- Take a moment today to fly about Northrend and apprecaite the landscape.
- Recycle something - I will apprecaite my recycled (heirloom) gear today
- Reduce / Reuse - Enjoy something that's been recycled - like armor graphics or the onyxia encounter
- Use my spring flower to plant some flowers
- Hug a tree druid
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Earth day
Here's my list of things to do today:
Note to Self
You can do Halls of Stone with four people.
Okay, we had five, but one was a bot. The Healer picked him out after the first couple of trash pulls. "Why is a Warrior with 5200 GS only doing 1000 DPS?" he asked in party chat. Then, when I went to go tell Bran to get a move on, I suddenly realized I had a shadow.
"He's on follow for you," the Healer whispered me.
Unfortunately, we couldn't kick him at the time because we had the "protect Bran" event going on.
"No heals for the bot!" the call went out.
Amazingly enough, the bot died second. We lost the Lock first, and then the bot.
For the last two minutes of the event, it was just the tank, myself, and the healer trying to keep threat off of Bran and keep ourselves upright. Kudos to the Tree who did the job.
We kicked the bot -it was set to Need everything too- and then we finished up with the last boss.
Stupid bots.
Okay, we had five, but one was a bot. The Healer picked him out after the first couple of trash pulls. "Why is a Warrior with 5200 GS only doing 1000 DPS?" he asked in party chat. Then, when I went to go tell Bran to get a move on, I suddenly realized I had a shadow.
"He's on follow for you," the Healer whispered me.
Unfortunately, we couldn't kick him at the time because we had the "protect Bran" event going on.
"No heals for the bot!" the call went out.
Amazingly enough, the bot died second. We lost the Lock first, and then the bot.
For the last two minutes of the event, it was just the tank, myself, and the healer trying to keep threat off of Bran and keep ourselves upright. Kudos to the Tree who did the job.
We kicked the bot -it was set to Need everything too- and then we finished up with the last boss.
Stupid bots.
The rise and fall...
Hello! I'm Satyana. I'm a new contributor to the blog. I hope that what I have to say is interesting or thought provoking...
I guess I'll just get straight into it. =P
Now, I've had a lot of experience dealing with different types of guilds - you'd know if you took the time to read the novel I wrote about myself >.< I've seen guilds fail and I've seen guilds succeed. The common denominator in guilds I've seen fail was disorganization and lack of strong leadership.
This isn't to say that is always the reason for a guild to fall apart... its just what I've seen. Tonight (or last night - however you want to look at it) I saw a guild fold. I felt absolutely terrible about it. After what seemed like weeks and weeks of not getting any progression done due to one reason or another, several people, myself included, felt that it was time for a change. Over the weeks, I had voiced my concerns... Made a post on the guild website, but I'm not so sure they were taken very seriously. They were talked about briefly but then they just seemed to fade away.
My intentions were not to watch a guild fall apart. I just felt that it was time for me to be with a group of people who seemed interested in what my concerns were and felt the same way I did. After speaking with the GM, I said my goodbye in guild chat and left the guild. On my way out, I was bombarded with whispers asking me what was wrong, what happened, etc. I told them why I left and then all of a sudden, people in the guild were leaving and asking for an invite to the newly formed guild. I was floored and felt awful. I did not think that by me and a few others choosing to leave would cause such an upheaval.
I truly care about the GM and the members of the guild. They took me in after I stopped raiding for a few months and I was given the opportunity to experience some of ICC.
BUT... to be honest, I felt this coming for awhile. The indecisiveness of whether or not someone should stay gkicked, the folding to a whiny raider about loot, the tolerance of people just not showing up to raid although they had gotten themselves locked to it and knowing it was going to be continued the next night, the constant uncertainty of who would be in which raid group and starting 45min later than what is scheduled... these issues not being properly addressed when brought up are what I believe lead to the falling of this guild.
