WoWGrrl's World » Playing With Friends

I WILL Be A Love Fool This Year!

Valdesta — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:33:55 +0000

Last year I was a complete dummy and didn't complete the Love Is In The Air quest series from the Valentine's event that is required to get "the Love Fool" title.

Wanna know why?

Cuz I'm a dummy. I already said that! Keep up! :)

It Always Helps To Read

Shrimproll's Achievement Screen

Each one of the Seasonal Events has a title that your various characters can get. Most require you to be level-capped, or nearly so, unless you have a handful of good friends to turn to who can get you through some of the components that strangers will snub you for.

Things like the Coren Direbrew event in Blackrock Depths for the Halloween event is a good example of this type of "strangers snubbery" if you're not level-capped.

Each one of these Seasonal Events also has MORE quests than are required for acquiring the title.

This is where I screwed up last year. I didn't properly check to see what quests were required for "the Love Fool" title and which weren't, and I got snagged up on one that wasn't part of the meta requirement, and then didn't do one of the EASIEST meta requirements....

Only to find out that if I did the easy one, I would have been DONE!!

Duhhhrrrrr....

Standing With The Dalaran Flower Vendor

And Here I Stand...

Waiting for the Love Is In The Air event to start.

I've parked myself in front of the Flower Vendor, because all I need to do is buy a bouquet and I'm done!

Duhhhrrrrr.....

Hey Cool, New Quest!

While I was looking at my Achievements screen today and lamenting slightly about the silliness that marked last year at this time, I noticed there's a new quest in the Love Is In The Air section!

It's not required for the title (not a meta requirement), but it looks like something even my lowbies will be able to complete!

Tough Love
Defeat the trio of Crown Chemical Co. apothecaries in Shadowfang Keep

Cool, I can't wait to see where they hide out, and get my picture taken with 'em before we beat them down!

What’s With All The Healer Ninjas??!!

Valdesta — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:06:12 +0000

So, I don't know if you've experienced this or not since the new Dungeon Tool came in...

But man, what's with all the Healer Ninjas in the leveling dungeons??!!

Playing With Friends? Playing With Strangers.

Personally, I love the challenge of PUGs with complete and utter strangers.

Druid Tanking In Wailing Caverns

Ever since BC came out, and the first rendition of the LFG tool, I've gained a huge amount of playing skill just by playing with strangers instead of friends.

In fact, for a while there were social friends I wouldn't invite into dungeons to fill final slots in parties, because I found that playing with complete and utter strangers was a more positive playing experience with less negative ramifications after the party was complete.

After all, BC was a time where Crowd Control was valued extremely highly, and as a Mage I was getting into parties right left and center specifically because I was not only DPS, but I was one of the more reliable classes in terms of repeatable Crowd Control techniques.

The social friends I would avoid inviting to fill out dungeon groups were generally DPS classes (Healers and Tanks got regular invites), and the ones I'd avoid inviting the most were the ones who only wanted to go into dungeons in "guild groups", and then once they got there demonstrated exactly why - they had NO grouping skills, and didn't think that was a problem.

For whatever reason, guild Hunters were the ones I remember the most in terms of ones I'd avoid grouping with in a dungeon.

Huntards who refused to freeze trap. Who broke other forms of CC with their flame traps, snakes and multi-shot. Who "liked chaos" and therefore didn't pay attention to kill order. Who pulled aggro, and only feigned death once the mob was on top of them... generally leaving the mob to turn its attention to the nearby healer. Or a DPS wearing more than toilet paper for gear if the healer was lucky.

After a few runs with such social guildmates and hearing them talk about their beliefs and intentions for future runs, I started to realize that in order for my playing skills to improve while I'm actually enjoying myself, I'd be way better off playing with complete and utter strangers.

Crazy Eyed Gnome!

Some Strangers Suck, But I Can Ignore Them

This isn't to say that all of the strangers played better than these social guildmates - not at all.

