, however, because we are not done finding great members until we have 30 raiders and can max out our heroic raids. At that point, I might then maybe possibly perhaps I dunno consider saying we are putting a pause on recruitment. Until then, keep finding us more great raiders. There is already a plan for handling the transition to 20 person Mythics with more than 20 raiders in the guild, so let's give ourselves that breathing room and those options and bring more people into the guild. (I will outline that plan at a later date, but it's pretty simple and obvious.)
Continue to improve your personal performance, not just through gear but through better GUI set ups, better addons, better keybinds, better rotations, better research, more practice. Make sure you are at your best, because we will not have room for anything less when it's time for Mythics. Continue having great raid attendance, and we will continue killing shit.
So anyway, fuck you guys, I hope you get hit by a car,
-Frightening/Echodyne