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.