It happens to every raider: Your friends want to spend a night on the town and enjoy your company, but it’s raid night and you haven’t told them you’re a Tier 6 bad ass in a virtual world and you’ve got an appointment with 24 strangers to kill some dragon or another. Eventually there is a time when you have to tell your friends that you can’t hang out because you’re a Raider. It’s happened to me a few times, and it’s never any easier to deal with.

Getting my friends to understand that I raid has been a very difficult process. Some of them are former players, and are therefore understanding with my position as a raiding rogue. Others, however, treat my forays into Azeroth as treason, saying that I am putting the game before them. Communication and compromise have helped me deal with my friends who are a little less-than-pleased when I have to leave abruptly to go and raid.

If you’re in the dating scene, it gets even harder. The first date goes wonderfully, and she can’t get enough of you. You start to see each other regularly, but for some reason you can’t talk on the phone after 8:30 on Tuesday or Thursdays and you all but disappear on Sunday afternoon. Some thing’s up, and if you want to avoid any suspicion, it’s best you confess sooner rather than later. Personally, I’ve had a variety of different reactions, and they range from piqued interest to absolute disdain for the game and anyone who plays it. It’s all dependant on the person and how you deal with it. If you’re really lucky, she might even join you in the world of Azeroth!

I’ve even been kidnapped from a raid one night! My friends absolutely refused to allow me to leave them to raid, and being an hour from home, I had no option but to miss out. Although, to be honest, missing 10 hours of Molten Core (and subsequently wiping at least a dozen times on the same trash) was refreshing, to say the least.

I’m curious as to how other deal with their loved ones when it comes to raid time.

This is the third part of a small series of posts covering my past in regards to raiding guilds. The story so far consists of the horrors and desertion of my first guild. This post covers the tale of my second raiding guild, after a brief rebellion.

Settling down..

After the dust had settled from the impromptu rebellion, the time had come to figure out how the guild was to be run. Did we want officers? Democracy? A council?

I didn’t much care how the raiding was done, as long as it got done. Eventually the guild settled on a Democratic council type system in which there would be no officers, and issues would be resolved among all members. (This system eventually devolved into an officer system later on.)

For the first few months we made solid progress in Karazhan, eventually defeating Prince Malchezaar and continuing oward to Gruul’s lair. Things were running smoothly within the guild at first. People were showing up, raiding, and generally doing their thing. Eventually, a new problem arose:

Commitment.

Raiders were taking off regularly, not showing for raids and even during raids they were screwing up the simplest of maneuvers or orders. It was essentially a repeat of my first guild with a different name. The saddest part? It took me nearly 6 months to realize this.

All the signs were there: We were constantly starting an hour or more late on raids, we had to replace raid members faster than most people change clothes, and we had been stuck on the same (low-end) boss for 4 Months! In their defense, they did only raid 2 days out of the week for three hours, but that is hardly a serious effort in any case.

So, after talking to a few close friends of mine within the guild, I took some time to ponder my next move. Fortunately enough, this occurred during a break from school and over a winter holiday so I had plenty of time to think things over. The thought that I couldn’t shake was “Is this guild really going to kill Illidan in the next year?”. The answer was No, and I knew it.

A week after returning from my Winter break, I had told one of the officers I was thinking of leaving the guild for greener pastures, but I had told him to remain quiet about it. Not even a day later, the Guild Master approaches me with a bold whisper, plainly asking “Are you leaving the guild?”. Just to put things in to perspective: I was their top DPS by a margin of 200,000 Damage on most bosses, and I knew the instances they were attempting like the back of my hand. To them it was like losing a main tank.

I liked the Gm, so I told him as nicely as I could that I was unhappy with the progression and I was looking to put my $15/Month to better use. No frills, no drama, he accepted my answer and wished me luck. I began looking for new guilds to join before leaving the current one so that I could minimize my in-between time. Upon finding one, I swiftly switched guilds and didn’t look back..

To this day I receive whispers from old guildies asking me to get them into my current raiding guild. This specific guild has recently (a week ago from today’s writing) disbanded and split off to join many other guilds.

Disappointing.