There are always plenty of strangers who are either under-experienced or over-experienced, and both of those levels of understanding can result in challenging (or annoying) group situations.

But at least they're strangers, which means I have no urge to say "hello" to them when they log in the next day, or the next week. If they're annoying, boasting, aggro-pulling, chaos-generating players, I can pretend they don't exist - at least until the next time we end up in a PUG together (which didn't tend to happen much with the bad ones, even before cross-realm LFG).

Yet Another Dungeon Tool Effect On Parties

These days, it's not very often that a social guildmate is the right level to join me in the Dungeon Tool, so I'm doing a lot of PUGs with complete strangers. My social guildmates are all pretty decently skilled now that we've been playing for years, though, which makes it easier to invite them to groups when we do match up.

But now what I'm finding is that it's BETTER to bring in a social guildmate (as long as they're not complete tools), because that extra person that I can influence cuts down on potentially annoying, time-wasting situations.

Like the Healers who are incredibly crappy healers, but who have discovered they can get into dungeons much more quickly if they mark off that they're able to heal, than if they just list themselves as DPS.

Healing In Deadmines

Beware The Healer Ninja

As a lowbie tank, I completely expect that every dungeon I go into is going to have its share of challenges.

Whether the challenge is that the dungeon is Wailing Caverns or Gnomeregon which have players drop as soon as they zone in (because both are very long and have huge potentials for someone unknowledgable to spend a lot of time wandering around trying to find their way to the end to get the satchel), or the challenge is that the DPS are predominantly weak (due to inexperience, class dynamics or just plain laziness), or it's that the healer is new to their job and doesn't have any addons to help them heal (*cough* Healbot *cough*), I fully expect there to be SOME kind of challenge.

I am, after all, tanking at under level 30 at this point, and by default most players haven't had much experience with their characters to really know how to rock their role.

Most challenges aren't a big deal - if someone leaves the group, the Dungeon Tool fills their spot. DPS and Healing requirements are quite light for low level instances as well - everything is very forgiving and it's not very often that a DPS who pulls aggro even experiences death at this point.

But the one challenge that's bugging me these days is all about the Ninja Healer.

What's A Ninja Healer?

Simply put, it's a player who joins the party in the Healing role and then chooses "Need" on every gear drop they can roll on.

And on top of that annoying behavior, they're usually horribad healers who prefer to DPS (and do), but don't want to wait for the Dungeon Tool to place them as DPS!

The Dungeon Tool's restriction for kicking players early in an instance is what makes this player especially annoying to me more than anything - if after the first five minutes I've done 40% of my own healing, as a Warrior Tank using Healing Potions periodically, something is very wrong. And my not being able to vote the healer out because we haven't been in the party for long enough is highly frustrating to the rest of the group as well.

Sometimes I'm lucky and there's a class that can cast backup heals to keep us going until we can remove the dead weight, but lately I haven't been so lucky, and I've had to make the long run back to the instance because the One Who Doesn't Heal But Needs Everything also doesn't ressurect - and generally doesn't even respond to conversation on the party chat line.

It's getting to the point where I can recognize a Healer Ninja within the first three or so pulls in an instance, just by watching my health as I progress from group to group. The healing meters in Recount serve as a source to back up what I've noticed, and at times communicate it to the rest of the group before I initiate a kick.

But unfortunately, as I mentioned before, early in an instance there are kick restrictions in place, and therefore our group generally has to live with a Ninja in the group for what feels like an eternity before the vote actually gets past the restrictions and has a chance to pass.

How High Do The Healer Ninjas Show Up?

I'm working on lowbies right now when I get a chance to play, and I'm finding that Healer Ninjas are more prevalent at 20-30 than they were from 15-19.

I wonder, what's your experience with crappy Dungeon Tool healers who have to be kicked early in the instance because they're rolling Need on everything they get a chance to roll on?

At what level can I expect this horribad population to more or less die out?

