For a variety of reasons, I can't really get into guild groups for heroics on the days we raid - I log in just before raid time and after raid most folks are too burned to run anything so I wind up PuGing, which is why I've been writing about these unsuccessful runs lately.
--
But last night's adventure after raid was a rare bit of insight that I can't even bring myself to recollect. I'm hoping copious amounts of alcohol will suffice to diminish the memory of that PuG.
I'll try to be as objective as I can and say that I think I'm not a terrible person to run PuGs with. I throw in a lot of emoticons and happy faces when I ask people to do stuff. I explain things if anyone is unfamiliar with stuff and always ask if my explanation was sufficient. When possible, I'll take on the ugly roles of the fight so people can do a minimum amount of work to win. I'm happy to do most of the typing as well so long as I can get a minimal acknowledgment from the person I'm addressing.
I don't think that asking for someone to say "ok" after telling them to, for example, kite adds or block a beam is too much - it's just common, polite, human, civil courtesy to reply when addressed directly, I think. Or maybe I'm just too much of a social chatter box for expecting such behavior from PuGs who're only there for gear and Valor points.
As we hacked and sawed our way through a dungeon (wherein the entire group died to AoE that they couldn't run out of to the first boss and I kept myself alive for 2 minutes while they ran back and helped top me off and do some damage to the boss before... all of them died to the same mechanic again and I slowly whittled at the 1 million health left on the boss), I asked the silent mage if she could please block the right beam.
No answer. I ask again. And what I get is a reply that beggars belief.
"I'm not illiterate, I can read."
Am I being a completely over-sensitive bastard when I just want to make sure that when we're planning placement for a crucial mechanic that the person ACKNOWLEDGE the request being made of them?
A bit of back and forth later, we pull, I block one beam, the healer another, and the mage stands by the beam without blocking it, neither of the other two DPS step in, and as I stare helplessly, the add evolves and murders me dead.
I just don't get it.
Communication is such a vital part of this game. If you can't be bothered to acknowledge the existence of other players in the game why bother doing content that requires you to work with them? Just run quests and do solo instances for stuff you out gear or out level.
But if you do choose to PuG - please acknowledge text directed at you or the group in general. There is nothing more helplessly frustrating than staring at an unmoving chat-box after asking for input.
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Tanking PuGing
So.
I'm primarily a tank. I like to tank instances a lot. It's probably my favorite thing to do in the game. Running 5-mans is fun, the daily Heroic can be an enjoyable instance, and any time I'm with a few guildies, even 2 or 3 others, the run typically goes by in a breeze and no wipes happen.
Other time, I log in and there is no one else online, and I find myself hovering my mouse over the LFG button and I hesitate. What if my group is a bucket of fail? What if my healer is a ball of stress and can't keep up with the damage? What if I'm top DPS on boss fights again? What if no one remembers how to interrupt?
But, being a masochist, I click the button anyway, and a second or two later, the dungeon-entry screen flashes at me with a shield in the center, and I press the "Enter Dungeon" button, waiting for all the tick-marks to line up, wondering what fresh hell I'll encounter on the other side of that instance loading screen.
I usually open a greeting and throw in emoticons liberally, trying to earn some favor with these people. I'll take a glance at the healer's gear and estimate how much CC I'm going to need to use (full disclosure: when running with guild groups, I've more or less given up using CC even on 3 or 4 add pulls. It's almost back to Wrath dungeoneering - gather 'em up and nuke 'em down with a couple of stuns thrown in for good measure.)
Sometimes, things are sublime - everything goes well, and with nary a hiccup, the Valor Points are tallied to my currency total and everything is fine. Other times, things aren't so simple, and it takes a bit of effort to wrench victory from the jaws of defeat.
Take, for example, this group I had for Heroic Blackrock Caverns. I cast out my usual greeting and smilie, received dispassionate "hi"'s in return, buffed, waited for others to buff, and then, seeing the healer full of mana, everyone's health at full, and the two-add patrol walking up the ramp, I warning everyone - "pulling!" - and like Captain America facing down a bunch of Nazi's, throw my shield into their faces.
A few seconds later the adds were dead, my health had barely dipped and I felt confident. The trash went quickly, Rom'ogg Bonecrusher came thundering up, screaming and yelling, and went down just as fast. While the healer drank, I watched Raz do his thing, tearing up adds and once we were ready, we ran down, clearing trash.
