In my time with UR, I’ve been a raider from the start. Raiding with this guild has gotten me some of the highest achievements I’ve ever had when compared to what was available at the time. With this guild, I killed the Lich King. With this guild, I killed Nefarian and Onyxia. With this guild, I killed Ragnaros. As long as I have been with this guild, I have killed the big bad boss of the day. I had never done so in any guild before. I hadn’t really even come close before. And while those are achievements unto themselves, they are not the reason I love this guild. I love this guild because of the people. I have raided with a great group of people who are always there, and always upbeat, and always ready to kick some butt. They’ve been great people to raid with, and I’ve loved my raiding career with them. Last night, a few days after I officially ended that raiding career, I logged onto the guild forums to find a post from our GM.

The post he made on the forums was to announce a new honorary guild rank for retired Raiders and Officers. In this post he made it clear that only the best and brightest among us would attain this rank. Many have come and gone, but few attain this rank. Two legends of the past were awarded this rank posthumously, and two current members have also been awarded this honorary rank. One of our founding officers, a man who helped shape the guild into what it is, with his leadership and tireless duty and his constant struggle to be the very best he could be.

The other? Well, that be me.

Renegade – Maerdred who, as a founding member of U.R., has raided consistently with us ever since. In U.R.’s early days, Maerdred’s feedback helped to directly shape the policies and goals of U.R. Maerdred also proved that some druids really can be great tank healers. We’ll miss you greatly and thank you for all that you have done along the way, we wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

These may be simple words to most. They may not even confer any emotion at all. To me, this is one of the most fitting tributes I could receive. As a person who constantly questions his own self worth, and who constantly worries about what others think of him, to finally know what my guild thinks of me, without question… It was powerful. After having spent the past year+ wondering if I was good enough, or if I was just a placeholder in raids, it was powerful stuff.

I read this and I think back on what it all means. I remember the conversations I had with Ranico about leadership and I remember giving him advice, which apparently stuck with him. I remember fighting for respect as a tank healer, and outperforming some of our former Holy Paladins to retain the job (I really detested the concept of raid healing; it felt like being sent to stand at the back of the bus).

It’s always been a point of contention with me when people say Druids can’t tank heal. Tank healing has defined me. My personal mission at every raid is to keep that tank alive. My singular goal has always been to be the best I can at that one aspect of the game, and I appreciate that it’s been recognized. I appreciate that I was able to prove myself when we didn’t really have many other tank healers, and that I was able to keep the job once we got some.

I love this guild because it’s obvious that the people of the guild are real people who honestly do appreciate the others surrounding them within the game. This guild is not made of anonymous drones who can be replaced on a whim. It’s a guild full of people who I am glad to call my friends.

Thanks, UR for honoring me with the title of Crusader. It means more than you know.

I’ve given up raiding before. I did so in TBC so I could level a brand new character and then started raiding with him. I did so again in Wrath because I was sick of raiding guilds falling apart underneath me. This time, It’s for a different reason, though very similar. Burnout. I’ve been raiding with the same group of people for 2 years at this point. We’ve been in our current guild for just over a year, and we have fun. I raid 25′s 2 nights a week, and that’s pretty much all I play. I Don’t log on for 10′s on Sundays most often. I don’t log in daily to cap VP. I never even finished Therazane Rep, or Firelands content. I have been skating along under the radar, and I felt that it was unfair to the guild to keep it up.

If I’m not raiding, they don’t have to support me. They don’t have to pay for my repairs and my enchants and all those other things. If I’m not raiding, I can be questing and farming and putting more into the guild that I’ve been taking. I can also do this on my time. I can log in and do 3 Daily quests before Beth gets home, and then log for the rest of the night and actually live with the girl I live with. I can log in on Sunday when she’s at work and I can farm herbs for 4 hours to restock the guild bank for the raiders. I can finally finish some of the questlines I’ve skipped out on. I can just play the game the way I like to play the game.

Will I miss raiding? Yes. Will I go back to it in the future? Who knows. Over the past month I’ve spent more time being sick than I have spent raiding. Over the next month, I expect to spend more time out with family than I will spend in any game. After the holidays are over, SWTOR will be here, and I’m sure that’ll be taking up a large chunk of time. Do I see myself back raiding any time soon? No. Is it possible in the future? Yes.

I love my Guild. I love my Druid. I love my Family. Which do I love more? That much should be obvious. World of Warcraft can wait, I have a family.

