Still Pissed Off or Group Dynamics 101

Some things from the past still piss me off when I think about them.

I still get angry when I think about that priest that stole the mining node out from under me when I was fighting mobs in a cave in Winterspring. I had actually hit the node once, and then was attacked. While I fought them off she came up and clicked away. (slow simmering anger)

I still get mad at the many many times my very first toon wiped in Gnomer because of stupid people and those dwarves with their mines.

And I get mad by road-ragers in PUGs, and that anger stays with me for a couple of days.

Last night I logged on with the express purpose of getting my last two heroic badges so I could purchase my sexy Waistguard of Living Iron. Just two badges, how hard could that be? Well, let me tell you:

Got onto LFG channel and put myself forward as tank for Heroic Gundrak, Utgarde Keep and Nexus, mostly because I am familiar with their heroic bits and pieces. I also asked what the heroic daily was and instead of a reply got an invite. The invite was, in fact, to the daily which was Culling of Stratholme, Caverns of Time. Alright, I know I'm statistical ready for that instance, even though I have never been on a heroic run.


I told the rest of the group that this would be my first heroic run, to which they mentioned that they intended to make it a timed run. Which means that we have to run through the instance as fast as possible in order to get a boss that goes away after ... 25 minutes I think (?). I mentioned that this would, of course, be my first timed run, but that I was up for the challenge -- only thing, "If I start going the wrong way, just ping on the mini-map or yell at me." No one said anything and we traveled to and started the instance.

We got to the first boss, the abomination guy, and things had been going quite smoothly. He was downed and we moved on.

I had been moving quite quickly, not even bothering with any non-elite mobs, as I was told. We turned and rushed to the other side of the instance only we were moving just a little too fast I guess because the new elites had not spawned yet and we passed their spawn point (everyone but one member of the group was following me without question). The last member of our team was waiting for us at the appropriate spawn point for the next set of elites and said so.

I turned us around and run up to him, but BOOM the elites spawned and downed him. We got into the fight and things were totally disorganized at that point. I concede that was partially my fault, but I DID tell them that I might need some direction. Slam slam slam -- full wipe. I wasn't all that bothered, but one of the members just started yelling and yelling calling me a f*cking noob etc, etc, etc. At first I thought, "Ok, he's just got to get that off his chest, then I can re-explain that I had told them I was going to need some help in navigation."

But this guy just kept berating me, and after the third "f*cking noob" I knew I was done with this B.S. I told them that next time they should look for another tank and promptly left the group. I was so angry. I really wanted to get through that instance and prove to myself that I was not only statisically ready (right stam, enough armor, uncrittable), but play-ready as well. I guess I wasn't. Nor was I with the right group.

Sometimes it's all about the group.


As soon as I hearthed back to Dalaran I put myself back into LFG and was immediately invited to an Heroic Gundrak run. I sighed, hoping that I would not need to deal with any grief and accepted the invite. Within 5 minutes we had a full group and within 15 we were zoning in. The run went well. We had some problems as I think some people had never run it on heroic, and perhaps some of our dps was a little low, but we got through it with the minimum of fuss.


And no one called anyone a NOOB.

I got my two badges, and then some, ported back to Dalaran and got my new shiny purple belt. I was just about to port back to Ironforge and gem it up when some friends whispered that they needed a tank in Gruul's Lair for the achievement.

I accepted their invite and summons and we downed Gruul with 17 people and only a few deaths.

Really, it comes down to the group dynamic. When in a group try to be polite, you never know what's going on in the background for any person. And if someone screws up, it should not be that big of a deal, unless, of course they throw blame around and start calling everyone else a f*cking noob.

And seriously. Listen to your groupmates. They will tell you things that you never knew before, or tell you that they really don't know what they are doing, so you can find a more experienced player for that instance or encounter. If you're not listening, how can you know what is going on?

If you're not listening, then when something bad happens, at least some of the blame falls squarely on your shoulders. Really.

Getting There

So my guild and I have instituted 2 weekly instance days, Friday and Monday. We are planning on some progression. Woot.

