That goal can be anything: friendship, camaraderie, questing, leveling, PvP, role playing, raiding, progression. Most guilds combine at least a few of these, though I think we all know some guilds who are more focused on one or another.

Casual Progression

My guild is a casual progression raiding guild. I define “casual progression” as goal-oriented but more flexible than hardcore.

We raid three nights a week for about 3 hours per night. The other nights of the week belong to me (okay, actually, they belong to work and family, but I’m cool with that).

If my daughter wakes up with a bad dream, I can walk away for five minutes and not lose my raid spot. I can sign out of a raid for dinner with my husband. I don’t have to be perfect.

But I darn well better try.

That’s the key to any progression for me: be as close to perfect as you can be. Come prepared: bring a flask, get a stack of potions, eat your buff food, read the strats, watch the videos. When that pull countdown starts, be as ready as you can be and do everything you can to be as good as possible.

When the raid is over, take a look at performance. How did you do? Can you do better? (That’s a trick question, the answer is always yes). How will you do it better next time?

Guild Progression

I said all of that to establish where I’m coming from with this topic. The above is my raiding philosophy,  if you can call it that. I can say with complete certainty that all of the officers in my guild would agree that it’s what we expect from everyone. It’s definitely what we expect of ourselves.

The reason for performing your best is not to be awesome. Sure, it’s nice to be awesome. It’s certainly helpful if you are awesome. But the reason your ability and your performance matters comes down to one thing: guild progression.

Ultimately, I want to be in a guild that kills bosses. My personal role in that experience is to do whatever I can do to help kill bosses, and that is much more than a performance issue.

The fact is, sometimes the best thing I can do to help my guild get a boss kill is to sit out of a fight.

Sometimes the best thing I can do is admit I am stumped on a mechanic or that I need some help with my class and my role.

Sometimes the best thing I can do is to pass on a piece of loot that I could use but that would help the guild out more in the hands of a player who can utilize the optimization better or needs the upgrade more than I do.

Why? Because I care more about the guild progression than my own.

Personal Progression

Personal progression is extremely rewarding, let’s be honest. It feels great to get new loot. It feels great to be involved in a boss kill. 

If you’ve ever gotten one of these whispers:

• “Man, I wish I had your gear.”
• “How did you get that title?”
• “Congrats on the boss kill, we’re still stuck.”

You know there’s some pride wrapped up in personal progression.

But none of us live in a vacuum. I can’t walk in there and solo a progression boss (I’ve proven this with a few misfired Moonfires). I rely on the 24 other people in my raid.

One person’s progression is far, far secondary to the guild’s progression. A raider’s personal progression is only relevant in how much it helps us succeed as a guild.

My Bottom Line

I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic this week, mulling and stewing and raging, depending on the day. All of my thoughts come back to a few principles:

• No raider is irreplaceable. If you’re in a guild that’s been raiding for years, the very fact that you are in the raid at all is a testament to this truth: you replaced someone. 
• You raid because the rest of your raid allows you to do so. As I said before, you can’t solo bosses. If you’re in a raid group right now, it’s because the other people in your raid find you valuable for one reason or another. Keep being valuable, and you’ll probably get to raid for a long time.
  
• Guilds don’t exist to serve you. Guilds are communities created by like-minded individuals, each with their own motives, desires, and objectives. We are not merely a vehicle to achieve your personal goals. We all have individual goals, but our primary objective is for the guild’s boss count to go up.
  
• Guild progression > individual progression. I love to be present for boss kills. I love to get new loot. I love to do well on meters and get acknowledged for my contributions–who doesn’t? But I care much more about where we are as a guild, and if it takes me sitting back on the sidelines, playing a non-favorite role for a boss or two, or passing on loot, then that’s what I’ll do.

I’m in a progression-oriented guild because I like to be involved in a group that gets things done. I like being part of something bigger than myself. I like knowing that I play a role in what the guild is doing. Those things are rewarding to me; those things are fun to me.

In a conversation last night, one of our officers dropped the key word: teamwork.

Do your best, put in the effort, admit when you’re struggling, make a sacrifice for a fellow raider: play for the team.

