Servers... guilds... stuff & things.

A few weeks ago, I moved my characters from The Venture Co. to Bloodhoof, and joined Necessary Evil. There are many reasons behind the move, and overall, it's been a good decision.

Bloodthunder Tribe was the first guild I helped run, and it taught me a great deal. Primarily, I learned that an organization with ambivalent purpose is a weak one. The guild leader and I started Bloodthunder when we were in our 30s or 40s, intending to develop a role-playing guild (VeCo is, afterall, an RP-PvP server...!). People grow, however, and goals change. Ambivalence swelled as the guild's leadership found purpose in different aspects of the endgame. For me, RP became secondary. I still do it - still animate my characters' reactions, read all of the quest text, and hunt down or create lore when I can. The game changed for me, though, on my first Naxx PuG. From there on out, raiding steadily climbed its way to the top of my priorities.

Progression on a low-population server, such as VeCo is difficult. That isn't to say that there are no good players - quite the opposite. There are many very strong players, and many who happen to be good people as well. Progression as a strict RP-only guild on a low-population server, however, is a herculean effort. The prevailing model is RP-tolerant progression, in which RP is welcome, but not required, and the guild's focus is progression. This model works well because it allows a great deal of flexibility in the raid force while maintaining the RP aspect. On the other hand, it does not support things like in-character /g chat and frequently scheduled RP-events (squashing valuable raid time with RP does not go over well with your raid force).

Some of Bloodthunder's leadership favored this model, some favored the strict-RP model, so we kept the strict-RP model with which we began. Over time, it became clear that putting together a reliable 10-man raid force was unlikely. Waiting and hoping for our recruitment to pick up for 9 months was a draining experience. Losing the Goldilocks members - those who felt that we RP too much or too little, never juuuust right - was painful. Between these things, PuGging 30-50% of a weekly 10-man, and leveling & gearing a healer myself to fill a scarce role, the guild became more stressful than what I had imagined.

A lot of good came out of the guild, though. The friendships and experiences I found in Bloodthunder are deeply cherished. I wish only the best to you all. Thank you to those who have been understanding and have maintained contact and friendship.

As for the future, I am very happy in Necessary Evil. Playing alongside family is a great feeling, and taking down Thorim for the first time last week was a blast. The Cask of Dalaran Red was totally worth the gold.