Monthly Archives: January 2009

For the second night now I’ve been running around on Teufeltanz my Death Knight. Basically I wanted to push her up a few levels so that when I help folks out in some lower level instances tomorrow night, it should be a little bit easier. I also wanted to gear her up a little as well.

Tonight I did have a blast helping one of our Priests get into the Outlands. We had a Warlock summon our Priest from the old world to Hellfire Ramparts, got the hearthstone set, and then made two runs through Hellfire Ramparts.

Last night I actually ran through Blood Furnace the neighboring instance a couple of times too, which is part of the reason Teufeltanz went from 60 to 63 in two days. I wanted to hit 65 tonight and all day I’ve been thinking about it. I just didn’t have much of a level frenzy this evening. Partially it’s because I found out that my DPS wasn’t what I’d hoped it would be, so I went an re-specced again. Lannister one of my guildies, hooked me up with a few Death Knight Glyphs and I settled on the Glyph of Icy Touch and the Glyph of Bone Shield. I re-specced Teufeltanz to a similar Unholy/Blood build that I’d left off on when I was leveling Geistig. For now I think I’ll hold off on Dual Wielding until I level Teufeltanz because there’s just so much tweaking that has to be done to boost Dual Wielding DPS while minimizing the incoming damage.

It’s ok though I mean she is using Hellreaver that pole arm alone does a lot to boost Tanz’s DPS. Add in the gear I’ve picked up as I’ve gone along, and she’s pretty well outfitted for running around in Scarlet Monastery hehe.

I know it seems like a bit much, but I want to make sure that Tanz will be capable of getting the job done. I want to make this event go over well and renew some enthusiasm and confidence in the guild. Well for success or failure at least I’ll have given this a try.

So when things get hairy people usually have two responses, fight or flight. When the going gets tough you can do something about it or you can turn and run with your hands in the air waving like you just don’t care. We’ve all had times where the run/wave really was the best option, even if not literally hehe. I’m one of the ‘problem solver’ kind of folk. I really like to see if I can figure out how to make things better (sometimes even if they don’t need to be better, that usually doesn’t go to well). This time I saw something that needed some improvement (I promise) and I took action to try to make things better.

WoW is a dynamic game. Sure you can play through the end game, and get the epic lewtz, but really that’s not all there is to the game. There’s a whole world to explore, exotic creatures to meet and destroy, an Auction House to master (more like disaster in my case), professions to level, seas to swim in, just… all kinds of stuff! Since the game has so much to it, it attracts people that don’t all play the same way. I mentioned the other day that I took a test over at GamerDNA, turns out that I’m more of an Explorer/Social type of player. For me having a destination is cool, but I have just as much fun along the way. Usually this doesn’t mean that I have the shiniest flashiest gear in town. When you hear a lot of folks say that the ‘real game starts at 80’ or yak incessantly about the awesome lewt they have from this end game instance or that end game instance, it can make you feel, well that you suck because you don’t have those things. I know I don’t suck, I’m pretty good at being a Rogue. Sure I don’t get in a ton of levels a day, but heh, I spend quite a bit of time making a fool of myself in guild chat. Making a fool of myself though entertains me, and honestly, I can’t say that the accomplishment of having a level 80 toon is all that much better than having a total laugh fest at the end of a very long day.

I’ve learn to accept my slacking ways and just push as hard as I can without wanting to put my head through the wall. My guild mates are cool with the fact that I’m not the fastest leveler in the world, they’re even cool with the fact that I want to be a Rogue, which I’m sure a lot of guilds would be looking at me as if I were purple, covered in green slime and had a radioactive symbol stenciled on my forehead (ok Rogues aren’t that broken but I have to have fun somewhere). This is also totally not one of those guilds where I feel like I’m putting up with people, bureaucracy and nonsense just to get a job done. There’s a time and a place for that, it’s called work time, WoW time is not work time so I don’t feel that I should have to deal with that nonsense. On this note my whole guild agrees! None of us want to deal with drama, we’re here to have fun and get some serious butt kicking in on the side. I approve of this, that’s why I left my 72 Undead Death Knight (that I love dearly), a server that has some real life friends on it (who are my best real life friends in the whole world), and rolled an Alliance Rogue. I was even there to sign the guild charter.

It’s a little tough for me rolling on a Central Time zone server, since I’m in the Pacific time zone, a lot of folks are logging off just as I’m logging on. It means that I still have to spend time questing solo, and sometimes when I log out there’s only one or two other folks online. I have to admit though, rolling in the other faction helped a lot, it’s almost like playing a new game and that has kept things a little more lively. I’d started to feel a little isolated though, and losing some folks that play when I play, only made things worse. So I decided that it was time to do something about it. I asked to be an officer in the guild and asked if I could start taking on some additional responsibilities and scheduling some guild events.

Why? Because I want to feel like I’m a part of something again. I also want to help lower level folks in the guild feel like they’re a part of something too. I mean sure, personal gain is cool and all, but it really isn’t the same as feeling like you’re a part of a group. I like the fact that I log in and people say ‘Hey Aus’, I like the fact that folks who need help will send me a tell, I like the fact that I can ask for help and receive it, I also like the fact that folks offer me help with out my even asking at all! To me, it’s this kind of group that makes WoW fun. I want to see the guild be successful and sometimes, just hanging out on the sidelines and crossing your fingers just isn’t enough. So I took the initiative and said, hey, I’ve got time, I’ve got skills, can I help out?

