Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Someone Picked at a Scab

I saw this video today about "what's going away when Wrath Classic drops"


And I was sufficiently annoyed at his flippant "if you're one of the 4 or 5 people on your server who doesn't have an Amani Warbear" that I felt it merited a response.

If you've got Hyjal / BT gear, then yes, Zul'Aman is "a pretty chill raid." Even if you're in SSC/TK gear, you should be fine. But if you're in a raid with primarily Phase 1 gear or quest greens + pre-BiS, ignore what WillE is saying. It's a raid that is highly dependent on gear checks and having the right composition --such as having a Priest to do periodic mass dispels on the raid during the Vol'jin fight-- that if you don't have those you're not going to finish the raid. 

And god forbid if your raid is caught in between about 6 other ZA raids --not to mention the other progression raids of other major guilds-- so most of the personnel for the critical slots (Tanks, Healers, the aforementioned Priest, Shamans) are already either locked or are busy. And those roles are ones that I have no desire to pug. I've been in enough pugs that I know that those roles are ones I want people I can trust with, and a random pug --assuming you can even put one together right now on the server-- isn't where you're gonna typically find them.

I suppose that the entire tone, which is a breezy "oh, this is some box you can check off before Wrath drops but everybody will have this anyway", really ticked me off. 

Probably a good deal of it was because I'm not going to get the "Hand of A'dal" title because I never got a Kael'Thas kill in Phase 2. I never show my "Champion of the Na'aru" title anyway, and I'd certainly never bother showing a "Hand of A'dal" title if I got it, but the fact that I did get it would mean something to me. And here was yet another reminder that one of the few personal goals I had in this expac --to raid up until Illidan was downed in Black Temple-- was not going to get completed just kind of set me off.

***

I guess what drives my obsession about this is something I remembered back in original Wrath.

Remember the blog I Sheep Things/Oh My Kurenai? I certainly do. 

And I remember Rhii's steady stream of updates on her guild's attempts to kill Arthas in ICC before Cataclysm dropped.

But more than anything else, I remember her despair at her realization that her guild wasn't going to be able to do it, and her GM --of all people-- took off to run with another guild and down Arthas instead of trying to finish the job in their own guild. 

As I wasn't a raider at the time, I could only offer some sympathy to her plight, but I didn't really experience it firsthand. When I was a guest on the Twisted Nether Blogcast back in ancient history, there was some disbelief that it was a big deal to down Arthas by the end, with the hosts thinking it wasn't that hard by then because of the buffs and whatnot, and because I knew Rhii's struggles I disagreed. Now I have found myself in her exact same situation, knowing that one thing you wanted to get but you aren't going to get it, that hurts. It's not like a kick in the shins, because that is intense for a brief period of time and then fades, but it's closer to a long, slow burn, like when you've got acid reflux. Even when you think you've put it behind you, it's still lurking to spring out when you least expect it. 

Like now.


8 comments:

  1. Ouch, I can't even imagine the frustration in that situation. I feel with you. Since I am in two guilds that usually has Malacrass as the end of the raid night (and many wipes before) I know the feels in some respect, I am just lucky I don't feel the need for a bear.

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    1. Yeah, I honestly don't want a bear myself, I just want to say I finished it. It's the scab portion, the constant needling reminders, that got to me when I saw that video. If nothing else I have a certain perverse degree of satisfaction in knowing that most progression guilds are getting their collective asses handed to them by Sunwell. I think that they pushed the Classic team again and again, and like the old saying, "Be careful what you wish for, because you might get it."

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  2. I had this comment back in BC (original) about stuff like that - whenever they embedded major lore inside of a 25-man or 40-man instance, "well, there's some lore I'll never see." - because my guild could barely, at the time, post a 10-person raid team. I was pretty bitter about it, TBH.

    Fortunately, I learned to cope.

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    1. Yeah, I know I'll cope with it, it's just that I thought it was behind me finally and then this happened. I guess I need to be more diligent.

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    2. My coping mechanism back then was to take a shot whenever Blizz disappointed me, and stop when I fell over punchy.

      My liver did not appreciate that. Working on ice cream now.

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    3. In my case, I suspect alcohol would be actually safer. But still, I can at least beat on somebody in a Battleground. The poor Druid I wailed on about 1/2 hour ago.... Alas....

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  3. I'm never a fan of people being flippant about the difficulty of progression content. If it's easy for you, good for you! Be proud that you're so well-geared and/or good at the game! No need to be so dismissive of those who aren't on the same level...

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    1. Yes, this. Obviously his audience is the high end progression raiders, but come on. Being dismissive toward those who don't have your advantages says more about you than them.

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