Free Agency
Anyone who has known me very long knows I’m an NFL fan. I love the NFL. This is the talent evaluation portion of the NFL season, and the time for Free Agency. Players whose contracts are up are pursued by teams that want them to join their team.
Honorshammer has hit a time of Free Agency in his own virtual life. With the dissolution of Mal Katai, Honors basically becomes a Free Agent.
Two teams have already made offers to Honorshammer. I’ll call them T10 and T25. Both have indicated a willingness to work their raid schedules around my own so I can attend most, if not all raids.
It’s really nice to have people respect your in game ability and personality. On the other hand, it is difficult because I can only be on one team, be in one guild, so I have to choose.
I can’t decide which guild is a better fit for me until I know what I’m really looking for, and what I really want out of a guild
I want to be in a guild that is full of individuals who are good people as well as good players. I’d rather not be in a guild where every other player is the LOL, LOOK AT MAI LEWT DPS! I ROXOR type. There’s nothing wrong with getting excited over a personal goal. I guarantee my guild will hear about it when I finally break 2k dps as Ret on a regular boss fight (not because of a gimmick like Loateb or Thaddius). It’s the attitude, and anyone who’s played WoW very long has seen it. I bet a name or two pops into your head when I talk it about.
I really want the best of both worlds. A guild where people genuinely enjoy each other’s company and a guild that is successful in Raiding. I like loot, and I enjoy improving my character, but it’s not why I raid. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Loot is the vehicle you need to take you to the next challenge, the next boss, and the next instance. If you ignore loot, somewhere along the way a Boss like Patchwerk will carve the words GEAR CHECK into your plated hide.
I want to experience all the fights, and see all the amazing content that Blizzard has worked so hard to put together into this very entertaining game. It bothers far more than I haven’t faced down Malygos yet than it does that I’m still using my Titansteel Shieldwall. I’ve heard about Sarth + drakes, but I’ve never done it. It sounds like fun.
I want to Tank, so I need a guild that has an opening for a Tank. Naxx10, you need 2 tanks. Naxx 25, you need at most 3. So you’ve added one tank, but double the amount of DPS and triple the Healers? Plus there seems to be a lot more people wanting to tank in Wrath than there were in Burning Crusade.
For some people Tanking is all about glory, about being the center of attention. But that is not why I want to tank. I could care less whom it is that gets the glory. On a lot of fights, the Tank isn’t the one who has the crucial role. Gluth is more about the Kiters, than the Tank. Loateb is more about your Healers. Instructor is more about your Mind Controllers.
Tanking just happens to be how I enjoy the game. Something about having the Bosses aggro really brings out the best in my playing, and I feel most engaged in that role. I don’t mind sharing the role as I understand others enjoy the ride as well.
I don’t really care whether it’s a 10 or 25 man. The relative difficulty of 10s and 25 mans has been debated to death and most people know where they come down on that argument. I really enjoy 10 man runs, and 5 mans as well. It’s easier to get to know people in a smaller setting. 25 mans are exciting in their own way.
Finally, I want a guild that is going to be around for the long term. Now no one can predict the future. My plan had been to stay with Mal Katai until such time as Mal Katai was no more, or I left the game. I had intended to accept it even if we got ‘stuck’ on a Tier or Boss. Of course that’s much easier to say now than it might have been if we were actually stuck on a Boss and my past decisions certainly don’t paint that picture of me.
So I evaluate each offer on these merits.
§ Full of individuals who are good people as well as good players – Both guilds thankfully meet this criterion. Both are full of really cool people who I enjoy spending time with online.
§ Guild that is successful in Raiding – T10 is working on Sarth+1 or 2, I’m not completely sure. T25 is harder to say since they are just starting to raid.
§ I want to Tank – Both guilds have a tank spot ready and waiting for me. I’ll be sharing duties with another tank in the guild and both guys I would be tanking with are cool mates and don’t really care who tanks what.
§ Don’t really care whether it’s a 10 or 25 man – T10 is focusing on 10 mans and doing the occasional 25 man. T25 will be doing 10 mans but their focus is getting the numbers and getting people geared up to start focusing on 25 mans. One would be correctly called a 10 man guild, the other a 25 man guild.
§ That is going to be around for the long term – No one can predict the future, but T10 was around pre-Burning Crusade. I also know that a about half of T10 has expressed an interest in rerolling Horde for the next Expansion. That’s a concern as I have no intention of giving up Honorshammer as my main so long as I’m playing WoW. At the same time, I could be playing The Old Republic by that point so I don’t know if it’s completely fair to hold that against them. T25 guild just formed, however; they have a really strong and dedicated corps.
Honorshammer has hit a time of Free Agency in his own virtual life. With the dissolution of Mal Katai, Honors basically becomes a Free Agent.
Two teams have already made offers to Honorshammer. I’ll call them T10 and T25. Both have indicated a willingness to work their raid schedules around my own so I can attend most, if not all raids.
