Oftentimes when raiding or applying to a raid/guild is mentioned, many people get up in arms about the fact that games shouldn't require commitment on that level. That kind of opinion is understandable, I suppose, but I certainly can't say I agree with it.

Applying to a raid isn't applying to enter an instance. Applying to a raid is applying to a team. Joining a steady raid group isn't signing your soul away to WoW, it isn't declaring your dedication to the game itself. Your application is to the people, a statement that you want to join a team. This doesn't just apply to WoW, either. It doesn't just apply to this game, it isn't a flaw in World of Warcraft.

Real life has these same situations. Can you go bowling by yourself? Certainly. However, if you want to bowl competitively in the team brackets, there's a level of dedication required. It is a game, but you're also asking to be a member of a team. That team can be your friends playing for giggles, sure. If you want a very active team capable of competing, you'll need to prove your worth. You need to show up at the appropriate times on a regular basis or you are not a desirable team member. Bowling is a social activity. So is an MMO. If dedication to your teammates is a flaw in WoW, then life itself is flawed. If being able to commit to others is an unimaginable task, well... there are other problems at work.

High-end raiding in World of Warcraft is much the same. Your dedication is not to WoW. Your dedication is to the other players, to your teammates. If this makes you uncomfortable, find content that won't require this of you. Find people who will not mind a lack of dedication on that level. They exist. There's no reason to be smarmy about people asking you to be dedicated. You're not playing for you, you're playing for your team.

Nick on WoW LJ posted about something that drives me nuts every time I head into the battlegrounds below level 70. Here's a tip: before you queue up for the battlegrounds, check the last number of your level. If it's anything below a seven, you are not prepared. Don't go in there. Level up, and then go in, because the other side (whether they be Alliance or Horde) is bringing nines, and sometimes even twinks.

Now I know that's a tough suggestion to follow-- even I, despite being driven so nuts by this, have wanted to try out my new spells so much that I've taken some level 44s and 22s into the battlegrounds. But the fact is that at the lower end of each ten levels, you're just not anywhere near powerful enough to either do much or survive in a BG. And the people that did show up to play at 29 and 49 and 59 are just being left shorthanded by having lowbies on their team. Maybe teamwork can help a lower-leveled team power past a team of 8s and 9s, but since teamwork is missing in most PuG battlegrounds, I haven't seen it yet. And yes, a well-timed root of any level, or any other utility spell, can save a BG, but it wont if that root gets resisted.

Is there a fix that Blizzard can implement? I don't think so-- even if they gave 9s their own BGs, then 8s would complain, and even at 70, gear can be so inconsistent that it still doesn't matter that everyone in the BG is the same level. But if your level ends in 1, please don't even bother going into a BG-- go level up (leveling pre-60 is super fast now), and then come back to actually help your BG team win.