Helper Zwingli!

I want a new title. I want:

Now, the title I’m wearing “Farmer Zwingli” is highly appropriate.  I can honestly say that I spend most of my time farming up veggies, hunting up the meat, and making the Pandaren Treasure Noodle Carts.

Now, for those interested, there are purely mercenary reasons for doing this. The Frostwolves use an ELP…EKG…DLP…Some sort of thingy that allows raiders to gain points. Based upon their number of points they have access to special items AND they can use spend these point on LOOTZ!!!  One of the way you gain these points is by getting raid materials together, and the aforementioned carts are one of those items that we can turn in to gain points.

There’s only one problem…

I’m not a raider!

I’m sitting here with the most point of any person in the guild, and I’M NEVER GOING TO TURN THEM IN!!!

“What a waste of time,” you may say.

I think not.

You see, here’s the thing.  We all play for our own particular reasons.  Some play to raid. Some play to rp. Some play to socialize in /gchat.

I would guess that there are as many reasons to play WoW as there are players.

For me, it’s all about helping.

I’m not saying I’m being altruistic. It doesn’t mean that other’s aren’t helping.  It means that this is the way that I’ve found that I can add the greatest value to the guild that I can.  While I’m a solo player, I really want to be a help to my guild.

What do I get out of it?  I’m glad you asked.  I get my strokes from it.

1) It feels good.  Please understand, this is a pretty nice reward in and of itself. I feel like I’m adding something positive.

2) I get a kick out of Navi mentioning it in vent. I’ve asked about giving my points to other raiders, but she put the ka-bosh down on that idea quickly.

3)  It gives me a reason to log in, even if it is just for a few minutes to harvest my crops.

And, 4) if by some random chance RNGesus allows me to raid, get a normal Garrosh kill, and that beautiful BOA Bow drops (heck, I’d be happy with the Flex version)…I’m sooooooo spending all of my points on it!

Again, I think we all have our reasons why we play. For me, I want to help out my guildies as best as I can, given the play time I have.

What about you?  Why do you play?

Z

P.s. Please send your prayers and kind thoughts my way. It’s only a month before I report to COT for my 5 week introduction *cough* to USAF life as a Chaplain.  I’m giving my 4 weeks notice at my job (yes that’s a thing), selling our house, trying to get into better shape (10min mile, here I come!) Things are winding down here at an atomic pace.  This will be the first time I’ve been separated from my family for any length of time. I just want everything to go as smoothly as possible.

Thanks…

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Thankful for Folks

I know I’m late to the party on this one.  It’s my superhero power!

I wanted to take a few moments and be thankful. I seem to remember it going around the interwebs during Thanksgiving.

I’m thankful for my online WoW friends.

This isn’t an exhaustive list, just some of the people I’m thinking of this morning.

I’m thankful for McTacky, Xyn, Aza, Navimie and Askevar.

These are all people that have taken time to interact with me in the game, making me feel welcomed and valued.

I’m blessed to interact with McTacky, Xyn and Aza via vent most mornings. For some reason, they are the late night Ausies of the guild! Xyn was kind enough to take me on his Warbringer kills. McTacky is always willing to help out in any way he can, and is the guy to go to for random conversation!  Aza saved my tushy with his warlock, when I needed some help with a group quest.  He’s always willing to lend a hand.

You know, that kind of describes the whole late night crew of the Frostwolves: Always Willing to Help.

Of course, Navimie is our tyrannical wonderful guild leader. She’s been awesome.

All three of these guildies have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome in the Frostwolves.  My play time is diametrically opposed to almost everyone elses, but they are more than willing to hang out (and not make fun of my TX accent!).

I also mentioned Askevar. She’s another of Navimie’s Lost Blogger Initiative™ reclamations.

You know that one don’t you?  It is when WoW Bloggers end up rolling alts in the Frostwolves. If they aren’t careful, they may end up abandoning their mains, and drinking the oceanic/horde cool-aide.

*cough* Not that I would know anything about that. *cough*

Anywho, Askevar is another of my WoW friends that is always willing to chit-chat. Not only that, but she let me in on an old content raid!

I only wiped the raid once. 😉

She even said that my Alliance toon could join her current guild as a social member! 😀

I just wanted to say “Thank You” for allowing me into your virtual lives. It’s been a lot of fun, and I look forward to what WoD brings!

Z

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Alone in a Crowded Space

I’ve recently rolled an alt and joined a mega guild.

I made application. A couple of weeks later, I was tossed an invite by an officer and joined one of the co-guilds.

The first thing I noticed was the maxed out list of guildies on line.  That was amazing.  To know that I was linked by Greenwall to a possible 6000 other unique players was unimaginable.

