Many years ago, House Sole was born based on a foundation of brotherhood and offering sanctuary to those that wanted to game with honor, maturity, and standards. This pact has transcended multiple games and formats to manifest here on WoW where this tradition is alive and well, true more today than ever.
As we begin the sunset phase of Wrath of the Lich King, I foresee tremendous change in the structure of this game as it and its original player base ages. Through this change, I expect House Sole to continue to engage at a high level with cutting edge content and progression. There is much work to be done in the immediate future to complete this phase of our WoW careers as we continue to position ourselves within the server as a top guild. To me, it has never been about ranks and being #1 as much as it has been about being competitive and in the top tier. I have never been one to sacrifice our uniqueness among the other guilds and become exclusive in our membership for the sake of raiding. That being said, I take our raid and its rating seriously as a sign of accomplishment while approaching this game differently than most as we work together not as an allstar team or a group of attitudes, but truly as a Band of Brothers. There are many guilds out there that wouldn’t individually give many of us a chance - together, we are better than most.
As some of you can imagine, it is a considerable balancing act to provide a quality raid that progresses with consistency and provide opportunities to as many people as possible. We struggle with recruiting and not watering down our ranks, yet we want to improve depth. We struggle with the dynamic of giving some people chances without alienating veteran members and those that have gotten us there. One rule that I try to live by: Remember who brought you to the dance. I have done my part to help build this guild with extreme loyalty and prejudice to those that honor these values and pledge to uphold the standards that have been set. Attitude is everything!
So – some of you might be wondering where this is coming from. I havn’t crit a wall of text in quite some time, but I do so now with good reason. I am writing to announce a new age of House Sole. Timing has never been better for this guild to take things to another level. I have identified the following issues repeatedly slapping us in the face:
1. The dichotomy of a casual raid with hardcore aspirations.
2. Depth to field a quality team yet finding limited raid opportunities for people as a result.
This week, House Sole will add several serious players with alts and some casual friends/wives to our ranks. Ordo Solaris exodus has began. House Sole will provide sanctuary to this first group of Ordo members, frustrated with their own lack of leadership and a dwindling raid and guild, they are looking for a recharge and a new home. As our tradition dictates, we will welcome them in as House Sole, they are Ordo no more. Some of these players will be familiar to some of you – and for one, Anduin this is a homecoming of sorts as he was here for a time during the transition from Classic to TBC, finding at that time more opportunity with Ordo. However through that time he has remained a friend of the House and we welcome his return. It is based on his creditability and maturity in endorsing this group that gives me confidence that this will only benefit us all. The result beyond welcoming some new faces to the guild is a substantial impact to our raiding efforts:
- Considerably more depth, adding ¾ of a 10m ICC run that with accomplished players that have progressed as far as most of us in that environment. This will provide additional opportunities for more of our members to incorporate into a consistent 10m ICC.
- Added depth and experience for our raid mix. These “newcomers” may or may not break into our 25m progression ranks. Everyone will be evaluated and given opportunities. Further, scheduling has hindered our consistency and adding this depth will benefit us all. This will allow for more scrutiny to raiders’ gear, attitude, and skill when evaluating our progression raid. Anyone who doesn’t walk the line is replaceable.
- A 2nd 25m raid is a reality. Each week we leave people on the sidelines. Many of these players are skilled raiders that don’t have time to commit, are rotated around due to depth, or are still learning and aren’t quite to the pace of our main raid. With the infusion of a handful of alts, the 2nd raid will take off soon. The design will be a Sunday/Monday raid that will be considerably more causal. Random Rolls and open signup for all that meet some basic qualifications. The format to be determined, however I know how I want it to look – just need to put it all together. Efforts will be made to tighten our scheduling so people that are not in the main raid for the week will be eligible for the 2nd.
Obviously, to pull this off – it would be difficult to do formal applications for each person – they are coming as a group and forcing individual applications doesn’t make sense. A forum thread will be created so these players can introduce themselves and post their intentions per our normal app process…as in applying to raid: their main, their spec, their experience, if they are hardcore/semi/casual…will all be evaluated within the forums once invites have commenced. Further, I am not interested in taking on the baggage and drama that they leave behind. All future invites beyond this first wave will require standard application including endorsement and evaluation.
This is an exciting time for us all. I am delighted to add new friends and brothers to our ranks that have the same goals in mind. The push for the LK is on. Cataclysm is in our sights – thus was Borne a New House Sole, where brotherhood 1st, all else 2nd served as law.
Welcome to House Sole:
Confussion
Anduin
Kegyn
Purpleangel
Hellpuppy
Hellmaster
Terminus
Imursexbomb
divinedruid
...also expecting some additional cassuals...et.al.
BTW - A Professor Putricide Guild 1st never hurts either
I have a pinata!(stu hanging from a branch), beer, weed, a hooker (stu's sis), a clown (slap) and lots and lots of other fun stuff! 