By doing this, it’s inspired other guild members to set up more guild activities. It’s stirred up a heaping batch of ‘cool new stuff is happening.’ I really think that for once, stepping in to help is paying off, instead of well you know, blowing up in my face, hehe. This is a really good guild full of good folks who do have a real life and real friends are more important than a game mentality. I feel really lucky to be a part of it. For the longest time I didn’t think I’d find a guild like this. Right now it’s going through some growing pains. I really feel like every guild goes through this at sometime. But I also know that the foundation that the guild is built on, it’s guiding principals are solid. As the saying goes, if the foundation is solid, everything else can be fixed.

So I’m still in Aftermath, and I’ve gotta say I still love this guild. I think though, we’re about to hit a real trying patch in our guild’s existence. We’ve had a number of level 80 folks join the guild and a number of folks hit level 80. Now a lot of the guild’s focus is no longer strictly on getting the members of the guild to 80, but getting ready to raid.

Unfortunately I haven’t hit 80 yet. Several of the other guild members that re-rolled are in the same boat. With the guild changing focus, it’d be really easy for folks who’ve been leveling like crazy to lose focus and feel like the guild just doesn’t care if they get to 80.

I’ve been harbored in a raiding guild before. I’ve gotta say, leveling in a raiding guild is a lonely and frustrating experience. For the most part unless you’re really low level folks will run you through the first two or three really low level instances, but then you’re on your own. You don’t really have anyone to run with because even guild members leveling alts only run with those alts every once in a while, and chances are, they run with folks they know. You know, they run with the folks they raid with. Well if you aren’t level capped and a member of the raiding parties, no one gets to know you or anything about you. Even typing in guild chat for the most part you get ignored, and for the most part you’re just considered to be someone’s alt. Then you get to live vicariously as everyone posts gear links from last night’s raid in guild chat. Woo hoo.

Lately I’ve noticed that my desire to level has taken a total nosedive. Part of it is due to the fact that the ‘Night Crew’ dissolved. Two of the guys in the ‘Night Crew’ were already level 80 so it was sort of a driving force to get to 80 and sit at the big kid’s table so to speak. Those two members left the guild. The other remaining regular member is pretty much ready to hit Northrend, so hey yeah, not like I’ve got someone to run with in the evenings for the most part.

I’ve also noticed that folks aren’t logging into the guild as much. That’s not a good sign. So I started thinking, why were folks logging in to be a part of the guild. What made so awesome when it first started? Then it hit me! When we first started out not everyone had hit 80 yet and we didn’t have a lot of level 80 guildies. For the most part we had a few folks in the high 70’s but that’s about it. These higher level folks would stop and help out the folks as they were leveling, and let me tell you, that made a HUGE difference. I mean, how nice is it to be able to say ‘hey guys hate to ask this,’ and have a level seventy something say ‘Need help with Dead Mines huh?’ and then run out to give you a hand. We also had guild events organized, such as Lowbie Nights where high level guild members would run guildies through dungeons they haven’t been able to group for, a guild group into the Gurubashi Arena, and even a birthday suit run from Iron Forge to Stormwind!

These events took the edge off the grind. We got to know one another by spending a little time together. I mean in some ways, WoW can be a lot like a cafe. You see people coming and going all the time, and you might recognize some regulars if you go often enough, but you don’t really feel compelled to get to know anyone, you’re just there for a cup of coffee. Guilds can be like this sometimes. When we’re trying really hard to get loot or to get that next level, getting to know the folks in the guild around us doesn’t take precedence anymore. This is about when clicks form and people start to leave the guild.

So what I’m thinking is that it’s time to start bringing back the more social events and to bring back assistance to folks who are still working their way up. Yeah this is going to take time away from leveling my character, but what good will it be to get to level 80 and have no one to run with?

Since I have a Death Knight that’s just hanging about in the Outlands taking up a character slot, I figure, hey, why don’t I bring back ‘Lowbie Nights’ and see what I can do to try and get the guild kicking again. This also lets the folks ready for raiding get back to raiding. I’m actually excited about this! This will give me a chance to get to know some of the newer low level guild members. It’ll also give me a few karma points after getting so much help myself when I started out.

Yeah I know there’s a chance that folks will try to take advantage of the help, but I’ve got a couple of tricks up my sleeve. So since I’m doing the runs as Teufeltanz my Death Knight, I can start to set the expectation that when I log on as that character, I’m here to help. On the flip side that means when I log on as Auslander, I’m there to get some serious leveling in. I think that’ll help a bunch. I’m also a big fan of saying no to folks who are obviously just trying to have the game handed to them. For folks that are seriously working hard at leveling, I really don’t mind running them through anything because I know they’re motivated and they’ve gotta be doing something right or they wouldn’t be completing the quests. I also know that folks looking to have the game handed to them now won’t change that perspective once they hit the level cap. That just has ‘drama’ written all over it and won’t help out the guild.

In the end what I’m really hoping to do is to breath life back into Aftermath. Since the guild started up over the holidays, we all had more time we could dedicate to the game. A lot of us were also all starting at the same time, and that helped out a bunch too. So now that the dust has settled and folks are back to the grind, we’re all starting to go our separate ways and we’re drifting apart as a guild. I think it’s time to get the band back together you know?