You would think that by the time you get through 27 levels of playing a class, you would have some clue about being in a group of two. Yes, the number 2. Let me set the stage for you.
I was running through Duskwood with Protectr (Level 27 Protection Pally) to go turn in a quest in Darkshire, and passed the path to Stalvan, when I Blessed a priest. He gave me a Fort buff and asked in the /s channel if I was questing. I said I was about to kill Stalvan. With that, I sent the invite and he accepted.
We went to the area and I immediately noticed that he was running out of mana on level 30 ghoul. Not a good sign, but I trusted that he knew that Stalvan would be an endurance fight for 2 lvl 27s.
Never trust a priest who uses /s chat, I suppose. I don’t know, but that’s the only thing that I can say could be a tip-off about what followed.
Twenty seconds into the fight (just after I told him to start using his wand), we got an add, because he wouldn’t follow me as I dragged Stalvan back to the area where we already killed the wandering mobs. Noooo. He stood there and aggroed on in the field, so I had to go rescue him and hope he could heal me. No such luck, as he was already out of mana.
By the way, his response to my:
[Protectr]: Wand him.
[Idiot]: Wand?
No, I’m not kidding.
After we died, I told him once again to use his wand to do damage to conserve mana to heal me, unless he wanted to tank and me heal him. He said he didn’t want to do that because then he couldn’t do as much damage.
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I fell short of yelling and calling him a stupid noob and ask him how old he was. I told him to just do it or we’d die again. We died again.
[Idiot]: What happnd that time? It wouldn’t let me cast any spells or heal you.
I logged off and went to watch TV.
(Because it’s just simply -not- possible that this Priest could’ve been playing by themselves here and there and had just not heard of a wand or thought about using one.)
Heck, I’ve been playing since day one on uncountable numbers of alts and I’m still finding things out.
I suppose it’s possible, but I know for a fact that a wand is a quest reward at least once before level 25. Since he was out to kill Stalvan, he’s figured out the ! and ? above NPCs and has thus experienced quest rewards.
I’m a firm believer that he simply falls into the bucket of players who can’t figure out their class because they are either stupid or lazy.
I’m still learning things, too, but not game basics. By level 10, a paladin who has been playing other classes finally looks up information on equipping a ranged weapon of some sort and discovers that the only options are ranged trinkets when they become available, or ranged spells with talents at the appropriate level.
It just doesn’t make any sense to play a game that you pay for in willing ignorance of the mechanics.
After a while I just tell them I am a failure and they should mark all my pulls. Clapus<—-feral druid.
I think it annoys them more when I don’t see any fault with their playing style.
I read this entry and the replies to it with great interest. We are talking about two lvl 27’s right ? Here’s my two cents, as I experienced it myself.
Let me start out by saying I’m 32 years old. Before november last year, I had never even heard of World of Warcraft, or any kind of MMORPG for that matter. I’m not part of the computer generation, I never played games as a child, or as an adult even. I accidentally picked up World of Warcraft because it reminded me of Dungeons and Dragons, which I used to play way way back as a kid. This, of course, was simply done with a circle of friends in someone’s living room, using books and dice. So I felt nostalgic, and bought the game.
I rolled a Night Elf Hunter, and basically understood about classes and stats on gear due to ancient D&D experience. And off I went, exploring Azeroth.
Most likely, everyone who has encountered me during the first 40 levels, must have figured I was a standard huntard. Why ? Because I didn’t know people in game, I have no friends playing WoW, and I certainly didn’t feel like spamming local channels in order to ask my questions. I spent (and still do) the majority of my time reading. I am convinced that I still don’t know all there is to know about my class, and that I make stupid mistakes, even though I managed to get myself to lvl 61.
Here’s the thing. It’s okay to be a noob. I understand that it’s frustrating for people who have 4 lvl 70s showing off their imba epics in IF to be confronted with one while lvling their number 5, but the game is there for everyone. Long time players will leave, new players will take their place, and they have A LOT to learn. If you are not familiar with games like these, or any games when you start out with WoW, all the information that is thrown at you can be most overwhelming. The bottom line is that it is just a game. Perhaps, Gitr, you would’ve done this guy a great favour by helping him out a bit more. Seeing how you seem to be knowledgeable about the Priest class (you have a lvl 70, don’t you), would it have killed you to refer to a few helpful guides, or to just clearly explain what he could do to improve his gameplay ? (The fact that you didn’t probably DID kill you the second time actually). Obviously ‘wand him’ didn’t mean much to this person, and keep in mind that you COULD indeed be dealing with a 10 year old who is trying to the best of his abilities.
On behalf of all people who are starting out to play WoW : it is OKAY to be new. The fact that you people have a whole bunch of lvl 70s lying around doesn’t mean that you should flame kids like these, or players who have a harder time getting into the swing of things. There could be multiple reasons as to why it’s harder for them. And seeing how you all have so many lvl 70s lying around, start being a bit more helpful and supportive. New players will learn. When you group with them you will die less. Everybody wins !!!