Thoughts on Guilds

The old idea didn’t work, so forget that.

Guilds.

When I first began playing, I wasn’t going to join a guild. Not being remotely familiar with the game or how it worked or what function a guild would serve, I just didn’t see the point.

The friend who introduced me to the game had his own guild, which he let me join. He was the only other member, and he closed his account shortly after I began playing due to a weight of other life demands — so I had the guild name over my head, and a guild tabard (achievement!), but I was still playing completely solo. My Guild Chat was silent, and my Friends list (which was composed entirely of my friend’s toons) was always inactive.

I suffered through the PuGs for dungeons, never realizing that most players preferred not to PuG, or where they could possibly get other players for groups if they didn’t.
I took a lot of abuse for my newbie ignorance of things that more seasoned players already knew as givens, but I had nobody else of whom to ask questions for things I didn’t understand except the other members of the PuG groups I got into — and some of them were helpful, and some of them were rude.
Some of them were obnoxious as only teenagers can be when they desperately want to be recognized for accomplishing something, but they haven’t actually accomplished anything worth recognizing because they’re too young, so they get overly invested in meaningless in-game accomplishments and overly defensive when those accomplishments do not receive what they consider to be proper recognition. Those types were always fun. *eyeroll*

Then one day, a complete stranger with whom I was temporarily grouped so we could share kills for a quest instead of competing for them invited me to join his guild.

At that point, I’d been playing for maybe two months, and I was finally beginning to understand that although the game could be soloed to 80, I would be missing out on a lot of things if I couldn’t at least sometimes get a group together. So I was relieved and even excited at the invitation, and I jumped to accept it.

I got just enough of a taste for what a guild could be through that experience.
But it was mostly from watching what the other members had, and not because I really got to enjoy any of those benefits myself.

Oh, people were nice enough, if I asked a direct question.
But I wasn’t part of the “core crowd”, so I was never invited to the dungeon groups even when I was of a level to participate. (My shaman by this time was in the 70s.) Nobody ever responded to my hopeful invitations to start or join a group for anything.
The lowbies were more than happy to call me hither and yon to run them through Shadowfang Keep or Wailing Caverns, and felt more than entitled to get pissy with me about it (which significantly dampened my enthusiasm for doing it at all)… but the high-level group content was as out of my reach in this group as it had been when I had no group.
It was like they let me in, but they still weren’t going to play with me.

Eventually I got frustrated with that, and I got on the forums and started actively looking for another guild.
And I found one — a guild which, if there was any truth in their advertisements, was ideally suited to me.
I switched servers, I joined the guild… and I’ve never looked back. My game experience has taken on a whole new dimension of enjoyment and fun.

I will be the first to admit that my requirements for the “ideal guild” were not easy in the general WoW environment.
I am not a teenager, and I was tired of grouping / guilding primarily with teenagers. I was sick of children flexing their attitudes at me, playing at being adult like they had a clue. I didn’t want another guild full of that crap. I can get enough of it in Trade chat.
I wanted a guild that didn’t feel like another trip through junior high every time I signed on. My first trip through was enough, thanks.
I wanted a guild that actually felt like a group in which I was included — which meant I would have to like the people in the guild, and since I have a very low opinion of people in general, I didn’t actually expect to find any such group.
But I did. They’re really out there!

I occasionally met other adults while I was playing who were similarly disenchanted with having to tolerate so much childish crap just to play the game, who were also wondering if there was any corner of the game world where they could get away from that.

Take heart, fellow wanderers.
You don’t have to close your account just because you’ve had it up to here with e-peen.
There really is a corner of the game world that can suit you too.

Tanaris, On Hold Again

Miakoma
Orc Shaman
Currently level 59
Herbalism, Alchemy, and all available secondary skills

I emerged from the Booty Bay inn in a frenzy of activity.

I completed all the tasks still outstanding in the Eastern Kingdoms.
I returned to Kalimdor to perform some tasks there.
I was invited to join a guild, which invitation I accepted with alacrity and gratitude.
I completed tasks in Tanaris and Un’Goro Crater with immense speed and dedication, and my skills and knowledge increased with equal speed.

Then, once again, everything ground to a halt.

You see, I was given the task of raising a hatchling venomhide, with the promise that, once trained, it could be used as a mount.

Whether this mount would be an improvement over the swift wolf I already possessed was unclear, although I could guess that it must be since it required significantly greater skill to even begin on the process of obtaining a venomhide mount than it had to obtain the wolf.

