The writing on the wall…
Its been coming for awhile now, but I am currently unguilded. I made some good friends in Exodus but unfortunately, I also made a few enemies among my fellow officers.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, although in this particular case, she wasn’t exactly scorned. Not sure why she got so pissed at me. We were doing a run through Utgarde Pinnacle and they wanted to do the gauntlet achievement. Fine with me. I’d done it more than a half dozen times. So the tank asks me to explain what we were going to do. I told them. She decided to do her own thing and not listen. We end up wiping, a few times at that. So how is it my fault? Dunno, go figure. Since then, she’s taken every opportunity she can to make snide comments to me in ochat, getting others riled up at me, etc.
Then a couple of days ago, there was an incident with another officer. He was putting together a group to do the 10-man pvp boss. Asked for people in gchat who wanted to go. Lots responded. He cherry-picked the ones he wanted and blew off the others, telling them to wait, he wasn’t doing invites yet, although he already had. Then started trashing one of them in ochat for being upset that he was snubbed. So I called him out on it and told him that was rude and inconsiderate and you don’t treat people that way. He admitted he blew people off but just shrugged it off, then he jumped on me, she jumped on me, and a couple of others joined in for good measure. Then there was a minor incident two nights ago when I questioned something and got slapped down by them all.
Oh, did I mention that they’re all a happy little group of officers that don’t welcome outsiders, cut up most of the other members (and other officers when those officers aren’t present) in ochat and only do things with their own little group, screw the rest of the guild?
So yesterday without warning, the GL whispers me and tells me that he’s demoting me. Whatever. At this point, I really don’t care. However, when I attempted to defend myself and said it was really nice and considerate of him to discuss issues with me rather than discussing me behind my back with the others in his little group (I was being sarcastic, he never said a word prior to this), he told me to either quit or he’d kick me. So I quit. You see, if I had just shut up and accepted my punishment, all would have been well. But I had the nerve to speak up for my self and not go with the flow, so I had to be silenced immediately.
Meh. Since Fataleyes stepped down as GL and quit the game due to health reasons, the guild has been going to hell in a handbasket. Its really sad when another officer (not one of the special people either apparently) tells me that he has to pug 5-mans because he can’t get into any guild groups. That kinda speaks volumes, eh? Sadly, the peons of the guild are left to either beg for people in gchat to run stuff or pug because the special people have sent whispered invites to each other. Everyone else sees it and knows what is going on, yet the special people will deny to their last breath that there’s any favoritism or cliques at all. Sheah, right. Can’t say I blame anyone else for not speaking up about what’s going on and the decline of the guild. The vindictive retaliation would only have them booted from the guild for voicing an opinion contrary to the chosen few.
This is not the guild I originally joined. This is not the guild it was under Fataleyes. Regretfully, that guild is dead and gone. They make fun of him now in ochat but he was a good guild leader, one of the best I’ve known. He cared about everyone in the guild, not just his cronies. He treated everyone respectfully. He was the first to admit when he fucked up and he encouraged us all to be the best we could be. The guild at present could learn a few lessons from him, if only they weren’t so caught up in their own righteousness to see what others see. He had a hunger to be the #1 guild on the server, and he passed that hunger on to us. Now, they’re content to be third best, not really wanting to push themselves and each other, not wanting to strive to be better, content to be less than they could be and readily give up when the going gets tough.
All but one. The RL who, sad to say, is fighting a losing battle. I wish you well, my friend. You are the only sane, emotionally-stable, non-vindictive person in the special group.
December 9, 2008 at 8:19 am
Another female dwarf hunter! I thought I was the only one!
I’m in a very similar guild as the one you described. With over 500 members, you lose track of everything. There are definite favorites, and if you even hint at wanting to be included in that circle it is madness. I’ve done nothing but help the other members that I’m able to, and when it is my turn to get some help everyone seems to forget the hours I’ve spent making sure they got the quest they needed done, or the gold they needed for their mount, or whatever.
It just makes me sad that people are so rude/uncaring. I know it’s a game, but it’d still be nice to meet someone who is real, ya know?
BTW, I am really enjoying your blog!
December 9, 2008 at 9:00 am
I would try to lure you to my server /apply for KoV, but i have a feeling KoV’s probably too casual to slake your thirst for raiding (next week is the first scheduled Naxx10 run).
Too any extent, I offer my ear if you need it, and I hope you find a less clique centric guild.
December 9, 2008 at 1:49 pm
I’ll miss you khass, look me up for heroics anytime
December 9, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Thanks Kel and everyone else. Kel, keep me in mind if you need some soon to be gimped dps.
I’m always willing to run with ya. Not sure what I’m going to do yet. Not gonna rush into any decisions at this point, too much to consider. So I’ll be around for a little while anyway.
December 9, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Arrgh… This freaking sucks. Yeah, this guild has always been stuck with a lot of casual hardcores, and we really haven’t had anyone to get people to mix it up and help each other w/o fatal. I suspect Exodus won’t survive the 5 month wait to next new content patch if we can’t learn how to put the fun back into hardcore raiding.
And GC just posted about upcoming across the board 30% damage nerf, can the day get any better?
At least I’m dl’ing Chuck versus the DeLorean, that show’s always been good for a laugh.
December 9, 2008 at 8:09 pm
What Khassie fails to mention is this. The officer in question patiently explained how he had many more dps tells than he had dps slots, and Khassie refused to believe he was being straight with her when he said he took the first tells to fill the group up. This guy by the way is about the least political of any officer we have, one of the nicest guys in the guild. Yet despite repeated attempts by many people to explain that she (or the player she mentions) wasn’t being singled out, Khassie refused to believe it. And this was one of many episodes of emo behavior that just isn’t needed by any raiding guild, and particularily by an officer in such a guild. Are we perfect as officers? Emphatically not, but our hearts are in the right place, but Khassie didn’t want to hear it. A piece of friendly advice, don’t look so hard for a conspiracy and you’ll probably be happier in life outside of some stupid video game.
As far as the whole fataleyes leaving thing, you weren’t HERE the last expansion, he had EXACTLY the same kind of “A” group complaints as you talk about, in fact it was much worse then. If anything this guild is much more mature than it was then, don’t take my word for it, ask fatal about the last expansion if he ever comes back.
December 11, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Once again, Arioch, the entire point eludes you. Not surprising where tunnel vision is involved. The point that night, and now, is not that there were more people that wanted to go than there was room. We all understood that. The point is that Lex admitted he blew people off, which is rude and uncalled for. He put people on hold, having them sit around for awhile with their thumbs up their butts waiting for word. Numerous people said they whispered him THREE TIMES or more without any response whatsoever. And then, to top it all off, he runs to ochat and starts trashing someone and making fun of them for complaining to him about what he’d done. THAT was the point I was trying to make. That is not how officers should act toward the members. Its the disdain that many of the officers have toward the members that is the cause of the decline in morale. The officers didn’t do much other than sit in ochat and trash other people, including other officers that weren’t around. Doesn’t make for a very cohesive team. Always some talk about what to do about particular issues with nothing ever really getting done, because the officer corps couldn’t work as a team. And I’m not just talking about myself. Too many people afraid to voice their concerns or opinions out of fear of retaliation, and they are justified in their concerns. Its a shame. Exodus could have been a great guild. Now its just a group of people who can barely tolerate those not in their clique and non-clique people with nowhere else to go so they put up with it. Very sad.