• I play to raid.
• I have one main and many alts. 
• I spend most of my time and energy on my main.
• I don’t delete characters once they hit level 40.
• I like battlegrounds sometimes.
• I don’t do arenas.
• I do daily quests, heroics, scenarios, and LFR to get the best gear on my main character.
• I farm mats for flasks, potions, and food for raiding.
• I pet battle very, very casually.
• I like achievements, but I don’t spend a lot of focused energy getting them.

That’s World of Warcraft, that’s my game…

Except it’s also my husband’s game, my daughter’s game, my friend’s game, your game, his game, her game.

My friend doesn’t like to raid. He likes to PvP. He does battlegrounds and arenas. He thinks raiding is stupid and too easy.

My other friend spends hours just crafting. She has a max-level of every profession, but she never raids outside of LFR or does battlegrounds.

Heck, my daughter spends most of her time creating new goblin characters to level through the starting zone over and over.

And guess what?

THAT’S OKAY. 

I aim to do the very best I can in a raid. In my guild, we push our raiders to do the same.

At the end of the night (most of the time), I’ve had fun.

There’s a guild on the same server that is completely casual when it comes to raiding.

They go in with half-unenchanted gear. Sometimes they don’t know their class or switch to a different alt every week. More than half of the time, they don’t know the fight mechanics.

But at the end of night, they’ve had fun!

I would not join their guild. They would not enjoy mine. 

And THAT’S OKAY, too.

I know people who couldn’t care less about transmog, and I know some people who farm instances for months or drop thousands of gold to get gear. Same thing with pets. Same thing with mounts.

I wouldn’t spend thousands of gold on a transmog item. You’re lucky if I spend 100g! 

And that’s okay.

It’s not just my game. It’s not just your game. If the way someone plays their game doesn’t frequently affect the way you play your game, then why does it matter to you?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, a thousand times a thousand: 

Play and let play.

I only saw one link in the comments, so if you posted but didn’t link, let me know!

The challenge was to tell me what you like about gaming or your favorite game. For me, there are two things: raiding and community. I love killing bosses and I love hanging out with my guild and chatting with the Twitter community.

And I’m a moonkin. For heaven’s sake, I Starfall. I also tab fail and Moonfire things, but that’s a post for another day.

Thanks, Rakuno, for one last post:

Shards of Imagination – Rakuno breaks down each of the parts of the challenge, jumping into adventuring, exploring stories, and seeing old friends reunited under the banner of Tyria!

What’s Next

The truth is, I don’t entirely know. Life recently has gotten insanely busy (but it’s worth every bit of it, I promise). My non-family free time is limited, so I often choose to play WoW during that time.

Unfortunately, that leaves only a little time for posting blogs.

I will definitely not be shutting down the blog again. I love this space. This is my space. It’s my place to talk at length about the things I experience and observe in the games I love so much.  I just can’t promise consistency and long posts…of course, most of you figured that out a long time ago!

I hope someone will pick up the challenges and start doing them every month. You won’t regret it!

You can find more frequent posts on Twitter and the Tumblr I recently resurrected.

Happy hunting, my friends!

In November, I asked you guys to write me a song, but that must have been a little daunting! Double cool points to those who posted:

>> Sugar & Blood brought back an old post with a great parody song: “Wish I Could Be a Vykrul Girl” with the opening line “Well the Night Elf girls are hip / I really dig those gowns they wear…” I do look pretty good in a gown, I must say, but vykrul girls are pretty cool too.

>> Mommy Jenkins busted out some musical mayhem including the lyrics to a parody song she was working on: “Doncha Wish Your Raider Was Skilled Like Me?” featuring the line: “‘Cause you know your buddy stands in the fire / and makes you wanna scream (and not in the good way).” You know it!

>> Adventures of the Hex Machine got in on the action with a remake of “Killing Me Softly” centered around the very, very painful dots of a Shadow Priest. Ouch!

And, as I promised Toriah on her blog, here’s one of my old fake CD’s. This one was entitled “Another Night in Ulduar.”

December Challenge: Your Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things…

What are your favorite things about gaming in general, or about your favorite game specifically? What keeps you coming back? What makes you smile? When the bee stings and you’re feeling bad, what is about gaming that makes you smile?