What does this mean for the Blog? I’m not sure. In a perfect world, I’ll be able to spend some of the time I had spent raiding, coming up with blog posts instead. Do I see this happening? Honestly, no. Do I want to write interesting topics for people to read? Yes I do. Do I have the time to do so? Not really. I’ll do my best. I feel I’ve neglected this blog far too long. I’d love to come back to it more often. If you want to read more from me, go ahead and comment. If nobody comments I don’t have incentive to write more.

When I made my coming back post a couple weeks ago I had a few ideas for posts and I was ready to sit down and start writing. Then Snowtober happened and I was without power for 7 days. As soon ad that debacle ended, I wound up getting sick. As soon as that debacle ended, SWTOR had a Beta Weekend, which I may or may not have participated in. I’m not sure What all their policy is on talking about those Beta weekends…

Well, All of that has been brought to you by our good friend Murphy and his ability to make everything go wrong at just the right (or wrong) moment.

Whatever. With Murphy hanging out, I have not been able to get ANYTHING done for the Blog, and I don’t see that happening until at least this weekend.

One thing. I promise not to be gone for months at a time again, and I promise to REY to post at least once a week for the duration.

If there’s anything Druid related that you want to know, or Guild related, or hell personal that you want to know, Ask away, and I’ll do my best to post about it in the near future.

In the meantime, I’ll probably get my feathers wet with a Blog Azeroth Shared topic or two.

See you soon!

The recovery period was a bit longer than we had hoped, what with the seven days with no access to power or internet outside of work. Maerdred was loath to write a new WoW related post while unable to play WoW, and specifically, while at work.

With all of that behind us, I can attest to the fact that Maerdred has seen at least some WoW in the past 48 hours, and plans to see more soon. His playing time has been limited by a B-Team member coming out of the reeds and taking up residence in the front office this past weekend, and a few weekends prior. Now, I’d hate to claim that this member of Team Treebound is a B-Team player, but since he hasn’t gotten any playing time since Ulduar was relevant, I’d say it’s a foregone conclusion.

Let’s take a moment and reminisce.

We all remember when the Blog started Maerdred was getting a bit bored and Maerrakech made an appearance playing with some Family members, allowing Maerdred to take a break. Right? Well, Maerrakech kind of took over for a while, and once his home was decimated by  Christmas/Wrath he moved to a new home. When that home was decimated by the end of summer, he retired himself and made way for Maerdred again. Remember that?

It’s been over 2 years since Maerrakech had a major role, for one reason another, but this past August I started talking to my cousin again (long story) and Maerrakech the lvl. 80 Tauren was transferred to The Venture Co. and became a Worgen. In 3 weekend sessions he leveled to 85 and then kind of sat there waiting. This weekend the PLAN was to log in ASAP and PVP/Random with the cousins/friends to get some guild rep and level us as a guild for more perks.

I can tell you one thing. I have missed these guys. But I also miss my iLvl when playing there. It’s painful being a “fresh” 85 at this point in the expansion. It’s not easy going from Heroic level content back down to quest blues level content. But that’s what I’ve done pretty much. Spells don’t do the same damage. Mana doesn’t last. My timing is off due to haste. My heals don’t heal myself back up as fast, even though my health pool is so much smaller.

All of that doesn’t hold a candle to how great it was just to be in a group with Chip, Jeff, Jake and Matt. I had a blast. We did Strand of the Ancients, it was my first time, and all I did was hunt down this one hunter over and over. I had no idea where to go or what the objectives were. We lost. I was ok with it. They explained it to me a bit and I think I got it the next time. I defended or attacked what I felt like I should. I followed the group and didn’t just fight for the sake of fighting. I followed around and I think we did a bit better. This PVP stuff isn’t too hard. It’s just learning the fights just like PVE, but it’s learning different parts of the fight.

Next time, I’ll go into those differences, as I see them.The differences between what you have to learn for a PVE encounter, and what you have to learn for a PVP encounter. Not specifically, but the broad range of what types of things you have to learn for each. Stick around and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Nurse: Doctor we’re losing him!

Doctor: Not on my watch. We’re not losing this guy not today!

Nurse2: I can’t get a sinus rhythm.

Doctor: Start compressions! One… Two… Three… Four… Five…

The two nurses start performing CPR

Nurse: Nothing Doctor!

