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Tuesday, October 1, 2013

World of Warcraft: Raiders, Raiding, and Communities

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I never wanted to be a raider.  My game time and enjoyment was never derived from aspiring to be in a raiding guild.  But I knew that meant I missed out on story that could only be seen in a raid, sucked but I accepted it.  Then the LFR (Looking for Raid) tool was introduced and I dipped my toes into a raid for the first time at level 90.  For the most part my LFR experiences have been smooth, drama free, and wipe free.  That may be in large part because I tune out the bitchiness and whining that comes from twenty-five random people thrown together. 

I have started running Recount only for my own dps numbers, I don’t care what numbers others produce.  I especially am amused when healing by the sheer amount of overhealing that occurs, especially when the top overhealer is so very proud of their hps.  I laugh at them in the privacy of my office.  I know that damage/healing meters are inaccurate.  Hubby and I can be in the same raid and have wildly different numbers for both of us, we are in the same office and use the same connection, and yet somehow we’ve seen dps differences in excess of 10k at times.  So yeah, meters are meaningless.

What I have noticed in LFR is the utter disdain from the progression raiding community that feels free to do LFR and smack talk the people that are appropriately geared for the raid.  Vastly outgearing content and being smug about your damage or healing meter is very sad, and even sadder when you feel the need to publically humiliate those that can’t keep up with your numbers. 

LFR is a more than decent tool implemented by Blizzard to give a broader range of the community access to raids.  What it is for a small percentage of the player base is a tool to boost their low self-esteem at the expense of other players.  My ignore list is growing and what these people fail to comprehend is that when I’m healing and it’s one of “those” LFR groups, all my direct heals and shields will go to those players that haven’t seen fit to publically berate other players (and yes I apply this rule to tanks, healers, and dps).  I run Healbot/Vuhdo and I will blacklist players from heals, I don’t think twice about it.  I have no patience for spoiled children who think they are the best thing since sliced bread. 

Truth be told, when raiding with hubby my heal priority is always hubby, tanks, healers, and then dps.  Doesn’t matter, hubby will always get a heal if he needs it before anyone else.  Don’t like it, then I suggest you don’t act like a preschooler that missed his nap. 

Our recently created, or in my case rerolled, Horde characters have joined a guild founded by a deaf player.  So far the guild is awesome, they are friendly in chat and don’t seem to be full of what we consider the “typical” Horde players to be.  You might be wondering why two non-hearing impaired people joined such a guild?  Because by definition, the guild has to be able to communicate effectively in chat without relying on voice chat to communicate ideas.  That alone was reason enough to try out the guild.  I am looking forward to raiding with them on the Horde side.

Our Alliance guild is open to accepting new members for the first time.  But be warned, drama is not welcome and we will never be a progression raiding guild.  If we get enough members to run raids then it will be for fun and laughs and to see content, old and new.  It won’t be to massage egos and claim bragging rights.  I’d love it for more people had a willing attitude about figuring things out while raiding rather than expecting to face roll all content immediately.  If you reside on Silvermoon and are interested, send me a DM on Twitter.

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