For those of you looking for the last portion of my Naxx guide, fear not, it’ll be up tomorrow morning. I was really itching to write something “contemplative-ish”, though, so here we go.
Basically I’ve found myself rather… “lost” when it comes to what I want to do in WoW lately. The summer slump has hit my Naxx group, hard, to the point that last I checked they’re done for the time being, so I’m out a raid group. My little casual guild o’ friends is losing people (on good terms, by the way) either to real-life issues, or to bigger raiding guilds. Oh, we have chat channels and the like, but still. I suppose more and more I am feeling lonely in game, and my two level 74 alts that I have been playing, while fun, seem to be losing their luster. In fact, I’m really glad that I have my Naxx guide to post this week, because I honestly have done nothing in WoW these past several days except dailies and occasionally dinking around on random alts.
I’ve put a little bit of thought into what to do, and I’m still pretty undecided. I don’t want to be done with the game, and more importantly I don’t feel done with the game, but I could use a rez, so to speak.
The prominent thought that has hit me is “join a raiding guild already!” I don’t see this happening for a few different reasons:
1.) Super crappy and unreliable work schedule. What raiding guild would want someone who could only show up once, maaaaybe twice a week and thus would probably wind up super-undergeared?
And to make things harder, assuming the aforementioned guild exists in some iteration or other…
2.) It would have to be on an RP server. The number of times I have rolled alts, gotten them to level 15ish, and then quit in a fit of depression, is exactly equal to the number of times I have rolled alts on non-RP servers. No offense meant at all to you non-RP folks, it’s a matter of playstyle. There is just some difference that I can’t quite pin down between RP and “normal” servers and I feel uncomfortable playing on anything but an RP server, I really do. This also rules out transferring to an Oceanic server since they have no RP servers (aside from the fact that I’m a failure of a computer geek and raiding at 4am wouldn’t work for me.)
and 3.) It would preferably have to be on Silver Hand, my home server. I wouldn’t be completely averse to a server transfer, I just… aside from my friends being here, I’ve grown oddly attached to my home server, Trade Chat trolls and all. Nowhere else really feels the same.
So once you’ve looked at my criteria you can probably see why I’m thinking the odds of me ever getting into a raiding guild are slim to none.
But what else is there, really? As mentioned, playing the alts and the “funding-epic-flyers-for-all-my-toons” game are fun, but something is definitely missing. Last time I reached this point, Wrath of the Lich King came out a month or two later, this time…
I suppose I am looking for advice and ideas on how to spice up my WoW again. I want to be able to feel the spark that I used to and be hit with random flashes of inspiration to write for you guys. What would you guys like to read? Lemme know.
Oh and, no promises and this is tentative, but… Alliance hunter LF guild, PST.
I’ve been exactly where you are. And went a completly different way. Me and a few friends left our old pvp server, switched sides and we are now in a small guild I started out of the blue to stop getting random invites. The in-joke guild name is “We don’t do anything guild”. Basically we’re pretty much all people for whom consistent raiding is a no go because of work, non willingness to put the hours or whatever reason.
We got tired of the pressure we put on ourselves to game and raid so we forced ourselves to take a step back and just play for the fun of it. Our biggest raid was 2 of us in a 10man naxx pug :P. We even banned dps meters from our heroics runs.
I take the time to tell you to think carefully about what you really enjoy in the game and to think back to the moments you had the most fun. Chances are it won’t be when you where in naxx but rather when you and a friend tried to 2 man the hives in silithus or when you survived that crazy pull in scholomance.
Anyway if there’s people out there who want a guild where you don’t have to do anything and where most of the guild speaks french(yeah french canadian here) you can always drop me a tell in game.
Server: Korialstraz (horde)
Guild : Darkest Night
Contact Gareld or Felycia(tell him I ordered to invite you!)
is recruting 🙂 And we don’t have raid attendance requirements.
That being said, I know exactly how you feel about being attached to a server, and I hope that you find a raiding guild that will take you! They’d be so blessed to have a player like you!
ah, if only you were on Kilrogg… We’d take you in, I have no doubt. Casuals who raid, 9PM start time Pacific, only have an attendance requirement if you’re Raider rank, but anyone can sign up 🙂
Pike, I really, really can use the last chapter to the nax guild. I am one of those 80s that hasn’t done a whole lot of instances so this is my first time going to naxx,
Maybe saturday and I love your guide. Between your guide and watching project lore I hope all goes ok.
Thanks for being you,
you would always be welcome in our guild in Dragonblight.
Pike, love the blog between you and the once and future BRK my hunter has gotten a lot better over time.
I know what you are going through, i’ve put wow on hold for a bit to shore up my own life a bit. I’ve started dabbling in other games. (hangs head in shame) and found that wizard101 is a fairly fun free mmo that can occupy some time and let your quiver refill.
absence makes the hearthstone glow stronger right? take a break go read a book. (i’m reading a book on programming games.. ) Get outta the house and under some real light. we computer game vampires occasionally need to darken our pale skin. 😛
and should you ever visit the kul tiras server I’m sure you would be welcome with our guild.
