…or one.
This was first said by a wise man (er, Vulcan), and it’s something I’ve found myself thinking a lot about lately. See, my guild and in-game group of friends has begun raiding ten-mans on a semi-regular basis, and more often than not, I’ve found myself left out on the sidelines. Why? Simple. The best times for everyone to raid do not mesh well with my annoyingly unpredictable work schedule. Is this anyone’s fault? No, it’s not. It’s just how things have worked out.
Now I’m not gonna deny that it’s hard to think about it for too long. It’s hard to press that Decline button on the calendar when a raid invite full of people you love hanging out with pops up in your face. It’s hard to know that your friends and guild are doing progression and having fun without you. It’s hard to know that your one guaranteed day off from work is a bad day for most of your guildies to raid, and it’s even harder to know that work has recently swooped down and taken even that day away from you (that last one is one of the many reasons why I’ve been looking for a new job, but job-hunting is a lot harder these days than it has been in the past.) It all makes you feel sad and helpless.
However, my goal throughout all of this is to suck it up and show as little disappointment as possible, because I don’t want to spoil it for the people that I care about who are able to raid. I keep telling myself that maybe the job hunt will be better this month and maybe it won’t be too much longer before I have a better schedule and will be able to join in the fun.
Most importantly, I remind myself that making this kind of sacrifice is just a part of friendship (irony involving our guild name not intended).
I have a lot of minipets (65 or so by now?), but there are two that are particularly special to me:
I got this Brown Prairie Dog after spending a solid couple hours screwing around with my friends, we ran all over Azeroth goofing off and in the end someone popped over to Hordeside and bought us all Prairie Dog Whistles to remember the event by.
And this is the Black Tabby Cat, which is only obtainable by Horde (although it can then be sold to Alliance via the Neutral Auction House)… it has a very low drop rate and some of my guildies sat a Horde alt by the spawns that drop it and camped for it for weeks and when they got it, gave it to me, instead of selling it for the 2000g it goes for on my server.
So I remind myself that I don’t necessarily need to raid to have that friendship, that bond with the people I play with who I care about. And because I care about them I’m not gonna drop them for a better-fitting guild, nor am I going to make too much of a fuss when they raid without me because that’s when it works best for everyone else.
So, tonight, when I get home from work and everyone is already in Naxx, I think I’m just going to geek around with my Linux. But I’ll be ready on the bench– just in case.
I tried joining a guild with a steady schedule.
Unfortunately, they never let me raid with’em, which was kinda annoying.
But the same principal applied there too.
/patbench
At least these benches are dependable.
Cry Havok! And let slip the dogs of war! ……. (Ricardo we will miss you)
Jim.. Ship.. out of danger?
ST 2, 3, 4 great storyline.
Some argue 2 to be the best, but,
I prefer 4..
Captain! There be whales here!
I know all too well what it’s like to be sidelined by incompatible schedules in MP games. It’s been an on-going fact of the hobby with me, starting well before I got into WoW. Because people played at different times than me I rarely got to do any of the really fun important stuff (and if I did I had to sacrifice a lot, like sleep) and so have pretty much had to make my own fun.
In WoW, I only very recently got to see Kara (never did anywhere near a complete run) and just tonight saw ZG for the first time. I’ve never raided or seen the really neat content due to scheduling and other real life interferences.
Pike, I think you’ve been able to accomplish a great deal with WoW (inside and out) so I’d say you’re doing well! I know the sad and helpless bit, I’m feeling that now with WoW as I’m pretty much at the wall of what I am able to accomplish and I feel stuck and like I’m just spinning my wheels with the game.
Aw I really feel for ya. /hug
My bf recently had something bad happen in RL, which resulted in him not being able to raid/play on a daily basis. Since my original reason for playing/raiding at all was him, I found it hard to log on consistently without him there.
Things will be better. 🙂
I find myself in a very similar situation, working odd hours imposed by a job far below my qualifications 😛 I feel for ya, and send my best wishes.
I suppose I can’t complain too much, though, since I am lucky enough to be able to join my guild for our weekly OS/VoA night, and Naxx at least one night every other week.
Yup, been there, done that…more than once 😀
First Guild I joined was a mostly East Coast Guild, so as a Westie more often than not I’d be logging on as they’d be finishing up their Raid for the night. We’d exchange pleasantries for a bit, then they’d all log off for the night, bar the handful of night owls. Still, they were good people and I stuck by them (& them by me) for 3 1/2 years, then everything fell apart and I rerolled Horde to spend more time with my sister & her family, who live in Australia.
Now the timetable was reversed. Although I often played until midnight (if not later), the 17 hour time difference between L.A. and Melbourne, Aust. meant I’d usually be logging off just as my sister and her hubby were getting home from work. As a bunch of Guildies would log on, I’d be saying my Goodnights 😛
Been there myself. I used to work overnights, so it was either join the raid and have to leave for work before it ended (sometimes just after 1 or 2 bosses!), or sit it out. I finally switched to a day shift, and it’s been a ton better. Although getting up at 6am does mean I can’t stay up real late, most of the time our raid is done a little after 11, so I still get to bed at a decent time.
I’m going to be starting classes and getting a job soon and I’m worried about what my schedule will be like. At this point, I think that classes will run so late that I won’t be able to raid regularly at all and only on days off of work, so I’m trying to come to terms with that.
Hope you can find a good schedule soon! I feel ya on the job hunting stress 🙁
Good luck on the job search right now……it is a real pain out there.