The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.– W. H. Auden
PTD is sad, there can be no doubt. From time to time I’ve spoken about minor issues I have had with my guild. The fact is that my schedule doesn’t align very well with the rest of them. I can’t blame anyone for that, it’s just how things are. I’ve toyed with leaving before, and even transferred over to Draenor at one point to join another blogger.
I toyed with it, and Friday night I typed in the most difficult of commands:
/gquit
I didn’t come to the decision easily. I’ve been with the same group since before WoW was even released. I hooked up with them while playing Horizons, and they are a great group of people. Things have changed with the guild though, over time. It’s a different group of people from when I started. There are quite a few old timers, but we have a lot of new folks as well.
I’m going to tell you all now what it was that pushed me over the edge. I won’t name any names, and if anyone from my now former guild reads this, please do not take offense. The act of blogging, the act of sharing, can be cathartic. I need a little bit of that right now.
The /gquit Story
My guild is running 25 mans in house regularly since the release of Wrath. Earlier I mentioned my scheduling conflicts, and they come into play here. I just can’t raid when they do. I’ve never been able to. Quite a few people in the guild think that is the primary reason I left. I’m here to set the record straight, it actually has very little to do with my decision to move on. It is related, but not a cause.
Remember that I’ve really NEVER been able to raid with my guild. This is nothing new for me, and I learned to live with that fact long, long ago. It’s the reason that I find my raiding outlet outside the guild, and I’ve always been happy to have said outlet. To be sure, I would LOVE to raid with my guild, but it just isn’t in the cards.
This does cause other problems behind the scenes, however. Because I don’t raid with the guild, there are many players that are relatively new that I’ve never really played with. They don’t know me from Adam, and they really have no idea if I’m any "good" or not. Because of that, they aren’t going to be apt to invite me to fill a heroic group, or a PUG raid or whatnot. Honestly I don’t really blame them, there are some horrible players out there.
So recently our raid leaders put all 10 man content to "open" status. That means anyone can schedule and run a raid whenever they want to. I had been waiting for this, because in BC I organized my own Kara runs under this rule, and they were quite successful. I hoped to start doing that again with Naxx. So last week I made a post on the boards to try to set up a run for Friday night.
Nobody signed up. I only got 2 replies to my post at all. One person said they would help out if they happened to be around, and the other saying they couldn’t make it. That was ok though, I figured I’d just try to whip one up that night.
So Friday night I log on, and right away ask in guild if anyone would be interested in running Naxx 10. I got no response. A few minutes later, I asked again. One of the late night guild tanks I often ran with told me to message another guildy, he though he might be putting something together.
So I messaged said guildy directly, and I got no response. If he missed my PM or just didn’t have time to respond, I have no idea. So I asked in guild one last time, and when I again got no response, I headed off to the AH to mess around for a few.
About 15 minutes later, I was trying to put together a heroic group instead, and asked the tank from earlier if he wanted to tank it. He said he couldn’t as he was just about to run Naxx with some guildies.
"Huh???"
I didn’t see anything in guild chat about a Naxx run starting, and I was frankly a bit shocked. Lo and behold, I look at the roster and see 10 guildies gathering in and around Dragonblight. At this point, I’m already steamed. I rarely have time to raid, I tried to schedule something for this exact time, and even asked in guild chat if anything was happening, and from my perspective, I was completely ignored. From what I could tell, it was a run set up through PM, with someone picking and choosing who to invite.
Then, the kicker. This is the bit that really pushed me over the edge. I looked at the guys who were in Naxx, and notice no less than 3 of them were running alts through. Frigging ALTS.
/cue smoke coming out of my ears
I know they have every right to have their fun, they have every right to bring their alts to Naxx, especially with the new "open" policy on 10 mans, but it still hurt. I’ve been in Naxx a total of 3 times, and I’ve never finished it. With any character. I thought I could at least do that with people from the guild, and I thought I did quite a bit to try to make it happen, only to see myself left out.
