Dear Matt, I Have a Huntard Problem

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Hey Matt,

I’ve got a good one for you, and I know it’s one you’ve covered before – but a slightly different perspective.

I’m a Hunter Class Leader for my guild, and there’s a pack of Hunters who just came back. They’re very enthusiastic about what they’re doing, but one of them really needs help… he’s just not making the most out of his spec, or his gear, and he’s convinced he’s doing the right thing.

To be perfectly honest, I’ve got a huge problem with this. The guy wants help, but is of resolute mind that running Karazhan will solve all of his loot woes, and that the PVP gear he’s got will be great for PvE. His spec can do well in PVP, sure, but he doesn’t get that it’s not same as PVE, particularly in emphasis on stats… and what worries me is that he wants to raid with us. Not just Karazhan, he wants to come to Gruul’s, Mag’s, ZA, and whatever we do after that.

If he had half a mind about the way he was gearing, I’d be fine… but this guy is even wearing Shaman mail with his PVP gear. No, not +strength or +agility and +crit, anything that’d be useful to Hunters… plus HEALING Shaman mail!

What’s worse is that his DPS has a long way to go before he should even think of raiding. It’s merely OK for Karazhan, and I wouldn’t have issues with him in heroics, but I wouldn’t take him to anything past that.

The Guild Leader’s asked me to offer some helpful suggestions on our forum, and I have. The immediate response from this hunter was that, as helpful as I intended it to be and as nice as I put it, that I have a holier-than-thou attitude, and I’m just trying to make his life difficult, and he’s worked so hard for his PVP gear, that spec is what works for him, that the shaman gear’s the best he can get, blah blah blah.

I’m trying to be patient, understanding, and all of those good characteristics; but this guy makes me want to take the kiddie gloves off. My job is to help, not to coddle, and the person in question is a grown adult, who has no license to be acting this way. What makes things worse is that he feels since he’s been in the guild longer than I have, he doesn’t have to listen to me if he doesn’t want to.

If you have any advice whatsoever, I’d greatly appreciate it. I’m at my wit’s end here.

– Can’t Disregard the Huntard

Dear Can’t Disregard,

That’s a sticky situation. By broadly addressing the subject, and maintaining a respectful tone, you’ve done your job perfectly. Since the Huntard’s excuse for his laziness is to question your authority, It’s time for your GM to stop delegating this task fully to you. The message that needs to be passed on is this:

“For our guild to progress, those we regularly field for raids must be in top condition. To achieve this, our class-leaders have been asked to review the gear and spec of prospective raiders. Those who choose to disregard the advice of their class leads should expect few, if any, invites to raids above Kara-level. I (The GM) will have the final say on whether a raider is acceptable.”

This clearly explains the situation, establishes your authority as a class-lead, defines the choices open to the prospective raiders (comply, or don’t), defines the resulting consequences, and describes the appeals process all in a concise manner.

Since your GM obviously knows this guy has no clue what he’s doing, it should be easy to make sure your raid leaders and anyone else doing invites is aware, too. Then, when he asks for an invite, they can let him know that they can’t make an exception to the policy just for him, and when he implements X of your suggestions, he may ask for another invite. (2 things are important here. You MUST NOT make exceptions for other idiotic raiders, and you have explicitly tell him that he’s welcome back IF he complies with the rules. That keeps it from being personal.)

Alternatively, to save LOTS of time remember my personal staffing mantra:

95% of all guild problems can be solved with a good Gkick. The other 5% can be solved by recruiting.

– From Wynthea

Dear Can’t Disregard,

You should listen to Wyn because she is full of win. She gave you the long answer to a short answer problem. I believe the problem can be solved quite easily. You’re a Hunter, are you not? If only Hunters had abilities that could misdirect additional threat to other players…

– From Evil Matt

Problems in your guild? Need some help and advice? Not quite sure who to turn to for those relationship problems in WoW? Feel free to contact us!

20 Questions with Breana

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Once in a blue moon, Matt gets a chance to sit down with a WoW Blogger chosen this week by a Rhapsody Malt. Find out a little more about your favourite bloggers as he tries to get to know them a little more! This week, Breana of Gun Loving Dwarf Chick gets center stage!

Would you oblige me and tell me a bit about yourself? (We can touch on the WoW stuff later on)

Okay, first big thing: I r girl!  Sorry, couldn’t resist.  I am a 31-year old lady, living in the bum of the US, aka Miami, Florida.  WoW is my first MMO and I have been playing since 2005.

