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Confessions of a Guild Lover

I love my guild. I don’t say that sarcastically either. I LOVE my guild. I’ve had several characters over several realms both on the Horde and Alliance sides of the game. I’ve been part of end game guilds and casual adult guilds, kiddie guilds and silly guilds, guilds that friends introduced me to and guilds that I happened upon when I first start in a server but Divine Forsaken I’ve loved since “Hello!” When BC was released my brother and I decided to re-roll characters. At the time I had a 60 Paladin (McGregor, at that time known as Wayne.) and he had a 60 Hunter (Forester, I know real original right?) on a server whose name has completely left me at this late date. We had a couple of guilds we had been a part of there and a handful of friends. We left it all behind, created space-goats (Dreanei) and began anew. I created Luciel and he created….Forester, the priest. Within two hours of being on the server we found Divine Forsaken. A group of Horde players that had also decided to re-roll Alliance to go with the new expansion; of course we were excited, this meant that we were all starting at the same pace.

I took a Sabbatical from guild for a bit and Alliance in general because I didn’t like a lot of the politics that went along with Alliance since it seems that many of the younger players choose to be part of that faction. We went hardcore Horde for several months until Divine Forsaken called us back. They had kept us in their ranks even though they hadn’t seen or heard from us in months.

Since my return to Alliance I’ve leveled 3 more toons to 70. That brings my total to 5 70s.

::Sigh:: I know you’re wondering what the point of this installment is and I’m getting to it. Yesterday I had a brain child. You see, with the exception of Shatterpoint on the Alliance side, NONE of my other 70s is totally keyed for Kara. Luciel just recently got the first Frag, only by accident because they needed a healer for the last bit. McGregor has gotten the three frags but has never been to OH or BM, so it’s not complete. Bosque, well I went out of my way to make sure he got his keys. I mean, I pugged every single fragment because I couldn’t get four people from my guild to have enough desire to make the runs together.

So I had a thought.

My thought was that perhaps we could work on coming together as a guild. Have a guild event day where we did things together. Maybe PVP or Instances, or quests or even just getting together and doing some world PVP. WHATEVER! Just something that would show the people in the guild that there was a united front and that we weren’t shying away from working together. I went to our website and posted, what I felt, to be an intelligent post with this idea in mind and left it up with the hopes that I would get some replies from some like minded people that felt the same and that thought it would be a good idea.

I was wrong.

Instead what I got was three replies from three people of some clout in the guild saying in no uncertain terms that, while they understood the concept of the idea, it wasn’t needed because people should know to ASK for help and that when that happened Help would be given. Another of the posters, who helped put together the alliance of our two guilds, was upset that I was trying to separate the guilds again instead of working together. The last poster talked about how they would rather be pvp-ing that dealing with having to tank for some such instance with his main because tanking was boring.

I got fed up. I’m sorry, I’m tolerant. I like to think that I let lots of stuff roll off my back and that I can take things with a grain of salt. I like to think that at least. Reading these three entries though really felt more like a ‘Shut up, you don’t know what you’re talking about!’ and I let loose. I didn’t do it in a gentlemanly way or in a conservative way but in a finger pointing, I’m telling mom you took the last cookie and didn’t share, sitting in the living room while your roommate is watching a romantic movie with his girl and you want to prove a point that no woman should stand between your friendship way. I was livid and seeing red in a way that I hadn’t seen it in a long way. In case you were wondering, I had taken my meds that morning thank you very much and this wasn’t a bipolar moment.

I sat and wrote a long reply on how all I saw was three people that were basically saying, your paradigm does not interweave with my own and I want you to replace it with something that I’m more comfortable with doing. That in all the time that I had been part of the guild this was the time when it was at its lowest and it felt like no one gave a rat’s ass about how things went from now on. I wrote on how several guild members came to me and griped about how long it was taking them to get things done because no one was willing to help them. About how I went ahead and pugged through all three instances to get my key fragments because no one seemed to have the time, interest or desire to help.

I felt righteous, angry and defensive and I went for the jugular.

I’m sure today I screwed up. My veil of anger skewed my vision in what I was trying to get across and instead I came off looking as a self interested party that was upset because I wasn’t given the time of day when my own desires weren’t met in a timely fashion.

