Do You Know Where Your Healer Is?

I ask this because I've been noticing something curious as I've been leveling Olateria. Now, she's not a healer, but she has been called on to heal a few times - and maybe it's just me, being as it's been awhile since I've leveled a baby character, but it seems that the new trend in LFG is that, if you're a healer and you need mana, you tell the group that you need mana and plop your butt down to drink. It used to be, at least for me when I was leveling my main, that one of the tank's responsibilities was to watch his healer's mana bar and to pause accordingly to let them drink when they got low. I'm guessing this is no longer fashionable and that it's now the healer's responsibility to pipe up if they're parched - which is fine, don't get me wrong, I'm the first to scream "MANA" when I'm scraping the end of the mana bucket - it just seems like a curious change to me. But maybe I was just spoiled when I leveled the first couple of times around. After all, we didn't have LFG and if you could actually find a healer (or a tank) you held on to them with a grip like a vice.

It's an interesting situation to me and it prompts me to ask - if you're a tank out there in the LFG system now, do you watch your healer's mana bar?

I'm guessing that answers would be mixed. I would expect more "yes" from the people who had 80 tanks (or perhaps even ANY 80) before LFG came out and more "no" from those that didn't. I can say though, that everytime I'm in a group (whether as DPS or heals) that if a tank pauses for the healer to drink before they ask or tells the group "mana up" before a boss, that my loyalty and admiration jumps like a gazillion points. I will follow you anywhere, Mr. Tank, and mercilessly kill anything you ask!

Hmmm, I wonder if there is an addon out there that would announce a healer's low mana to the party? I'm guessing there probably is one, I just don't know about it. I have MSBT set up to play a little chime sound when I get low on my main, but how much more awesome would it be if it would also post something in party chat like, "Olateria is below 20% mana. For the love of all that's holy, let her drink!"... or something similiar. Obviously, I would only want it to do that if I was healing. I never expect a tank to stop and let me drink if I'm DPSing. I always figure I'll just drink and catch up when I'm done.

The new LFG has obviously brought a lot of changes, both big and small. For the most part though, I really do love the system. Ola is wearing so many more blues now than she ever would have before. I almost don't even miss heirlooms!

Well, almost.

Learn Your Role, Noob!

Everyone, meet Xswedish - probably, no, not probably, THE rudest person I have ever grouped with.

He and I met last night during a random group in Wailing Caverns. I was playing Olateria, level 19, doing my shadow-priesting thing. I zone in and the party is already down a ways, meaning some DPS left - not always a bad sign, but not a good one, in this case. As I ran to catch up it was clear that the tank and the healer were already fighting. Xswedish (the healer) blessed us with phrases like:

"Learn to tank and hold aggro, you fuckin noob."

The tank and healer went back and forth about this through the next several pulls, the healer blaming the tank that he wasn't holding aggro, and the tank blaming the healer that he wasn't healing him. I was keeping my mouth shut since I was just a DPS and had nothing to do with their fight anyway. Until Xswedish decides to turn his fearsome wrath on us as well.

"*spams Recount* Gawd, learn to DPS, you fuckin noobs."

I think I was third on the meters. I'm not really sure because I had only arrived in the middle of the pull and had barely had time to do ANY DPS after passing out buffs. Plus, I didn't really care. DPS meters at that level really mean nothing to me.

I ignore the healer who, by this time, has worked himself into a righteous rage and is constantly yelling at the tank to "FUKING TANK", etc, etc. As far as I can tell, the tank IS tanking but the Xswedish is out to prove a point. In the next mob he gets aggro and, instead of running towards the tank, he simply stands there and let's it beat on him.

"HAHA, I got aggro not doing shit and you're not doing a fucking thing."

By that time Xswedish's health was pretty low and either the tank hadn't noticed he had aggro or didn't care. I'm leaning towards didn't care after all the abuse he had given him. Either way, at that the tank wearily made his way back over to taunt the mob. As he was running back, I slapped a shield on the tank (who Xswedish was not healing) and on Xswedish himself who's health was dropping dangerously low.

Biggest mistake of my life apparently.

"Olateria, WTF. WTF you doing?"

I'm honestly perplexed. He's calling me out for shielding him? "Saving you?'

He then proceeds to link me all the spells he has in his arsenal that would have saved his life - Lifeblood, Stoneclaw totem, etc. My instant thought was, well, then why aren't you USING them? I don't reply to him because I feel he's just being over the top. He's actually complaining that I was looking out for him? How ridiculous can you get? But he's not done yet.

