Image courtesy of rrss
First, I have a story to share for the sake of context.
One Raid
The other day, I assembled a a Guild Zul’Aman run. The goal is to keep a consistent ZA group that would run once a week in the hopes of eventually gelling together and running ZA with relative ease on a raiding off night without the displeasure of having to pug ZA groups. As usual, the group was built around a Prot Paladin and a Druid as well as the other miscellaneous classes that would be needed.
One Player
A DPS player from my Guild was interested in coming. Let’s call him Bruce. The only boss he needed was Zul’Jin and he really wanted the kill so he could get his weapon. I never really had a high opinion of this player in the first place but I didn’t care all that much about it. I just wanted to get the job done. He wanted to know whether or not this run would be a full clear. I told him that I could not guarantee a full Zul’Jin run. While my team scoffed at the idea, I exercised caution as there was still a few players who were new to the instance. I myself was rusty in Zul’Aman. Sure enough, we ran into a few bumps along the way. We started at approximately 8 PM and brute forced our way to Zul’Jin at 11 PM. The instance was slated to reset in 8 hours so we would not have the benefit of an extra day to come back.
We took 3 or so shots on him and managed to blow by phase 3 with relative ease. Unfortunately, we couldn’t follow up on our momentum and finish him off. We had a few EST players and it was getting late for them. As a result, we killed the raid and disbanded the raid.
Bruce wanted another attempt otherwise all of the efforts up to this point would have been for naught.
One Remark
A week later, the same core of us decide to go back in again. In Guild chat, Bruce stated that he’d like to go again but felt that the previous attempt was a waste of his time and hoped to be able to kill Zul’Jin again.
And that really struck a chord with me.
After all, Bruce only wants a weapon off of Zul’Jin. And if our little motley crew can’t kill him consistently enough, then that little remark implies that he would only be wasting his time by running with us. That is absolutely fine with me. I don’t really care much for the guy. If our Guild was a hockey team, he’d be a 4th line player and would see 6 minutes of ice time in a 60 minute game. As a result, I’ve no intention of taking Bruce into any kind of runs I do ever again because I’m afraid that it would simply be a waste of his time.
And I don’t like to waste people’s time.
Bruce = lootwhore, not interested in helping others in the guild, not having fun raiding without instant gratification.
I fully support your effort to ‘not waste his time’.
Why take bruce when I can waste my time week after week going with you guys and casting my uber brain heals? 😉
Seriously though, if you want loot, you have to do the work and do everything you can, so matter how much you hate it.
I love it when you encounter little kids in this game who have absolutely no tact. Even better? Encountering adults in this game who have absolutely no tact.
I agree with Doug on this one, most definitely a lootwhore!
some people just don’t give a damn about anyone but themselves /sigh.
You were not the one that flipped out 😛
Doc: I can manage my anger better. =)
A solution to a situation like this, where the person who only needs gear off Hex Lord or Zul’jin is worth accomodating:
Keep the same stacked group for the timed runs – they’re the bulk of the stress in the instance anyway, and swap out for the people that really need items off the final two. No one’s time is “wasted” and you have a couple of fresh ponies for what can be a hard slog.
I hope Bruce is not who I suspect he is.
The truth of the matter is this… This game is many things to many people.
It is a game and enjoyed as entertainment, It is a hobby, It is a source of income, as well as an escape from life.
For me it’s a bit of all of that rolled into one. The one thing that stays with me though is that playing this game is fun, and I would not be playing this game if it were not.
So I’d say to anyone… “If you are not having fun while playing WoW, don’t play it. Find something else to do so you dont waste MY time.”
Very well put Matt!! Raids spots are NOT a right. They are earned. If he sees the time that he spends helping a guild run as “wasted,” then he might not have the correct attitude to be part of your core raiding group. A transition must be made in the minds of most people to shift focus from gearing up themselves to gearing up the raiders as a whole.
Doc, Matt didn’t flip out, but he was in a pissy mood lol
to be commended matt – if it came down to it, i’d fill a spot with a pug’er that wanted to be there over a guildie with this kind of attitude.
TBH I couldn’t tell you what loot drops off of what boss in ZA. Right now it’s enough for me getting bosses down.
If something drops that I can use and I get it, bonus. I don’t expect loot so was extra nice when I got three drops in one Kara run 🙂
I agree with Doug on this one. Wynthea the problem with that is if that someone has committed to running ZA consistently they are probably either after a mount or a item from final 2 bosses. Thanks for cleariing the trash bosses, could you swap out so someone else can get the good drops.
But I have seen it in ZA,Kara,Aq20 and ZG. A subset of the Guild put the time in to learn and get the content on farm and suddenly people regard it as right to join the group and pick up a few choice drops for their main or even their alt.
You guys are moving along , I am sure bruce wll be salivating over cats edge in a few short weeks anyway
1) I’m not Bruce I swear.
2) Poll: OMG MORE GOLD YES. THANK YOU BLIZZARD. YOU ARE GENEROUS AND WISE.
3) I’ve taken a fair bit of loot by now. I’ve always paid a decent amount for it (Probably 1.5 times as much as necessary), but I have come to bid on things when they drop. However, I still hold that loot is not exactly srs bzns. The upgrades for DPS classes really are minimal, especially given that the object in question is a weapon (Arena rewards, anyone?). Raiding is never a “waste of time” if people have a good time and someone gets something out of it. At the very least it’s a charitable venture. Raiders need to raid for raiding’s sake, not for the reward.
4) You spelled “Ner’zhul” wrong on your “About Matticus” tab =P
Amen. I run Kara week after week even though all I really need is to have Nightbane down to get that last danged quest out of my log. I’m exalted with Violet Eye, there are a couple of things in there that are small upgrades for my gear, but otherwise, I could take or leave the instance. I still go because I want to do my part to help other people get better gear, because that will make the 25-man stuff we’re working on that much easier.
The fact is that he couldn’t get to Zul’Jin at all without the help of the other 9 people, and heck, even if y’all did take him down, there’s no guarantee that he’ll even drop the gear that this guy wants. Would the whole run STILL been a waste of his precious time at that point?
… I don’t raid yet so take my opinion for what it’s worth.
Loot is Not the game. There is lot we all want, and Loot that excites when it drops — for us or our friends. But Loot is not the game.
We get the Loot to be better at the game. If you think the entire purpose of a run, in any instance, raid or hell quest, is the Loot you get you’re missing half the fun.
The social bit, the tooth biting omg we’re all going to wipe We didn’t Yay bit. The bit where you learn how to play your class better, and understand what synergy you have with other classes.
Loot is icing, it ain’t cake.
How would Bruce have felt if you had downed Zul’jin and he’d dropped something else? or, what he wanted dropped but it got looted to someone else? Would that also have been a waste of his time? Meh at selfish people.