The next thing I noticed was the eerie silence in guild chat.  I hopped around for 30 minutes or so. Ran an instance.  Then, I logged and went to one of my main alts.

That was my first week of life in the mega guild.  I would log on, usually mid morning, see a full guild of people, but hardly any conversation was going on.  For the first week, I hardly saw any green text at all.

I decided that my problem was that I wasn’t interacting with what was going on.

That changed with the second week.

First, I got on later in the evening instead of mid-morning.  That seemed to make a difference.  I saw more green text.

Secondly, I started interacting.  I tossed out the “hi, welcome, and grats” very liberally.  When someone said “ty,” I replied with a “yw.”

Finally, someone made a comment about rolling a Gnome Deathknight, and asked for possible names.

I had to toss out Gnomeageddon, in salute to one of my favorite gnome players!

That started a Gnome Gname-a-thone that lasted for a good 30 minutes.

It was glorious.

I’ve now been a part for around 4 weeks or so.  I’ve asked if any there were any low levels that wanted to run instances with a guildie. So far, no takers.  I made a request for an enchant (I got the mats), which was quickly responded to.  Also, there was at least once where a high level tailor was handing out netherweave bags.  Of course, I took three!

So far, I have to give my experience as an interactive member of a mega-guild the grade of B+.

I’m not rating the guild as a B+ guild. No, I’m sure it’s an A+ guild.  I’m rating my experience as an interactive member.  My experience is based upon my own willingness to interact and be a part.  My rating is more of a reflection upon my role as a guildie.

I also still play my new Oceanic Horde Alt Main most mornings for a while.  The guild is starting to wind down about the time I log on.  They are finishing a raid, and it’s 12:00 am their time.  Of course, I get on Vent and sing them a song of encouragement.

There have been some *cough* strong reactions to my singing. 🙂

I’ve been able to run isntances on my lowbie tankadin with members. (Tacky, where have you been?!)

I’ve most recently ran a rated BG with a group of guildies (and we won!). That was so much fun!

I’m rating my experience as a guildie as a solid A. 

I’ve interacted more with the group. I’ve opened up to the group. I’ve made a full of myself with the group.

I’ve been a better guild member.

I’ve come to this conclusion.

The relative size of your guild doesn’t matter when it comes to your personal happiness.

What matters is your willingness to interact with your guild-mates.

How would your rate your experience with being a guild member?

Z

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A Social Game

I think that Cynwise said it best.  He described WoW as a game, under-girded by a social platform.  Ok, that wasn’t exactly it, but pretty close.

While people can play WoW as a solo gamer, I believe that something is missed in solo play.

Don’t get me wrong, I leveled solo with my first character, all the way to 60 (Vanilla WoW).  I didn’t get into group play until the Burning Crusade expansion.

Instancing and Raiding isn’t the full extent of the Social aspect of the game.  We can’t forget guilds, pvp teams, and many other social aspects (some character generated) of the game.

These things add a depth to the game, that solo players don’t experience.

I saw a dusty track in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms the other day.  I knew that meant Portent was up!  I already have the purple/blue and red version of this wonderful pet.

So, I track him down, mark him; and it was one I already have.

What do I do?  I immediately get on guild chat, to see if any lvl 90 hunters are on.

Turns out, one was alting around; and he was able to get on his lvl 90, get to the Vale, and tame Potent!

His taming of the pet was just as satisfying for me, as me taming the pet!

I helped a guildie; and that was a wonderfully satisfying experience.

Grats Ivanho!

WoW is experience better, together.

Z

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What if…

…there was another RP guild? 

There are lots of RP guilds out there.

I know, I’ve been a member of a few of them.

RP/PvP guilds, Race Specific guilds, Heavy/Medium/Light RP guilds. There is a Plethora, no a Cornucopia of RP guilds out there!

Why in the heck does the WoW server-verse need another RP guild?

Well…that’s a good question.

Truth be told, it doesn’t “need” anything.  It’s a game. There isn’t shortage of anything in WoW.

…except Hunters. We always need MOAR HUNTERS!

*cough*

Anyway, what if there was another RP guild?

Any suggestions on Realms, Faction and Theme(s)?

Z

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Confessions of an RP Snob

I’m an RP snob.

I know it. I admit it.

Somewhere I heard that confession was the beginning of healing.

Anyway, I know, that I know, that I know I’m an RP snob. (Woohoo; horrid comma use!)

Since I’m such a snob, and I know I’m such a snob, I tend to not RP.

See? Make sense?

Part of what makes me angry, in regards to my previous post, has to do with my RP snobbery.

The person bad-mouthing the GM, did so in regards to the GM’s RP.