Do I have to tell you that it sucks to be wrong? Of course I don’t. Every person is wrong at least once in their lives. What I got back was a land blasting on how what I was doing was really just sitting there and creating waves that didn’t need to be there in the first place and just needed to stop trying to create guild drama.

Humble pie doesn’t taste good. While my intentions were great, my follow through sucked major monkey balls and I ended up paying for it in a huge manner by apologizing to the guild in both the forums and in guild chat while on the game.

I know that some of you are going to reply, I usually get at least one reply with something like this and it will boil down to me moving to a different guild. While I would normally take that under advisement and begin to hunt around for something that I thought was more appropriate for me, it’s not like that with DF. Yes they are stubborn, as am I. We don’t always see eye to eye but they are family. You don’t quit family. I know many of the players by a first name basis and not by character names and I would be remiss to lose them because of one argument. Fact is that I see it from their point of view as well; I’ve got how many 70s. There’s always something that I want to run with them (At least until Bosque). A little bit of an identity crisis character wise don’t you think?

Guild drama over.

Think I’ll stick to PVP for a bit.

A Pox Upon Thee

So the Anti-PUG met again last night and we were able to get our guild established which was very cool and we all got tabards, which was AWESOME. I am now part of the Black Pox team, which is a full group and we’re going to try and swing for RFC next week, should be a cool experience.

The first thing that I want to point out is that the silliness and fun that I felt in the first day was STILL there. It was just like we were picking up from where we left off, like it was the next day instead of the next week. The desire to help each other is very noticeable in each and every single player. It’s an amazing thing and incredibly fun to watch. I don’t think there was one terse word spoken between players the whole night.

The one thing that brought a HUGE smile to my face was when Wulfa commented that this was the only time in her playing of WOW that she actually knew all of the people in the guild and how fun that was. It was a festive time and it only bodes well for the future.

Course my concern is the amount of squishies that we have amongst us, myself included. I hope it doesn’t make us a liability in these lower levels since a lot of our crowd control still hasn’t been given to us. Still we’ve got hunters, rogues, paladins and warriors to help us out and I’m sure we’ll be more familiar with each class as time goes on.

I wrapped up a little earlier than I wanted to because the rest of the group, with the exception of Fuller, was off line and I was too tempted to try and reach some different areas for Herbalism. I did do some quests but I held back from leveling so that I would maintain same level with everyone else. Course I feel like a bum since some people already have gold on the server and I’m still at less than 50s, I know that once I start getting drops though that will quickly change.

Here’s to more fun with my fellow Poxers next week and that the laughs just keep coming!

A Cry for Help

I've got several high level toons but Bosque is the one that I want to see more content with. To that end I have begun to PVP religously. (More about that in a later post.)

The question is: Aside from some of the gear in PVP, what other places would be suitable for me to get some gear to take me into Karazhan and beyond?

I leave this to you druids who are hiding among us, as well as awesome players that know alot about everything!

Learning your Roots: The Feral Tree Part 2

Okay, some of the cobwebs have been knocked loose and I’ve managed to post some smart and interesting things, however we need to get back to business don’t we? So, here’s the second part of the Feral Tree. Remember that this is the spec that most Druids swear by to level their toon; I myself was a Feral until 40 and then my Moonkin adventures.

Shredding Attacks is a two point talent that reduces the energy spent for Shred and rage spent for lacerate. These are two of your main attacks as a kitty and bear respectively. Taking down the cost of those two so that you can toss out other attacks as well isn’t a bad thing. It’s probably the best thing that you can do for yourself; especially low level like you would be (Level 28 or so). It’ll help make sure that the battles you find yourself in will continue to be short and concise.

Predatory Strikes is 3 points but something that’s wanted for two reasons. First, it bleeds into another talent later on and I don’t have to tell you that it’ll be something you want. The second is that it increases your attack power in all of your shifted forms with the exception of travel, flight, aquatic and caster. If you put three points in it you go from normal attack power to 150% higher attack power. Who doesn’t want more attack power?

If you paid into Sharpened Claws you can get Primal Fury, a sweet little talent that will only cost 2 points to max out. It’s a critical strike bonus talent, you get crit you either get more rage or the possibility of an extra attack point when you’re a kitty. Imagine the amount of HURT you can put into someone with this one maxed out. That’s why a lot of druids that stay feral use kitty for fighting, you’re going to be flying through your rage and getting some hits that will pay out for you in the long run.

