Game-Changing New Powers

[Bolty]

Oh, come on, you were far outgeared for Ramparts and Blood Furnace when you stepped through the portal :P

Quite true, but the Ramparts was a good wake-up call to me about the difference in game knowledge/skill/experience out there, just in the first week of TBC.

After doing 1 or 2 smashthroughs of the place, I was questing out in HFP when I saw a PuG looking for a healer. It had been ages since I PuG-healed in a 5-man, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I could easily heal through any nubs, right?

Oh boy...

Like I said, it was a wake-up call. It astounded me how absolutely BAD some people are at this game. The group had 2 Warriors, a Hunter, and a Rogue. Neither Warrior used a shield. Ok, fine, this should be a good challenge, right? Well, both of these Warriors were of the "I'm gonna tank one mob, dammit" school of tanking. Which is to say, they didn't tank. Ok, fine, I can deal with one elite pounding on me until they get to it. Not like the Hunter would sic a pet on it or place a trap.

I suggested to one of the Warriors that they put on a shield and try to hold aggro. He gently protested, telling me that if he tried to tank more than one, he'd probably die. Oh, okay.

So naturally on the 3rd or 4th pull, they also pull the patrol adds. I completely expected this. The Hunter goes DPS Monkey mode and pulls 3 or 4 of them to him with Multishots, and...you guessed it...feigns death just as they're coming to him, putting them all on me. Facing immediate death, I Psychic Scream, and almost right away get a "don't fear" comment from one of the Warriors (who is happily tanking his one mob).

As the fear wears off, the 4 mobs return to me and I'm forced to go self-heal mode to survive. The Warriors and Rogue die, the Hunter goes feign death and I Psychic Scream again to run out of the instance.

I come back and start ressing. I ask the Hunter not to feign death like that since it'll put all those mobs on me, and his response is "but I'm gonna die." The Warriors both chime in, agreeing with the Hunter, stating that I can take a lot more damage than the Hunter, who will most assuredly die trying to take on 4 mobs. The logic of this is so beyond stupid that I don't even know what to say; I know this run is completely doomed. :)

So we go on to the next pull - same script; they never pull the mobs back, Warriors tank one mob each. I write in all caps in party chat, "TANK SOMETHING!" A patrol adds, wipe wipe, I run out of the instance. I wish them the best of luck and de-party.

Returning to questing, I notice in general chat they're asking for a healer. They stop asking about 5 minutes later. 15 minutes after that, they're in general chat asking for a healer. :)

I haven't PuG'ed again since. I know what the decent guilds on my server are, and if one of them is looking for a healer, sure, I'll go. Otherwise, I just stay away. There's a difference between a fun challenge healing a group of inexperienced players and healing a group of total idiots that make you wonder how they ever got to level 60.

Oh, and I'm having a ball in the level 70 instances. Mostly because you reach the point then where you can't outgear an instance anymore; that's where your epics from pre-TBC don't make the instance run a total cakewalk.

-Bolty