Again, I feel awful about what happened. I really wanted them to succeed - even if I wasn't there to see a boss die for the first time with them. I feel like I let down a large number of people and for that I'm really sorry. I hope they do not have any ill feelings toward me. Each and every one of the members were a joy to be around and socialize with.
Whether they follow to the new guild, stay behind, or move onto different guilds, I wish nothing but the best for them.
I guess I'll just get straight into it. =P
Now, I've had a lot of experience dealing with different types of guilds - you'd know if you took the time to read the novel I wrote about myself >.< I've seen guilds fail and I've seen guilds succeed. The common denominator in guilds I've seen fail was disorganization and lack of strong leadership.
This isn't to say that is always the reason for a guild to fall apart... its just what I've seen. Tonight (or last night - however you want to look at it) I saw a guild fold. I felt absolutely terrible about it. After what seemed like weeks and weeks of not getting any progression done due to one reason or another, several people, myself included, felt that it was time for a change. Over the weeks, I had voiced my concerns... Made a post on the guild website, but I'm not so sure they were taken very seriously. They were talked about briefly but then they just seemed to fade away.
My intentions were not to watch a guild fall apart. I just felt that it was time for me to be with a group of people who seemed interested in what my concerns were and felt the same way I did. After speaking with the GM, I said my goodbye in guild chat and left the guild. On my way out, I was bombarded with whispers asking me what was wrong, what happened, etc. I told them why I left and then all of a sudden, people in the guild were leaving and asking for an invite to the newly formed guild. I was floored and felt awful. I did not think that by me and a few others choosing to leave would cause such an upheaval.
I truly care about the GM and the members of the guild. They took me in after I stopped raiding for a few months and I was given the opportunity to experience some of ICC.
BUT... to be honest, I felt this coming for awhile. The indecisiveness of whether or not someone should stay gkicked, the folding to a whiny raider about loot, the tolerance of people just not showing up to raid although they had gotten themselves locked to it and knowing it was going to be continued the next night, the constant uncertainty of who would be in which raid group and starting 45min later than what is scheduled... these issues not being properly addressed when brought up are what I believe lead to the falling of this guild.
Again, I feel awful about what happened. I really wanted them to succeed - even if I wasn't there to see a boss die for the first time with them. I feel like I let down a large number of people and for that I'm really sorry. I hope they do not have any ill feelings toward me. Each and every one of the members were a joy to be around and socialize with.
Whether they follow to the new guild, stay behind, or move onto different guilds, I wish nothing but the best for them.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
The Hardest Part of DPS
I've done Hall of Reflections three times now, and the last time was the first one I didn't die on.
Part of this is the benefit of experience. You can read about an instance all you want online, but until you actually do it, you won't internalize the details.
The first time HoR came up in my early morning runs, I was completely unprepared -hell, I didn't know I had the gear capable of it until the picture popped up- and I dropped almost as soon as possible. It wasn't the proudest moment in my WoW career, bugging out of an encounter due to dread, but I knew I wasn't ready. I spent the next lunch hour reading up on HoR online, and when it came up in the queue again, I told myself I'm going to try.
"Oh crap," said one DPS. "@#$%!" said another.
The healer was unimpressed. "It's not a big deal," said the Priest. "You'll live through it."
Of course he could say that; he had a 5900 GS filled to the brim with ICC gear.
The first trash mob, I wipe. Everyone else is busy staying alive, so I figure that the trip is a short one so I release and fly back to the instance. When I get there, I realize I'd forgotten one of the things I'd read online: DON'T RELEASE AND RUN BACK! THE DOORS REMAIN CLOSED!
Luckily, after the first boss the doors flew open and I came back inside. The rest of the instance I didn't die, but it was a very near thing. I'm used to making an impact of some sort, but about half of the time I was healing myself to keep up with the load the priest was handling. I felt very out of place, kind of like the last time I tried my hand at healing an instance.
That brings me to another part of surviving as a melee DPS: understand tanking.