Savage Fury is a kitty talent for 2 points. With it you would get increase damage by 20% on your Claw, Rake, and Mangle. Again these are three key strikes that you will depend on regularly when you’re in cat form. It’s the best way to get that opponent on his knees.

I will let you know that I tried to work on this for four hours and the interruptions were just too great. I’ll try to pick this up again tomorrow.

Bosque reaches Maturity!

Yes I know I’m bombarding you with posts today but this is what happens when a creative person gets sick, you end up having this HUGE release that never seems to stop and the people around you either love you for it or end up wanting to strangle you. The difference for you guys is you can just click out of my topics and move on to something else; think about the people around me!!!!

So as you all know my latest toon has been Bosque. A Druid that had been asleep in the Emerald Dream for close to a year before I came back over to him and gave him the breath of life again. Having decided to make him a Moonkin I traveled through Azeroth and later the Outlands with him, trying to figure out just how long it would take me to get him to where I wanted to be. On Saturday night, as I lay awake with a dull throb coming from my upper back, Bosque hit 70. He completed part of Cipher of Damnation and then went around and killed Ogres to try and get more rep with the Nagrad faction for his mount. He hit 70 in the middle of being swarmed by three Ogres.

I have decided that as much as I love McGregor and Luciel, Bosque will be the one that sees more end game content with me for the foreseeable future. The reasoning is quiet simple, I haven’t stopped having fun with him. Nor do I see myself not having fun with him in the near future.

So welcome Bosque to the crowd of 70, though there seem to be a plethora of us around as not as exclusive as it once was.

The only toon that will see anything remotely close to leveling is part of the Anti-Pug and ours is not a race but a leisurely stroll together through this content.

MotW (for 2/16/08)

“Let me tell you a story about how I almost died…”

I’m a man of faith (Notice I said FAITH and not RELIGION, different topic) and nothing tickles me more than a good movie that has some undertones that there’s more to life than just the physical plane that you see before you each and every day.

Fallen is a movie that touches on faith, belief, murder, mystery and paranoia in a way that many movies have been trying to do but utterly fail at. This is a great little creepy movie that will be intriguing to have in the background. Be warned though that if you haven’t seen it, you should probably watch it FIRST, since having it in the background is more because you’re familiar with it and know what’s going to happen, not to get freaked out in the middle of a ZA pull and then blame me because I didn’t tell you it was going to make you pee your pants! (It shouldn’t, but just a disclaimer!)

The Scare...

If you read this site regularly you will know that it hasn’t been updated in a while. You will also know that it’s not a common occurrence as I like to up date either every day or every other day (With the exceptions of weekends). Since I’ve already been honest with you in the past about my depression, I don’t see a reason why not to share this latest issue with you, the reader. I will tell you now that this post is solely about my health in the last few days and if you want to pass it up, I understand. I will post MORE today, including a belated MotW for those that enjoy that segment.

Friday was the worst day of the year so far for me. Let me back up a little bit. Two weeks ago I went to my doctor’s office and they took a biopsy of some skin on my back. The reason behind it was that they felt that the patch of sink looked kind of questionable and might be skin cancer. It’s about a quarter in size and a few centimeters deep. It took 12 stitches to seal it shut and then I was supposed to have them in for a week. A week was up on Thursday. Went in to get them taken out and sure enough, the sucker didn’t heal and it reopened. The doctor said it would just have to heal from the inside out, yes that’s as gross as it sounds.

Unfortunately when I woke up on Friday morning I couldn’t raise my arm. See, the site is right behind my right shoulder blade. The area was swollen and infected. I took the day off and went to see the doctor, after hours because he was booked for the whole day, and had him give me the horse medicine from hell to try and cure the infection. Turns out I am prone to M.R.S.A (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or some such thing) which means that I get staph but it’s not just regular old kind but the really strong kind that could pretty much eat you up and spit you out if it isn’t taken care of properly. So for the next two weeks I’m stuck on SUPER MEDS to try and quell this uprising.

So it in closing I want to apologize for not having posted but as you can see, it’s not going to be pretty =/.