Why My Raiding Guild Rocks, Part One
I'm in an awesome raiding guild, at least from my perspective.
I've been in this guild for nearly 6 months now, and have been a part of the main raiding team since Official WoTLK raids started up in our guild, which was after the New Year in 2009.
This guild has given me an reliable group to farm easy content with on a weekly basis, while practicing challenging group Achievements content with skilled players, and of course, my Holy Priest has wicked gear for heading into Ulduar when 3.1 releases for the first time as well.
But, the guild runs only benefit my Holy Priest... so what about my Hunter? And the Mage coming up, and the Shammy I'm looking forward to raiding with some day? Well, I've had to resort to a lot of PUGs in order to fulfill their gearing and experience goals.
The contrast between PUG Raids and Guild Raids can be quite astounding sometimes, as I'm sure anyone who plays World of Warcraft in a group way can attest.
It's these contrasting experiences that help me see more clearly what the really great features of "my" raiding guild are, because they're so clearly lacking in the less-organized guilds and groups.
And of course, I say "my" guild because I'm just a member, and have nothing to do with the formation of this awesome group. I'm just lucky enough to have found them and was able to demonstrate enough knowledge, skill and energy to get an invite and grow within the "family".
Traits I Appreciate Of My Raiding Guild
This raiding guild I'm in has a lot of good traits, so I figured I'd just ramble on about a few of them. Kind of like a Rampage of Appreciation about my guild:
I love that people in my guild are skilled players.
I love that the officer team leads in an effective way.
I love that I can rely on invites going out at a specific time, and I can also rely on a full raid group being present right at the time of invites.
I think it's particularly great that there are always people on "raid overflow", even when I'm one of the ones who doesn't get into tonight's raid because of it. Just having the extra people to quickly swap in to the raid makes the raiding experience better in many ways.
I love that very few people in our 25 man raid each evening require summons to join the event, and that people actually park their toons outside raid instances beforehand.
I'm glad that there are very few people I'd label a "Negative Nancy" in the guild. Whining and complaining is kept to a minimum with most people.
When we're in battle, Vent is largely clear of chatter entirely, because everyone knows what they're doing and nobody feels the need to prattle on endlessly just to hear their own voices.
Buffing and re-buffing is done quickly - recovering from wipes is insanely quick, and moving on from one pack to the next in clearing trash before and after boss fights is equally quick. I barely have time to run to grab a Dr. Pepper from the fridge in the next room!
And all of this combined on Wednesday night to turn into a Naxx25 run that took 3 hours from start to finish!
Having access to these types of runs sure makes the rest of my play time more relaxing, because I feel like I'm "getting somewhere" with the great group, and can thus just "enjoy" the game the rest of the time.
I'm sure I'll write more about the guild aspect soon, but I'd love to hear about the things you adore the most about your own guild, too!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!Related posts:
- Why My Raiding Guild Rocks, Part II
- Looking Back: From Social Guild To Raiding Guild
- Applying For A Raiding Guild: What To Ponder
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I'm in a raiding guild, but the one thing I love most is the people. I get to play with my boyfriend and I've made a few friends in the guild, and 99% of the other guildies are very cool people (if not close friends). It's fun, I love our Vent banter, our random gkicks and our silly mistakes.
We're not as organized as you (people sometimes turn up late, realize their frost resist gear is in the bank etc) but from what I've heard about more hardcore guilds (yours seems to fit the definition), the atmosphere sucks between raids. I'd rather have fun and wipe a few times than clear Naxx in one night and get bored out of my mind for the rest of the day.
Found your site from one of my listeners, and I am really enjoying it. I love your whole outlook of casual raider, that's how I see myself as well. Just wanted to say keep up the great work.
Michelle Madison
Co-Host
Warcraft Outsiders Podcast
Video Game Outsiders Podcast
Hi there, Michelle!
Great to hear from you, I'll definitely check out your podcast. Thanks for the kind words!
I'll definitely have to write some entries about how the Raiding Guild is in between raids, because it's quite amazing in that aspect as well.
Not all of our alts are in the raiding guild, nor do we have to worry about "conflicting interests" if we want to put an alt into a different raiding guild and raid on off-days with it there.
I know what you're talking about, tho, because I've feared that same thing myself, and was subjected to it before finding this guild as well.
Wow, your guild sounds *really* similar to mine. We have about 150 unique accounts, ranging from college students to grandfathers, hardcore raiders to casuals who log on once a week tops, and we have really great leadership. We've watching other guilds crumble on our server again and again, and ours just seems to keep on kicking it =D
I might be a little bit biased, seeing as how my guild leader is also my boyfriend.... =P (more about that in my blog, if you're interested in reading, heh)
PS - I'm going to add your blog to my blogroll - I just stumbled across it today, and I love it!
There is nothing more comforting than being able to count on your friends and colleagues, regardless of what pursuit you are involved in. I am lucky enough to be in a guild with similar qualities, albeit not as large or advanced as yours (we are just starting Heroics). I always appreciate the efforts of good guild leaders, because they have to put so much more effort into the game. Shooting mobs is easy; running a guild is not!