Doctor: Give me the paddles! Ok. Ready? Clear!

KA-CHUNK!
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…

Nurse: Hit him again!

Doctor: Clear!

KA-CHUNK!
Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..

Doctor: One more time! Clear!

KA-CHUNK!
Beep Beeeeee. Beep Beeeeee. Beep Beeeee.

Nurse: He’s back. We have a pulse!

The two nurses deflate with relief. The onlookers behind the window give out a cheer.

Doctor: Good Job Nurse! Let’s get him on a bed and make sure we keep him that way!

Nurse 2: Yes Ma’am. Ok let’s move him people. Off the gurney and onto the bed. We need to make sure we don’t lose him again.

Nurse: I’ll go tell the family.

Nurse 2 points over his shoulder at the onlookers.

Nurse 2: There was no family, but this group of WoW players followed him here. Said something about his blog being dead.

Nurse: WoW nerds? Blog? Wha… Why? Who is this guy?

Overhearing, a third nurse comes over, eyeing the patient, Recognition flashes in her eyes.

Nurse 3: Who is this guy?! That’s Maerdred! From Treebound Cat!
She gestures towards the onlookers.
Nurse 3: He’s back everyone! Maerdred’s back!

The crowd rushes into the room.

Doctor: Not so fast! He’s been gone for a while. Let’s give him some time to gain some strength. Give him some air. Make Room. Make room.Maerdred. Can you hear me?

Maerdred: Doc! Get me my  *cough cough* PC. I need to *cough* upload a blog post. I gotta… my fans..  I’ve been out of it so long. They thought I was *cough* dead… They thought my Blog was dead.

Nurse 3: Maer, You’ve been out  for a while. Are you sure you’re ready for that?

Doctor- holding up a chart: He’s pretty weak. I mean look at last week’s healing numbers on heroic Shannox. The guy’s lost his game.

Nurse 3 (indignant): Lost his game? Doct-

Maerdred: Lost my game? Look at last night’s Rag numbers. (he points to the chart) I’m back baby! I just had a setback. I’m not dead, and this Blog isn’t either! Get me that PC! I’m going in!

One of the nurses hands him a notebook PC and as he starts writing we dissolve to black, with the cheers of the onlookers in the background we hear him tapping at the keyboard until the screen has gone completely black.

The words, “Treebound.net Returning November 2011″ appear on the screen.

The advent of Brewfest means one thing for me. My alts can get one step closer to their achievements.

I have three alts which are near level cap, or who were at level cap last year when this event came around. Those three alts have all of the achievements other than one. The one that takes a damn year to do.

I don’t get it. I log onto them regularly. I know I had the booze subscription because sometimes when I log on they get booze in the mail. Why did they not get all 12 boozes in the mail? I have no idea. they all three have the same amount of boozes. How is this possible? I’m not sure.

But, I can get the boozes if I get 200 coins. I can get 200 coins if I do the dailies.

The problem is, while doing the dailies, the one where you have to deliver booze on a racing ram… Half the time when I run by an apple bucket, my ram doesn’t eat, and I don’t drop stacks. I do not understand this. I have very low ping. I do the same thing every time, and half those times, I don’t get the apples.

If I miss the apples, I get fatigue and I cannot max out my earning potential for a given day.

That makes me angry.

Without Further ado, The Survey!

 1. What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer?

Maerdred, Restoration Druid

2. What is your primary group healing environment?

25-man Raids in the Progression tier.

3. What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why? 

Lifebloom has always been my favorite, well since they added it in. It ticks for a not-insignificant amount and if allowed to bloom it packs quite a punch. As a tank healer it’s my main staple. The fact that 3 of my other heals can and will refresh the stacks on it make it very powerful indeed.

4. What healing spell do you use least for your class and why? 

The one with a three minute cooldown? Nope. I use that whenever it’s available and needed. I’d say I ignore Healing Touch most often. Nourish has the same cast time and is such a cheaper spell for the mana I default to Nourish over HT.

5. What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why? 

Obviously the Hots are a huge strength. The constant ticking of out heals make it feel like damage is mitigated by instantly being healed. I’d say, however the biggest strength is the ability to move while healing. In both PVE and PVP this is a huge thing. I can cast instant HoTs on the run and keep people alive without being rooted in place. If I pop Tree I can even throw instant Regrowths on the run which is even bigger.