"What is this, like your first instance? You roll as DPS, then just fucking DPS. Learn your fucking role, noob!"

There was more to it than that, but that's the gist of it anyway. I was astounded. I was getting yelled at for shielding the healer when he had aggro. My shield is instant. It's not like it really took time away from my DPSing to slap it on him. And, I admit, I'm prone to keep an eye on the healer and tank when I'm not healing just because it's second nature to me. My main is a healer so I usually feel a kind of kindred spirit with them. Not so with this guy. The tank felt he had to say something too.

"You know, he's got a point, Olateria."

I felt utterly betrayed. I'd shielded the tank too, to keep him from dying while the healer proved whatever point he was making. After all the verbal abuse, I was astounded the tank would side with the healer. Bitter, by this point, I reply.

"Wow, okey dokey, I won't shield anyone again. I will DPS without any concern for the rest of you."

Here's my question for you all though: was I right or wrong? To me, being in a group means working as a team. If people are dying all around me and the healer is being an asshat or is dying himself, shouldn't I slap some shield or heals on them if I can to avoid a wipe? Xswedish was saying I should not. That I was there to DPS and nothing more. To me, that's wrong. We're there to work together, no matter our roles. Of course, yes, my main job is to DPS, but in dangerous situations, I don't think me throwing a shield on someone to keep them from death is a sin the likes of which no one has ever seen before.

His verbal abuse continued for the next few pulls, pissing off the other two DPS and causing them to drop. The tank dies twice because the healer's too busy on his tirade to heal anyone. Finally, the tank drops and I go as well. I'm not even sure why I stayed as long as I did. Well, no, that's not true, I do know why I stayed. I stayed to watch the tank die twice. Both times I could have slapped a shield on him and saved him but by then I was angry and was doing nothing but DPSing. I was determined not to save anyone else or do anything that might be considered "non DPS".

Honestly, most abusive group I have ever been in.

So, everyone, learn your roles! If you're a DPS and have healing/damage mitigation spells - don't use them! At least, don't use them on anyone else! You're there to DPS, not heal, noobs!

Welcome to my ignore list, Xswedish.

Screenshot of the UI

Just thought I might share what my UI looks like for prosterity. It will probably never be this clean and organized again.



I use Tukui and it's pretty amazing. It replaces your entire UI and is extremely lightweight, which is good for me because I don't have the bestest of computers. I thought I would log in last night and find it all broken due to the new patch but Version 9 still works perfectly so far, though Version 10 was just released. I supposed I will have to upgrade. One day. When I'm not really lazy. ...Yeah.

Full-sized image here.

Like Taking Candy From A Baby (Tank)

I really do feel for new tanks trying to level through LFG.

Last night I played my wee baby shadow-priest, Olateria, certified member of SAN. (/curtsey) I've been trying not to heal with her, mostly because I'm a healer at heart and every toon I roll ends up being one so I thought, hey, I need to do something different with this girl. So she's going Shadow, though she has healed once or twice when our current healer dropped/died/lost their mind, etc. In any case, she is a budding level 18 and is totally fixated on getting to 20 so she can get her kitty mount. (Ola is the first Night Elf character I've ever rolled and stuck with so the kitty mount is uberly exciting to me. )

So there I was, full of epic, shadowy glory (except for the part where I can really only, like, spam Smite over and over and over...) and I get into a group for RFC. Immediately upon zoning in the tank, an unheirloomed paladin, says, "Bear with me, this will be my first time tanking."

Hunter pipes up, "Sure!".

And proceeds to pull.

The hunter's pet bear basically tanked the entire instance. (And is it just me or is the initial bear roar really annoying? Love me some druids, but bear pets? Argh, shut up already!) I don't think our poor, newbie tank actually made a single pull. Our mage spoke up once in regards to the hunter pulling, but it was hard for me to take him seriously as he was pulling just as much as the hunter was.

Up until this point, I'd been trying to keep my mouth shut. If someone is being an asshat, I will usually call them on it, and usually because I'm healing and said asshat is making my job harder in some way. Sometimes this is good, sometimes it's bad. Bad because sometimes, if I'm defending someone else, that someone else is fine with just sitting there and taking it and doesn't particular want me to jump to their defense. Or just doesn't care either way.

