Ailis in Hunterland

My mage hit 80 roughly a week before 3.3 dropped so, I’ve been spending a LOT of time in the new random LFG system emblem farming to gear her up.

(Protip: group with a tank or a healer before queuing up.  It goes a lot faster.)

In my travels through the system and meeting folks from other servers, I’ve come across several things that I thought I would share with you guys.

1. Cheap buffs are perfectly fine.  Some folks have no issues using their reagents on the full awesome party-wide buffs but if you want to conserve instead of using reagents every 20 minutes or so, that’s completely okay and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
2. Gear judging is not your job.  You may snicker at the hunter wearing a spell trinket or the ret pally wielding a sword and board, but to comment on it and make them feel like a total loser doesn’t help.  Yes, you guys will probably never see each other and what you say is simply a passing comment but keep them to yourself unless you are of that class in the group – pally to pally, hunter to hunter.  Otherwise, you just come off as an obnoxious know-it-all elitist.
3. For the love of pete, greed on the stupid frozen orbs.  No one “needs” them anymore.  Period.
4. Speaking of loot (and here’s my huge thorn in my side), the new need before greed/disenchant system is nice.  It has a couple of hitches such as treating greed and disenchant rolls equally.  So the days of needing for main spec and greeding for offspec are gone.  Most groups have adopted a “need for both specs” attitude which I have no problem with IF the person that is needing for offspec waits to see if anyone else needs for main spec before rolling.  Twice yesterday I watched people need on an offspec item against someone who was needing on it for mainspec, win, then drop group or argue as to why they “deserve it” when I said something.  One argument presented to me was “Well, that is normally my MS.  I’m in here in my OS.”

   Fantastic.  How are any of us supposed to know that’s your offspec and you’d like to roll mainspec on drops when there is obviously someone there that needs it for the mainspec they are running AT THIS POINT.  *shakes fist*

   The other argument I hate is “It’s just a heroic.”  Well, yes.  If this were any heroic under Trial of the Champion or the new ICC 5mans I wouldn’t even open my mouth.  But seeing is how ToC drops 219 gear on heroic and the new 5mans drop 232 gear on heroic, it’s a bit of a bigger deal.  People trying to gear up quickly to raid need this gear more than anything that will drop from any other heroic.

   My point is this – if you’re in LFG for both your specs and the random system asks you to go in on your offspec but you’d like to roll need on mainspec, say something to your group.  Don’t steal loot from your tanks or your healers because that’s exactly what it looks like.

All in all, the random cross-server LFG system does not give you permission to be a total douche to everyone you meet.  Just because you will likely never see them again doesn’t mean karma isn’t a bitch.  Run your heroic, do your job, say hi, be fair with loot rolls, and leave.  I’ve seen personally and heard from guildies more and more asshats showing up in heroics.

Maybe we’re all just unlucky and get the local nuts but maybe there’s more to this and people need to just pay a little more attention to how they act.  And, if you witness something like this – unfair loot rolls or someone just being a prick to someone else – say something.  You don’t have to do what I did and really lay into someone (to be fair I’m pregnant and a bit pissy nowadays – my poor husband) but speaking up briefly will help over time.

Enough folks speak up on a regular basis, the better it can get.

Raid leaders must have it incredibly easy.  I mean, all they do is throw out a bunch of invites, move people around in groups, bark out orders, and profit, right?  They sit on vent bossing everyone around, dictating who gets loot and who doesn’t, and possibly even prevent you from raiding because you don’t meet some arbitrary raiding requirement they set.  Those bastards!  You pay good money to play this game so you should be able to do whatever you want, when you want to do it.

I am here to help.  

Here are ten easy things you can do to annoy your Raid Leader so much that they will realize their folly and grant you raiding passage and phat lewtz.

1. Badger Badger Badger

Vent is for yapping.  It’s for excessive yapping.  It’s for so much yapping that you turn on your computer speakers so you can hear yourself yap in surround sound.  Silence during a boss pull?  Pshaw!  That’s for the loser hardcore raiders who don’t know how to have fun.  Furthermore, you need to yap about completely random subjects, instigate arguments in vent that have nothing to do with the raid, or pull out the rudest, crudest, most pornographic jokes you can while your raid leader’s children are on vent.

