We are now the collective proud papa of a 170-some person guild. Any kind of words I could use to talk about how successful this has been so far would serve as a massive understatement. We’re just completely blown away by how many have signed up, and what’s more, stuck around for the long haul (or in some cases, transferred their mains over). Everyone that’s joined so far has been a pleasure to play with and we’re excited to see that our target demographic for the strip is apparently the “experienced and polite WoW player” market.
We’ve had a few questions about the guild that we haven’t covered anywhere, and I wanted to write out more thought out answers than the hasty responses I’ve been giving in guild chat.
Q: Is Mike B in your guild?
No. Mike B (from Legendary) is not the same as Mike Owen. Yes, they’re both heavily into PvP, but they’re not the same guy. 
Q: Can I still join the guild?
Absolutely! We’re now at a membership level where there should almost always be someone online that can invite you in.
Q: Is the guild getting a Vent/Mumble server?
That’s in the works. Once we decide on a host we will let everyone know.
Q: Are you guys going to raid? PVP? What roles should I be trying to fill?
Ah, yes, the dreaded guild “mission statement”. Here’s what we can say for now: We are going to do everything in our power to avoid becoming a zerg guild that does nothing but serve as a secondary General Chat. Mike and I are throwing ourselves into Deeps More Deeping as hard as we can and staying involved. That also means that we are pushing towards full PvE and PvP factions within the guild. This is going to take a lot of work and some strong leadership on the parts of ourselves and whoever should rise through the ranks to assist. There’s no real answer at the moment as to what classes we’re low on or what professions you should be taking up. The best answer I have at this moment is to play what you enjoy and we’ll see how the guild evolves.
I do not exaggerate, however, when I say that we want to see Deeps More Deeping become one of the best and most accomplished guilds on our server. Without having a single 85 in our guild, that’s a long way off. But we’re in a unique position to believe that such a thing is possible, and we’d regret it in the future if we didn’t try.
Q: Does the guild have any rules I should know about?
- Don’t be a dick. Respect your guildmates.
- As the guild grows, to avoid driftwood, we’ll be removing characters that are inactive for 60 days. We’ll have a place on the forums soon to register if you have an alt you don’t play much that you’d like to spare that fate.
- Assume that everyone in the guild is female until proven otherwise in the photo thread. Seriously. I think the split is 70-30 female at this point. It’s awesome.
Any more questions can be asked on our Forum, or simply log on to Smolderthorn and join in!
Today’s strip came to us naturally because it sprung out of an actual discussion between Mike and I over Skype. I was tanking SM – Cathedral for the 8th time in 2 days, trying to get the Scarlet Leggings to drop (and not have them ninja’d by the Hunter in full heirloom gear for lulz). The fact that they hadn’t appeared again since the thievery was adding to the frustration, and then a DPS group deciding that the combination of my tanking and our Shammy’s heals meant we could take on the entire Cathedral at once. Or, as I joked about it afterwards, a “homebrew heroic mode”. We wiped, the healer left, and I was left 3 pulls away from finishing out the run. It was the final pinprick in a long week of impatient party members, afk healers, aggro stealers, and wiped fights without a rez to be found. I started swearing loudly, and Mike, the long-time Warrior and ever the understanding friend, started laughing at me. And this wasn’t a comforting “Don’t worry, it’s no big deal” laugh, either. This was an evil, maniacal, gutteral laugh that was meant to communicate one horrid thing:
You now know my pain.
It took years, but I finally did. I had never made the actual effort to tank. I had a single warrior before this (an arms warrior that only made it to lvl 52 named Cakeordeath) who would tank every once in awhile for giggles, and I had no idea what I was doing or cared to learn anymore. It was simply a distraction so I didn’t get too bored with my Mage. This time around, however, it was different. I was making a concerted effort and I cared about how I did. Mike’s dismissing gesture of “Meh, it’s not even real tanking yet” didn’t dissuade me from wanting to get through every single dungeon without a single HP removed from another party member.
Obviously, that’s not possible without the cooperation from the rest of the group, and as I quickly learned, you don’t always have it, and there’s not much you can do about it without some tough love, kick votes, or the simple resignation to the fact that this won’t be a perfect run. Like the female blood elf who insisted on healing only wearing a Back piece. (Vote to kick reason: “Nudity greatly offends me”.)
And so, I now understand a bit of the perspective of those tanks who have come before me, charging headfirst into mob after mob with the faith that the healer would be right behind and the DPS wouldn’t do anything to attract attention from those who they were pew-pewing from the background. I’m only level 40, so I certainly don’t have the full story yet. But my heart is oh so heavy for those who I have wronged in the past, and I shall pay my penance by continuing to do a better job from the front seat of every dungeon I run.
It is our extreme pleasure to announce that Mike and myself have formed a guild for The Daily Blink, otherwise known as Deeps More Deeping. We’ve already got a lot of questions on Twitter and on our Facebook page, so I’m going to try and answer the big ones here.
Q: Horde or Alliance? What Server?
A: That’s two questions, you greedy bastard. But they’re important, so alright: We are located on the Horde side of Smolderthorn-US. Our sincere apologies to our EU and Oceanic server readers who might otherwise want to participate. You are more than welcome to start a sister guild over on your side of the planet, we won’t mind. (Just don’t get ahead of us on raid progression, or I’ll never heard the end of it.)
Q: Why?
A: Why not? It’s one of the best ways for us to interact with readers other than repeatedly posting “Hey, check out our latest strip!” It also gives us an excuse to roll new characters. Mike is currently picking between a couple different options, but I’ve squarely decided to level a Warrior, to see if I’m capable of serving a role in a group other than “The OP Fireball guy who still only pulls 4th in DPS”. We have no current goals or missions, or a particular focus on PVP or PVE. We’ll roll with the punches and see how it goes, and of course post updates as we continue to progress back through the game.
Q: How do I join?
A: Hit us up on WoW for now. We’re working on some guild communications outside of the client, but with our current small numbers we’re keeping things simple. We’ll be sure to send out notices when we’ll be online and sending out invites. Mike’s character is Twaffle and I have my Warrior named Dynoblast.
Q: Can I transfer my character over?
A: We’re not going to tell you no, but we think you’ll have a lot more fun leveling along with the rest of us than sitting at 85 waiting for us to drag ourselves up to end-game level.
If you have any more questions, be sure to comment here or track us down in game. We’re eager to get people in on the silliness.
Those of you who are of a younger bent might be shocked to know that, once upon a time, you had to leave your house for the finest in video game entertainment. You could have a Nintendo in your home and stack thirty of the finest titles next to it, and if I asked you where the best video games were, you would give an answer that would never make sense today. The bowling alley. The place at the mall. The gas station. Or, if you were lucky, the Arcade.
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