Do we want it on a plate?

I HAVE been reading of late some of the info spilling out about Nihilum – which has now merged with another guild and called itself Ensidia. In the middle of it all has been the inevitable stories of splits, rows, people flouncing off and others getting chucked out.

All very entertaining.

It’s sort of comforting to know that this elitist hierarchy is subject to the same frailties as we mere Wow mortals.

In the stratosphere in which these guilds operate there is a striving that goes on. They want to be the first to clear game content – the instances, the raids et al.

I was interested in a couple of articles, brought to us courtesy of Larisa, which gave a mere glimpse into the mindset of these guys - pinkpigtailinn

Part of it involved working out the bosses for themselves. Well I guess they had to if they were going to be first!

I will never be a hardcore raider – I don’t have the time for a kick off, or the inclination, to be honest. But I could buy into this ethos of pioneering and being first.

Being a competitive individual in RL (I have the sporting trophies and medals to prove this) it appeals to a side of my nature.

At the launch of WotLK there was a huge rush to get videos out there of how to take down this boss and that boss. What nasty tricks they unleashed on you, where you had to stand, lie or run at certain stages.

And the question that popped into my mind was this:

‘Do we really want it all laid on a plate for us?’

If you go by the amount of info available ‘out there’ the answer would seem to be: ‘Yes we do.’ But I’m not so sure.

Sure all bosses are hard, relatively speaking, depending on where your guild is at, but it doesn’t mean we want someone to hold our hand through the encounter.

The temptation to run to Wowikki for the low down, or to charge off to Matticus or TankSpot to ‘watch the video’ is, dare I say, an easy option. But aren’t we missing something here?

We may not be Nihilum – sorry Ensidia – but it doesn’t mean to say we don’t have a brain.

Dare I suggest that if we’re prepared for the wipes and cost of repairs, there’s a lot of fun to be had going into raids and instances ‘blind’ and actually work out the fights for ourselves.

Our guild actually did that the first time we went into Nexus and Utgarde Keep and it was absolutely fascinating to watch the initial fights and then work out what was going on and how to take down the bosses.

The sense of satisfaction, let me tell you, was HUGE.

Sadly it has been near impossible to maintain that, because as we’ve progressed, the faster-levelling guildies have invariably run stuff with pug groups and so they ‘have the knowledge’ or others have got bored with the wipes and the workings out and run to Wowikki.

I sometimes wonder that if we engage our brain a little more, whether running instances and raids ‘blind’ would actually stir something deep within our being.

Or maybe we do just want it all served up on a plate and ready to consume.