Healy Holy vs Tanky Spanky

If you've read my previous post, you'll know that I healed last night.

Not my soul, not my broken-heart, not the rift between me and my long-lost brother who lives in Bora-Bora and is married to the leader of a tribe of Amazonian women. No... none of the these mythical things.
What I healed was real... I healed guildies. And I healed them heroically.

If you've been following this blog, you'll have seen me mention that Tanking is my Main-Spec. I plan to keep it that way. However, I couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of well-being I got from keeping people alive last night.
Maybe it was just nostalgia from the Karazahn days, or the fun feeling I get when I feel like I'm mastering something new. (My macros and new set-up made it alot easier to handle).

I liked it.

My healing gear is very minimalistic. Its nothing more than crappy AH blues, and 1 epic set of legs that dropped randomly (which I haven't even bothered to gem and enchant). But I still managed to heal heroic Violet Hold and Utgarde Keep, with zero wipes, and only the occasional death from an over-aggro'er (which doesn't count because it serves them right).
Actually, I died once myself, but that was due to the stupid Axe from the last boss in UK, that just wouldn't leave me alone. But that doesn't count.

With a decent set of healing gear, I could definitely see myself healing a raid. The mechanics are just the same as I remember, apart from the whole Beacon of Light issue, and Judgements of the Pure, Oh and Sacred Shield, Oh and the Overhealing changes, Oh and not forgetting the shared healing from Holy Light. But apart from all that, it was just like the good old days.

Obviously some things have changed from TBC days. Bu underneath it's still the same point-and-click-and-click-and-click-and-click pattern that it used to be. Tanking will be staying my focus, but it's good to know that I've still got the healing hands. And can dust them off if needed.

I really do need to get an addon for Beacon-of-Light though. The macro helped alot, but it still wasn't up anywhere near 100% of the time.

Let them eat cake

We have an issue in the guild. It's not unique to our guild, and I'm pretty sure every guild out there suffers from it. Particularly bigger guilds. But more and more people are pointing it out to me, so people are obviously finding it more noticeable.

Elitism.

Now, there's two ways of looking at this. At first glance, 'Elitism' sounds like a bad thing. It conjours up visions of snobbery and looking down on others. Or ignoring those less gifted than you are. But there's another way to look at it too:

People have commented that the officers and ex-officers of the tribe always seem to get priority for Raid spots, or Heroic groups, or are much more likely to get help if they ask for it. Sounds like a fair comment to me. The officers themselves have dicussed this issue, and there's no simple answer to it.

Officers (and Ex-Officers) are players too. Most of us have been playing together for upto several years now. We're obviously freinds. And what do freinds do? ... ... They help each other out.

Also, having played for a long-time, many of the officers are also highly skilled players, or experts in their class(es). They are also the kind of person who is willing to accept advice, and help advise others. If they weren't, they wouldn't be officers. The officers in the Munqui Tribe don't get paid. We don't use guild funds for repairs. And, on average, we actually use the guild bank less than the non-officers.
So the officers are already sacrificing their 'game' time, to help run the guild. That's an important word... 'Game'. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. "Officers are players too".

So lets take an example:

Last night Biafra (an ex-officer) asked for a group for a heroic... any heroic. (He's emblem farming, similar to myself). Within a minute he had a full team. Made up of Myself (GM), Vind (Officer), Vedd (Officer), and Spud (Non-Officer). No one else volunteered.
The original plan was that I tanked, and Vind would re-spec. But that would have been a waste, and I felt confident that I could heal enough in simple heroics like VH and UK.

I was right. But how did I know I'd be able to cope? (I ran HoL with another team the other day, and although it was sucessful, it was also a bit of a wipe-fest).
The reason is "I know all of those players well". I've been in countless heroics / raids / encounters with that exact same team before. And I know what Vind is like as a player, I know he's a more than capable tank. I know that Vedd is a Rogue master, since he's been playing one for years, I knew that Kaleo (Biafra's Shammy) could hold his own, since I've teamed with him several tinmes in the last week. And I knew that Spud (on Dups) knew how to be a DPS DK. So I had faith in myself, because I had faith in my team.
If it had been made up of guildies, but ones that I didn't know very well, I wouldn't have offered to heal, because I wouldn't have felt it was possible.