6. What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class and why?

Our biggest weakness is our greatest asset. The Hots. In a raid healing environment, my heals get sniped by other healers direct heals. If WG and Chain heal hit the same people, Chain heal will do all the work, and WG will just sit there, ticking away. If I hit someone with Rejuv, and a priest hits them with whatever it is that they have to heal, then my Rejuv gets overridden and counts for nothing but wasted mana.

7. In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you? 

My personal preferences aside, I’d have to say that Druids excel at raid healing, with a focus on one of the tanks. Lifebloom the tank, and keep rejuv up, while healing the raid. It’s a fairly straightforward healing style. Even with the hots being overridden by others’ direct heals, it’s a great way to help keep the raid alive. With WG, Efflorescence and Tranquility we have multiple tools for the job.

8. What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why? 

The question, the way it’s worded could mean to things. “Healing with” could be read as “healing as” or “healing alongside”. I read it as “healing as” and so my answer is obviously the Druid. This is why it is my main. If we move to “healing alongside” I’d have to say Disc Priests. Their style and ours mesh together well.

9. What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why? 

Again, Read that two ways. I’m not a big fan of healing on my Paladin, but I’d like to try it more so I can become more versatile and perhaps grow to like it. As for whom I dislike healing alongside? I’d say Paladins, since they always steal my Tank healing assignments. Though when the tank needs multiple healers, I love that it’s a paladin doing it with me.

10. What is your worst habit as a healer?

Not popping Tree Form every fight.

11. What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing?

DPS calling for heals. I mean, do you think the healers can’t see your health dropping? We probably knew you needed heals before you did. Shut the heck up!

12. Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing?

I think so we have our job and they have theirs. They all mesh together in some way. It helps that Druids are fairly versatile.

13. What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer?

I generally review Recount logs after each pull to see where I may have done something poorly. Comparing my heals used with other Druids heals used and also checking the overheal numbers. Hots overheal a ton, we know this but if I see a spike, I know I did something wrong.

14. What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class?

That we’re only raid healers. I’ve been disproving that one for years.

15. What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn? 

Probably the same things as other healers. Efficiently using our mana. It is a balance that comes with practice and time spent.

16. If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of overhealing, low healing output, etc)? 

They’d see that I tend to focus on one of the tanks, even if assigned to raid heal. It’s not my fault Lifebloom does so much healing! One of the tanks is always my most healed target, but if I am raid healing the only things you’ll see on him are lifebloom, rejuv, and AOE splash heals.

17. Haste or Crit and why? 

Haste allows me to get more ticks of my heals into the same amount of time. That means more healing done. I like more healing done. Even though hots can now crit, I think the benefits of haste outweigh the crits in the long run.

18. What healing class do you feel you understand least? 

I’d have to say Disc Priests. I know they work well with me, but if you asked me how they work I’d look at you like you just asked me to explain string theory to a 4 year old.

19. What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing?

I use mouse hover macros for all of my heals as well as using Grid raid frames to make it easy to see what’s going on. Beyond those, I have tidy plates for times when I have to be looking at something other than grid. I use decursive for dispelling. I also use Power Auras to tell me when cooldowns are available.

20. Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?

I would value Spirit > Haste > Mastery > Crit. In practice, I’m not at a place where I have multiple items to choose from, so I generally wear what is available.

I thought about the guild I ran ZG with, and who I learned the game with. I thought about how I got there and I realized that this is probably a good story for a Blog post.

When I first started playing WoW it was because my friend Michael and his wife Sarah convinced me that WoW was not just for D&D playing, Mother’s Basement Living, Red-Bull Swilling, Hot Pocket Eating, non-bathing nerds… It was for real people, like us. For the first couple of weeks, we would call each other, log in and party up. We didn’t really have nor need a guild; we were pretty self-sufficient. After a few weeks though, we got an invitation to a leveling guild called Clan Pyre. The people were nice, and we got along pretty well there. We were a smallish guild with players ranging from 1 to the mid 40′s at that point. Our GM talked about getting a website set up, and I looked into it and pretty much just volunteered to set up guild forums and a website for the guild. This pretty much made me an honorary Officer. I worked day and night setting up the Forums for this guild and we actually got some pretty good use out of them. I think I set it up on guildportal, or one of those sites.