Have you ever taken a look at Leftovers? (http://leftoversraiding.org/) It’s a raiding organization on Silver Hand made up of different guilds and guild alliances. You sign up for single raids, whatever days of the week you want, with no pressure to stick with the group if your schedule changes. My guild has been going through the same slump, and it’s only through Leftovers that I’ve managed to keep raiding. It’s a great system, and I highly recommend it.
Katie/Maianna
Whenever I get “tired” of the game a little I try something different. Pick a class that feels completely alien, like a warrior or rogue perhaps (melee as opposed to huter ranged dps). But to make them fun for you make up a strong back story (since you like a bit of RP 😉 If your back story is interesting enough (to you) then you will come to like the character and experience the game afresh from a completely new role/perspective.
Of course, I am an altaholic, I have 1 of everything at least lvl 60 😉 It works for me, it might work for you. Just don’t become a slave to your alts, they are there for you to have fun with, not a responsibility hanging over your head to level them up or gear them up – people get trapped with that sometimes.
Kota.
My greatest frustration in the game of World of WarCraft is this: there are no RP servers in Oceana.
It’s like they think that the home of cosplay cannot RP. “(>.<)”
Have you thought about raiding with the Leftovers community? If you’re working less now, you can at least sneak in a raid or two during the week–maybe even just as standby.
As for the boredom slump, I’m going through that too. For the past few months I’ve been doing whacky hunter things, like trying to solo BC heroics, or Old World lvl60 raids (Big Red Rhino style–am even leveling a turtle!). It’s surprisingly challenging for a non-Death Knight… In the same vein, switching specs/roles on a toon you know is fun. I recently dual-specced my feral tank druid as resto, and have been having a blast learning to heal again.
I am exactly where you are right now. I’m in non raiding guild and the guild masters are all friends with each other (in real life) and with whom I occasionally run instances/raids with. I want to do more raids but between internship and school I really don’t play all that much. I’ll basically pug a 10 or 25 man voa whenever the Alliance somehow captures WG. Maybe I should join a raiding guild though… but leveling my Tauren druid alt is keeping my attention for the time being.
Hi Pike,
I’m a long time reader but have never felt the need to comment until now (also, you inspired me to level my hunter to 80 :-D).
I’m in a similar situation to yourself, my real life has intervened with WoW (Hai moving in with Fiance) and I can’t reliably raid. I’ve always been a hardcore raider (sarth 3D, H:GotR etc.) and it really sucks for me. I’ve abandoned my Main Tank position with a guild that cleared Ulduar last week and is starting on Hard Modes and it makes me really sad.
I’ve taken it upon myself to reroll Alliance (from Horde) because I can’t watch my friends and guildies raid without me. My little Alliance Warrior is nearing 80 and I don’t know what I’m going to do once I get there…
There is nothing I can do to help you, but I wanted to let you know that I care and understand where you are. Best of luck!
I know exactly what you mean about rp servers vs. normal ones. Its why no matter how irritated I may get at Moon Guard I’ll never transfer to some normal server. It just isn’t the same.
If you ever get the hankering to raid on your Horde character you’ve always got an open invitation to join my little raiding guild on Moon Guard! =D
As a few other have suggested already, look into LO.
I’ve been feeling a bit burnt out on the game recently, myself. I pretty much go on to do cooking, JC and fishing dailies and raid and that’s it (I’ve even stopped doing Argent Tourney dailies). I’m just sort of taking a break from playing so much; Been spring cleaning and getting back into crochet instead of idling in Dal/IF tabbed out. >_>
I’m in somewhat of a similar situation now–while, moreso that my hubby is, he’s got a crappy work schedule and I just don’t enjoy raiding without him. I’ve gone and leveled up my horde alts, and tried raiding on a different server–still ended up bored and restless.
What kinda-sorta has been working for me is that when my main servers were all down on Tuesday, I rediscovered an alt I had hidden away on a PvP server, and started playing her again. Just tearing through the levels thanks to all that rested xp was very satisfying, and it also gave me an excuse to go back and quest in some of the zones I always skip since my usual choices were full of very grumpy Hordies.
I’ve also been having fun just pugging raids on my Shaman–I never have to sit around for more than an hour looking for a group, and there’s no heavy commitment to come back later and finish the run. I can raid when I feel like it, and to be honest I prefer /roll for mainspec over the loot systems my previous guild have used, so it works out nicely for me.
I hope you can figure out something that works for you, too. ^.^
@ Katie, Kiirl, and Theaah – I have definitely done LO raids before; my guild in BC had a charter there and we did some stuff. My main issue with LO is that by the time I get my schedule for the week– that week’s LO raids are already pretty much full. That in addition to other issues (such as very few morning raids, when I work mostly afternoons/evenings) makes it difficult. Still, it may be something I look into again.
