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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-16-2012 @ 3:00PM
Jerry said...
I'm not even sure where to start to describe the state that my guild is in.
The guild I'm a part of (and have been since the SSC days) is one of the oldest guilds on the server, founded in March 2005. We have 550 characters in it (granted a lot are alts). We were a top 10 guild in BC, a top 5 guild in Wrath.
And now we barely have 5 people on at a time. We do still try to do 10 mans, but sometimes we have to pug one or two people. Healers especially are hard to come by. And I'm one of the healers who stopped raiding this expansion.
I think burnout is a part of it. We were always going for the Meta achievements last expansion, both 10 and 25man. We had LK Heroic 10 down and were wiping to 25 when Cata came out. Ulduar was done, we had groups that had done Herald of the Titans and all the crazy Crusader achievements. Most of us were raiding both 10 and 25 each week on our mains, if not also on an alt.
It was fun, but when I realized what I was doing 4, 5 nights a week I just stopped cold turkey when Cata came out. I still haven't done Bastion of Twilight ever. I'm trying to make myself realize that even non-raid achievements are not that important. I was raiding with my wife so that wasn't an issue, but I think we both realized we would rather be doing stuff away from the computer.
And I don't think I was the only one who felt this way. Over the years a lot of us have started to keep in touch outside of WoW (Facebook, etc), and I even had a lot of guildies come to my wedding. I think some us of were playing just to keep in touch with one another, and when we realized we didn't need WoW for that some stopped signing on.
As I said, we can barely field one 10 man a week now. During ICC we would be doing 25's and have 35 people signed up and online. I know I still get the invites, I know I'm a healer and one of the problem spots they can't fill, but I just can't make myself raid anymore. I know the guild leadership had some arguments when Cata came out about 10/25 raiding, and at first tried to do 25's unsuccessfully. Then we partnered with another guild to do 25's, which didn't work out well. Then we cut back to 10's, and here we are today.
I don't know if the raid sizes had that much of an effect on what happened with us. I'm sure it's part of it - we have had people leave to other guilds and other servers to be with "better raid guilds" than we are anymore. We've had (a lot) of people stop playing all together. And we've had others like me who still sign on a lot, but do random things or level alts instead of raid.
I think part of the problem is Cata just didn't grab people the same way Wrath did. I loved all of Wrath, I loved continuing Arthas' storyline from WC3. And now that's over. Yeah, Deathwing, hurray. Pandas, woo. I feel like Blizzard may have put out Arthas an expansion or two too early, but what's done is done.
I don't see my guild reviving unless a lot of the people who have quit suddenly decide to come back for Pandas. And I don't see the hook for that happening yet. I know I still love to see the content, but I can do LFR for that now (which is awesome). I'll still be playing, but not really wanting to raid. And as mentioned in the article there aren't a lot of raiders wandering guildless anymore who we can grab to bolster our ranks.
I've loved my time in the game. I'm happy with all the people I've met through it. I'll keep playing WoW because it's fun, but I'm no longer a hardcore player. And all the friends I've made, well, I'll talk to them on Facebook, or text them. Or hang out with them in person. If I take anything away from WoW when I stop playing it will be all the friends that have come from it.
Anyway, this is a long rambling comment. I'm not even sure what my intention with it was anymore! I just know my guild is a shell of what it used to be, and I'm not sure what will bring it back.
Reply
1-16-2012 @ 3:11PM
Pyromelter said...
Looks like you needed to get some of this off your chest Jerry. Wow Insider is a great place for rambles like that. Sorry to hear your guild is down, but it seems like you had a good run. Don't despair. Earlier last year I was looking up Cuties Only on wowprogress, since they had been a world top 100 guild for a number of years. After t11, they completely shut down. It was hard for me to think that a guild that was so good would just up and quit, but they did - it was time to move on.
It's hard to play the same game for years and years on end. There's nothing wrong with feeling like wow is in the past, and you're moving on. I will say it may be difficult for you to realize it, and maybe it's dawning on you that your wow days are coming to a close (along with the guild you are in).
1-16-2012 @ 4:09PM
Gimmlette said...
I've had this sentiment expressed to me by more than one raider for whom the endgame was the be all, end all. The top guilds on my server in BC and Wrath disappeared within weeks of the new expansion dropping. I watched one of the top rated guilds pack up; lock, pally, bank and gnomes; and beat it to another server, but not before lambasting the lack of quality players. It was dead within three months. The few players I knew from that guild, great people I had lots of fun running with, have disappeared.
Our wants and desires and needs in a game such as this changes as we progress with our lives outside of the computer. It took my officers and I some months to process that some people we cared very much about have decided this game is no longer for them. We won't see their names log on anymore. They have been replaced by new people, no less skilled, no less exciting, no less friendly, just wearing a different name plate than the one we used to see.
I think this paragraph is key to your post. "I've loved my time in the game. I'm happy with all the people I've met through it. I'll keep playing WoW because it's fun, but I'm no longer a hardcore player. And all the friends I've made, well, I'll talk to them on Facebook, or text them. Or hang out with them in person. If I take anything away from WoW when I stop playing it will be all the friends that have come from it." The game you played before filled a niche at a time that you needed it. You've made friends, moved beyond the computer, and find that a "game" no longer meets what you want out of life. You're playing, not out of an obligation because you're a healer, but because it's fun.
Don't apologize for where your guild finds itself and your contribution to that. Maybe your guild needs to decide what it wants to be and maybe that isn't a raiding guild. Maybe just a place for people to hang out and run dailies is all that it is. That's a good place to be, too.
The game, as it has been designed, has always accommodated various play styles. Hardcore, world firsts to "I just want to fish off the dock in Menethil" have found people to do that with. You'll be fine however you choose to play or, when that time comes, you choose not to play.