BY AND LARGE, I’m a fairly relaxed pick-up group healer. I don’t mind group buffing, I don’t shout at people for standing in fire (as an inveterate firestander myself), and I even like the noobs, since my mad skillz generally elicit oohs and aahs of appreciation from the 80 Wario tank with the 921 gearscore and gives me a chance to wallow and kiss my muscle-bubbles.
But there is some shit up with which I shall not put. I’m not sure if I’m being unbearably tetchy or exercising my inescapable priestly neuroticism; either way, pull any of this crap on our watch, and priests will laugh while you die:
- Tanktation:
The tank dictates to the group how this is all gonna roll, assuming that despite the fact they are graceless anti-people failures, tank=boss. Last night I pulled a PUG into Halls of Lightning. No one said anything as we busily buffed, and then the tank says, “We’re hitting all the bosses. I want emblems.” /dropgroup.
- Tankrollers:
A recent PUG dropped me in Hall of Lightning, and into the good graces of a tankroller- let’s call him Spambot. Spambot heads off running before the sparkles have died away from the first buff, which is always a bad sign. I was itching for a stack of Triumph and let him run. First mob, second mob, third mob, straight into the boss- no comments, no mana stops, no nothing- and then straight into the boss and into the fifth, sixth, and seventh mobs.At this point, natch, I’m thinking that this guy is a total gold farmer, but his gear is thoughtfully selected and very high level; plus, he’s said one or two things that don’t sound like macros. We run through the mob of lava elementals (not waiting for the lone mage at the back of the group- too bad for you, suckah!), start beating them off on the stairs, and Spambot pulls the next mob.I yell at him to wait, he says, “o sry”, then our hunter- the best DPS- goes up the wrong staircase. He’s stuck between mobs at the top and bottom, very politely mentions this, and we say we’ll go to the right and take care of the top of stairs mob to get him out. ‘We’, I guess, meaning the rest of the group- the tank pulls the mob on the left and starts fighting his way to the boss. I let him wipe to make a point, rez, and try to rebuff. But Spambot runs to the boss, slashes away with no regard to the fact that the main DPS is trapped on the stairs, needs on the dropped loot (I healed the hunter as he fought his own way out of the stairs), and dashes down the hall of kill-you statues with everyone on half health and me oom.
See you round, dingus.
- Noobhaters:
Tanks are by and large the worst offenders, but anyone can be a noobhater. A recent Halls of Reflection group (clearly, the Halls of anything is cursed) took a pretty bad toll on our PUG, partially due to the low DPS of a very undergeared hunter. But he was polite. He was trying.The much-better mage would not let up, though, making snide comments about Hunter’s gear, overall lack of skill, and general failure at life. To the surprise of all, mage dies repeatedly. Totally inexplicable.
- Fucking Warlocks:
Swear to God.
- Remana, We Hardly Knew Ye:
It’s rare that I go oom these days, but it used to be that a tank would keep one eye on my bar and stop to let everyone remana before a boss fight. Sometimes I needed it, often I didn’t, but it was a nice and thoughtful touch. Since the implementation of the PUGfinder, I can count on one hand how often a tank has mentioned stopping because I’m low.Tanks seem to no longer consider it a part of their job, which is inexcusable. DKs are the worst offenders, natch. While it’s not a guaranteed dealbreaker, if I’ve just run three bad instances, this will prompt a group drop.
What are your priestly dealbreakers?
Disciplinary Action 
I find tanks to be the worst offenders of causing “RRRRRRRGH! *dropgroup*”
Though, and I guess you haven’t had much chance to notice unless you have alts I’m unaware of, healers are pretty darn gittish too.
That and most people I’ve met around 6k gearscore in general. (Yeah I had the mod for a while, because I wanted to know my own, shush)
Worst one, and I play pretty much entirely DPS classes these days, group wipes, all but one run in, that guy: “REZ PLX” Just.. no.
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Oh, man, “REZ PLX” gets its own category. How could I leave it out?
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(And my big DPS alt is a hunter! Those healers are such bitches, man. Like emo tanks.)
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“Fucking Warlocks
Swear to God”
Yes! YES! Let your hate consume and control you! 🙂
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Done and done!
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My disc priest is only lvl 63, but I’m attempting to level almost entirely through pugs… My only “deal breakers” so far have been people who were abusive and very sweary, and people who don’t respond at all when there’s a problem and I try to talk to them about it.
Why so hard on the warlocks though? My first-alt (my only lvl 80, raiding alt) is a warlock, but levelling a priest has certainly made me appreciate how annoying life-tap can be. It’s one of the reasons I’ve specced into Dark Pact, so 2 out of 3 taps take me pet’s mana instead of my life. On my priest, I’ve learnt to accept that one or two taps occasionally is to be expected – afterall, it’s how a warlock works, it’s their mana regen mechanic. If ‘locks go lifetap crazy though I just stick a renew on them and expect them to be smart enough to manage their own health after that. That’s what life-drain is for 🙂
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I think you’re spot-on with the ‘One Renew And It’s Up To You’ bit; and I have affection for many warlocks. I even have an undead ‘lock whom I love to pieces and who charmingly pwns in arena (take *that*, people who spamkilled my priest!).
Most warlocks are, of course, just fine; they tap once or twice, and I’ve got no problem giving them a boost when I’ve got lots of mana and time (I always spam their health when I’m in Violet Hold- my favorite instance!- and send them a whisper to go nuts, for example).
The real trouble starts when a warlock overtaps, natch. Unless you play a ‘lock or a healer, you don’t know what’s going on when a warlock overtaps and dies: naturally, you assume the healer didn’t heal them. This has happened to me more times than I can count.
In many cases, the warlock him/herself (actually, only dudes do it) actually jumps on the Bad Healer bandwagon! He knows he did it. You know he did it. But he’s dead, you’re the healer, and all of a sudden the whole rest of the instance you’ll be patronized and faulted. Ticks me right off, lemme tell you.
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As a tank, I’m not going to stick up for spambots and the like. I have a pretty simple philosophy about pacing in heroics. I keep an eye on the healer’s blue bar, and that controls my speed; if he/she has plenty of mana, then I’ll pause to loot after each trash pull, give an extra second or two, then go forward. If somebody *asks* me to stop, I’d be glad to do it. If all the DPS are really low, we’ve had a rough fight, or we’re staring at a boss, then I’ll stop and let everybody fill back up.
When I run Linedan (prot/fury warrior) as DPS, obviously a fast pace is OK since warriors do better with rage stored up. But when I’m on my shaman or either of my two hunters? Spambots drive me nuts. How does it help us when my pimped-out MM hunter is in Viper all the time thanks to Mr. Spambot pulling like the hounds of hell are on his heels?
And I will NOT tolerate noobhate. If somebody undergeared is doing a reasonable job and is giving it a good try? I’ll back them to the hilt. Give me a good healer and three “noobs” with good attitudes, and I will move the earth. Or at least an instance.
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