Thursday, April 29, 2010

Butthurt players.

If I didn't mention it last time, I'll say it now: as a guild we've moved on (as a whole guild, mind you) to join with another guild to permanently raid stuff on the 25 man scene. Previously the guild we joined with had something along the lines of maybe 23 actual players that would show up to raid. Now, this might not be all too much of a problem, in its own right, but they were quickly hemorrhaging raiders to the dreaded "OMG IT'S NOT FARM NIGHT I GOTTA GO EAT MY DOG BBL". Granted, there are plenty of other similar excuses, but if you've been in this situation before, you should know all too well what I mean.

So, we hopped on board and quickly got the big train moving again. Something like two resets after we joined we ended up taking down Lich King and there was much celebration. Hooray, tea, presents, the whole thing. Success all around.

The problem, though, is that a good majority of us that joined simply can't put up with repeated stupidity. It's part of the whole reason we were doing 10's exclusively to begin with. Don't get me wrong, learning an encounter is fine, I'm all for progressive learning, but it's the little things over and over again. Like...not running away from Sindragosa on the pull in, or eating 1351351351541001 malleable goos on heroic Festergut. What the hell are you doing? Are you seriously that bad? Do you not watch the world around you?

While I could continue to spout off rhetorical questions, I don't think it would serve much of a purpose. If you know what I'm talking about, then you feel my frustration. If you don't, well, you're probably bad. Or blind. Possibly both.

To deal with said repeated stupidity, I seem to have taken on a role within this new guild. I am the guy that calls out other people as being bad. Now, I didn't necessarily ask for this position, it's not nearly as glamorous as being a raid leader, but I'd like to think I'm something of a mouthpiece for the other competent players in the raid. I say the things that everyone else is thinking, but doesn't. I also say such things over vent. I am that guy. I'd like to think that I'm filling an important role in the raid, much like an off tank, yet I am more for the people mechanics than the raid mechanics. I try to keep the good raiders in the raid, and make sure the bad raiders know who they are. Am I a complete and utter douche?

Yeah, but I'm okay with that.

There are plenty of people in the guild that recognize my skills, and realize that nobody is safe from my scrutiny. Like the Inquisition, NOBODY EXPECTS IT.

For the most part, I think it's healthy for a guild to have someone like me that notices the little details. The guy that scours logs to find out just how often and how badly people screw up. My goal is to get people to recognize their mistakes. That's the first step to being a better raider. You have to know what you're doing wrong in order to fix it. If you ignore it, well, then you might as well go live in San Angeles with Sandra Bullock because it's all rainbows and puppy kisses for you now isn't it?

It's also healthy for another reason: it removes the bads. There are always those people in the guild. The ones that show up to raid, but are really mediocre. They perform, but never stand out. Usually these people are some of the best-geared people you have just because that's how most DKP systems work out. For whatever reason, people think that having good gear equals having some massive amount of skill. Just go troll trade chat for gear score stuff and you'll see what I mean. There's some odd sense of entitlement that is brought along with having good gear.

Put down your loot and prepare to be judged. At least, once every eight seconds.

Har. Paladin humor.

Good gear will not save you from me. If you are bad, I will search you out and tell you as such.

That being the case, I've already run across a number of people within this guild that don't like me. Probably because they fit the description of being butthurt.

Butthurt is that special feeling in your ass after it's been kicked/and or pounded in. It is a common ailment of losers on the internet. It is usually characterized by noisy whining and complaining after being pwnt or otherwise outdone in any minute and insignificant way.

Butthurt players only make things easier for me. The more you want to complain about it, the more I'll rail on you. If you say that you couldn't see the 243 malleable goos that hit you over the course of the night, come get some. If you want to say that lag caused you to not hit the falling discoball on Blood Princes, even though you were standing right under it, go for it. Being butthurt won't fix anything. Raiding isn't about puppy kisses and rainbows. It's about raiding.

YOU MUST RAID LIKE VIKING.

Take your axe, sword, dagger, whatever, and put it between your teeth. Grit them very hard, and go burn down some villages. Take slaves. Produce skulls for the skull throne.

We don't raid in Candyland. We raid in Icecrown.

But, before I get too far away from my initial topic, butthurt players make me laugh. I just keep riding them, and eventually they ragequit. My stance on the issue? Come get some.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Rule of thumb.

It's been a good long while since I last posted anything, apologies for that. Being a PhD candidate as well as a full time delicious raider sort of sucks away a good chunk of my life.

In short, as a guild we moved on to the 25 man scene and promptly killed the LK in something like two nights of attempts. It may or may not have been the ugliest kill ever, but a kill is a kill and now we have more time to work on our 10 man achievements again.

Looking over the logs of our kill, I saw something that made me smile, being the classic utility player that I am: I wasn't on top of the DPS charts.

Regardless of ICC being a playground for retribution DPS from that mobs being mostly undead to the fact that Seal of Command + trash = Texa$-sized numbers, retribution paladins really shouldn't top the charts on boss fights.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is just a holdover from my days of playing retribution through the end of the Sunwell debacle (Ledge boss and on), but I really don't think paladins should ever top the charts. We are ultimately a hybrid class. We can excel at all three trees, and I really think that ICC and Wrath of the Lich King has shown that. As a class we're good at all three classes, but in terms of DPS, I really don't think we can be great.

Sure there are great players that pull some crazy numbers and all that jazz, but I don't think that's as much the result of good playing by the retribution paladin as it is a failure of performance by the rest of the DPS.

This all leads to my rule of thumb for raiding as a retribution paladin:

If a retribution paladin is topping the charts on a single target boss fight, the rest of your DPS need to stop being so bad.

I don't think a retribution paladin should ever out-DPS an arcane mage, or a fury warrior for that matter. We just don't have the tools to do so. Granted, spamming Divine Storm is a lot like spamming Arcane Blast, but the numbers just aren't as big.

That should do it, keep things nice and sweet for now. Catch you kids in the heroics.

Keep on crushin'.