After spending a good month or so sitting around waiting for a guild to fall in my lap, I realized I had to take matters into my own hands. Off I went, searching the realm forums in search of someone that was recruiting and that fit my criteria.
After a bit of looking I stumbled across a guild name that I’ve seen literally since I began playing WoW over two years ago. I know very little about said guild, other than the fact that they’ve been around forever, but their recruitment ad on the forums as well as their website painted them as a group of friendly and good-natured people who did stuff like roleplaying and both 10 and 25man raids! It sounded like as good a place to start as any.
Anyways I filled out an application and sent it in, and today found an in-game mail from an officer telling me that they’d liked the initial application and wanted to interview me! At that point they were in Ulduar, so I went and did other stuff and came back to do the interview later.
First thing that the interviewer said was that he’d checked out my blog (which I’d briefly mentioned in the application) and that he really liked it. I was like “x__x;; /blush”
Second thing we talked about was loot rules and how raid signups were done and both of these more than met my approval.
Third thing we talked about was how they encourage spec’ing the spec you enjoy and do well with, and raiding with that spec. This really met my approval.
Fourth thing we talked about was how the current hunter officer in that guild “Really likes BM but is frustrated about getting it to work in a raid environment”, and this somehow segued into how both her and I tend to use MM when DPS is truly needed because both of us like it better than Survival.
Fifth thing we talked about was how I instantly met the hunter officer’s approval because of said previous facts.
Then… I was accepted into the guild. They asked if I wanted an invite right then, or wanted to think about it. I told them I wanted to think about it for a day or so. Partially because I do, and partially because the thought of joining a big raiding guild without my friends sorta scares me. Oh, my friends are always there. We all have our chat channel. We all hang out outside-of-game, in Ventrilo and in AIM chats and on forums. Heck, just today three of us went on a Kara stomp (guess what failed to drop off of Attumen, again?) and it was the most fun I’d had in weeks.
But going off and joining a whole new guild filled with whole new people, for the first time ever, is still a scary prospect. I really hope I make a good impression, and almost more than that, I really hope I don’t step on anyone’s toes. I mentioned my blog a few times in the interview, in a purely logistical fashion (“Would I have the permission of the guild to occasionally post screenshots or how-to movies featuring the guild on a site that gets over a thousand hits a day”, etc.), and because of that I have this fear of coming off as some “high and mighty blogger” or something, which I don’t think I did, but I worry anyway. I probably worry too much, to tell the truth.
Honestly though, I think this may just be “the guild”. The one I have been looking for. I felt like I had a rapport with the interviewer and I really liked what I was hearing about how things were run and about how they raided. It truly weirds me out that, outside of doing Karazhan fiftybazillion times in Burning Crusade– this will be the first time I’ve really been in a raiding guild. Who knows, maybe you will be hearing Ulduar stories from me soon, if my schedule allows… o.O
Joining a big raiding guild is always a terrifying experience – it’s almost like applying for a new job. XD (and for your character, I suppose that would be as close a description for it)
Good luck on the new guild!
Just do it! Seriously, you owe it to yourself to give it a shot (see what I did there?). And I’m sure many, many of your readers will agree you have the chops to pull it off.
Oh…and congratulations. 🙂 May the loot-fu be with you, as our friend Anna says.
Again, best of luck Pike. I was thinking and started to worry about how I hope they didn’t force you into Survival or Marksmanship and what would happen to the blog, but I see they are a good, non-stat pushing(read forcing) guild; which is very good.
On the whole nervous issue, well, I joined my first big raiding guild about a month back and felt the same way you say you do now. I was so worried that if I didn’t have one of the top spots in recount that they would boot me right away. Well, at the end of the night and on every encounter…guess where I was? With only a few less gear than most of the rest, every time I was at the BOTTOM of recount between the rest of the DPS and the tanks (on one of the bosses, I was even below one of the tanks). Am I a bad DPSer? I don’t think so, but the reason I did so bad was because I was so worried about not screwing up that I did…a lot. And you know what…I’m still in that guild and doing okay (still pushing at Yogg). So what I’m saying in all of this wall of text is, relax, be yourself and don’t worry so much about personal performance, but have fun; because how they feel about you personally is what will keep you there and make you new friends, not how much dps you push out. Oh, and don’t be competitive with that hunter who is like you, I know it’s hard, and she’ll probably talk down to you (trust me, I KNOW); but she’s now your comrade, not your pug scale. 😛 Again, best of luck and cannot wait to hear how it goes.
