Alone together in Molten Core
by Jennie Lees 
Jul 29th 2006 at 10:00AM
Teamwork! Discipline! Socialising! Fun! The world of hardcore raiding, for me, defies description by any of these words -- although a few months ago, before I'd ventured outside a five-man group, I would have imagined it to contain all of the above.A recent Molten Core raid was a fine example of why endgame raiding can be one of the most boring things to do in WoW. I was assigned a role at the start of the raid (one which I generally don't like, but the raid composition was such that I was needed for it). For the next few hours I then constantly played whack-a-mole with health bars, with the frightfully exciting diversions of the odd combat rez or innervate.
Any outside observer would have been surprised to know I was playing with other people. The various raid chat channels were quiet, devoid of any backtalk to alleviate the monotony of healing. I felt like I was alone, and could have been surrounded by NPCs for the most part without noticing a difference.
Despite the quiet efficiency with which this raid sliced through every monster in sight -- despite the epic items that dropped, and the promise of more to come -- I spent the whole time wishing I was with my regular raid group, who wipe hilariously then pick themselves up to laugh about it, than sit stern-faced for hours clicking like a maniac. I'll take the "casual" style of raiding any day, thanks.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Zach Jul 29th 2006 11:01AM
Seems like its a problem with your guild, and not with the structure of hardcore raiding. I love raiding equally for the loot and for hanging out with my guild and socializing. Find a guild with better, more social personalities and you'd like it 100 times more.
Tryst Jul 29th 2006 11:05AM
I think it depends on your mood. Some days I just want to just up and get the phat lewts. Some days I'm down for hilarity. But, overall, when you know the bosses as well as your group seemed to, there should be plenty of chatter on vent. If we're doing fine on bosses we know well, our RL's let us do whatever. But the first boss we get to that is new or is still pwning us, then it's clear vent and down to business. Of course, the hilarity usually resumes when we're running back from the graveyard.....
Ollej (Kargath) Jul 29th 2006 11:59AM
Personally, I too, prefer the casual raiding. I've recently repecced my pally to holy for the endgame raids, which I have barely done any. But it is fun to heal, but I don't like the seriousness of hardcore raids. I don't like a wipe being "someone's fault" let alone mine.
I do prefer to just see how it goes and if it goes bad, we try another day.
Spencer Callaghan Jul 29th 2006 12:09PM
Usually my MC raids are the other way around. It's hard to get people to stop goofing off long enough to do anything. LOL!
Oh and Vent is the bane of my existance, hearing people eat and babies cry, can get rather annoying.
Dagget Jul 29th 2006 12:22PM
Seems like the people you play with are simply boaring people. You, also sound like someone I wouldnt wait to play this game with, author of the article.
Remember the world in which you live and play, is what YOU make of it.
I suggest you stop inviting stale, boaring, and socially defective people to your guild, or your stay in WOW endgame will be a short one.
In other worlds, stop your bitching and heal. When your not healing, have fun.
spicytuna.net Jul 29th 2006 2:43PM
A reason why end game WoW is boring as s**t. We've got AQ on farm status (up to emps) and tearing through Naxx right now.
40 man raids eventually become so tedious that you just want to slit your wrists.
If only WoW end game could be like WoW 1-60. I mean 1-60 is actually so fun I'd rather play an alt than raid.
Sprawl Jul 30th 2006 12:54AM
We laugh and cry all through the entire run while on Teamspeak yet we don't wipe once. Sure we are serious and concentrating when it comes to the new encounters in Naxx, but if dying repeatedly and going home empty handed is your ideal of casual... I'll pass.
Tigraine Jul 30th 2006 3:15PM
I guess it is what you make out of it.
I as a Raidleader of a Raidgroup who stopped farming MC 3 Months ago have foun out that MC can be very mutch entertaining now that we went back one time just for fun.
After 3 months of abscense running through there like you would normally do through Scholo, hacking down everything without really having to focus on it was fun. After a long an exhaustive week in Naxx I love things like MC and BWL where you can just lie back and relax.
But: Never do that in bad mood. It's fucking awful if you don't want to be raiding right that moment. While leveling my Alt (I really enjoyed it very mutch) I wasn't able to stand these long farm-runs .. where you were basically just lying in front of a computer.
Then .. it get's awful .. you start thinking of what you could have done better.. the jokes on Teamspeak and Chat aren't interesting any more.. neither fun .. you just want your DKP for that run and go off..
And.. hell yea.. I love dying all the time.
