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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsDoes server progression matter?
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 15th 2008 at 1:00PM
Obviously, the removal of that bit of the Sunwell Plateau isn't particularly devastating or crippling. Its inclusion could actually be crippling for the more underpopulated, raiding-light servers, holding the one or two raiding guilds back from experiencing content simply because they chose the wrong server to roll on. I can understand the removal, but my mind being the strange creature it is used this as fuel to wander to similar topics, my braincells discussing it amongst themselves.
How much does a server's progression matter? World progression is pretty universally remembered by the WoW community. Almost everyone knows world firsts, seconds and thirds. On the server level, does it matter any to you? Do you know who downed Illidan first on your server? Second? Fifth? What about Kael'thas? Will you remember who kills Kil'jaeden first?
My home server tracks all of this on our realm boards in a stickied progression thread. We have charts for Tier 4, 5 and 6 content, and we'll have one for the Sunwell. While this isn't particularly important information, it's neat to see who's where in progression, to watch raids work their way up from the ground level. As someone already hip-deep in Black Temple, it is actually very exciting to me when it's time to add another guild to the Tier 6 progression list. I love experiencing high end content, and I'm glad when someone else has a chance to see it, too.
Hm. Before I go off on too many tangents about this, do any of you play on servers that do the same? Can you name the first guild on your server to down Illidan?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Guilds, Raiding, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Sl0th Mar 16th 2008 5:48AM
Yes. I know who downed about the entire later half of TBC on my server first. They are also the only guild on our tiny realm to have downed Illidan, let alone face him. (There is one other guild closing in, but I don't think they've even touched the council yet.)
My realm, Quel'dorei, is one of the reasons they took out that stupid system to unlock the Sunwell and turned it time-based. As far as progression goes, we suck. Our first Illidan kill was less than a month ago. My own guild is only just starting on Hyjal and BT, and when 2.4 hits, there will be only a few hundred Hands of A'dal on our server. Total. Alliance and Horde.
Why is this? A number of reasons. One, we're a new realm. Quel'dorei opened its doors about a week before TBC hit. So for a long time, we were a self-contained ecosystem of newbies or re-rolls with nobody who had even touched any of the old world raids on their new characters.
So we were slow off the start, and progressing through the end game on blank slate characters means that even the fastest people took quite a while from the word go. And come 2.4, there are maybe five or six guilds who could even hope to touch the Sunwell on its release, and only maybe two who have the potential to make it through the whole thing as of now.
It is blatantly unfair that the fact our server's progression has been so slow should block those few guilds able to handle Sunwell from finishing it. You'd be forcing a hand full of guilds to do on my realm what 20 or 30 or more would do on a more populated realm. I'm never going to be in the raid that first strikes down Kil'jaeden on my realm, but I for damn sure what the people who can do it to be able to some time prior to the expansion. The gates as they originally were set up was punishment to the underpopulated realms. Plain and simple. "You don't have 20 guilds farming Illidan, getting geared up for Sunwell already? Tough. Even if you have a guild ready to go in, they're going to have to do all the work themselves to open the gates to the last three bosses."
We're a small realm in Quel'dorei. Seeing people in T6 is still something that leaves many people in awe. Just because our copy of the Sunwell will have only a coupe visitors at the start doesn't mean those raiders should have to wait for the rest of us to catch up before they have a shot at the later bosses.
Usu Mar 16th 2008 7:14AM
I care about server progression - I don't necessarily know the firsts but I know which guilds are in which content, and who is most likely to down Ilidan. (small backwater RP server here ... )