That’s the challenge!

Bonus Challenge: Tell me something awesome that happened to you this year!

And an important note: This is probably my last monthly challenge. I’ve taken on a lot more lately, and I can’t necessarily stick to a posting schedule. It’s been one of the coolest things ever, though; and if anyone wants to pick this up and run with it, I encourage you to do so. You won’t regret it!

I’ve had my eye on these invitations since they first appeared on the BMAH, but they were far too rich for my blood with auctions ending upwards of 50k. However, as Madam Goya continued posting the auctions and more and more people got their hands on invitations, prices quickly came down. Last night I grabbed one at just under 10k. I didn’t think I’d win it, and at first I had a bit of buyer’s remorse. Would it be worth it?

The answer is unquestionably, unmistakably: yes.

I fought through Rank 1 last night and Rank 2 this morning, and it has been the most fun I’ve had in game outside of raiding in a long time. Quick introduction, in case you’ve never seen the Brawler’s Guild, and then I’ll tell you the reasons I love it.

What is the Brawler’s Guild, Exactly?

Walk through a small door in the Deeprun Tram (Alliance–not sure where you Horde folks go) and down a quick ramp, and you find yourself in a bar with a huge pit in the middle. Inside this pit, bosses spawn, and competitors take them on one-on-one. If it’s your first night in the guild, here’s how you get in on the action:

1. Talk to a Brawler Bouncer. They’ll have a chat option to join the fight.
2. Wait in a (for me) short queue. Watch other competitors from your realm and sometimes others while you wait.
3. When it’s almost your turn, you will get an ingame announcement proclaiming “You are next in line!” Get ready!
4. When the current fight ends, you will be ported down and take on the first Rank 1 boss. There are 4 bosses per rank.
5. Kill the boss or die trying! If you kill the boss, you get a Brawler’s Purse with some gold and a gray item worth some gold, as well. You then queue again to move onto the second boss. If you die, you can queue to try again until you get it.

The bosses get progressively harder and go from Rank 1 to Rank 8. There are boss mechanics and enrage timers, so you will need to be on your toes!

Why I Love It

The Challenge. Prior to this, my most favorite thing I’d done in-game was the staff quest from Firelands, in particular, the part I had to solo in the Nexus. After a raid, the second thing I love most is a solo challenge that really tests my skill. How well do I know my class? How good am I at handling mechanics when there’s no safety net? This is that kind of challenge, and it’s exciting!

The People. I might just be lucky, but the people I’ve run into so far in the Brawler’s Guild have all been incredible. I was scared the first fight, worried that someone would call me a noob or yell insults at me if I did something stupid, but that was directly the opposite of what actually happened. Instead, people cheered me on, buffed me, joined groups with me so we could buff each other, rezzed me, and whispered me to encourage me and give me tips. I hope this experience continues, because it has been extremely rewarding so far.

The Experience. The whole setup is just fun. It’s fast-paced, you can watch other competitors, you feel like you’re progressing through the levels, you’re testing your skill–it feels exactly like what they described: a Fight Club for adventurers looking to test their mettle.

That is why I love the Brawler’s Guild. If you can get an invite grab one and step into the pit. You won’t be sorry!

I’ll be posting the December Challenge later this week, by the way! 

From Hallow’s End transmogs to Mad King hijinks, there were some great costumes that came out of the October challenge. I’m just glad I finished the Mad King’s Clock Tower, everything else is meaningless now!

Take a look at these awesome costumes:

Sugar & Blood shows off a great Bewitched-inspired outfit–and some other pretty awesome ideas, too!

Bubbles of Mischief creates a spot-on movie-based Red Riding Hood. Picture perfect, to be sure.

Kamalia et alia presents a bunch of great Hallow’s End themed transmogs you might want to bookmark for next year.

ZazzyMogs creates a witchy transmog with a twist–and a comic to boot!

Harpy’s Nest introduces the smallest troll ever seen…

Image Heavy breaks out an impressive, hard-to-beat costume: gnome into giant bird is pretty impressive.

Shards of Imagination will be in the running for any costume contest with this awesome Charr doctor from Guild Wars 2.