The “bad-mouther” had asked about a back story of an alt of the GM. Supposedly, the GM gave him the back story; but it was “filled with misspelled words.”

I’m thinking typos, but what do I know.

The new member, aka “bad-mouther” told him he wasn’t any good at RP, and walked away from him.

The GM then “punished” him for his bad manners by making him a “squire” of another member. One that supposedly the “bad-mouther” got along with.

So, the “bad-mouther” was calling the GM a “douche-bag” in guild chat. Explaining how the GM was a bad RPer, and how his punishment was ineffective since he liked the person he was “squired” to.

Yes, I wholeheartedly dislike disunity. I feel this person was bringing disruption into the group. I believe that this person was acting cowardly by attacking the GM when he wasn’t online.

However…

Most of all…

I felt this guy was a complete and total idiot because of his name…

The person who is on an RP server, complaining about the RP of another person, has the name of:

“Pwnful”

How ironic.

Z

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Bad-Mouthing the GM

I have alts.

I have alts in guilds.

I have alts in guilds, where they don’t know that I’m a blogger.

To be honest, I prefer that it never come up.

I’m in one guild where everyone knows who I am in real life.

I’m in another guild where I am identified as “the zwingli of zwingli’s blog.” (totally not kidding)

In the midst of all this guilding, I’ve come upon a conundrum.

Z’s Conundrum Face

Yesterday I was alting on my alt, and heard a relatively new(ish) person to the guild start bashing on the GM.

I was like, “really?!”

Yeah, really.

We were all chatting it up in /g, but when the bashing started it got soooo quiet.

Next, the person had to log…and then people (7 were on at the time) began to log off as well.

I went on running some Tuskarr dailies/quests; and put it out of my mind. But now, it is back bumping around in my cerebral cortex.

I exited from the conversation. As soon as the individual said their negative statement about the GM, I quit participating in it.

I’m afraid that my lack of participation (not overtly defending the GM) may have added my tacit approval of the person’s bashing.

Truth be told, I’ve not ran around with any of the members in group; and haven’t really held long conversations with many of them at all. So, I don’t know if the GM had been the kind of unkind person he was being made out to be. I’ve not been in the guild for that long, nor I have done much meaningful interaction outside of guild chat.

My default stance is to give people the benefit of the doubt.

If I have a problem with the GM, I would bring it up with the GM and Officers. If nothing came of it, then I would leave the guild. But, I wouldn’t start airing my grievances in guild chat.

So what should I have done/said? 

I did take a screen shot of the person’s comments about the GM. I’m thinking about emailing it somewhere, or opening up a ghost blog where I can post it for the GM’s perusal.

One thing I don’t like is someone bringing disunity into a group.

That makes my nelf/blef ears tingle; and pisses off my combat pet! /srsnod

Z’s Angry Face

Ok,

Z out!

 

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b/c I <3 U

I’ve been in a little bit of limbo lately. Not only due to my lack of time to play (unlike I used to during Wrath); but because of some current developments.

b/c i stole it from wow insider...

Let me give you a little back ground.

I started knowing nothing about everything in WoW. I especially had no clue about guilds. Well, I ended up making a couple of friends early on. One of them made a simple request, could I fish up as many stonescale eel as possible; and send them to him. He helped me before. I was fishing where there was bunches of them. So, sure!

Little did I know I was providing a raiding mat for some sort of potion in Vanilla WoW. He was part of a druid only guild called <Feral Claw>. I (aka. Zwingli-1) was their first non-druid member.

We had a blast! But as time and attrition takes it’s toll, the guild finally went the way of the dinosaur. I was there the day that the guild, in that particular form, died.*

I wandered the nethers for a while. Made an alt here, then another alt there. Finally, one of the people from the original guild saw me in Shatt. She saw I was unguilded, and invited me into their 25 man raiding guild as a social member. They were the only reason that Zwingli-1 has any BC raiding achievements.

Well, that guild ended up transferring servers, and there was no way I was going to pay for something like that.

Ok, *cough* there was no way my wife was going to let me pay for something like that.

So, I then found out some RPers I knew and loved had transferred to Moon Guard, so I went ahead and rolled an alt there (aka. Zwingli-2). It was fun, and the first time I had ever seriously RPed in WoW. However, in being a heavy RPer, I knew that my character wouldn’t have been a part of that group to begin with. You see, I really am a heavy RPer at heart, and I just couldn’t leave Z-2 there. So, out of the guild I went, and I was roaming/alting in the nethers once again.

I went to the midnight release of Wrath, and found a RL college buddy standing in line. I went ahead and transferred Z-2 to his server (Sentinels), and joined his guild (always easier to ask forgiveness than permission-FYI). We had a blast! We ended up joining with another guild (<Phoenix Rising>) for raiding, and I got to see almost all for the Wrath content.

