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

A grand project of both scope & scale: Addendum to Part 1

I was thinking about this after I posted

"6.) Class shortages are due to basic human nature. The reason that there's always a shortage of tanks\healers & an abundance of DPS is because for the most part human beings want to be involved in the event but not in charge of the event. It's one thing to say I went to Heroic Naxx last night, it's another to say I was the main tank for Heroic Naxx and we didn't wipe.
Human nature is to be led not to Lead. Healers, Tanks & Specialists (off-tank, off-heal etc.) have responsibilities that if not preformed correctly can have dire consequences in game. Most people do not want these responsibilities, which leads to most players choosing a DPS class."

What this means is that no matter what blizzard does to make some aspects of instance\raid\guild responsibilities more tolerable if your idealized self does not want to tank, to heal, to provide off-heals battle rezz'es etc, You will not do it. You may respec from time to time because your raid needs a tank or a healer etc. but as soon as your given the chance you'll respec to your idealized self. If forced to do it, you will resent it.

A grand project of both scope & scale: Part 1

Greetings Musers!

Well I'm just too excited so I will let you in on what I'm working on.

Beneath the surface of WOW lies the motivations and desires of it's players. Some are aware of why they play the game, but most aren't. Their motivations their desires manifest in WOW in their character types and play style.

Still though real world behavior manifests in the world of Azeroth. As we all note the major events (such as the Corrupted Blood Event or the Zombie Invasion event) when we can clearly see human group behavior mimicked virtually. But for the most part the group behavior that occurs on a day to day basis doesn't get noticed, even though that's the behavior that affects us the most.

This is why my project will be about. What I am proposing is a analysis of WOW players based of race, class and specialization. I have several hypothesis I would like to confirm based of data gathered.

1.) All WOW players regardless of server, participate in role-playing. The difference is whether it's idealized role-playing vs. theatrical role-playing.

2.) A player chooses a main toon's race, class & spec based of their idealized self (or selves). If your idea of a hero is a samurai, you may find yourself playing a night-elf warrior specced arms because the talent build calls to your idealized heroic self.

3.) Diametrically opposed to this is your idealized fallen self. A person who's always being picked on may choose to play a Rogue and lash out at other players. This self represents all your worst tendencies and desires.

4.) A player will attempt to find his or her niche in WOW based of which idealized self is stronger. A healer who needs to be praised consistently is a good example of a mix of the two. At one end he\she is helping other and saving the group. At the same time, the need for acknowledgement is being fueled by their guild or party. If this fuel is throttled down or cut off, the negative self lashes out by either underheals, party member deaths or wipes.

5.) Since WOW is a game and people play it because it lets them be who they want to be, the real-world limitations are slowly being erased. In the real world not everyone can be powerful, see everything etc. But we play WOW to do this. This leads Blizzard to slowly remove restrictions to keep it's customers (us) happy & to increase profits. However it can and does have unintended consequences such as

a.) Undergeared players entering heroic dungeons & raids

b.) Players who had to invest significant time to achieve gear and see end-game content becoming increasingly frustrated & leave WOW or take breaks from the game in their own way.

To minimize item b.) Blizzard develops systems to compensate players: achievements, feats of strength etc.

6.) Class shortages are due to basic human nature. The reason that there's always a shortage of tanks\healers & an abundance of DPS is because for the most part human beings want to be involved in the event but not in charge of the event. It's one thing to say I went to Heroic Naxx last night, it's another to say I was the main tank for Heroic Naxx and we didn't wipe.

Human nature is to be led not to Lead. Healers, Tanks & Specialists (off-tank, off-heal etc.) have responsibilities that if not preformed correctly can have dire consequences in game. Most people do not want these responsibilities, which leads to most players choosing a DPS class.

Furthur Posts will go into more detail of the Why of this project

Until another Day

The Musing Moonkin