Mere weeks later, the GM and many of the founding members of the guild decided to go back to playing their level 60 horde characters on another server. They pretty much split and left me with the title of GM.I’d like to be able to say that I did a great job and rallied the troops, but the truth is I knew NOTHING about running a guild. I was a deer in the headlights. I pretty much logged in and played my character just like I was unguilded. Since nobody left in the guild ever really logged in, it was almost exactly like I was unguilded.

After a few weeks of this, Michael’s wife told us to come join her new guild since there were actually people logged in most of the day. I made a brief announcement to the guild that I would be dissolving it within a week, and if anyone wanted to take it over, just let me know. Nobody stepped forward, so I disbanded Clan Pyre and joined Raging Daisies, thus starting my true introduction to WoW and the world of MMOs.

Raging Daisies was the first “real” guild I ever belonged to, and the one which still holds my best memories in WoW. Many of the players I “grew up with” still hold fond places in my memories. I can’t even name all of them, but they were there and they were all part of this thing called Raging Daisies. Firstly, there was Aloe; GM of Raging Daisies. He was the guy who invited me. He was the guy who taught me much of what I took with me about being a good leader. When I joined RD I was still very new to the game, even though I had already been the “leader” of another guild, I didn’t really have any experience. I was given a chance to be an officer and I took it. I joined a fairly tight-knit leadership corps who all already knew each other, and I didn’t really feel that I fit in with them. I basically did everything I could to show that making me an officer wasn’t a mistake. I made the website and the forums; well, in the original format. I offered advice and guidance and pretty much just a sounding board. My voice of reason helped quell many arguments. I had the ear of the “real leaders” and I used it to voice concerns which were brought to me by the members and other officers. It really wasn’t until I could look back on it that I realized that I was one of those “real leaders” and I never should have doubted my being there.

RD saw me level from a thirty-something, very green, Feral druid to a level 70 Restoration Druid who was a top healer in an actual raiding guild. For a time I was a “druid lead” and sometimes “healing lead”. As time ticked on I moved up the ranks and down them as sometimes people do. All the while I held my title as Officer, and continued to perform my duties to the guild as I saw them. I took it very seriously. The guild was only as successful as the leadership corps and I wanted to make sure that I was helping the guild in all aspects. When I was finally no longer able to fulfill my duties as an officer, I stepped down, and in short order, I actually took my leave from the Raging Daisies. At the time we were getting rather far in the Black Temple, and I was feeling the stresses of life, job, game and guild… Rather than make promises I couldn’t keep, I moved aside for the new generation of leaders.

Part of what precipitated my stepping down from my Officer role in RD was the fact that I had been moonlighting as a Tauren Druid with my Cousins’ guild whenever I could. I had rolled Maerrakech on a whim one weekend so I could join up with my cousins and their friends while we were all hanging out together each weekend. It soon became apparent that playing the game with “real life friends” was far more satisfying than playing with “internet friends” (other than the few I invited to join me in Kohrruption, they were and always will be “real life friends”).

As I leveled at a furious pace, I was asked to become an officer. As one of the “inner circle” of family and friends, and one who had done it before, my experience and advice was invaluable to the new guild leaders and officers who were just leveling up to cap for the first time. I honestly didn’t want any of the responsibility, but I was one of the few people in the group with any experience so I took the opportunity to help where I could. As I leveled up to 70, we were starting to get groups into Kara and I helped with raid leading and explaining the fights as much as I could. As I wasn’t sure yet how often I’d be raiding with Maerrakech, I decided to move Maerdred into a spot where I may be able to play with cool folks on my off nights.

I moved him over to Draenor with the intention of becoming a part-time, social member of the guild Mythos, which I was referred to by my pal Fimlys one day in BlogAzeroth chat. It didn’t really work out, as I was spending all of my time on Maerrakech, and I think I logged in perhaps five or six times total.

Meanwhile, Kohrruption added more and more raiders and even a couple of officers from outside the “inner circle”, and we grew large enough to field our own 25s. We moved up the ladder, finally getting into Hyjal and BT just before Wrath launched. Once it did, we lost some people, gained some people, and then started raiding in earnest. All the while I was helping to run things behind the scenes. A couple of months into Wrath we had a large exodus and the stresses of things outside the game and the stresses of helping to lead a guild were wearing on some of the other officers and me too. My cousins who had invited me were in school or working, or both, and they almost never logged in. Once it was apparent that we couldn’t continue our Naxx progression we called it quits and closed up shop with the raiding.

