Leave Your 'Tude At The Door

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 2:40 PM

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Mommar here.

If you want to refer to my 'career' with World of Warcraft, I should be thankful to many of the people I have met in and out of the game itself.  There are people even to this day that I consider close friends,  others that I have had the honor of meeting even if it was for a fleeting moment.

But then some weeks tend to be more difficult than others.  To the point that you start to wonder whether the reputation,  gold and experience is truly worth it.   As I have said before, I am running some of the older Mists of Pandaria raids for gold and reputation.   There is this mental itch I have that when I see a non exalted reputation I must finish it off.   In this case I do all of the Throne of Thunder raids i can get during the week.  These raids include the dreaded LFR that everyone finds so tasty on the brain.

Most of the time these go off without a hitch.   Poke Durumu in the eye with a big pointy stick,  ride Tortos like a bronco even get a little shock to the system with Lei Shen.

But this week seemed to be a cavalcade of grumpy players.  Players looking to pick fights for the smallest problem.   Then a full blown meltdown if there was a wipe.  Remember this content was the new shiny raids not 6 months ago.  Most players are overgeared for the content, but there is still a certain amount of possibility of dying a horrid game death.   But no one really signs on to be the target of someone's abuse.

Having spent easily 10,000g on repairs over the years I have been playing, seeing a raid fail to a boss is a normal experience.   You just pick up,  look to see what can be fixed and move on.  If nothing can be solved, then it is time to leave the raid and go find something else to do.   But there are times I feel I am in the minority when it comes to this attitude.

Noob,  idiot,  *&*$ and other words that would get you punched out in the real world get slung around as normal conversation.  My raid can joke with me and tell me I'm weak sauce, but everyone has their limits.  Lately my patience to have to listen to people go off for silly reasons has become less and less.  Most of the time players will just direct it at the random player, but occasionally someone will shoot their mouth in my general direction.   One raid i ended up dying due to poor tanking/healing and was accused of taking 'too much damage'.  If I had failed in the mechanics I would have completely agreed with them.   The wise player knows they are never 100% perfect, but in this case every movement out of raid damage was done correctly. Seemed this player also didn't understand how an arms warrior works when well geared.   Hearing 'why is the warrior doing so much AOE damage' finally got me to respond.   After explaining in a slow, precise matter that an arms warrior has 3 different cleaves that automatically go off you will get AOE damage.  Along with this explanation was the fact that this player needed to be more worried about their low dps (under 100k) than putting the blame on everyone but their own shoulders.

Later this bothered me not because of the words I had used.  What bothered me was that I had let his rash silliness get to me and take away my enjoyment of the raid.  There will always be hotheads,  always be players that troll for attention.  There will always be players to be carried with a dps wheelbarrow.  Raid wipes will occur no matter the skill of a group.   But my attitude is what I choose it to be.  I can choose to react or I can choose to walk away.   Either choice is viable and functional.

The same goes for the good days and bad days of making gold.  Our attitudes attach themselves to whether we can be successful or not.  Making lots of gold is fun.  Making lots of gold in the game without losing all mental sanity is even better.  So enjoy the game with a good spirit and less stress.   And remember there is always the choice to turn off the game and take a breath.  It is a game and you make the choice of what attitude you bring.

Good Luck and Good Gold Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. Dot com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up, and I will buy you a glass of juice. 

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Surviving the Raid

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 10:09 AM

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Looking for raid is one of the most popular ways of upgrading gear.  The difficulty is medium for most players,  making it very easy to grab a quick raid through the first or second tier of a current raid area.

With 25 man raids being created you will get multiple levels of attitudes when it comes to playing warcraft.  Players with varying amount of skills and abilities joining together for a common good. 

Okay,  that's the nice way of putting it.   Let's face facts,  LFR can stink from time to time.  Undergeared players joining to obtain fat loot the easiest way possible.  Players who are at the top of their game showing their dominance by explaining how everyone sucks unless they pull 100k dps.  Players who are barely there,  looking for a good excuse not to have to finish up their work for the day.  Even players who have imbibed a little too much adult beverages and are proud to announce the fact to the entire raid.

It's a part of the natural occurrence when it comes to raiding to have to have a thick skin.  Sometimes you run into players who are willing to be patient.   Attempting to improve players by explaining options and making the average player into a great player.  I was privileged when I first started raiding by running into a group that helped me become a much better player.  That one patient person allowed me to enjoy the raiding experience instead of turning me off for the rest of my gaming career.

Then on the flip side it was the snide and devious comments of others that had me walk away from raiding for a bit.  Players who had become full of themselves and their importance in life that name calling became their calling card.  At that point in my life I needed World of Warcraft as my outlet for entertainment due to recovering from a serious illness.

The reality is that you will have different types of attitude when it comes to raiding.  There will always be players that are better than you.  There will always be players that are not as good as you.  Players come and go and even in the raiding life that player that's calling everyone a 'noob' will be gone and probably never seen again.

