05 February 2009

What a Long, Strange Trip

No, I didn't get the achievement yet.

It's just been a roller coaster of a ride the six weeks or so.

I did something I thought I would never, ever do. I left my guild: the guild I helped found on day one, that I've been with for four years. It was the most difficult decision I've made in-game, and I did not come to it easily.

Why? It's complicated, and I'm not sure I can even entirely articulate all the reasons even now. Part of it was motivated, yes, thanks to a guy (and woe to me as I've picked on so many guildies about centering their playing around their SigOs...and here I am centering my play time around a guy...but I digress), who was having his own issues in-guild. He wanted to move on, and since I have had more fun playing with him recently than anything else, I was tempted to follow him. But that was the most positive of my reasons.

Something had just changed in our guild. We grew, we expanded, we started running higher-end content and kicking ass. And I started to see the raiding mentality kick in. We officers found ourselves fretting over the minutae of raiding rules: lewtz, times, specs, strategies, and the host of all things raiding. And I hated it. Our raid leader officer got burned out, the accusations started flying that we weren't doing enough for the guild, and it just got ugly.

A few squeaky wheels managed to make me seriously rethink my role as an officer and my desire to even stay in the guild. My pocket healer (and said guy, above) let me know that another guild would welcome us (he already had a few toons in there). I was tempted.

When one person in particular got more nasty, I'd had it. I pulled all but my two lowest characters out and switched to a new guild. I can't say I don't miss my home of four years. But I can't say I regret it, either.

Will I go back to my original guild? Only time will tell. There are other whisperings and options on the horizon, so we shall see what happens next.