This weekend our guild decided to go take a run through AQ20. We got 12 level 70’s and a few 60-68’s together to do it. Only two of us had ever been in there before, so it was a fun run just to see a part of the game that we had missed.

A couple of hours before the run I got quite sick. By the time the run began I had that run-down-and-tired feeling that you get when you’re ill. I considered not going, but (a) I’m the guild leader, (b) I’m one of the most experienced players, and (c) our guild has gone through hard times lately so I wanted to be there when we had some fun together. So I dragged myself in there.

The run was enjoyable. It seems like it would have been a good time and a real challenge back when we were 60. As it was, the only boss that gave us trouble was Ossirian.

As I struggled to stay awake during the latter parts of the raid, it got me thinking. As bad as I felt, I definitely would have called in sick to work, passed up on any parties or social activities, and even avoided talking on the phone. But I still propped myself upright for a couple of hours in front of my computer for WoW.

I’m sure they could have done the raid without me. We were ten levels higher than the instance was designed for and mostly in Kara gear. Fourteen is as good as fifteen.  But I felt bad leaving them. I imagine that it would be even worse if it were a real raid – like Kara or ZA, where losing the top dps guy can really impact the success or failure of the run.

How do you call in sick to a raid? If you take the night off due to illness, and the raid gets canceled, do you feel bad? Do you find yourself forcing yourself to participate for the good of the other players?  I would have to be really, really sick to be to skip out on a raid.