It was right after this when I wrote my “[H] Resto Druid Looking for Work”  post, and got a few hits. From that post, I wound up joining a great guild on Hydraxis called Unemployed in mid-March. I joined Unemployed a bit under-geared to raid and with no plans to do anything but “be a grunt in the trenches” and it was fantastic. I was finally just a peon, not an officer. I was not in charge of anyone or anything other than myself. I could log in for 5 minutes and then log off without feeling guilty. I loved it there; the people were great.

I raided with the Unemployed crew from March through August, and got through all of the current content with their 10-man team. We all had a great time and I loved raiding with them in 10s and 25s. Around Blizzcon that August I took a vacation from the game in general and quit raiding to get back in touch with my friends and family. Being one of the main healers made that hard, but I did what I had to do. Shortly after this, for completely unrelated reasons, the guild wound up falling into disrepair as some founding members disappeared. The guild stagnated and some people made a new one but I just kind of stuck there not knowing what to do as a newly casual player.

Very soon after this, I got word from some old friends that they had made a 10-man guild on Alliance side and would love it if I joined them. I told them Maerdred was still 70, and had not been played in over a year, but they insisted, and soon I was moving him from Mythos (where he never really belonged) and joined Manus Varendum with Drew and Liz. I think I took 2 weeks and leveled him to 80 and hung out with Drew and Liz for our third stint as guildmates.

Maerdred didn’t last there very long. The idea of a tight-knit 10-man wasn’t to be. Nobody could mesh schedules and RL reared its ugly head and took playtime away from just about all of us. There were times when I’d log in to quest and not see another name in guild chat for two or three days. It was then that I knew it was time to move on.

Being a regular in BlogAzeroth chat, I had heard others talking about how they’d get a run of such and such together, or they’d run an old-world raid that weekend, and it was kind of tempting. I pretty much begged into their guild. Maerdred was sitting in a guild where I hadn’t seen anyone log in for a few days, Maerrakech was just kind of sitting there taking up a guild slot in Unemployed who had people logging in even less frequently. It was a fairly simple transition, and the nature of the guild fit in with me perfectly. Raid if you wanna. Or don’t. Log in when you can. Be social. DBAD.

It was a great fit. Many of us were bloggers, so we always had something to talk about. We were all passionate about the game and our outside lives, and all knew that RL comes first. Family is more important than the game and it was a rule in the guild. It was one of two. The other was, DBAD. I loved that guild. We raided a little. Not seriously, but we’d go do it. It was fun. Almost each night we’d get a heroic group or two going, or we’d just quest and chat all night. Unfortunately, the stresses of keeping a guild afloat were wearing on the guild leadership, and they made some rash decisions which alienated many of the guild members. I think the split and the inability to reconcile really hit the leaders hard, and while I understood both sides, I didn’t feel that abandoning the guild was a good choice. That is until I head that the GM was planning on giving it up over the stress. At that point I knew that if I stayed, it would be futile, and I’d best find a new guild anyway.

Meanwhile, Lissanna was in need of more players, and made a blog post stating as much. With the current state of flux within Sidhe Devils and armed with the knowledge that the guild leader was planning to disband in the near future, I applied and was accepted.  I took the opportunity to speak to Bear personally and let him know my intentions to leave the guild, and wish him well in his future.  I then server transferred Maerdred to Elune where Conspiracy was rallying to gear up for the final fight of the expansion.

I believe that my first raid with Conspiracy was 10-man ICC and I went as a BoomChicken. It wasn’t much of a stretch, since I had been playing Maerdred as Balance more often than Resto while not raiding in Sidhe Devils, but it sure felt good to be raiding again. Maerdred was very green and under geared when I transferred, so I was being handed gear hand over fist when I first joined. My numbers slowly grew and soon I was once again one of the top healers in the guild. We got quite a bit accomplished in Wrath and almost got to the Lich King. Again, some weird politics was going on in the background (reasons I would rather be a grunt than an officer) and a guild split was imminent. The revolutionaries felt that I was an asset, so I was invited to come along, and did.

When the Guild split happened and Undying Resolution was formed I was included as part of the core of raiders, which was great since I wasn’t sure at the time if the new GM even liked me. Since the guild’s inception we’ve seen Cataclysm arrive, we’ve bolstered our Raiding numbers and lost quite a few of our original raiders to RL. We’re currently pushing progression and last week spent 6 hours on Nefarian with some pretty good learning success. We’ve had our ups and downs. We went through a lull which saw us only able to get 20-22 people online for a progression raid, but now we consistently have to ask people to sit because we’re full.

