The Girl Plays WoW: Guilds

Over the past few weeks, myself and my husband have been thinking hard about our guild, and how the game was feeling in general. I've been honest that I have been falling out of love with the game, feeling that running heroic instances were unachievable, finding the grind for reputation dull, feeling I would never get to raid (which is after all the main reason I play...to get to that point. To experience people working in perfect unison) and ultimately losing confidence in my ability play, and feeling I must be a complete failure at healing.

I cant even count how many times my guild tried to run heroics, and after countless wipes we would decide to try an 'easier' instance, only to continue wiping. We weren't even getting close to completing a run.

I wasn't sure what the problem was, I felt like the wipes were my responsibility because I am the healer, it made me frustrated because I knew I was trying my absolute hardest - I know that I still have a lot to learn, but I feel that whilst I may not yet be the best healer, I'm not the worst either. Perhaps the issue was becoming a lack of confidence. Unfortunately the DPS in the runs we were doing wasn't the best. We were getting between 3k-8k, the fights were going on too long and because of that, they were becoming more difficult and I was running out of mana. The people in our guild, were really lovely people, but at the end of the day the DPS was just not high enough.

Perhaps another part of the problem was my lack of patience. My husband said to me that eventually the DPS will improve, and I did see some massive improvement, he also said to me that I should give people a chance, just like people had given me a chance. I felt I did this, I don't know much about other classes, but I tried to be helpful, we directed them to places to read up on their abilities, and my husband offered other constructive advice, but the fact of the matter is this: I started playing, in order to level up my character in the hope that eventually I would be able to raid with my husband and guild members. He's told me about what a hard, but enjoyable time raiding is, and the feeling you get after achieving what you set out to achieve. I've worked hard within the game to get to where I am. Everyday I look out for new posts on blogs and forums that will enable me to become a better player, I look up people on the armory, who I know are great players and constantly strive to make myself better, and yet I feel that if I can do that, why cant people spend a few minutes just looking up their appropriate stats or trying a new rotation and it was that frustration that made me take my next decision.

My husband has played WoW for a long time, he has created good friends within the game and has been involved with numerous guilds before. When he started chatting in-game to a friend who is a guild master of a successful guild, one that we belonged to when I first started playing...I began to ask myself if sticking with our guild was the best plan. It was me who made us leave our original guild in the first place because I felt the members of that guild would be laughing at my newness, of course they weren't (although maybe they were a bit, and who could blame them?). But after the time that has passed I feel more confident now, and felt that being in a guild like that would be the best option for us. I can get advice on what I need to do to improve, and my love for the game will come back.

So we decided to quit our guild we had built from scratch. It was bitter sweet. Some of the members of our guild are brilliant and friendly people, and I couldn't help but think, does it really matter if I can't do what I want to do in game because they are really nice and decent people? But, it doesn't work like that. Its not real life and I play WoW to have fun, not to be stressed and frustrated. Quitting the guild has done wonders for my confidence. We have been in the new guild about 24 hours and I've already gained the confidence to do 3 heroic pugs. We did the Deadmines and I got the achievements Ready for Raiding, and I'm on a Diet we wiped twice in the entire run, unfortunately the tank decided to quit after our second wipe which was at the final boss so I didn't get the chance to complete it. I did Grim Batol and got the achievement Don't Need to Break Eggs to make an Omelet, and Lost City of the Tol'vir. I had attempted Lost City with a guild run but it became impossible to kill the first boss General Husam due to the amount of bombs that littered the floor because the fight took so long. Doing it as a pug I barely noticed the difference in that fight.

Then I took the plunge and offered to heal for a guild run with the new guild on a random heroic. I think I offered without even thinking about it... I was feeling confident after my successful Grim Batol and Deadmines run. I've always been in awe of these people and felt inadequate, they are already raiding and they are very experienced having played for a long time. It was my first attempt at heroic Stonecore"were they feeling as frustrated with my healing that I felt with the DPS in my own guild?" I will take on board constructive criticism and tips on how to improve...afterall, I want to be the best player I can be.

So did we do the right thing in moving guilds? without doubt. In a space of 24 hours I've completed 4 heroics that I had tried to do for weeks with my own guild. Am I enjoying WoW again? Absolutely. Do I have a lot to learn? Definitely, and even though I am only a social member of the new guild, so raiding isn't an option for me, I know that once I have spent the time earning reputations for new gear, equipping heroic gear and improving my skills, I will be raiding much sooner than I would be in my own guild.