There I was, less than 24 hours since I hit max level, rocking 573 ilvl.
I join a Grim Batol heroic dungeon and it went wrong almost immediately.
The tank, a marvelous specimen of a living abscess, decided to pull everything up to the drakes and promptly died. The rest of us, miraculously, survived the ensuing chaos.
We completed the drake bombing run and then Rectal Grease decided to pull absolutely everything from the drakes up the first boss.
Sure, he survived this time, but with nowhere to hide to break line of sight, no chance for the Resto Shaman to cast, and my defensives being ripped apart like paper, I died, because wonder-tank couldn’t have been bothered to ensure he had agro on everything.
After voicing my irritation and expressing a wish for him to slow it down, I was kicked, and now I’m sitting here with a 30 minute deserter debuff, which isn’t fair at all.
Am I unreasonable for being annoyed at having died because this skid mark of a tank didn’t care to do his job properly, thus preventing the rest of us from doing ours, and then saying something about it? I don’t think so, honestly.
Aren’t MMO’s supposed to be about teamwork and cooperation? Where’s the cooperation when tanks, in general, seem to be in a “who can pull like the worlds biggest meat head” competition?
I did Siege of Boralus earlier as well; the tank is nowhere to be found, the rest of the group is fighting elsewhere just trying to get back to him. Don’t think he’s backtracking to meet us halfway, oh no! He’s barreling head first into the rest of the dungeon, and if we died, eh, so what.
There seems to be this attitude of “mustn’t waste time,” or “gotta go fast,” or “I must complete this dungeon in the next 30 seconds or I’ll literally die!”
Now, I can understand wanting to go fast and big pulls to some degree; it’s very satisfying to unload everything you have on a massive group and watch them melt, but even so, doing a “hURR dURr gOTTa PuLl EVerYTHIng” doesn’t work.
As for wasting time; you’re playing a game which, unless you’re being paid to do so, is almost the very definition of wasting time, so just chill!
I came into the game during Wrath of the Lich King, and it might have been a bad state of things then, but at least there was some measure of respect for our roles and us as players, however small it may have been.
If I don’t get instantly kicked after voicing my concerns I get told dismissively, “juST don’T Die” or “if you WAnt 3 Mod PULLs thEN PlaY CLasSiC.”
First off, my 573 ilvl even in a heroic, is not going to last long in the speed run conducted by some ego driven fungus, especially not if the healer cannot spare the time to cast anything.
Secondly, I tried classic and what I learned is that Vanilla WoW is not a game I would’ve bought in 2004. I’d rather play Elden Ring, Getting Over it With Bennet Foddey, or maybe give acupuncture with railroad spikes a try.
That second one also misses the point completely. I’m not playing classic; I don’t want to play classic.
What I want is to get through the dungeon and have fun doing it.
Following mobs through half the dungeon as they chase after a tank, while being unable to do actually play my character without risking those mobs rounding on me and turning into paste, is not fun.
What boils my piss too is that, when I’m tanking on my DK; I’m not too comfortable with which is why my 615 ilvl DK is tanking heroics and low level mythics, everybody else decides to pull more when I’ve pulled what I’m comfortable with pulling. Why?!
I know they want to see bigger numbers, but what typically happens then is that I die, obviously, because they’ve pulled everything in the nearest 100 miles, the group wipes, and I brace myself for the storm of abuse and denigration to come because I’m “bad.” It’s like, “Yeah, I know I’m bad, that’s why I’m a 615 ilvl Blood DK doing heroics… think I’m here for the loot?”
In general the abuse and denigration I’ve suffered in group content is a massive problem, and I’m damn sure I’m not the only one.
It gets so bad that I’ve actively disabled chat a few times already this expansion. I’m coming back after 7 years of super casual play; I’m not going to be good yet.
Now I’m not asking people to accommodate me; what I’m asking for is for people:
- To slow down. It’s not necessary to treat everything like an Olympic event subject to timers, the one exception being Mythic+. If you’re on a tight schedule, maybe you oughtn’t be playing in the first place.
- Have some consideration for the people you’re playing with, especially if they’re randoms from a group finder. Like myself in Grim Batol, there will be others who may not be as capable or confident as you are and, if you’re the tank, it’s kind of your job to protect the rest of the group; that’s why you’re the tank.
Remember that teamwork is at the heart of MMOs. Regardless of your role, if you’re pulling like a wild animal without considering your group, you’re not just jeopardizing the dungeon run—you’re also ruining the experience for everyone involved. So, take a breath, slow down, and chill. The low level group finder content that isn’t overly demanding, like heroics and LFR, don’t need to be run through at Mach 10.
After all, we’re here to play and enjoy the game, we’re here to enjoy it together; isn’t that why we’re on an MMO, and if we can’t enjoy it why play at all?