Announcing – Big Crits

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LichKingby Stoneybaby

First of all I want to say a big thanks to Fim & Nib for letting me shout out to the TNB listeners about the Big Crits show. I’ve always been a huge fan of the show and the work they do for the WoW community. Thanks for keeping us together and more importantly entertained! [Ed: Aww.. Thanks]

As you may have read by now, I’m embarking on a new adventure. I’m starting up a new WoW guild, an end-game raiding guild called Big Crits. We’re going to start with a group of geared and experienced 80s from around the realms and dive in to tackle ICC. Here’s the best part: we’re going to record it all and make a web series about it.

I’ve written a lot on the subject already; there’s the post at WoW.com as well as some posts on the Big Crits blog, so there’s plenty to read if you want to learn more about what I want to accomplish with this show.

I kicked things off with a post on WoW.com and Big Hit Box about this project. It launched with a bigger bang than I could have hoped for, and I’ll tell you the weeks leading up to this I was freaking out.

I’m freaking out because I’m…

  • leaving the realm where I first started playing and leveled all my toons.
  • leaving my guild of 3+ years.
  • leaving a GM that I highly respect and would follow into battle IRL, and leaving the raiders that I love to play with.
  • changing factions and moving to a new realm where I have no friends and no knowledge of the player base.
  • investing a large chunk of cash into a recruitment video and editors for the show.
  • a show that doesn’t even have a cast!
  • a guild that doesn’t even have members!
  • I’M… I’M… WHAT AM I FRIGGIN NUTS?!!`1?!?~!?

Those were pretty much the thoughts I woke up to every morning and went to sleep with every night. When the recruitment video was delayed a week I have to be honest – I breathed a little sigh of relief. I thought to myself, “maybe I don’t have to take this chance. Maybe I can just stay in my safe, comfortable world.” Maybe maybe maybe.

But no. I committed myself to this path because I believe in it. I believe it’s the right time, the right thing, and if I don’t do it I’ll never forgive myself for not trying.

And so I kicked it off.

Since Tuesday night my inbox has been flooded with apps. It’s been an amazing start to the journey. We should have a full guild by Monday and start raiding (and recording) after raid reset Tuesday.

Now the next set of doubts creep in. You know that voice in the back of your head that does nothing but cast face-melting shadows. Come to think of it, taking chances is like fighting a Shadow Priest. There’s DoTs of worry and big critting moments of panic, Psychic Scream, Despair, and the Vampiric Embrace of self-doubt. The questions creep in:

  • What if it’s the most boring group of people ever?
  • What if everyone’s really cool and funny but die in the fire and can’t break 6k dps?
  • What if half the people quit the first week?
  • What if I suck as a GM?
  • What if the gold market crashes, the zeppelins fall out of the sky and Arthas /point /laughs at me?
  • What if…?

What if.

Fugit.

Here in NYC there’s a highly respected CEO whose rally cry to his people through the last few difficult years has been: “lean into the pain.” Make hard decisions. Have tough conversations. Face yourself honestly.

Definitely the hardest part of this journey was leaving my guild <Unorthodox> and those raiders. That was painful and a difficult decision to make. But it had to be done so I had to lean into the pain.

Times are tough IRL for a lot of us right now. I work in tech staffing and have seen and felt it firsthand. My advice is to you, whether in game or IRL is: Lean into the pain. Then buff up, flask up, check your weapons, and ATTACK!!

May all your hits be crits!

-Stoneybaby

3 comments to Announcing – Big Crits

  • I love the idea of a guild and raid leader saying they don’t know, but they’ll go hard. Kudos and I wish you the most excellent success.

  • I can’t wait to see the end result! I’m sure it will be a huge success.

    I wish I could apply to be part of the project myself, but I love my current guild too much to leave. I will, however, be following the show faithfully!

  • Awesome post… I wish you luck and a whole lot of soda pop for the late night raids and re-takes 🙂