Why I left The Crystal Dawn

Good Day Muser's I've been laying low the last couple of days partially because of work & partially because of what I did Wednesday Night.

Since I know some of my ex-guildies read my blog I wanted to use it to explain my actions

I gquit The Crystal Dawn Wed night after the fourth attempt on Instructor Razuvious on heroic mode. This was wrong on my part, it was bad form to quit the raid and then quit the guild. I hope that you will accept my apology and understand I had reached my line. There were several factors in this choice. My only regret is how I left the guild. It was juvenile of me though considering TCD's behavior on Fenris it does seem rather appropriate.

Before I go into the why's I want to thank TCD for all the kick ass times I had with all of you. Frankly I burnt out on WOW and you guys re-ignited my love of the game. Overall TCD is a solid guild with members who know the game, and will back you up.

Now for the why I left. First & Foremost this wasn't a choice I made lightly. I had been mulling over it for a couple weeks but I had stuck it out because I liked TCD. Yes we couldn't get a raid together to save our lives but the guild members compensated for this.

Item #1 Raid Times

What I'll say now has been discussed with a TCD officer in confidence and he agreed with me but acknowledged he was powerless to make any changes. Fenris is an East Coast server. I live on the east coast as do other current member's of TCD. However a large population of dedicated raiders in TCD live on the west coast and the raid leaders setup raids based of the pst time zone. At first this didn't bother me but after awhile it wore me down because I am not really a night owl. I have a full time IT job that usually starts around 6:30 in the morning & ends around 5pm if I'm lucky, and of course I'm teaching SAT Prep 20-30 hours a week. I wasn't the only one to be irritated by this (not naming names) So I'll say this:

"While I have no issue with people from other time zones playing on any server, running raid times based of your local time zone is in my opinion a teensy bit selfish. If you want to run raids on PST Time then play on a PST Server Gawd Damn it!!!"

Item #2 El Laxo Attitudo

TCD is a very casual guild. This is why I liked it, hell why I loved being in TCD. After being in several hardcore raiding guilds I was tired of the guild drama & the time commitments. This is why I also turned down other guild invites when the state of moonkins was realized by the raiding guilds on Fenris. WOW is a game yes there is serious time but not all the time. TCD though was just a bunch of guys out to have a good time. However raiding does require a focused mindset and commitment to virtual obligations. TCD guild members because of item 1 & item 2 made raid progression difficult. Sign up for a raid, sure! Actually be logged in that's another matter.

I'm an adult I work two jobs, have a wife, children (albeit furry and egotistical but nonetheless children) and various other concerns. I do not have the luxury to waste time because people who say they'll be available for a raid do not show up because something comes up. I'm sorry I can only deal with that so many times before it becomes an issue. It became an issue for me about three weeks ago.

Item #3 Member Behavior

TCD was an adult guild and I was made clear of this before I joined it back in December, and truthfully I found the trash talk of some it's member's posted liberating. As I said in item #2 coming from hardcore raiding I had witnessed guildmates gkicked for lesser offences then what was done in TCD on an average day. However, I also noticed that this lack of mutual respect for other players had a degenerating effect on the guild as a whole. It was infectious, new members who joined the guild would in a few days begin to trash talk as if it was a hidden side to them.

As I said in my grand project post, people want to be led; and as we've seen in the real world if people see their Superior's, their leaders preform bad actions and get away with it they will as well. I had several time had to apologize to players who I had leveled with, who I had raided with who I had known since coming over to Fenris for the behavior of my guildmates. I also began to notice that people asking me if I would join them for heroics because there is truth to the old saying that if you hang out with ducks your going to quack. I was being written off as another TCD douchebag.

At first I didn't care, but an event on Tuesday made me re-evaluate my commitment to TCD. I won't go into specifics but a guild officer did something that in my opinion really showed his nature, which is to shock & to grab attention & to cause strife because he has that power to do so. That was the straw that broke me, and luckily for me opportunity presented itself & I had a guild to goto that still remembered who I was & not who I had been hanging out with.

I think by now the dust has settled & when I login tonight there won't be a stream of pst's that are inappropriate to post even on Encyclopedia Dramatica. In WOW people have short memories, it's the nature of the game I think. Still I know I won't ever get back the 900g that's owed to me by a guildmember for repairs respecs etc. but that's ok because I view it as a deposit on a learning experience. One that taught me more than I ever imagined. Somehow hanging around with a bunch of trashtalking goofballs made me a better person. It made me realize what I valued vs. what I thought I valued.

Until another day,
The Musing Moonkin