Question every aspect of the boss strat, even if your guild has downed this boss ten times before this point.  Point out any and all flaws, problems you have with your role in said strat, and go over them again and again.  Beat that dead horse with as many sticks as you can get your hands on.

2. Everyone loves a pessimist

The boss’s health is at 5% and the tank, 1 healer and 2 DPS are all that’s left battling against the enrage timer.  What should you do as you lay there eating floor?  Encourage them?  Tell them they can do it?  Keep silent and let them concentrate?  Nope.  Morosely volunteer the sad truth that there’s no way; it’s a wipe and they might as well give up.  In fact, don’t wait until the group is in that situation.  The second anyone dies, start in on that.  You’re just being realistic, right?  You wouldn’t want anyone to foolishly think they could surmount this completely impossible situation.  And, hell, if you have to pay a repair bill, everyone should so just die already.

3. I got the stuff if you meet me at the place.

Scheduled raid breaks are for pussies.  You should be able to run to the bathroom, take a smoke break, or grab something to eat at any time you want to.  Doing it immediately before a boss pull when buffs are ticking is the absolute best time to employ this tactic.  Fifteen minutes is a good, round number to afk.  

Even better, sit on vent asking for someone to enchant the bracers you just got on the last boss and making the lone enchanter scramble for mats because you refuse to budge until it’s done.  Later on, after the raid is finished, replace that enchant with one better and link it in guild chat.  You will be loved and praised as an independent soul.

4. Do what now?

A fun trick after a trash pull is to immediately run to the next one ahead of the tank and the healers and despite the fact that four people died on the last pull.  This shows that you have potential leadership skills and don’t mess around.  Everyone else is just slow.  If anyone has the audacity to yell at you, blame it on lag.  Works every time.

Also, wait for the explanation of your role in a particular fight, then ask them to repeat it.  Twice.  Three times for good measure.  Then completely ignore said role and take over someone else’s.

5. MINE

You approach the boss and glance over to the Vent panel and see the little sound icon of your RL blink yellow as they prepare to speak.  Quick!  Interrupt them and start handing out assignments – especially if you’re DPS and have never healed/tanked a day in your life.  Do ready checks and buff checks as fast as you can because the raid leader obviously needs you to do these things.  Don’t bother asking if they would like you to take on that role for the run in an effort to alleviate any stress – of course they do!  Silly, raid leader…

6. Because it’s all about you.

You were just battle rezzed on the fly in the middle of KT.  You a) run immediately back to the fight, shooting out a quick thank you to the intensely focused healer or b) stand there dumbly and ask for cheap buffs before you go back to fighting.  Of course it’s b!  You cannot be expected to do your job and win this battle for the raid if you aren’t thoroughly and properly buffed this magical moment.  It doesn’t matter that you died because you didn’t move out of the void zones or because you were too close to the healer and chain ice blocked him.  You died, it’s the healer’s fault and you deserve buffs as compensation.  And if you don’t get your buffs then employ tip number 2 because there’s no way in hell KT’s going down now.

7. That’s totally a hunter weapon.

Initiate long and arduous conversations about why so-n-so doesn’t deserve loot simply because of their class.  Actually, lead off with an incredibly rude outburst, then move gracefully into said long and arduous conversation.  People will applaud your cleverness and sense of justice.  And even after the raid leader unfairly gives it to so-n-so, link the item you have in that slot with a sad face after the link so everyone will see how you were mercilessly gyped out of The Purple.  

Then do it again in guild chat.

8. I got it because it was cheap.

Show up to every raid five minutes late with 45% durability and at least two items unenchanted and one item with BC welfare gems in the sockets.  This will show that you don’t subscribe to the myths of full enchantments or the top quality gems.  You are the fish that swims upstream while everyone else goes downstream.  You are a pioneer!  Why go for +16 when +6 works just fine?  I mean, come on, ten measely points makes that much of a difference?  You’re frugal!

