Decision time.

Both the guilds on Hyjal and Skywall wanted to trial me. Both GMs kept in touch with me very closely late last week, over the weekend and into the early part of this week.

I got to listen to the Skywall guild’s Monday raid for about 45 minutes, before I was interrupted by my building’s fire alarm… False alarm that still ended with the fire department banging on my door to make sure there’s no fire in my apartment. ><

I got to chat on Vent with the GM, healing lead and some random guildies from the Hyjal guild last week, which was fun.

I had my official Vent interview on Tuesday with the Skywall guild.

So, after the interview, I came away feeling like the GM of the Skywall guild is like a clone of me from BC-era. Combine that with no real issues regarding their healing… Well, it was with actual regret that I turned down the Hyjal guild.

I wrote to my RL friend the resto druid when I made my decision, as it was kind of late, and I know that she just wants me to enjoy this silly little game we play. So I told her what was going on, updating her that I’d be transferring on Wednesday afternoon.

Then I wrote to the GM of the Hyjal guild and expressed my apologies but that I had to do what I felt would be best for me and that was trying out the Skywall guild. He was very understanding, wished me the best and asked me to keep them in mind if things don’t work out.

Then I wrote to the GM of the Skywall guild who was pretty freaking excited about my acceptance of the trial.

So why did I choose Skywall?

Well, it’s not for progression. They are 7/12 HM, with no Dreamwalker, LDW, PP, Sindragosa or LK, obviously. The Hyjal guild is 8/12 HM, having snagged Dreamwalker.

It’s not for consumables. The Hyjal guild, which has previously gold-capped their guild bank, offers all the consumables you could want and a generous repair budget every night. The Skywall guild offers cheap consumables of your choice (10g/flask, up to 12 a week, which is how many hours they raid) and a repair budget only on progression nights.

What IS it for?

The people. A GM who reminds me of me, more than a little bit, in that she and her officers try to mold people who are having trouble instead of just tossing them out with last week’s newspaper.

The healers. A GM who can solo-heal 4 marks on Saurfang. A resto druid healing lead who is apparently exceptional. A versatile priest who happily does anything requested of him.

The lack of a holy paladin. I know, this sounds weird, because I was DYING for a third holy paladin in my other guild, but the Hyjal guild has a couple of holy pallies. The Skywall guild has NONE. Going in to a guild and being someone they can rely on to keep their tanks up means a lot. They’re really just lacking the strong direct heals a paladin brings, that’s the only reason they don’t have Dreamwalker down and so the idea of being able to help them out on it is really appealing. I WANT a strong healing team and I want to be a part of that team. It’s not really about recognition so much as it is about knowing that Kurn … or Madrana, really… is there and will do what she can do keep her targets alive. In my current guild, I’m interchangeable, from a leadership standpoint, except when it comes to my RL friend. I really want the Skywall people to know that I know my shit and I do my job and I want to be that solid rock for them.

Because I LIKE them.

I don’t even know most of them. But I like them.

And I WANT to keep them alive. Which makes all the difference in the world.

(They are, of course, still recruiting for a holy paladin, because they recognize that they’re going to run into trouble with 0-1 holy paladin.)

So I need to farm a bunch of stuff, buy some cheapish raw gems now and then transfer over with some cash, lots of gems and get to making some money!

Tomorrow, I’ll initiate the transfer, then post on my guild forums and thank them for the opportunity to raid with them for the last ten months.

And then, to Skywall.