My take on the "Magical Skill"

The Goblin released his third part of the "Magical Skill" series and it is a good read.  It also should all be taken with a grain of salt as my previous mention of it notes.  Assembling a group of people that already know what to do and asking them to do it is nothing magical.  It is practical if anything.

I want to delve into what I thought he meant when he used the words "Magical Skill".

He has a No voice chat rule.  That is a telling factor of that I call the "Magical Skill".  Voice chat makes it easier for people that have no skill to cover up the fact that they have no clue what it going on.  They wait for verbal clues and not just when they first try a boss, but try after try after try.  Everyone can be helped with a verbal cue when they first start to learn it.  Makes life easier for sure but if you need it all the time, you do not have the "Magical Skill".

Let me give you a small example or two of what I consider the "Magical Skill".

Toravon the Ice Watcher is a super simple fight that shows exactly who might have the magical skill and who might not.

This is one that vent should never be needed for.  You tell everyone one simple thing.  All ranged on orbs, no melee.  That's it.  If you need to tell the group anything more then that then they are not a group of people with magical skills.

You see the swirl before the orbs come out.  The tank can see them too, the tank should move away from it if it is coming under his feet.  If the tank has the "Magical Skill" he will do so, if not it will spawn under his feet.  Melee that have the "Magical Skill" will see that spawning and make sure not to do any AoE so it is easier for ranged to get them out of there.  Ranged that switch instantly have the "Magical Skill" and the ones that take forever to notice they spawned do not.  Healers that notice that there is a raid wide damage once in a while and prepare for it have that "Magical Skill"  the ones that get tunnel vision do not.

Really, the fight is super simple and I have still seen my fair share of fights where it was a wipe.  I can not tell you the number of times I was the only ranged on the orbs or I heard a healer say "but I am healing the tank" as the reason why they let everyone die from the AoE blast or a tank say they can not move the boss or a melee say "but that AoE is part of my rotation".

The "Magical Skill", as I see it, is being able to figure things out by simple common sense and not having to be told everything.  People with the magical skill do the right thing because it is the right thing to do, not because they are told to.

Another good example:

Gas Spores on Festergut in 25 man.  We tell people skull in, x out and square ranged.  If the square pops up in and the skull pops up out you can see who has the "Magical Skill".  If two people with the "Magical Skill" have it then they do not move even if they should have based on what they were told.  The know, as if by magic, that someone is already in ranged and someone is already in melee so there is no need to move.  People without the "Magical Skill" start running to change spots which hurts DPS, causes unnecessary movement and could quite possibly cause a wipe.   Sadly I have seen that all to often from idiots that do not realize to stay where you are even if we told you to move if you had a certain mark on you.  Look around jerkward, there is already someone there so there is no need to move.  That person does not have the "Magical Skill".

Another good one are the ice blocks on Sindragosa.  Tell people to make sure to stay 10 yards away from the people getting blocked and tell them where you want them, say on the steps.  People with the "Magical Skill" run to the stairs, see the people around them and position themselves perfectly.  People without it stand on top of each other, run around like a chicken with their head cut off not knowing where to go and basically just never notice where others are to adjust.  The "Magical Skill" means no need to tell people something that is simple enough to look with your own eyes and do it.

That, to me, is what the "Magical Skill" is.  You can try to teach someone awareness.  You can try to teach someone common sense.  You can also repeatedly smash yourself in the head with a hammer.  It is usually all the same result.  A screaming headache and maybe some blood with the hammer one.

To use a Goblin analogy for my concept of "Magical Skill" being awareness and common sense.  It is like language.  You pick up your language from birth.  You are not taught it, you just pick it up over time and later on it is refined but the basic seeds of your speech come as if magically.  Common sense and awareness are the same.  You either picked it up magically or you have to try and learn it.

And just like with language, some people, no matter how hard they try and how much they study they will never learn that language, it is just not in them to learn.  There are some people that no matter how much they try, no matter how serious their desire is, they will never have awareness and common sense.

That folks is your "Magical Skill"... common sense and awareness. 

There are different levels of "Magical Skill" as well.  Some people are so magically skilled that they can enter a fight knowing nothing about it, not even a tid bit here and there, and they do super.  Those people pick up from those around them and can adapt at the speed of light it seems.

"Magical Skill" is not building a group of elitists that can clear content in their sleep and then saying it was magically how it happened.  That is not magical, that is intelligently planned.