All in all, I’m very satisfied with the guild I am in. I’ve been very lucky to be able to say that all along my WoW career, and have really only left guilds, once they were too far gone. The only real exception to that is the guild I never really joined, other than in name only (sorry Fim).

So, to all the guilds I’ve ever loved before, Thank you. I would not be the player I am without you. The ups and downs all add up to an experience of a lifetime, and I don’t think I’d change any of the bad, because it always lead to a new level of good.

In the past I’ve been able to answer the question in either way. For four of the five years that I’ve been playing, my answer was automatically “Alliance!” and for one of those five years it was an emphatic “Horde, you Alliance Scum!” I’ve never actively played both factions against each other.

When I first leveled my Tauren Druid, Maerrakech, I pretty much was at a point of burnout with Maerdred’s alliance guild and took the opportunity to retire him. I then played Maerrakech for a good 15 months before his second guild imploded and I found some old friends playing alliance toons again and went back to Maerdred Full time. Since that time, I’ve logged onto Maerrakech once or twice a month to make sure my monthly Booze didn’t despawn in my mailbox… So to say that I’m always just one faction or the other is pretty right on the mark.

Well, No Longer.

Ask me, “Horde or Alliance?” Both!

I’m going to start leveling Maerrakech in my off-time from Maerdred. Rather than leveling the Mages who ran out of RAF time at level 42, or the Worgen Druid (who needs 3 Druids?) I’m just going to take Maerrakech up to 85 and test out the waters of leveling via professions. Herbalism, Archaeology… I may do some questing in Hyjal just to see how different it is for the Horde, and to get a fresh set of greens to replace the Ulduar era gear he’s wearing.

I don’t see myself running any instances or joining a guild… I’ll probably just spec him Balance / Feral and test that out if I can find some cheap level 80 gear for feral. He’s got about 6k gold on him, so I could probably get a full set of 80 gear for less than that. And with leveling via professions, I’ll probably be making a hefty profit, So that’ll be fun.

I’ll try to keep updated on the blog of my progress, but we all know I’m bad at things like that, so don’t hold your breath.

The past 4 months or so have been pretty much burnout central and it’s taken its toll. I have had little or no time or motivation to write. Each project I pick up seems to fall by the wayside and I never get it off the ground. I posted in December about two Gnome mages which I had started and was planning to level to 80 with RAF. Well, they’re 47 right now and my RAF bonus has expired. I didn’t do very well with that project. I didn’t write a single post about my setup or my play style. I didn’t even play them often enough to get them leveled up within my 3 month window. I’ve leveled single characters to 70 in less than 3 months, it’s been 4 and with all of the leveling bonuses these mages are still 47.

Granted, in the time since I started them I’ve had a busy life. A week after they were born, my girlfriend and I who were “talking about living together” found a place and signed the lease, within 2 days. This led to 2 weeks of packing, moving and unpacking. Then it was, Hey I live with someone who I want to see every night. I should cut down my WoW schedule to just 2 nights(raids) and spend the rest of the time the way I want to (with her). This led to me playing Maerdred much more often on Saturday’s when she works rather than the mages, as I had raid prep and Herb farming for flasks and stuff to do.

So that project went away. I then decided I wanted to start work on a book, you know like those crazy NaNoWriMo people… Well, that hasn’t gotten off the ground at all. I haven’t even started brainstorming for my outline yet.

After that project I decided that since DA2 came out, I may as well finish DA:O, and I still haven’t done that.

I then looked at the rest of my games and decided I should spend some time trying to finish some of the ones that have been sticking around. Gears of War 2. Halo: Reach, Crackdown, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Bioshock 2…

Yeah, no progress on that front at all.

My life has taken over. My DVR is constantly 75% full or more. My stack of unread books has not shrunk at all. My Video Game life has become a sham. I’ve quit raiding so I can spend even more time with my GF (not at her request). I’ve pretty much become a one trick pony.

Each time I try to do something without her, I feel guilty, which is in no way her fault. I feel zero resentment. I just want to be with her instead. I fear that if I keep this up, I will have GF Burnout.

I’ll have to take steps to stave that off.