04-22-2008, 02:32 PM
Quote:I think you are being generous in saying it only irrationally matters to 1% of the players. But, it doesn't matter. It could be 50% or 1% or .001%. If it is possible to be the only one that does, it is not for me. I feel bad enough when my frostbolt hits that elemental that was hunter marked after I cast it, right up until he scolds me for taking "his" mob. Call me a nice guy or a wuss, they are interchangeable, but that's the way it is.
My work schedule's kept me from raiding for over a year now, and even before that I was a big PvPer. So at this point, PvP is pretty much all I do with the game. I kind of agree with you, and I kind of agree with Bolty.
I do watch names. I take account of who I'm fighting, and try to remember who they are, in case I fight them again. It's less worthwhile since cross-server battlegrounds rolled around, but still I do see the same people a lot of the times, and I like to know I'm fighting somebody I recognize who might recognize me. This is partly because of basic ego stroking. I don't necessarily want them to get angry and hate me, but when I kill someone I want them to know that I did it, and I want them to know that I can do it again. I want them to pop open the BG tab and go, "Oh god, not that guy!" and warn the rest of the group that they need to take me down first. Basically, I just want recognition. And at the same time, when I see somebody rocking faces and taking names, I give them the same sort of recognition. I don't necessarily get that kind of recognition, since I just don't play enough anymore, to get the high end PvP gear, or to know all of the tricks people are using against me and exactly what I need to do about them, like I did at 60 back in the day. But it's still a goal. I like to have nemeses. And to be one.
But all the same, death in BGs just doesn't matter to me. My main was a mage at 60 for two years. Back then I took Aimed Shots for 1500 over my max hp. A rogue could catch me during a global cooldown and kill me before it ended. I was one-shotted by pretty much every class there is. When you stack spell damage to the detriment of everything else, and start rolling into places with 3200 hp, then you get a pretty cavalier opinion of death. Bolty is correct in that there just has to be some emotional detachment for people to do this very a significant length of time without wanting to throw themselves off a roof. And I know I've played games where it seems like people get really pissed off, but honestly it's just not my fault that they get worked up over it.
And I am generally the nicest guy around, too. I mean, hell, I remember once I was playing a single player RPG and had to do one of those everpresent, "you get to do a trial, yay!" parts they keep putting in, and I ended up telling the judge the wrong guy was guilty. I continued playing for a few hours, but eventually I just felt so damned bad about that NPC that I had to start the whole game over.