Just Returned to WoW after a year and a half absence. I needed a break from the much hated overgrind you have to do to keep your gear up there or to get flying mounts. Most of the time I had to play was taken up with this fruitless endeavor.
I have noticed a bad trend that seems to have crept in with the nature of class gameplay. Not sure if it’s just me being old fashioned or people really don’t know how to play their class / position within a 5 man group.
The basics are and please correct me if I’m wrong;
Tanks: tanks are the meatshield of the group, he gets the aggro from npc’s, holds it so the 3 designated dps toons in the group take them down hard and fast. Most times starting with the npc the tank is focused on.
Healers: healers are there to keep the tank alive and sometimes the 3 dps if they take some incidental aoe damage. Mostly there for the tanks benefit.
DPS: These guys do the work of taking the npc out. To me the most successful way to do this is concentrate your dps on the tanks focus and work down the line. Maybe standing behind the Target is good. Yes you get heals as needed but priority is the tank.
To me that is it in it’s basic form. It’s a hard and fast method that works every time and has stood the test of time.
The trend is now it seems that players think they are “ten foot tall and bulletproof” and just go charging in indiscriminately hitting npc’s before the tank has had a chance to gather them up and hold them. I have noticed a lot of plate wearers do this, forgetting the basics of that that is the tanks job not yours . Your job is to hit the npc the tank is focused on.
Casters: what is with this I’ll just stand next to the tank or the boss and do my thing. You are asking for trouble. Firstly you are in the npc’s aoe range either by spell or weapon. This seems to be the most annoying thing a healer has to contend with. Many a time I have depleted mana by having to heal all four party members ALL the time because they don’t think and don’t position themselves correctly. Remember, most spells have a max range. Use it.
A lot of the time the dps group do not know what target of target is.
That’s it in a nutshell people, I am trying to come to grips with this trend but my patience is being tested. I am at the stage now that I give a warning to any casters if they persist in doing this I am sorry but I will heal the tank and you can run back from the start when you die. Any dps that decides to " I’ll just play tank over here cuz i’m good" gets you aggro it you tank it and happy thoughts running back from the start when you die.
Am I right or am I being a bit over the top here ? - If I am I apologize but the straw that broke the camel’s back was last night in a group - two warriors were doing their own thing, caster was in the tanks pocket. and 3 times I ran out of mana trying to heal them all together and then got abused in chat for not doing my job as healer. I told them yeah it does suc not knowing how to play your class, but my job is to keep the tank up not save your butt all the time because you don’t know how to play. I apologized to the tank told the rest have a nice 15/20 min wait waiting for another heals and left group. Sorry I don’t play the game for that type of abuse.
On my server tanks and heals more or less have an instant group. Dps have to wait considerably longer especially late at night.
I know there are certain situations where you can step out of the basics guys like well oiled groups that plays together all the time be it in a dungeon or raid.
I think a lot of new players just don’t have a clue about basic gameplay within a group or people who have played the game for so long, are so used to playing their “OP” toon that when they play on a lower alt - my “elite skillz” will make me look good.
Has anyone else noticed this ?