I’ll try to keep the intro short:
I’m a VDH doing exclusively M+, ilvl 213, around 1k rio. I picked this class because I liked it before Shadowlands, without even knowing how powerful it would be (this was also my only max level char prior to SL). Playing VDH is incredibly fun for me - or at least was up until recently.
I’ve learned every single boss encounter, and trash pull. I’ve memorized all routes, I manage my cd’s very well. I sometimes do screw up - in my opinion it happens in one out of 5-6 runs.
I’m constantly being rejected by groups for 14+ or 15+. Sometimes, I /w them trying to beg my way in, by saying that I know my stuff and that I can handle myself. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
The same people who barely allow me in:
pull Blightbone before pride trash pull in NW
pull additional mobs by mistake in NW, PF, DOS
don’t evade plague barrells in PF
don’t evade tentacles on Stradama (had 5 back to back failed runs on PF+13 due to this)
don’t stun loyal beasts cast in HOA
pull stealth pulls in SOA
pull mobs where you are supposed to sneak through in first gate in PF
don’t get their right portal in DOS last boss, twice in a row
do aoe dmg on first boss in TOP
completely disregard bursting
All of those people have rio rating higher than mine. All of them wait for better rated tanks to join, but sometimes become impatient and allow me in. And then I get depleted keys, not even untimed runs due to their simple mechanical errors and a general lack of skill. This isn’t an exaggeration, or my attempt to make myself look better.
I am on the verge of quitting this game due to it being increasingly more frustrating, day by day. I love this expansion, I love M+ content, but I’m unable to progress, mostly due to others. I must admit, I screwed up 2 runs in the past 7 days, but I’ve had 10 more failed runs exclusively due to others. And the fact that those players reject me leaves a very bitter taste, and makes me feel lost and hopeless.
mistakes happen, ppl forget what mobs do, ppl forget where mobs are (stealth)
the only way to get a smoth run is to get 1300 rio ppl because those probably already do +15/16 keys.
it happens. i play with friends and we do +15 all the time and sometimes we die like 20times because our brains dc.
some runs are 0deaths. it happens.
Head for the community/guild recruitment forums. Join up with some other people who like doing keys. Enjoy the benefits of a regular team who learn, communicate, and don’t quit just because you aren’t going to make the timer!
(No, honestly. You leave pug hell by not pugging; but to not pug, you have to spend some time finding some groups of people who will be your party instead )
1k tio is about +12-+13 dungeons and this place is a nightmare. I have 1400 for a long time, not pushing past, because you gain nothing and 15s go completely fine, but 12 and 13 is just something else. I did few last week on my alt pala and it was really bad. Didn’t time a single one out of 7 I think. People just do dump mistakes and it punishing. Its not like +9 where you can wipe or die a few times, you basically can’t. Because people just not that good. Most of them don’t do what required. Like dps don’t kick casts also do significantly less dps than they should and same goes for tanks.
Pretty much every run was about 15-20 death, either dps just pull something, didn’t kick, didn’t kill what they have to.
At the first week’s of sl it was really easy to push, because you mostly played with good players. So I did 12-13 like it was nothing. And now all those mediocre slowpokes reached the point of 10-14 just by overgearing, it became really hard to do. I get you.
Best solution if you want to push with pugs is just push your own key. It requires some time and nerves, because sometimes you take few 1300 dps and they fail too. You just have to grind your way through it. I don’t think you going to have much trouble making your own group as tank. Gl
You should consider moving to US realms then as pugging/average player seems way better there. I see players on US realms timing +16-+19 keys without much issues.
It’s not like any of us can adopt you. Look for opportunities on your realm. Mythic guilds usually have some people also doing keys and they’re generally better than average (and if not you can at least learn together). Just check your realms raider io and see if what guilds the people there are in.
If your realm does not have stuff like this going on, you do have a couple remaining possibilities. One is to find a community (discord etc) that does keys together. You can build a friend group there. Other is to get friends in-game, as in if you find a good pug, add them on btag and play with them later. And actually, if you pug a lot and you’re good, you’ll usually find a team whether you try to find one or not: people start knowing who you are and want to associate with you. Though this is the hardest option, it’s a long grind.
A VDH crying about not being invited. Is this really happening?
AOE on first Boss TOP is totally ok.
What if he doesn want to raid?
There is no common way to make friends. I mean, there is no list of things one needs to do and after last point is done, you have a friend. It happens or not. Most of the time, ppl want me to tank their 15s Key and never write me back. I was wondering why and found out, they already play with VDH Meta Tank. Me in a pug is only some object which needs to work and fullfil the purpose.
the good old “level your own key” always works, i never got invited to a 15+ until i started making my own groups, i got KSM this week and in 5/8 dungeons i used my own key, only when i had 5 timed 15+ people actually considered giving me a shot
I’ve raised my rio by 100, this was an ordeal… what I believe is that there is a certain cutting edge that moves in time - a month or so ago, people doing 10+ were pretty great, but they seem to have moved to greener pastures, leaving us behind the edge.
All this seems as if I’m constanlty blaming others, but yesterday I was in PF14 with people who don’t uncover spiders on Domina. On some phases, I had to jump around and uncover all 4… of course we wiped several times, but finally got her. Of course, we had people dying on tentacles again, but thank God it’s forti week.
I tried finding communities or guilds, some of them have capped membership, others have descriptions from previous expansions… I would love to be able to have a stable group of people to do a couple of dungeons a day…
Your best bet at this point is probably to post in recruitment on the forums and wait for someone to add you, this might take a bit but in the long run its likely the ideal way
Make sure to start with the recruitment forums, since you can always post there and see if they’re alive. Communities regularly cap membership, and many are sizeable enough to spread by word of mouth and thus forget to update their info; but if you ask, you may find that they’ll hoof some ancient alts who aren’t being played to make room for you
Best advice; find one with a discord server, because if they’re willing to talk out of game, you have a much better chance of scheduling events and getting keys done ^^
Stop pugging. And no, your schedule is not an excuse.
Join a mythic raiding guild as a social. The players in those guilds are running M+ all the time for their weekly rewards and you will 100% be able to run with them. And best of all, it doesn’t require you to play on any specific schedule. Just write “anybody up for some M+” in guild chat or make a quick post on the guild discord. No more pugging and no more pain. You may even make some friends along the way.
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