Doesn't seem so hard, right? You let the tank acquire threat, wait a couple of seconds for the tank to get a good lock, and then go behind and start supporting the tank. If the tank directs you to a different target, you go to the different target. If you see something bad getting ready to happen -like the tank standing way too close to the cliff in Pit of Saron that a simple knockback would turn the tank into a skydiver- you call out to let the tank know.
Well, the second HoR run gave me a different insight on tanking.
The first two times the PuG tries, we wipe on the trash. It was getting very frustrating, particularly so since I wasn't able to really get going before I watched in surprise as I pulled threat from something other than the tank's -and my- focus.
Time to reevaluate things.
The third trash attempt, I waited and watched. Those first ten seconds of the trash pull were the hardest ten of my pugging career, as I itched to close the gap and start taking the pressure off the tank. But as I watched, I saw something I hadn't before: the speed of the trash closing in on the tank was incredibly slow, completely unlike the trash in any other instance. The first one or two undead get there at the same time, but the last two or three are up to four or five seconds behind. It was those latter two that were giving me trouble. Therefore, I had to wait more than twice as long as I usually do before closing and starting combat.
Sure enough, that did the trick. I didn't die and I contributed significant DPS to the cause.
This last time I ran HoR -with Souldat as the tank- I put my knowledge to use and waited. Having run with him since the beginning, I knew Soul could handle the hits for a while. That wasn't a hell of a lot of comfort, as I sat and waited like a bump on a log for that last straggler to zero in on him. However, I knew my job was to a) keep myself upright so I could b) lay the smackdown on these undead. You can't do part B if you're a smudge on the floor, and if you've got a warrior tank instead of a DK or Pally, you need to give him/her that extra time to lock down the trash or the instance will turn into a threat-fest.
Each pull is different, and you can't assume that what works one time will work in another. When in doubt, err on the side of caution.
Part of this is the benefit of experience. You can read about an instance all you want online, but until you actually do it, you won't internalize the details.
The first time HoR came up in my early morning runs, I was completely unprepared -hell, I didn't know I had the gear capable of it until the picture popped up- and I dropped almost as soon as possible. It wasn't the proudest moment in my WoW career, bugging out of an encounter due to dread, but I knew I wasn't ready. I spent the next lunch hour reading up on HoR online, and when it came up in the queue again, I told myself I'm going to try.
"Oh crap," said one DPS. "@#$%!" said another.
The healer was unimpressed. "It's not a big deal," said the Priest. "You'll live through it."
Of course he could say that; he had a 5900 GS filled to the brim with ICC gear.
The first trash mob, I wipe. Everyone else is busy staying alive, so I figure that the trip is a short one so I release and fly back to the instance. When I get there, I realize I'd forgotten one of the things I'd read online: DON'T RELEASE AND RUN BACK! THE DOORS REMAIN CLOSED!
Luckily, after the first boss the doors flew open and I came back inside. The rest of the instance I didn't die, but it was a very near thing. I'm used to making an impact of some sort, but about half of the time I was healing myself to keep up with the load the priest was handling. I felt very out of place, kind of like the last time I tried my hand at healing an instance.
That brings me to another part of surviving as a melee DPS: understand tanking.
Doesn't seem so hard, right? You let the tank acquire threat, wait a couple of seconds for the tank to get a good lock, and then go behind and start supporting the tank. If the tank directs you to a different target, you go to the different target. If you see something bad getting ready to happen -like the tank standing way too close to the cliff in Pit of Saron that a simple knockback would turn the tank into a skydiver- you call out to let the tank know.
Well, the second HoR run gave me a different insight on tanking.
The first two times the PuG tries, we wipe on the trash. It was getting very frustrating, particularly so since I wasn't able to really get going before I watched in surprise as I pulled threat from something other than the tank's -and my- focus.
Time to reevaluate things.
