There are so many Mages right now. But there’s so few of them who actually play like they know how the class works! I cannot tell you how many times I’ve pugged dungeons with Mages who just spam fireballs or frostbolts over and over again and they don’t do anything else.
Spell Steal Buffs? No. So many Mages don’t even seem to realize that Spell Steal exists!! It’s an extremely useful ability that helps you do incredible things! 
There’s been so many occasions where I’ll go to Botanica, and they don’t steal Holy Fury. Go to Black Morass and they leave Temporus’s Hasten buff where it is. Go to Mechanar and the Fire Shields are still going. And so on and so forth…
What are these people doing? Are they rolling Mages and learning these abilities so they sit in their spell books forever unused? 
While I’m at it, Mages have an ability named Counterspell which is a ranged interrupt. That sounds pretty awesome and can be used in a variety of situations. It baffles me, then, to discover that so many Mages don’t ever use this. And it’s not like, in these situations, the players don’t know how to do this. I actually have to tell them, “Use this ability. It’s good.”
And de-cursing! Oh gawd, I can’t tell you how many Mages who won’t de-curse! Not to mention how many Mages don’t even know they can decurse. Absolutely astonishing! Sometimes they have to search their spell books because they don’t even know these abilities exist. 
15 Likes
I find the same problem with Hunters, Paladins, Warlocks, Druids, Priests and Warriors. They won’t do the thing that their class is supposed to do. It’s honestly annoying.
14 Likes
Doesn’t really matter to me. It’s not like you have to play your class optimally in a TBC heroic…
3 Likes
The group always gets mad when I fear a mob though, I’m just trying to help the tank pull more stuff tbh.
12 Likes
I did a Heroic where I asked a Warlock to seduce a mob. He thought I was making a joke. Then I explained to him what his Succubus could do and he was like, “Oh, I never knew that.”
Sometimes I feel like I’m on crazy pills!
8 Likes
I know the feeling. The other night we were running Heroic shattered halls and I pulled out my Succubus to seduce on the big 7 pull and my tank said he had never seen a lock do that before.
3 Likes
It’s not even about optimizing your game-play. Spell Steal is a fun ability to use and experiment with. There’s like 30 different kinds of buffs in TBC you can steal ranging from world content to dungeons. And I’m just imagining all these Mages are doing is throwing fire and ice at everything and…that’s all.
Translation of the thread:
Play the way I think you should play or you suck!
9 Likes
It really is super annoying when mages do not interrupt Darkcasters mana burn. And I tend to get a little miffed when you have to constantly remind a mage to decurse.
Every class has players like that though. I’ve been in heroics where the other warlock had no idea that he also needs to have a soulstone ready in case the healer uses mine up.
Surprisingly, this time around though, I see a lot of really good hunters who actually know how to trap mobs and misdirect when needed. Back in 2007 hunters were a meme. Somehow they got better. 
4 Likes
And that kind of stuff is fun to do because you’re using every facet available to your class in ways that benefit the group!
I hate getting pummeled by Temporus knowing there’s a Mage or a Shaman in my group who haven’t ever used Spell Steal or Purge and don’t even realize those things exist.
But it’s mostly Mages I’ve been seeing perpetrate this. My Server, Westfall, is full of Mages!
1 Like
100% truth. I steal everything I can.
Warning to any mage who is learning to spell steal: Some buffs will get you killed. Watch your threat!
4 Likes
That’s unfortunately how most people play, especially in PvE content. It’s honestly impressive how people can play the game so poorly.
I have had to tell numerous warriors to take the sharpening/weightstone buffs off their weapons. When I ask why they are using one when I can drop windfury they tell me “resto shamans never drop windfury in my groups.” It breaks my heart.
1 Like
That and the Summoners in Shadow Labs and Blood Furnace.
Most recently was in a Heroic with my Warrior. We were both Fury. I told him I would use Commanding Shout if he would use Battle Shout. He never responded back. I have a weak aura I use that indicates when to to refresh Battle Shout if it isn’t active. That weak aura kept on activating because the other Warrior wouldn’t sustain Battle Shout. Super annoying too because at the very least he was well-geared.
That’s the new stupid, I think. People read the lists, the BiS charts and give their toons everything they can to optimize them. But then they forget they can do stuff.
3 Likes
Same experience.
I actually grouped with a Resto Shaman who told me to remove Windfury Weapon from my weapons because he assumed Rockbiter and Flametongue stacked with Windfury Totem. I told him it didn’t work that way, but he insisted and made a stink about it in Party chat.
Funny thing is, the party lead eventually kicked him because his healing was terrible. 
Here is a novel idea. How about in your next raid you spend the effort you are putting into analyzing how other people are playing and put that effort into what you are doing in the raid.
I bet it would be a drastic improvement in the group.
Part of the problem is too many people spend their time worrying about everyone else and not on themselves.
7 Likes
The first time around, no one used it. Even in Cata, I had people be surprised when I suddenly was doing almost twice the damage of anyone else. I had to explain mages had SPELL STEAL. There is a boss in Cata that you can spell steal 500% spell cast speed from.
I have always played my mage alt casually, but abusing spell steal has been something I have always been amused doing.
I think it was in MoP, but I did find one buff that would literally kill you. It added a bunch of damage, but it also caused you damage. Another bugged, yes I will say this one was bugged, said it would damage all enemies near you. It should have said that it damaged all players near you. I got yelled at for that one.
3 Likes
Raids are a group effort and the way TBC is set up no one class or spec can do everything. You can’t just say “push yourself harder” if the reason why you are wiping is someone is not interrupting or decusing and your class doesn’t have that ability.
3 Likes
Another reason why I hate the “parsing” meta. People so focused on their own damage and they don’t decurse or do other things that help your raid. Like Warriors who don’t Demo Shout or Thunderclap and Mages who don’t de-curse. Or even little things like Warlock putting Detect Invisibility for mobs like the Spell Shades in Karazhan or the Succubuses in Arcatraz.
Hell, I wonder how many Feral Druids queue a Tiger’s Fury while Prowling before they start DPS.
1 Like
If you’re a mage and never use Spellsteal or Counterspell you’re just braindead lol
4 Likes
Or ones who do not use Innervate or ignore request for brez. In 25 man, I have beat the resto druids in decursing and I play a feral and get punished for leaving form.
Ego is everything to too many people. Get the highest damage/healing numbers to be the “best”.
To put this into full light, I have sacrificed my dps on more than one occasion to insure a downing of a boss. On one Nightbane kill, the healers were all out of mana at the tail end of the fight. So, I backed off, use barkskin and then used Tranquility. It took enough weight off the the healers that they kept the tank up and he went down.
1 Like