Random of Reflections

Crusader Manners had a bad time of it last night using the random dungeon finder.

She ended up in a partially completed HoR (just the running away apart was left) and the first thing the tank demanded to know was how the DPS of the newcomers was. Crusader Manners should have known that this was going to be a problem if that's what he was focused on, rather than his own tanking skills.

He then proceeded to call names, vote to kick a party member for low dps, and totally failed to keep aggro from Crusader Manners and the warlock. Crusader Manners admits to quitting the group after the third wipe, which of course was not cool at all.

The moral of this story is that you've got to focus on doing your job to the best of your ability before you can critique how other people are doing theirs.

The second moral is that someone should tell Blizzard that it would be really nice to not to waste your 15 minutes if you decline to clean up someone else's mess.

Crusader Manners will be answering another reader question before the end of the evening.

Note: Crusader Manners realizes that this post sort of contradicts the rule of blame she posted previously. The rule of blame doesn't quite seem to apply in this case entirely - but I don't quite know how to fix it. If the tank can't hold the aggro and the dps pulls back, then Arthas catches up and kills the whole party. In this one, everybody's got to be holding up their own end, or the whole thing falls apart. I suppose that's why it's called teamwork.

Your Questions

Dear Crusader Manners,

I have two questions.

The first, perhaps is rhetorical, as I'm not sure there's an answer, but; How exactly does one keep an Oculus group together? I know that they put in the nifty loot bags with the extra badges, and that they nerfed the nose off the end boss, but I can't seem to keep a random instance group together either straight out of the gate, or following the first wipe due to someone not being able to use the green drake to heal as well as dps/find the timestop button on their bars/ fly a red dragon in a forward facing manner.

Second, Do you think that the vote to kick mechanic has instituted a sort of common manners mob justice? I've noticed PUGs for heroic quests being unusually full of kind and well mannered people lately, except for the one in an extremely long while, where someone will lose their mind and sense of common decency and start badmouthing the DPS about how he's topping the charts, when he's actually specced feral dps and can't seem to hold aggro, which is why you're finding out what the floor tastes like in places that you wouldn't normally voluntarily lick the flagstones.

Curious,
Dr Locktopus

Dear Dr. Locktopus

Crusader Manners spent a little time exploring your questions. It actually took me a while to get a random Oculus, and then I had to think about what made it work well and what had made it miserable in the past. Since Crusader Manners is also trying to learn how to tank (unholy if you were wondering), this made things pretty interesting.

As always, I have to remind you that there's very little that you can do to change the behavior of others. Instead, you have to behave wonderfully yourself, and hope that people will fall in with it. The first thing I did when I got to Oculus was to say, "Yay! I love this instance!" This is perhaps a bit of a stretch, but the group was convinced that I did not mean it sarcastically. Being enthusiastic should help some. The other thing that's important is to make sure that you know what you're doing in there, including what to do with all the different drakes, so that you can provide advice and help. Crusader Manners has a guild mate who she can simply auto-follow during the last fight, and she loves that guy.

Finally, one of the biggest stress-causing Oculus group break downs comes when someone insists on doing one of the color-shutout achievements. This is a big no-no for a random group. They require coordination and planning that can be better done with your guildmates in voice chat. So if someone insists on doing them, explain this, and respectfully decline.

As for your second question, I think that common manners mob justice can only apply when the mob has some idea of manners. Judging from trade chat, Crusader Manners is pretty sure we aren't there yet.

Yours Truly,
Crusader Manners

Have a question of your own? Email crusader_manners@incendiaeternus.net for answers.

How to Behave in a Random Group

• Wait a minute. When you get started running the instance, people might need a few seconds. Many healers do not hang around all the time in their healing gear and spec. Some people have discovered that wearing junk gear is a good way not to end up in HoR and need to put on the good stuff. Everyone might like to eat. Quickly confirm everyone's readiness before beginning.
  
• Everyone defers to the tank. It doesn't matter who the party leader is. DPS and healers should wait until the tank is ready to pull. They should stand where the tank indicates. And if the tank says they don't want to do an achievement, then that achievement isn't happening. Further, DPS should make a point to target what the tank is focusing on. Your death is your own fault if you don't.
• The tank defers to the healer. This means that the tank needs to keep an eye on the healer's mana and the chat pane. It is the tank's responsibility to make sure they aren't pulling while the healer is low on mana.
• Be polite. "Please," and "thank you," are important! Put them before and after every request. A polite party member is less likely to be kicked when they make a mistake than a rude one.
• Don't demand or nag. If you need something, ask for it once. If you think that your request got missed, it's okay to ask a second time, but no more than that.
• Don't cuss in party chat. It may not be a big deal for you, or in your house, but not everybody playing appreciates your profound obscenity. Again, a polite member is less likely to get kicked than a rude one.
• Don't be selfish. Only need things you need for your main set, and agreed upon items for your off-set. Nobody cares about your off-off-set. Do not hit need on orbs - unless you are using them to make an item for your main set, you don't actually need them any more than anyone else does. If someone asks to need an item for their off-set, let them. "Might use sometimes" should still trump "going to sell that to a vendor." Also remember that an instance is not a competitive event, it is a cooperative one. You don't win unless everyone else does.
  
• Don't quit. Unless you've agreed as a party to give up, dropping group is really rude. It sends the message that you don't value the time of others very much. If you think you will need to quit, warn or explain first. Example: "My mom hates it when I put her off. I may have to go," or "If we wipe one more time, I will not be able to afford this repair bill. I can't do this anymore."