I left the old guild and joined a more well known guild on the server that had already cleared most of the way through Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep. For the first week I was to be put on a trial to see if I was worthy of a raiding spot. I took on the opportunity and was quickly saddened by what I heard.

It sounded to me like a loosely gathered bunch of people dicking around on vent and somehow manging to get through an instance. Another way to describe it would be a drunken frat party for nerds who play WoW. Despite all of this, I was still impressed with the progress I had made that night, considering I went from a guild who could barely down Lurker to a guild who downed 3 or 4 bosses with (relative) ease.

This was to be my first and last raid with this guild.

Literally the day after I joined, a literal shitstorm hit the guild and a key raider had left. For some very odd reason, instead of finding someone to take his place, the guild master and a few others had decided that the right course of action would be to completely stop raiding.

This, of course sent me on my way to finding a new guild.

2008: A Guild Odyssey

I went searching for a new guild with a new slogan in mind: “Raids or Bust!”. I say this because if I wasn’t able to find a new guild to raid with, I was on the verge of just quitting the game altogether.

One thing to keep in mind was that I hadn’t the slightest idea of the best way to find a good guild. My approach seemed to work fine, however. I searched the World of Warcraft Forums. I put an emphasis on this because the forums can easily be described as the breeding ground of all that is not right in Azeroth.

After a day or two of searching I discovered a guild that seemed promising: They had cleared all of TK and SSC except for the final boss in each. After talking to the guild leader, I submitted an application and waited for my approval. It never came, as I had been rejected for the most useless reason ever: Age.

Resolution!

In desperation I reached out to my next choice on the list of guilds I wanted to join. I quereyed all members of the guild via the /who command, and picked an important sounding name. A whisper or two later and I had the name of the Guild Master.

I had no idea what to expect, so I put on my best attitude and whipped out a thesaurus to use the most eloquent language to try and impress this guy.. I guess it worked because after a few minutes of probing I had been informed that this guild was indeed looking for some new Rogues.

Rejoice! I had a shot! Here’s the kicker though: I had to compete with another rogue for a main raiding spot.

To make a very long story short, I now raid 3 times a week for a total of 11 hours and my new guild is progressing quite steadily in Black Temple and Mount Hyjal.

Possibly the most vital part of enjoying WoW is being part of a guild. Being in the right guild can be the difference between playing World of Warcraft happily for 3 years or quitting after 2 months. Your guild will be there to assist you, support you, and will be the key to getting any kind of progression end game.

That being said, I’d like to devote this post to my previous guild history and how finally finding the right guild can make all of the difference.

In the beginning…

My first true guild experience started with what could possibly be called the largest guild ever. This guild had over 500 members who all were pretty well acquainted with one another. Some members had even been playing together since day 1.

When I had joined I was in my mid 40’s, and completely unaware of what a “good” guild was. In my eyes, having this many people to talk to, ask for help, and support me could only be a good thing.

In time I came to enjoy my time with this guild, but my main reason for joining was to be able to raid. I wanted to explore the caverns of Molten Core and the mighty halls of Blackwing Lair. I wanted a role in the content I had originally bought the game to see! After being told I would be able to raid with this new group upon hitting the (old) level cap of 60, I rushed myself through Un’Goro crater and then Silithus with a blinding speed. 10 levels in 10 days was, to me, an impressive feat.

Immediately after hitting the level cap I set out and gathered most of my all-so-essential dungeon set, eager to begin my raiding career. My first raid was an Onyxia run, over in Kalimdor. We downed her with ease and I had cemented in my mind that this guild was the perfect guild for me.

For the next 11 months, I raided with this guild and this guild only. As time passed, I became dissatisfied with the raid leaders, who would call a raid off after 2 or 3 unsuccessful attempts on a boss, and the lack of commitment from the raiders, who even at the best of times were not consistent. Yet, even though I came to dislike raiding with this guild so much, I was attached to the people.

Soon, however, I was presented with an opportunity to leave it all behind and pursue a more serious attempt at what I loved to do best: Raid.

Note: This is the first post of many, keep checking back for part 2 of this post where I’ll discuss a rebellion, a realization, and achieving raiding Nirvana.