And I found myself sitting at my desk, with my head in my hands, frustrated, frustrated, frustrated. I realized that it’s a position I had been in recently, for not dissimilar reasons. It was time — this is a game, after all.
/gquit
Homelessness
And that’s how PTD found himself adrift in the World of Warcraft. No place to rest my head, no guild to call home. And, at least for now, that’s where I’ll stay. I really don’t know where I will go next, I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I do have options.
I could go back. I’m pretty sure I made my exit amicable enough that they would take me back. And my old guild (and I’m going to have to remember that part…maybe I should call it my ex-guild, in a way it feels like a break-up) is nothing if not forgiving and mature.
I also already know of another guild that would take me on if I should ask. I know a few of their members, and it’s certainly being considered. I guess in some ways it seems hard to try to start over again. (There we go again with the break-up analogies.) So I don’t know.
I could also just test the waters and see what’s out there. I could start running PUGs until my eyes bleed, and see if I find any good folks. I’m sure that if I PUG without a guild tag and show what I can do, I could catch on elsewhere.
I suppose I could go as far as to look into other servers again. But I really couldn’t see myself spending the minimum of 100 bucks I’d want to spend to get four characters to a new server. (80 Warrior, 80 Druid, 72 Hunter [w/ my only epic flyer], and 68 Priest [high level enchanter])
Right now I’m just not really sure what I would want. So I guess I’ll drift for a bit, and see what happens.
And with that in mind…
Warhammer Online
Have no fear, I am not quitting WoW. 
But they do have a free trial right now, so I went ahead and loaded it up. I’ll admit that I am having fun with it for the time being. I seriously, seriously doubt I would leave WoW for it, but it is fun. The PvP is pretty fun, at least. The normal questing and mob killing PvE aspect is a little lacking, but the Public Quests are a lot of fun. It sure is a feature I’d like to see Blizzard steal, that’s for sure!
I even went ahead and picked up the full game, but only because I got it at a local Circuit City (RIP Circuit City) for 10 bucks. Yeah, that’s right, 10 bucks. Ahh, to profit from other’s misery. Though I feel no real shame, it being a corporate behemoth’s misery I am profiting from.
Anyhow, I won’t really get into it here about WAR. I am having fun, the RvR is pretty well done, the Public Quests are awesome, and it makes for a good diversion while I try to sort my WoW life.
So that’s it. Change is in the air, and I’m not yet sure if that’s good or bad. Have any of you dealt with a similar situation? How did you deal with it and move on?
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I just started reading your blog and I was appalled by what you described happened in your guild, especially a guild which you have been in for a while. However ask yourself did you /gquit because of the asinine behavior of couple (and I am assuming people who were responsible for not inviting you were couple of players who organized the raid) of players. As you said you had many new players in your guild who didnt know your well or knew of your abilities as a player.
Do not take me wrong what those people did was bad, the fact that some of the old players did not say a thing is also pretty bad. But I assume you were in your guild for so long for some reason, which may be more important than this event.
Asklepius–
Yeah, this wasn’t the only reason. Things had been brewing for awhile, and this was just the last incident that pushed me over the edge.
I understand your reaction completely. Hey, steams is starting to blow out of my ears just reading about what happened to you… I have no advice to give, just hugs and compassion. I really feel sorry for you. I’m pretty sure though that you’ll soon enough find yourself with a bunch of great guild offers from bloggers out there who really would appreciate you for what you are.
Larísa’s last blog post..Player not found
I understand completely. I’m homeless, too, and I’m finding I prefer it at the moment, at least. With a full friends list, it’s not so bad.
Bellwether’s last blog post..LFM To Kill Horde in XRoads
I’m sorry that happened to you. May you find good PuGs and fun times!