Don’t be afraid, this is like shopping for a new pair of shoes: either it fits and you wear them, or ti doesn’t and you eventually drop em off at Goodwill.
Good luck!
You’ll do great Pike, no worries! Jump in, get to know people, do that pew pew which you do so well.
You’ll do just fine.
Z
Can’t agree more about it being about finding the right guild. See, I am in general a quiet person even in real life. So for me opening up in new guilds due to nerves is an issue. I speak if I have something to say, and I just avoid alot of the mindless babble. In two guilds it brought out two reactions…
In the first guild people came to dislike me (and said as much when they didn’t know I was online on an alt) thinking I was elitist and arrogant. I helped people when they asked and spoke up when I felt I had something constructive. But I just avoided the discussion about music and movies because it just didn’t interest me. Friends at the time said even if I didn’t care I should throw myself in and pretend I cared so I could make friends. Anyway eventually I was kicked out of the guild after a hiatus from the game.
Then I joined a second guild. Posted on the forums alot of resources on raids, consumables, gear, and roleplay. Did the same in guild chat as other times, responding only when directly spoken to. It is who I am and I cannot change it, unfortunately. Obviously after the first experience I was paranoid people were speaking behind my back. Anyway, long story shirt after being in the guild barely a month, an officer left and a week later I was approached about replacing him. I was skeptical thinking people disliked me and others had been in the guild alot longer than I.
Anyway, the leader linked me to the forums which I had not checked for a while. I had in the thread twice the votes to become officer of second place, many of the older members all pointed out I was great in raids, fun to talk to, fun to roleplay with and I didn’t pretend to be what I am not as a person. So I got promoted. It was the best time in WoW i had with that guild and even now I still talk to people from there daily on IM. Finding a guild that was mature enough to like me for who I was, knowing my faults and my general quiet disposition was amazing…it cannot be stated enough how good it is when you find that match for you in game.
Your reaction to the five questions/points in your interview makes me believe that this guild would be a FABULOUS fit for you, Pike. The butterflies are normal as it is a HUGELY scary thing you’re thinking about doing! Trust your instincts, they won’t let you down!
Here’s hoping this is the One! Good luck, and I know you’ll do great.
If it were me I’d ask to join one of their minor raids and try to get a feel of them and let them get a feel of you- that way u don’t walk in blind and they get a feel of who their new guildie is. That is how we do stuff in my current guild
I’m posting this anonymously just in case.
I completely understand your guild anxiety. I’ve been in three guilds in my life, including my present one, and all three have been a real disappointment.
The first two times I joined guilds, I followed a real-life friend to his. The first of those was less a guild and more a collection of solo players with their own chat channel. Which was fine; I was leveling at the time, and big into the solo game.
The second time I joined a guild it was in the Burning Crusade days. My friend (same one from the first time) invited me to fill out a five-man regular Mechanar run, and lo, it was fun! Not long after I got an invite from their recruitment tsar, and I joined. We ran many regular and heroic dungeons in Outland together, and it was a good time, but I wasn’t able to gear my character up sufficiently to join them on raids, so I was kind of second-class. Not in a malicious way or anything, I just didn’t get to join in all the reindeer games.
Then came an 18-month break from the game. The guild I had been in dissolved, so when I logged back in this spring, I found myself guildless. And largely clueless, due to simply being rusty and all the changes there’d been between patches 2.something and 3.1. I soloed my way up to 80, started doing various rep grinds, played with professions, and then one day I saw a recruitment message in trade chat. Very small, very casual guild wanted to start running 10-man raid content, beginning with Naxxramas and progressing their way up organically, learning and having fun. That sounded good to me, so with one thing and another, I joined that guild.
We’ve had precisely ONE Naxxramas run in the last month. Cleared two quarters, had a good time, I thought everything was going great. But then the guild leader’s significant other got all antsy, and our next regularly scheduled Naxxramas raid night got turned into an Ulduar raid night. He wanted to skip the rest of Naxx and all of Obsidian Sanctum and Eye of Eternity to rush straight to the hardest 10-man content in the game.