Your attitude and how you carry yourself is a personal choice.  Until players are able to punch people though the screen (hopefully never) then they are just words.  There is no dishonor in walking away and looking for another raid to avoid a Warcraft bully.   They just are not worth the time or the effort to try to change.

Now back into the breach goes the fearless 25.  Mommar needs a new pair of pants.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. Dot com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up, and I will buy you a glass of juice. 

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Timeless Isle: Tagging Is For Rich Chumps

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:10 PM

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Mommar here.

If you're like me you're always on the hunt for a quick run on the Timeless isle to grab the loot from one of the rare mobs that are around.  You hear the call over trade chat that Jakur of Ordon is getting a little uppity and needs a beat down.   Also if you are like me you have many times rushed over to where the mob is supposed to be at only to arrive just a little late and miss out on the loot pinata (what can i say,  I like referring to the area as such).

Everyone and their mother's uncle are wanting certain rare elites to put down for their goody bags.  It's the nature of the game where elites give cash prizes and the size of your bank account drive all the troll women mad.

The most frustrating part of this is the extra large repair bill that players have talked about getting as they continue to kill the new golden goose at that time.  Nothing wrong with that,  someone has to kill him and you only have 20-25 of your pseudo buddies sitting there whacking away as he throws fire and wind and all sorts of other annoying mechanics to kill you.

But it's all in good fun and good prizes and what is a little gold among repair friends.  I do wonder how many guilds still have the repair funds turned on with their guild banks and that repair cost is getting taken out of the bank (Shhhh don't tell my guild leader this).  Tagging and running can also be a viable, yet cowardly technique to gain the wealth without the cost of the repair bill.   Some of my alts that are just getting to the island just don't have the survival with some of the rare mobs.  Melee especially gets crushed with all the fire running around and adds getting dropped on top of your head.

Ultimately the game tone and how you play is entirely up to you.  As always no one should tell you how to play as long as your not annoying other players.  Success is how you measure it for yourself.  The enjoyment of the game and running around just to get a smack into a rare can be just as exciting as standing there going toe to toe for 5 minutes to get that 496 boots you need.

It's all in the eye of the beholder,  and I am beholding a lesser repair bill.

Good luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. Dot com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up, and I will buy you a glass of juice. 

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How Not to Influence People

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 4:08 PM

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I've been told in my life that I do not deal well with stupidity.  Now stupidity tends to find itself in many different forms and cadences.  Whether it's the guy at the door trying to convert me to a religion that I have no interest in,  or the person at the counter at the local store asking dumb questions.  I tend to not handle stupid very well.

I received an email from a reader discussing a situation that they had run into.  They being a fellow gold goblin had posted up some herbs at a reasonably selling price.   Instead of the player deciding to politely ask if that was their intention,  they decided to berate them.   Including some name calling and crass remarks.  

Having played this game for many years,  it still surprises me from time to time the reality that just because someone is anonymous does not give them the right to act like the north end of a south bound donkey.  Each of the lessons that I try to teach on this journal is meant to be executed with a certain amount of decorum and dare I say honor.   As has been said many times,  there are players behind the keyboard with feelings and emotions.

When I started playing World of Warcraft I was a mess.   While not going into specifics I was a proverbial hermit that didn't go out that often.   I spent more time in my house than is normally to be expected of a grown man.  It was my safety and my kingdom with limited social interaction.   At the time I was recovering form a physical injury so I wasn't into the bar scene,  or the gaming scene or anything other than books and the occasional chat room.  

I had just started a vigorous rehabilitation schedule with a lot of downtime for recovery.  So a friend of mine suggested I look at playing World of Warcraft for recreation and also for the possibility of social interaction. Five years later I still play,  and have become very vehement to my defense of the human nature of players behind the game.

So when I hear of stories such as this is turns my stomach.   In the long run all of these herbs, and ore and epic items and such are just pixels and complicated mathematics on a digitized screen.  They are not real and have no direct effect on how we live life.  But our attitudes and our reactions do have an effect on people.  Whether it is in the positive or the negative of the situation.  

I proceeded to explain my viewpoint to the writer that it was more apt this person was having an ulterior motive for their uncouth behavior.  The odds were that the offender wanted them to pull their auctions and post at a higher rate so that they could undercut her.   Later did I found out my supposition was correct.

So why share this with you?   Because I never want my words and my actions to make it seem that gold goblin behaviors would ever encompass this type of attitude.  To be a real gold goblin does not mean that you just make the most gold you can.  It means that you hold yourself up to a higher standard of the game.   You become a diplomat of sorts to not just the gold,  but to the spirit of the game.   Everyone has every right to play the game as they want.   But i would hope that the first lesson that is learned from reading these writings is that we are all human,  and should be treated as such.  Otherwise,  it's time to take a quick look at your life and your values and decide whether you are truly gold goblin material.

Good Luck and Good Hunting.