Let's first start off with this past weekend. Friday night, I ventured into Ulduar with 9 other guild members of Eternity Matters and downed 4 bosses(Flame Leviathan" ,Razorscale, XT-002 Deconstructor, Kologarn) and almost a fourth (Ignis the Furnace Master was tough and kept smelting our healers at critical points in the fight, which caused us to wipe repeatedly. All in all, it was fun, and I got Stormtempered Girdle out of the run. Later on that evening (I should say "night" since it was rather late) I was be-bopping around on Gyrr, my lowbie mage, when a fellow guildmember made some snarky remark about my DK tanking abilities, and how my pet ALWAYS pulls aggro off of the main tank and causes the raid to wipe. That only happened TWICE, and both times by accident. Anyway, anyone who knows me knows how seriously I play my character, and how defensive I get when someone criticizes my spec or my playing abilities. Needless to say, it quickly erupted into a mini-war with me defending myself, and the other person denying anything was ever said (despite the fact that it was in guild chat for all to see) and then later defending it as a "joke". Either way, I wasn't happy, and promptly put said offender on ignore to prevent the inevitable explosion if I had continued with the debate. Right away, said offender went crying to the officers online about how I "hurt hir feelings". This ensued with a lengthy discussion between myself and one of the officers (who is also one of my friends) about the whole incident, and just WHY I didn't want to talk to said person. The matter was dropped, and I logged for the night. Immediately on Saturday, I was instructed to log onto Vent for a "mediation" session with the two guild masters and the offending parties, and everything was laid on the table, I presented my grievances, and agreed to be civil (though I am maintaining a wide berth now) and let it go. The rest of the day was rather uneventful as far as drama is concerned. Saturday night, we gathered as many guild members as we could as well as some pugs, and ventured into Naxxrammas where we finished off the Plague wing and then proceeded to take down Sapphiron and Kel'Thuzad.
Kel'Thuzad dropped Helm of the Lost Vanquisher, but, as usual, I lost the roll to one of the pugs. There's always next time, I guess.
After the raid, a few of us grouped up in Duskwood to take down Lethon, the world dragon. That attempt was fun, to say the least, as a lone paladin decided to try to beat us to the punch and kill it by herself We watched as she failed miserably and then the dragon turned on us because we were in range. It took a couple of deaths by some of our group, but we managed to succeed in the end.
Sunday was the fun night. That evening about 12-13 of us got together for Old World Raid Night and cleared Zul'Gurub and The Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj. We then proceeded into The Temple of Ahn'Qiraj and made it as far as Emperor Vek'lor and Emperor Vek'nilash before we gave up after three wipes (someone later discovered that we had the tanks on the wrong bosses, but we did fairly well considering a lot of us hadn't done that particular boss before. Monday night was just casual night, as we had a 25 man Ulduar run scheduled that fell through due to lack of interested people.
Then came Tuesday and 25 man Obsidian Sanctum. We tried it with two drakes up without much success due to random disconnects and lag issues, and finally managed to take down Sartharion while Tenebron was still up, and just barely managed to down him. Later on, the drama ensued again as a certain guild member started spouting out in guild chat about how unfair the guild's current raid rules are regarding which toons are allowed to raid. Currently, to make things fair for everyone involved, and to ensure that each player's main toons have a fair chance to be properly geared, only declared mains are allowed to run the regularly scheduled guild raids. It gets hard enough running with different pugs to fill the empty slots week after week, and having many of those undergeared pugs win the loot that could be used to gear up our toons, and to have a guild member running an alt would further imbalance that. A few of us tried to explain this, and were met with further hostility from the guild member in question and got accused of "spoiling hir fun" by telling hir which characters xe was allowed to raid on. I had had about enough at that point and promptly set my ignore filter so that I could finish what questing I had to do for the night in peace. Hopefully, the drama will cease soon, as I am getting to the point where I don't want to play anymore because of some people's attitudes.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Memories (of simpler times?)
Wow, two posts in one day after over a month of silence. Is the world coming to an end?
Anyway, as my valued friend, The Tank Hunter, posted his WoW memories a few days ago, I felt compelled to post mine.