Whether it would exceed the mount I expect very shortly to obtain is more questionable.

However, the greatest problem is – that the venomhide requires twenty days of training, and yet, at the rate I was going, the mount would be useless to me in less than half that time.

So once again, I am sitting idly – this time in Tanaris – emerging each day only for as long as it takes to take care of my hatchling, and to make some small efforts toward obtaining the amount of rugged leather which will be required when the magic day of maturity finally arrives.

Even the long-awaited trip to Dalaran, to which I had been so looking forward, has been postponed until that day – still eleven days away.

I wonder if this effort will prove to be worthwhile.
I strongly suspect it will not – but the lure of having such a creature for a mount, even if he is instantly replaced with a newer and faster mount, is still more than I can resist.

And so, here I sit…

Booty Bay, On hold

Miakoma
Orc Shaman
Currently level 40
Herbalism, Alchemy, and all available secondary skills

I am holed up in the Booty Bay Inn, unable to move for the time being. A strange lassitude has overcome me. After many consecutive days of adventuring, I have suddenly lost all desire to move from my location. I have been in this room for nearly a week now, and I have taken the reservation for another two days.

In this lull, however, I find myself ruminating over some of the events that have occurred since I arrived on this new continent.

One of the greatest frustrations for me has been the frequency with which commerce and travel is disrupted by the bands of ruffians who periodically sweep through Booty Bay and the northern outpost, killing everyone in their paths. It doesn’t seem to take long for either location to recover from these devastations — apparently they are quite accustomed to being slaughtered at whim — but for the traveller who wishes for a quick visit to a vendor or a ready flight to another city, the frustration is ever-present.

Despite these frustrations, however, my travels in this new land have yielded some interesting rewards.

While fishing idly off the northern coast of Stranglethorn Vale, I fished up an old book which taught me to find fish. I have found the ability to be largely useless — why would I need a special ability to find schools of fish that my own eyes can see perfectly well in the water? But my friend the paladin has informed me that the ability is a rare one, and that I should consider myself lucky to have acquired it. She understands these things better than I do, of course, so I will take her word on the rarity of the skill, but that still doesn’t mean I find it useful.

I abandoned my quests in Desolace after a fruitless attempt to canvass that land before taking ship — clearly my quest log misled me in indicating that I was prepared for that challenge — and upon arriving in Stranglethorn Vale, there were immediately so many new people and organizations in need of aid that the Desolace tasks were squeezed out. Who knows when I shall return there? The space is more needed for other things in my current location. I have been perpetually at the limit for the number of quests I am permitted to accept since my arrival.

I have passed through many of the countries on this continent — I have slain yeti in the Arathi Highlands and muckdwellers in the swamp. I traveled the whole lower half of the continent, completing various tasks, and even discovered how to reach the northern half of the continent — where, to my devout relief, I finally found the town of Tarren Mills and was able to complete the tasks required to receive my Water Totem.

What I could not find was the path that led to the Badlands. I had several quests instructing me to go there, and they were low-level quests even at that time — obviously there must be a path that a lower level person such as myself could follow to get there — but I could not find it.

On one notable occasion, I braved the Burning Steppes, a country where every single creature is of the instant-death-to-me variety, running the northern border with frequent deaths incurred, trying to find the way through. It was not there. (My friend the paladin had a hearty laugh at my expense when I told her the story, but I noticed she did not offer an alternative route.)

Eventually I was forced to abandon those quests through my own ignorance, which was frustrating — only to be summoned there the next day to join a group who wished a healer to accompany them into the ruins of someone’s manor house. I had not even realized those ruins were in the Badlands. That was even more frustrating.

Having once reached the Badlands, I of course made contact with the local Flight Master, and now travel there is as easy as forming the desire to go there — but I am still ignorant of the land route by which they are accessible.

In any event — I returned to Booty Bay with more experience to take on the trolls and pirates that infest the area.

And there again, luck favored me far more than one could possibly imagine — on the corpse of one troll, no different than the dozens of others I had killed in the area, I found an axe. And not just any axe — an epic war axe, with a vast cutting blade and additional elemental damage — in short, a Fiery War Axe.

!!!

My excitement was so great that it took several deaths to remind me that my axe did not actually render me invincible.

It does, however, render me Very Dangerous to the beasts and ruffians who prowl this land.

