Rorax: It was just me, but a couple of other guys influenced me to get Puggernaut started in March.

Rorax: Currently we have 341 Characters, 264 members, 10 pending applications and on average we get about 15 - 20 new applications a day. We are expanding out to other servers for both the Horde and Alliance factions. When we started in March we had a goal of 500 members and it will soon be met.

There is potential for Puggernaut to grow and grow, having a Puggernaut on every server is something I would like to see happen in the future.

Rorax: Coined from the term "Pug" or "Pick Up Group" and "Naut," bringing order to chaos to form the word Puggernaut. To pug or not, its up to you.

Rorax: The difference between a raiding community and a regular guild is that in a guild you can't always get a raid spot but in a community everyone can join, signup, and raid.

I chose a raiding community over a guild because you can only be invited or be put on standby to raid in a guild and I couldn't raid with other guilds so it wasn't working out for me. The guild master and I both were Protection Warriors and we only needed one to raid, so naturally I wasn't invited.

In a raiding community members have the ability to raid without leaving their guild or not be apart of a guild at all. There is no penalty for either and no commitment other than showing up for the raid. Puggernaut is so successful because it is so flexible, you signup and there is no guessing about if you will get to raid or not.

Rorax: Everyone is welcome in the raiding community, we have only had to turn one person down because they did not fill out the form correctly and never got back in contact with us. After you join and signup for a raid, participation is based upon your rank. We make sure people belong in the raid they signed up for.

Rorax: Your "raider rating", which is used to determine which level of raiding you qualify for, is based upon three factors: 1) Your gear score. 2) Your raiding achievement point totals. 3) Your people skills. We decide your rank using a logical, fair mathematical formula:

Your Gear Item Level + Your Achievements Score + Personal Rep

Rank: First String
To qualify for first string you must score at least 360 points total (a minimum Avg Best ilvl score of 200 and a minimum Heroic Achievements Score of 160.) Search your "Avg Best level" on WoW-Heroes.com.

Rank: Second String
To qualify for second string you must score at least 240 points total (a minimum Avg Best ilvl score of 140 and a minimum Heroic Achievements Score of 100.) Search your "Avg Best level" on WoW-Heroes.com.

Rank: Casual Raider
To qualify for casual raider you must score at least 190 points total (a minimum Avg Best ilvl score of 100 and a minimum Heroic Achievements Score of 90.) Search your "Avg Best level" on WoW-Heroes.com.

Your Personal Rep:

As of the time of this writing, we use word of mouth to gauge your past behavior in raids. However, we do have plans to implement an online voting system in the near future.

In any case, we care about the quality of Puggernaut raiding and keep a close eye and ear on everyone's rep. This helps us to keep asshats out of raids and out of our great raiding community.

Rorax: The Ironman is a five-man team, all-Wrath of the Lich King heroic instance race, with the grand prize of 10,000 gold going to the fastest, winning team in each rank (30,000 gold total), Second String, First String and All-star, respectively. Second place wins a BOE epic crafted item, third place gets an honorable mention.

To view the rules and signup form visit Puggernaut Heroic Ironman Contest page.

Rorax: There is no drama really because everything is spelt out so well in the rules. It's not a perfect system, people do complain about certain things like items, but for the most part there is a great feeling of community. Everyone wants to help each other out rather than every man for himself.

Rorax: It was a quality driven decision because I had been with a guild that was hosted by your competitor Guild Portal, who is awful, half of it doesn't even work. I like the way Guild Launch approaches technology, the testimonials, the level of service. I was shocked by how great Guild Launch is. You provide impressive service, I get answers quickly to my questions and you do a great job of supporting Puggernaut's needs.

Rorax: The calendar is the only thing I would like to see changed. We have so many raids scheduled at Puggernaut that it fills up and there isn't enough room to view them all. This will especially be a problem when we expand to other servers. The only other thing I can think of is adding more CMS security so that I can assign an admin to a section of the website, rather than giving them access to the entire site.