For those that are unfamiliar with Twisted Nether how about some background information?

IE, how did it get started? It started as a byproduct of another conversation that Fim and I had one day via on IM. The conversation veered towards podcasts and we talked about how both of us would like to try it. We thought it would be really awesome to have a podcast that highlighted and discussed the WoW blogging community.

Do you have any upcoming plans for the blogcast that you might be willing to share?

We want to make the blogcast and its site a real hub of blogging news and information, so expect in the near future more link roundups, a wiki, reader polls, and a more interactive experience.  We just posted a “how I can help” page, which lists ways listeners can participate.  This blogcast is everyone’s blogcast and we want the community to feel part of it.

I see your preferred weapon is a gun. An excellent choice. But why do you feel guns are more superior to bows?

Boom!  I just love the sound of it. It also looks very deadly in my little dwarf hands! Seriously, can you be intimidated by a chick with ponytails and a bow? I think not.  Now, if you are staring down the barrel of a gun, that is a whole other bag of chips. 

Many may try to sway me by showing me stats and theorycrafting as to why some bows are superior to guns, but honestly, I don’t care, “Sure, here is your bow Mr. NE, now give me that gun!”

I also really enjoy the recoil animation on Bre and overall, we have been doing just fine on DPS with my “puny” gun, thank you very much!  However, Blizz, I do have some beef…where is my legendary gun, eh!  I mean, not all of us want a pewpew, you know!

What got you started and interested in WoW?

Boredom. Actually, I bought the game for my husband as a birthday present and one day, alone and bored at home, I logged in and started a mage.  Haven’t stopped playing since.

Along that note, what exactly are you up to in WoW right now?

Right now, I am in the middle of my annual, “burnout”.  After raiding for a while, and gearing up my priest, I am taking a break, by making new alts and just trying to enjoy my time online with friends.  Started another priest on Draenor, to which my defense is, “I wasn’t in my right mind when I pressed the create button.”

How did you get started blogging and what motivated you?

Hmmm, I would have to say BRK and my desire to try something different.  I had tried blogging in the past, but often those projects would die a quick death after only a few weeks.   

Last year, Breana had just turned 70 and I started to read WoW blogs for the first time.  I stumbled on BRK’s site, fell in love, then found other great blogs like Kestrel’s, TJ’s and Ego’s and a bug started to form in my head.

I wanted to write and I thought what better thing to write about than my obsession about WoW.  Around the same time, one of my friends, a long time DC hater, started to call Bre, ugly and so forth, so I thought it would be funny to create a site devoted to my “Gun Loving Dwarf Chick” just to irritate him.

It took off from there and I have been having a blast, since!

Is there anything about WoW or blogging that you know now that you wish you knew about earlier?

Once, when my mage was 60 and we were pugging an Upper Blackrock Spire run, a pull went bad and several people died.  In the middle of the fight, I heard someone scream on vent, “BATTLEREZ!”  Until that moment, I had no idea that druids could rez in the middle of a fight.  /Blush

Are you single? (That is, are you guildless?)

Far from it.  I am honored and privileged to be the guild leader for an awesome guild on Bleeding Hollow.  Without them, I wouldn’t be playing or writing the blog.

Where do you see yourself and this blog in 5 months?

For me personally?  Getting ready for my cousin’s wedding and the two day bachelorette party I am suppose to organize!  The blog?  Still on the net, alive and well.

Short answer time!

Beverage of choice when playing: Water or Coke Zero

Currently playing on your media player: How to Save a Life by The Fray

Next blog post topic is: Tarren Mills: All Your Babies Belong to Us

Personality similar to: Grumpy.  Wut?  He is a person…somewhere. Or Charles Bukowski, without the booze and cigarettes.

Heroes? Yes, I do watch that show.  But Battlestar is by miles better.

Next movie you are going to watch? Girly answer: Sex in the City. General gender answer : Hell Boy 2

Hunter pet you wish they’d add to the game: OOO, the pet I wish I could have is already in the game, but can’t be tamed.  I want a chimera, especially the ones from Stonetalon Mountains! 

1 thing you look forward to the most in wrath: Leveling

1 thing you LEAST look forward to in wrath: Leveling

Shoutouts to? My readers, you guys rock!  My guild, AUO. Everyone in BA chat, and to my husband. <3 you all!

Thanks again Breana! Don’t forget to subscribe to her blog and  while you’re at it, subscribe to Twisted Nether Blogcast.