So far, I was feeling pretty good - DPS was high, the healer was easily able to keep up with the damage, and I was happy to be on my way towards a quick clear. Then I realized our warrior was still standing back by the first boss.
"You coming, Steve?" I asked.
"1 sec," he said.
I shrugged - our DPS was good, there was a DK in the group, so I pulled the Zealot waiting at the bottom of the ramp. "Please interrupt Strikes" I reminded him in chat (the third DPS being a hunter), and watched the cast bar filling up slowly before using my own (1-minute CD) interrupt at the last second.
"Dave," I said, naming the DK, "Please interrupt the casts."
With only 2 DPS the Zealot wasn't dying so quickly that the Strikes were not an issue - in fact, the second and third both hit me and I started chaining CDs as my health dropped below 20% and the healer strained to keep me up.
The zealot goes down, I try to stay polite. "Please use your interrupts when you see the Zealot casting," I said. "It does a lot of damage and drains healer mana to bring me back up to full."
We cleared the next trash group before I realized the warrior was still sitting back at the beginning. "Steve," I said, "We're waiting."
"lol 1 min"
A vein began to throb in my forehead. I pulled the next Zealot. He begins to cast Shadow Strike. The cast-bar fills up. My finger inches towards the Hammer key-bind. I restrain it - maybe Dave will come through. I hit my 20% damage reduction CD instead.
I get hit, and the healer begins churning out Nourishes to get me back up.
"Dave," I type out hurried while popping wings to get this add down quickly - where the hell is Steve? - "I really need you to interrupt those, man."
Silence. Another Strike lines up. The hunter keeps on shooting blissfully, and Dave keeps on swinging happily unaware that I'm about to die. I hit Ardent Defender. Whack. A bloom of golden light envelops me saving me from death and then the add goes down.
The healer chimes in - "What the hell is going on?"
"Dave, why aren't you interrupting?" I asked.
"I don't have interrupts," he says.
The vein is red and pulsating at this point. I take a breath - maybe he's a fresh 85, maybe he's never had to interrupt in his life, I don't know what his deal is.
"You do," I say. "Look up your spell book - you should have Mind Freeze under Frost and Srangulate as well, but it's on a longer cool-down. Just put it somewhere you can hit easily and please use it every time you see the Zealot's casting. Hit 'V' so you can see their nameplates and it becomes pretty easy to see the cast-bar. Just hit that Mind Freeze button before they fill in."
"ok."
I rub my eyes while we sit in front of Corla, Herald of Twilight.
"I'll take left," says the hunter.
"I've got right," says the healer.
"Block center, would you Dave? And also interrupt her fear, please, it makes life very easy."
"Block what?"
"The beam in the.... never mind, I'll do it."
"Ok."
"You coming Steve?"
Silence. I initiate a vote-kick and it passes. Another DK takes his place.
"1st time here lol"
I shudder for a second. "Ok, just stay behind the boss and burn her down, and please interrupt the fears."
"Easy."
Yes, easy.
The fight goes just fine, except for the fact that every Fear I can't interrupt gets through and the fight just drags forever. Thankfully, no Zealots evolve. Finally she keels over and spits up her loot, and we continue down to Karsh Steelbender.
I whisper the healer, "Do you think I could just keep stacks up? I don't think these guys will be able to kite and kill adds away from me."
He whispers me back and tells me to do it however I want. I thank him, ask everyone to hold off on CDs until I say and then to burn him fast. I quickly work him up to 8 stacks and give the signal. I don't know if it works but he croaks as I reach 14 stacks and am about exhausted with all my CDs and the healer had turned into a tree spamming heals to keep everyone up.
The next set of trash dies, and I just walk by Beauty. I'm not going to pull her with this group.
"You don't want the JPs?", the new DK asks.
"We lack the CC necessary to clear this."
"Good group. We got it," he says, "Let's try."
The healer whispers me, "Please, no."
I ignore the DK and pull the trash. He doesn't ask again. We get down to Ascendant Lord Obsidius, Raz dies, and I look at the hunter and quickly setup a macro to cast Hand of Freedom on her.
"Think you can kite the adds throughout the fight? He'll occasionally swap places with one of the adds so you'll have to pick up agro on it."
"ok."
"Great, go ahead and pull, I'll taunt the boss away."
