Wednesday (7 Apr) - A Change of Heart

Wednesday (7 Apr) - A Change of Heart

It was said in all sincerity, but I couldn't really explain what emotions ran through me when I heard it. "She only stays in FS because Wild is still there."

Lady Hunter and Wild managed to find ourselves in game at the same time for the first time in many days, even weeks. The subject always leads back, eventually, to enticing Wild to come over to the MM guild. As I've said many times in the past, it's nice to be wanted. At one point she asked Wild if the reason I stayed in FS was because our once Guild Leader, P-Jo, had stayed when many of her close friends, including her husband, had left FS. Jo is certainly a main reason Wild has stuck with FS for so long, as I'm as fond of Jo as anyone can be of someone I've never met in person. Lady Hunter, who I'm pretty fond of as well, told me that Jo remained in the guild at least in part because Wild was still there. I didn't really have an answer for that. We all make our own decisions, for our own reasons.

It was a strange confluence that Lady Hunter chose this night to say Hi, and ask after Wild. I am coming close to making a decision about whether I want Wild to continue raiding 25 man ICC. I'm a very laid back kind of person, but there isn't really much room left in guild raiding for folks like me. Raid progression has gotten to be pretty serious business in FS; it's not a hard core raiding guild, but it is far, far from the more laid back raiding mindset that FS was previously known for. That is neither a good thing or a bad thing. FS raid progression has never been better, and we (Wild included) can be proud of how far we've come in 25 man ICC, the toughest dungeon in the game. There are twelve boss encounters in ICC, and FS has beaten ten of them at least once. The eleventh boss, Sindragosa, is all that stands between the guild and the Lich King himself.

That said, much of the pure fun is missing from the raid. Wild is a good raider, but I'm the first to admit that lots of raiders are better, and make fewer mistakes. Wild at times can be quite a frustration to a raid leader. Once, Wild's gaffes were cause to chide and joke about it, help figure out what went wrong, and move on. Now it's analyze, assess, and correct. It's all deadly serious business. And it's getting harder to convince myself that Wild and FS are still a good fit.

Back to the question at hand, which is should Wild change guilds, things may look pretty clear cut, but they aren't. That other guild, MM, that Lady Hunter moved to many months ago now, does not sound like the same guild they were when Wild was happily running ten man Ulduar and ICC with them. Lady Hunter told Wild that the MM guild no longer has a 25 man ICC raid. When Wild asked about the status of MM's ten mans, she said that both she and Bd had ten mans going again. That was encouraging, but after discussing it a bit more I learned that both raids were still in the forming stage and weren't yet sure about when they would run.

So, there is no clear cut choice. What does Wild want? I want to see the Lich King, before ICC gets nerfed to kindergarten status with the coming of Cataclysm. I don't care whether it's in 25 man or ten man, I just want to see it. Right now it appears that staying with FS is the best path to get there, but that is only if the guild truly wants Wild to stay.

Wild's other priority is to find a way to spend more time with such great friends as P-Jo, Lady Hunter, Bd, and others. One way or the other.

I plan on talking to raid leadership as soon as I can catch one in game this week. Essentially, the question for the guild is: If Wild decided to remove himself from 25 man raiding, would that be a problem? Or a gift? In either case, stay or go, Wild will pursue getting into one of MM's ten mans.

Lady Hunter had another surprise up her sleeve. She some how learned that Wild had a shadow priest alt. I don't know how she learned about Philly, but she's good at that sort of thing. She does have access to these posts, so maybe she's been peeking in now and again. Anyway, she flat out asked Wild if my shadow priest could be convinced to join MM, even if she couldn't get Wild to join. Philly was very intrigued with the idea. She would be giving up some freedom, perhaps, but it would also be a way to see how things were with MM from the inside. Wild knows a dozen or more MM guildies, half of which once were part of FS.

So there you have it, a lot of rambling on and on. Lady Hunter is going to get back to Wild on the how the two ten man groups are shaping up, and Philly is going to work on getting to level 80, and possibly striking out on her own with MM.

Wild got his invite to the Wednesday 25 man ICC raid, by the way. Coming up in the next post.