Acoustic - Shaman (ACCEPTED)

Real Life Info

- Name: Skúli

- Age: 21

- Location: Reykjavík, Iceland

- Tell us about yourself: Student on his second year of a BA degree in literature at the university of Iceland. Polite, mild-mannered, young man.

WoW info

- Character's Name: Acoustic

- Class: Shaman

- Level: 0

- Intended spec at max level:
Probably something like this http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=hE0uVoMqAotLZV0ez (Elemental), since I already have levelled an Enhancement Shaman to 70.

- Previous WoW experience:
I’ve been attached to this game for a long time now. Through a friend from the failed mmorpg of SWG, I got into the closed European WoW beta, where I levelled a tauren Shaman on the pvp server. I went alliance for the open beta and levelled a night elf Rogue. I got acquainted with pretty much all the classes and decided on an undead Priest for retail. Due to some real life circumstances I ended up on a gnome Mage instead.

I invested a great majority of my time into the Mage but I always had the nagging suspicion that there were better classes, better roles. So I made some alts to try them out: a dwarf Priest (60) to heal on alt-raids, a gnome Warrior (60) to tank on alt-raids, an undead Rogue (60) to see the horde side properly, a draenei Shaman to be a hybrid in TBC (70), and various other classes to 50, 45, 38, 36, etc. My WoW experience is not so much about the classes, but rather the guilds I’ve been in.

My first serious raiding guild was The Nemesis (on Burning Blade, later Grim Batol, now disbanded). We formed out of smaller guilds in the autumn of 2005. For the next year and a half we did alright, progressed a few weeks behind the top tier guilds, at our own pace, nothing extraordinary. By the time we were doing the last part of AQ40 and the top guilds were in Naxx, we started losing some of the best geared people to other guilds. The reason for this was a bunch of drama and too boring to explain here; but despite a month of being stuck on the twin emps and guild morale completely in the can, I never gave up on the guild.

Eventually, through effort from me and the other officers, we got out of our depression and did the first part of Naxxramas (razu, anub, gwf, maexxna and noth) with around a third of the guild geared from scratch in the last few weeks. When TBC hit, we were optimistic, but looking back I should’ve realized we were burning out on the game. To tell the truth, a lot of these people were idiots and although we raided hard (every night of the week, until late at night) we had little to show for it because most of it was wiping to new bosses, wiping to old bosses, wiping to trash, wiping to things on “farm”, etc.

So The Nemesis fell apart in TBC. But as I’m sure you know, when a guild disbands groups of friends tend to stick together, and as the most vocal in our group of about 20ish people that had been dragging the rest of the guild through these raids, I was asked to make a new guild. We migrated and made one on Boulderfist called Novelty Hat, of which I was the guild leader. I don’t really consider myself a great leader, but I thought I could get this guild on its feet with some help from my friends.

I don’t think anyone can really understand what it’s like to be responsible for a guild unless they’ve been in that position. Well, long story short, the people I counted on to help me organize the guild didn’t put in any effort and we had some drama when a group of portugese-speaking only people decided to leave. Our breakdown was partially my fault, I’ll admit, but I tried again and again to get the people that were complaining to contribute and hey, maybe it was a bad idea from the start. Everyone I knew quit around then, and I didn’t play again for almost half a year.

Until now…

- Reason for rerolling:
I thought I was over this game but I guess I just crave validation.

- Please provide an armoury link to your most advanced character:
http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Grim+Batol&n=Petrosian

Misc

- What can you bring to Sacrament?
Dedication and experience. And I take that very seriously.

- What are your expectations of Sacrament?
People that can think, listen and put in some effort without whining.

- Do you currently have any applications to other guilds outstanding?:
No.

- What are your usual play times, and are you able to fit in with our intended raid schedule?:
Yes, I can generally play anytime from 16:00 to 02:00, sometimes earlier depending on the class schedule.

- Do you have a stable internet connection that can handle 25 man raids?:
Yes.

- Have you used Ventrilo/Teamspeak before?:
Yes.

- Have you read and agree with the guild rules etc in the 'Whats it all about?' thread?:
Yes.

- Anything else you want to add?:
I’ve been watching this effort for about a week now, going back and forth on whether I should appply or not. I’m aware you’ve announced a server and started, I’m confident I’ll be able to catch up, levelling has always been my strong suit.