It all started in late 2005, when after the continual hounding of a couple of friends (Shaloria and Prophetess) to get me to play, I finally asked for the game as a Christmas present. Since I was still dealing with a very slow dial-up connection at the time, it took me 2 days to get all the updates downloaded and installed (thankfully, I had 2 phone lines, so the telephone wasn't completely tied up.) and once I had it completely updated, I immediately set about creating my first character, a night elf warrior named "Shikyrie" on Eldre'Thalas server (so I could play with Shaloria and failed miserably on him. I stuck around there for about a day (Shaloria was in a guild already, and quite a bit higher, and I didn't want to take her away from her game) and made a mage, Wyrmsbane, on Windrunner to play with my livejournal friends Firni and Epique who had invited me to play with them, and I was soon joined by a pesky little gnome warlock by the name of "Dafodil" (who was played by my friend Dave -now Arystina in Eternity Matters, who promptly challenged me to roll a cuter gnome than he had, and thus Blossums was born. I played on Blossums for quite a while, and levelled her to 60, alongside of Arystina on Windrunner until constant server issues forced us to switch servers back to Eldre'Thalas. Once transferred, I rolled Rhowynne and he rolled another gnome, Trillee. We briefly started a rogues guild (I think we called it "Black Widows") before giving it up because people just joined to get a tabard and then left. We then joined The Unconquered where we stayed for a few months until I took a few weeks off due to burnout and the desire to visit friends in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and returned to find that I was guildless (they purged me due to inactivity for that month). That was August of 2008. It was then that I noticed an announcement in general chat that a fledgeling Christian guild was recruiting new members. I inquired about it and had a nice long chat with a character by the name of "Cuh" and his friend "Sidovan" and Rhowynne accepted into Eternity Matters along with Trillee. I was a bit of a loner at first, and didn't know too many people, still doing my own thing, and occasionally playing with Trillee, and Shaloria, who I also convinced to join the guild. At the time, I was unemployed, and spent most of my afternoons looking for work, and would get on late at night to play. It was during one of these late night sessions that I met one of my longest in game friends, Firager who was off work for a few weeks due to a foot injury, and began to play regularly with him at night. Shortly thereafter, I became acquainted with the "little kid brother" (who's not such a little kid anymore), Firager's younger brother BryanBG (which I kept insisting the BG was short for "Mr. Bigglesworth" long before I knew of the existence ofMr. Bigglesworth in Naxxrammas.I was constantly running around and doing things with these two, and helping them level up and having a great time. About this time, I had also just gotten high speed internet, and learned the uses of Ventrillo, and spent a lot of time talking in Vent with various people, which included the "Nightly Bedtime Song" for another guildie that I had gotten to know as my "little guild-sister", Hesta's older sister "Leihlani" (why she said I had a good singing voice, I dunno, but I teased her and said she was either deaf or needed her ears cleaned.) Eventually, Dave's wife, Rachel created her first character on the server, a priest named "Talamani" and joined the guild, Dave and I transfered Arystina and Blossums over to Eldre'Thalas and Eternity Matters and convinced Prophetess to take some time away from PVPing on his Hordey's on Dragonmaw and he rolled Prophetess on Eldre'Thalas and joined Eternity Matters as well. There have been many fun times, as well as those times that I got so frustrated that I wanted nothing to do with the guild and left, only to realize that I needed my guild family and admitted that I was wrong and returned. I have also had the opportunity to make many new friends, including those that left to pursue real life callings, and those whom I have had the privilege of meeting in person (Enok and Schaikera) who make life interesting when they make they're almost regular incursions into Erie to visit the gang here, and who I am honored to be their friend. All these people mentioned are more than friends, the are my extended family, and I love them all (despite any shortcomings).
Anyway, as my valued friend, The Tank Hunter, posted his WoW memories a few days ago, I felt compelled to post mine.
It all started in late 2005, when after the continual hounding of a couple of friends (Shaloria and Prophetess) to get me to play, I finally asked for the game as a Christmas present. Since I was still dealing with a very slow dial-up connection at the time, it took me 2 days to get all the updates downloaded and installed (thankfully, I had 2 phone lines, so the telephone wasn't completely tied up.) and once I had it completely updated, I immediately set about creating my first character, a night elf warrior named "Shikyrie" on Eldre'Thalas server (so I could play with Shaloria and failed miserably on him. I stuck around there for about a day (Shaloria was in a guild already, and quite a bit higher, and I didn't want to take her away from her game) and made a mage, Wyrmsbane, on Windrunner to play with my livejournal friends Firni and Epique who had invited me to play with them, and I was soon joined by a pesky little gnome warlock by the name of "Dafodil" (who was played by my friend Dave -now Arystina in Eternity Matters, who promptly challenged me to roll a cuter gnome than he had, and thus Blossums was born. I played on Blossums for quite a while, and levelled her to 60, alongside of Arystina on Windrunner until constant server issues forced us to switch servers back to Eldre'Thalas. Once transferred, I rolled Rhowynne and he rolled another gnome, Trillee. We briefly started a rogues guild (I think we called it "Black Widows") before giving it up because people just joined to get a tabard and then left. We then joined The Unconquered where we stayed for a few months until I took a few weeks off due to burnout and the desire to visit friends in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and returned to find that I was guildless (they purged me due to inactivity for that month). That was August of 2008. It was then that I noticed an announcement in general chat that a fledgeling Christian guild was recruiting new members. I inquired about it and had a nice long chat with a character by the name of "Cuh" and his friend "Sidovan" and Rhowynne accepted into Eternity Matters along with Trillee. I was a bit of a loner at first, and didn't know too many people, still doing my own thing, and occasionally playing with Trillee, and Shaloria, who I also convinced to join the guild. At the time, I was unemployed, and spent most of my afternoons looking for work, and would get on late at night to play. It was during one of these late night sessions that I met one of my longest in game friends, Firager who was off work for a few weeks due to a foot injury, and began to play regularly with him at night. Shortly thereafter, I became acquainted with the "little kid brother" (who's not such a little kid anymore), Firager's younger brother BryanBG (which I kept insisting the BG was short for "Mr. Bigglesworth" long before I knew of the existence ofMr. Bigglesworth in Naxxrammas.I was constantly running around and doing things with these two, and helping them level up and having a great time. About this time, I had also just gotten high speed internet, and learned the uses of Ventrillo, and spent a lot of time talking in Vent with various people, which included the "Nightly Bedtime Song" for another guildie that I had gotten to know as my "little guild-sister", Hesta's older sister "Leihlani" (why she said I had a good singing voice, I dunno, but I teased her and said she was either deaf or needed her ears cleaned.) Eventually, Dave's wife, Rachel created her first character on the server, a priest named "Talamani" and joined the guild, Dave and I transfered Arystina and Blossums over to Eldre'Thalas and Eternity Matters and convinced Prophetess to take some time away from PVPing on his Hordey's on Dragonmaw and he rolled Prophetess on Eldre'Thalas and joined Eternity Matters as well. There have been many fun times, as well as those times that I got so frustrated that I wanted nothing to do with the guild and left, only to realize that I needed my guild family and admitted that I was wrong and returned. I have also had the opportunity to make many new friends, including those that left to pursue real life callings, and those whom I have had the privilege of meeting in person (Enok and Schaikera) who make life interesting when they make they're almost regular incursions into Erie to visit the gang here, and who I am honored to be their friend. All these people mentioned are more than friends, the are my extended family, and I love them all (despite any shortcomings).