Lucking Across Lil Timmy, Boy With Kittens

Valdesta — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:10:40 +0000

I admit it.

I've crossed the line.

After years of being Horde-dominated and only having dabbled half-heartedly in any Alliance faction toons, I've finally set myself up an official, lasting, Alliance family.

One that is getting proper attention to be called a family and not just a stray spore that landed, germinated, and then was put into forever-stasis.

Lil Timmy The Boy With Kittens

ZOMG, It's Lil Timmy!

One of my lowbie Alliance toons was running around in Stormwind, working on her Tailoring jive with cheap mats I had gathered recently, and lo and behold, she ran into the legendary Lil Timmy, Boy With Kittens.

Shock! *Gasp*! *Faint*! All those things!

For those not familiar, Lil Timmy is a vendor NPC in Stormwind. He sells a pet box that lets you bring out a White Kitten as a non-combat pet.

Doesn't sound like a big deal, but if you're familiar with this guy and have tried to hunt him down, you know how difficult that is!

What Would You Do With A White Kitten?

On Horde side, the White Kitten is worth a small fortune.

Even on Alliance side, it's worth a tidy sum of money, because that Lil Timmy is indeed difficult to hunt down and pet collectors will not often find one listed in the Auction House.

So, would you sell the pet? Or would you use it on one of your own characters?

To The LFG Tool: Some Laments

Valdesta — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:22:33 +0000

My previous entry was about all the awesome things that the new cross-realm LFG tool has brought to us as Heroic-rompers and Leveling Lowbies.

This entry is more about the things that I lament about the new LFG tool.

Ready Check For Random Dungeon

Like It? Don't Like It?

Now, don't get confused. Overall, I L-O-V-E the new LFG tool. I think it's a wicked upgrade to an already useful tool.

But, there are some things that "just aren't the same" anymore, and I can't help but miss them just a little bit.

Gimme Back My Global LookingForGroup!

The first thing I noticed about the LFG Tool upgrade that I didn't like was the fact that the LookingForGroup channel was now restricted to the cities, and if you moved out of those restricted areas, one couldn't "lurk" in it any longer as a way to find out what PUG raids were going on.

I don't know about you, but I rarely hang out in the city, and when I do, I'm probably doing something very specific and have most of my channels turned off to reduce spam. And when I'm actually interested in getting into a PUG raid, I'm generally out and about, doing Fishing or Jewelcrafting Dailies which take me out of the city.

I used to put myself in the LFG tool under something like the zone of Icecrown so I didn't get ninja invites, but was still able to keep a finger on the pulse of what was going on RIGHT NOW that I could get into with various toons. Now I've completely left the LookingForGroup channel because it's useless and spammy to me.

Don't Force Me To Commit

Space Goat Death Pose

I'm not good at being forced into something and enjoying it, but at the same time, I can always find the "silver lining" in pretty much any situation I'm faced with (you should hear how I find the silver lining during yucky movies).

Having to commit to Heroics *or* Raids, and not being able to pick and choose like we used to be able to do, sucks too!

I used to list myself for the one specific Heroic I wanted to do (daily, generally), and then I'd list myself for a couple of Raids as well. Whatever I got an invite for, I went to.

But now I have to commit to what I want to do - raid or do Heroics - and I find that a wee bit restrictive.

Although I do admit, the Heroics pop so fast these days that it doesn't make much sense to list myself in anything else when I list for Heroics. But I still resent being forced to make a commitment right from the start, as it takes away some of my "I like random things" joy. I've basically stopped listing myself for raids at all as a result.

Let Me Vote To Kick More People

In my Lowbie Leveling PUGs I quickly found that there's a limit to the number of people that can be voted out of a group.

So, in the Wailing Caverns run I had on my lowbie Paladin Tank, the guy who went AFK to girlfriend aggro (to do the dishes, 10 min into our run - yah, marry that one and keep bowing down to her, you'll be REAL happy together) got voted out, and then his replacement was a huntard who rolled Need on everything despite agreeing to our requests to only Need on what he'd equip himself, so he got voted out, and then a third person joined who couldn't find his way to us (and we weren't in the twisty part yet at all) yet rolled Need on everything that dropped... and we couldn't vote him out.

