It is easy in this game to get what I call - "Purple Fever". This usually occurs when the loot screen pops up and someone needs an item.
"OMG!!! OMG!!! OMG!!!"
That is what you usually hear when someone has an advanced case of purple fever as their new gear is so close they can almost see it on their character. I have actually seen some reduced to tears when struck by "Purple Fever" but they are unable to get the items.
Blizzard is smart in the way they hook people into the game. At first you get levels very easily and new gear is always around the corner. By the time you hit max level you are hooked on the game but suddenly it gets tougher and tougher to get gear. The best gear is mostly the Epic Purple items so that is where people turn their attention at max level. And the only way to get the best purples is in a guild.
As I have mentioned before, the first character I played was Shribryn. The night elf starting areas were amazing and even though there were enemies to fight, I felt safe with the capital of Darnassus nearby. As I finished my last quest in Darnassus I knew I had no choice but to leave the safety of Nordrassil and head for the unknown mainland. It is hard to imagine now but I was actually a bit nervous as I got onto the boat that would take me to Auberdine. As we entered port I noticed the coastline stretched out as far as the eye could see. Finding my way off the boat and onto the dock I was immediately greeted by a fellow night elf that had decided to start a guild. His name was Shamanizer and although I didn't know him I decided to join up with him. He made me an officer and through continuous recruiting our guild was soon the largest on the server. We were all noobs but everyone was a noob in those days. The main thing was everyone was having a blast. The fun came to an end when we hit max level and suddenly there wasn't much to do. We tried our hands at running the max level instances but our guild struggled mightily due to our noobness and broke up. Shamanizer and I lost touch. Fast forward a few months and I decided to switch servers and I find out Shamanizer had done the same thing. I messed around in a few guilds but he found a new guild called "Requiem" and wanted me to join him. He and his wife love it so I apply and am quickly accepted. Since they are short on healers I play my druid and they both are playing priests so between the 3 of us we are half the healing for the guild. And the game is fun again.
End game at that point was Molten Core and we made slow but steady progress through the instance. Shamanizer, Concertina (his wife) and I made our own chat channel so we just healed and talked all night long and things were perfect. At some point during Molten Core our guild leaders had a major fight and the result was half the guild quit and I was asked to be an druid officer. When the priest officer quit a few days later I convinced the leadership to promote Shamanizer. Since we were on the winning side of the "revolution" everything was great but storm clouds were on the horizon in the form of Concertina.
CC (as I called her) had a bit of a temper and was a bit of a conspiracy freak. I enjoyed talking with her more than just about anyone else in the game but it seemed like I spent a lot of time defending her to other people. It wasn't too bad until a few months later when she accused another officer of stealing guild funds. I talked her out of making a big deal about it because I was 99% sure her accusations were wrong. She promised me she wouldn't say anything but when I came home the next day I found a post on our forums with all sorts of accusations from her. The other officers had already responded in anger but I convinced the other officers that the best thing to do was delete the thread and I would explain it to her. Tempers cooled.
I felt for Shamanizer at this time because as he had access to the the officer forums he saw some very direct comments about CC. As her husband he had little choice but to defend her honor and ultimately he decided to step down as officer. Sham/CC and I still had our secret chat channel for raids but it was no longer nearly as much fun because on one hand I am seeing the officers bash CC in officer chat and CC bash the officers in our private chat. I tried to play Switzerland but it was to little avail. I know one thing -- I wasn't having fun anymore.
Things were bound to come to a head and they did about a month later when the rants CC made in our private channel started seeping into guild chat. I told the officers I would talk to her about but a few days later after that she put up another inflammatory post on our forums. The next time I logged I was informed that there was an officers meeting after the raid.
I don't remember much about the raid that night except that I was miserable because Sham was constantly asking me what the officers were saying. The officers weren't saying anything in officer chat but I was sure they were conversing in whispers. All the while, CC defended her actions and was planning the next step in her war against officer tyranny. I remained quiet through the whole thing and only gave vague responses to direct questions. I could do little else because frankly the officers weren't talking to me. I do remember that CC saying that they were untouchable because the 3 of us were the best healers in the guild (which was pretty much true).
After the raid was over we had about 3 things to cover. I don't remember the first two items on the agenda but the third was whether we needed a guild shakeup. We had gotten stuck at the beginning of Blackwing Lair and we all agreed that something needed to be done to re-energize the guild. Every class officer discussed the pro's and con's of each member and majority ruled. At the end we had a list of 4 people that we were going to kick. We hadn't discussed the priest class because we only had 2 - Shamanizer and Concertina. The GM brought it up and said ... "We discussed Sham and CC before you logged in and have decided they are out." I tried to defend them but the other officers were in 100% agreement that they had to go. When I mentioned that kicking them put me in a bad position since they were my friends, the other officers responded that they said they understood and would understand if I felt it necessary to leave as well. I was stunned. I told them I needed some time to think about it. They told me that I had until the raid the next night to decide.