The third trash attempt, I waited and watched. Those first ten seconds of the trash pull were the hardest ten of my pugging career, as I itched to close the gap and start taking the pressure off the tank. But as I watched, I saw something I hadn't before: the speed of the trash closing in on the tank was incredibly slow, completely unlike the trash in any other instance. The first one or two undead get there at the same time, but the last two or three are up to four or five seconds behind. It was those latter two that were giving me trouble. Therefore, I had to wait more than twice as long as I usually do before closing and starting combat.
Sure enough, that did the trick. I didn't die and I contributed significant DPS to the cause.
This last time I ran HoR -with Souldat as the tank- I put my knowledge to use and waited. Having run with him since the beginning, I knew Soul could handle the hits for a while. That wasn't a hell of a lot of comfort, as I sat and waited like a bump on a log for that last straggler to zero in on him. However, I knew my job was to a) keep myself upright so I could b) lay the smackdown on these undead. You can't do part B if you're a smudge on the floor, and if you've got a warrior tank instead of a DK or Pally, you need to give him/her that extra time to lock down the trash or the instance will turn into a threat-fest.
Each pull is different, and you can't assume that what works one time will work in another. When in doubt, err on the side of caution.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Anatomy of a Fail
I don't often leave an instance in progress.
Now, I do have limits, but I can tolerate quite a bit. Holding my nose while finishing the run is more like it, and if the offending party is on my server, they immediately go in my Ignore pile. I have been known to report real abuse -like racial epithets- as well.
Today's run in Ahna'khet, however, set a new standard for inanity. I port in and start doing the usual blessings. Also, as seems to be traditional, two people immediately drop. (What, The Old Kingdom not quick enough for you to get your Frost badges?) I, the tank and a DPS hung around waiting for the replacements to pop in, and we're immediately joined by a Holy Spec Pally and a Warlock.
Oho! Another Pally. The early morning runs have a plethora of Druids and Shamans, but few Priests or Pallys as healers. The Old Kingdom isn't a great instance for a Pally to heal, but it can be done. I ping the Pally to ask if he wanted Blessing of Kings or another one.
"KINGS IS GOOD"
Okay, fine.
"I'M HIGH"
Oh oh.
Well, I thought, as long as he actually pays attention, I'll be okay with that. About half the time such announcements are all BS anyway, so I decided to ignore ol' smokey.
So, everybody is squared away and we start the run. The first trash pull seems to be going okay.
"YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND BABY LIKE A RECORD"
Crapola.
"I LIKE BIG BUTTZ AND I CANNOT LIE"
The trash pull ends, and we're moving forward. Nobody took any significant damage, so we hit the next couple of pulls and the only thing out of the ordinary is....
"HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME"
"TELL ME DID WIND SWEEP U OFFA YR FEET"
This is starting to get really annoying. I'm beginning to think this guy really is high. I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle this for upwards of the next half hour.
We get down the stairs to the pulls before the first boss. The tank pulls one of the mobs to him; I wait, rush in, and start hitting things. The previous pull I came close to yanking threat away from the tank, so I'm watching threat closely.
"A FRIEND WITH WEED IS A FRIEND INDEED"
Yeah, whatever. Then I hear the telltale boom of someone acquiring threat. Sonofa... I was WATCHING my threat!
I look over at the meter and I discover that no, I hadn't pulled threat. Then what...
I start getting hit from behind by another trash mob with the magical "On You!" message suddenly appearing on my screen.
"U NO THAT U GOT WHAT I NEED"
The Pally goes running by me from behind.
The tank hollers "WTF!"
I immediately die, followed almost as immediately by the tank and the Lock.
From my vantage point, I can finally see what's going on. The Pally Healer is bopping around to his own weird internal beat, throwing an occasional heal, and in general wandering all over the room, picking up the threat from everything nearby.
I release and start running back, and the Pally Healer drops group.
That's it, I've had enough. I drop group too. "Steamed" was not how I'd describe myself at this moment; more like "a towering inferno of fury."
WoW may be a game, but getting high and running instances isn't going to let everyone else share the love.
