Bulwark will cease operations in World of Warcraft Anniversary and transition to World of Warcraft Forever this fall. We will continue to organize and lead Phase 3 TBC raids up to the Forever release date as long as there is sufficient interest within the team.

There is still a lot that we don't know about Forever (e.g. details about the primary raid size) so we don't have a lot of firm information to share with you at this point about our plans there. You can, however, plan on Bulwark rolling Horde on a/the PVE server.

For our final weeks in Anniversary, we are going to make the following changes:

... We will no longer be running splits. There will be one roster every reset up until Forever releases - again, as long as interest is there. This week we will start in Mount Hyjal on Tuesday, move to Black Temple when done and then use Thursday for any needed clean-up. We may tweak that in the future, depending on your feedback.

We still have several teammates that have not cleared BT yet. Please reach out to a member of leadership - or hit the create-a-ticket tool in Discord - if you are willing to be a Standby roster option.

... Gems mined/looted from raids will be distributed to members for immediate use.

... Same with Hearts of Darkness. If you need some for a piece of crafted gear, request some in the ⁠guild bank channel.

... Guild bank funds will be used to purchase raid consumables for members (e.g. Engineering explosives, flasks) along with Enchanting materials.

We are still several weeks away from Phase 2, but I wanted to take a quick opportunity to discuss our plans and share what you can expect once the phase launches.

AN UPDATE ON OUR PREPARATIONS

We have three sets of leather Frost Resistance, a plate Frost Resistance set, and a plate Nature Resistance set crafted and stored in the guild bank. We have the mats for another pair of plate resistance sets and several sets of resistance jewelry.

If Blizzard gives us pre-nerf Tier 5 – this seems unlikely – we will craft Arcane Resistance sets for Solarian soakers.

These preparations have put a decent dent in our guild bank funds, but we have sold off some of our Vanilla enchanting and raiding supplies to help offset that a bit.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT EARLY IN PHASE 2

If Phase 2 launches on a Thursday, as is customary, we will run a pair of Magtheridon/Gruul splits that Tuesday and then go directly into Tier 5 content during our Thursday raid.

The final full reset of Phase 1 will be the last time we organize Karazhan runs as part of our normal raiding schedule. From the beginning of Phase 2 on, sign-ups for optional Karazhans will be posted for off-days, much like ZG and AQ20 last year.

We will run splits as quickly as possible; my personal expectation is that we will get to that point no later than the second full reset of the phase. Gruul's Lair will be worked back into the schedule once we are comfortably clearing Tier 5 content in less than three hours.

HOW THE ROSTER WILL BE CHOSEN

We have around 35 people on Bulwark's raid team, which means we will have to make some hard decisions about the launch-day roster.

Those decisions will be based on a combination of factors, including but not limited to comp, mechanical performance, usage of consumables, attendance, and, in the case of DPS, production.

If you want to make our job as hard as possible – please! – make sure you are fully enchanted each week, popping your consumables, and following your assigned tasks in-raid.

WE WILL TRY FOR AN EXTRA RUN

This may be a second clear run or a continuation of Thursday's progress, but we will put up an optional sign-up for the Sunday or Monday of launch week to give more people an opportunity to see Tier 5 that first reset.

REMINDER!

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about rosters – or anything else! – please use the create-a-ticket tool in our Discord to open up a private chat with the entire leadership team.

If your availability suddenly changes and you are unable to attend a raid you were rostered for, please let us know via the ⁠create a ticket tool.

With the TBC Anniversary pre-patch launching next week, we wanted to share a deeper look at our plans for Bulwark as we all move into Outland. You will find that information in the YouTube video below.

You can also access the slide deck here in case you would like to examine that further.

Bulwark will largely operate as we have over the last 10 months. Preserving the team culture that we have all built together will remain our top priority. The current leadership team will remain in place. Our raid days, times and loot system will stay the same. The goals - have fun, kill bosses fast, parse, clear content - also aren't changing.

The transition to Outland will force some changes on us, of course. Raid sizes will drop from 40 to 25 and 20 to 10. Shamans will be available as a playable class. And group/raid buffs will play a far more significant role in a team's performance than they did in Classic.

We will run a complimentary raid composition - meta or meta-adjacent - in order to best accomplish all of those goals. That means plenty of Shamans and utility spots for specs like Arms Warrior, Shadow Priest and Balance Druid. This also means fewer spots for Rogues and Fury Warriors.

Bulwark will also lean more into splits than we did in Classic. We're interested in your feedback here but the tentative plan is to spin up splits once we are clearing current content in a single raid night. Nothing is set in stone but we will likely require a split character from Raiders that join during or after pre-patch. Legacy Bulwark members (i.e. current Bulwark members) would be exempt from this requirement if they don't want to raid on two characters.

We'll see you in Northrend, KT.