This week has been an epic week for me. I have finally made the switch from casual player to full blown WoW addict. I've learned the ropes of grouping, running instances and etiquette and hopefully am therefore ready to join a raiding guild.
This has been something I've been working towards for sometime. I've always had the desire to one day join a group of people whose dedication and devotion surpassed even my own. To join a group where I can grow from the simple noob that I am to a full grown raider; one who is easily annoyed by the lack of efficiency of others. Someone who has completed the meta achievements like the undying and Epic. To understand World of Warcraft jokes and to be able to tell others why they wiped the raid. I got that opportunity by joining the Elune guild: Noctambulists.
Now I won't begin to tell you that Noctambulists is THE best guild on Elune. That is not the case. But they are an extremely devote group compiled of players interested in mastery of the game. Their knowledge of their individual characters is impressive to say the least and they intend to execute every run as if it were their last. I've had the chance to run with this group a couple of times, although if you look at my character's gear right now you will understand why I'm not invited on many Ulduar raids yet.
What struck me more than the honor of joining this group, was my intense emotions about leaving my prior guild. What to me was a simple act of just changing the name underneath my character name, I realized couldn't be farther from the truth. Your guild is like what Obi-wan said about the force, "(the Force) is what gives a Jedi his powers. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together." To a certain extent, your guild is quite similar.
My mother always told me, the company you keep reflects on you. So being a part of a raid group who is progressive and constantly conquering new content is certainly going to get me noticed as a better WoW player (or at least one who can hang with good ones). But that is really not to discount my former guild, because honestly, I didn't realize how difficult it would be to type in the magical phrase (/gquit).
Guilds are a funny thing, because while my old guild was nothing more than a few friends enjoying the game together, it felt like home. There wasn't the pressures of mandatory raid nights and the expectations that every penny you make would go into better gearing yourself for that nights raid. Not to say that I dislike that, but it's why there are only so many people in professional sports. They are the dedicated and they are the ones sacrificing everything to play the sport that they love (or that they love the money from). I play basketball once a week because i like it, while Michael Jordan played it 5 times a week because he loved it (and was paid 30+million a season).
As I typed in that magical phrase and disconnected myself from the Rogue Knights (well at least for Darthrune) I couldn't help but feel this strange sensation of regret and excitement. On the one hand I was cutting ties with a group that had nurtured me from level 1 all the way up to level 80, but now I was ready to run raids and with that needed a guild who was doing the same. Perhaps you could describe my transition as going to WoW college. Ironic that as I transition to my college years of World of Warcraft, most students are headed home for their summer break. Perhaps someday I'll take one of those myself, but for now it's finals week and I have a whole semesters worth of raiding to catch up on.