She pulls, I drag the boss to one side, and everything is dandy. Everytime a thunderclap happens, I hit a HoF on her and she seems to be doing well.
The first swap and I start running to pull the boss off of her. The add starts channeling on me.
"Add on me," I type in chat.
She's happily kiting, half a room away.
"Take this add off of me, please."
I try kiting but I've already used my HoF on her and my waddling run isn't doing much.
"Please?"
The healer is spamming me and pulls agro on the add as I've avoided touching it for fear of making it harder for the hunter. Now the healer is kiting while the hunter gets cornered and eats some damage.
I taunt the add off of the healer, giving him some time to top everyone off. Boss swaps and now I'm running to keep the new add of me, and drag him into the one add she's still kiting - a multi-shot snags the add and I go back to the boss.
That vein in my forehead has burst and is leaking blood down my face.
The DK's happily sit on the boss, swinging away. The boss doesn't hit that hard anyway, once topped off, I stop kiting and CD through the healing Debuff, just burning through the last 30% of the boss' health.
I whisper the healer and thank him for helping me get through the dungeon while the DPS are all happily cheering about a "GG."
Yeah, GG.
Excuse me while I go curl up with a glass of whiskey.
I'm primarily a tank. I like to tank instances a lot. It's probably my favorite thing to do in the game. Running 5-mans is fun, the daily Heroic can be an enjoyable instance, and any time I'm with a few guildies, even 2 or 3 others, the run typically goes by in a breeze and no wipes happen.
Other time, I log in and there is no one else online, and I find myself hovering my mouse over the LFG button and I hesitate. What if my group is a bucket of fail? What if my healer is a ball of stress and can't keep up with the damage? What if I'm top DPS on boss fights again? What if no one remembers how to interrupt?
But, being a masochist, I click the button anyway, and a second or two later, the dungeon-entry screen flashes at me with a shield in the center, and I press the "Enter Dungeon" button, waiting for all the tick-marks to line up, wondering what fresh hell I'll encounter on the other side of that instance loading screen.
I usually open a greeting and throw in emoticons liberally, trying to earn some favor with these people. I'll take a glance at the healer's gear and estimate how much CC I'm going to need to use (full disclosure: when running with guild groups, I've more or less given up using CC even on 3 or 4 add pulls. It's almost back to Wrath dungeoneering - gather 'em up and nuke 'em down with a couple of stuns thrown in for good measure.)
Sometimes, things are sublime - everything goes well, and with nary a hiccup, the Valor Points are tallied to my currency total and everything is fine. Other times, things aren't so simple, and it takes a bit of effort to wrench victory from the jaws of defeat.
Take, for example, this group I had for Heroic Blackrock Caverns. I cast out my usual greeting and smilie, received dispassionate "hi"'s in return, buffed, waited for others to buff, and then, seeing the healer full of mana, everyone's health at full, and the two-add patrol walking up the ramp, I warning everyone - "pulling!" - and like Captain America facing down a bunch of Nazi's, throw my shield into their faces.
A few seconds later the adds were dead, my health had barely dipped and I felt confident. The trash went quickly, Rom'ogg Bonecrusher came thundering up, screaming and yelling, and went down just as fast. While the healer drank, I watched Raz do his thing, tearing up adds and once we were ready, we ran down, clearing trash.
So far, I was feeling pretty good - DPS was high, the healer was easily able to keep up with the damage, and I was happy to be on my way towards a quick clear. Then I realized our warrior was still standing back by the first boss.
"You coming, Steve?" I asked.
"1 sec," he said.
I shrugged - our DPS was good, there was a DK in the group, so I pulled the Zealot waiting at the bottom of the ramp. "Please interrupt Strikes" I reminded him in chat (the third DPS being a hunter), and watched the cast bar filling up slowly before using my own (1-minute CD) interrupt at the last second.
"Dave," I said, naming the DK, "Please interrupt the casts."
With only 2 DPS the Zealot wasn't dying so quickly that the Strikes were not an issue - in fact, the second and third both hit me and I started chaining CDs as my health dropped below 20% and the healer strained to keep me up.
The zealot goes down, I try to stay polite. "Please use your interrupts when you see the Zealot casting," I said. "It does a lot of damage and drains healer mana to bring me back up to full."
We cleared the next trash group before I realized the warrior was still sitting back at the beginning. "Steve," I said, "We're waiting."
