Thursday, March 13, 2008

Keeping up vs. going at your own pace

I think I know why I should have left my current guild when I quit raiding.

My guild's priority shifted to raiding 2 years back. That's how I came to join them. I wanted to raid and they were starting to raid on their own.

Things were good at the time. They raided at the right pace for me and I got to see lots of encounters that many raiders take for granted.

Then the raiding picked up, more days, longer hours and I could no longer keep up.

But since our guild wasn't originally a raid guild, a few people remained that didn't raid and I also was welcome to stay and fill in now and then.

It sounded like the perfect match still. I could in some way be involved with what was going on. I would get to see a few bosses that I hadn't spent any time during the learning phases on. And I could sometimes still group in 5 and 10 mans with some efficient and effective players.

But along the way the guild changed a bit and I did too. The guild's 25-man group started grouping more with themselves in the 5 and 10 mans (no surprise there) and I started caring less about getting one more badge or one more timed kill. My goals and the guild's goals had diverged even further.

And perhaps I've done a disservice to my guild and myself.

With someone like me around, they could pull me in when someone was absent, instead of focusing on getting a new raider geared up that could be rotated in and play on a more consistent basis.

And I albeit unknowingly still tried to keep to a raider's goals without raiding! I can't imagine our raid guild is any different than any other, so during raids, guild chat is peppered with epics being linked as they drop. I would note what I needed to get close to those things in badges. There is also talk now and then about different resist gear, and epic gems needing to be crafted - all things that if you don't raid you shouldn't give a flying fig about. But in the back of my mind I was making lists that I needed to get those things as well.

The reason why I've had so much fun on my alt is in part to the fact I'm not in the guild, I don't see the chat. I don't see what I'm missing and I don't have any urgent need to quest faster, group more, farm a lot.

So I'm thinking I should have dropped my main out of the guild as soon as I "retired" from raiding. Just the way I first joined a raid guild to be with like-minded individuals, why would I remain there now that we no longer were? What has and is keeping me there at the moment are memories and my self-defined loyalty. But I don't want to try to keep up with something that is out of my reach. I want to go at my own pace and I think finding a guild where people embrace that would improve my game time.

1 comments:

Ardent Defender said...

I like to play solo myself. I like the absence of any text chat in my chat log, occassional chat in chat is all fine. Its reminds me that others are out there, yet overall I like to work at my own pase whatever my pase is yet its above normal but its my pase all the same.

I would say one the toughest thing to find in guilds and its members is a guild thats like minded in its charter and progression by its members whatever that intended progression or playstyle is. Its always tough to find a guild to fit ones need, because guilds are like the sand on the beach they are just so many. Every player is also so different in how they play, what they looking for, how they want to progress, what they consider fun, their dedication, their degree of altism that every one of those things affect each member in a guild thus affecting everyone else experience. Yeah tough for anyone to find a guild that fits their need.

Always do what makes one happy, its why you play the game for R&R and Fun.

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"I don't *need* to play. I can quit anytime I want!"

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