I need to de-stress myself. I just found out that this summary for a 27 page journal page article which had to be finished within 4 hours is actually due on Thursday. I had this one sitting on the backburner for a while, and it’s a great raiding topic to touch on especially for us Priests.
The short version: If that group isn’t your assigned buff group, buff them anyway.
The long version: Us raiders spent a lot of time buffing our groups. We do it so we can maximize the performance of everyone involved. Allow me to post an actual live transcript:
Raid leader: Everyone buffed? Good! Pulling in 3… 2…. 1…-
Random mage: WAIT! I DON’T HAVE FORT OR SPIRIT!
Raid leader: What the hell, why not?
Random mage: Sorry I zoned in late because I was repairing at a time when I shouldn’t have because you called for us to repair earlier and I didn’t because I was hungry and I auto-followed someone in.
Now the raid stalls for a priest to give him Fortitude and Spirit among other things. Then the buffers need to replenish their mana. By the time this happens, Paladin Blessings will have worn off (At least, last patch it would have).
Priest 1: Hey, he’s in your group, buff him.
Priest 2: I don’t have any candles. Besides, you were assigned to buff that player anyway.
Matticus: *sighs and gives the poor mage a 30 minute Fortitude and Spirit*
So is there a point I’m trying to make here? Yes, as a matter of fact there is. Follow whatever buff assignments your leaders tell you to do when you’re about to pull a boss, recovering from a wipe, or some other situation where everyone needs to be buffed again. If you have a few stragglers coming up behind you who didn’t get the group buff, just throw thm a 30 minute buff anyway even if he’s not in your assigned group. You can save a lot of time and minor heartache this way. Really, there are other significant things to argue about then whose responsibility it is to buff who. So save your efforts for that. What’s the most it will cost you? It will set you back one Conjured Glacier Water. And you got that for free!
Now I’m not a mage, so I can’t say this with absolute authority. But I enjoy the refreshing refreshments that these anklebiters throw out (assuming their Gnomish). To last a whole raid, I will need over one stack of water but never more than two. So Netherlord, I’m looking right at you. Hook me up with TWO stacks of water, NOT one otherwise I’ll have to open trade with you again at an inconvenient time for some much needed juice.
This reminds me of something else: Asking for water openly or just opening trade with a random mage in the raid. I am personally in favour of the latter approach as it makes it really convenient for a mage to just drag and drop water into the trade slots. Asking for water openly is like asking for a volunteer to do something. You shouldn’t bank on that. Push the issue and pop trade open with them. It also applies to buffs as well. Don’t openly ask for “Fort please” in raid. Either you’ll get overloaded with three fort buffs or none at all because the Priests assume someone else will do it. Whisper any Priest in the raid and ask them for a Fort.
Lastly, regarding rebuffing. Here’s another transcript:
Random Hunter: Fort please!
Random Priest: Looks like you already have it.
Random Hunter: It’s going to come off in five minutes.
Random Priest: *sighs, buffs*
It’s not a big deal, but again it saves on the minor stressors in WoW. If you have a buff which expires in another 10 minutes or even 15 minutes, right click it off. Chances are, the classes that can buff you will notice that it is off and reapply it again before you even ask. During every pull, as a healer, I constantly scan every member in the raid anyway so I know if there is a Fortitude or Spirit buff missing. But again, just click it off to save the questions.
I’m guilty of getting worked up over minor issues like this. I try to make raiding as easy on other people as much as possible by handing things out like that before they even realize it’s gone. It helps the raid transition and move much more fluidly. It helps to reduce any friction among member.