So, Ola was a little hesitant to speak up. I was a DPS quietly doing my thing, targeting my tank's target, etc, and the tank was speaking up at all so why should I say anything? He could have stepped up and told the hunter to stop pulling for him but he didn't. Of course, my intention to say nothing wore thing right before the boss and I had to say something, though I was a bit more nonchalant than usual.

"It might be a good idea for us to let the tank pull so he can get some practice."

This remark was met with silence and the hunter running off to pull the next pack. The tank said nothing, healer said nothing, no other DPS spoke up. I let it go. No skin off my nose then. If the tank wants to run around taunting off the hunter's bear, well then, that's his happy fun time. And maybe that worked for him, took the pressure off him to make the pulls himself.

It's a mildy frustrating situation however, at least for me. It irritates me to no end when party members can't seem to fulfill their proper roles. I'm glad your bear can tank, Mr. Hunter, but save it for when you're soloing. Even if the tank was totally alright with the hunter's pet tanking for him, it's not like it will be possible for him to do that at 80. He's not getting any experience tanking in a group, watching his healer's mana, threat, etc. I know it's less important at these low levels, but it's still irritating for me. I guess, though, I should just be quiet and be glad we made it through alive and I escaped with my satchel of goodies clasped tightly in my hands. (A strength/agility cloak, really? I mean, really?) It's disappointing though, to see that hunter decked out in all heirlooms, just pulling away. If you've got heirlooms, you've got an 80 and should know better.

I had a rogue in another RFC the other day who pulled extra groups of mobs because he thought, I'm sure, that, hey, he was all decked out in heirlooms and the tank wasn't pulling enough for him - oh look, more mobs! That time, however, I WAS healing because there wasn't another healer in LFG and I let him die the third time he did this, after asking him once to to please stop pulling extra mobs. He ignored me so I let him eat dirt. At 16/17 my mana pool was practically nonexistant, having to heal two "tanks" was running me dry in seconds. And Ola is not in heirlooms, since SAN resides on a totally different server than my main. She's on her own for money, upgrades, etc.

Rogue calls me a "retard" and then asks for a rez. I, obviously, am not going to rez him but the shaman in our group does so I don't get the satisfaction of making him walk back.

But, uh, anyway, where was I? Oh yes, baby tanks. I think this whole "lol the tank's a newbcake, I'll pull" thing happens alot, from what I've read elsewhere. I felt sorry for the baby tank the entire run but he never said anything, never gave any indication that the group's behavior was irritating him. I could never do it. I tanked once on my baby warrior and immediately felt my blood pressure rise everytime a DPS would pull for me or shout at me to "gogogogogo". I don't know how you do it, tanks, I really don't, but I feel for ya. Oh, do I feel for ya.

Probably why I stick to my healers. I can stand in the back and grumble under my breath and not draw any attention to my murderous rampages.

What's the Cereal Doing in the Fridge?

Hmmm, first post. I'm feeling some pressure to be witty, charming and funny here. Unfortunately, I think I'm suffering from some sort of performance anxiety (it's not you, it's me!) so I'm actually just going to be brief and get all the boring stuff out of the way here so we can get to the good stuff next time.

First of all, hello, my name is GeeBee and I'll be your host here at The Fridge. GeeBee is actually just a way of writing out the initials "GB" which I will leave you all to ponder over what those actually stand for. In any case, I've finally gathered my courage to start a WoW blog. I've blogged on a personal basis for a long time but found I can't really put WoW things in my personal blog because the audience is massively different. Most of my friends there would have no idea what I was talking about and would be bored to tears or sending me their therapy bills, hence I've started to open this place.

I've named it "The Fridge" for a reason, mainly because I'm going to blog about a cornucopia of WoW related things. I won't focus on any one class or race or faction because I suffer from a horrible, horrible affliction called Altoholicism. Oh yes. My cure for burnout these days is to roll another toon so be prepared to meet several of my split personalities lovable characters.

I've also been reading blogs for a long time. In fact, I would say I was more of a reader and less of a blogger, so I imagine that won't change much. I doubt this place will be updated daily, probably more around a post or two a week depending on how much play time I get in. Mostly, I think I will just enjoy having a place to put my WoW-thoughts that won't mingle in with my personal blogging. Keep milk in the fridge and cereal in the cupboard, and all that jazz.

So, hope to see you here again soon! Next time, I'll have snacks, I promise.