I have to also show off a couple of little costume wearers who weren’t part of the challenge but who were representing  Azeroth on Halloween night:

Elunamakata designed a Chromie costume for her little girl that absolutely ROCKED:

Check out how she and Kurby did it here: The Making of Little Chromie.

My daughter begged to be a rogue…she wanted to be a goblin, but she settled for human this year:

Whoever–or whatever–you were for Halloween, I hope it was a safe and fun one!

November Challenge: Feeling Musical

The other day on Twitter, I complained–okay, I whined–that I was feeling grumpy. That’s when Marathal posted this Tweet…

…that led to this song:

If you’re grumpy and you know it, gank a gnome.
If you’re grumpy and you know it, gank a gnome.
If you’re grumpy and you know it,
and you’re really ’bout to blow it,
If you’re grumpy and you know it, gank a gnome.

If you’re wiping and you know it, blame the tank.
If you’re wiping and you know it, blame the tank.
If you’re wiping and you know it,
and you’re really ’bout to blow it,
If you’re wiping and you know it, blame the tank.

If you’re losing and you know it, go for kills.
If you’re losing and you know it, go for kills.
If you’re losing and you know it
and you’re really ’bout to blow it,
If you’re losing and you know it, go for kills.

The possibilities for additional verses are limitless. I’m sure I will have many opportunities to sing of epic stories to this tune.

This got me thinking–what other wandering minstrels (or at least semi-interested lyricists) do we have wandering around in our fantasy lands, not yet tapping into their talent?

Here is the challenge: Write the lyrics to a song (and/or the music if that’s your thing) about your game. It can be silly, fun, sweet, angry, a little naughty, a little nice–whatever you want to write about, write me a song about the game or games you play. 

I can’t wait to see what you guys write!

So far, I dig it. I was never overwhelmed and blown away, but it’s like the whole expansion sneaked up behind me and surprised me with little bits of awesome. I’m enjoying the expansion as much as any other at this point, and that’s saying something, since MoP had me concerned from the get go.

Here’s a few thoughts from my experiences so far; how have yours differed? What’s going on so far with you, or what’s demanding your attention?

About Those Dailies…

I like dailies. I really, actually do. They’re a great way for me to get things accomplished without being chained to my computer for 30+ minutes at a time. I can stop in the middle, go hang out with my kids, answer the phone, chat with a friend, and when I come back, I’m right where I left off.

I will say that unlocking Shado-Pan and August Celestials made my head spin a little. Shado-Pan is probably my least favorite group of dailies, mostly because my Pandaren companion hasn’t learned to Shadowmeld and Swift Flight. We’re working on it, though.

Healer Rehab

In order to raid, my guild needed more healers. I’ve certainly healed here and there along the way for particular fights, but I haven’t been a dedicated healer since Burning Crusade. However, the biggest problem I’m having is one that I’m sure a lot of healers have had this expansion: healing as if the way we use mana hasn’t changed.

Even though I know exactly what I should be doing, I end up falling into old habits when the damage starts getting high, and pretty soon I’m watching the Innervate cooldown. I’m going to have to keep working on making new habits.

The good news is, I actually enjoy healing again (SHH, don’t tell anyone). It’s been long enough that it doesn’t feel like the same old, same old way it used to feel.

Plus, I’m a tree again. That alone is enough to make it worth it.

Guilds & Priorities

Right before and right after an expansion hits, it’s not unusual for a guild to go through some growing pains. Some people move out, other people move in. This time, though; it was a big deal for me. Several people I’ve raided with for years were unsatisfied with 25-mans and decided to leave to join a 10-man guild. It’s better that they did this in the long run than be unhappy, but I find that I miss them quite a bit.

It’s led me to think about what my priorities really are when it comes to raiding. Do I still care as much about 25-man content as I thought I did? I don’t know right now. Do I need the “epic” of 25-mans (bigger raids have always felt more epic to me; I know not everyone agrees) or could I be satisfied with a 10-man?

With that group went some of the people I consider my closest in-game friends, and perhaps just as importantly, the ones that took me seriously as a player and to whom my opinions mattered. I’ve discovered that particular aspect is more important to me than I realized. I’m interested to see what happens in the next month or so as we progress, and how I ultimately decide my priorities. Right now, it’s still unclear.

