For Mikata; And On Another Note

I hear somethin’ sayin’

(Hooh! aah!) (hooh! aah!)
(Hooh! aah!) (hooh! aah!)

(Well, don’t you know)
That’s the sound of the shaman working on the chain he-e-al
That’s the sound of the shaman working on the chain heal

All day long we’re singin’
(Hooh! aah!) (hooh! aah!)
(Hooh! aah!) (hooh! aah!)

(Well, don’t you know)
That’s the sound of the shaman working on the chain he-e-al
That’s the sound of the shaman working on the chain heal

All raid long I work so hard
Sniping heals from our resto druid
Healing tanks, the healers, and the DPS
Smiling ‘cuz it is what it is
You hear her moanin’ ’bout the total heals
Then you hear somebody sa-ay

That’s the sound of the shaman working on the chain he-e-al
That’s the sound of the shaman working on the chain heal

Can’t ya hear them singin’
Mm, I’m goin’ see one of these days
I’m goin’ see geared tanks and deeps
Healing Wave, love so dear
But meanwhile spam Chain Heal right he-ere

(Well, don’t you know)
That’s the sound of the shaman working on the chain he-e-al
That’s the sound of the shaman working on the chain heal

All day long they’re singin’, mm
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my work is so hard
Mage gimme water, I’m thirsty
My mana’s run dry

On Another Note

Apparently I was even more clueless than I originally thought. Tensions behind the scenes were evidently higher than the average guildie like me could see. Either that or years of tuning out kids has taught me how to ignore others.

I still don’t know all the details, nor do I ultimately care, but since I like trying to turn things into lessons learned, here’s my take on it.

Guild Go Boom?

Ever since leaving Icestorm and shedding the mantle of being an officer, I stopped looking at the Guild Log. People come and go and I’m not responsible so I don’t worry about it. As an officer you obviously do since you have to be aware of any potential adjustments that will need to be made. As such, I was surprised to get a whisper from Mach asking if I’d been around when the latest batch of people /gquit. I wasn’t.

Apparently a few more officers and members have quit the guild and over a simple post in the Officer forums. As you’ve read on our blogs, we’ve had some trouble this summer running 25 man raids. It’s been stressful to officers like Mach, Amber, and Atropus who have had to pick up the slack. Some changes needed to be made and Mach posted some ideas.

Here’s the lesson. Whenever anything happens to upset or shock you, stop whatever you’re doing. Right now. Stop! Seriously!!! Take a deep breath. Think why did this happen or what is the cause. Instantly realize that you’re probably wrong. Approach those involved and calmly ask the why. LISTEN to the why. FYI, listening means shut your piehole! Respond AFTER listening. Respond calmly and even if you don’t agree with the other parties involved, at least be open to the idea that their point of view still matters.

Take what I’m saying about our situation with a grain of salt. I’m not privy to everything. From what I can tell it appears we had several people do exactly the opposite of the lesson above. They apparently read or heard about Mach’s proposed ideas and rather than discussing it with him decided to /gquit.

Mach called for as many people to be in vent that could be as there weren’t a lot of us online. He asked us to be honest about what our intentions were since he wanted to plan for the future. Zoja and Amber were informed they didn’t have a choice. As for the rest of us, we spoke up that we weren’t going anywhere. Although I’m a raider and a 25-man raider to boot (10s are OK, but 25s are what I like) I’m not going anywhere even if we can’t pull a 10-man raid together, which I don’t think will be a problem. 25s will have to be backburnered until we can pick up the pieces and recruit again.

Guilds Go Boom, But They Don’t Have To Die

This isn’t the first time the guild has had trouble apparently and I doubt it will be the last. Guilds live in cycles because people change and interests change. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just a part of the game that everyone has to learn to accept. It’s too bad that some friendships have been strained, but some of these guys are real life friends so I’m sure when the embers die down and the smoke blows over, some will come back and others will just remain friends.

Brotherhood of Oblivion still has a strong, solid core. It’ll take a little time to recover, but once the officers solidify where the new direction is headed we’ll recover quickly. So here’s my shameful recruiting plug. If you’re interested visit the website or go bug the hell out of Amber since she’s the recruiting officer. We’re currently raiding Mon/Wed at 7pm server (Central Time) and usually an off-raid/non-progression raid on Thurs again at 7pm.

We attempted to get input from members on adjusting those raid days, but had trouble getting responses so I’m sure we’re open to other nights, although apparently some of these guys aren’t “old” and think social lives on the weekends are important. Weirdos.

*Oh and for those who are concerned about PvP servers, take it from someone who isn’t a fan of PvP. It actually isn’t that bad. Most Horde gank you once and move on. It’s annoying as hell, but you can learn to get over it. I finished leveling a priest, shaman, and DK on this server without too many problems. If I had my preference, sure I’d be on a PvE server, but these guys are pretty cool and make it worth it.