Now, I do have limits, but I can tolerate quite a bit. Holding my nose while finishing the run is more like it, and if the offending party is on my server, they immediately go in my Ignore pile. I have been known to report real abuse -like racial epithets- as well.
Today's run in Ahna'khet, however, set a new standard for inanity. I port in and start doing the usual blessings. Also, as seems to be traditional, two people immediately drop. (What, The Old Kingdom not quick enough for you to get your Frost badges?) I, the tank and a DPS hung around waiting for the replacements to pop in, and we're immediately joined by a Holy Spec Pally and a Warlock.
Oho! Another Pally. The early morning runs have a plethora of Druids and Shamans, but few Priests or Pallys as healers. The Old Kingdom isn't a great instance for a Pally to heal, but it can be done. I ping the Pally to ask if he wanted Blessing of Kings or another one.
"KINGS IS GOOD"
Okay, fine.
"I'M HIGH"
Oh oh.
Well, I thought, as long as he actually pays attention, I'll be okay with that. About half the time such announcements are all BS anyway, so I decided to ignore ol' smokey.
So, everybody is squared away and we start the run. The first trash pull seems to be going okay.
"YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND BABY LIKE A RECORD"
Crapola.
"I LIKE BIG BUTTZ AND I CANNOT LIE"
The trash pull ends, and we're moving forward. Nobody took any significant damage, so we hit the next couple of pulls and the only thing out of the ordinary is....
"HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME"
"TELL ME DID WIND SWEEP U OFFA YR FEET"
This is starting to get really annoying. I'm beginning to think this guy really is high. I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle this for upwards of the next half hour.
We get down the stairs to the pulls before the first boss. The tank pulls one of the mobs to him; I wait, rush in, and start hitting things. The previous pull I came close to yanking threat away from the tank, so I'm watching threat closely.
"A FRIEND WITH WEED IS A FRIEND INDEED"
Yeah, whatever. Then I hear the telltale boom of someone acquiring threat. Sonofa... I was WATCHING my threat!
I look over at the meter and I discover that no, I hadn't pulled threat. Then what...
I start getting hit from behind by another trash mob with the magical "On You!" message suddenly appearing on my screen.
"U NO THAT U GOT WHAT I NEED"
The Pally goes running by me from behind.
The tank hollers "WTF!"
I immediately die, followed almost as immediately by the tank and the Lock.
From my vantage point, I can finally see what's going on. The Pally Healer is bopping around to his own weird internal beat, throwing an occasional heal, and in general wandering all over the room, picking up the threat from everything nearby.
I release and start running back, and the Pally Healer drops group.
That's it, I've had enough. I drop group too. "Steamed" was not how I'd describe myself at this moment; more like "a towering inferno of fury."
WoW may be a game, but getting high and running instances isn't going to let everyone else share the love.
Friday, April 16, 2010
On tanking, responsibility, and maturity
On Tanks:
Tanks are a funny breed of player. You have to be the one to charge in head first and thrust yourself between the bad guys and the rest of your group. You have to be on top of your game and pay attention to not only what the current group of mobs are doing, but to what COULD happen. It requires a pretty well developed sence of awareness to anticipate what will happen before it does, and propperly react. You can see that type of behavior pretty readily when doing dungeons. A veteran player will recognize "Ok, in the current set of mobs I'm fighting, the dragon has a knockback ability. The hunter's pet is on the dragon, and the dragon's back is facing towards another group of mobs. I need to reposition the dragon to avoid the possibilty of getting another group joining the fight" versus the oh shit, we got another pack... what do I do now blank stare some of the newer tanks get.
Tanking gets repetative. "hit me, hey you, your mamma's ugly, get back over here, leave the guy in the sissy robe alone." And tanks don't get to see all the fancy large numbers the DPS players get. In fact, you want to be focused on SMALL numbers. I want to see that boss hit me like he's wielding a wet noodle.
To sum it up, tanking is a RESPONSIBILITY.
