It doesn't matter if half of you (or most) don't understand what i'm talking about in this post, I just want to rant.
I'm SO tired of scrubs in WoW. I only started playing WoW last year Late May/June, and only played it as it sounded fun and i did have a partial attempt at it in JC1 (stopped at level 42[back then the cap was 60]) So i started playing again with the guide of one of my friends from army, and rapidly levelled to 80 by end of June (just checked, 26th June)
So i started raiding, in naxx, totally enjoying the experience. By my 2nd raid which i attended i was already Raid Leading it, mainly because it was hard to join a PuG with my then-heroicdungeons gear. So it forced me to learn the fights quickly (before i even dinged 80 i was already reading up all the fights in naxx, but reading only helps this much.. you need to personally experience it) so that i could properly lead the group and assign stuff. But i was lucky to have a few better players in those first few pugs who 'helped' me to lead.
As a Raid Leader, you are forced to try to monitor everything that's happening in the fight. It was pretty hard at first since as a starting healer, i had 'healer's vision' (i.e. healer tunnel vision) in the sense that iwas staring at raid frames to heal, it was hard to look at the fight.
Over time, i naturally developed a better sense of awareness of the fight, to the point now where i can give out instructions in RAID CHAT and still heal and monitor the fight. (thanks to my quick typing ability :p 140wpm kgo) Of course, it gets alot easier with Ventrilo, where i don't have to spam out 10 words in 2 seconds and can just yell in my mic.
Right now, my main aim of playing WoW is to clear content. I want to attempt the hardest fights and clear it, be among the front pack of elite players who clear content straight away when it comes out. My main focus is PROGRESSION ; i don't QQ about loot (much :p) since as a healer there isn't a very tangible advantage in a gear upgrade as compared to say, a DPS. (i.e. my HPS isn't going to go up by 50 because i upgraded my gloves. a healer's effectiveness is'nt purely dependant on HPS anyway)
Am i good player? I would like to think so. I learn a fight quickly, i have a good understanding of how fight mechanics work and how best to exploit them, I react quickly and intelligently in fights, and i don't make frequent stupid mistakes, if i even make them at all. (stupid mistakes =/= mistakes. A mistake is choosing FoL instead of HL to heal a raid member and he dies as a result of the incoming damage. A stupid mistake is getting gibbed by Icehowl's charge / Anub' s Spikes/ Twin's Vortex due to wrong colour, etc)
Am i the best/elite? No, I'm never satisfied with where I am. I always seek to improve my level of play, my DPS (on my alts), my healing done, my effectiveness in the raid, etc.
That said, it's appalling how SO MANY 'long-term' WoW players (i.e. people who played since vanilla wow / took a break sometime but came back) just FAIL outright in the above bolded statements. They react slowly, they make stupid mistakes periodically, they take countless wipes to learn a fight, they make stupid split-second decisions (or can't make them at all), they don't know how to exploit a fight, ETCETC. I could go on and on.
Is it THAT hard to do any of these? Is it hard to react to a Skull on your head and run the f*** out of the raid?
Just last night in my very own 10man group, my ele shaman Pockadot (@ Barthilas. yes, go blacklist him he's a fail. don't be fooled by his gear) died to Blistering Cold about 129387 times (even tried to ankh quickly after that so not everyone notices - but hey, as a healer obviously i notice who is alive and not) , the most significant stupid mistake was in the last wipe which i already announced was our last attempt. Talk about saving the best for last -_-
It was Sindragosa fight, P3, a phase which we finally reached after countless wipes in P1/P2 due to STUPID mistakes like dying to Blistering Cold, chain frost tomb (omfg is it THAT HARD to just spread the f*** out and not run together like little gay fags) Our strat was to have beacon targets move right (when the raid is on the left) and move left (when the raid is on the right). Ridiculously simple concept that a monkey could understand.
So on the 6th or 7th beacon, Pockadot was the target of that Beacon, and the whole raid was on the right side, LoSing behind a frost tomb. As usual, someone (can't remember if it was me cos i was busy calling out which healer to stay out, etc) juts called out on vent the target of the Beacon, to assist the slow minds. After TWO SECONDS (this is a moment of eternity seriously. If i call you by your name, just by reflex alone your mind will snap to attention and you'll try to figure out why someone called your name right?) Pockadot DID NOT MOVE. he still stood there, happily clustering with the rest of the raid.
This was when warning bells sounded in everyone's head and whoever had a mike was screaming at him to move out, move out.
I was at that moment on the left side as i stayed out for that cycle of Beacon to heal the tanks. Since they were behind the tomb, it is a natural tendency to backpedal and move to the side. So i moved to the front and over to the right, so i would be the furthest possible distance from him (if he even moved. that is).
AND WHAT MUST HE DO TO EMPHASIZE HIS FAILNESS? after another 2seconds of hearing the yelling on vent, he moved to me.
omgwtfbbq chain frost tomb, gg.
I was so freaking pissed after that and just went offline after rezzing.
It is not just him who is slow, it's practically half of my 10man group. I have to call out every single thing for them otherwise i think they wont react to it. This just won't do. I mean, i don't mind having to call out things which require coordination, for example Spores on Festergut, when two are in melee, i'll call out 'skull move out, cross stay', etc. But things like Malleable Goo for Professor.. i think if i don't call it out all the time people will just stand there and get gibbed.
Or the slime add spawns for Professor, if i don't call them out, i'm sure the DPS will just happily DPS the boss.
COME ON. Some freaking initiative, watch fight timers yourself, watch what's happening in the raid, HAVE SOME RAID AWARENESS.
I want a group of 9 other individuals who can respond to fight mechanics ON THEIR OWN with NO REMINDER NEEDED by the RL, i want people who can react appropriately to unforseen situations with common sense. I want them to know how to play their class well, and keep finding out new ways to improve their playing. If i could ever form such a team, I would have no doubt total satisfaction in raiding and we WILL progress rapidly through the new content.
If i can't, i'll be stuck with a mediocre team of half-players, who will most definitely not clear any heroic ICC content since most of them require INTELLIGENCE which they lack severely. Then i may consider just quitting WoW altogether, or going casual.
And by going casual I mean i will still raid, but just not 25 content. Probably get a group of skilled players and form a 10man group and raid on weekends or sth. There is a 10man guild currently on my server, a group of xferred players, but i don't know if there's a spot in there for me. They already have a good (and geared) holy pally, so my only chance is to get in as a DPS. I hate playing ele sham, so i wanna go on my mage.
I don't think i'll actually quit WoW altogether till at least when Uni starts, because i can't imagine what i'll do in my free time. I love raiding, i love playing the game, it's just these half-f*** players who really dampen my enthusiasm and ruin my gaming experience. So maybe i'll just go casual. maybe.
The ideal situation is to get into that hardmodes 10man guild.. or at most, i'll form one on my own. so there.
