Black Raven Dragoons

[Zancarius]

Well, looks like I'm going to be slowing my game play down in preparation for my upcoming semester. I doubt I'm going to be on much if at all for a while. It more or less occurred to me today that I just don't play enough to get the reputation, gear, or levels for the characters that I would need. As much as I was hoping to go back to tanking, I don't think that's going to happen. You have to have time, and that's unfortunately something I just don't have (well, the lack of patience doesn't help, either). I'll still be on and off here and there because I missed my recurring subscription cancellation, so it looks like I'm stuck with a paid account for a while. At this point, I'm not completely sure I'll be getting WotLK.

Anyway, I'd go through and enumerate my reasons for putting this to rest, but I'm afraid they're far too numerous. I guess disappointment, boredom, and the fact that this game is too much of a damn time sink kinda plays into it. (I also have a number of projects I want to get finished or mostly finished before next semester, and dumping time into WoW isn't helping much.) So, see ya'll on the forums.

[Killemal]

No you aren't. You didn't ask permission.

Sno, gimme a hand here. Bring the shackles.

[Sumdumbmage]

Dude huh? This cannot happen, the epicenter of our guild will be shook and chaos will reign. I wish you the best as far as the college work goes and ya know we'll be missing ya.

[Frozenwraith]

Well Thal I wish you the best of luck

[Snobal]

Well, Thal, where do I start? I'm not one for being good at telling people good bye, I usually stick with a "Good luck in life!" kinda deal, but I think I owe you a little more than that.

I sure will miss the crazy addition you were to the guild. When I started out, 3-4 years ago, you and Turus we're from some guild I'd never heard of, and somehow got you way into Dark Equinox. Some in the guild still with us today know how that went. Lith had told me that you and Turus had a guild with hardly anyone in it, looking for a fresh start. Dissappointed with DE, I went ahead and cut my ties and joined the 'Goons. I was... 12 at the time, I think. How the hell you put up with me, I may never know, but I'm glad you did. Because you're one of the best persons in game, and out of game I've known. (Is this corny? You'll get over it, 'cause I'm in the zone). I'm glad you've given me the opportunity to get to know you. I can't thank you enough for providing nearly 24/7 tech support when I've had some dumb ass problem. And teaching me so much about linux and what it has to offer. You've aided me in gaining interest in computers to the point I want to persue them as a carrier.

I'm glad you've chosen to stay in contact with us via forums and such. That way we can all get our "Daily fix of Thal".
But it won't compare to the times when we raided ThunderBluff with 5 people for no reason. And me staying up til 6 a.m. and my mom catching me up. The times when we would get in teamspeak and go off the chain about... God knows what. When... you were tanking LBRS like a mofo because we didn't have the numbers to do UBRS. And those times we went into battlegrounds and not a single melee dps could touch you. (Can you remember the times when rogues just *could not* kill warriors? Overpower spam much?) Then, that one day, we decided to get everyone's Dartol's Rod of Transformation, and proceeded to have "care bear love".

I appretiate all you've done towards helping me, and the guild progress through the game. We'll all missed you very much. Take care!

I know this isn't a sufficient good-bye for all that you've done, but I hope you'll accept it.


--Sno

















Bawl.




Edit: You may need to spell check this. You know I can't spell worth anything.

[Grimblast]

In his pants....

Couldn't resist the opening that was left there hehe.

[Tarlas]

Well Thal, as Sno said,
(We were pretty much in the same boat, I started at 12 too, but Sno has been in the guidl longer than I have.)

Thanks you for starting a great guild, and leading one (partially) too. You and Turus picked me up from the dregs of a level 70 with greens, and slapped me/morphed me into a healy in kara-ready blues. Thanks for all the of the fun times we had (Like when you, me killem, Turus and Reg did arc for my key and we all had to sit at the meeting stone becuase Reg was afk and pvp right in front of it.) Thanks for the guild site, and contributing ot the greatest guild ever!

I know I am missing lots of things, but I was not one of the Original 'Goons, so I have not gotten the full does of Thal-ness.


