A Word of Advice... "Choosing a Guild"

This is a subject that has been near and dear to Xan for a long time. And it is something that I think everyone who has played the game may have an issue with or they might not quite understand the dynamic involved with choosing your guild.

A little history:

Xan started off as an alt of mine. So lets go back to my original toon, Nkaala. This poor girl hasn't seen playtime since 3.1 I think. Well The first guild I was a part of was Addiction. This was Bela's guild that she was a part of with her (now ex) husband and his WoW friends. This was a great guild and I basically joined because I didn't know the reason for guilds other than the social aspect. This guild was far superior to me and were running "end game" content while I was still in Darnassus. When Nkaala grew up, BC had been out for a while and Karazhan was the big issue. I was taught by a few members of the guild how to be a feral off-tank and I thank them for their efforts. But when Wrath came out they were off and running and I wasn't able to keep up with their speed. So I packed my bags and left the guild.

Xan bounced around like a vagabond with Kilzar. We even created our own guild which flourished for a while, but GM responsibilities made the game a chore. That guild dissolved and we continued to look.

Eventually we came back to Addiction hoping we had leveled and progressed enough to be a member and contribute as well as getting the support of the guild. Unfortunately they had progressed and were raiding again and focused on that rather than the heroics. Sadly we parted ways again.

Kilz and I decided to take a rest and try the horde with the Epic Dolls guild. FINALLY, a social guild! Heck, they even had "guild welcome wagoners" who gave you bags if you needed them as well as help if you needed it. My tauren hunter, Chilie, found a home for a while.

Kilz wanted to get back to his main and he left the server. I stayed and continued to level my hunter. Kilz searched for guilds and found one that he thought was progressing as he was. After a lot of ncouragement her got Xan out of retirement. Although I am still grateful to the Epic Dolls guild for their love and support. In fact, the guild leader Lealah got me thinking about podcasting and I thank her for allowing me (Chilie) into sampling podcasting on the Epic Dolls Guild Update podcast.

So Kilz and I were in a great guild as you all know from reading past blog posts. Until the GM of the guild was hacked. Unfortunately the guild was abandoned... well everyone was booted from the guild and the bank was wiped out. The guild never seemed to recover.

So again, as vagabonds, we searched for a guild. And we found former friends of Xan's who made a huge impression on him and we solicited our services to the guild.

I am currently a member of the guild known as with former members of Apocalypse. You remember them from my post "How do you do Instances?" Well they have reformed a smaller guild focused more on Heroics than Raids. The guild is known as All the Way to Uranus. They are small, but I would have to say.... VERY mighty! And I am happy with finally finding a guild with the same goals as ol' Xan.

How do you do Instances?

I had a great experience this weekend and I wanted to share it with all of you. It was actually mentioned in the Bind on Equip Episode 24 by the lovely Tempeste. "If a spot comes open in a group and someone asks if you can join, instead of ignoring the request and if you want to go... offer. Let the leader know you may be undergeared and let them make the call."

I am honestly working hard to be a better tank as well as trying out the duel-spec option with a Ret talent spec. I leveled Xan as a Prot pally from level one I had that goal in mind. I worked hard on him but didn't understand the basics of what was needed as a tank. But in time and through a lot of questions asked I slowly began to learn the ropes. But stubbornly I refused to study the websites and such. So it was still an uphill battle.

Now with the help of podcasts and my own research I am slowly working towards being the tank that I want to be.

Now to the point of my story:

On EARLY Saturday morning May 9th I was doing my dailies and I picked up the daily dungeon quests. The heroic and the regular daily dungeon quests were both in Halls of Lightning. I KNEW that I didn't have the defense to live through a heroic run, so I put my name down on the LFG for a regular run.

I was contacted by members of the Trollbane guild known as All the Way to Uranus (Formerly of Apocalypse) They were looking for a tank on Heroic. I informed the person asking that I may be a little undergeared with a defense of about 520. They encouraged me to join them and said that their healer and their DPS was epic and that if I could hold them with the defense potions they gave me we would be fine.

I COULDN'T BELEIVE IT! A HEROIC INSTANCE RUN! I was all game!

We actually did very well. I accidentally pulled a couple times and ended up wiping. I apologized to the group and they just cheered me on, let me know some of the pulls were not my fault etc...

After an hour or so we cleared Heroic Halls of Lightning and not only that I was given the opportunity to get all the Achievements in HHoL as well.


Now THAT is the way a PUG is supposed to go. Thanks again to the members of All the Way to Uranus : Kratos, Mooniez, Pascha, & Ferris.