Raiding is still fun; that much hasn’t changed, at least!

September Wrap-Up: Caught Being Good

We didn’t have a lot of response to the September Challenge; I’m hoping that’s because of the MoP release and not because there are just so few people caught being good. Here are the ones we did have, though; I found them very encouraging! I’ll add my own story, as well; I just had my own Caught Being Good experience a couple of days ago.

That Was An Accident! – After some encounters that left Mechalis feeling a little gunshy, there was a friendly–if very odd–mage that came along and managed to brighten the day.

Shards of Imagination – Rakuno shares an encounter in Lineage 2 that will stick with me for a while–when you play with people, sometimes it can’t be just a game. It is personal to me. 

The Daily Frostwolf – Navi busts out the super warm fuzzies with a shoutout to a bunch of the people who have made her happy for one reason or another along the way. I love it!

Pained from Dark Democracy Rocks, Period

My own Caught Being Good story happened a few days ago as I was doing Golden Lotus dailies in the Vale. I added NPCScan just out of curiosity a week ago, and it alerted me (it is completely unmistakable and will give you a heart attack if you aren’t expecting it) that there was a rare below me. I went and found him, a Pandaren in a cave with over 4 million health.

I pulled him and promptly died because I forgot about the spell Pandaren cast at range (Chi Burst, hurts for a lot). I managed to rush back before anyone else showed up and try again. I got started, and about that time I saw a horde shadow priest named Pained show up. I died by not running quickly enough out of crane kick. I knew when I got back that the priest would likely be killing it. I’d help, because I just think it’s a nice thing to do, but I was a little disappointed that I had let it slip away.

When I got back to my body, I was surprised to see the rare still sitting there in his cave. Pained stood outside, looking at him. I rezzed, healed up, and waited for a moment for the priest to pull, but it never came. So, cautiously, I approached the cave, realizing that I would have to pull him out into the open with a LoS this time.

Sure enough, I did that, and it worked. And then, to my surprise, I realized I no longer had aggro–Pained had the rare. In fact, Pained helped me through the entire fight, interrupting when my interrupts were down, ping ponging the aggro, and being repeatedly chased by Spinning Crane Kick until it was dead. When the encounter was over, Pained /bowed, mounted, and flew away–but not before I could get off a /hug.

I’m extremely appreciative, and even though my guild proceeded to call us Care Bears, well; I am A-Okay with that. These are the people and the moments I remember. Pained will always get a /salute or a /hug from me; this is the kind of people I want to share my server with, Care Bears or not.

Thank you, Pained, for being awesome.

October Challenge: Your Character’s Costume

This one’s easy (especially since I’m giving it to you with only a couple of weeks to go!): Halloween is right around the corner! Many games  have in-game events for the holiday, but rarely do we get the chance to fully dress up in costume.

The challenge is this: If your character were going Trick or Treating in Azeroth, Tyria, or wherever they call home, what would their costume be? Tell me all about the what and the why, and if you can find a picture of it or something similar, please post that with it–I’d love to see!

Unfortunately, for reasons beyond my control, I’m not able to get Mists of Pandaria on release. However, thanks to the very considerate intervention of some pretty awesome people, I’ll be getting it only a week late instead of having to wait until November.

For this reason, though, I’m going to be bowing out of Twitter and blogging for the week. The excitement level is going to be high (and understandably so!), and I think it might be a little too much for me until I get my own copy.

I’ll see you guys in a couple of weeks!

Oh yeah, and while you’re waiting for MoP to pop up on your screen, go tell me about someone you caught being good!

I like to make made-up albums for my guild with song titles specific to our raid and members. I’ll show you the cover of the “album” from which this song comes, but the songs themselves are guild-related and will stay on our forums.

However, “Let Me Make a Macro” has been stewing in my head for a few months. Our raid leader/GM Boomslang says this phrase at least once every new fight. I felt like it needed to be written, so I wrote it. And that’s what vlog numero dos is: “Let Me Make a Macro.”

If it gets someone to smile tonight, I’m good with that.

Sorry for the poor quality. I need a spotlight or something!