Don’t bother bringing any food, pots, or flasks to the raid either.  That’s why the rest of the guild leveled their professions, right?  They can provide all the consumables for you and spend their time sitting there staring at that stupid fishing bobber.  God that’s boring…  And while you’re at it, ask for a stack of bandages.

9. [W to] Raidleader: What the #@&!!$% was that?  Did you see Broccoli-head stand in the flame wall AGAIN? And I can’t BELIEVE Totem-boy keeps ripping aggro from Tanky-man!

Every time someone screws up, point it out.  Whisper the raid leader, yell in vent, type it out in raid chat AND guild chat but be sure to point it out so the raid leader notices.  They have so much on their plate that they cannot possibly be as observant as you are.  They will thank you for noticing the little things like the Shaman ripping aggro so the boss goes cavorting around the room.  Surely, they missed the Mage dropping his poison load in the middle of the raid instead of running to the wall.  

In fact, do the Raid Leader an enormous favor by stopping everything you’re doing and just standing there watching everyone else and making sure they don’t screw it up.

Never mind that you just got hit by a flame wall…

10. There’s a pea under my matress.

You do so much to help the raid.  You keep the Raid Leader’s job interesting.  You hand out assignments at the drop of a hat.  You point out everyone else’s flaws.  You make sure that all the loot properly goes to the correct class.  You take all those extra pots, flasks and food from everyone else to help them free up precious bag space.

You should get a reward.  Yes, you should.  Talk to your raid leader about it.  Better yet, talk to your officers about it.  Point out all that you do and ask for something in return.  And the sky is the limit!  Guild bank access, this drop from that boss, guaranteed raid spots in progression raids, I’m sure you can think of much more clever things to ask for.  Be sure to also point out that even though you don’t meet raid requirements, you should be allowed to go because of all the invaluable assistance you bring.

They will write songs about you.

Ah, it’s Monday.  With Monday comes back to work (well, for some that is), the beginning of a new week, and possibly a patch tomorrow.  Will there be extended maintenance?  Only time will tell!  But that’s not today’s post.

Anonymity is a powerful thing.  There are even items you can purchase to reinforce this concept.  When no one knows you in real life (i.e. can come knocking at your door to teach you a lesson, son), you can get away with any type of behavior you wish.  Get /gkicked because of your attitude?  Not really an issue, just go join another one.  And so on.

Now, I realize I can waggle my finger until I get a cramp and people are still going to act the way they want to.  It’s their right.  They pay $$ every month to play and, therefore, are entitled to behave in any manner they so desire.  And a lot of folks do, sadly.  I could write all day long about attitudes in this game because that subject could go far and wide.  I know many folks who are scared to ask a question in chat (general, trade or even guild chat) for fear of being harassed or made fun of for not already being omniscent.  I know people that brag all day long about what a great player they are and shun any type of advice whether it helps or not and actually go as far as to oftentimes snub a Raid Leader, GM or Officer’s authority.

We deal with such a wide span of age groups, thought processes, priorities, outlooks and general attitudes that it’s nigh impossible to not encounter some form of irritation and/or drama in any given situation.  That I could sit here and harp on until I ran out of colorful phrases.

But I’m going to throttle it down to a subject near and dear to my heart – raiding.

Whether you are a hard-core raider with a guild, a hard-core raiding pugger, a casual PvE’er looking to start raiding or someone who just dinged 80 and want to start raiding in WotLK, it is up to you to be a good raider and to have a good attitude.  Now, that’s not just good gear, good DPS/Heals/Tanking (although all those things help) – it’s how you conduct yourself, act in the raid and treat your fellow raiders.

It means showing up to a scheduled raid on time.

In my guild, we schedule raids (as much as we can) a week in advance using the in-game calendar so our regular raiders can figure out if they’re available or not.  This has made our progression raids a lot easier to form.  

If your guild, or the guild you run with on a regular basis, uses any type of calendar scheduling for their raids, first off, respond to the invite.  This will let the raid leader know your availability and, overall, how many to expect come raid time.  It’s also just a matter of courtesy to respond.  They’re extending an invitation to you, acknowledging you as a viable raider for that particular raid, and it will take you all of 30 seconds to click “Accept” or “Decline.”

