Friday Plus (16 Sep) - Guild Update Going into MoP

Friday Plus (16 Sep) - Guild Update Going into MoP

Saturday Morning, a visit with an old friend - Happy was all hot and bothered about getting some heavenly shards made. The AH had picked up considerably as players get more and more antsy about the coming expansion. Prices nearly doubled on shards and Happy needed more. Wild eventually made an appearance, checked his mailbox, and retrieved the maelstrom crystals Happy had sent for Wild to turn into shards. In the middle of his work, Wild saw a friend arrive who he had not seen in a very long time. Wild and Jo (who was once a warlock, then a priest, later as a paladin, and referred to as Priestly-Jo, P-Jo, and now just Jo) first got to know each other a hundred years ago (so it seems) when she corralled Wild into joining the guild FS (which was the smartest decision Jo ever talked me into). I'm talking about the days of raiding Molten Core in vanilla WoW. We danced and hugged each other in Org, and had a nice chat. Jo said she'd been on hiatus for awhile but is back to check out the new expansion. Jo would be a lover of pandas, that's for sure. She's still with FS, which she said is now mostly a social guild. FS has had a long, storied history, and everyone ever associated with that guild should be proud of it's enormous accomplishments. Jo was the guild leader of FS for a time, as well. I was very glad to hear that FS is still around and doing fine. Jo was in game to give the LFR a whirl. Wild wished her well with her dragon hunting in Dragon Soul. Jo certainly added additional cheer to my already fine morning.

Well, you know what this means. It's time to update Wild's long list of guild affiliations in a "what are they doing now" post. With MoP on the horizon it seems the perfect time. The below takes a quick look at Wild's transition from guild to guild, while updating the current status of each of those guilds. Note that Wild is currently in the guild MM2 (just so you won't get confused). For a more thorough history, you should check out the following post.

http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/08/monday-3-aug-guilds-look-back-and.html

FS was Wild's first raiding guild. "On 4 Jun 2006 FS held their first guild only Molten Core run. Over the course of two nights we downed FIVE bosses. Now that was a rush. FS guild raiding was born."

Today FS seems to have returned to it's social guild roots, which I believe has been the key to it's continued successful existence. A quick look at the guild shows 135 members, including 76 level 85s. Guild leader Rx still holds the reins, assisted by some very old friends (Gn, Kz (old blogs name him surveydrood)). Wild recognized at least a quarter of the names on the roster, and that whos-who of FS brought back lots of memories. A random check of guildie achievements revealed several with solid raiding credentials in Normal DS and a few Heroic DS kills. Raiding still seems to be at least a part of FS, and I expect it will blossom again in MoP - if surveydrood has anything to say about it. Wild guesses that surveydrood still leads the guild raids.

Despite considerable movement of former FS guildies and friends into and out of several other guilds (lots of drama), Wild steadfastly stuck with FS. However, in late 2009 FS became a fractured guild with increasing tension  between the social/casual raiding guild element and a press by a group of members who wanted to take a much more serious approach to raiding. That fracture led to the formation of the spin-off guild MM, with a great many of the social/casual players joining MM. Wild did not join that exodus, staying with the FS raiding crowd until Jul 2010, when it finally became obvious even to Wild that he was about to become a fill in raider and was essentially told his raiding days in FS was soon to be over.

The final push for Wild came when Jo left FS, and then left the game for personal reasons. After more than four years with FS, there was nothing left to hold Wild to the guild, and Wild joined MM on 22 Jul 2010. Today, MM is a guild of 142 members, 86 of which are level 85. I don't recognize the guild leader (Kr), but two of the Rank 1s Wild knows well - Wb and Ld. Wild even spoke with Ld a few months ago, and the guild was doing fine. MM has completed normal DS and has two Heroic boss kills, very similar to the FS level of progression. Wild saw a few more familiar names, but most of the members of MM are strangers to Wild now.

In Aug 2010 FS fractured again, with raid leader Rh leaving FS with a core of raiders and forming the guild WC. Today WC has 77 members (61 85s). Rh is still the guild leader with raid accomplishments similar to FS and MM. Wild doesn't recognize anyone in WC other than Rh.

On 26 Feb 2011 Wild had been a member of MM for about seven months. The title of the post on that day, however, was "CRACK! Goes the Guild." On 1 Mar 2011 it became official - MM guildie Sh broke from the guild to form his own guild, MM2. Sh took 54 members with him. Wild remained loyal to his guild, MM, despite the continued bleeding from MM to MM2, and as more and more of Wild's closest friends - his "cabal" - made the jump to MM2. On 14 Apr Wild was raiding twice a week with MM, but had also agreed to a third night of raiding - with MM2. As with the FS/MM transition, Wild was now straddling two guilds again.

At that point in the guild history, the next transition kind of snuck up on Wild. There was no big announcement, or special post touting the change. In fact, I had a hard time even finding it. Eventually, it turned up in a report titled "A Mish Mash of Stuff" that was focused on Patch 4.2, which included a new raid, the Firelands.

Buried halfway through that post was this: "So, that brings us to Thursday night and Wild's first official raid as a member of MM2. What, didn't you get the memo?"

On 29 June 2011, Wild quietly moved from MM to MM2. Wild informed the MM guild leader ahead of time, who admitted that he was expecting Wild's move (probably even before Wild admitted it to himself). MM2's guild leader, Bd, was the first to get the news in MM2, and Wild's request to join was accepted immediately. No guild drama this time, just a friend changing his address.

Today MM2 has 443 members, the largest guild remaining of all of wild's former guilds. We have 266 level 85s (a preponderance of which are alts). Still, the guild has grown, with many new members that Wild has yet to meet. With three raid groups still in place, there should be plenty of opportunities. Wild will not be raiding, at least not right away. MM2 is Wild's home, though, and he is quite happy. In fact, Wild intends that MM2 will be Wild's final guild home.

Pushing Against Inertia - Some non-guild news

Wild and JB have a job to do, but they'd rather just hang around Org, drink beer, and take long siestas. The two of them still have enough justice points not to waste them when all JPs are converted to a small handful gold on 18 Sep (four days away as this is written on Friday).

Wild has it the easiest. One normal LFD dungeon run should raise his JPs to over 3500, with which Wild could purchase another heirloom item, probably a caster staff. JB needs to do a little more work, maybe 3-4 LFD runs, to get enough JPs to buy another heirloom trinket. It's not that the heirlooms are absolutely necessary to have, but it would be a shame to waste all those JPs. There is also another good reason to run the LFDs. Wild and JB both really need to get some live practice, considering all of the changes to gear, specs, and talents.

It took the whole family half a day to tease, cajole, and shame Wild into reluctantly leaving his hammock and signing up for an LFD. JB was noticeable absent from that deluge of family members.

But then the temperature just got hotter and hotter, and Wild thought better of it. [In reality I had to shut the computer down. When it hits 90+ degrees with hot winds and no air conditioning, the computer starts to complain - not to mention our fussy cats]. Getting those LFDs done ... well, we'll see.