...And Sometimes They Make It All Worthwhile...

My guild made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside last night on so many levels...

I've spent a lot of time trying to help one of our tanks get geared and trying to help one of our shamans switch from Elemental to Enhancement (which means going from caster dps to melee dps- and an entirely new set of gear). I've been trying to offer up more of my time recently to working with everyone to get them the gear they want or need and also trying to help some of our members gain access to resources that will ultimately help them develop as players. One of our guild members had told my husband that he was frustrated and felt sort of stuck at a place where his gear and dps and game knowledge was inadequate. It made me really sad, and made me realize that I really needed to focus on working more with our quieter guild members.

See, some of them are pretty open about what they want or need. They'll ask for help farming for this drop or that, or will ask other guild members to grind heroics with them for badges. They're not really shy about it, which means that, if the rest of us are unable to help them, they're happy to grab a random group and do what they need to do. There are a few others who have been very quiet. When we ask who wants to run heroics or go on a farm run, they don't say anything.

I assumed it was because they weren't interested in it or were busy doing other things. I didn't realize what all was going on behind the scenes there. I think that I, like so many other players, just take for granted the knowledge that I have of the game and where to learn what I need to know. I know that it probably means I'm one of those "WoW geeks", but it's more fun to enjoy your hobby if you're good at it, versus being a baddie and being left out of everything...

I'm actually really glad that this particular guildie spoke up and let my husband know what was up. It helped me know that he IS interested in learning more and doing a lot more with us. So, for the past two nights, I've been dragging him through just about as many heroics as I possibly can. In fact, last night we ended up pulling together a guild group for a few 5-mans since this new dungeon finder wouldn't let me queue for heroics based on the level of his brand new 80 priest's gear. Bear's aren't necessarily patient by nature. I don't care if Blizzard thinks he's ready...it doesn't make sense to grind a bunch of regular instances and get zero badges, only to get sub-par gear to go back and grind the same set of instances again on heroic for badges. So I badgered the guildies into a few runs.

I can honestly say I was really impressed when a few of them were absolutely willing to come along to help out. We had a tank volunteer and two DPS/Healers. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy to see folks jumping in to help out a guildie. :)

Not only that, but later in the evening I ended up logging into my Death Knight. The guildie that I had been helping out sent her a plethora of materials in order to help me max out her Blacksmithing. His note made me feel really good too! His note was so sweet. :) He mentioned that he sees that I give my time to help others in the guild to get geared and finish quests and whatnot, and that he wanted to help out since I rarely have time to farm these days. It was just really, really sweet.

I know I complain that we don't raid much and that there's bits and pieces of drama here and there that just drive me batty...but last night was one of those nights that just makes it all seem worthwhile. :)