If you do accept, show up on time or, preferably, early.  Be online on your raider that was invited ready to go – not in the middle of a dungeon crawl, not on an alt finishing up one or two last things, and most importantly, not on another raiding toon in someone else’s raid.  If you are going to be late or not able to go, let your Raid Leader know as soon as possible.  Don’t just not show up or not log on because, inevitably, they will delay the raid for about five minutes while they wait for you to show up, not knowing you won’t be there.

It means showing up prepared.

Don’t depend on someone else to bring flasks and buff foods to raids all the time.  You may have a generous alchemist or a generous cook in your guild that consistently shows up to raids with tons of goodies to hand out to everyone.  That is always welcome and truly fantastic.  That is their choice but you should never expect it or take it for granted.  Say thank you, offer to compensate them in some way or, even better, bring your own.  At some point, you will be in a raid without that person and then where will you be?  Get into the habit of having a few feasts or buff food in your bags along with a couple of flasks and elixirs.  If someone shows up and plunks a Fish Feast out, hey, bonus.  But you came prepared and raid leaders notice this.

Show up with your gear repaired.  That’s all I’ll say on that one.

It means taking pride in your character.

You can always be better.  You can always be a better DPS, a better healer, and/or a better tank.  There are better pieces of gear, better gems, better enchants, better rotations, better priorities, better….you get the point.  Don’t get to a plateau and then just twiddle your thumbs waiting for Ulduar to come out.  Don’t pass up on loot that is a slight upgrade in the hopes that something better might drop later.  I’ve been guilty of that in the past.  I’ll be after a certain item in an instance and will save my roll for the chance that it will drop and, inevitably, pass up on something else that is an upgrade for me.  And then my item won’t drop after all so I missed upgrade opportunities.

Don’t be that guy.

Grind rep for enachants and gear.  Show your guild that you care about your character and put in the effort to make them better rather than depending on the raid group to carry you through a raid and gear you up.

Another facet of maximizing your potential is to level your professions.  Level your primary professions.  With the release of WotLK, they implemented more profession goodies that you would be foolish to not attain as soon as possible.  All of these things are designed to make you better and who doesn’t like better?

Level your secondary professions.  Yes, cook and fish and make band-aids.  As stated above, this is part of being prepared and contributing to the raid group as a whole.  There are a plethora of buff foods for your spec so learn how to make those and make them often.  You may find fishing extraordinarily boring and see no need for bandages if you have a good healer.  Yes, you may be right but you never know and it’s better to be prepared and overcompensating than to come up short.

It means obeying the rules.

Even if you don’t agree with all of them, obey your guild’s rules when it comes to raiding.  Every guild has different rules  for when you’re able to raid, loot rules during the raid, and so forth.  Find out what those rules are as soon as you can.  If your guild has class leaders, meet with them when you hit 80 and let them know you want to raid.  They should get you pointed in the right direction as far as your build, stats, and gear.  Browse your guild forums for information on your class, raid strategies and any other rules that your guild has.

If you have an issue with a rule, don’t complain about it in raid chat or guild chat.  Send a note or a whisper to your GM or an officer outlining your issue with the rule in question.  Even better, come prepared with a solution or two.  Don’t just complain because you feel it’s unfair or unattainable.  The guild rules are most likely made by more than one person after a lot of discussion and are made for the benefit of the guild as a whole.  That said, not every rule is perfect and if you feel things could be done better, meet privately with an officer to discuss it.  That said, be reasonable, rational and, above all else, listen to the reasoning for the rule and any outside factors you may not have known about before you push forward with your complaint.

If your guild has set minimum requirements for raiding, find out what they are and not only meet them, but exceed them.  Don’t ask for special favors.  If you’re invited to a raid before you’ve attained the minimums, thank your class leader because it was most likely them who stepped in for you and requested you be included as a reward for the hard work you’ve been doing.  But don’t stop working because of it.  Still strive to meet the requirements and be the best raider you can possibly be.

It means being gracious, generous and forgiving.