Note to Officers: Your Raiders Want to Raid

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Image courtesy of fireball45 from stock.xchng

I was relaxing on my vent server last night after watching the Stanley Cup Finals. Moments later, a friend storms onto vent and I could immediately tell he was frustrated.

“My raid leader is stupid!“, he vents.

“Slow down! What happened? Aren’t you supposed to be raiding?” I ask.

“Yeah. But the idiot cancelled the raid because there weren’t enough guildies on for a full guild run.” He explained, “22 people in raid are from the guild. Two of them are friends or alts in other progressed guilds, the other is a trial and he wanted the entire raid to consist of the guild only.”

That is bad thing to do. It seemed the raid leader wanted to have exclusive Guildies only. Even though he had enough players to field a whole raid he chose to bag it instead. What happens now? You have over 20 pissed off players who were generous enough to have cleared their whole evening for a night of raiding. This kind of short sighted behavior is bad for a raiding guild. People who join raiding guilds are in it because they want to do one thing only: they want to raid. It’s a simple concept and it still surprises me that some Guild leaders out there do not understand that raiding guilds that don’t raid aren’t considered raiding guilds.

That mantra sounds familiar doesn’t it?

“Bloggers that don’t blog aren’t bloggers.”

Was he worried about loot? Maybe by introducing foreign players into a raid, the loot rules would have to be explained and rendered fair for them have a shot at said loot. I can understand Guildies getting upset if their loot system becomes suspended for a day because of the fact that there are 3rd party players in the raid.

For Carnage, I’ve cultivated a working and professional relationship with numerous other Guilds that are slightly below our level for progression. It works because of 3 reasons:

  1. We get an extra set of hands in case we can’t field a full team.
  2. They get the necessary experience to share with their Guild on what to expect when they reach our level.
  3. Loot that isn’t needed by us is looted to them free of charge.

For Guilds that are on the same level of progression, consider incorporating your friends into your loot system, whatever it may be. If it’s DKP, allow them to earn it. Whatever you do make sure you explain to them beforehand what the rules are and what they’re eligible to get. Make it known that while it’s possible for them to get loot, it is not guaranteed.

I can’t say I understand his motives but I was in a similar situation in Carnage nearly a year ago where there were days that the Guild was unable to raid because of attendance issues. I made it known to the officers at that time that I play this game to raid. If this organization doesn’t plan on doing that then maybe I’m in the wrong Guild. I gave them a 3 week grace period to get things together and we were able to get the raiding machine going.

So how do you know when to kill raids?

When to kill raids

  • Not enough players to at least fill half the raid – Especially on a raiding night when most Guilds are busy, it’s going to be tough to find reliable people to fill in the other half.
  • Not enough roles filled – Not a tank in sight? Unless you have some contacts, it’s best to just bag it and call it a night if you don’t have an ETA on when your tanks or healers will be around.
  • Thirty minute rule – This is a rule borrowed from the unwritten college and university level. If the professor doesn’t show up within the first 10 minutes of class and there’s no notification as to when he is expected to show, I am free to leave. In this case, if you’re still short a substantial amount of people after 30 minutes, give the players on the rest of the night off.

Alternative activities

Can’t get the raid going? Not all is lost. Here’s a few other things you can do to make the best of a bad situation.

  • Knock out dailies and farm – Stock pile a bit of hard currency. Gold is always nice to have. Do a bit of farming and get some raw materials handy for your consumables for the next scheduled raid.
  • Do some PvP – What’s the point of having all these awesome weapons and no one to use it on? Hit up some battlegrounds and have some fun! Organize a premade with a few of your other Guildies and get the daily BG out of the way.
  • Work on your alts – My main is an enchanting/tailor, my secondary is a mining/herber, my tertiary alt is a blacksmithing/alchemist, and I’m levelling a jewelcrafting/engineer. It pays off to be self sufficient.
  • Go outside – Summer is here after all. Catch up on some reading outdoors. Play a bit of soccer (or street hockey) with your friends.

Wyn’s UI – Part Two (Trash)

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Part two of a series. Please read Part One

Note: It seemed more relevant to organize these shots by topic rather than in chronological order. So, we’re jumping from Akama to Illidari Council trash.

Typical Trash Heal Mix:

Click to enlarge

1. This is pretty typical mix healing on trash. With so much going on, I tend to focus on instant casts. I also use PW:S liberally, but that’s one of few things Recount doesn’t show. I didn’t take an SS of my over-healing, but on trash it’s substantial. My mana-regen is enough that I don’t have to drink between pulls (you can see my mana bar is full). You’ll notice also that I don’t simply spam CoH. It’s overkill, and it’s boring.