As you can imagine Shamanizer and CC asked me a bunch of questions after I logged off Teamspeak (!!). I told them that I really didn't want to talk about it and logged off and on to an alt that no one knew about. I remember it was like 2am and I was just running in circles around Ironforge thinking about the decision. I remembered leaving Darnassus and meeting Shamanizer for the first time. I remembered the fun we had leveling. Then I remembered how lost I felt after our guild broke up and I changed servers. In our 4 months with Requiem I had gotten some of the best loot from Molten Core and I was now one of the leaders in an up and coming guild. The bad thing was my best online friends were now being asked to leave.
Finding your place in an online world is difficult. Nothing is physical and much of the game occurs in your mind. People come and go from guilds and servers much quicker than you'd ever see in real life. Occasionally you meet people that you want to meet in real life. Shamanizer and CC were two people like that for me. Now I was being forced to choose between them and the only true guild I'd ever known. I thought back to the time I mentioned earlier when I first hit max level and Shamanizer's guild broke up. We spoke occasionally but it wasn't the same. If I left the guild there was no guarantee that I'd ever find one that fit me as well as Requiem and no guarantee that be able to get in one with Shamanizer/CC. If I stayed with Requiem I would have lots of power and access to the best loot in the game. I decided to stay.
The only person that was online when I decided was our raid leader, Modhne. I told him my decision and he was happy that I had decided to stay. I asked him if I could be the one to tell Sham/CC that they were out and he agreed to tell the other officers. The next night I logged in and asked Shamanizer and CC if they had a few minutes to chat in our private channel. They agreed and before I could say anything Sham said, "We're out aren't we?" I said yeah. The officers had booted a few other people during the day and rumors were flying about the meeting from the night before. I told them that I was staying in the guild. Shamanizer said he understood but CC lost her temper and called me names. I told them both that it was a very difficult decision and I'd hope they understand. We could always be friends. To CC's credit she quit the guild without a scene but she also left our private chat channel. Shamanizer did the same thing a few moments later. I never spoke to either of them again (I heard they re-rolled horde on a different server but I really don't know).
I felt bad about my decision for a long time but the effect on the guild was pretty amazing. We revamped our recruiting process and got a new group of players that helped us conquer Blackwing Lair far quicker than any of us thought possible. When we beat the final boss and I held his sceptre in my hands I felt justified in staying with the guild. But as time has passed I feel less sure that I was correct. In the new world of pixelated rewards and transitory friends nothing is certain.
Ultimately the question of friends vs guild has no right answer. Only two paths filled with the regret of a choice you'd rather not make.
"OMG!!! OMG!!! OMG!!!"
That is what you usually hear when someone has an advanced case of purple fever as their new gear is so close they can almost see it on their character. I have actually seen some reduced to tears when struck by "Purple Fever" but they are unable to get the items.
Blizzard is smart in the way they hook people into the game. At first you get levels very easily and new gear is always around the corner. By the time you hit max level you are hooked on the game but suddenly it gets tougher and tougher to get gear. The best gear is mostly the Epic Purple items so that is where people turn their attention at max level. And the only way to get the best purples is in a guild.
As I have mentioned before, the first character I played was Shribryn. The night elf starting areas were amazing and even though there were enemies to fight, I felt safe with the capital of Darnassus nearby. As I finished my last quest in Darnassus I knew I had no choice but to leave the safety of Nordrassil and head for the unknown mainland. It is hard to imagine now but I was actually a bit nervous as I got onto the boat that would take me to Auberdine. As we entered port I noticed the coastline stretched out as far as the eye could see. Finding my way off the boat and onto the dock I was immediately greeted by a fellow night elf that had decided to start a guild. His name was Shamanizer and although I didn't know him I decided to join up with him. He made me an officer and through continuous recruiting our guild was soon the largest on the server. We were all noobs but everyone was a noob in those days. The main thing was everyone was having a blast. The fun came to an end when we hit max level and suddenly there wasn't much to do. We tried our hands at running the max level instances but our guild struggled mightily due to our noobness and broke up. Shamanizer and I lost touch. Fast forward a few months and I decided to switch servers and I find out Shamanizer had done the same thing. I messed around in a few guilds but he found a new guild called "Requiem" and wanted me to join him. He and his wife love it so I apply and am quickly accepted. Since they are short on healers I play my druid and they both are playing priests so between the 3 of us we are half the healing for the guild. And the game is fun again.
End game at that point was Molten Core and we made slow but steady progress through the instance. Shamanizer, Concertina (his wife) and I made our own chat channel so we just healed and talked all night long and things were perfect. At some point during Molten Core our guild leaders had a major fight and the result was half the guild quit and I was asked to be an druid officer. When the priest officer quit a few days later I convinced the leadership to promote Shamanizer. Since we were on the winning side of the "revolution" everything was great but storm clouds were on the horizon in the form of Concertina.
