Hardcore Casually Raiding

I really like raiding. After my guild dissolved, I basically stopped playing, since I didn't have anything to do. Despite pug raids not being quite as bad as they were once known for, they are still just angry conglomerates of people who all don't know each other. They are all just a means to an end for everyone in them, rather than being a group of players who are all familiar with each other joining up to enjoy time together.

typical pugs

I was pugging for awhile, but it was exhausting and unrewarding. There was no reason to hang out in a raid of random strangers killing bosses I didn't need. Considering the time it took to find groups, I spent several hours to kill just a couple bosses, especially since not every group would be successful. Pugging just doesn't amount to what raiding with a guild feels like.

I don't have the time to commit to applying to and impressing a new, serious raiding guild, but I don't want to join a guild lower than my standards just to leave them when I'm ready to start raiding seriously again. Ideally I wish that I could join a progression raiding guild and just show up periodically, but I'm fairly sure no guild exists where I could so wantonly just show up whenever I felt like without first of all being seen as a pompous ass, and second of all being completely disregarded as an actual raiding member.

I fully understand the selfishness of that kind of situation and don't expect to find it anywhere. There is gear I need, though aside from a few heroic ups, my only upgrades at this point would be from mythic. If I had to guess, there's no heroic-going-into-mythic guild that would take a DPS who isn't going to commit.

Ultimately, gear aside, I miss the camaraderie. There's no pleasant friendship factor to a pug raid, so joining a raid for content I don't need "just for fun" is complete nonsense. I had no issues joining my guild's raids through bosses I didn't need - I usually insisted on staying in the group even when I didn't need the content. I liked hanging out with them.

but less cuddling and more monster slaying

Luckily, I've been able to join some cross-realm raids with players I've met online. While I'm largely overgeared for the content they're raiding, it's fun for me to simply be in a raid with people who are all friends. I may not know them, but they know each other, and that is enough to simulate the feelings that predominately are absent in pug raids.

Since they don't have any exact roster size they need, my showing up or not showing up doesn't ultimately affect them, while I actually enjoy being able to show up and help them out. Last week, I helped Reciprocity on Chrommagus to get their normal Hans and Franz kill, which, sure, isn't a huge deal for me personally, but the excitement expressed by the raid members after the boss was downed is absolutely not something I'd find in a pug raid, a sentiment unique to a guild raid.

time to celebrate!

It's pretty cool to know I can tag along with a guild for a few hours here and there when I'm feeling sentimental. I'm not ready to find a new home yet, and I'm really adverse to transferring realms. I can't wait for 6.2 to see how that strikes me, but I actually think at this point I may not raid seriously again until next expansion. We'll see.