Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Before You Enter the LFR Ask Yourself One Question.

I've had some awesome LFR runs recently.  I've had some dreadful LFR runs recently.

From completing LFR wing three last week with no wipes and a smooth run to spending over 20 hours over the course of 5 days for LFR wing three the week before.  Results can vary from one extreme to another but there is always a question that passes through my mind when I get into a group and see people under performing.  What if they asked themselves the question I always ask myself before I enter the LFR?

"If everyone performed at the same level I am performing would we down the boss?"

Everyone that ever enters the LFR should ask themselves that question and give themselves a completely honest assessment before they even consider entering the LFR.

The damage dealer that queues up as a healer and does not heal, if every healer did the same thing, would they down the boss?  No.  Then don't do it.

The tank with no tank gear, no tank experience, a 529K life pool and no idea what cooldowns he needs to use or what to use them on, would you down bosses if both tanks are like that?  No, Then don't do it.

The damage dealer that is doing 30K DPS has to think what it would be like if every one was doing 30K, would they down the boss?  No.  So don't queue up.

The person only doing 20% of their potential, be it dealing damage, healing or tanking mitigation, if everyone did only 20% of what they were capable of doing would they down the boss?  No.  So don't do it.

I often think about that when looking at the numbers when all is said and done and looking at the break point, how low can you go.  There is a reason I have not gone into the LFR on some of my other damage dealers like my mage, lock and rogue.  Sure, they can all pull over 100K, but I am not really great at them.  But if everyone would perform like I did, we would get it done. 

So honestly, I should queue up right?  The problem is, others do not ask themselves that question.  So me thinking we would get it done if everyone does just the same I do gets screwed over by the fact they will not think before joining and my "should be" middle of the pack performance would put me squarely in the top performers, and if I am a top performer on one of those characters, we are in real danger of wiping, multiple times.

It should not be that way, it should not be a case of me having to ask myself "how many can I carry".  It should be a case of what if everyone did the exact same as me but because they don't, it effects my ability to play my characters because I can not go in with them because I can not carry anyone on them because I am not good enough to do so.  The slackers, the ones not asking themselves that question screw me out of being able to play in a decent group because they refuse to be decent themselves and ask themselves that one simple question.

They will come in and go AFK and never ask themselves, if everyone goes AFK can we still down this boss?

They will ignore mechanics and think "someone else will stand in the swirl" and never consider what if everyone else thinks "someone else will stand in the swirl" and then we wipe because no one stood in the swirl because everyone acted like the person who deemed it unnecessary to stand in it.

I think if everyone was a little more honest with their personal assessments and took a little personal responsibility and always asked themselves my question before entering the queue we would have more good groups and fewer 20 hours over 5 days groups.

I know it could never happen, because as I have said before, people love to think they are better than they really are so most would never admit "I'm just not that good" like I freely do when talking about my rogue for example.  People love to believe they are special and they do not need to do certain things and others will do it for them, they will cover them, so they think, its okay.  So there is no way we would ever get groups that are capable of doing content because we will always run in to those people with such over valued self worth but what if, just what if, everyone always asked themselves that one question.

"If everyone performed at the same level I am performing would we down the boss?"

If the answer is no, don't queue up.

I would like to think that being I know the fights before I enter.  I have read them, seen them, and in this case done them in flex before I ever step into LFR.  I have my gear gemmed, I have my gear enchanted, I am reforged to hit cap and stat priority.  I try my best, I do not ignore mechanics, even if I believe you could ignore something, because it would be the wrong thing to do so.  I perform my role adequately, even more so for the content we are talking about.

So yes, I believe if everyone played like me an LFR run would always be nice and smooth.

With that said, I am "allowed" to run LFR.

If everyone asked themselves that question and those that said no did not queue up, what a wonderful game this would be.   I wish there were a way to open their eyes, to tell that 30K DPS that just complained about the wipe, "what if everyone were doing the exact same you where, would you ever get it down even with 10 stacks?"  No sir, you would not, so you should not be here.  If a group filled with "you" can not down the boss, "you" should not be there.  Simple as that.

6 comments:

  1. Good lord.

    I have a project for you.

    Put yourself in the shoes of a non-raiding player going into LFR for the first time. Or the third time. Or the 100th time.

    So, turn off Recount and Skada. You're not aware they exist.

    Remove DBM.

    Hell, just disable all add-ons in the add-on screen, go full stock UI.

    If you have any viable gear that doesn't have gems or enchants, run them for a more authentic experience. Don't reforge, you talked to that dude once and got confused and never went back.

    Run LFR. Have success or have failure or more likely, somewhere in between. Your run won't significantly change because you aren't running add-ons, you're just a small piece of an LFR group, the success or failure of the group rarely comes down to one person.

    After the run, even with all of your raid experience, try to determine who you were carrying. Be specific... which tanks, which healers, which dps. It won't be easy, if you weren't specifically watching for it during the fights you may not even be able to do it.

    Then try to figure out how you'd even realize you were being carried if you didn't already have a ton of raid (and especially RL) experience. You have no idea what your dps is, or necessarily that the concept of a "dps number" even exists. All you know is whether bosses died or not and whether you were dying before other people. You might notice that tanks (those toons the bosses usually smack around) die more than others, maybe even more than you. You have no idea why. You definitely don't know what was killing them.

    Would it be nice if everyone went into LFR being experienced raiders with a full set of add-ons and enough self-awareness to recognize themselves as a drag and make decisions based on that? Sure. But it's not realistic for LFR. Flex? Sure. LFR? No.

    Self-censoring yourself from LFR on 100K+ toons because you aren't optimal on them is just beyond nuts.