CC (as I called her) had a bit of a temper and was a bit of a conspiracy freak. I enjoyed talking with her more than just about anyone else in the game but it seemed like I spent a lot of time defending her to other people. It wasn't too bad until a few months later when she accused another officer of stealing guild funds. I talked her out of making a big deal about it because I was 99% sure her accusations were wrong. She promised me she wouldn't say anything but when I came home the next day I found a post on our forums with all sorts of accusations from her. The other officers had already responded in anger but I convinced the other officers that the best thing to do was delete the thread and I would explain it to her. Tempers cooled.
I felt for Shamanizer at this time because as he had access to the the officer forums he saw some very direct comments about CC. As her husband he had little choice but to defend her honor and ultimately he decided to step down as officer. Sham/CC and I still had our secret chat channel for raids but it was no longer nearly as much fun because on one hand I am seeing the officers bash CC in officer chat and CC bash the officers in our private chat. I tried to play Switzerland but it was to little avail. I know one thing -- I wasn't having fun anymore.
Things were bound to come to a head and they did about a month later when the rants CC made in our private channel started seeping into guild chat. I told the officers I would talk to her about but a few days later after that she put up another inflammatory post on our forums. The next time I logged I was informed that there was an officers meeting after the raid.
I don't remember much about the raid that night except that I was miserable because Sham was constantly asking me what the officers were saying. The officers weren't saying anything in officer chat but I was sure they were conversing in whispers. All the while, CC defended her actions and was planning the next step in her war against officer tyranny. I remained quiet through the whole thing and only gave vague responses to direct questions. I could do little else because frankly the officers weren't talking to me. I do remember that CC saying that they were untouchable because the 3 of us were the best healers in the guild (which was pretty much true).
After the raid was over we had about 3 things to cover. I don't remember the first two items on the agenda but the third was whether we needed a guild shakeup. We had gotten stuck at the beginning of Blackwing Lair and we all agreed that something needed to be done to re-energize the guild. Every class officer discussed the pro's and con's of each member and majority ruled. At the end we had a list of 4 people that we were going to kick. We hadn't discussed the priest class because we only had 2 - Shamanizer and Concertina. The GM brought it up and said ... "We discussed Sham and CC before you logged in and have decided they are out." I tried to defend them but the other officers were in 100% agreement that they had to go. When I mentioned that kicking them put me in a bad position since they were my friends, the other officers responded that they said they understood and would understand if I felt it necessary to leave as well. I was stunned. I told them I needed some time to think about it. They told me that I had until the raid the next night to decide.
As you can imagine Shamanizer and CC asked me a bunch of questions after I logged off Teamspeak (!!). I told them that I really didn't want to talk about it and logged off and on to an alt that no one knew about. I remember it was like 2am and I was just running in circles around Ironforge thinking about the decision. I remembered leaving Darnassus and meeting Shamanizer for the first time. I remembered the fun we had leveling. Then I remembered how lost I felt after our guild broke up and I changed servers. In our 4 months with Requiem I had gotten some of the best loot from Molten Core and I was now one of the leaders in an up and coming guild. The bad thing was my best online friends were now being asked to leave.
Finding your place in an online world is difficult. Nothing is physical and much of the game occurs in your mind. People come and go from guilds and servers much quicker than you'd ever see in real life. Occasionally you meet people that you want to meet in real life. Shamanizer and CC were two people like that for me. Now I was being forced to choose between them and the only true guild I'd ever known. I thought back to the time I mentioned earlier when I first hit max level and Shamanizer's guild broke up. We spoke occasionally but it wasn't the same. If I left the guild there was no guarantee that I'd ever find one that fit me as well as Requiem and no guarantee that be able to get in one with Shamanizer/CC. If I stayed with Requiem I would have lots of power and access to the best loot in the game. I decided to stay.
The only person that was online when I decided was our raid leader, Modhne. I told him my decision and he was happy that I had decided to stay. I asked him if I could be the one to tell Sham/CC that they were out and he agreed to tell the other officers. The next night I logged in and asked Shamanizer and CC if they had a few minutes to chat in our private channel. They agreed and before I could say anything Sham said, "We're out aren't we?" I said yeah. The officers had booted a few other people during the day and rumors were flying about the meeting from the night before. I told them that I was staying in the guild. Shamanizer said he understood but CC lost her temper and called me names. I told them both that it was a very difficult decision and I'd hope they understand. We could always be friends. To CC's credit she quit the guild without a scene but she also left our private chat channel. Shamanizer did the same thing a few moments later. I never spoke to either of them again (I heard they re-rolled horde on a different server but I really don't know).
I felt bad about my decision for a long time but the effect on the guild was pretty amazing. We revamped our recruiting process and got a new group of players that helped us conquer Blackwing Lair far quicker than any of us thought possible. When we beat the final boss and I held his sceptre in my hands I felt justified in staying with the guild. But as time has passed I feel less sure that I was correct. In the new world of pixelated rewards and transitory friends nothing is certain.
Ultimately the question of friends vs guild has no right answer. Only two paths filled with the regret of a choice you'd rather not make.
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