2. I have an Illidari Blood Lord set as my focus. This is because he’s a Paladin mob, who will bubble himself and start to heal. The bubble has to be mass-dispelled, so rather than wait for them to call me to dispel it, I just watch him, and cast it as soon as he has the debuff. (around 25-30%.)

3. Recount’s main window. One of the reasons I keep Recount open during combat is to get a good sense of what my fellow healbots are doing. Most of us have been together for a while now, and we have a pretty good idea of our standard baseline. Typically, I’m about 1.5% ahead of Wize, who is around 3% ahead of Eiz, who is about 2% ahead of Por… you get the idea. This is an atypical pull, because Wize is #3. As you can see from Grid, it’s because he got smooshed. (You can’t do your best when you’re dead! remember that!) Also, Por is near the bottom because he was AFK. It’s handy to be able to get a nearly-real-time idea of who’s paying attention to the pull, and who needs to take a break, without having to constantly over-communicate.

The other large reason I keep it open is because my guild is constantly auditioning new healers, and it’s good to be able to give the Raid Leader an accurate opinion of how the new guy is fitting in with the old guard. I also have a pretty good idea of my heal-mates’ gear, and if an under-geared newbie is out-performing a same-class veteran, it will become obvious very fast. With recount, I can see what heals they are casting, who their targets tend to be (tanks, raid, or a combo? do they follow assignments?), and how much over-healing they have. As I’ve said before, over-healing isn’t a huge issue unless people are dying or pulling aggro (then dying), but with a new person, a large amount of over-healing and a low amount of effective heals could indicate a lag problem or a lack of attentiveness. As an additional coaching tactic, I’ll frequently set the trial member as my focus – Quartz allows you to customize those casting bars as well, and I can tell what rank of what heal they’re using, on what target, and at what health level they began their cast. Recount simply makes it easier for me to stalk people, and keeping it open makes the data easier to access. As a side tip, Recount gives you a lot of options for linking the stats. I’ve found that guest healers appreciate getting a quick link to let them know that they’re doing okay. Running with a BT guild on farm can be intimidating, and everyone performs better when they’re relaxed.

I don’t pay a huge amount of attention to recount actually DURING bossfights, I have more to worry about. But I don’t like the idea of opening and closing it all the time any more than I like the idea of not having the trend-style information easily available. And, sometimes, having it up for things like Dispels on RoS phase 1 or Gorefiend helps give real-time feedback to people who need it.

4. With Grid, it’s after the pull, so not much of interest is going on here, but you can see in Wize’s frame what it looks like when someone is highlighted because of low health. Grid also shows exactly what their deficit is, and I have mine set to approximate the amount of incoming heals they’re about to receive. Wize has none incoming, because he just stood up. Again, the faded squares are people who are out of range. You can see the train of people making their way into the Chamber of Command on my mini-map.

5. Yes, we raid with a Battle-Chicken.

To Be Continued. . .

Matticus to Appear on Twisted Nether Podcast

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It’s going to be a busy week for me. I was supposed to shoot with the Twisted Nether folks last week but I caught a nasty cold or flu or a cocktail disease containing a runny nose, wet cough, and a sore throat. I’m slowly recovering and I should be good to go for the shoot. My greatest fear is that I sound too “nasaly” or something. Following that, there’s also the WoW Insider show on Saturday. I’m going to see if there’s an opening for me there as well so you can have a double dose of Matticus to kick off your weekend ;).

Breana’s already sent me a few questions that they wanted me to touch on. I’ll do my best to answer a few of those. Actually, if you want to take a quick look at what I’ll be answering:

  • Why do you blog?
  • Your main is a dwarf, how do you feel about the lack of dwarf children in the game?
  • What motivated you to start writing?
  • What measure do I use to know if someone is a good healer?
  • Why have I never been Shadow?
  • Why do I love healing so much?

On the other hand, I love doing things on the fly. They’ve opened up the floor for listeners to ask their own questions.

I told them specifically not to tell me what the next set of questions will be. Surprise me. I used to do a bit of improv in high school. We’ll see if that translates well over iTunes. If you have any burning questions to ask, the above link is the way to go. We might not have time to get all of them in, but I will do my best and make an effort to try.

By the way, if you want to play a fun drinking game, every time Matt says “eh?” take a drink. Every time Matt says “aboot” down the whole glass.

Heh, I know I’ll at least have one person interested in listening.