Making an EPIC COMEBACK...to an empty guild.

I had to take a break, I just had to. My last 3 weeks of raiding in May '08 were frustrating. Raiding became job-like, and the rewards at the time were minimal. Rogue gear that I could've used was frequently being looted to a particular feral druid who seemed to have all the luck and favor of a particular officer. So raiding 4-5 times a week just wasn't doing for me anymore.

I took a break, a long one. I ignored the release of WotLK like a good recovering addict. Then I came to a point where my RL stability wasn't nosediving every 2 weeks, and I felt like it was a good time to get back into the game. I have more self control now, and I have all this new content to explore, so I felt I could finally enjoy the game again.

But yeah, my guild is...gone. We still technically exist, but it's essentially a dying alt guild. I leveled to 80 with no one to instance with, since my realm is also disgustingly Horde underpopulated. I had no one to help me familiarize myself with all the changes, so I've been spending alot of time I could be playing on WoWhead and various sites trying to figure everything out again. I dinged 80 2 days ago, but it felt so lackluster, no one was online to share it with, and I wasn't quite sure where to start. So I just picked up my priest alt to level to 80 in the meantime.

I'm stagnant on a crappy realm.

It's upsetting since it's always been difficult for me to find a comfortable guild. I've only been in 2 guilds, 3 if you count my noob nelf hunter days in all of my 4 years (on and off) of WoW.
I really value a good guild atmosphere. My old guild had it to a degree, but they've up and left.

It's also been a struggle to get a group to learn the strats for all these instances. My realm, as I've said, is completely Horde underpopulated. The groups I manage to find don't want a rogue who doesn't know the strats. I read them online, of course, but I still can't know what to really expect until I've run the instance before. No one cares. I feel like a leper.

I'm willing to transfer somewhere, I'm thinking I'll have to. But when I think of all the research and work I put into finding a guilds with a good vibe, and how whatever I find likely won't even want me, I wonder if I'm better off just quitting again. -_-

I'm open to any suggestions.

Don't be a quitter! - lol

You are going to need to do some research to find a guild that is right for you - with regards to where you are in the content, a roll you are comfortable fulfilling, raid times you are looking for (if you are wanting to raid), and an atmosphere that feels like home. It is out there for you if you are willing to fork out the dough for a transfer.

Start with wowheadhunter. There you will find people who put a lot of weight into how people "fit" into their guild's personality and structure.

If you are looking more for the nuts and bolts, check mmo-champion's recruitment forums. There you will likely just get a sense of how a guild is presenting themselves to the public, raid times, and overall information.

Also, visit the guild's website and poke around! Nothing proves a guild's organization and dedication to it's member's like their website. If it is an ugly mess, the guild is likely the same way.

If you put in the time to research the right place, talk with prospective guild management before making your decision, and stick with the decision, you will find the right place. Finding a new guild is sometimes like finding a new lover, it will be hot sexy fun loving at first... but the true nature of the guild will become evident over time.

Oh, and we are still looking for some peeps in Bound. I had to... lol

Grats on getting your life on track and being able to moderate your WoW time. Also grats on 80 I'm not sure if they're still looking for more people, but Stomp/haf started a guild on Staghelm. You can find posts about it on these forums.

Also i'd recommend browsing the WoW forums to find a guild that suits your play style/time. A key to keeping your WoW time managed is finding a guild that does what you want to do, when you have time to do it. i.e. if you work and have a family so you can only spend 8pm-10pm on game, find a late night guild that likes to do things during that time.

If you end up getting into a guild that raids from 6pm -12pm then it's very easy to get back into old habits.

I actually applied to Bound the other day for poops and giggles cause I love the show, but also understand you guys have grown alot lately and want to stay rather tight-knit (and my gear sucks). So I came to the Rawrcast forums to maybe find like-minded people to guide me toward some server options or something, lol.

I also didn't know MMO Champion had recruitment forums, so thanks for that!
+1 Observational skills on my part. -_-

And yeah, I've been pretty good about avoiding old habits (granted I haven't raided yet) by setting time limits on myself when leveling, because I was quite notorious for unintentional 10 to 12 hour powerleveling back in the day. I seem to have this affliction where I actually find leveling therapeutic. But I've also learned to put more time into RL hobbies, which for me is digital painting and art, so by setting aside time for that I don't feel like I've wasted my day, at least.

Generally, I think I've finally found a good balance of my time. Finding the right guild would just be icing on the cake. =9