@ Everyone – Wow, it’s quite comforting to see so many people know where I’m coming from. <3 you all
I recently got out of a similar slump. I was done with naxx, but since I am majority pugger, I felt like I had no chance to go into Ulduar at all. I stopped playing for about a week (more or less) then got on once out of boredom believe I would soon after log back off and be done with it all. But as I was flying (reluctantly) to do a daily, I got a tell from a friend of mine that I ran with there (her old) guild in naxx. I havn’t talked to her in a very long time, but she pst’d me and asked (to my surprise) “Want to come to 25 man Ulduar?” I replied: “…ummm….am I geared for it?” After about 3 minutes (I assume she was checking armory) she replied back and told me I was (to my surprise). So I got to go to Ulduar…okay….but here’s the thing: IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!
I don’t know if you would have the same luck as me, but Ulduar really got me out of the slump, and it does not feel like naxx at all. It’s difficult, but the level of difficulty = fun! I hope you can get into a group sometime (ten can be done w/ mostly 10 man naxx gear) and I hope it gets you out of your slump. Unforchantly…that’s the only thing I can think of to help you b/c it’s what helped me so much.
Good luck!
Pike, please join us at Silver Hand Leftovers. http://leftoversraiding.org Make an account, then sign up for any charter that fits your schedule. As you get to know people you will get slotted. There are some *very* good raiding groups there. Avatars of Power is the only group on Silver Hand to get Immortal and protodrakes. Since there is a big group of raiders, you don’t have to make every raid and if you fall behind one group you can run with another.
The idea of RP servers has always intrigued me but I already have so many alts and not enough time for em. I’d welcome you to join the guild my shaman is in on Turalyon but it’s a horde guild and on a non-RP server. Anyways, I wish you luck in getting everything sorted out. There’s nothing wrong with taking a hiatus from the game, if it gets to that point. Absence makes the heart grow stronger and a break could be just what the doctor ordered to get the WoW fires started again.
My guild is recruiting (Silver Dragoons over on Shadow Council). We are a relaxed raiding guild with maybe two runs a week at the moment (os/sarth one night and Naxx another). Generally we start raiding at 8 or 9 Mountain time, and go for two hours or until we all are too tired to keep going. We’re a bunch of crazy scary people, but we’re also friendly.
There are no raid attendance requirements, and we have enough raiders to do 10 mans (though we’d like to pug some 25s).
I hope you find what you’re looking for on Silver Hand though! If not, feel free to roll an alt and poke me (Garetia).
I have this happen occassionally and you know what I do? Play around with some of the “free” MMOs out there like Free Realms , Flyff, or Maplestory. Anytime I get bored with WoW I just poke around on Free Realms for a day or two and then I start missing WoW ^_^;
Pike, I generally roll an alt class/race combo I’ve not played when I’m in a blue spell, or target some time comsuming AP for one of my toons. Also, I’ve always been a crafter, so periodically, I’ll check guild for levelers or new 80s that I can make gear for and go spend a few days farming mats, revisiting old areas.
As for the guild raiding, you’re welcome to come visit Steamwheedle Cartel and the Kitten Liberation Army. We usually raid *something* most nights at 9pm ST, sometimes pulling in friends or folks from a couple other guilds for 25s, but consider ourselves a casual raiding guild. We’ve no attendance requirements, no DKP, no class/spec requirements, run around Heroics a lot for fun and friends. We also have those that don’t or rarely raid but are here simply because we like playing together.
The officer corps has been together for a couple of years (even though most don’t know each other in RL), and I could use some help training BMs (I am, and always will be, SV). I usually give them a basic talk of stats and talents, and then send them to AotH anyway!
Hiya!!!
Where to start… okay. I have been reading your blog for what seems like forever. I love how you write and you are so much fun to read and learn from. I want to offer you an opening in my Non-hardcore raiding guild. My main is Vedorian on Cenarion Circle (an RP server) . My wife is Silymarin. I am a Marks Hunter and she is a boomkin. Our guild is Blackwater Circle. we have about 35-40 guildies and they are the nicest and most fun people you will meet in game. We have 2 25 man Naxx runs (one is to help a smaller guild on our server Vengeance Knights that has only 12 peeps or so) 3 Ulduar 10 raids (pretty deep in Ulduar), and an Ulduar 25-man that is basically Flame Leviathan and Razorscale only (so far 🙂 we’ll get there). They are great peeps. They invited my wife and I in about a year ago when we just started playing andthey were always there to help and support us. I just know from your blog that you would be a wonderful addition to the guild! Hunterz FTW!
Please e-mail me if you are interested, I would love to have you jump in our vent one day just to say hello and check us out.
Peace!
Chris
Vedorian of Blackwater Circle