Today, I transfered. New server, new faction, new guild. I have a lot of things to get used to. Haven’t really had the time to do anything with the guild yet—the next raid is on Sunday but I have no idea if they’ll be taking me. Not too many sign-ups so far, but I have no idea about peoples’ roles. In addition to that, I need to start reading up on some bosses as they are a bit farther in progress than the previous guild—which was the whole point: finding a guild who does progress at a more reasonable pace. But it does mean there is a whole lot of learning that needs to be one in a short amount of time.
The biggest thing to get used to though will definitely be the new faction: Horde. I have at times been Horde before, my first character was an Orc even. But I’ve always felt most at home with the Night Elves, which are Alliance. I did opt to stay an elf—this time of the Blood variety—which should hopefully lessen the blow, even though the two races are quite distinct. Unfortunately the Allied Races aren’t available yet, as the Nightborn might have made a good compromise though even that wouldn’t have allowed me to keep Shadowmeld, which is easily one of my favourite racial abilities. Shadowmeld is just so damnably useful, it can be used in mythic+ for trash to sneak a ressurect, to reset a boss when one is the last person alive or just to drop out of combat in the world when the “combat bug” rears its head again. At the same time—for pure performance in progress and utility in mythic+—the Blood Elven racial Arcane Torrent is probably more useful in more situations. But I care more about aesthetics and feel than pure performance, and in those categories there’s nothing that competes with Night Elves for me—Nightborne would just be crude imitations as the feel of the races are extremely different.
Beyond that, I am also leaving someone rather dear behind in my old guild and while we still will be able to chat not having our mains on the same faction will be a blow—he does have alts on Horde but it’s just not the same, especially after playing in the same guild for so long. The virtual closeness can be surprisingly important, especially since he physical closeness isn’t there due to distance.
In good news, I’m not alone on Horde. Two good friends of mine had already transferred over, their guild searches having led them to Horde guilds as well. Hopefully that makes the transition a bit easier, being able to play more with them again.
Good if strange times ahead, we’ll see where this year leads me. The beginning of last year started me on this path and it was the best decision I’ve made in a while, both personally and in the gaming space. Hopefully it continues being as awesome as it has been so far even if the rough times have been very rough.