And yet, despite all this — despite achieving my 40th level of experience, despite the purchase of a new and faster mount, despite learning to wear mail armor and donning at last the mail gloves I had found so long ago in one of the dungeons and had been saving in my bank vault for just this occasion, despite the gift of a superior quality chest piece from my friend the paladin before she was obliged to depart these lands to attend to family obligations for some months — even despite my eagerness to locate the Scarlet Monastery and accomplish the several tasks I have there (assuming that I can find a group who wishes to do the same) — here I sit, at the Booty Bay inn.

And here I shall sit for another two days yet.

Vacations are very nice, I suppose, but I wish they did not enforce such a dull inactivity.

Thunder Bluff

Miakoma
Orc Shaman
Currently level 33
Herbalism, Alchemy, and all available secondary skills

The past week has been a busy time of adventuring and learning, with so much excitement that I have not even had the time or energy to record them.

Most notable among my successes and failures…

After fully exploring the Stonetalon Mountains, I decided to move on to the contested territories of Ashenvale. I was concerned about meeting members of the Alliance there, wondering if it might not lead to instant combat (and likely annihilation for me), but as it turned out, most members of the opposite faction were content to let me pass in peace, with only the city sentinels being likely to attack on sight. One mistake was enough to illustrate the folly of attempting to pass too near the elven city at the center of the Vale.

I explored many of the other areas, however, even ridding the land of two demons who had taken up residence there. The only areas that remained unexplored were one far northern territory that a cursory exploration failed to define, and one far eastern territory where the creatures were clearly of the instant-death-to-me category.

I attempted to explore the dungeon of Blackfathom Deeps alone, finding no ready companions to accompany me… the effort was not ultimately successful, but I took some consolation in the fact that I managed to get some distance into the dungeon on my own before I was overwhelmed. Perhaps the dream of that I might some day accomplish this feat is not the pipe dream I had thought.

For the time being, however, I moved on to Thousand Needles, where all my information led me to believe was the next ideal site for me.

A brief return visit to Ogrimmar provided me with the information needed to acquire my Air and Water Totems. The Air Totem was quickly enough given into my keeping, without even a ceremony to bind it to me. The Water Totem, however, is proving to be more of a problem – it asks for a filled waterskin from Tarren Mills, a town I have never heard of. I hope I will soon discover this land in my travels…

I was able to complete the vast majority of tasks given to me in Thousand Needles, and to explore the entirety of that area. There was no Tarren Mills to be found, much to my disappointment.

I then met up with my old compatriot, the paladin, and together we tamed the wild creatures of Razorfen Kraul, gaining an Achievement in the process. It was very satisfying.

I am currently pausing in Thunder Bluff, having turned in the outlaw’s heart for the reward and reaching the 33^rd level of experience in the process.

Here I plan to pause and regroup a bit – I am learning the intricacies of the local Auction House through trial and error, and Thunder Bluff possesses all the amenities necessary to make an easy task of sorting through the belongings I acquired in Razorfen Kraul. I also intend to explore the land of Mulgore, in case Tarren Mills is located in this land, before I take ship for Booty Bay to deliver some items there. I do not intend to stay there long, however, as I also have some deliveries to make to Desolace… I am not sure I should not even make those first, since Desolace is at least on the same continent, but on the other hand, the visit to Booty Bay might be more pressing simply because some of those tasks might lose all value to the recipients if I don’t accomplish them soon.

There is much to think about…

Stonetalon Mountains, Day 3

Miakoma
Orc Shaman
Currently level 24
Herbalism, Alchemy, and all available secondary skills

The restoration of the trees in the Charred Vale is complete. I expected to feel some sense of pride in the accomplishment, or at least a sense of fitness in having achieved a goal in keeping with my calling, but it has left me empty.

I found myself wandering the land aimlessly today.

I ventured into Ashenvale, but turned back quickly when I was alerted that Alliance forces were about and would not hesitate to attack me if we crossed paths.

I returned to Stonetalon, and made some small headway on my remaining tasks there – thinning the scores of harpies still infesting the Charred Vale, and collecting ingredients for yet another alchemist who promises me some wondrous concoction that I will likely sell untasted – but my heart was not in either of these things.

Somehow I found myself back in Ogrimmar, wandering the streets in search of a vendor from whom I might procure some flour. What possessed me to pursue such an idle whim? I have no idea, but it turned out for the best. I was finally able to visit a shaman trainer in the city, and while there, I discovered an old shaman who set my feet on the path of receiving my water totem. I had been wondering where and when that quest would be granted to me.

With the help of a guard, I also located the local vendor of cooking supplies, who did in fact sell the flour I had been looking for, so I was also able to indulge my sudden desire to bake large quantities of spice bread.