Hello, thanks for your well written application.

Acoustic wrote:

Previous WoW experience:
I’ve been attached to this game for a long time now. Through a friend from the failed mmorpg of SWG, I got into the closed European WoW beta, where I levelled a tauren Shaman on the pvp server. I went alliance for the open beta and levelled a night elf Rogue. I got acquainted with pretty much all the classes and decided on an undead Priest for retail. Due to some real life circumstances I ended up on a gnome Mage instead.

I invested a great majority of my time into the Mage but I always had the nagging suspicion that there were better classes, better roles. So I made some alts to try them out: a dwarf Priest (60) to heal on alt-raids, a gnome Warrior (60) to tank on alt-raids, an undead Rogue (60) to see the horde side properly, a draenei Shaman to be a hybrid in TBC (70), and various other classes to 50, 45, 38, 36, etc. My WoW experience is not so much about the classes, but rather the guilds I’ve been in.

My first serious raiding guild was The Nemesis (on Burning Blade, later Grim Batol, now disbanded). We formed out of smaller guilds in the autumn of 2005. For the next year and a half we did alright, progressed a few weeks behind the top tier guilds, at our own pace, nothing extraordinary. By the time we were doing the last part of AQ40 and the top guilds were in Naxx, we started losing some of the best geared people to other guilds. The reason for this was a bunch of drama and too boring to explain here; but despite a month of being stuck on the twin emps and guild morale completely in the can, I never gave up on the guild.

Eventually, through effort from me and the other officers, we got out of our depression and did the first part of Naxxramas (razu, anub, gwf, maexxna and noth) with around a third of the guild geared from scratch in the last few weeks. When TBC hit, we were optimistic, but looking back I should’ve realized we were burning out on the game. To tell the truth, a lot of these people were idiots and although we raided hard (every night of the week, until late at night) we had little to show for it because most of it was wiping to new bosses, wiping to old bosses, wiping to trash, wiping to things on “farm”, etc.

So The Nemesis fell apart in TBC. But as I’m sure you know, when a guild disbands groups of friends tend to stick together, and as the most vocal in our group of about 20ish people that had been dragging the rest of the guild through these raids, I was asked to make a new guild. We migrated and made one on Boulderfist called Novelty Hat, of which I was the guild leader. I don’t really consider myself a great leader, but I thought I could get this guild on its feet with some help from my friends.

I don’t think anyone can really understand what it’s like to be responsible for a guild unless they’ve been in that position. Well, long story short, the people I counted on to help me organize the guild didn’t put in any effort and we had some drama when a group of portugese-speaking only people decided to leave. Our breakdown was partially my fault, I’ll admit, but I tried again and again to get the people that were complaining to contribute and hey, maybe it was a bad idea from the start. Everyone I knew quit around then, and I didn’t play again for almost half a year.

One thing I notice from all this is that you seem to have played mainly on PvP servers. In my experience, folks who prefer PvP servers are never happy on PvE, and 99% of the time dont end up sticking it. Is this something you have considered, and is it likely to bother you in the long run?

Quote :

Reason for rerolling:
I thought I was over this game but I guess I just crave validation.

Just so I'm clear: what you are saying is that you want to confirm that you are finished with WoW by levelling another character? I have to admit I find this slightly worrying. Is it likely that you are going to knock it in the head fairly quickly, or are you definately looking for a serious reroll? If you arent sure that you will stick it out, why should I accept you over someone who is more certain it is what he/she wants? Also, if you are just after validation, why not carry on with your mage? It has some nice gear, you could jump straight back into raiding without the unneccesary hassle of levelling up again.

Sorry if that sounds a bit harsh, but we do have other people interested in this shaman spot as well so I need to be sure.

Quote :

What are your usual play times, and are you able to fit in with our intended raid schedule?:
Yes, I can generally play anytime from 16:00 to 02:00, sometimes earlier depending on the class schedule.

Another thing I notice from your app is you seem quite a "hardcore" player. You mention that you formally raided 7 nights a week (obviously not a problem in itself, many of us have been there and done that). However, you dont give any reason why you are looking to play more "casually". With playtimes of 16.00-02.00 you will be online a great deal more than the majority of the guild, who only play outside of work hours; it is these types of people the guild has been set up for. You could join any number of "hardcore" guilds, rerolls or otherwise, so how come you chose to apply to this one?

