Heroics need a leader.

I got into GB as my heroic yesterday and it was a total disaster again.  Never even got a dungeon in yesterday.  I did not have a lot of time and wasting over an hour trying to get one boss down left me not even wanting to try again. 

I had about an hour left before I was going to head off and with a 30-45 minute wait time and the knowledge that getting in a pug that last less then 2 hours is still a major miracle it seemed it was just not worth it.  There were a few groups from the guild doing runs but only normals and I did not want to hijack the 85s helping others to make a heroic group just for me, I am not selfish like that.

So they ran their normals and another day goes by where I do not get a heroic done.  It is a really sad state of events still.  Sure I could get lucky and get a good group but with my bad luck that is like a one in ten chance at best.

The biggest thing I have noticed is that a 5 man dungeon run needs a leader.  When I am in a heroic with someone that is chatty (usually the tank) things seem to go smoothly.  Even if no one in the group has even one piece of heroic gear you can clear a heroic with a little communication.  I know that for a fact, I've done it.

I've also been in groups where everyone (except me of course) was in all heroic and raid gear and they wipe over and over and over.  Needless to say it is not because they do not know the fights, they have heroic gear so they have to have done heroics you would think.

It is the fact there is no leader.  When you are in a group with four other people you do not know then there is no "normal".  Like in GB, the druid will normally hibernate one of the dragonkin.  If you do not tell the druid to do that, or if the druid does not say "I am going to CC this one" then no one knows.  It breaks down and becomes a mess.

Broken CC because no one said who they were CCing.  Targeting the wrong focus because no one set an attack order.  It becomes a holy mess.

Mind you, a holy mess can sometimes be fun.  One of the trash pulls two DPS and the tank died and it was just me and the druid healer against 4 mobs that had not even been touched. 

I multi kited, shot when I could, double trapped, concussived the one I was working on while throwing a silence shot over to the caster whenever it was off cooldown and the druid rooted one melee.  It took a whole mess of me moving like a rabbit bouncing all over the place.  Some excellent healing and a little bit of luck later and we downed all 4 of the elites and the healer went on to revive the three people that died.  Exciting, I loved it.  That is some fun stuff there but there where two huge problems here and they are both because of lack of communication.

First problem is why was the CC broken? Lack of communication.  If there was a set order for CC everyone would have known who it was on and who was doing it.  That way they would have been less likely to break it.

Second problem is why where mobs up so long and targeting DPS?  It is because nothing was marked and the whole assist thing that everyone says you need to do it about as retarded as banging your head against a wall because it gives you a cool buzz. 

When mobs are all over the place like that and the tank is trying to gather them up the tank is not focusing on one target, he is focusing on all of them to build threat on them.  If DPS 1 targets him while he is on one target and DPS 2 targets him while he is on another target then you have 2 DPS hitting 2 different targets.  Do not assist tanks, but then again, when nothing is marked, that is the correct way to do it I guess.  Just a clusterfuck.  Communication would have fixed this.

Personally I hold off DPS for a few seconds until the tank gathers them up and then go after his focus.

I could add another thing here but I understand why no one did it.  It is not a boss fight, why did they not just released and come back in to help.  I know why.  They thought it would be a wipe.  One lonely hunter and a druid healer against 4 elites that we are still under geared to beat as a 5 man team?  That has wipe written all over it.

Either way, we finally make it to the first boss and the healer leaves.  They do not want to get saved, they figure if we had trouble getting here then we are not finishing.  Lame excuse but okay.  Another healer comes in and they say they know the fight.  We go in, they get charged, they die, wipe shortly after.

We try again, same results, healer gets charged and dies and we wipe.  A DPS leaves and the healer leaves.

Third attempt, different healer, same results.  Do healers understand that mechanics are not just for DPS and that the healer needs to pay attention to them as well?  None of the ones I've seen recently seem to know that.

Forth attempt, with another new DPS.  Now I am the only ranged.  No fun going after that add alone.  Either way, not much of an issue.  The new DPS dies to the first charge.  I get hit by the second while kiting the purple guy and end up dying when I kill the purple guy and the wipe comes shortly after because without me doing the purple guy they figure no one has to now.  It was my job and if I am dead that means the job is done.  Doesn't make a difference, they were not doing it with 1 tank, 1 healer and 1 DPS.

Fifth attempt ended with a reset, how the hell I did that I do not know.  The healer did what it is healers seem to do in this heroic and died to the blitz and the tank went down shortly after followed by a melee DPS.  The boss focused on me and I did what a good hunter does.  I ran.  Well, kited sounds better.  When I got far enough away, he reset.

Sixth attempt was something different.  No clue what hit the tank but he went down like a ton of bricks and we all followed.

Seventh attempt.  More healer failure.  Do you have DBM?  Why?  Because it will tell you when to move because the blitz is coming.  I know when to move.  Dead healer.  Wipe.

Healer leaves because we are taking to much damage.  Excuse me?  Who is the one dying because they refuse to move.  DPS drops and then me, the tank and the other DPS all stand around.  None willing to hit the button to find more.  I wish them well and go about my day.

It all comes down to communication.  No one was talking, even on the boss fight.  No one asked if everyone knew the fight.  No one said anything to the healer until they died a few times from the same thing.  No one understood that I was drawing the purple one away for a reason.  One person even yelled at me because I was making it harder for the tank to pick up adds because I kept drawing the purple one away.  No one said anything useful.

As bad as that looks we got it down below 50% nearly every time.  It was not like we were totally horrible.  It was just that a little communication would have helped.  If we spend 10 minutes talking before the pull we would not have had to spend 1 hour wiping on it over and over.

Heroics need a leader. Anyone, usually the tank.  Just someone to step up and take charge.

The only heroics I have ever been in where we downed bosses had someone step up and talk.  They would say, okay when he does this do this.  Hunter I need you to do this.  Warrior you stay on the boss but step away when he casts this.  Blah, blah blah.  Most of the time, if someone takes the time to do that it means one or two wipes at most.  Usually down the first time.

I guess I just need to wait until I am lucky enough to find a group with an actual leader.  You might ask why I do not lead and I have the perfect answer for that.  One dungeon I was in someone said has anyone ever done this before.  Everyone said no except me, I said I have.  I started to explain the fight to everyone and someone said I am not the leader and I should shut up.  So I left.

For some reason, even if a Hunter is the only one that knows the fight no one wants to hear how to do it from a Hunter because Hunters are always idiots as far as they are concerned.  Thank god for Death Knights otherwise Hunters would take even more abuse.  Death Knights take the most now.

Heroics do need a leader however or until we all woefully over gear them they will never be a nice easy run.  Without a leader or guild run however, they seem nearly impossible still.  Very sad.  Every time I end up with another fail group it makes me start to wonder why I even play this game.  If the skill level of people does not greatly increase soon I can see many people quitting.  It is no fun not being able to run a heroic for fun whenever you want to.

I miss the good old days of doing a random for something to do.  Just for the hell of it.  It was fun sometimes.  The fun is completely gone from the game at the moment.  It is no fun knowing that 9 times out of 10 you are going to get a group of people that can't tell their ass from their elbow.  I would like to see the fun bought back into the game but the only way that is going to happen is if people get smarter. 

Being that is not going to happen I do not see this game being any fun in the near future.  I guess I will continue to work on my Archaeology trying to get my alchemy recipe.  That, is not fun either.