I used to love raiding back in the lvl 60 days on my NE priest, had about half tier 2, and it was great.
played many other characters then when BC came out, I lvled a BE priest, and have done a bit of kara but really just pvp. Not because pve sucks or anything, just pvp is more accessible to a casual player.
Now, I play still quite a bit to my standards, about 10-15 hours a week, but I am just not consistent enough to raid for a guild. but when I think about it, I have no urge to either, and i think its because of pvp/badges.
I mean, I want to raid, so i can progress, not for gear, not to look cool, not to own nubs in pvp (lvl 60 days). No I like raiding because of progression.
But pvp/badges take away progression,
So, how do raids progress? gear/time. You put in enough time/effort, you get the gear, you get the gear you can progress.
i think of raiding/progression as a simple diagram, (tier dosnt only mean gear, but the lvl/difficulty of an instance)
5 mans Tier 4 Tier 5 Tier 6 Tier 7
------------|-------------|----------------|------------------|------------------------|
you can see how ppl like progression, you do 5 mans to start raiding, you raid so you can tier 4, then you progress, you raid and get tier 5, and progress, you raid and get tier 6, and progress etc...
but now blizzard is basicly making the cycle, if the max is tier 6, then you can use your tier4/5 man gear to get tier 5 gear.
If the max is tier 6, you can use your 5 man/tier 4/tier 5 to get tier 6 gear, etc...
creating this
Tier n Tier n+1
------------------|--------------------|
So how does it feel like your progressing if the masses are always one step behind you? or if your a casual player, how does it feel like your progressing if getting gear to progress, means doing the same instances over and over.(farming badges)
progression dose not mean you want to be the top on your server, I was fine with clearing MC when guilds were droping C-thun, or just hitting vael when guilds were getting attuned for Naxx, but now if guilds are killing sunwell, your one step behind them getting BT gear, doing the same instance you were doing last patch.
It makes no sense.
I am tired of seeing well written posts about the problems of wow, and comments about how they want to be the best or there just jealous of pvpers.
its not true, I loved seeing guilds running around in AQ gear when i was sporting blues i earned in DM so i could progress through MC. Its nice to see guilds spread across the board, rather then the 2 spots they can be in now, just in front of the pack, or in the pack.