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So many things, so little time

26-Oct-09

Twitch GravatarAs an aside, I finally got around to adding a favicon to the site (the little image that you see the address bar when you visit this site). Also, I figured out how to customize the default avatar so for anyone who doesn’t have their own Gravatar, you now get one of Petoholics’ mascot Twitch! (shown on the left)

On to other things, it seems I have no shortage of things to do in relation to this blog and WoW. I have to write the next part of the Valraen and Ticalos story, the next installment of Saraku’s history, and I really should provide more background on Niqora and Anuniaq in the least. Zulrea and Machalor could also use some RP love one of these days… I also have posts to write about raiding and other events that have happened recently. Oh, and more Adventurers of Kazi and Saraku.

In WoW, Saraku needs to return to help save some of his kin (AKA do the Netherwing dailies) and also get Crusader status so he can sport the Argent Charger (or the Warhorse, I haven’t decided yet). There’s also so much gear to get for both Saraku and Niqora, although Saraku needs it more. I also need to decide which character to level next. Anuniaq has been sitting at level 42 for a long time now, but Zulrea is 33-ish and I have to admit that I want to learn how to play a shammy. Blasphemous, I know, perhaps I should alternate between hunters and non-hunters for leveling? Although I’m not going to rush through the levels like I did with Saraku; I’m going to take a much more relaxed pace this time.

Oh, did I also mention that Bloodriver has been running old world and BC raids all last week and is continuing all this week as well? This is a ton of content that I’ve never seen and that I would really like to see so I’ve been trying to attend as many of them as I possibly can. AQ-40 is one epic raid by the way, which Kazi described on his blog (I’m the one surfing on top of the red bug).

And now for something completely different, I just want to ramble on a bit about something I’ve been silently lamenting about. Maybe it’s just my imagination but it seems that everyone else has someone they know outside of WoW that actually plays with them. They either have a significant other, a friend, or a family member that they can spend time with in-game. I have had people in the past to play with…but they never seem to stick around. The first time I saw WoW with my own two eyes was when my brother started a trial account. My roommate (who has been mentioned before as Mr. Paladin) was the one who finally got me to try it out, but when I rolled my first ever character (night elf druid), he already had a level 40-something human pally so I was left to my own devices. Mr. Paladin’s brother and my brother had full accounts by this time so we tried a couple times to make leveling groups together. That’s when all three of them quit the game at basically the same time and I was left with a bunch of unloved alts. I leveled by myself for the longest time until my brother decided to come back to WoW on a new Refer-A-Friend account. I excitedly rolled a druid to level to his paladin…which worked for about 15 levels. Then he started logging on so infrequently that I’ve all but given up on him as a leveling partner. Not long after that I was fortunate enough to meet a local WoW player who I became fast friends with. We talked about leveling some characters together and even managed to team up for a couple weeks…before he quit WoW too.

/sigh

I mean, is there something I’m doing wrong here? Do I have some digital version of bad breath or BO that’s driving people away? I don’t even roll new characters anymore when someone asks me to because what’s the point if they’re going to be abandoned anyways? I’m fine with playing by myself for the most part but I would be one happy gamer if I could find a leveling partner willing to stick with me for more than a handful of levels.

Oh well. Que Sera, Sera.

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It’s like a powder keg

19-Oct-09

Now I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again… Bloodriver is THE best guild I have ever been in, bar none. We may be scattered all across North America (and even a member in Japan) but I consider these people friends, some of them even better friends than I’ve had outside the game. We’re a pretty close-knit group that’s crazy and funny but we are more than willing to support each other in whatever way we can. We’ve dealt with unemployment, evictions, divorces, and a host of other life crisises that have only made us stronger. But lately there has been a new problem that I for one don’t know how to address: people that don’t care.

One of the fairly active members recently brought a couple of friends she knew IRL into Bloodriver. For the most part they’re eager to join in with all our craziness and just have fun. However, I’m getting a feeling in the pit of my stomach that one of them has a less-than-friendly attitude toward us. Let’s call them Joe. There hasn’t been anything Joe said that has been outright hostile. It’s just a feeling that Joe is using us.

The others from Joe’s group are nice and friendly when Joe is not around but when he is, they all seem to retreat behind a wall of silence and apathy. For whatever reason, they seem to follow Joe. This unfortunately leads to some problems with participation. We do try to seek out members for events such as heroics and raids but because this group has ignored us several times, we’re less inclined to ask them the next time. And then one day they wonder why they’re being so left out.

There have also been moments where this group would come to an event, only to leave at the first opportunity after they got what they wanted. How are we suppose to make people like that feel like they’re part of Bloodriver when they only serve themselves?

For a little while, I had wondered if maybe they were acting this way because we were leaving them out. You see, quite a few of us chat on Vent a lot and often Vent is the first place we ask for people to participate in heroics and such. But after talking to some of the other officers, I realized this is not the case. For an example, we have one member who often has headset problems so she’s not on Vent most of the time. However, she is a very active member…whether it’s through talking in guild chat, helping out other members, or making it known that she’s always willing to join us for our crazy heroics and raids. Being left out has nothing to do with Vent and everything to do with not interacting with the other members.

Regardless, Joe and his group leaves us with a predicament. If anyone says anything about it, it might cause waves with the active member that invited them in the first place. But the thought of someone using the overtly kind members of Bloodriver just depresses me. I’m sure the others in Joe’s group are feeling left out and they don’t realize why this is. But I have a feeling that Joe doesn’t realize that this is a group of friends, not a bunch of people who are there just to further their own goals like it would be in a raiding guild.

At this point in time, my thoughts are that the best strategy is to watch it closely but take no direct action. This is a possibly delicate situation, where the last thing I want to see is it devolve into some guild drama.

So my readers, what is your advice for such a situation?

P.S. Sorry if this post seems unorganized, I was trying to get multiple thoughts down at the same time.

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Linkback: Kazimierz’s blog – Totems and Technology

19-Oct-09

So apparently if I drop enough hints (if you consider saying outright “You need to start a blog” a hint), eventually Kazi will listen to me. 😉

Jokes aside, Kazi has several wonderfully written posts about his shaman’s early life, so for those of you who appreciates WoW roleplaying (including myself) or just a good story, you will find them very entertaining and a great read.

I think he deserves some more readership love so drop by his blog and give him a warm welcome to the blogosphere!

Now I feel inspired to write some more character history myself.

Filed in Friends, Guild, Linkbacks, Random Thoughts | | Comments (2) »