Tag Archives: guilds

Last week I left my Alliance guild.

It wasn’t because of drama. It wasn’t because I wanted more progression. It wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy playing with the people there. It all came down to schedule. After three and a half years of raiding Friday and Saturday nights, I decided I couldn’t do it anymore. I’m no social butterfly, but raiding those times did have a definite impact on how much time I got to spend with my friends and family. Over the last several months I had been feeling increasingly bad about the whole situation. I felt guilty when I turned down invites from my friends to go out so I could raid. Likewise I felt like I was letting down my guild the times I declined raids so I could go out. It started to feel like a no-win situation, where I would always have to choose between letting down my friends or my guild.

Just as my feelings of guilt and frustration at trying to balance raiding and real life were reaching a boiling point, I saw a very appealing recruitment ad from a guild looking for a resto Druid. They were at a very similar progression level, had raid times that would work really well for me and as a bonus, I was already somewhat familiar with some of the members through WoW blogs and Twitter. It gave me the push I needed. Though I loved raiding with aus the raid schedule was really stressing me out and I needed a change. I made the decision to leave.

That week was quite the emotional roller coaster for me. The first thing I did was write a message to my raid leader, letting him know I would be leaving soon. I wrote the message then sat in front of my computer sobbing for 20 minutes before I hit send. The next day I sent messages to the rest of the officers which involved more crying. After that, I put in my application to Apotheosis. I was really excited about writing and submitting my app. I’ve always loved tests (yes, I’m a nerd) and I looked at the application process as a big test. Could I avoid the errors that so many applicants make? No spelling mistakes, full answers to all the questions asked and responses that convince people I know what I’m doing? Apparently I could. After some back and forth on the forums and an interview on Mumble, I was offered a trial spot in the guild. I was really pleased things had gone so well. The following weekend I had my final raid with aus, said my goodbyes and server transferred Jasyla. I got a lot of nice messages and replies to my goodbye post on the forums which, of course, induced more crying.

It was a hard decision, but ultimately I think it was the right one. My first raid-free weekend in a long time was a really nice change of pace. I know my fiancé appreciated not being abandoned for a raid on Friday night. I’ll miss raiding with aus – there are many great people and players there that I both like and respect. I’ll miss my healing team, who have been healing together for so long. We avoided healing assignments like the plague, but we still kept people healed somehow and had fun doing it. I’ll miss the chatter about chicken salt and raiding without pants, songs about soft kitties, professor putricide imitations and all the awful, awful puns. I’ve got a lot of great memories and I will keep in touch though.

Now I’m focused on impressing my new guildmates and healing the hell out of them in raids. Everyone has been really welcoming. My first two raids with Apotheosis were fun and successful. I got a couple new boss kills and was fortunate enough to be a part of the guild’s first heroic Maloriak kill. I can’t wait to start working on our next heroic and be part of the learning process from start to finish.