Fair weather raiding

Suddenly the enjoyment of WoW has declined like the stock market. Okay, definitely not that bad. But I've recently found myself not logging on at all or logging on and wondering why I'm doing so.

It's not the usual reasons - boredom, the feeling I'm playing too much, etc.

No this time it is, for the second time since I've started playing WoW in 2004, the disappointment caused by other people.

The first time, I was part of a group that was making exceptional progress in BC content. The raid leader snapped or something (I was never able to get a clear answer) and quit leading the group. A few other people quickly jumped ship we were left with a group that struggled to get one or two bosses let alone a clear and I ended up so disgusted about it I pretty quit raiding altogether (other reasons helped my decision).

I felt I was raiding with online friends, but instead they just happened to be people who wanted to raid with whoever was progressing fastest. I'll pause to say this wasn't a pug group, these were people I had raided with for at least a year or more.

And now recently, to a lesser extent, I felt I was joining a guild of people who wanted to raid together. But turns out for certain things some of the guild raids with other more progressed guilds.

When I realized getting achievements were not going to be the goal of this guild, I think my enjoyment declined. I understand their position. Achievements are a personal thing. If you want them, chase after them on your own time. But I wonder what is a guild for if you're not going to do things together, whether it take a little longer or not.

I immediately felt like just another healer that was helping the raid run versus someone they liked raiding with. I'm not a healer-for-hire. At least I don't enjoy feeling like one.

I feel like I'm just a part of a bunch of fair weather raiders. I'm holding out hope that my feelings change.