The Cards Maketh the Man

It wasn't too long ago that I posted about the requirements to be an AQ40 raider, and my thinking that it would be a second job to simply keep up with the raiding requirements.

Well, I can confirm that yes, it does take a big chunk of your time to keep up with raid requirements.

At least the guild I raid with (or tolerates me, there are times I can't decide which) doesn't require flasks, but the requirements certainly cost a ton on the auction house. And to be fair, were it not for flasks --and their components-- costing so much* I'd not have been able to generate the gold to cover all the items needed for the other day's AQ40 raid.

It kind of left me hoping that I'd not be called off the bench for Monday's raid so I could preserve the pots and whatnot for another week.

After all, I was second off the bench that night. I figured that I'd sit around, play some solitaire, and once I was released I could go do some fishing for a while and collect mats for the Elixir of Greater Firepower.

About 10 minutes before invites were to be sent out, however, I got a ping from the raid leader that I'm #1 on the depth chart and I had a good chance at being called up. 

Oh.

I finished the farming I was doing, switched over to Card, collected the mats I'd bought, and headed off to Ahn'Qiraq.

***

I wasn't kidding about playing Solitaire.**

Yes, I know I need to clean the carpet.
(And no, the stain wasn't caused by me.)
However, I couldn't rent a cleaner throughout
the Summer due to that Covid-19 thing.

And yes, I suck at Solitaire. To be fair, most random Solitaire deals from a real deck of cards aren't solvable, so it's more of a method to keep yourself grounded and the mind occupied while waiting.

I kept checking to see if I was invited, but so far nothing. And then I got a whisper that one of the raiders hadn't showed up yet, so be ready.

And in a couple of minutes I got the invite. I put away the cards, saluted the raid leader (who was outside), and ran on in.

How'd it go? I thought the raid went pretty well. We got to Phase 3 on C'Thun, and I'm sure we'll take it down next week.

I got teased a bit by some of my friends in the raid, with one of them whispering "You are becoming one of us" repeatedly, which made me laugh. 

There were a couple of items that dropped that I was interested in bidding on, but I decided against it because a) I'm not a regular member of the raiding team yet, so I'd rather the item go to someone who is, and b) I had issues getting the Weakauras widget that was created for handling loot on this specific raid to work. So while I could see the loot, I didn't want to take up any more time in raid to fuss around with my inability to use the widget when we could be out there slaying internet dragons. Or Old Gods; your choice.

It was the same belief that I took into the raid last week, when I had friends kicking me in the ass to roll on a mount. I'm the guest, and until I become a regular raider I'll wait until others get theirs first. I'm not going to be known as "that guy" who showed up, got a mount or some gear, and split. I've too much self respect for that.

***

Compare and contrast with the Molten Core run on Az last night.

I've been coming to that raid for a couple of months now, and Az has gotten pretty far in collecting T1 gear. However, I still need to upgrade my other stuff, such as rings and weapons. And tonight should have been a bonanza, as I was the only Rogue in the raid for the first half of the run and the Rogue who showed up in the second half of the run was already BWL level geared. 

But naturally the WoW gods had other ideas.

With the exception of the shoulders, every drop up until Ragnaros was something I'd already looted before, and I'd seen numerous times already. But the shoulders' drop was worth the wait, as I'd lost a roll on those twice now.

Still, when Perdition's Blade and the Band of Accuria both dropped on Ragnaros, I pinched myself.

So, the Perdition's Blade came up for a roll, I rolled and waited for the timer to end. As the other Rogue there had one already, I was confident that I was going to walk away with this one at least.

Then another person outrolled me.

That's when all hell broke loose.

On one side there were people arguing for the Warrior who rolled for the dagger. He was a fairly fresh L60, and for him the Perdition's Blade would be a huge upgrade.  On the other side were people saying that the Perdition's Blade was a BiS Rogue dagger that's useful up until it can get replaced in AQ40. 

The chaos went on for close to a good 5 minutes, until the raid leader reasserted control and said she'd let me decide if I wanted it or not. 

For me, it was a no-brainer. I'd already won an item, the Warrior rolled and won, so it belonged to him. Whether or not he should have rolled is beside the point; he rolled, didn't have any other wins, and he won the roll.

Almost immediately afterward I got whispers from people basically saying "How could you pass that up? It's BiS!!"

Because I'd rather have a clean conscience than a BiS item, that's why. 

***

I play the game to have fun, not to Win All The Things. When it stops being fun, then I have to consider either changing my in game behavior or move on. 

And I guess that's what I don't get: when you quantify "winning" as in "winning all that phat loot", then you can deviate into ethically questionable territory. 

Like the time that two friends of mine back in college decided to cheat at cards so that they could win at Euchre.

Oh yes, that did happen.

And it went on for at least a month or two before another friend noticed their signals between each other while my roommate and I were buried in our cards, looking them over for possible moves. That other friend started laughing, and then after the hand was played he pointed out the cheating. My roommate was hurt, but I was infuriated.

We didn't play for money, and we didn't play for booze or anything either. We just played to have fun. But winning was so important to them that they felt they had to have that extra edge, and that's what hurt. And here I was thinking that my roommate and I were just having some long droughts of bad luck, but no, the reality was a lot different.

I've never forgotten that feeling of humiliation, betrayal, and anger. That's why I play games the way I play, so that others know that when they win, they've won fair and square. That there's no recourse for accusations afterward. And so that everybody knows that any winnings are rightfully gotten on both sides. You could argue that I've taken that to extremes and that I should assert myself more, but in the end I have to live with myself. And in the dead of night, when you're trying to sleep, your conscience can be pretty damn loud.

*Thank you, Dreamfoil, for costing so much.

**When I say "Solitaire", I mean "Klondike". That's the game that was known as Solitaire when I was growing up, and whenever I pull out a deck of cards to play, that's what I play.