Despite the brevity of my journey with STC after 45 days, it truly has been a memorable journey with several instances that resulted in pleasant moments of introspection. But that is just how I am, processing the myriad of permutations for any given situation.
Reflecting back on the last month and a half, there were some challenges that I did not quite anticipate. Ever since being involved with MMORPG’s, I had always done so with a good number of real life friends. I would not have that safety net this time. Needless to say the trepidation about jumping into a larger tight knit guild was fairly significant.
One of the fondest aspects of my future gaming family was how there was no shortage of individuals who helped make me feel welcome. It is not a specific moment in time that has stood out to me as a singular memorable moment, but rather holistically the synthesis of competency, friendliness and selflessness that has been most impressive.
Speaking to the above, I enjoy how participating with this Guild pushes me out of my zone. This manifests itself in ways that are both comfortable and not, but regardless were instrumental in making me a better player.
One of the ways that are comfortable include working the logs of encounters to see what is working for me and what is not. Having such a wide array of skill players involved, gives me an enormous amount of data to mull over. An example of which is during raid encounters, I am able to better analyze my approach and refine, or completely retool, from the theoretical knowledge gleaned third or fourth hand from various sites external to the game. Being pushed by players who consistently perform better (especially all the wonderful guilded Shadow Priests in STC) is wonderful and certainly prevents me from being complacent.
Socially I am pushed in ways that are unfamiliar to me. Not having the real life interactions at work or on the phone as a crutch for being social is certainly a work in progress. Even outside of gaming I am hardly a social person (for those curious, I have tested INTJ on the MBTI for the last 2.5 decades at least) and it is difficult for me to open up in nearly any environment. But in the World of Warcraft, being too 'into my own world' truly diminishes one of the most important offerings from the game. I enjoy how STC pushes me to interact more.
But the important part of the above tangents is that constant push towards improvement and to strive to perfection. That being said, these deliverables from the Charter have certainly hit the mark. I have not been disappointed in the slightest during this short time with the Guild. Everything from inclusion in raids, the mentoring provided by Jethaya, and small squad activities (like hitting Gold Defender with Messy and Gaunt) will all be recalled with fondness in the years to come.
Overall I could not possibly frame my satisfaction with the Guild to this point in a paragraph or two of simple words. It truly has exceeded all my expectations and would look forward to spend the remainder of my WoW experience with Saints of the True Covenant.
