Oh my!

[plonq]

One of the things you don't like to see in your daily status reports is a trend line that plummets off the bottom of the graph.  Perhaps "plummet" doesn't adequately describe the way this line is aggressively boring its way to the unplumbed depths below the bottom of the chart.



Fortunately the dive is due to a service outage on the database where we report the results, rather than an actual decline in our service level in this particular area.  On the other hand, there is a downward trending happening that I don't like to see.  Early October doldrums I suppose.

On the other hand, the graph is a pretty good representation of my energy levels these days.  Yesterday's snow, and this morning's chilly temperatures and icy streets have got me off to an early start on winter depression.  It's a good thing that I mowed the lawn and mulched the leaves on Monday.  O.o

---

Game notes:

I'm starting to get a little burnt out lately on WoW.  It's not the game itself that is burning me out, but the aggressive, hardcore nature of the guild I'm in.  When atara and I joined this guild they were a fairly casual raiding guild, doing 2-3 serious raids a week.  Currently they are up to 5 days a week of raiding, and they are demanding 50% minimum attendance to avoid DKP wipes and other penalties.  That's a bit more hardcore than I really wanted, but on the other hand I've been running in the 90% attendance range, so I can't really complain too loudly about those requirements.  Doing 10 raids a month isn't a serious hardship IMO.

What's burning me out is that the raids have stopped being fun; the raid leader and officers are taking things way too seriously.  They keep tabs on the progress of every other raiding guild on the server - Horde or Alliance - and measure our performance and progress against them.  When a raid is going well, it's all rainbows and buttercups, but when things turn a bit sour they start getting a little ugly.  Last night was one of those times when things went a little sour.

"Goddamn it, what's wrong with you people?"
"I'm not going to waste my time bringing you in here if you're not going to bring your A game."
"Did you all take your stupid pills today?"
[etc]

We were working on Noth when our secondary main tank dropped from the raid and logged out.  Apparently the raid leader had sent him a whisper, telling him to "STFU in Vent" because this guy was trying to keep things a bit lighter in there.  As soon as he left, there was an immediate round of back-biting, and comments about "thin skins" and "PMS".  The warrior who logged is one of the nicer guys in the guild, and a very capable player.  He didn't deserve, well, any of this.  I would not be surprised to see him take a break for awhile.

As for me, I'm getting closer and closer to transferring my character over to join a bunch of my ex-guildmates on another server.  I sat in on one of their raids in Ventrilo last week, and it was really refreshing to hear people talking, and joking and even laughing in the middle of multiple wipes.  They were having fun with their raid, as opposed to what I'm doing now -- which is more like boot camp than fun at the moment.  There are only two things holding me back just now.

1) I know that it will be a long time before I see any of the same end-game content with the other guild as I am seeing with this current one.
2) A part of me feels that I owe something back to this guild.  These guys have decked me out in pretty good gear, and I'm one of their primary priests.  If I cut and run, it will be with no small amount of guilt.  Officers aside, there are some genuinely decent folk in this guild.

Right now there is a tentative guilt/burnout balance happening, with guilt weighing slightly heavier at the moment, but every raid like the one last night stacks more weights on the other pile.  I was planning to wait for Burning Crusade to transfer, but I may jump early at this rate.

Comments

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

Sounds like my experience with my former raid group. Now I'm waaaaaaaay back in progression and raiding like, at most, 6 times a month and enjoying myself

[plonq.livejournal.com]

The raid leader just posted in a thread on the guild forum explaining his behavior, and admitting that he's slightly manic/depressive with some anger issues. Uh, ya. We hadn't actually figured that out on our own... =)

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

The guild leader in the guild I left was avoidant passive-aggressive.

If you stood up against him or question something, even if you had 100% raid attendance, he would pretend the problem wasn't there and everything was nice and not confront you but you wouldn't get an invite to a raid, even if the raid was short.

Fucker.

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

He also banned me and a bunch of former guild members from the public area of their forums, even though we haven't publicly slandered their name at all. And even bettr. The officers and members didn't know he did this.

[warheart.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I think it happens with most guilds. Raiding is fun but it IS also work in a way. Some people take it to one side or the other a little too much eventually (in my experiences). Have you raided on your rogue at all on Ysera? You should come to one if not, especially weds night MC because that's usually the most relaxed fun night.

[plonq.livejournal.com]

There's a thread in the guild forums today. It sounds like things got even worse after I logged for the night, and there were some pretty harsh words and accusations swapped. I'm going to log in briefly to check my mail and whatnot, but I am probably going to be on my rogue or warlock again this evening.

[tamarik.livejournal.com]

You need to join the Ars Brute Squad on Chromaggus (you are on a PvP server, right?). We're all from arstechnica.com which is a pretty tightly-knit community in itself, and most everyone there has just come from a hardcore raiding guild on various servers.

The atmosphere is awesome, since everyone is really apprehensive about becoming one of those hell-bent raiding guilds. The guild masters are stressing fun over loot: help out guildies, play some BG, just whatever is fun!

We raid about 2-3 times a week, there's no DKP (if you need it, roll on it, eventually we'll start using Suicide Kings). We're going for Hakkar tonight in ZG, and we're just starting to break through in AQ20, so if you want to come to a guild that's early in the raid progression and still having a ton of fun, I'll see if I can't get you and Atara in!

[atara.livejournal.com]

Actually WW is a PvE server, so transferring to PvP isn't an option. :/

[plonq.livejournal.com]

Nope, I'm on a PvE server so a transfer there is out of the question. A bunch of my former guildies moved over to another PvE server. I've got my alts over there already, and I figure that's where I'll probably end up moving my main to sooner or later.

[tamarik.livejournal.com]

Well thpppt on you two. :)

[smrgol-t-kirin.livejournal.com]

I've got a low level Tauren Shamen on Whisperwind who could use some company.

Or come over to Silvermoon and visit.

We Miss Ya!

[(Anonymous)]

We miss ya, erui :)


You are always welcome on Ysera with The Aretaics. I know i speak for all of us when i say that we miss the lighthearted take on things you and arhi add and your skill as incredible players.


We may not be in naxx, or even BWL...but we have fun and enjoy each others company. Since i was in the same guild you guys are still in...i can totally understand what you guys are going through.

Hope to see you on Ysera :)


- Mav/Asros/Brian