Your raid leader doesn’t have the easiest job in the world.  There is a lot of stress that comes with herding that many raiders and you complaining in raid chat or on vent about that fact that you didn’t get a heal last fight or you need buffs right now or you can’t believe someone else got that piece of loot when you felt you deserved it or you don’t agree with the role you were asked to do doesn’t make their job any easier.  In fact, it makes them less likely to listen to any viable complaints you have.

The healers know when you’re dying.  The raid leader probably has a mod that lets them know who is missing buffs.  If you lost the roll on the loot drop, it’s just purple pixels and you’ll see it again.  You were asked to off-heal instead of dps for a reason.

Raids are about having fun and progressing as a group.  In my guild, we stress the guild as a family and a unit and everything we do, we do for the guild.  We progress as a guild, we grow as a guild, we try to gear up everyone as equally as possible.  That’s the way it should be in just about any raid situation.  Have fun – yeah it sucks when something you want doesn’t drop or you see it go to someone else.  I’ve been in that situation more times than I can count.  You sigh with disappointment and move on.

You also need to be generous.  Take a look at the people you would be rolling against on a particular item.  If it’s just a side-grade for you and a major upgrade for them, maybe let them have it.  I realize everyone has different thoughts on this issue and there are a plethora of situations this could come up but, if you’re in a guild run with the same people you run with week after week then consider adopting this policy.  You being the best geared player helps only you in the end; whereas having 25 folks that are all well-geared helps the raid as a whole.

It means being mature.

I realize this is a “duh” phrase but maturity goes a long way in a raid.  Probably a much longer way than you realize it does.  Holding your tongue when someone screws up and letting the raid leader handle the situation is an example.  Not coming down on someone because they’re new to this whole raiding thing is another one.  Being helpful instead of hurtful.  Being respectful of those around you and any real life situations you know about.  Assisting the Raid Leader if they ask for it.  If you’re assigned a task, jumping on it quickly and without complaint.  All of these are examples of displaying maturity.

You.

You can be completely anonymous when it comes to this game if you choose to be.  The choice to divulge any personal information about yourself is your choice alone.  However, even if you don’t divulge anything personally and, therefore, stand completely out of the way of any “real world” repercussions of your actions, it is still up to you to be a good player and the definition of a good player is not just good skill, good stats and good gear.  It’s a good attitude as well.  I have made many friends through this game because of how we treated each other during a random PuG.

The choice is completely up to you.  Do you want to be known as the guy that’s extremely good at their role but a complete ass to everyone around them?  Or do you want to be known as the guy that’s extremely good at their role and a blast to have in a raid?

All of that said, what is your definition of being a good raider/player?

In Ailis’ world, all instance groups know what they’re doing, what their assigned job is from start to finish, and do it flawlessly and without any trouble.  The tank does his tanky thing, the DPS rocks the meters and the healer keeps all those green bars topped off without any problems or deviations from the set course through said instance.

Unfortunately, Blizzard refuses to make a server called Ailis’ World so we’ll have to deal with the folks that either honestly don’t understand their role in a group or just don’t want to or think they can do more than they are actually capable of doing.  If you’ve spent the vast majority of your levelling career going solo then I understand if you don’t fully grasp the role you are to play in a group.  I can condone that and merely ask that you learn what your role is and strive to perform the tasks assigned to you to the fullest of your ability.

To the rest of you…

The ideal dungeon crawling party consists of a tank, a healer, a melee DPS, a ranged DPS and some sort of hybrid.  There are many variations to the dungeon crawling party but that’s my first choice.  Your hybrid can be ranged or melee and their combinations can be any form of tank/heals/dps as long as they are smart with their off-heal/tank/dps.

Tank

A good tank is a wonderful thing to find.  I know a couple of exquisite tanks who have done their jobs so well, they have earned a devotion from me that’s akin to blind faith.  A bad tank can turn the easiest dungeon crawl into the most hellish nightmare.

