The (very recent) rumors appear to be true and we've lost yet another top 25 man guild. Exodus are the most recent victim of this trend and didn't survive long after their merge with vodka, but they did manage a No.5 spot in the world rankings as well as a US third. That final placement wasn't really in line with the expectations at the inception of the merge, as vodka and Exodus were the No.2 and 3 US guilds in the previous tiers and were both ahead of Midwinter, who got the better of them this time around. The end started quite a bit before the final boss fell in ToT, however, with a significant number of members quitting mid-tier. It was already known that a lot of members would quit after progress had ended, but in the end when all the missing were tallied it simply did not add up to a large enough roster to stay competitive in the race.
This all happened yesterday so there aren't any plans in place for a 10 man at the moment, but that could change, as well as some members potentially going to other US guilds. Here is Killars' statement on the matter, who was involved with the leadership of the guild since the merge with vodka (from his personal facebook page):
Yes, I'll confirm the news here for anyone not in the loop or questioning the rumors.
Why? How? Well this game isn't to blame. In the last few years this game (despite many people quitting and guilds dying) isn't to blame for vodka/Exodus' demise it's the raiding community. I don't mean this is a pointing the finger sort of way, it's an inevitable sort of flaw in the competition of the top end raiders. You see... we've basically been killing ourselves off slowly since day 1. In the last few years we've certainly picked up the pace, but the "hardcore raider" is a dying breed and it's certainly becoming a more difficult breed to be a part of. What I mean by this is of course the time commitment and the level of shear dedication and determination it takes and costs to be at the very top. This isn't to poke fun, but to just shed light of why many people, and subsequently, many guilds will fall. Raiding for many many hours on end is fun, CAN be exciting, and at the end of it all can really prove who really wants that world first/us first/realm first the most. Unfortunately we (hardcore raiders) pushed too hard. Tier after tier we just keep adding to the insanity in both farming preparations and actual progressing. It's almost as if progression itself never really ends after a end tier boss dies. Combine this with Blizzard actually putting new content out faster, alts playing a big role, PTR/BETA, dailys, coins, BMAH, well... you just get lost in it all. Right now there are a few legit world first guilds left. The competition is slim because the competition is literally eating each other (well not that literally). Good luck to everyone left in the race for this expact, but I don't know how much longer this sort of thing can last.
Am I done? Is this my good bye post to the raiding community? No haha no my friends I'm way too stubborn and foolish to actually use my knowledge to stop myself from the enjoyment I get from WoW and the community. This is something I've talked about since around Firelands. I had a clear realization of how much more TIME fit in the equation of "how to be world first" and although it bothered me I still enjoyed it as I was one of the few that had that TIME. I'm simply reiterating what I've said many times as it is the elaborate explanation I can give to people now that my guild(s) have died and I want people to avoid pointing fingers at a particular person or a particular situation.
What's next for Killars? I dunno... "LFR Troll Rogue ilvl 532" I guess... I really don't know (which is kinda scary) but we'll see.