Bullying
OK, I know it's been a while since I updated this blog, but I've been busy getting used to school again, and a new curriculum, and have finally just gotten things settled down enough again to resume posting.
Now I move on to the main topic of this post- Bullying. I posted the following on our guild website, and figured that I will post it here as food for thought for other guilds/players/raiders:
Lately, I've noticed an increase in bullying in both raid chat and in vent, and it is beginning to get out of hand. This happens mainly when someone's point of view differs from another's or if someone is proven to be wrong and said person then bullies the other person into being quiet. I will not name names here, but those I refer to should know who you are. Some people seem to forget that we all have differing points of view, here, and that- no matter who or what you are to the guild- YOU CAN AND WILL OFTEN BE WRONG. It's a fact of life, and nobody is perfect, so PLEASE, KNOCK IT OFF. I, for one, am sick and tired of being someone else's bullying target, and I'm sure other guild members are as well. Bullying and power plays are NOT proper behavior for guild that is supposed to uphold Christian values, and it's not setting a good example to the pugs that come along on raids with us. For one, it takes the fun out of the experience, especially when somebody comes right out and tells you that their upgrades are more important than your own, despite the fact that they have the same amount of 213 and T7.5 gear as you do. It's greed and bullying at its worst, and if it continues, I know that I- as well as certain others- will cease going on guild raids just to avoid the bullying. I think 2 things can be learned from this:
1) We should ALL agree to disagree when differing points of view come to light- bullying and telling somebody to just be quiet because you are afraid of being wrong accomplishes nothing but to make you out to be "the bad guy".
2) Nobody, and I DO MEAN NOBODY, is more important than anyone else in this guild, or in the raids. If we don't work together to accomplish our goals, we'll only succeed in further dividing the guild as more and more members are made to feel unimportant.
I think that about covers it, and I hope this has caused people to think, although I highly expect to be told (1) to shut up or (2) that I'm wrong and have no right to speak my mind.
Now I move on to the main topic of this post- Bullying. I posted the following on our guild website, and figured that I will post it here as food for thought for other guilds/players/raiders:
Lately, I've noticed an increase in bullying in both raid chat and in vent, and it is beginning to get out of hand. This happens mainly when someone's point of view differs from another's or if someone is proven to be wrong and said person then bullies the other person into being quiet. I will not name names here, but those I refer to should know who you are. Some people seem to forget that we all have differing points of view, here, and that- no matter who or what you are to the guild- YOU CAN AND WILL OFTEN BE WRONG. It's a fact of life, and nobody is perfect, so PLEASE, KNOCK IT OFF. I, for one, am sick and tired of being someone else's bullying target, and I'm sure other guild members are as well. Bullying and power plays are NOT proper behavior for guild that is supposed to uphold Christian values, and it's not setting a good example to the pugs that come along on raids with us. For one, it takes the fun out of the experience, especially when somebody comes right out and tells you that their upgrades are more important than your own, despite the fact that they have the same amount of 213 and T7.5 gear as you do. It's greed and bullying at its worst, and if it continues, I know that I- as well as certain others- will cease going on guild raids just to avoid the bullying. I think 2 things can be learned from this:
1) We should ALL agree to disagree when differing points of view come to light- bullying and telling somebody to just be quiet because you are afraid of being wrong accomplishes nothing but to make you out to be "the bad guy".
2) Nobody, and I DO MEAN NOBODY, is more important than anyone else in this guild, or in the raids. If we don't work together to accomplish our goals, we'll only succeed in further dividing the guild as more and more members are made to feel unimportant.
I think that about covers it, and I hope this has caused people to think, although I highly expect to be told (1) to shut up or (2) that I'm wrong and have no right to speak my mind.
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