I Don't Have a Command Crew for the Shuttle: When Guildies Split

We don't have much of a guild anymore.

Phyona and I started a guild early on in our WoW days which we eventually built into a proficient raiding group. More than that, as it often happens, we made a lot of close friends. We spent so many highly entertaining hours together, it was a foregone conclusion that we would stay in touch regardless of the gaming platform.

Shortly after becoming one of the first few guilds on our server to down Nefarian, we collectively burnt out of raiding. Just about everybody in our 10-person raid core canceled his or her subscription, saying that we would try SWTOR when it came out. Over the next 11 months or so, we stayed in touch via Skype. Brief trials of other games didn't stick, but SWTOR still loomed in the distance.

How exciting it was, then, when we had nearly the whole crew on for the Old Republic's launch. Guild chat was lively, we were running flashpoints, and it felt great.

But gradually, the number of guildies online started to dwindle. Then, Nazbur and Berugrim announced they had canceled their SWTOR subscriptions. Nazbur in particular had been such a huge part of our guild, usually functioning as our raid leader. I had spent countless hours formulating strategies with him in WoW, and I count him as one of my best friends.

Naz and 'Grim are what you might call "powergamers." They like to put in a lot of hours, get loot, and gogogo. Plus, they don't particularly care about the Star Wars license. I probably should have seen their cancellations coming, considering that in SWTOR you can't top the charts (there are none) and the focus is on the journey rather than pure results. They were always saying how they were spamming spacebar to continue their "cleave."

Since then, other guildies have started experimenting with Empire alts. We've all become spread out in level, so flashpoints aren't as rewarding an endeavor as they once were. When I play, the game feels like Knights of the Old Republic 3, but with a bunch of juvenile people trolling a general chat channel. Don't get me wrong, I am still having a blast...

But Phyona, Dunquinn, and I need to figure something out. It might be time to migrate over to another guild. Though, after four years with our current guild, it's easier said than done.