Comments on: Does adversity bring out the asshats?

By: Kemonojin

Kemonojin — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:23:02 +0000

Some people seem to think that pugs are instant flaming death… because of the hours and days I work, I rarely get to do anything that isn’t a pug, so I’ve gotten pretty good at guessing is they is, or is they ain’t. I never look anyone up on the Armory; I will occasionally inspect someone if they have an odd weapon or something, but I’m generally willing to take a swing at anything at least once. Provided they seem intelligent, of course. If you say “hay u tnk plz” because it’s shorter than “Would you tank (An Instance) for us?”, I’m going to say ‘no’ because it’s shorter than ‘yes’. I guess that’s the closest I come to screening… if you can ‘talk’ like an actual person than the fallout of an exploded bowl of alphabet soup, I’ll figure that you’re likely the best you can be/do/get at the moment, and even if it doesn’t go well, it should be amusing.

I’ve had pugs where I knew everyone involved, we were all good gear and skilled, and wiped like an incontinent overeater at an all you can eat prune chili bar. But we had fun with it, and the game is supposed to be fun… and I’ve been in groups where a couple of huntards were competing to see whether they could pull aggro off me (Bear tank, although the name I used up there is my hunter)… so I let them, told the healer not to heal them, sat down and watched them die. Then finished the fight with just me, the healer and an undergeared but very skilled rogue who knew his stuff. I explained to the ‘tards that it’s funny once, and now once is over. Did they want to continue the instance, or did they want to run back to their bodies wherever they were teleported when I booted them out of the group. One started whining and was punted, the other apologized and offered to pay repair bills, and from then on was a reasonably good party member.

I like pugs, as long as they remember it’s a game, and a game should be fun. People who think it’s all Serious Business aren’t much fun.

The Wall of Text crits you for 69,105! You die…

Ok, that went kind of stream of consciousness, but I just got off work and haven’t slept yet, so sorry.

By: Viktel

Viktel — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:45:50 +0000

My favorite part of those tales of triumph over adversity is where the group pushes past the frustration and moves into slap happy.

Usually some good comedy in there somewhere. The failures can be just as fun as the wins as long as you don’t take things personally.

By: Copey

Copey — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:58:59 +0000

Sorry Befre, I didn’t mean to blow my stack towards you or anything. I have had truly great players that played hunters misdirect pull to me all instance long. And hey, I got no probs with it, but because that was the plan. I knew it was coming, the healer knew it was coming, it was a team effort.

I just get cheesed when a person who will get one shot if he gets hit pulls mobs on purpose with out the group being ready. And just assumes that I’ll bust my hump to come save the day. That’s not playing a game, that’s panic management. I’ve seen it happen many times, and sometimes I’m cool and collected enough to calmly sit and watch that person die and then go ahead and blow all cool downs and prevent a wipe.

By: avid lurker

avid lurker — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:58:38 +0000

For pure research purposes, I tried to find a lousy pug yesterday. I thought I found a promising one for Violet Hold: very spammy in the LFM channel, requests for a “summinz” to Dalaran, arguments about what the levers on the VH wall do, a desire to tank on the steps by the VH entrance, and finally, the tank announcing a refusal to explicitly generate threat on “the lil’ guys ’cause they weak” despite them frequently pounding on my helpless clothie face and interupting heals.

So I was hoping for a real doozy group, but I’ll be darned if they weren’t pretty good. The tank wasn’t perfect, but did a reasonable job of holding aggro. The “lil’ guys” approach notwithstanding, he struggled on the final boss because the dps was a bit too powerful / reckless for him to handle. So the dragon kept changing positions as the tank and dps wrestled on the threat meters, but we made it through without any deaths… straight through the voidy and the waterboy. Not a bad effort.

By: Befre

Befre — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:39:43 +0000

Also, holy shit that was long, didnt realise it till just now, i really need my own blog to vent on…

By: Befre

Befre — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:38:30 +0000

@ people commenting on me

I totally understand. Ive also had groups where the tank is happy to have me pull as a hunter. It was the first time i had done it in the instance and a simple “Please let the tank pull Befre” would have sufficed.

Its just the agro that some people generate so quickly which amazes me, its a game in the end and not something to get so angry about that you are bashing your head into a desk (note, frustrated and annoyed are entirely different from angry :P)

By: Rhidach

Rhidach — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:55:18 +0000

I’m a huge fan of pugs, if only for the variety of personalities you tend to encounter. In fact, the current group of “WoW friends” that I run just about everything with I met in a Heroic Steam Vaults pug way back in the day. Of course, with the good comes the bad, and nothing is worse than joining a pug with four people who are just a train wreck. Overall when I pug 80% of the time I don’t have any issues, 18% are train wrecks (but manageable), and 2% are truly awful displays of inhumanity dredged from the depths of pug hell.

By: Cyrus

Cyrus — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:14:36 +0000

Hmmm. I do prescreen some stuff, it’s true. I also have much less paitience with asshats than you do, and basically if I get a bad feeling about a group (something as simple as not using correct spellings in LFG will be enough) I’ll say ‘No, sorry, I’ll pass on this’ and look elsewhere. I’ve also got a habit of asking for the MTs name or the healers name depending on the character I’m playing and checking both gear and relevant achivements – if someones trying to run a Naxx PUG who’s never seen a single wing down, or tank a heroic UP in blues, I’m probably going to assume it’s not worth my time.

However, it’s worth noting that a good healer or tank can turn a mediocre group into a superb one. Oh, sure, excellent DPS is nice. But in the smaller instances – an overgeared healer can keep a bad group alive, and a overgeared tank can do the same whereas an overgeared DPSer is merely a speed bump waiting to happen. Hence, because I’m either playing a healer or a tank and I’m above average* on both… I’ve always got the luxury of bring able to compensate for a lot if I have to.

* This is not saying a lot. A chimp who’s just come off her ritalin medication and is throwing poop at the keyboard in an agitated state is better than the average player.

By: Clapus

Clapus — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:03:08 +0000

On a similar theme. I wandered into Conquest Hold on my mage(lvl74) and saw what I thought was a group trying to do the Conquest Pit quest. So I wandered down into the pit and stood in the corner to assist with dps on the chain of bosses. There was a lvl74 DK who kept pulling aggro off of the tank and kiting the boss out of the pit, making the boss reset. The tank, a lvl80 pally, snapped at me to stop after I died helping. I did not run out after the boss grabbed me I stayed and took my lumps hoping the tank could regain aggro.
What I realized is that I had wandered into 2 groups and one of them, the one with the DK would not let the other do their turn. So I think that the Horde has their share of asshats and they are not that hard to find. The DK group finally finished their chain and left. The pally realized I wasn’t part of the asshat factor and apologized. I stayed and helped him and his friend complete the chain.

By: TJGypsy

TJGypsy — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:57:33 +0000

Befre,

Hunters can occasionally mess up. Heck, ANYONE can occasionally mess up, but the reason that mistakes by the tank tend to be overlooked is because tanks aren’t always easy to find, and people like you, with attitudes like yours, are definetely a contributing factor.

Every tank has their own style of pulling. Some like to chain pull, either to keep up rage or because they know their healer. Some, like myself, prefer to take pulls a little more slowly so I have time to figure out what needs to die first. When you step up and start a pull without any warning whatsoever, you put everyone in the group off their stride, and rather than keep things moving, you just turn them into a mess.

More than that, though, you put what you want ahead of the rest of the group, and take the fun out of the instance. For people like me, it’s not about the loot or the achievements, although those are nice, it’s all about having fun, and helping others to have fun as well. If you aren’t having fun….all you’re doing is wasting time.

TJGypsy