On responsibility:
Tanks have a large responsiblity to shoulder most times. When is the most opportune time to blow your cooldowns to avoid the spike damage and stay alive? How long exactly can you stand in the fire before you become toast at the same time the boss is hitting you? How well can you coordiate properly executing your regular rotation of spells / abilities while watching for particular fight mechanics and helping to position the boss propperly for your raid?
It gets to be a bit much, and if you don't enjoy that role, the answer is simple. You won't last.
On maturity:
Say you've decided tanking is not your thing anymore, however the guild currenly relies on you to fulfill that role? What do you do?
And me, being the hard head I am, called him out on it in guild chat last night. Followed by a slew of emo behavior and threating to not tank again, ever. Zoh noes.... anything but that!
This culture of instant gratification and self-entitlement needs to die... In fact, I'll tank that fight for you.
Tanks are a funny breed of player. You have to be the one to charge in head first and thrust yourself between the bad guys and the rest of your group. You have to be on top of your game and pay attention to not only what the current group of mobs are doing, but to what COULD happen. It requires a pretty well developed sence of awareness to anticipate what will happen before it does, and propperly react. You can see that type of behavior pretty readily when doing dungeons. A veteran player will recognize "Ok, in the current set of mobs I'm fighting, the dragon has a knockback ability. The hunter's pet is on the dragon, and the dragon's back is facing towards another group of mobs. I need to reposition the dragon to avoid the possibilty of getting another group joining the fight" versus the oh shit, we got another pack... what do I do now blank stare some of the newer tanks get.
Tanking gets repetative. "hit me, hey you, your mamma's ugly, get back over here, leave the guy in the sissy robe alone." And tanks don't get to see all the fancy large numbers the DPS players get. In fact, you want to be focused on SMALL numbers. I want to see that boss hit me like he's wielding a wet noodle.
To sum it up, tanking is a RESPONSIBILITY.
On responsibility:
Tanks have a large responsiblity to shoulder most times. When is the most opportune time to blow your cooldowns to avoid the spike damage and stay alive? How long exactly can you stand in the fire before you become toast at the same time the boss is hitting you? How well can you coordiate properly executing your regular rotation of spells / abilities while watching for particular fight mechanics and helping to position the boss propperly for your raid?
It gets to be a bit much, and if you don't enjoy that role, the answer is simple. You won't last.
On maturity:
Say you've decided tanking is not your thing anymore, however the guild currenly relies on you to fulfill that role? What do you do?
- Not show up entirely even though you've been online all day, only to log off after you find out you cannot bring your grass is greener over here shiny new character, then log back in after the rest if your raid group cannot do anything for the night? But hey, at least you didn't have to tank.
- Post up on the guild forums, realizing you have a responsibility to the group of players you choose to game with and let them know your predicament. Tell them you're willing to continue fulfilling that role until a suitable replacement can be found and express gratitude to the guild for all of the now wasted loot you received.
And me, being the hard head I am, called him out on it in guild chat last night. Followed by a slew of emo behavior and threating to not tank again, ever. Zoh noes.... anything but that!
This culture of instant gratification and self-entitlement needs to die... In fact, I'll tank that fight for you.
Quintalan the Veteran
I've been running instances on an almost daily basis for a couple of months now, and the long road of questing to get to 80 seems a distant memory. Yes, I'm still doing quests for the Loremaster achievement, but it's not the same. The imminent threat of character death lent a different feel to that questing, and since I did my trip to 80 on a PvP server, there was always the "look over your shoulder, someone might be waiting to gank you" aspect to it.
Even the time I've spent running instances and doing heroics has changed my perception a bit. While I'm not a wily veteran like the long time players or the raiders are, I know my way around enough to know what I need to do to survive the instance and not look like an idiot. Although it may sure seem otherwise at times, I'm not a noob anymore. I was reminded of that last night during a run in The Nexus, and the day before in the Pit of Saron.
