Thursday, April 23, 2009

Getting Support from Your Guild

Tuesday's comments really made me think, especially the one from Soundbow. I've had different levels of choice about what to reveal about myself to the guild and its leaders (my husband, in a misguided attempt to protect me, has taken that choice away from me a couple of times - that's created some real life arguments). I've thought about my journey as a player for almost 3 years, and as a raider for almost two, and have come up with some ways to get support that I think are effective.
  1. Do your homework. The only hand-holding I expect is to be told, "You can do this." I look at WWS/WMO reports like a madwoman, and I bounce things off of Flip and ask him questions constantly, but I don't expect him to tell me how to play my character. The forums at http://www.elitistjerks.com/ will tell you how the best of the best play your class, and give you a good starting point.
  2. Let someone analyze your play, spec, gear, and glyphs, and do the same to them. I started asking Flip a simple question about seeing Shadowflame in the WMO report from the razorscale fight, and he ended up reminding me to pick up a couple of new glyphs, then told me where I'm leaving dps on the table. I know several very elite players, and they all love to talk about how to pwn at their class.
  3. Share your challenges, swallow your excuses. The first time I did Bloodboil in BT as a discipline priest, I had trouble targeting the right person for pain suppression in time. One of the raid members said, " Make a macro /assist Gurtogg Bloodboil." It worked wonderfully. On the other hand, if your raid members are paying attention to not only what they're doing, but watching you, excuses won't work, so don't try.
  4. Learn from your mistakes. Constructive critcism is your friend. Especially in new content, it takes time to get it right. There is no one who can't learn from others.
  5. Tell your guildies what you need. One night on Archimonde, when Oct was still in CRC and I was still relatively new, I was healing the melee, where there wasn't much room to run. I realized that I was going to have a hard time avoiding the fires, and said so to Oct. He told me, "Let Dev know." Sent a tell expressing me concerns, and he replied, "Do I need to move you?" I said, "you might," and he did.
  6. Know who to listen to and who not to. There are people in this game that can't see beyond themselves, and the advice they give is what works for them. If it doesn't work for you, take it with a grain of salt.
  7. Don't let anyone tell you what you should or shouldn't be able to do. You know the challenges you face and what you need. If there is something simple that the raid leaders can do that will increase everyone's chances to succeed, they should be doing it.
  8. If all else fails, find another guild. Leaving a guild is never easy, but if you are not in a guild where you are supported, you will be miserable. Sometimes it takes a little digging to find the right guild, but it can be done.

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