"lol 1 min"
A vein began to throb in my forehead. I pulled the next Zealot. He begins to cast Shadow Strike. The cast-bar fills up. My finger inches towards the Hammer key-bind. I restrain it - maybe Dave will come through. I hit my 20% damage reduction CD instead.
I get hit, and the healer begins churning out Nourishes to get me back up.
"Dave," I type out hurried while popping wings to get this add down quickly - where the hell is Steve? - "I really need you to interrupt those, man."
Silence. Another Strike lines up. The hunter keeps on shooting blissfully, and Dave keeps on swinging happily unaware that I'm about to die. I hit Ardent Defender. Whack. A bloom of golden light envelops me saving me from death and then the add goes down.
The healer chimes in - "What the hell is going on?"
"Dave, why aren't you interrupting?" I asked.
"I don't have interrupts," he says.
The vein is red and pulsating at this point. I take a breath - maybe he's a fresh 85, maybe he's never had to interrupt in his life, I don't know what his deal is.
"You do," I say. "Look up your spell book - you should have Mind Freeze under Frost and Srangulate as well, but it's on a longer cool-down. Just put it somewhere you can hit easily and please use it every time you see the Zealot's casting. Hit 'V' so you can see their nameplates and it becomes pretty easy to see the cast-bar. Just hit that Mind Freeze button before they fill in."
"ok."
I rub my eyes while we sit in front of Corla, Herald of Twilight.
"I'll take left," says the hunter.
"I've got right," says the healer.
"Block center, would you Dave? And also interrupt her fear, please, it makes life very easy."
"Block what?"
"The beam in the.... never mind, I'll do it."
"Ok."
"You coming Steve?"
Silence. I initiate a vote-kick and it passes. Another DK takes his place.
"1st time here lol"
I shudder for a second. "Ok, just stay behind the boss and burn her down, and please interrupt the fears."
"Easy."
Yes, easy.
The fight goes just fine, except for the fact that every Fear I can't interrupt gets through and the fight just drags forever. Thankfully, no Zealots evolve. Finally she keels over and spits up her loot, and we continue down to Karsh Steelbender.
I whisper the healer, "Do you think I could just keep stacks up? I don't think these guys will be able to kite and kill adds away from me."
He whispers me back and tells me to do it however I want. I thank him, ask everyone to hold off on CDs until I say and then to burn him fast. I quickly work him up to 8 stacks and give the signal. I don't know if it works but he croaks as I reach 14 stacks and am about exhausted with all my CDs and the healer had turned into a tree spamming heals to keep everyone up.
The next set of trash dies, and I just walk by Beauty. I'm not going to pull her with this group.
"You don't want the JPs?", the new DK asks.
"We lack the CC necessary to clear this."
"Good group. We got it," he says, "Let's try."
The healer whispers me, "Please, no."
I ignore the DK and pull the trash. He doesn't ask again. We get down to Ascendant Lord Obsidius, Raz dies, and I look at the hunter and quickly setup a macro to cast Hand of Freedom on her.
"Think you can kite the adds throughout the fight? He'll occasionally swap places with one of the adds so you'll have to pick up agro on it."
"ok."
"Great, go ahead and pull, I'll taunt the boss away."
She pulls, I drag the boss to one side, and everything is dandy. Everytime a thunderclap happens, I hit a HoF on her and she seems to be doing well.
The first swap and I start running to pull the boss off of her. The add starts channeling on me.
"Add on me," I type in chat.
She's happily kiting, half a room away.
"Take this add off of me, please."
I try kiting but I've already used my HoF on her and my waddling run isn't doing much.
"Please?"
The healer is spamming me and pulls agro on the add as I've avoided touching it for fear of making it harder for the hunter. Now the healer is kiting while the hunter gets cornered and eats some damage.
I taunt the add off of the healer, giving him some time to top everyone off. Boss swaps and now I'm running to keep the new add of me, and drag him into the one add she's still kiting - a multi-shot snags the add and I go back to the boss.
That vein in my forehead has burst and is leaking blood down my face.
The DK's happily sit on the boss, swinging away. The boss doesn't hit that hard anyway, once topped off, I stop kiting and CD through the healing Debuff, just burning through the last 30% of the boss' health.
I whisper the healer and thank him for helping me get through the dungeon while the DPS are all happily cheering about a "GG."
Yeah, GG.
Excuse me while I go curl up with a glass of whiskey.
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