I camped in Ogrimmar for the night because I couldn’t decide where else to go. Who can say what strange desire will suddenly overtake me tomorrow, after such a strange and unfocused day?

Stonetalon Mountains, Day Two

Miakoma
Orc Shaman
Currently level 24
Herbalism, Alchemy, and all available secondary skills

I’ve been in the Stonetalon Mountains for two days now. Something about the area oppresses me – is it the narrowness of the paths? The inability to see beyond my immediate area? Perhaps it simply seems too enclosed after the openness of the Barrens…or perhaps it’s just the spiders infesting every part of the area.

Whatever the reason, I have not been enjoying my explorations at all. I spent a night at Crossroads after returning to the Barrens to deliver some messages and gave serious consideration to abandoning my tasks here. As it is, I find myself rushing to complete them simply so that I can move on to Ashenvale as soon as possible – sometimes to my detriment. I have died several times while attempting to rush through the cave in Boulderslide Ravine… a punishing consequence indeed, since the trek to recover my body from the nearest spirit guide is a long one.

I am currently tasked with helping to restore the blasted countryside in Charred Vale with some enchanted Gaia seeds, and to aid in the task of thinning the harpy infestation in that area – although truth to tell, I do not think I am helping much. The harpies seem plentiful as ever, no matter how many I kill.

These are worthy tasks of a shaman, but my heart is not in them. I long to be away from these torturous mountains and into a different and more congenial environment…

Miakoma – More Early Days (Summary)

Miakoma
Orc Shaman
Currently level 23
Herbalism, Alchemy, and all available secondary skills

The Barrens were a real training ground for me. It was there that I truly felt myself come into my skills more fully. I no longer felt like a green adventurer – I had at least enough seasoning to begin to gauge my skills against my opponents more realistically, and even to push myself to achieve more.

This knowledge did not, however, come easily.

For example – I was escorted through Ragefire Chasm for the first time while still feeling very new and untried, in an impromptu group consisting of another equally green recruit and a member of her guild who was a master of his class. We were searching for the heart of Taragarman the Hungerer – but this quest, for me, consisted solely of trailing along behind the other two adventurers, usually so far behind that they were out of sight, while I struggled with the unfamiliarity of the cave’s close confines and confusing twists and turns. I was granted an Achievement for obtaining the sought-after heart, but it certainly did not feel like much of an Achievement when accomplished in this way. I hadn’t even realized we had come upon the fiend Taragarmon until I arrived belatedly at the site of the carnage.

I was by that time feeling somewhat disappointed by such a ridiculous means of completing a task. Surely I should be contributing something to the effort of the group? However, no sooner had I thought so when a stray resident of the dungeon suddenly noticed me and slid forward to engage me in combat. I didn’t even have time to raise my staff. The creature felled me with two quick swipes of its claws, and I found myself back at the spirit ground outside Ogrimmar. Perhaps an Achievement can sometimes be an Achievement regardless of how it happens!

Several days later, feeling more confident of my skills, I attempted to assay Ragefire Chasm alone. My Book of Quests, which recorded a general idea of each task’s difficulty relative to my own skill, indicated that the tasks which could be completed in the Chasm at this time should now be significantly easier for me. I believed this meant I could complete them alone – but this turned out to be utterly wrong. Despite several efforts, I was not able to kill so much as a single creature within that redoubtable dungeon – nor was I any more successful in the Wailing Caverns of the Barrens several days later. It is clear that the dungeons of this land are inhabited by creatures of singular strength and danger. I will be much more careful in venturing to disturb one of those locations in future.

Despite these setbacks, I completed numerous other tasks and advanced steadily in skills and knowledge.

The knowledge was appreciated, but the unquestioned highlight of these early days was when I received a letter from the riding master in Ogrimmar, offering to teach me riding and advertising the wolves for sale at his stable. I dropped all my current quests to return to Ogrimmar immediately, where I sold nearly every possession I had in order to afford the lessons and the mount.

I left the stables as the proud owner of a black wolf. And I have not yet gotten tired of loping across the countryside on her back.  No more pounding the roads of the world on my own tired feet! Now I ride in style!

Shortly after that, I received another Achievement for my thorough exploration of the Barrens areas. I had not yet ventured into all of them, but I could see at a glance that the southernmost regions were as yet far too difficult for me. Quick forays into Dustwallow Marsh as well as the lands beyond the great elevator proved equally unwise.