I am very excited by this possibility. It means that we can plan on instance runs every week that get our people leveled and geared -- then those of us who are somewhat geared can ramble on into our heroics of choice and get the gear and badges we need.

We have also started to recruit more, but I think this will be hard. I really like the people in my guild, it is like a little family and, so far, relatively drama free. But the thing is, we ALL move fairly slowly. Here it is 4 months into the expansion and we are just now really starting serious heroics runs. That's pretty slow for alot of people. So while I think the core group of our guild -- which is really only 5-7 people -- will stick it out, it will be hard for us to recruit and then keep people who really want to progress. We need to figure out some way to recruit the right kind of people.

Now, just how do we go about that? Honestly, I am not sure. I think it's important to be honest with people about where we are, how many players we really have and what we intend to do. We just got a new tank the other day, who seems to be as geared as I am (I believe he was a server transfer) and right now he seems content to run PUG heroics. But if it were me, that would get old, and it has (for me). It is my fond wish that he holds on long enough for us to be able to field 2 5-man heroics teams and then start to really build that into a nice 10-man raid team.

I know that we have good players. Our core group is pretty solid, and they all want to do their part. One of our pally tanks just respecced to Ret because he wanted to hang our with our core people and not have to pull together his own groups. And that's great. One of our other tanks has set that toon aside and leveled her 70 shadow priest nearly to 80 at this point as well.

What really makes me happy is knowing that a guild I enjoy socially may actually be able to pull off getting some progression done. In the past it's always been the social guilds that have never been able to get organized and the raiding guilds that have never been all that much fun.

Not awesomesauce

I am going to whine. I just want you to know this so if you want you can skip this post right now.

This is my PUGS SUCK rant.

I will readily admit that I'm not in a progression guild, I've still not been to Naxx, and I've not run all the heroics yet -- I'm just a slow progressor (I can put about ... 10 hours a week into the game).

One of the reasons that I've not been to all the heroics I would like, is that the PUG heroics groups that I've gotten into SUCK ASS. Almost all of them.

Granted, sometimes I'm with a group that has run H Nexus a bunch of times and it's a breeze, but then I'll get 3 dpsers (I'm still a tank) and none of them do above 1k dps. Zero. I must say that most of the healers I've run with have been pretty good, seems like they know they have to gear up a little after dinging 80 in order to run heroics -- just like tanks.

Now this isn't really a rant against DPSers, although they have been the ones that have given my pugs trouble. Really it's about how alot of the time, these instances are really not as easy as you think they are -- and that gear matters ALOT. To all classes and specs.

With the tank gear I have I feel set to tank H Utgarde Keep and the Nexus. I have not tried anything above and beyond those both because I want more stamina and because I fear the pugs.

Even in H UK and Nexus I've got dpsers who refuse to CC and they just want me to take all the hits from all the mobs (which I can do provided the healer is awake). I've got hunters misdirecting and pulling when I'm not ready -- but they just want to move quickly. And, and this one drives me batty, I've got people wanting to start boss fights without even checking to make sure that all members of the party know what the deal is.


Random screen shot. =)

Yes, indeed, there are a bunch of those bosses that can be considered tank and spank fights, but really there are some really great strategies to ensure that everyone survives the fight without adding to the repair bill. Stack up on Prince Keleseth in order for the adds to be easy for the tank to grab and so that it's easy for everyone to pound on whoever has been iceblocked. But, noooooo, the healer and the mage HAVE to stand at range because they are what? Uber? I don't think so, if you were uber you wouldn't still be farming H UK. And so the mage dies. And so the healer is iceblocked when I need a big heal and I blow my CD for Lay on Hands on myself (which, I'm glad to do, but it could have been avoided by just a little strategy, just a little planning).

Same thing with Keristrasza, the final dragon boss in H Nexus. This one can actually be really rough if people don't know it at all. I ran it the other day with a rogue and a fury warrior who both said they knew the fight and didn't need the run down. When the ice debuff hit, the one where you "jump around" alot -- BOOM both dead. "WTF?, wth wuz that?" (sigh) We all wipe and I explain it to them, and the second time around we get it right. But come on people, it only takes a few extra seconds to simply explain most fights -- if you've NEVER been in the instance, even on normal, then you really do need to hear what happens.