I didn’t even bother to sign up. From what I heard, it was predictably a wipe-fest. I heard the guild leader’s SO got on and passive-aggressively upbraided people for not going to youtube and studying strategy videos before coming to the raid.
When I heard that, I rolled my eyes so hard it gave me a headache. NONE of that jived with the original “we’re going to make our way through the raid progression as a team, organically” pitch.
Shortly after that, some of our best (i.e., best-geared) members started dropping out of the guild, one by one. Last scheduled raid night we had four people on, conspicuously not including the guild leader.
It’s just depressing.
So now I find myself really eager to do a very specific thing in the game — find a 10-man guild starting Naxxramas and working their way up in a casual, learn-and-have-fun fashion — with absolutely no idea how to accomplish that. I’m not even sure such a guild exists in this game, at least on my server.
Oh well.
Anyway, my point here is that I absolutely get your guild anxiety. I know just how you feel.
Grats, Pike! I know how long you’ve been looking… hope this works out for you!
/cheer
/claps for Pike
See the thing about the guild you are considering about joining is that they don’t care what spec you play as long as you enjoy playing it. If I were you that would immediately sell that guild to me. Your soon-to-be guild sounds very much like my guild. I’m the only raiding BM hunter in my guild. My guild doesn’t care what spec I play as long as I’m competent. I get into all of my guild’s raids and have worked my way into the guild’s elite 10 man Ulduar team (although I go MM in Ulduar if the raid doesn’t have at least 2 pallies). I’m sure you’ll have a great time in your new guild and finally get out of the “dead zone” you’re currently at in terms of raiding.
We’re on the same server and I’m dying to know which guild you’re talking to. (I have an idea, since we don’t have THAT many old raiding guilds.) Hurry up and join so I can see it on armory and good luck!
Totally agree that the guild has to fit you to work.
I started playing WoW during TBC cause a few friends were into it and it sounded fun. Well, when WotLK came out, work schedules and RL played a part so that my friends and I could not raid together. I pug’d a few quarters of Naxx10 & the “Raid bug” bit me hard. After a long talk with the friend who had gotten me hooked on this game, I left my guild of friends and joined a raiding guild that I had been pugging Heroics, BGs & Naxx 10 with.
I HAD A BLAST!!
I was able to see all the 10man & 25man content (pre-Ulduar), got a bunch of gear, made some strong online friendships and learned alot from a group of people that were more seasoned at raiding than I was, at the time.
In the end, due to loot drama, attendance problems and RL issues, that raiding guild dissolved and I found myself guildless. After spending a week just wandering around Dal & doing dailies, I realized something:
A guild should be where you are accepted for who you are and what you can contribute. So, with that in mind, I headed back to where I started…. with my friends and our own unique/strange raiding habits.
I guess what I’m trying to say is this: A guild is a place where your avatar can call home. Home should be a place where you are always accepted for who you truly are. Once you find that, don’t ever let go of it. Sounds like this maybe the one, Pike….. but, in the end, the final decision is yours. Just my $0.02 here.
Well it certainly sounds like this guild is a natural fit for you. Once you get your feet wet, those nerves will melt away like an ice cream cone on a summer day.
Mmm… ice cream… /drool
Congratulations pike, I’m happy to see you able to play beastmastery in a raid with a guild who appreciates it.
Does the raid schedule fit with your availability? I know that’s something you’ve had problems with before. 🙁
A frosty greeting from some airport in Xi’an. Wi-Fi is ridiculously expensive in these hotels that I’ve been staying in, so consider yourself lucky that I spend this time on your blog at all! (actually, in truth, my flight was delayed, so /yay!)
From the looks of it, it seems like this situation is perfect for you! You could always make a chat channel for your friends in case anything comes up. This guild NEEDS a hunter like you. For huntery stuff. And maybe for the lulz.
In the end, it’s about how you feel as a player. Follow your heart! As Apu’s parents said in that Simpsons episode where he was threatened to be deported as an illegal immigrant, “Never forget who you are!”
many /hugs
Krizzlybear ^_^
oh good. I hope you decide to join them and tell ulduar stories.