Hello everyone -- I'm writing this letter to bring everyone up-to-date on the latest issues affecting our 25-man raid group and why after much discussion with members and recent events I no longer feel it is working.  
 
In the past few weeks I have had numerous conversations with individuals who are displeased with one or more aspects of our raid.  I will attempt to generally enumerate them here so that everyone is aware of the issues various members have brought up:  
 
1. Several folks can no longer commit to our raiding schedule.  Whether due to family, work, or social changes in their lives, they can no longer guarantee their attendance.  I appreciate and am willing to accommodate those who communicate with me about this, but several others have stopped attending raids without any warning at all.  Or log on late and don’t bother to apologize or even say anything at all about their nonattendance.  
 
2. Some raiders have expressed frustration with the difficulty of the new Ulduar and Emalon content, and would rather continue to run Naxxramas until our gear improves.  Other raiders have expressed boredom with Naxxramas and would rather run Ulduar exclusively, even if it means many wipes.  A couple of the more strongly opinioned members of *both* sides have threatened to leave the raid group if I do not accommodate their wishes. Head Bangs against the wall.  
 
3. Examination of the logs shows that our overall DPS is not high enough for 25-man Ulduar.  Folks need to continue to work on their spec and rotations, but there's a huge gear component to this as well, which is related to #2 above.  I understand this, which is why I ran us through Malygos and Emalon this week -- the fights are easier than Ulduar and have good upgrades for most of the group.  My plan was to do Ulduar on  
Wednesday to work on Razorscale some more, but we encountered #1 above and had to call the raid.  It takes too long to fully clear Naxxramas to get to the final bosses who have gear for everyone, and yet I encounter resistance when I run us through Malygos, Emalon, and Sarth-2D instead.  
 
As raid leader, I am somehow supposed to satisfy all these conflicting issues while simultaneously preserving the friendships and attitude that has historically made our raid enjoyable for all.  The whispers I get every day are frustrating my efforts to identify satisfactory resolutions as well as actually hindering my ability to heal during raids.  On top of folks being angry that I have not fixed these problems, I have the tanks pissed at me for letting them die.  It's not a fun time to be me.  
 
I am therefore making a decision.  I'm fully aware that this decision won't be to everyone's complete liking, but am hopeful that it will address at least some of each raider's concerns as well as preserve our friendships and the laid-back enjoyable nature of our raids.  
 
We will be breaking our 25-man raid into two groups.  Those who wish to continue focusing on Naxxramas along with those who have not yet achieved the HPS/DPS requirements for Ulduar will continue to run  
Naxxramas.  Those who no longer wish to run Naxxramas will be excused from these runs, and I will fill the raid from other groups who have expressed interest in raiding Naxx with us.  Those who wish to run in Ulduar and who have appropriate output for their role will be combined with members of another raid who have expressed interest in running Ulduar with us.  
 
If I encounter a sufficient number of individuals who wish to run in the 25-man Ulduar group but don't have the gear or DPS, *and* they are no longer interested in running Naxxramas, then I will see what I can do about putting together a 10-man Ulduar group to accommodate them.  Regardless, I highly encourage everyone to join a 10-man Ulduar group as the next level of progression past 25-man Naxxramas.  
 
I'll be chatting more about this in vent over the days to come.  I appreciate everyone's input, and I hope these changes will result in a raiding experience more to everyone's liking.  
 
Figgy