When I ported into The Nexus and began blessing people with Kings and Wisdom, the first thing one of the characters said after introductions was "does anyone need food?" Then the healer said that he needed to drink after buffing everybody. It had been ages since anyone had even mentioned those two in a heroic instance that I paused and checked out everyone's gear scores. In a bizarre case of turnabout, I had by far the highest gear score of the group.
I made a few mental adjustments and made a point of dialing back my attacks to keep from pulling threat on the first few trash pulls. The pulls went well, if a bit slower than what I'm now used to. Then the tank posted that he had to split; he'd just gotten paged and had to go into work.
No sweat. Real Life comes ahead of a game, and since I'm on a pager rotation I know what that's like. We put in a request for a new tank, and while we waited we chatted about the Stoutbeard encounter just up ahead. At least one party member hadn't heard of him, so I mentioned he's only in the Heroic mode and has a nasty whirlwind attack. A new tank popped in, we took out Stoutbeard after a couple of minutes, and the mage and priest had to drink. We loitered for a minute, let them get back their mana, and we went on to the next trash pull.
Then the second tank dropped out of the party without a word.
"What did I do wrong?" the healer asked. "I did everything I was supposed to, and nobody died."
"You did fine," I told him, and the others agreed. "He was just being a jerk."
"Well, this is my second Heroic instance. Ever."
"You're doing great; I've only been playing since August myself. Believe me, compared to my experience trying to heal Trial of the Champion at the same gear level you are, you're doing fine." I then explained my disaster trying to heal that instance, when we couldn't even get past Palestra; Souldat as the tank was taking so much damage at a pop that even while spamming Holy Light I couldn't keep up.
The story engendered a bunch of laughs. "That's a helluva place to heal for your first 80 instance," the hunter said.
"Yeah, and believe me, you're doing much better than that, Heals."
A third tank ported in, and we resumed the run. We finished with only one character death -due to the spike damage the boss gives in the elemental area- and before I left I complimented the group on the job. Compared to the times I've been in runs where the entire point is to "gogogo!", this was a pleasant experience.
The Pit of Saron also featured a healer new to the instance, and he had severe misgivings about it. "You'll do fine," the tank assured him.
"This instance is built with AoE heals in mind," I added. "I couldn't do it well as a Holy Spec Pally, but you as a shaman should be okay."
We did well, up until after Ick and Crick, when we started having problems staying alive in the vyrkul trash pulls heading up to Tyrannus. A couple of people in the instance had to go repair their gear, and the warlock dropped and was replaced by a mage. "This is getting to be too much for me to heal," the Shaman said.
"Don't worry about it," I replied. "We'll get through this and you'll see it's not a big deal."
We had one more wipe where we pulled too much trash at once, but once we reached the end of the tunnel things went much better with Tyrannus.
"Good job," I told the healer before I left. "Now that you've gotten this under your belt, you'll be that much better at it."
Perhaps I'm seeing myself in these characters, realizing that not very long ago it was me who was in their shoes. I'm taking the encouragement that Soul, Millalyn, and others have given me and am paying it forward. That's one of the best things that I like about the game: the support and camraderie you get from people you may not even know, and the unexpected kindness of strangers.*
Sure, people can be real jerks -or worse- just like in real life, but that doesn't mean that you have to be. I've seen terrible behavior on numerous occasions, but I take that as a "how not to act" and run with it. It might not help the signal to noise ratio in the long run, but it will have an impact on those you interact with.
*One time, when Quint was questing in Desolace, an 80 Pally came riding by. He stopped, a trade window opened, and he started dumping stuff in it. "What do want for this?" I asked, dumbfounded.
"Nothing," he replied. "I'm going to be suspending my account soon, and I'm giving all my stuff away. Do you have any other characters?"
"I priest," I said.
A few more items appeared in the trade window.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Quite sure. Have fun!"
Even the time I've spent running instances and doing heroics has changed my perception a bit. While I'm not a wily veteran like the long time players or the raiders are, I know my way around enough to know what I need to do to survive the instance and not look like an idiot. Although it may sure seem otherwise at times, I'm not a noob anymore. I was reminded of that last night during a run in The Nexus, and the day before in the Pit of Saron.