Now, I understand that the Vote to Kick feature can be abused if I were to bring three of my friends and myself into a group, and keep kicking anyone who rolls on anything for that fifth person, but when we're all virtual strangers from different realms, I don't see the potential for abuse as much. After all, it only takes one dissenting vote for the kick to not go through, and the tool "knows" whether we were grouped together to start, or randomly tossed together.

Is this Vote To Kick thing limited by time, does anyone know? If we were in an uber-long run, would we be able to Vote Out more than two/three people?

To The LFG Tool: An Ode

Valdesta — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:21:02 +0000

Oh, LFG Tool, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

I can finally get into dungeon groups on leveling lowbies!
No longer do I have to be one of the people who get to the stone to summon (since 3/5 people in almost every party I was in didn't bother)
Getting into dungeons like Uldaman and Maraudon aren't hellish anymore!
Vote To Kick is brilliant!
Refilling spots after someone leaves is also brilliant!
No longer is it painful to be the "leader" of the group, especially when someone leaves. Not up to the leader to find a specific new person to fill the slot.
Yay for the Satchels of goodies!

I'm sure there's more about the LFG tool that I love, but right now, those were the top things that came to mind about it.

Heroic LFG vs Leveling LFG

LFG Tool, Random Dungeons

One thing I've noticed in my extensive use of the new LFG system is that at Heroic level, my Ele/Resto Shaman will time after time after time get the Healer role, and it's very rare to get the DPS role.

However, with my Lowbie LFG players, I'm getting more of a mix of roles - the dps/healer gets more Healer roles than DPS roles, but not by the huge margin as in Heroics. And the tank/healer lowbie I'm working on seems to be about 50/50 in terms of what role comes up for me when a dungeon pops.

It's kind of neat, putting myself into the tool and then getting the "roll the dice" surprise as to what role I'll be performing. Reminds me of the "cherry surprises" Mom used to make at Christmas time, where (to me anyway) the real surprise was whether it was a RED cherry or a GREEN one.

Always delightful :)

Your Random Dungeon Group Is Ready!

How To Get An Instant LFG Party: Solo

I'm sure this isn't a shocking surprise to anyone, but after partying with about 200 strangers over a variety of toons, I noticed this:

If you're a DPS, it takes a few minutes (sometimes up to 20) for an instance to pop.
If you're a Healer, it takes anywhere from 5 seconds to a few minutes.
If you're a Tank, as soon as you put yourself into the tool, an instance pops.

Not at all shocking considering the vast majority of leveling players are DPS spec'd because leveling (though quests) with a Tank or Healer spec is significantly slower.

And of course, players can't dual spec until level 40, so even the wealthiest players can only switch gear around in order to handle different roles, whether they're inside a dungeon or questing out in the lands.

LFGing It With A Friend

I've used the LFG tool to complete parties in both the Heroic and Leveling ways, but because I'm so comfortable with dungeon PUGs now, I really only list myself as DPS if I've got another role selected as well - either Tank or Healer - so my experience may be different than yours, for sure.

After all, since I put myself in as either Tank or Healer too, I rarely have to wait very long for an instance to pop, and as a result, I purposely seek out DPS friends to join me when I list myself in the tool. This way, they can benefit from the fast-popping instance as well.

Plus of course, it's ALWAYS more fun to run a dungeon when you've got at least one friend in the party, isn't it? :)

I'm happy to hear from my DPS-only friends that the tool is pretty awesome for finding a tank and a healer for a 2- or 3-DPS party, too!

The Social Woes NewLFG Have Reduced

This upgrade of the LFG tool to be cross-battlegroup and intelligent enough to put together a proper party (you know, one with a designated tank and healer so it doesn't have to be decided after formation) has gone a long way to alleviate some Social Woes that have existed for quite a while in the game.