Also:

Quote :

I’m aware you’ve announced a server and started, I’m confident I’ll be able to catch up, levelling has always been my strong suit.

What concerns me more is that with the hours you have available to play and if as you say you are something of a fast leveller, you might end up in a situation where you are quite a bit ahead of the rest of the guild. How will you respond to possibly having to wait around for others to catch you up when you hit 70 before any raids are scheduled?

Cheers.

Savant wrote:

One thing I notice from all this is that you seem to have played mainly on PvP servers. In my experience, folks who prefer PvP servers are never happy on PvE, and 99% of the time dont end up sticking it. Is this something you have considered, and is it likely to bother you in the long run?

I didn't roll on a pve server when the game was young, that's true. But the game has changed a lot since then, pvp and pve are basically meaningless labels after the addition of BG's and Arenas. I don't consider myself The only time during the last year that I've noticed I've been on a pvp server has been when I've been ganked while farming primals, and I won't miss that at all.

Savant wrote:

Just so I'm clear: what you are saying is that you want to confirm that you are finished with WoW by levelling another character? I have to admit I find this slightly worrying.

No, I meant I crave validation from the guild. In the sense that you're respected and useful. Doesn't everyone want that?

Savant wrote:

why not carry on with your mage?

After all my friends stopped playing, I realized I didn't really like playing the game for itself. What I did like was building a community and working together through thick and thin. In all the guilds I'd try to get into I'd always be the outsider coming in and having to catch up. I'd much rather start over and be in from the groundfloor.

Savant wrote:

Another thing I notice from your app is you seem quite a "hardcore" player. You mention that you formally raided 7 nights a week (obviously not a problem in itself, many of us have been there and done that). However, you dont give any reason why you are looking to play more "casually". With playtimes of 16.00-02.00 you will be online a great deal more than the majority of the guild, who only play outside of work hours; it is these types of people the guild has been set up for. You could join any number of "hardcore" guilds, rerolls or otherwise, so how come you chose to apply to this one?

I read that question as "possible play times" instead of "usual", woops. Basically what I wanted to say I'll be able to rearranged things to show up to raids, not that I spend 100% of my freetime in WoW.

I'm looking for a more casual schedule because school has become more demanding since the old days and my old habits sort of burnt me out on the hardcore aspects of the game. I can't go back to six hour late night raids and I don't want to.

Savant wrote:

What concerns me more is that with the hours you have available to play and if as you say you are something of a fast leveller, you might end up in a situation where you are quite a bit ahead of the rest of the guild. How will you respond to possibly having to wait around for others to catch you up when you hit 70 before any raids are scheduled?

I'll wait for the guild in case that happens. I'm not so hyperactive I forget why I'm rerolling if I'm left without something to do for a while. If I wanted to be a guildless 70 Shaman I'd go back to my alt.

Also, you guys don't seem like slow levellers based on your in-game numbers.

Acoustic wrote:

No, I meant I crave validation from the guild. In the sense that you're respected and useful. Doesn't everyone want that?

I see, my bad then. It read like you were saying you wanted to play again to check you didnt want to play anymore

Quote :

Also, you guys don't seem like slow levellers based on your in-game numbers.

Highest level after 5 days including a weekend is level 36; thats not particularly fast in my opinion. Also, although there are a handful of people online for most of the day, the vast majority only come online after 7ish game time and are around and about the level 20 mark. The last thing I want to do is accept powerlevellers who play video games all day everyday and would be more at home in one of the myriad "hardcore" reroll guilds that appear every 5 minutes Hence why I feel the need to check with people who state they have 10 hours a day free to play.

But as you have clarified, these are simply the hours you might play between, not neccessarily the ones you will.

Waiting on the opinion of another officer, bear with us for a bit please.

Savant wrote:

Highest level after 5 days including a weekend is level 36; thats not particularly fast in my opinion.

I thought you rolled on Monday for some reason.

Apologies for the delay.

We have decided to give you a trial in the guild, so welcome Whisper myself or Crilly in game for an invite.