Dreamt of a MMO pacifist guild called “Sisters of Joy”. All were clerics, spec’d to a pure Holy tree. They had a pink tabard, and most of the toons were female. As a guild, they specialized in crafting cloth armor, bandages, and bags. Their mounts were unicorns and they looked absolutely adorable.
The hardcore PvP guilds and the griefing guilds hated them. The Sisters of Joy were at the top of every KOS list, with bounties including legendary items for a proven kill.
Why were the Sisters of Joy, a guild that was literally incapable of doing anything more than 1 point of damage per strike, if they were even capable of striking at the time, so completely despised?
Where the Sisters of Joy were, no griefing happened. The members of the SoJ had leveled up solely from providing healing services. Only enough quests to gain access to the Holy tree were performed. After than, it was old fashioned grinding. No dungeon runs. No raid support. They would roam the zones and areas in twos and threes, healing and buffing anyone they came across. Including NPCs.
Raiding the newbie zones? Not if the Sisters of Joy were present. Not only did they heal faster than what damage could be done, they were not completely defenseless. While they could not directly attack, the higher levels had a series of spells that would fuck up aggressors.
“Anger Management” removes all offensive buffs, regardless of who or what placed them. So that Tier 3 set bonus? Guess what, the only way to get it back is to remove all the gear and then put it back on again. Sure you want to do that in a elite zone?
“Wracking Guilt” not only disarms the target, but lowers the offensive strike to 1. Not 1dps. 1 per bare-knuckled strike. No way to get around the timer on that one. You just have to sit down and think about your life choices until the debuff wears off.
“Divine Rejection” won’t let you hang around though. It teleports the target away from the caster for a set distance. Where the target appears depends on what mobs and/or flagged players are at the set distance. Divine Rejection will drop the target in the worst possible spot. If the caster is a high enough level, the target can be dropped into a different zone entirely.
I wasn’t a part of that guild. I was a lone newbie, grinding through the first ten levels of mage so I could specialize into my favorite class. ‘Lock4Lyfe. Eternal Necro. Mage + Pet just makes me so happy.
I was so close to level 10. Just a dozen more of these generically threatening spiders and… shit. Griefers plow through the low level zone, throwing AOEs everywhere and generally fucking shit up. They were camping the NPC spawn points and mocking any player that asked them to stop so they could continue their quests.
Guess I’m done playing for the day.
Bright lights surround my toon and for a moment I’m deafened by the sound effects. The Sisters of Joy are here. While the higher levels inform the griefers of the errors of their ways, the lower level SoJ take turns buffing everyone for maximum experience points.
Someone levels. We all /applaud and /cheer for the leveled SoJ.
“Hey. [Keri]. Didn’t you go by [Old WoW Character]?”
“Maybe. Who’s asking?”
“Gunning for warlock again, eh? You always have the same visual style to your toons. Surprised you’re not using the same name template.”
“That was a loooong time ago. Several lifetimes in a way. I’m surprised you remembered me.”
“Yea, well, I also remember the shadowpriest you played. Wanna reroll and join [Sisters of Joy]? If anyone can maliciously heal, it’s you. I can have you at 10 levels short of max in a week.”
Wait. I’m dreaming. This isn’t about a game. It’s about a mindset. What is she really asking of me? Something I can’t give anymore.
“Nah. I quite enjoy turning my opponents into indeterminate puddles of goo. The road of the paladin is too strict for me. I need to be able to go when I want to go and do what I want to do and not worry about upholding someone else’s ideals that are fundamentally incompatible with mine.”
She refreshed all the buffs on me. “Okay. If you ever change your mind, or want a different challenge, look me up. You’re instant vetted with me.”
The griefers had left already. Voluntarily or not, it wasn’t my problem. I had quests to turn in. Ding! Level 10. Do I want to specialize? Hell yea! Gimme my pet!
I hesitated over the accept button.
I have always played a ‘lock.
But I have done quite well as a priest/cleric class when I had to. (Read: When the main healer SUCKS ASS.)
Who am I playing this game for? Me, or those that know me? My personal specialization makes me an awkward fit for guilds and pickup groups. Thousands of forum posts have a template for the perfect PUG, and the specs that each class in it should have. Don’t have that spec? No PUG for you.
But those that took a chance and grouped with me found me to be a very competent soloist, and an adaptive group player. My non-optimized spec often did greater DPS than the forum suggestions for no other reason than I paid attention to the game. When something happened outside of the expected script, I could adapt and at least buy the group time to recover, where the optimized spec would shatter like the glass cannon it was built to be.
She’s right. I’d make a vicious Sister of Joy.
But I’d make a better me.
“This decision can not be changed once you accept. If you do not like the choice you have made for yourself, you will have to create a new character and start over. Are you sure you want to continue?”
Yes.
~click~