But, then the expansion ended. I got burned out. Rift took away some core people, and Real Life took a crap on some other people. I didn’t play WoW for a month or so.

Then I heard about this guild of bloggers. They went by “Effers,” but I knew that wasn’t the name. I knew that one blogger I followed was a member, so I checked them out. I rolled an alt, asked to join, and they actually let me in!

Even though they were a 10 man raiding guild, there was no pressure on me to raid. I loved it! I could do dailies and fish to my heart’s content. I got to know some great people!

But then, SWTOR came along, and some of the core went the Way of the Force.

As with all change, there was some fallout. When people change, the guild changes. I ended up loosing gaming time with at least a few people that I really enjoyed talking to in /gchat.

Yes, we can still talk on twitter. But, it just seems that logging onto that particular server is “less fun” without their Constant, Reassuring, Encouraging, Silly, ShredYurNelfEars banter.

All that to say, you’re all missed missed.

Z

__________________

*someone later made a guild of the same name, but no relation to previous guild.

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The Eff the Ineffable Song

In honor of Alas’ Blogging Anniversary, I had the opportunity to write a song.

Just to warn you: this was me and my guitar, all recorded on my iPad.  But, it is for Alas and AT, and the rest of the Effers.

❤ you guys!

Eff the Ineffable Song by Zwingli*

Lyrics~

The Unexplainable
The Inexpressible
The Ineffable
Eff the Ineffable

v.1
There was once a heroine
A defender of others
Flames from her fingertips
Named Alastroina

v.2
He was her shield
Her avenging wrath
Her guardian
Her Ataraxaven

v.3
They traveled our war torn world
Gathering comrades in their train
Bringing righteous fury
They were the Epitome of the Eff (the Ineffable)

________________________________________________

*I make no claims of talent, musician ship, or knowing the Eff about what I’m doing.  She threatened to eat all of my Hunter Kitty Pets if I didn’t post this!  I LOVE MY KITTIES!!!!!  /sob
j/k…  >.>

I ❤ You Alas!

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The Cost is Community

Remembering those Left Behind

Falling Leaves and Wings  is one of the WoW blogs that I follow on my eReader.  I especially like her transparency in dealing with the hard issues as a raid leader. Her candidness is a welcome relief in my RL world of  happy masks.

She has recently posted a gut wrenching (to me) post. You can find it here:  At What Cost?

In it she shares both her satisfaction and frustration at attaining a “Server First” with their kill of Sinestra. They were the first ones to get all three boss kills on their server.

Congratulations!

This isn’t just a post on the satisfaction, it is a post about the cost of it. The emotional cost, the mental anxiety that came along with the achievement. The post ends speaking about changes in the guild that naturally seem to come.  To me, it is about relationships gone by.

This is where my point is, if I actually have one.

It is about relationships. 

(From this point on, I’m not speaking about Beruthiel’s guild. Instead, I’m talking about my general opinion of WoW related group goals and the potential cost. Her post is simply the inspiration. She has kicked some major digital and interpersonal butt, and needs no one’s critique. )

Yes, we can do something. We can set a game related goal that requires a group to fulfill it. Guilds are made for this! Progression is such a goal, PvP has some aspect of this (Arena and Pre-made BGs). I’ve even been a part of an RP/PvP guild that had stated goals which could only be met through group participation.

When the point becomes the goal, we have the very real possibility of sacrificing persons for the goal.

I believe that the real strength of WoW (and any other MMO) is found in the community. I don’t just desire to attain a group based title, to complete a particular raid event, I want to do them with a particular group of people.

The people, the group, the friends bring the greatest sense of satisfaction at the end. How later on, maybe even years later, we can look back and talk about the time when we took down so-and-so. It becomes bitter sweet when we look back and find that we are alone in our memories, for no one else around us shared in the experience.

I’m not sure about you, but our guild has taken a hit with this release. Some have gone on to LotR, some to Rift, and some are just taking a break of an unknown length of time. But, the people we’ve accomplished things with aren’t online for us to goof off with. This is the bitter moment of being an MMO player. For good or ill, the player base changes. In the end, this is a game, and therefore has a different place of priority in the life of each player.

So, what do we do?

I suggest that we each love those around us (even in the virtual realm of WoW) with great immediacy. Perhaps “love” is to strong a word. Instead, maybe you can appreciate those around you with intentional immediacy. Talk with them. /emote a “high five” to them just because. Give words of encouragement, random acts of kindness, or maybe just a /pat.  Bypass the asshats, not giving them another thought, and /hug your nearest guildie. For too soon, they may be gone.

Zwingli

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