Alone together in Molten Core

Teamwork! Discipline! Socialising! Fun! The world of hardcore raiding, for me, defies description by any of these words -- although a few months ago, before I'd ventured outside a five-man group, I would have imagined it to contain all of the above.

A recent Molten Core raid was a fine example of why endgame raiding can be one of the most boring things to do in WoW. I was assigned a role at the start of the raid (one which I generally don't like, but the raid composition was such that I was needed for it). For the next few hours I then constantly played whack-a-mole with health bars, with the frightfully exciting diversions of the odd combat rez or innervate.

Any outside observer would have been surprised to know I was playing with other people. The various raid chat channels were quiet, devoid of any backtalk to alleviate the monotony of healing. I felt like I was alone, and could have been surrounded by NPCs for the most part without noticing a difference.
Despite the quiet efficiency with which this raid sliced through every monster in sight -- despite the epic items that dropped, and the promise of more to come -- I spent the whole time wishing I was with my regular raid group, who wipe hilariously then pick themselves up to laugh about it, than sit stern-faced for hours clicking like a maniac. I'll take the "casual" style of raiding any day, thanks.