Posts with tag leaving

It's sad news for the World of Warcraft community today as longtime Blizzard community manager Eyonix has announced that he's leaving the company. He announced his departure in a simple and direct post on the official forums:

"For nearly six years, we've shared our thoughts with one and other, we've laughed, we've argued, and we've cried -- the crying part was just me wasn't it? Those times, I'm afraid must come to an end as I've made the decision to explore opportunities outside of Blizzard.

It has very honestly been a huge pleasure, and I thank you all for allowing 'Eyonix' to always remain a very fond memory as I move on."

My perspective might be a little different than some readers' due to my employment history, but I've always felt for the plight of the community manager, especially at Blizzard. Become emotionally detached, they say you're not passionate. Become emotionally invested, they say you take it too personally. Eyonix has generally managed to strike that particular balance -- no mean feat for a community manager, especially one for a community so inherently unmanageable. He was one of the good guys.

We'll likely never know what caused his departure, especially given that there was definitely no horrible public meltdown accompanying this particular exit, but I hope that the move is a positive and fortuitous one for him. Even when I might've disagreed with the Community team at large, I always supported Eyonix.

Godspeed, little whelp.

The Drama Mamas are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. How to handle that sticky situation? Ask the Drama Mamas at DramaMamas@wow.com.

It's time to leave now. You know it. We know it. Your guildmates probably know it, too. But you just can't bring yourself to open that door. Leaving a guild is so uncomfortable, so guilt-inducing, so potentially dramatastic, so ... awkward. Is it any wonder that the best way to leave (disguised as "whether" to leave) a guild is one of the most popular questions to hit the Drama Mamas mailbox every week?

Dear Drama Mamas: I have recently decided that it may be time for me to make a change from one guild to another; however, because I am an officer in my current guild, I feel rather guilty in doing so at this time. The raid times have become enough of an issue that they became a noticeable problem in real life, and I recently informed my guild that I would no longer be raiding with them.

This past weekend, I ran into a former co-worker of mine who happen to be on the same server. One of them informed me that their guild is looking for my class, and their raid times coincide almost perfectly with my preferred playing times. Their guild is a bit more progressed than my current guild, which is rather appealing, as is the prospect of getting together with some real life-friends, but I feel like if I join their guild, I am bailing on my current guild. Do you have any suggestions on how to break the news to my current guild (or officers) that I am thinking about applying to another guild, or any suggestions on how to make a transition go smoothly? Thanks, Anonymous

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"Oops GTG TTYL bye" – heard that one before, in the middle of an instance? You don't want to be that guy.

Today's World of Warcraft is a far cry from Tomb Raider or Lego Indiana Jones, which can leave you writhing in your chair for what seems like an eternity before your next save point. For an MMO, WoW's gameplay has become reasonably bite-sized – so don't get caught virtually chewing with your mouth open by dropping out of groups early.

True, many instances can be completed so quickly and many players are so experienced that dashing through a quick instance can seem almost trivial. But a group is a social creature, and accepting a group invitation means accepting a reasonable responsibility to treat the other players' time with respect.

Tymestryker of Aerie Peak is frustrated because players are leaving his guild. Despite his loyalty to the guild and the effort he's put into the guild, he's facing some significant churn. His guild, though apparently a friendly, social place lacks in endgame experience. He seems to be taking it personally that people are leaving for guilds in endgame progression. He feels that others should share his loyalty.

Many responders pointed out that heart only goes so far in World of Warcraft, but there's a lot more to the game. Most successful guilds have a purpose, maybe doing regular raids or being the best they can be at PvP. Some suggested that the original poster chose not to take the situation personally.

It's the first month of a new year, and you know what that means: predictions aplenty. Across the MMOscape over at Massively, almost everyone is predicting that WoW is going to suffer-- there's no question that there's a long line of MMOs just waiting in the wings to snatch you players away from Azeroth-- from Warhammer Online to Age of Conan, there are supposed to be some terrific MMOs released this year.

So who better to ask if you're moving to greener pastures than you yourselves? You're not supposed to ask whether players are leaving for Warhammer on the forums, but we've got no such compunctions: are you planning on leaving for Warhammer or any other new games in 2008? Are you just keeping time in WoW until the game you really want to play releases later this year?

Rest assured, die-hard WoW fans, that we're not going to become "WAR Insider" anytime soon (we've already got it over at Massively anyway)-- I love World of Warcraft, and while I'm definitely excited to see what Mythic and Funcom have in store for us this year, I'm also (along with all of our writers here) in Azeroth for the long run-- at least until I get to see what the Maelstrom's deal is and what's happening in the Emerald Dream.

There's a running joke in my guild that whenever anyone has to leave an instance for a little while, everyone says "AFK to wash face." Apparently someone actually used that AFK excuse at one point, and it's been funny ever since. Most of the AFK's I've seen have been pretty tame, although I have had a few people leave instance runs fast because their kids have demolished their house in some way ("chocolate syrup all over kitchen floor, afk a sec"), and once because "afk 2 mins, cops at door." We didn't hear from that guy for the rest of the night.

But there's lots of better AFK excuses than even that.

"g2g guys, there's smoke coming out of my computer.."
"afk my brother has a knife"
"Guys I have to go there's a car that crashed into my house"
"guys i got to go, dog just died"
" I have to go AFK for a bit guys, my son just told me he's gay."
"brb internet just went out"
"afk wife giving birth"

Ok, so those last two are excuses given, not received. But I've never heard anything this crazy-- I must be grouping with the wrong people. Or maybe the right ones...

What's the craziest AFK excuse you've actually heard in game? And (because most of these are probably fake anyway) what's the craziest one you've ever given to get out of a bad PUG?