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Navigating the 21st Century waters in a 20th Century vessel.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Warcraft, Guilds and Raiding

Last night my raiding guild, Aetherial Circle, killed Malygos, the last remaing 25-man boss in the game, until the next content patch. I hadn't signed up for the raid - after 5 weeks of raiding, I wanted a night off. I thought I would be disappointed if they did kill him, but it turned out I wasn't. Just didn't seem like that big a deal.

The guild doesn't feel the same as it did last spring and summer. A number of people have moved on or quit the game for various reasons, and a lot of those who have joined aren't as ... well ... fun. There's a lot less silly banter in gchat than there used to be. When we raid, sometimes it feels like I'm just there for the dps'ers to show off their e-peen. A big part of this is the changes in game mechanics that came with the new expansion, but I've also noticed that damage meter reports are being thrown up after a lot more fights. To many, this may feel like healthy competition, but to me it feels like they're in it for their egos, not the guild. And back when we were preparing to resume raiding, there was some debate on the guild forums about when to start, and several people expressed rather contemptuous attitudes towards those they perceived as holding up the show. I must say, I did not take kindly to being called a slacker, however indirectly, for not spending as many hours playing a video game as others.

It's not all bad, by any means. There are still many people in the guild I like, and who I have fun playing with. It just isn't feeling like home, these days.

This week, my Death Knight Vyp joined BBB's guild, Sidhe Devils. SD is not a raiding guild. Some of the members raid, and enjoy it, but Bear has very deliberately chosen to focus on making sure the guild is a relaxed, friendly place. Means they'll never probably never see Malygos on heroic setting, much less kill him on the second night, but like I said, that doesn't seem to matter to me the way it used to.

Not making any decisions, right now. I'm going to keep raiding with AC, at least two nights a week, and I'm going to play my DK, and get her to Northrend and try running some instances with SD. And oh yeah, I still got this orc warrior I like to play. So, I guess I'll see how things go, for now.

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