When I ported into The Nexus and began blessing people with Kings and Wisdom, the first thing one of the characters said after introductions was "does anyone need food?" Then the healer said that he needed to drink after buffing everybody. It had been ages since anyone had even mentioned those two in a heroic instance that I paused and checked out everyone's gear scores. In a bizarre case of turnabout, I had by far the highest gear score of the group.
I made a few mental adjustments and made a point of dialing back my attacks to keep from pulling threat on the first few trash pulls. The pulls went well, if a bit slower than what I'm now used to. Then the tank posted that he had to split; he'd just gotten paged and had to go into work.
No sweat. Real Life comes ahead of a game, and since I'm on a pager rotation I know what that's like. We put in a request for a new tank, and while we waited we chatted about the Stoutbeard encounter just up ahead. At least one party member hadn't heard of him, so I mentioned he's only in the Heroic mode and has a nasty whirlwind attack. A new tank popped in, we took out Stoutbeard after a couple of minutes, and the mage and priest had to drink. We loitered for a minute, let them get back their mana, and we went on to the next trash pull.
Then the second tank dropped out of the party without a word.
"What did I do wrong?" the healer asked. "I did everything I was supposed to, and nobody died."
"You did fine," I told him, and the others agreed. "He was just being a jerk."
"Well, this is my second Heroic instance. Ever."
"You're doing great; I've only been playing since August myself. Believe me, compared to my experience trying to heal Trial of the Champion at the same gear level you are, you're doing fine." I then explained my disaster trying to heal that instance, when we couldn't even get past Palestra; Souldat as the tank was taking so much damage at a pop that even while spamming Holy Light I couldn't keep up.
The story engendered a bunch of laughs. "That's a helluva place to heal for your first 80 instance," the hunter said.
"Yeah, and believe me, you're doing much better than that, Heals."
A third tank ported in, and we resumed the run. We finished with only one character death -due to the spike damage the boss gives in the elemental area- and before I left I complimented the group on the job. Compared to the times I've been in runs where the entire point is to "gogogo!", this was a pleasant experience.
The Pit of Saron also featured a healer new to the instance, and he had severe misgivings about it. "You'll do fine," the tank assured him.
"This instance is built with AoE heals in mind," I added. "I couldn't do it well as a Holy Spec Pally, but you as a shaman should be okay."
We did well, up until after Ick and Crick, when we started having problems staying alive in the vyrkul trash pulls heading up to Tyrannus. A couple of people in the instance had to go repair their gear, and the warlock dropped and was replaced by a mage. "This is getting to be too much for me to heal," the Shaman said.
"Don't worry about it," I replied. "We'll get through this and you'll see it's not a big deal."
We had one more wipe where we pulled too much trash at once, but once we reached the end of the tunnel things went much better with Tyrannus.
"Good job," I told the healer before I left. "Now that you've gotten this under your belt, you'll be that much better at it."
Perhaps I'm seeing myself in these characters, realizing that not very long ago it was me who was in their shoes. I'm taking the encouragement that Soul, Millalyn, and others have given me and am paying it forward. That's one of the best things that I like about the game: the support and camraderie you get from people you may not even know, and the unexpected kindness of strangers.*
Sure, people can be real jerks -or worse- just like in real life, but that doesn't mean that you have to be. I've seen terrible behavior on numerous occasions, but I take that as a "how not to act" and run with it. It might not help the signal to noise ratio in the long run, but it will have an impact on those you interact with.
*One time, when Quint was questing in Desolace, an 80 Pally came riding by. He stopped, a trade window opened, and he started dumping stuff in it. "What do want for this?" I asked, dumbfounded.
"Nothing," he replied. "I'm going to be suspending my account soon, and I'm giving all my stuff away. Do you have any other characters?"
"I priest," I said.
A few more items appeared in the trade window.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Quite sure. Have fun!"
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