Tales in Pugging, or "The Tank That Wouldn't Rez"

So I join this Underbog with my mage and four of us are brand new.

One guy is dead.

He asks for a rez, we say "Okay, sure, where are you?"

"I need a rez."

"Okay. Where are you?"

"By first boss."

"There are a bunch of mobs between here and there. It'd be better if you ran back."

"Can you rez me?"

"No. You're the tank. You need to run back."

"No."

Emberstorm vs Stormstrike, or "Battle of the Battlegroups"

In Battlegroup Emberstorm, when using LFG on alliance side, I've had no real personality issues with pugs. I've run about 10-15 on Birdy.

Today I switched to Dustfire on Battlegroup Stormstrike, horde side.

The very first pug I joined with Dusty? The tank had to fetch a drink for his pregnant girlfriend, called her prego (if she doesn't mind then I don't), which then unleashed the moron in one of the dps who started waxing witty on how the tank could have avoided getting pregnant.

SERIOUSLY.

This is my first LFG on horde and I get that?

I should have left. Dusty doesn't need the gear and I didn't need to sit and listen to "L2Condom." I should have made a snarky comment and made them wait for the system to fetch them another dps.

But I didn't. Because I suck. I whined to my guild instead, and one of my guildies had the insightful comment "Women don't like condoms." Not sure if he was making fun of the guy or serious. I didn't ask and didn't want to know.

Looking for Group, or "Pug It Up"

The people who leave pug groups are usually the problem.

They tend to be really tightly wound.

Case in point: a tank who said the group wasn't fast enough (at level 64) leaves four pulls in. Same run, the dps who keeps standing in poison leaves after our third wipe on the first boss (whom we get down after he's replaced).

In a level 80 heroic, the tank overpulled and we wiped. Except that this was fine, nobody whined about it, it happens. We picked ourselves up and rezzed, and the guy pulled the mobs again. And dropped group. And what happens when you leave a group tankless in the middle of a pull? Right. The group dies. (Except for the rogue, who vanishes. That'd be me. Ta da!)

Dev Support, or "What Else Am I Going To Do--Work?"

In my defense, I really have nothing better to do this morning.

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WoW Insider has recently become concerned with the mood on the official forums. If you've been reading my blog for very long, you'll feel the smug glow of superiority that we've always known what crap the official forums are. Almost every time I post anything there, I end up in tears.

It's asshat central.

I'm just sorry the asshats got bored enough to go after the devs once they'd driven off everyone else.

My husband says, worst case scenario, he doesn't think the devs will do anything worse than stop talking to the community -- which is still pretty bad, because I'd rather they just ban hammer the jerks than stop talking altogether. (Seriously, Ghostcrawler, if you're out there -- nobody likes those people.)

Shout Out, or "Still Posting, Say Wuuut?"

Wanted to give a shout out to a reader from Khadgar -- hope your pug was fun! My guildie definitely gave me your greetings and I got all giggly. XD It amazes me that you recognized my guild.

If the Christmas pet is cool this year, I maaaaay ask husband to let me reopen my account to get it. We'll see. <3 If he didn't buy me anything ahead of time, I'm sure I can wiggle that out of him.

WoW Social Fallacy?, or "Judging Crosses a Line"

A while back, a friend linked a list of 5 Geek Social Fallacies. Read one or two, then come back. I'll wait.

. . .

Done? K.

WoW Social Fallacy #A: Judging Crosses a Line

This is a theory, but I think I have a leg to stand on so bear with me.

1. I doubt any of us can say we haven't experienced some level of "need" to indulge in the game more than we should.
2. I believe that nobody can force gaming cutbacks on anyone else. You have to let it happen naturally, when the player is ready.
   

Hammer of Justice, or "105 Day Suspension for Being Hit Capped?"

A guildie posted this in our forums. Don't know if it's made the rounds yet or not, but just in case it hasn't I thought I'd share. It's from funnyexam.com, which is Not Safe For Work.

Kahi was running around yelling "Seal of Command fades, I cast Seal of Command, I cast Holy Shock. He then punched a boy in the mouth and yelled "Hammer of Justice."

If it was my kid I'd hug him for his brilliant spell usage before grounding him for irl hitting someone. Seriously. I wouldn't be able to stop laughing if my child did this. The school administrators would think I was a horrible mother, but I would not be able to keep a straight face.

Best WoW Player, or "This Reminds Me of Something..."

As a teen, I took a writing class at a fancy schmancy art school. I eventually left due to philosophical differences with my professors.

One of those days that clearly marked the difference between them and me, the female teacher told our class a story about a man who wrote 10 pages a day, even on Christmas. Even with a wife and kids.

I was horrified. The guy's poor family!

So when a guildie posted the following on the forums . . .

My hats off to this guy, though I've never heard of him before today.

I wondered . . . is the achievement worth it?

I'm all for achieving what you can, and if he honestly has that much free time, um, okay. But how is this any different from the man who writes 10 pages on Christmas? To achieve something like this, how could Little Gray not neglect everything else?

So my question isn't for Little Gray himself. He obviously has his priorities set with WoW at the top. It's for everyone else, and it's the same question I asked myself about Mr. 10 Pages.

Should we really admire this?