Leaving a guild

Two guildmates left the guild over the weekend. I could be up at arms about it but as this entire blog states - I'm trying to remember this is just a game. I want to have fun and not take things so seriously.

Still it was sad, and very suprising to see them go. The first left due to a recent recruitment to their class (which could potentially mean they'd get less slotting to raids) and the second left partly due to the first.

Actually a third left, but he had only raided with us for less than a month. Nonetheless, he seemed like a good guy and he didn't leave on unpleasant terms.

When I left my very first guild I was only in my teens on my character. I was only there for a day or two, didn't feel exactly comfortable with their type of roleplaying and they were in the middle of a meltdown. Once I had joined, I soon heard the founding members had just quit. I didn't want to be a part of any drama, let alone rebuilding, so I quietly quit.

My second guild was my home for a long time - all the way up to 60. I befriended someone playing a dwarf and most of my time was spent with him. The guild didn't really party much together and even with the large guild roster, only about 5-10 were on at any time. Still it was a nice home for me, and I was happy there. Yet when I hit my 50s I started hearing about the level 60 guildmates talking about raiding. They were part of raid alliances, there were no raids held in guild, they just raided with others. They said I could apply when I got to 60, so I spent alot of time preparing. Preparing meant getting the appropriate gear and attunements.

I heard it would take a while to find a raid spot, but I didn't want to sit around twiddling my thumbs, so I started seeking out opportunities.

At first it seemed a bit daunting. One raid alliance told me I would need to get my skills up to 300. And we're talking skills like daggers (I'm a priest for chrissakes!) and the like. For the record, I've raided non-stop for 6 months now and still don't have all my skills to 300 - so it was definitely a non-issue or at the least a stupid issue.

Another raid alliance actually had members threaten to quit if they let me come along - due to my level. If they were that hung up to the point of revolt I decided that would not be the place for me.

The third was a raid pug - I had no idea how awful it was until I came across my fourth and current raid.

Juxtaposed against my first visit into Molten Core with a raid pug was my second visit with an organized guild. Night and day!!! They seemed to need priests, I applied and got accepted.

But all the while I was letting my current guild no my interests. They knew I wanted to raid, but didn't have any luck getting me in the raid alliance with them. Later I heard they (as I eventually found was very common for many guilds) they were hard up for priests. But by then, I wasn't going to leave a place that actually accepted me - sans dagger skills and all!

That leads to me leaving my guild for the "raiding" guild. It was hard for me! I even tried to see if I could stay in my old guild and raid with the new one - but they weren't a raiding alliance. So with a heavy heart I had to tell them the news. I had made friends, I had a sense of loyalty and saying goodbye if you really cared about something - is tough. I actually left an old character in the guild, but got to the point I didn't play her anymore and when I said goodbye the second time it was easier, but still sad.

Because I feel this way, I can't imagine leaving a guild abruptly how they did this weekend.