These are my freinds, and I have faith in them.

After VH, Vind and Vedd needed to leave. A quick shout in guild-chat got us two instant replacement DPS. Tins (an officer) and Argas (on Xerxis) (Non-Officer). Both of whom I've teamed with god-knows how many times before.

Now at this point some people will moan. They'll say "Well, whenever I ask for groups, I never get any replies, or if I do, they take forever to set up... How come when an officer asks they get a group straight away?!"

The answer is simple. The officers, ex-officers, and the players who have been in the guild for years are established and respected. People know what they are capable of, and know that they are reliable and skilled. If 'NoobyJohn' joins the guild tomorrow and starts spamming guild-chat asking for groups, people aren't always going to jump to help him, because they're not sure if it's going to be a wipefest, or if that new guildy is a fun person to play with.

So given the choice, what would you do?

More Examples:

For this next section: If you're an officer reading this, imagine you're not an officer. If you're not an officer reading this, just imagine you're you.

Your freinds, who you've been playing with for years, are discussing whether to run a heroic, or do some other fun thing. You're obviously going to be welcome to tag along with them. And you know it'll be fun, and you'll get emblems and drops, even if things don't go well.
'NoobyJohn' is online, and is asking for a group for a Heroic Nexus run. You need an epic drop from the Nexus. And you know that your freinds group definitely won't be going there, because one of them did it earlier. What would you do?

Put yourself in the position of 'NoobyJohn' who's not an officer, and has only been in the guild for a few weeks / months:

'NoobyJohn' thinks this guild is crap. He logs on every day this week, and he's been dying to get a Heroic Nexus run to get a quest item, and hopefully the random epic he knows drops from Kerestraza.
He feels that he's being ignored by the rest of the guild. And maybe he is. Because while he's been begging for a Heroic Nexus run, Lisje has been asking for a Voilet Hold run. But NoobyJohn didn't think to volunteer to help her instead.
He'd still have got emblems, and random drops. And he would have shown to the other guildies, who have no idea who he is, that he can be trusted, and is a reliable player.

Now put yourself in the position of an Officer / Ex-Officer / One who you consider to be 'Elitist':

We'll use Grenth as an example (no offence Grenth). Grenthal is grinding dailies for cash, and for that hard to reach Sons of Hodir rep. He needs about 2k gold for his epic gems and 'enchantment of uberism' on his epic socks. He sees NoobyJohn asking for a group, and considers it, but he wants to focus more on improving his bank balance. So doesn't reply.
Vind then logs on, and asks for a group for a group for Violet Hold. Grenth immediately offers to help Vind out... Why?
Because Grenth is a player too. He knows Vind well, and he knows that any run with him is probably going to be quick and succesful. He'll happily put aside his rep and gold grind for a short while, because Vind has helped Grenth recently in instances that Grenth needed and Vind didn't. Grenth will also make a profit out of the run, because he knows it won't be a wipe-fest. And while he's wearing his Wyrmrest tabard, he'll also be gaining rep towards the dragon he'll eventually pick up.
All NoobyJohn sees is Grenth immediately jumping to the assistance of Vind, he sees Elitism, and it pisses him off.

I garauntee that if NoobyJohn had helped Lis out one day, and wasn't a complete arsehole, Lis and the others he'd teamed with would be much more willing to help him out next time he asked.
If the runs he's involved with keep going well, before long, he'll find himself able to get a group much more easily.

Now NoobyJohn isn't the only one seeing this problem, people who've been in the guild for a while, also see the same thing. But put yourself in the position of others, and then decide if they're being 'Elitist Pigs' or they're just doing what you would do.

It's a 'Game'. People play games for fun. People play games with their freinds. Freindships take effort.

And if, after reading all this, you still think that we're all snobby, stuck-up, arse-licking, brown-nosing, elitist bastards... ... ... Tough Shit. (There's only so much explaining I'm prepared to do).