It’s really nice to have people respect your in game ability and personality. On the other hand, it is difficult because I can only be on one team, be in one guild, so I have to choose.
I can’t decide which guild is a better fit for me until I know what I’m really looking for, and what I really want out of a guild
I want to be in a guild that is full of individuals who are good people as well as good players. I’d rather not be in a guild where every other player is the LOL, LOOK AT MAI LEWT DPS! I ROXOR type. There’s nothing wrong with getting excited over a personal goal. I guarantee my guild will hear about it when I finally break 2k dps as Ret on a regular boss fight (not because of a gimmick like Loateb or Thaddius). It’s the attitude, and anyone who’s played WoW very long has seen it. I bet a name or two pops into your head when I talk it about.
I really want the best of both worlds. A guild where people genuinely enjoy each other’s company and a guild that is successful in Raiding. I like loot, and I enjoy improving my character, but it’s not why I raid. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Loot is the vehicle you need to take you to the next challenge, the next boss, and the next instance. If you ignore loot, somewhere along the way a Boss like Patchwerk will carve the words GEAR CHECK into your plated hide.
I want to experience all the fights, and see all the amazing content that Blizzard has worked so hard to put together into this very entertaining game. It bothers far more than I haven’t faced down Malygos yet than it does that I’m still using my Titansteel Shieldwall. I’ve heard about Sarth + drakes, but I’ve never done it. It sounds like fun.
I want to Tank, so I need a guild that has an opening for a Tank. Naxx10, you need 2 tanks. Naxx 25, you need at most 3. So you’ve added one tank, but double the amount of DPS and triple the Healers? Plus there seems to be a lot more people wanting to tank in Wrath than there were in Burning Crusade.
For some people Tanking is all about glory, about being the center of attention. But that is not why I want to tank. I could care less whom it is that gets the glory. On a lot of fights, the Tank isn’t the one who has the crucial role. Gluth is more about the Kiters, than the Tank. Loateb is more about your Healers. Instructor is more about your Mind Controllers.
Tanking just happens to be how I enjoy the game. Something about having the Bosses aggro really brings out the best in my playing, and I feel most engaged in that role. I don’t mind sharing the role as I understand others enjoy the ride as well.
I don’t really care whether it’s a 10 or 25 man. The relative difficulty of 10s and 25 mans has been debated to death and most people know where they come down on that argument. I really enjoy 10 man runs, and 5 mans as well. It’s easier to get to know people in a smaller setting. 25 mans are exciting in their own way.
Finally, I want a guild that is going to be around for the long term. Now no one can predict the future. My plan had been to stay with Mal Katai until such time as Mal Katai was no more, or I left the game. I had intended to accept it even if we got ‘stuck’ on a Tier or Boss. Of course that’s much easier to say now than it might have been if we were actually stuck on a Boss and my past decisions certainly don’t paint that picture of me.
So I evaluate each offer on these merits.
§ Full of individuals who are good people as well as good players – Both guilds thankfully meet this criterion. Both are full of really cool people who I enjoy spending time with online.
§ Guild that is successful in Raiding – T10 is working on Sarth+1 or 2, I’m not completely sure. T25 is harder to say since they are just starting to raid.
§ I want to Tank – Both guilds have a tank spot ready and waiting for me. I’ll be sharing duties with another tank in the guild and both guys I would be tanking with are cool mates and don’t really care who tanks what.
§ Don’t really care whether it’s a 10 or 25 man – T10 is focusing on 10 mans and doing the occasional 25 man. T25 will be doing 10 mans but their focus is getting the numbers and getting people geared up to start focusing on 25 mans. One would be correctly called a 10 man guild, the other a 25 man guild.
§ That is going to be around for the long term – No one can predict the future, but T10 was around pre-Burning Crusade. I also know that a about half of T10 has expressed an interest in rerolling Horde for the next Expansion. That’s a concern as I have no intention of giving up Honorshammer as my main so long as I’m playing WoW. At the same time, I could be playing The Old Republic by that point so I don’t know if it’s completely fair to hold that against them. T25 guild just formed, however; they have a really strong and dedicated corps.
Comments
With Free Agency being the way it is in the NFL, players tend to go where the biggest upside is, oftentimes prioritizing the money, closely followed by opportunity to win. (Yes, I realize that this is stereotyping to some degree.)
Guilds in WoW on the other hand are quite different. Yes, there's an opportunity factor, but the major difference is that guilds in WoW are about the bonds that we create with our guildmates. As a result of that bond, we're better enabled to succeed on the raid-front.
I say it's your chance to make a mark, and imprint your own style on a new guild, rather than having said guilds style imprinted on you.
It sounds like the opportunity you need.
Wankster of Magtheridon
Galdoron of EU Kargath
If I understand you correctly, you are not about the loot, but moreso about the story, the comraderie, and the passion invloved with the game. If your playing in the 10 man for those reasons it makes alot of sense from what I can see.