I’ve wanted an Ironbound proto-drake for as long as I can remember. This weekend I got one courtesy of Open Raid.
Open Raid is a site that was born out of the cross-realm raiding feature. It’s goal is to bring raid leaders and raiders together and assist them with organizing events beyond the constraints of any given realm. It’s a fascinating concept, and it works. Well, at least it did for me.
They way it works is you go to the site, search for a raid, and then if you find one that meets your needs, you sign-up and hope the raid leader chooses you to go. In addition to needing an account on the site you will have to have a Battlenet Battletag and be willing to share that. Cross-realm raiding requires you to use RealID.
With everyone in a waiting period before Mists is released, it’s the perfect time go back and do those old raid achievements and collect that transmog gear. Now that Dragon Soul is open to Cross-realm raiders, the site is more busy than ever. After the 25th this site will probably become a lot less active as demand to run old content will go way down. I suspect it will pick up towards the end of each patch cycle, as well as that period that marks the end of an expansion.
Overall I was very impressed with my first experience. Keep in mind that Open Raid is just a tool and does not guarantee a successful run. In the end the success of a run will be determined by the person organizing it and the people attending it.
In my case the raid leader was very organized and knew his strats. The people in the raid listened to and followed his instructions. It was a very smooth run with no issues and no wipes, and the group completed every achievement for the Glory of the Ulduar Raider (25) meta.
If you do use Open Raid, it’s important that you don’t just sign-up for a raid based on content. Read the “fine print” for the events that you’re interested in. If you’re after a specific drop, make sure it’s not reserved. Check to see if there are any requirements such as having the Firelord title for doing Heroic Firelands runs. It’s important that you try and find a group that’s right for you.
With just a few weeks until Mists is released and with a few items left on my Bucket List, I’m definitely going to give Open Raid another try.