Kikidas’s last blog post..The New K
w00t! Three cheers for homeless druids! Like Bell, and you now, I am homeless and LOVING it. I had the same situation: loved my guild, hated my schedule… and because of DKP I’d never get chance at loot. So I /gquit and have started pugging. Last Friday I got invited to a full clear Naxx 25 and had an awesome time. Friends list and bank guilds, that’s the life for me! ^_^
I’m sorry to hear that! Dumb people who do things behind people’s backs really hurt good guilds. My pulse started racing just reading your story. I’m sure most of us have been a a similar situation at least once, even if it wasn’t extreme. Yeah, we all say its a game, but its totally reasonable to feel hurt… because you know there is a real person on the other side of the screen. Least thats how I feel…
I have been hearing more good things about WAR. I’m mostly too lazy to go check it out. I hope you enjoy it!
Aertimus’s last blog post..A Few More Lifebloom Calculations from the PTR
Sorry to hear about this PTD. The cliques that have formed in our old guild have made it a not too pleasant place to be. I really think it is just a few people though and that the vast majority have just turned a blind eye to the problem
. I was impressed with the gift you left the guild, I would not have been so generious. Good luck in whatever you choose to do.
–Hari
Its a pity that none of them were ‘man’ enough to be honest, and say even that they had already organised their own 10 man, and that there wasn’t enough room for you. Thats what sounds like happened, its easier to ignore the direct question because its been typed in Guild chat everyone can pretend its not their responsibility to answer it, as they think someone else will.
This means ur now free-er to transfer hopfully to a realm that will fit in with your schedule, or find a guild on your server that caters for the different time. Best of luck
Zahrah’s last blog post..What I didn?t post.
Sorry to hear about that, PTD. About a year ago, I had to take the plunge and leave a guild I had helped build from the ground up for reasons a little different than yours. It was going in a direction I didn’t like, becoming all the things I was trying to prevent, despite my work and despite my efforts. That happens in large guilds sometimes and all we can do is either accept it or move on.
In my case, I latched on with a great group of people that have been my online lifeline ever since. Take heart, perhaps you will find a group that fits your needs as well.
Elk
Running Elk’s last blog post..The great Lifebloom nerf of 3.1
I recently /gquit too, and headed off following my old GM. He was just chatting and told me he had his old guild up and going. I asked if there was a spot for me.
10 seconds later he was asking how I could just /gquit…
The answer was simple. I joined the guild following him. Apart from him checking in on me occasionally and sending raid invites, I got nothing else… Rare responses to hello, no group invites, no response to requests to run etc.
So, without thought I said “bye” and /gquit… I doubt anyone noticed me go.. if they did, they probably just thought I was someone’s alt.
Anyway.. good luck.. it sucks being the casual rarely seen one that occasionally makes requests only to find yourself at the back of the acknowledgment queue.
(Side note… I think I am a reasonable player… every time myself or one of my mates joins a raid, they are in the top 3 – heals or dps. Yet, we find it hard to consistently get groups… that is one of the things I like about my GL. he knows I may only be able to raid once per month, but when I am there, I will put in with the best)
Gnomeaggedon’s last blog post..Guide: It Goes to 11?
Awwww I’m really sorry to hear that. I’m sure noone was trying to single you out personally – but, as you said, if people dont know who you are, they are less likely to trust you in a run over say an alt of someone they do know. When I arranged 10 mans, I was very picky & choosey of who I took – if there was a player who didnt do our main 25 mans because of time committments, but he’d been in the guild for ages and was also a great player… well, if I didnt know him, I wouldnt invite him and that would be my loss. We form social cliques in wow, and thats really what it sounds like. Doesnt mean you shouldnt quit and go somewhere more suitable though
Well – I read your blog from time to time and this post can be read one of two ways. If the reader assumes you are not one of those annoying guildies who whines and cries about things in GC (amongst other actions that get under my skin about some guildies – hence they do not get invites to my private groups), then this is a travesty and your guildies did not act like guildies.
Personal perception can truly come into play here and one side of every story is only half of the story.
Since all the other comments about the 10 man Naxx were positive, I’ll be the one dissenter that assumes you are one of those ‘douche’ guildies that annoys people… If you apply THAT concept then their actions make alot more sense.
Wouldn’t a douche have taken his Vent server with him?