Gates of Dawn IRL

Top Row: Rawne, Calinette/Darwe, Garaba, Supersamerai.
Bottom Row: Kady (me), Nayana, Alindras/Lafeal, Alendia/Dramada.
Very Bottom: Heap/Drenath

I was lucky enough to have a friend (Nayana) get me into WoW, I didn't have to start out completely on my own and make too many n00b mistakes. I still made them, just not as many. Like, I didn't know about the recruit-a-friend program, so when I started up my account, I didn't give Nayana credit and we didn't get the cool bonuses.

Anyway, we've all known each other for a long time, some more than others. The guys all met in high school, us girls came a little later. Alendia and Alindras met in college, she was the first girl to join the guild. I came next, followed shortly by Nayana. Calinette got Heap into WoW first, and the rest followed eventually. Super and I were last, the others had a significant level lead on us, but we quickly caught up and even made it to 80 before a few others. The name of the guild was voted on before Super and I started WoW, it was Alindras' name that was chosen: Gates of Dawn.

I like that it's just us in our guild. I once made the comparison that it was like going to the playground with your friends and discovering that you have it all to yourselves. There's a certain freedom about having a guild with people you know in real life. We address each other by name constantly, it's only when in a group with pugs that we really use the toon's name. It's ok for us to make mistakes and learn at our own pace, there's no pressure to be perfect the first time around. It was also nice to level and have friends who were higher, definitely made things easier when you have a level 50 running you through Deadmines and Stocks. Or having a blacksmith make weapons for you. Before I knew about QuestHelper, it was nice to have someone who had quested through a zone to help me out.

For the most part, we all live in the same state. Heap is the farthest away, a whole bunch of states over. WoW has been a cool way to stay in touch, whether we're all in the same state or not. We raid regularly, at least once a week and we're trying to make it more than that. My schedule is the worst for it, working at the restaurant. I work mostly evenings, which is when everyone else is free, so multiple raid nights doesn't happen too often. I'm hoping to have a real job soon, but at this point, whatever paycheck I can get is fine by me.

So that's why Gates of Dawn is awesome. We had one person from WoW join the guild, he was looking for a guild to join, but we were too casual for him and he felt like an outsider since we all knew each other anyway. It's back to being the 9 of us now and I do kinda like it that way :)