As in a recent blog-post here.. I don't want to run through BWL all the time, there's no challenge in that.. I don't need every single drop from any single instance in that game.. no.. Hell .. I don't have any space left on my bank for more epics I will never wear again. For my part, I want to go as long into an instance as there is something still in there that can help you improve the overall raid.. Some elementium bulwarks and some decent stuff helps a raid.. But doing an instance as long as any mage has his Full T2 and every Rogue has got these damn Shadow Flame boots.. no.. sorry.. there is no point in this.. You can do Naxx encounters without having 8/8 T2 on any of your guys (besides that I think the Rogue T2 is crap).. so there is no point to go there till you get sick of it.
New encounters are what makes the game interesting..
Ok .. dying for 8 hours straight is somehow uncool .. but I like it better than farming myself through MC and BWL for 8 long hours where I know everything.
Taking down new bosses is what gives you that feeling .. man .. we did it..
Killing a boss for the 10th time just came to that .. "Damn.. crap loot again" ..
ok .. long post.. hope someone got my point
greetings Tigraine
Jaidius Jul 30th 2006 5:47PM
My guild is one of the bigger and in my opinion the best one on our server. We've had MC and BWL on farm status for quite some time now, but we have ALWAYS made sure that we have fun while we are raiding. Judging by our gear and how well we play together you might think that we are nothing but a hardcore gamer guild, but take a listen to our Teamspeak chatter for a while and you will find out how wrong you are. Sure when the moment of need arises, we buckle down and "bring our A-game" as is often reminded for us to do by our fearless leader, but we still have our times to joke around and form some of the best friendships we've ever had.
I think the thing that helps us the most is that if we mess up, or repeately wipe on a boss that we are learning or even those that we should know in our sleep by now, our leader doesn't blow off the handle and yell his head off. He is very calm and collected, but he will let the person who wiped us know and tell him/her what they need to do to avoid this situation in the next pull.
We have some of the most decicated players in our guild as well. People who spend hours watching videos or doing research on tactics for bosses for when we encounter them. Also there are our own "farmers" who will spend hours going out and farming herbs for pots and flasks or materials for the much needed resist gear in some of the fights. All these people add to our "casual" endgame raiding guild and the combination all of them and the ones who are there every raid to pwn the instance and laugh about it when we wipe make up what I feel is the best "hardcore/casual" guild out there.
Domenico Jul 31st 2006 12:19PM
I'm really surprised at the hate coming through on a lot of these commments. I for one know exactly what you mean. While I don't raid, I'm well into the five and ten man content and when it goes like clockwork it can be very boring and lonely. I had a crazy Baron run where we wiped 4 times on the way in and then twice on the Baron. It was absolutely crazy and a little frustrating at times, but it's those times when people stop to chat a little and be social. We kicked the snot out of Rivendare on the third try, and got some nice drops. We all chatted some more then added each other to friends lists. This was a couple of months ago and I still party with some of those people on a regular basis. Kind of cool and much more rewarding than the runs where we were done in an hour and everything went perfectly.
-Domenico
Human Priest 60
Durotan
Kaylos Jul 31st 2006 1:06PM
Sounds like you went on a MC with the rest of the raid being vent and you weren't. A good friend of mine that I followed to Cho'gall was on a MAC and couldn;t get any form of vent to work. MC runs were very boring for him cause very few people used raid chat for anything. Once he got vent, he couldn't believe the difference. And we were glad too, cause is a great guy and we were missing out with him not on vent.
swiftlydead Jul 31st 2006 1:19PM
ventrillo ftw
Jim Gaynor Jul 31st 2006 2:02PM
Amen. Especially in MC (where the fights are mostly tank/dps/heal) and especially for healers. Healers are often the first blamed when things go wrong. It seems so obvious, after all: Someone dies, must be the fault of the healer who didn't heal him. Preventing death is the job of the healer, right?
But...
Did other non-healing members of raid take time to get fire resist gear? Oh, you think farming BRD or doing rep grinds is too boring? Try playing healer whack-a-mole for 5 hours. Are the tanks properly protection specced? Oh, you can't do any damage when you're prot specced? Tell that to the resto druids and healadins, and see if you get an ounce of pity. And lets not forget the semi-squishy rogues and hunters who are fighting each other to be tops on the damage meters, regardless of how many times they pull aggro from the tanks.
So, Jennie, when it comes to raiding - MC as a Healer really is the worst. Sorry to hear you had a boring experience.
warforge Aug 1st 2006 7:13PM
Heh Tigraine i recall you have your own "pain in the ass" people in your guild. I remeber on LJ the issues we talked about.
Ofcourse I took your side but thats besides the point.
Its not all fluffy nice nice goody fun^^ and I know you have had your down moments with the guild you are in.
Later Tiggy