    "I would like to think that being I know the fights before I enter. I have read them, seen them, and in this case done them in flex before I ever step into LFR. I have my gear gemmed, I have my gear enchanted, I am reforged to hit cap and stat priority. I try my best, I do not ignore mechanics, even if I believe you could ignore something, because it would be the wrong thing to do so. I perform my role adequately, even more so for the content we are talking about."

    That right there would be a perfectly acceptable credo for a NORMAL raider. Hell, that'd more than suffice for a HEROIC raider (I've been one and my memory from those days is still pretty good). It'd be overkill as a requirement for Flex. It isn't even on the same PLANET as a requirement for LFR.

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    1. You make valid points about someone that does not know these things. However, the bottom line is that when you join in for random group content it is your job to at least understand, at bare minimum, what your role in that content is supposed to be.

      So while you can go in ungemmed, unenchanted, without addons, etc. You should still, at the absolute least, know how to play your class.

      I would even go so far as to say you should also know the fights and the mechanics before you step into a random group run. It is only respectful of the other human beings whos time it is you are about to potentially waste.

      I was not "born" a raider. I did not instal WoW with DBMs and recount, and omen, and all those other goddies in it. I did not know what a gem slot was, what goes in it, what my stat priority was, heck I did not even know what gear I should be wearing most of the time.

      Thing was, when I was solo that was fine. When I wanted to to group content, that was not. I went online and looked things up. Even read about the dungeons I would see people posting about mostly in trade (you needed to hand assemble groups back then) and I got a basic, even if minimal, understanding of what to expect of them.

      Then after reading up on my rotation, my right gear, the dungeons I had the intention of doing, I sat in trade and responded to people looking for a DPS. I whispered "I have never done it but I looked up the fights on throtbot" and I either got sent an invite or was told they wanted someone with experience.

      Eventually I got into a group and finished the dungeon, next time I could whisper "know fights". In time I got to know people and they started to bring me along and explain the fights, making it a lot easier of course. Soon I did all the dungeons and all the fights and I started to get better as a player.

      What is stopping everyone else in the game from doing that?

      I did not do it for them, I did it for me. I wanted to do the best I could. I wanted to contribute. I wanted to get into a group and see that group be a success.

      I am not a great player, sometimes I am not even a good player, but I always try to do the best I can do.

      Anyone, I repeat, anyone that wants to do random content with random people should show some self respect and actually try to contribute, to assist in their own chance of success, instead of thinking they are some special snowflake and everyone else should do all the work for them.

      "That right there would be a perfectly acceptable credo for a NORMAL raider."

      Absolutely not, the bare minimum for a normal raider maybe, but that is the acceptable credo for anyone that wants to do random content.

      I was not a raider when I first joined those dungeon pugs. I had no intention of becoming a raider at that time. I was just a person playing a game and trying to do the best I can do at it.

      What exactly is wrong with that? And more importantly, why is it such a problem or issue to ask that people do at least have some self respect and try to do their best too?

      I am no one special, never have been and never claimed to be such. If I can "try" others can as well. Simple as that.

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  2. Have you noticed there is a Character Audit feature on the WoW Armory pages? It shows up if you view a character in Advanced mode.

    They should have this in game and you should have to pass it to queue for LFR.

    If you don't pass it, then you have to have Silver Proving Grounds for the role you are queuing for.

    If you don't have either of those, you should have to have +X extra iLvLs to queue.

    Et cetera.

    These are things that Blizzard can actually check. I wish they could check your actual skill, but these kinds of checks would at least be an improvement.

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    1. Yeah, they added that some time ago. I like it, it has actually helped me notice some things I forgot on alts.

      You are right however, something like that needs to be in game. It would be a great way for people to see what needs to be addressed.

      I am not sure if you should need to pass it however. My baby hunter is not gemmed, not enchanted, and still pulling 80K. I am not even able to get into SoO with it yet and 80K is more than 80% of the people in SoO.

      The reason I am not gemming and enchanting? Because I am still gearing up. Anything 528 or better will get done up, anything less is a waste of materials and gold.

      So yes, while I agree that there should be a character audit, I do not believe it should be a gate. If my hunter in 490 gear with nothing done can beat most hunters in LFR with 520 gear and everything done up, it is not about passing an audit, it is about people being really bad at their class. No audit is going to help them with being bad. Only they can help themselves get better.

      Now, checking actual skill, I would love to see that done. But I have no clue how it could be done. I doubt anyone could come up with one for that.

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  3. We are talking about LFR? the thing that you state is tuned too high. LFR is not about getting Raiding gear it is supposed to be a taster for Raiding.

    If newbies need to go through the mill and out the other side just so that they have the right gems, enchants and addons, then it is Blizzard that are failing.

    It is not our responsibility to check every character in the LFR, Blizzard should have more in game help. Some addons should be standard on the UI, you should be reminded to fill that empty gem slot, reminded that you can buy a belt buckle which comes with another slot.

    LFR is currently pitched to the wrong crowd, if they cannot see this, then GC and his cohorts need to create level 90's on different Realms and see what is going on. I would love to do a LFR in my lunch like GC says is possible.

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    1. I always say that LFR is too hard for the masses. I believe if people think it should be face roll it needs to be made face roll for the "average" player. Not me, not you. They made it face roll for the people that know how to play. That does not help people that do not know how to play.

      All it does is make them queue up until they get a group that can carry them. That is how the LFR works now. Keep going until you get carried.

      Lower the difficulty to tank and spank level, let people get quick and easy gear and a taste for large group content, and then let a real raid team in flex or normal teach them the little things like gems, addons, etc.

      Even the most dreadful of player with no gems and no addons and no experience should be capable of doing the LFR, and if they asked themselves my question, they would not be able to. That is the problem with the LFR.

      I too would love for the LFR to be lunch break content. But the queue time alone is longer than my lunch break.

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