First, a nit
I think what Bolty describes in terms of the pace-setting and decision-making is the puller's job, not the tank's. It sounds like he's mostly been puller when tanking so the distinction is moot in that case
Next I'd like to support the philosophy of pushing the group a bit
There are two elements to what I want to say: morale and attention
Morale is a huge factor in grouping. We've all been in groups where we've spent a lot of time getting the group together or waiting for someone else to do so, only to see people leave in disgust after the first bad pull. Decisive, controlled pulling has a big impact on the group's morale. Not everyone likes it, I've even had the word "fascist" used! But any group where people say things like "I must go to bed now", then play for another 4 hours or where everyone puts the rest on friends at the end has a decisive, confident puller
It's very hard to convince people that you're a decisive, confident, knowledgeable puller if you're slow.
The "ready?" convention is something that the Amazon Basin promoted a lot in hardcore D2 games. We usually abbreviate it to "r?". It makes a lot of sense because if someone's looking in their inventory and you pop Hell De Seis on top of them it's a long way to level back up. I think it became rather too prevalent in AB games but it's not a bad convention for playing with people new to you when the consequences are steep. Since WoW death is pretty trivial I don't see anything like so good a case for it to be applied so ubiquitously here.
I left a group once when I was keeping something about 6 levels higher than me sheeped while the others were skinning and looting. They took their time in a leisurely way despite my life bar occasionally jumping downwards, they just didnt notice. I resheeped it twice, being on about 5% life last time and the others still didn't notice. It eventually unsheeped and killed me and I logged out and went to do something else for the rest of the evening. That's demoralisation
Attention is really important to a good group. In a good group people pay attention. People notice changes in life bars, mana bars, people rotate the view to look around, people tell each other if they are afk or alt tabbing to thottbot
Inattention is contagious. If folks feel that the others aren't really paying attention or are stealth afking then they lose interest. It's very closely tied to morale
Some of the more experienced tanks end up with significant guild status. They can then sometimes make the mistake of trying to run the guild while tanking and pulling for a group. So you get fast pull, fast pull, fast pull, unexplained stillness for 90 seconds and so on. Problem with this is that other people then start imitating this behaviour so crucial personnel may be simply not paying attention during a sudden crisis
Slow pulling also encourages people to stealth afk. It takes me about 60 seconds to go put the kettle on and return to the game. I'll confess I do actually do this without mentioning it from time to time while grouped, even as main healer. I do it when I think nothing's going to happen in the next 60 seconds. I never do it if I'm pushed, I ask for a break. I think this is pretty typical of most players
Even if the players don't leave their seats or alt tab, if the play is undemanding for a long time, then suddenly a crisis happens (eg a bad pull) they are naturally going to be slower to react, they're simply more relaxed
Now of course a lot of this is a matter of personal taste. Not everyone is going to want to be rushed. But from a tactical point of view I think the case is very strong that brisk pulling promotes greater effectiveness. As for taste, I think it's exciting, immersive, intense and rewarding - I do my laid back playing when I'm solo
I think what Bolty describes in terms of the pace-setting and decision-making is the puller's job, not the tank's. It sounds like he's mostly been puller when tanking so the distinction is moot in that case
Next I'd like to support the philosophy of pushing the group a bit
There are two elements to what I want to say: morale and attention
Morale is a huge factor in grouping. We've all been in groups where we've spent a lot of time getting the group together or waiting for someone else to do so, only to see people leave in disgust after the first bad pull. Decisive, controlled pulling has a big impact on the group's morale. Not everyone likes it, I've even had the word "fascist" used! But any group where people say things like "I must go to bed now", then play for another 4 hours or where everyone puts the rest on friends at the end has a decisive, confident puller
It's very hard to convince people that you're a decisive, confident, knowledgeable puller if you're slow.
The "ready?" convention is something that the Amazon Basin promoted a lot in hardcore D2 games. We usually abbreviate it to "r?". It makes a lot of sense because if someone's looking in their inventory and you pop Hell De Seis on top of them it's a long way to level back up. I think it became rather too prevalent in AB games but it's not a bad convention for playing with people new to you when the consequences are steep. Since WoW death is pretty trivial I don't see anything like so good a case for it to be applied so ubiquitously here.
I left a group once when I was keeping something about 6 levels higher than me sheeped while the others were skinning and looting. They took their time in a leisurely way despite my life bar occasionally jumping downwards, they just didnt notice. I resheeped it twice, being on about 5% life last time and the others still didn't notice. It eventually unsheeped and killed me and I logged out and went to do something else for the rest of the evening. That's demoralisation
Attention is really important to a good group. In a good group people pay attention. People notice changes in life bars, mana bars, people rotate the view to look around, people tell each other if they are afk or alt tabbing to thottbot
Inattention is contagious. If folks feel that the others aren't really paying attention or are stealth afking then they lose interest. It's very closely tied to morale
Some of the more experienced tanks end up with significant guild status. They can then sometimes make the mistake of trying to run the guild while tanking and pulling for a group. So you get fast pull, fast pull, fast pull, unexplained stillness for 90 seconds and so on. Problem with this is that other people then start imitating this behaviour so crucial personnel may be simply not paying attention during a sudden crisis
Slow pulling also encourages people to stealth afk. It takes me about 60 seconds to go put the kettle on and return to the game. I'll confess I do actually do this without mentioning it from time to time while grouped, even as main healer. I do it when I think nothing's going to happen in the next 60 seconds. I never do it if I'm pushed, I ask for a break. I think this is pretty typical of most players
Even if the players don't leave their seats or alt tab, if the play is undemanding for a long time, then suddenly a crisis happens (eg a bad pull) they are naturally going to be slower to react, they're simply more relaxed
Now of course a lot of this is a matter of personal taste. Not everyone is going to want to be rushed. But from a tactical point of view I think the case is very strong that brisk pulling promotes greater effectiveness. As for taste, I think it's exciting, immersive, intense and rewarding - I do my laid back playing when I'm solo