Teaching & Learning in LFD

The looking for dungeon system has been around for a while now and while the plus of not having to spam trade for 3 hours to find a group is fantastic, I can gather while waiting, the minus of people being so rude and disrespectful has gotten out of hand.

I've learned a few things from the looking for dungeon system, even more so while leveling.

1) Everyone killed LK on heroic before the buff.  On their main of course.
2) No matter what class you are they have an 80 of that class that can solo the LK if they had to.
3) Everyone is a bad.  Except them of course.

I have seen my fair share of complete idiots in LFD.  Calling them idiot is actually a complement really.  These people are so stupid they should lose their right to procreate.  That last thing we need in this world are more stupid people and stupid people have stupid babies.  These people really need to be completely removed from the gene pool.  Yes, I have seen people that bad but if you use the LFD tool I am sure you have also ran into a few of them as well.

Everyone makes mistakes.  One mistake does not mean the person is an idiot however.  World class players even make mistakes.  It happens to us all.  Just because someone made a mistake does not mean instant kick.  Learn some restraint when using the kick command.

Now we are venturing into new content and we are all noobs again.  We are all going to be learning and making mistakes.  If someone does something wrong and you tell them, not yell at them or insult them about it but tell them, then they can get better.

When you are in a dungeon and the DK tank is in frost presence let them know that blood is for tanking.  If a DPS is always on the wrong target tell them that being on the same target as the tank will help a lot.  If the healer is trying to DPS while healing and people are dying ask them just to heal because the damage dealer that died would do more damage then their damage is so keeping the damage dealer alive is more important then them helping with doing damage.

Tell them the little mistakes they made in a nice way.  Not in a rude, I am better then you and was a kingslayer before the buff sort of way.  All too often people make a mistake and are instantly dismissed as a bad player when it fact they just made a mistake.  Even if it was a stupid mistake that they know better and should not have made it does not mean they are a bad player.

For example, I am not a great healer by any means but I know not to get spells locked on a fight when I know it is coming.  The weekly was Ignis and I got spell locked and we ended up wiping because of it.  Oops.  I made a mistake.  Shit happens.  I owned up to it and said I made a mistake and then made a wrong choice on who to heal when I was unlocked.  It happens to all of us from time to time and believe it or not it happens more often on less challenging content.

Yes, you heard that right.  A group is a lot more likely to wipe in Naxx over a stupid mistake then in ICC.  Because in ICC they know it is current content and even if it is boring doing it week after week they know things can turn bad quickly.  In Naxx they know they over gear it so much that they can compensate for some mistakes.  So they are less likely to make efforts to avoid it.  This causes disasters.  It does not mean they are bad.

That is the main reason for wipes in low level dungeons.  You are used to tanking on your ICC 25 geared tank so you run in BRD and quickly gather up 12-15 mobs and die.  Oops, this is not a heroic and I am not over gearing it by a huge margin.  Tell the tank that.  Please try not to pull like we are in a heroic.  I am not overgeared and neither are you.

Use your upcoming time in dungeons, where we will all be learning, to teach as well.  Do not kick instantly because someone screwed up.  Maybe you have done the Stonecore 10 times already but it might be this persons first time.  Talk to them.  It is not against the law.

Maybe your learning curve is a little better then theirs.  I know it usually takes me one run through to get a good feel for a place.  By the fifth time through I could probably do it in my sleep.  Some people might need 5 times just to feel comfortable.

Also, different people do things well (and bad) at a different rate.  Some fights I love to DPS and hate to tank.  Some fights I love to heal but hate to DPS.  You get the idea and I am sure you have a few like that too.  Maybe they are just not comfortable with a fight and thus don't do as well on it. 

Help your fellow players out instead of insulting them or kicking them.  Everyone says, me included, that 90% of the player base is bad.  That might very well be true but 50% of them could and would probably learn if people put the same effort into explaining something as they do into insulting them.

Bad players could very well be players that just do not know yet or are just not comfortable with something.  It does not mean they are really bad.  Also, making rude remarks for no reason is completely uncalled for.

One time, right after my Shaman hit 80, I went into a random and got PoS.  On the Ick fight someone said, who do you think is going to die first from the nova and another said, the Shaman.  Personally, at that point, I should have just left the group.  I see no reason to play with scum bag pieces of shit like that.  I didn't leave, I stayed, I didn't die, they both did. I never said a word about their insult, I never said a word about them dying.  I live by the rule my mother taught me as a child when it comes to situations like that, if you have nothing nice to say then say nothing.

You know what however?  I'll make you a bet neither of those people ever said that again before the pull and I'll also be willing to beat neither of them ever died from it again.  Sometimes you have to fail to realize what you did wrong.

I knew about it because I tanked that before and I figured I could take it and did not move and nearly died.  That is how I learned.  After then, when I go in there with a melee I remember how that almost took out my tank and I always avoid it.

We are going to have to learn new dungeons and new mechanics soon.  While we are learning lets all try and take the time to teach as well.  Do not kick people that are learning or do not know.  Teach them.

If you want to kick people there is a short list of people you should kick.

1) Anyone who is disconnected for more then 5 minutes.
2) Anyone that is rude and insulting.  People like that bring nothing to the group.
3) Anyone that makes the same mistake over and over.

If everyone gets into this habit then we should have groups that are made up of people that know what they are doing or are at least are willing to learn.  The idiots that insult and the idiots that don't learn will get kicked so much they will stop coming back and sooner or later, while we might have longer waits, we will be running dungeons with fewer bad players and have turned a few previously bad players into at least competent ones.

Learn the new dungeons and please take the time to teach them to others as well instead of instantly kicking them.