As a tank, your main purpose in life is to stay center spotlight and taunt, jab, charge, and smack the mobs into such a fury that they are focuses solely on you and don’t even notice the rogue stabbing their butts.  You are not here to DPS.  If you want to be at the top of the DPS meter, turn this toon into your bank alt and roll a hunter.

A tank also excels at watching the threat meters and knowing what classes can do what to drop aggro.  Hey, crit happens.  I’ve been in many situations where suddenly I’m staring at the mob’s face rather than their backside when all I did was Stormstrike them.  A good tank watches for that possibility and knows what to do to stave it off.  Calling for a hunter to feign, a priest to fade, a rogue to vanish, or yelling at me to switch targets is part of being a good tank and a good leader of a dungeon crawl.  However I do not expect a tank to put up with having to call that out more than once or twice in a run.

A tank knows how to not only use marks but follow them.  For the love of pete, if you mark Skull, X and Moon then the kill order is Skull, X and Moon.  Your DPS absolutely loves going after skull just to find out you went after Moon then changed your mind and remarked it Square for the hell of it.  If you don’t use marks, communicate in either vent or chat which mob you’re going after first.

So, whether you have a big bear butt and wear leather or run around in plate, your job description is simple: keep the mobs pissed off at you and only you at all times.

Heals

A good healer is also a rare thing.  A good healer doesn’t just mash buttons and hope that everyone stays alive.  A good healer knows exactly what their skills do and uses them in such a way that it maximizes their efficiency and mana consumption all the while keeping everyone alive.

A healer does not fight.  If you feel the urge to pew pew or stab stab, then respec Shadow or Feral or Enhancement or Ret and be done with it.  Your job is to stand in the back and watch all the little green bars, including your own.  You make occasional notes of your surroundings, but you are pretty much entirely focused on health bars.  

Things can and will go wrong in a dungeon.  You are not expected to heal stupid people.  If the DPS pulls aggro and doesn’t shut it off, and you get the mob’s attention because you healed them, not your fault.  If the tank doesn’t follow his own marking and you get smacked by a very angry mob with a skull above their head, not your fault.

DPS

Be it melee or ranged, your job is to blow up the mobs without them knowing it was your fault.  All of us DPS constantly battle for the top of the meter – we like seeing our name next to the #1 position.  However, keep in mind that is simply bonus or you just happened to suck less than the other DPS in the group.  More often than not, it’s the latter.  Sorry.

There is such a thing as AGGRO.  If you suddenly see your health drop and you’re staring at the dripping mandible of a spider boss instead of his spider-web shooting back end, you have AGGRO and what do you do when you have AGGRO?

Stop DPS’ing.  Yes, stop your never-ending climb to the top.  Stop mashing buttons, clicking macros or whatever the hell else you do.  Just stop.  Feign, Fade, Meld, Vanish.  DO NOT RUN.  Running just makes the angry beastie follow you and suddenly, you have a tank following the angry beastie, the rest of the angry besties following the tank and you and the tank getting out of range of heals so the whole group wipes because the healer has to run after your aggro-pulling ass.

If you ever cause this type of a situation and then have the balls to ask if anyone has a rez, you will be punted from my group.

As pure DPS, your job is also to note the kill order and dutifully follow the tank through the established kill order.  If your tank breaks the kill order, reserve your curses for if you make it through the fight and target off him.  That is the best way to salvage that situation.

Hybrid

As a hybrid, be it tank/heals, dps/heals, or dps/tank, your job is to make your “off” abilities known to the group and be extremely adaptable and flexible to every situation.  Boss fight taxing the healer?  Step back and toss a few heals to the group.  Stray patrol surprise the tank?  Step in and grab aggro on the patrol until the tank can come take them.  You are there for the group as a whole and never for yourself.  You are a jack of all trades, master of none and get used to it.

There may be many times that your off abilities are never used and you are able to be pure dps or whatever.  But always be prepared to pop out and throw some heals or corral some beasties.  A good hybrid knows what’s going on at all times with every member of the group and keeps the other eye on the surroundings.

Basic rules for a basic dungeon crawl.  Know your role and stick to it.  You are a member of a unit – not solo.  You are here to help just as much as you need help from the rest in your group to achieve the overall goal.