The Time is Now, Part Four: Pros and Cons

The Time is Now is a five-part series on joining a raiding guild before the expansion. Part One covers reasons that now is the best time to join. Part Two details how to go about finding what you’re looking for in a raiding guild. Part Three describes how to get noticed by and join your chosen guild. Part Four goes into further detail of the pros and cons of joining a guild pre-expansion. Part Five is a cheat-sheet summary with final thoughts and response to any reader commentary or questions.
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Let’s just jump right into the nitty-gritty, shall we?

Pros
~Most guilds that survived the summer attrition and the return of many raiders to that evil place known as school have great staying power. This means, barring drama llama explosions, your guild should be around a while, including into Wrath. You should have a stable, long enduring home with a core group of loyal raiders.

~There’s a good chance they will continue to advance in content right up until the imminent release of WotLK. This means gear, bosses, experiences and, hopefully, fun. You know, that thing you’re supposed to have in a game! *gasp*

~Gear may drop like vendor grays for you. The members of Sunder who moved on have gained several T6 and T6 equivalent pieces (as well as TSunwell), many of them within their first few raids.

~Even if your guild does fall apart, you’ll gain the rep of an advanced guild and will have an easier time finding your way into another one. Experience, gear and name can go a long way into easing your application process to other guilds.

~More raid instances cleared = more achievements!

Cons
~Sunwell is hard, and if that's where you're going, watch out. If you’re not prepared to put in effort and don’t have the patience to wipe continuously, don’t put yourself through it.

~All this effort is going to count for naught when WotLK hits shelves. You may be working on KJ, but expect to never see his loots if you can’t get him down before the expansion release date announcement.

~Many large guilds that survived summer may have glutted due to the influx of characters from guilds which imploded. If you’re in that guild, it’s quite possible you’ll be seeing the bench more than the bosses.

~Raiding is expensive. Repairs, potions, elixirs, flasks, oils, gems, enchants and food all stack up to a pretty pricy bill. If you’re trying to hoard your gold for the expansion, raiding is only going to eat right through it.

If you’ve weighed the pros and cons, and it’s still largely positive for you, what’re you waiting for? Get raiding!