A Baby Bear in the Deadmines.

When I rolled a druid I let it sit there for a while.  It was something I made for those times when I got bored and needed something to do.  When the looking for dungeon thing came out it made me love the idea of leveling my druid again so I went back to it with all sorts of dreams that it would be fantastic.

I wanted my druid to be a bear and a tree.  I already have an end game DPS so I wanted to experience the other end of the world.  Not to mention that I think it would make me a better DPS if I better understood what being a tank was like and what being a healer was like.

So I entered the LFD world with bright eyes and after my first adventure I will leave you with one bit of advice.  Never ever use the LFD system under level 80.


Now we all have horror stories at 80 but compared to lower level dungeons they are nothing.  Even the worst horror story from a LFD, which I will surely share as a good grumpy elf would, can not hold a candle to doing a dungeon with a group of half wits and morons that do dungeons at level 20.

My first ever low level dungeon attempt happened when I was around 20.  In bear form with heirloom gear I am like a god when it comes to tanking.  It is really easy for me to do my job even when I do not have a lot of skills to work with.  However, for me to do my job it helps to have a even reasonably competent supporting cast.  Sadly this is warcraft, so there is no such thing as that 99% of the time.

I enter Deamines and they are already through most of the dungeon.  The tank is gone and I am being called in to replace the tank.  At 80 this is something to worry about but I figured, these are low level new player.  Maybe the tank did not know what they were getting into and had to leave do to time.

I was wrong.  It happens... a lot it seems.

Trash had started to respawn so I told them it might take me a while.  I was kind of hoping they would come and assist me but that would have been to much to ask.  So I fight my way thought mobs and start getting close to them.  When they see me with 6 mobs on me they decide to come help.  To little to late.  I died shortly after they came.

At least the trash was clear now and the priest was kind enough to revive me after looking at me for a good 5 or 6 minutes wondering why I was not moving.  I actually needed to tell the priest I was dead.  Bad sign there.

During that time a few more mobs decided to respawn, not many, just 2 or three.  The hunter, warlock and rogue go off to take care of them and I get my revive.  2 of them die but they take out the respawns.  At this point the priest is OOM and I am sitting eating and drinking.  Being I am ready first I revive the 2 dead players and sit to drink again.  Remember having to drink all the time back then?

The priest sees me drinking and so nicely says, "you should get better water."  To which I respond.  "I use whatever drops, I am a bear, I rarely need mana anyway so I do not stock up.  I always have something on me."

I thought that was perfectly reasonable being when I solo I never have mana issues. Not to mention the fact that I am the tank, I am a bear, I am not exactly using my mana.  Even if I did use some mana it regenerates fast enough that by the time I need mana again I am full.  But I leave it at that.  Even if the priest calls me a noob.

So now we are all together, all full force and all ready to go.  I figure they got this far so they should know their roles by this point.  We do have one person labeled tank one labeled healer and three labeled damage.  So being they do not just label us these for no reason they have to have some sort of a clue.

I was wrong. It happens... see, I told you I am wrong often.

I go to run up to a pack and wrangle a few others in being I know they will join us.  My DPS comes flying up behind me and starts hitting all the ones around me.  Not the ones on me mind you, but the ones around me.  Maybe so they can get more?  Okay, I can handle more then a few.  What it turns out to is a grand melee right on top on my big bear butt.  Everyone hitting everything with no rhyme or reason.  The healer did not throw one heal on anyone but amazingly we survive.  I figure I will take a minute to try and explain how this is supposed to work.  Everyone was complaining how hard that pull went.  I figured that if I told them how to do it, then it would go nice and smooth on the next one.

I was wrong.  It happens... more often then I would like.

As I start to explain to let me go in first and grab a few guy to bring back so we can kill those few guys, the hunter and the warlock go charging in.  At least the rogue and priest didn't go running in too.  I think they were to busy doing something else because they sure as hell were not playing warcraft it seemed.

The hunter and warlock are screaming for help because they went to far and there are like 7 mobs on them.  I, of course, go and save them.  I should have let them die.  The priest comes running up behind and starts healing.  I take that as a good sign, at least they stopped wanding everything.  This might be getting better.

I was wrong.  It happens... I just wish it didn't.

Next pack goes almost nicely.  I attack a pack, they wait a second before going off on them and they stay at range.  All but the rogue, which has to come close and it seems he realized that finally too.  He looks as if he is trying to stab me however, wailing away at the mobs from inside my bloated bear body.  When he complains that he is missing to often I try and tell him to move behind them and attack, that way he will not miss.  Of course he tells me to shut up, I don't know anything.  That if he moves behind them they will just turn around and face him.  I say, no they won't they will face me, I am the tank.  His response to that is classic I think. "How they hell would they know you are the tank, they will go after me because I am a higher level and I am better then you."  So over all, while a little smoother, it is not really getting better.

I was wrong.  It happens... yet again.

So more of this crap happens as we work the way to the final boss.  Why I stayed I can still not tell you.  Maybe I like the punishment.  Maybe I look for things to make me grumpy.  Let me mention that the hunters pet has been dying every single pull even thought the healer is healing the hell out of him.  Oh, by the way, the healer has still not healed me once this whole time.  I must have forgot to mention that.  I keep healing myself after every pull.  I guess the healer was right.  I did need better water because I need to use my mana a lot.

I was wrong.  It happens... every tank should know they should be healing themselves.

So the final pull comes, the boss and his cronies.  I run in, drag them out a little and look around to find that I am totally alone.  Where the hell is everyone?  The hunter and the warlock went off on their own to find some more mobs.  Don't ask me where they found them, but they did.  I say in party, come and help with the boss.  They both say, you can handle him, we will get the others.  What others?  This is the end of the instance.  Lets just kill this guy.  I think that, but I do not say it.  The hunter gets overwhelmed and the healer is healing the crap out of him and his pet.  He start running toward me with all these mobs on him yelling, heal me, heal me.  I did not say anything, I am tanking, and apparently fighting the boss alone.  I can't pop out to heal you because you are an idiot.  He dies near me with his new friends.  I pick them all up.

Now it is me, about 6 or 7 mobs, boss included and the rogue is totally AWOL.  I have no clue where he is.  The healer is now trying to save the warlock, who seems to be keeping himself alive without the priests help at all.  I am forced to pop out of bear to heal myself because the healer does not think I am worth healing I guess.  At the moment I pop out to heal the rogue appears and does he most useful work of the instance.  He dies... instantly.  Where he was I have no clue, how he did it I have no clue, but when I popped out to heal he took all aggro.

I was wrong.  It happens.... apparently being he was a higher level they must have thought he was the tank.

After getting myself healed I see the warlock heading back with another 4 mobs in tow.  I run toward him, after grabbing the mobs back into a nice little pack from their killing of the rogue, and I grab all the locks packs as well. It takes a while but I mow them all down in time.  I had to pop out once more to heal but planned it at a good time that it did not hurt so much to do it.  When the little deadmines achievement pops up I am so excited.  Not to get the achievement but to finally be done with this.

I ask the priest, as nicely as I could, why where you not healing me.  To which the priest responds.  You were trying to get them all to attack you, if you want to be a hero and let everyone attack you instead of all of us like it is supposed to be then you can die.  I am not going to heal someone that makes themselves get hit on purpose.  I left the dungeon.  Did not say a word.  I would have thought that even common sense would have won out at some point.

I was wrong.  It happens...  I should have never tried to tank a low level dungeon.