I had a Frost Mage apply to Last Call. Super friendly, very put-together, and it was apparent to me that she was someone who loves raiding. She told me she was ready to leap Mythic. She had been raiding with a guild she really cared about, but they were still stuck somewhere around that mid-Heroic level and hadn’t obtained AotC yet. Meanwhile, she had been pugging the later bosses and dipped her toes into early Mythic. Honestly, that alone tells me she’s got that drive.
Her goals lined up with ours: She wanted to push as far into Mythic as possible, maybe even snag Cutting Edge. That’s precisely the mindset we’re building around here. I checked her logs and it was enough to warrant a conversation. Clearly knew what she was doing. We ended chatting for about 30 minutes and discussed raid expectations. I asked her a few questions, and she had some of her own about our raid environment and if IO shaming was a thing. I actually never heard of that term before our conversation. Anyway, I thought she’d be a great pickup. I usually sleep on applications for a day before I reply, just to give it a bit of breathing room.
But the next day, I saw she had pulled her app.
Turns out, she had a change of heart and found another team that was also doing Mythic, but at a slower pace. It was more of a mid-tier Mythic guild, not one gunning for CE right out of the gate. She realized that she might not be quite ready for the pressure and expectations that come with a Cutting Edge-focused group. She still wanted to improve and work toward it, but she wanted to do it at a pace that felt right for her.
And honestly? I respect that.
It sucks because I felt she would’ve been awesome with us. At the same time, I admire the self-awareness it takes to step back and say, “You know what? I want to be CE, but I’m not quite there yet.” That’s such a rare thing. Most players I come across just want to fast-track their way straight into endgame and assume they’ll figure it out once they get there. Some do. A lot don’t. They end up overwhelmed or frustrated because they skipped the part where they learn how to actually raid Mythic.
The ambition is great, but being honest with yourself about your readiness is pretty crucial, too. Taking the slower path might ultimately end up being faster in the long run. Hopefully our paths cross again one day.