It’s time to move on.
November 2, 2009 § 2 Comments
There’s a Tom Petty song I’d like to quote from if I may;
It’s time to move on
It’s time to get goin’
What lies ahead I have no way of knowin’
But under my feet baby, grass is growin’
Yeah, it’s time to move on
It’s time to get goin’
I have decided to step down as the guild leader of Higher Education. I don’t want to make a big thing of it or go into long winded details. But I wanted to state on the record that I’m turning over the reigns to Wizzbang.
The rest of this post is meant for the members of Higher Education. I won’t stop people from reading it, but from here on I’m talking directly to them.
I have two reasons. The first is I no longer feel the same dedication and drive to lead the guild and feel that I am doing a disservice to my guild-mates by claiming the role of guild leader when I am no longer filling that role. I’m just burned out on it.
The second reason is I’m just not having fun anymore. And since, ultimately, this is a game I decided than rather that go into a whiney tailspin where I complain about it (especially on my blog) I would just give up what’s making me miserable and go after what makes me happy.
While I will be leaving most of my alts in the guild (if Wizzbang is ok with that–after all, he’s in charge now), I will be removing Thistlefizz. I have long wanted to elevate him from the 5-man heroics world to the frontier of 10-man raids. And the hard honest truth is, that’s not going to happen if I stay in Higher Education. Don’t get me wrong, that guild is full of good, fun players. But the truth is, most of them have schedules that make it too difficult to make it to regular runs–and that’s totally fine. They have made the decision that raiding (or at least all the things that come along with raiding) is not for them. If, however, that changes in the future, I will be more than happy to help them out.
I do want to address one comment/question that will undoubtedly come up (whether vocalized or not). In the past I have been rather vocal in my disdain about those who have ditched the guild for a raiding one. I don’t hide the fact that this upset me. I had said that if all the people who had left for a raiding guild had actually stayed with us and helped get things started, we’d probably have a 25-man progression team going. And so I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a few people who think what I am doing is the exact same thing and that it’s a little hypocritical of me. And maybe this situation isn’t all that different–it certainly gives me better perspective from the point of view of those who have left in the past. However, the big difference I see is that I didn’t ding 80 and then bail. In fact, for the past year and a half I have tried everything I could think of to get a full-time 10-man raid team going–because that’s what people told me they wanted. The guild members said they wanted to raid. So I gave them every opportunity to do so. I made sure I personally was ready to step into the starting raids, and that I knew the fights (not just for my role, but for dps and healers). I did my best to get other people geared as well. I tried to accommodate everyone’s schedule. But in the end, we never got past 5-man heroics. And like I said, that’s totally fine. If they are unwilling or unable to put in the time and effort the is required for raiding that’s ok. That doesn’t mean they are terrible people or bad players. However that does mean that raiding is not going to happen.
I have also considered the possibility that one of the reasons Higher Education’s raiding team never got off the ground was not due to the lack of effort/commitment the guild members, but was due to some lack in my leadership abilities. And if that’s the case, then it’s all the more reason for me to step down so that someone better suited can take the reigns.
Anyway, I said I didn’t want this to be long winded, and here I am babbling on and on. I’m just going to close with a personal message to the members of Higher Education: I still feel very close to all of you. You are my dear friends. I have had lots of fun with you all, and hope to have more fun in the future. I don’t harbor any bad feelings, or anything like that. I really hope that you understand why I feel like I need to take this large of a step, and I hope that none of you hold any resentment or negative feelings towards me. It was never my intention to cause drama or hurt anyone. On the contrary, I really feel like this is the best decision for everyone. And I’m sorry if you don’t feel like my blog was the appropriate place to do this, but I had to tell you somehow and since most people aren’t online when I am anymore, and since no-one seems to use our official website, this seemed to make the most sense.
I’d better stop now before I ramble on even further.
“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”
~Fizz
The Cranky Old Gnome 
The struggles you describe here with people leaving for raiding guilds is something my guild went through for so long.
It only stopped when two of our former guildies came back after spending time in hardcore raiding guilds and commited themselves to getting people raiding. They ran all the attunement runs through the BC heroics to get us into karazhan – we ended up with 4 10 man raid teams, and a 25 man team. But it was a long hard road – and at times very frustrating.
Even once we were raiding, we got (and still get from time to time) people leaving to go to other guilds who had progressed further.
I totally understand your frustrations, and your decision also – it’s not an easy one to make, even though in the long run it’s likely for the better – a burned out guild leader – if they don’t recognise it – can drag the guild down in flames. So even though I’m nothing to do with your Guild, just a reader of your blog, I salute you for the step you’ve taken. I hope all turns out well for you and the guild
Barryhn, The Ice Drakes, Draenor EU.
Thank you for your comment. Since I am burned out, dragging the guild down is the last thing I want to do. I didn’t make the decision lightly and had no intention of causing any drama. There was no big tell off or g-bank looting. I didn’t sever my ties with the people in the guild. I simply stepped down, in the hopes that someone better suited to the job can take the reigns and lead the guild in a way I never could.