I recently had a conversation with a buddy who hasn’t been feeling the raiding urge this expansion, and felt bad for not turning up for raids. But I assured him I don’t mind if folks don’t feel like raiding and thus are not turning up for raid nights.
What drives me up the wall are those who DO turn up, unprepared, and unwilling to actually make a real effort, and proceed to waste the time of the 9 other people on the team who actually logged on and wanted to raid.That’s right: people who show up out of obligation but make no real effort to be a productive member of the raid team are my pet peeve.
I do not mind a night plagued by unavoidable failures due to DCs or power outages or bugged bosses. It happens. I do not mind a night of attempts getting progressively closer to a boss kill without success. Learning the strat takes practice. But I DO mind raiding nights plagued by people ninja AFKing, or having no clue about the bosses we’re fighting, or dying due to continually standing in crap on the ground they can move out of, or having mysteriously changed their spec so they are no longer able to do their assigned job in the raid. This sort of thing makes me want to log off in a nerd rage.
World of Warcraft raids are not a spectator sport. They are a team effort. Perhaps with the latest nerfs, pro guilds can carry through more slackers and malcontents. But perhaps not. And regardless, I’m not your mommy so I don’t WANT to carry you through content. There — I’ve said it.
When did going to raids become an unbearable chore that one slogged through, seemingly trying to do as poor a job as possible so it would get called early and you could go back to picking herbs? What is it exactly about Cataclysm and its raid structure and guild changes that has made this seem like an all too common and prevalent issue?
I don’t have the answers. but I do have a request: if you are not feeling like raiding: please don’t sign up or accept the raid invitation. Everyone is entitled to a night off. And if you’re not willing to come in and give it your A game, you’re doing the rest of the team (many of whom spent time farming food and flask materials and repair money) a disservice.
Try, or don’t try, but please don’t waste your raid team’s time.
xo
Nexxi
“When did going to raids become an unbearable chore that one slogged through, seemingly trying to do as poor a job as possible so it would get called early and you could go back to picking herbs? What is it exactly about Cataclysm and its raid structure and guild changes that has made this seem like an all too common and prevalent issue?”
Simple when more than 1-5% of the player base actually wanted to raid. This of course was a direct result of the only way to progress a character in PVE is now to raid.
For many people working a month on 1 boss to get a kill is not fun. It is aggravating, draining and boring. After 30-50 wipes on a boss to learn the strategy and get it executed by everyone correctly does not feel like a victory. It is a feeling of finally about time, great now we have to do it again on the next boss.
If the content would have been designed with more granularity of difficulty so that there is always something to work on then it would not feel like a chore or something to dread. That is why leveling is interesting to many players. The feedback on ROI is much much greater than it is for the gear grind.
Also I like Yoda’s message better, Do or Do not, there is no try.
Did I spit in your cheerios?
;p
30-50 wipes on a regular mode boss is typically a case of people not executing a strat or not making a real effort. The only bosses I can think of, at all, that took weeks to learn were Yogg, Lady Vashj, Kael, and Vael in BWL. Yes, in ICC, there were some bosses that took a couple of nights of serious work, but never 30-50 wipes. And that was raiding with a very casual guild.
Dang! Malchome beat me to it but yes it is do or do not. In my case our guild has a very limited raiding schedule so that exacerbates the issue of preparedness and/or inattentiveness.
I have to pump myself up for raids myself as I am in a healing roll and at times would prefer to be able to be dps on occasion. As heals you are always on point for most fights and especially for new encounters.
That said I choose to do because as another great character said. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one”.
Yes, I’m aware of the Star Wars reference as it inspired me; in general I don’t lift other folks’ words (especially something as well known as that) for a post title.
🙂
I feel pretty strongly that if people are not willing to make the ffort to be successful in the raids they aren’t doing anyone a favor by turning up and being half-hearted about it.
I totally agree. I constantly hear people in guild come back from a long break because they felt burnout, and say I want to raid again, but yet haven’t prepared to handle it and watch the raid suffer, so then I go and bench them for someone else. Then I get the tantrum, that its not fair I am benching them, etc.
Fact is it is fair, I brought you in assuming you were prepared, even in my guild’s app it has a clause that asks will you come prepared with flasks, food, etc to raid.
I totally feel your frustration.
I can identify with your feelings. Before I came over to my current guild, I was an officer and helped lead raids. Nothing frustrated me more than someone making it perfectly clear they don’t want to raid that night, only to find them underperforming, not flasking and generally being a drag on morale.
Sure, I can empathize with tiring of pounding your head against the wall. Does that excuse coming in and not really trying at all? If you’re not that into it, I’d just assume you sit out, and I’ll find someone else that really wants to raid.
There were plenty of nights I just didn’t want to raid, but being in a leadership position, I did what I had to, and I still put forth full effort. It’s a matter of showing respect to your raid team.
The people I really would shake my head at would be the ones that’d come in half-hearted, then when something they wanted dropped, they’d rage if someone else would get the item over them. To me, all that showed was they *only* were showing up to get the gear, and didn’t care about the other members of the raid.