All this despite a rogue running ahead to pull hither and yon whatever they felt like, a healer who started the instance with "lol pull more so I can actually heal", and a gnome mage tossing out Arcane explosions while hopping around like a caffeinated Mexican jumping bean on speed. Even with all that, the run was going well enough... though I did decide halfway through that if the rogue pulled it, he could tank it. Unfortunately, since he had a 1000+ gearscore, he could tank it, so there was no teachable moment there.
On the final boss, I started by pulling the adds on the floor, but someone else (I'm not sure who) decided that they could pull Arugal as well. So to start off with, I've got poor Aeven trying to keep two Sons of Arugal from gnawing on the cloth-wrapped doggie treats standing behind her, while trying to get aggro on the Big Bad Boss. Meanwhile, the rogue is doing his best to go all-out and pull Arugal off of Aeven. Then, Aeven gets hit with Arugal's Curse - 10 seconds without tanking, then I have to turn around and find Arugal again. I have about 2 seconds to try and regain aggro before he teleports... and then hits her with the curse again.
I finally get Aeven back on Arugal, he goes down, we roll for loot, and the healer leaves group but not before telling me "learn 2tank".
Sigh.
I'm trying, Mr. Idiot Healer who almost let me die (Twice? Three times? I lost count of how many times I had to pop Divine Protection or use Lay on Hands). The fact that I managed to make it through SFK and only loose one person is, I think, a pretty good indication that I am learning to tank. At least, I'm better at tanking today than I was when I started two or three weeks ago.
So I'm good enough to power you through the dungeon to get teh shinies, but as soon as you don't need me, you're going to turn on the abuse and then run? Man. It's events like this that really make me understand why some tanks seem to have an overwhelming disdain for just about every other player in the game.
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Hey I've just found your blog and was interested as I'm levelling as a healer through pugs and recording my exploits. My main is a tank though, and yes, I had to put up with abuse while I was learning to tank. Hang in there though. I'm on a mission to show that most of Azeroth is comprised of friendly people, and so far I'm winning! Unfortunately, my latest gripe has been with tanks who look down upon everyone else with disdain, and I hope you don't have so many bad experiences that you turn into one of those. Good luck, Cestra.
ReplyDeleteHiya Cestra :-) Good luck with your healer - I had a lot of fun leveling my healer, especially once I got the hang of shadow for soloing. While my main's a mage, I think that I've had just as much if not more fun with my healer once he hit 80.
ReplyDeleteI think that you're right - the vast majority of people playing WoW are friendly, helpful, and just downright fun to play with. When you're playing in a group, though, all it takes is one person to make for a sour experience. I'm not going to let that get me down, though :-) I know that I'm learning - and I'm learning with a self-imposed handicap, as well - but I'm honestly think that, in the long run, learning to tank under these circumstances will help make me a better player overall. That helps sooth some of the irritation I feel, and the good groups that I've encountered have more than made up for the occasional bad apple along the way :-)