See you around

---Tarlas

[Zancarius]

Thanks Sno, Tarlas, Turus, and everyone else. (You're still free to bug me about software/OS related questions, btw! It's not like your license to ask has been taken away by me electing to leave WoW!) Plus, it's not like I'm dropping off the face of the Earth! (I may pop on now and again until my subscription is finally up, though.) To be honest, it's mostly that I finally realized I don't have the time (or want to spend it) to continue with lengthy, boring grinds. Maybe WotLK will change that, but I doubt it. Besides, by the time it's released, I won't have the time to grind up another 10 levels since I'll either be in mid-semester or getting settled in after graduation. Honestly, I think it's also been a partial reality check. In the (nearly) four years that I've played WoW, I've watched my sensible use of my free time dwindle to the point that my creative output has all but evaporated. I love to write, and I've been planning to write a book or such for years--but WoW has really impeded progress on that front.

I suppose part of it is that my free time is very valuable to me.

As far as the game goes, there's a few reasons I've been thinking of which I have enumerated here:

• Most reputation grinds take a minimum of two weeks with up to 4 or 5 hours a day before reaching exalted. I needed CE rep. on my druid on the order of up to eight more SV runs. That's going to take well over three weeks. In three weeks, my semester will be very close to starting.
  
• The 'goons have evolved. Many people are growing bored with the same old content grind, and our focus has been shifting to raiding. There's nothing wrong with that, but (and I'm sure many of our MUCH more casual people than I can attest) those who don't want to, can't, or don't have the time are pretty well left to their own devices. I was fortunate in that most people knew me, that I have a very well-geared 70, and were more or less willing to help, but I hate to impose on people my own greedy desires. Namely, getting my druid's reputation up. It's boring, and unless you're a druid, leatherworker, or blacksmith, you have no need to work on your CE rep. Besides, some people may only want to go as far as they need to in order to get what they came for. And frankly, I'm not interested in hitting up the SGA; they've really shifted to raiding (that, and I'd probably have to spec. resto. in order to get anything done--see below).
  
• Healers are in high demand. Most guilds need between two and four times the ratio of healers to tanks. Tanking was the first thing I fell in love with in this game. Many of you who are fairly new to the 'goons (post July 2007) probably don't know this, but I was prot for a very, very long time on Thal. It was something I loved, and still do when I get a chance. But... the 'goons need healers, they need to recruit healers, and the last thing we need are more tanks! I think most guilds are in this position. Recruitment notices on the Terenas forums used to read "looking for tanks!" but they've now, oddly enough, transitioned into "looking for DPS/healers." Sorry folks, but the tanking market is saturated.
  
• Tanking takes time. Lots of time. Ya'll are much better off if you can gear up tanks that are willing to play very regularly. (Subject to burn out, I'll cover that in a moment.) As a rule of thumb, if you're planning on tanking, you absolutely must expect to play a minimum of two instances that can take up to three hours each per evening. Since the DPS population is still on the high side, sometimes it's a necessity to do many runs in order to get everyone what they want and keep them happy. Tanks also gear much more slowly than other classes do, so it is generally very depressing to sit along on 15 runs into an instance in the hopes you'll get your nice, shiny leggings, boots, trinket, etc., and still not see it drop. You also need fast reflexes--otherwise tanking will never be as rewarding as it could be.
  
• Healer burn-out. Turus, HG, Alacor, and everyone else who has ever played a healer will agree: healing gets old after a while. Healers are the fastest classes to burn out next to tanks. Those of you who are planning to heal, take note: you are in exceedingly high demand. If you can heal, people want you. I think part of this is because the healing model in WoW is broken. (I also think this is part of the reason for our lacking success in Karazhan passed the Shade. Most guilds bring 3-4 healers and one tank; we're the only crazy SOBs who bring two healers and two tanks.)
  
• Boredom. Oh, I mentioned this already.
  
• Sonikku was right. Melee DPS gets the short end of the stick, unless you have a penchant for PvP. Why? Because gearing options are limited, boss encounters tend to require a higher healing output with increased melee DPS, and you have to be on your toes. Although I think rogues have far more PvE options than do arms/fury warriors, they're also subject to very similar issues. In case anyone's taken note: All of my gear on Thal, save for a small minority of badge, rep., or maybe a quest reward or two, has come from PvP. I didn't grind out instances for it--I instead chose to grind out the arenas. For anyone who happens to think about playing a warrior spec'd in arms/fury take heed: your gearing options early on are very limited. I might write up a guide on early blue quality gear to get or focus on, since that's more or less what I did. However, you'll want to grind PvP like there's no tomorrow. (But don't expect to have an easy ride in PvE once you have 200+ resilience. Trust me, bosses suck.)