It seemed, then, that my choices at that moment were between Stonetalon Mountains and Ashenvale – and since I had received numerous tasks to accomplish in the mountains, it was there that I next bent my steps.

Miakoma – The Earliest Days (Summary)

Miakoma
Orc Shaman
Currently level 22
Herbalism, Alchemy, and all available secondary skills

I began my adventuring life in The Den with the other young Orc recruits. A green bunch all, but none greener than I, who could barely manage to hold my own staff firmly. The others raced ahead of me to perform various tasks for The Den’s officers and teachers. I went more slowly; the call of the shaman was still new to me, and my powers felt grossly unfamiliar.

Still, I did complete my assigned tasks, if not as quickly as my compatriots, and I began to feel a firmer footing in my new world. I swung my staff more skillfully and began to learn the art of dodging or withstanding my opponents’ blows.

I also began to develop my shaman’s skills. I even gained my first shamanistic totem, an Earth totem. The invitation to pursue the totem was thrilling; there were moments when the quiet reflection and meditation needed to prepare myself were very difficult to find. The ceremony itself, however, was overwhelming. I could hardly contain the force that rushed into me as the totem bound itself to me. It was as if my very feet had become conduits to the spirits who bind the lands together, drawing their strength upward until I lost myself in unity with the mountain of stone on which I stood.

As the elemental power ebbed away, I fell to my knees on the stone. I could easily understand in that moment why the shamanistic calling was not for everyone, and I wondered if I could truly meet the demands of this calling. What if I am not, after all, worthy to receive the powers of the elemental spirits? Master Swart would say this was foolish; why would the spirits call me at all if I were not worthy of their power? Yet I cannot help but doubt… I think I am in no rush to invoke another elemental ceremony before I have grown more comfortable with the powers already granted to me.

In the meantime, however, I dared to begin exploring some of the lands outside the immediate reaches of The Den. I discovered a village of trolls near the southern coast, and I was able to perform many tasks for them which advanced my skills and knowledge considerably. In return, they taught me many necessary skills for my survival as I venture further afield – Herbalism, Alchemy, fishing, and first aid were all granted to me through the trolls’ generosity.

There was a group of brightly colored saddle birds stabled on the edge of the village as well. I presume they are for sale, since I have seen many people riding similar birds, but the stable master would hardly speak to me. I left the village with the birds’ variegated hues still dancing before my eyes. I wonder what I must do to become worthy of such a mount? Or indeed, any mount…

Lacking a mount, however, my own feet served well enough to get me to Razor Hill, where I again did a number of tasks for the officers and residents, and my feet then carried me all the way north to Ogrimmar, the massive city that is the Horde Seat in Durotar. I had never been there before – what a sight it is! Sprawling over five valleys, it holds everything that any adventurer could want. I wandered through it for the first time, quite lost, with no idea of where I was or how to get where I was going.

Near the bank, I unexpectedly met with a blood elf Paladin, the daughter of family friends and a frequent visitor to Ogrimmar. She was giddy at meeting me on my first visit to the big city and leapt about frenetically in her delight at being able to show me around. I was hard-pressed to keep up with her. I confess I did not learn much about the city after that, being more intent on keeping her agile form in sight than in learning the landmarks and byways of the city itself. Still, she did guide me to the hall I needed to find, and I was able to deliver my letter to Thrall and enter into the service of the Horde.

My companion then expressed her desire to be of further use to me, and we undertook to explore some of the northern areas of Durotar together. I quickly discovered, however, that companionship was somewhat of a burden on my solitary nature. Indeed, my Paladin friend was so familiar with the lands around us and so exuberant in her desire to be helpful that she ended up being rather more of a hindrance to my own fledgling attempts at battle and pathfinding. I was relieved, therefore, when she suddenly recollected an evening engagement and was obliged to disband our temporary group.

On my own again, I canvassed the city more slowly. This time I was able to note the landmarks and read the various signs, and I found many useful vendors and teachers along its streets. I purchased a new travel bag, and I learned to cook. I imagine this skill will be of use to any, like myself, who adventure alone along these pathways.

I explored Durotar most thoroughly, and I was gratified to receive an Achievement acknowledging my exploratory skills.

This award also suggested to me that I had accomplished everything that Durotar had to offer to an aspiring (but low-level) adventurer, and that it was time to broaden my horizons even further. With mounting anticipation, I decided to book a room in the inn for the night; tomorrow I would cross the Southfury River and catch my first glimpse of a new land – the Barrens!