And the final boss in H UK, Ingvar the Plunderer. I really hate that fight because so many groups just want to tank and spank it -- and, truly if people are geared enough, then it's not too bad, but if people are even slightly unprepared then it's a full wipe guaranteed. [If anyone is reading this and has a foolproof way to deal with this boss -- other than "just heal through it" -- please let me know.] So many people think they have the uber-answer to this guy, but for the most part there are still bodies on the floor at the end of the fight.

So, yeah, just like in The Burning Crusade when they lowered the reqs to get into heroics, and everyone thought that were ready and able -- it was a wipefest. People need to know the instance and gear for it.

And speaking of gearing .... the interview process is getting a little weird. I get DPSers asking me about my hp and forgetting to ask about my defense. I even try to turn it around and ask them about their dps and INVARIABLY they lie about it. I had a ret pally tell me that she was 2k+ dps on my recount showed her barely topping 1.5k. Honestly 1.5k is fine for the lower heroics, why bother with the lie? And since when is 22k hp too low for the easier heroics? I've been turned down a number of times for that. (sigh) It's just tiresome to me.

But I will continue to put myself in LFG, and I will continue to build my friends list, and I will hope that the 10 people in my guild will get their toons heroic-ready. But my faith is shaken. Just like in TBC.

How I wish I could have been hanging out with the first round of 80s and blasted through this content -- but, alas this was not to be.

Hope it's better out there for you than it's been for me. QQ.

Adios.

P.S. And I DO know that one possible way to get around my problem is to get my arse into a larger guild, one that can put together heroic groups easily on the fly -- but I really like my small family-like guild.

Pick Up Groups

I am, really, not a fan of PUGs. That said, I really love it when I finish an instance run with a PUG and it went well -- that means that, against all odds, people paid attention, listened to strategies and played well and we finished. How often does that happen?

As a tank (or a healer to some extent) you are saved certain problems that DPSers have to contend with when it comes to PUGs. Tanks are usually the ones that are running the show, with marking and "going". They can make the run as quick or as slow as they like (excepting for people dropping group because they don't like the pace). Plus, as tank, you are usually the leader, or can be made the leader quite easily ("Hey, make me lead, I gotta mark.") and can kick unruly or truly evil players at your discretion.

Last night I ran The Amphitheater of Anguish with a PUG, didn't put it together, didn't even pay attention to roles and levels or gear and it was smooth, like a baby's bottom. Granted the fights aren't all that hard, but still -- it was very nice to know that you can count on most players who are in their mid-70s to pull together for a few quick fights in order to attain mucho XP and perhaps some decent gear.



I was surprised and delighted at how little communication was needed or, really, desired for this event. We all pretty much knew our jobs (tank, healz, dps, dps, dps) and the fights are pretty straight forward tank and spank. Seriously, though, I think I may have exchanged 2 sentences with the other players after the invite, and that was "Rdy?" on the first fight and "Thanks alot all. Seeya around."

Normally at the end of an instance run, even when I was a healer I had a standard farewell that included a "good job" and "fun" -- but most importantly I would let most if not all the players in my group know that they could call on me anytime to tank (or heal). Truly if it was a good group and if I'm available then I will tank for almost any instance I am leveled for. It's good practice and it gets me introduced to more and more players (fairly new to this server) and, more importantly, more HEALERS. It's always nice to have a friends list full of healers as a tank, because, as we all know, it's not so hard to find DPS.

In the end, unless you have a good group of friends that are always on at the same time, or a nice big guild, you will have to PUG at some point or another in your progression to level cap. I find that if you go into it with a positive attitude and do your best things have a way, most times, of working themselves out. This is not to say that a 4 hour Gnomer run can't end in total disaster, with players coming in and going out and finally after the fifth wipe people just giving up, BUT I find, especially with the short and seemingly easy instances in Northrend this is the exception, not the rule.

Happy hunting.