Well, that's my take on the state of the game for now. It's amazing what I can get done when I'm not playing WoW... it's almost frightening! I still plan to be very active on the forums, and I'll continue developing and maintaining web applications for the site. I actually have a few ideas for some fun content systems that I've never seen put to use. I'll keep everyone posted. (If my ideas play out, we could set up a "playground" part of the site where people could have their own little corner of the GoonWeb. Structured content makes me very happy.)

See ya'll around. If I can ever get enough people interested in Tribes or Tribes 2, it might be fun to have a small-scale FFA match. But... most WoW players don't care much for FPS games... bummer.

Edit: For those who don't use the little buttons underneath each post, there are other ways to get in touch with me. I especially love answering questions about various things from PHP to Python to FreeBSD and Linux. If you're interested in learning to code, script, or anything else, I'm always more than happy to lend my assistance. So, here goes:
E-mail: zancarius -at- g m a i l DOT com (Sorry for the obscure little deal. That's just in case there's spam bots lurking around!)
Aim: Zancarius
ICQ: 14628555 (let's get old school with the numbers!)
Google Talk: Same as my e-mail.

I have Yahoo! as well, but I hate the protocol. It's the same as my aim, except lower case.

Okay, now I'm finished!

[Haiku]

This makes me a sad formerly-druidic rogue.

[Zancarius]

bahahhahahahahahhaah

Excellent example of why one must always validate input, Haiku!

[Tirian]

I completely agree with what Thal said, both on the current structure of the end game and internal mechanics, etc. As I've been off of WoW for a couple months, it's really occurred to me that putting some time into neglected hobbies (for me, photography, for instance) and career skills can be worthwhile as well, and I'm not so much regretting my wee pally being stuck at 60 all summer long. I'm still looking forward to getting back in August/September, but I definitely think that the combo of starting grad school and needing a little balance will mean I won't be putting in the several hours a day I did back in my glorious spring unemployment.

[Killemal]

Since I see that I won't be changing your mind with feeble attempts at trickery and reverse-psychology, I have no choice but you wish you well. Even though I haven't known you that long, I know enough to know that the Goons are loosing someone irreplaceable, and I'm losing one hell of a raid partner, not to mention an in-game friend. At least we still have the forum, and I hope what you're gonna miss trolling in Guild Chat will boost your forum trolling output. Good Luck and maybe we'll see ya back on someday!

[Zancarius]

Tirian's definitely right.

Though, I may come back from time to time on the weekends. Seeing as Tirian feels much the same way about neglected hobbies, etc., it further strengthens my decision to cut back significantly on the game. It looks as if this fall is going to be very busy for many of us!

Having said that, I did get to take the opportunity to clean out the backlog of mail on all of my characters. My second bank box was so full, it took me a good hour or two just to complete that chore. What a pain!

[Aigle]

Well Thal, from one who left and is still around I'm glad you're still sticking to the forums. As Sno put, you guys are very much like family and will never be forgotten

Best wishes at school, and many of your other endevors.

<3

Aigle.

[Lithium]

I won't be able to put even a quarter of what I want to say into writing, but here goes.

It was a blast having played alongside you for years. It was also very exciting being able to be one of the few to jumpstart the Goons with some really wonderful people... and I definitely know exactly where you're coming from. I know we've discussed this at length in other conversations, but again, I have to repeat that it's hard to imagine guild chat without the hilarity you brought to it.

Maybe some time off is all it'll take. That's what did it when I left, just came back and played a little less. I hope that'll be the case for you, so long as it doesn't sacrifice any other endeavours you are undertaking. Time will tell.

In the meantime, I think it's safe to say a lot of people will miss ya in-game. Thanks for all the good times we've all been able to share.

(Insert subliminal "roll a hordie with me" message here. Just kidding. Sort of.)