For example, a lot of behaviors that could be labeled "rude and lazy" aren't much of a concern anymore:

You can continue to quest right until the teleport sequence is engaged, and nobody is inconvenienced (by having to make their way to the stone to summon your lazy ass).
You can AFK in an instance without any word, or do stupid things like run ahead and get yourself swarmed and killed (and get kicked via Vote).
You can leave parties right in the middle, even if you're a Tank or Healer, and the party rarely breaks up.
Even people who roll "Need" on everything are only a pain for the first 10 minutes of them being there.

What Features Of The LFG Tool Do You Love?

I've probably missed some of the great features of the dungeon tool in my post, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Future post on the matter will cover the Laments I have about the new Dungeon Tool - because no matter how awesome it is, it'll never be perfect .

Stay tuned!

Finding A WoW Guild That Fits

Valdesta — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 02:49:38 +0000

Many MMORPGs that offer Player-vs-Player action also offer some type of cross-race, cross-class grouping to occur, usually in the name of Clans, or in World of Warcraft’s case, Guilds.

What Is A Guild For?

Guilds are meant to give an individual a “family” to socialize, quest and adventure with. Guilds have chat lines that all Guild members can see and participate on, and it’s a great place to meet others who play at the same time as you do regularly.

Guilds are not all benefit for the member, however - at times Guilds or Clans can be deemed to be “at war” with one another and it is your duty as a member of the Guild to avenge Guildmate’s deaths to other Guilds or participate in other retalitory actions determined by the Guild leader.

Some guilds will require you to make financial donations, or equipment offerings. Beware, as this is not a standard expectation in all guilds.

Unfortunately, Guilds don’t have guild halls, fellow guild members aren’t easy to make out when they walk past you on the street, and there’s no real “common hanging out area” for guildmates. Your connection to your guild mates is primarily through chat.

How Can I Tell It’s A Good Guild?

Even if you’re a solo player, you need access to people who can team up with you to go through particularly difficult quests or dungeon instances, etc. Guilds are a great way to find these people, as you get to know your guildmates over time and therefore your parties are more reliable and you’ll have less “people problems”.

You can’t tell if a guild is a good one from the outside, really. The only way is to join and give it a whirl yourself.

“Trying Out” A Guild

Be prepared to stay with this guild for a couple of weeks to really get a feel for whether it’s for you or not. It won’t hurt you to stay in the guild… there’s no restrictions for leaving and joining other guilds and there are plenty to join at any time.

Chat on the guild line. Ask questions, answer questions. Read what others write, and think about it. Offer yourself when someone asks for volunteers to do specific quests or dungeon instances and you’re within 5-10 lvls of them. Get involved in “team” things now and then.

After a couple of weeks, you can easily decide whether this Guild fits your needs and personality or not.

Where To Get Guild Invites

There are a couple places you can get invited into guilds from.

Friends are a great place to start - if you have someone you’ve already teamed up with and have on your friends list, ask them if they’re in a guild and if you can get invited.

Listen to the General chatline that you’re subscribed to automatically when you first login. Regularly there are people starting new guilds and looking for the first round of members.

I’m sure you could also sit in some town and talk to each person who comes around who’s in a guild and ask them if you could get an invite to their guild as well. Not my choice really, but hey, I’m sure it would work if you said it right and found the right person.

Leaving A Guild

Just so you know, if you go into your /who menu and then into guild, and right-click your name on the list, you can “Leave Guild”. I had a bit of trouble finding that myself when I was leaving my first guild.

You can also use the text command /gquit to leave your guild.

It’s not a big deal to leave guilds. If you met some people you want to keep in touch with, put them on your friends list and make an effort. Otherwise, leave the guild and go on your way, and find another guild if you left because of a “bad fit” with the last one.

If anyone harasses you about it, the /ignore command works really well :)