Hey! I needed that!
by Mike Schramm 
Jun 22nd 2007 at 12:21PM
Nikol of WoW Ladies posts about something I shouldn't get so worked up about, but often do anyway-- higher level characters farming mobs that lower levels need for quests or rep.Now, Nikol is actually on the opposite side of the equation from the one I remember being on more. She was wondering if there is a certain etiquette when she goes to farm Timbermaw rep (as a level 68) and starts competing for mobs with level 58s. Which is actually very nice of her, because usually I'm in the other situation: I'm playing a lowbie alt and I have to go kill 50 pigs to get their spleens. Suddenly, a level 70 mage roars through the area, AoEing every pig he sees, rounding them all up in a pile so he can level up his skinning. A few seconds later, I'm left with nothing to farm, and he's standing over a pile of piggies, skinning away and humming to himself. For some reason, that makes me just see red. There are lots of other places he can farm skinning, so why does he feel the need to gank my quest mobs? It makes me seethe just thinking about it!
Unfortunately, as Nikol finds out, there is no set etiquette-- outside of a group, it literally is a free-for-all. If you're in my place, your only real option is to just find another quest to work on while all the mobs respawn, or poke around to see if he missed any. And to tell the truth, I shouldn't get so angry anyway-- it could be that the mage didn't realize I needed those pigs, and in fact, there is probably a whole other cache of pigs just over the hill that I haven't found yet.
But for some reason it just drives me nuts. Have you been on either side of this situation? And how have you handled it?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Economy
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Nails Jun 22nd 2007 12:29PM
mobs respawn. get over it.
and what mages are skinning? lol
gsp8181 Jun 22nd 2007 12:34PM
@1 skinning makes good money and mobs take time to respawn
Juliah Jun 22nd 2007 12:41PM
Hey, I sympathize. I know some of them are doing it to grind faction -- maybe they want the Timbermaw's recipes, for example -- but it is definitely frustrating when you're trying to level.
Rich Jun 22nd 2007 12:41PM
If I am farming an area with my high level characters and I see a person in the area needing them for a quest then I invite them. If its an alliance looking for the mobs for his quests, well they just need to kill them faster then I can.
I've actually had a lot of fun farming Timbermaw rep on my level 70. I didn't do the rep farming because there was really nothing that I wanted to needed at the time (No engineering rep plans). So i was farming in Felwood and there was a level 57 there farming rep. I invited him and used him as bait. He'd aggro half the area, my VW would tank them and then I'd SoC the living hell out of them. Pretty soon, 2 more of his guildmates came along and another person joined. They were raking up Timbermaw rep like mad and we all were having a blast in party chat.
rory hinnen Jun 22nd 2007 12:59PM
I was out in Hinterlands somewhere, and I needed to kill trolls for a quest. When I get up to the mobs, I see there's a priest a couple of levels below me, and I figure he's pulling a quest in the area too. I offer to group, but he declines very quickly (I should have said something first, but I didn't have long to play - that was rude, I know).
Okay, says I, and I start killing them trolls. After a few minutes of competing with this guys for mobs, he get's very annoyed, and telling me I should be farming somewhere else.
I shrug, I figured I made the offer, and I get ganked by some little mob that spawned behind me while I was listening to the priest tell me off.
So, now I'm dead, and the priest and I are saying rude things to one another. I get back to the site, res, and assist the priest, on the rest of his mobs all the while he's cussing at me.
Finally he's done and he rolls off and I finish up my quest as well.
So, my point is don't assume they're farming just to annoy you just because they're higher level. They're probably trying to level _something_ just like you.
Rihlsul Jun 22nd 2007 2:05PM
I'm with #4. I try to collaborate. It IS an MMO. I try polite first, then get rude if needed. For example, I'll be working on the same quest mobs as an Alliance person. I might point at a nearby mob and then nod at the person and go work on another nearby critter. Often times on my realm, the person gets it and we do OK splitting things down the middle. Can be handy when those spontaneous cooperations occur, because they might grab adds for me or vice versa.
Jess Jun 22nd 2007 1:06PM
"If you're in my place, your only real option is to just find another quest to work on while all the mobs respawn, or poke around to see if . "
If what?
Dracula Jones Jun 22nd 2007 1:07PM
The worst is when you're working on a quest, killing mobs, and a level 70 storms in with a shitty twink and kills everything. And then, just to kick sand in your face, they one-shot any mob you manage to tag, getting you a whopping 4xp on your own kill. I don't know if they think they're helping you, in which case they're dumb, or if they're just being assholes. All you can do is wait for them to leave.
Up Jun 22nd 2007 1:10PM
I was trying to do the Cyclonian quest line for my warrior. My friend and I were farming the charms from the elementals in Arathi and there was another warrior/hunter doing the same quest. Needless to say we were competing for the same mobs.
Turned into quite the shouting match. They told us to sit and wait for them to finish...needless to say I don't like being told to do anything. The 50th level huntard helping the other warrior kept spamming my mid-30th level warrior with duel requests...
I did get a certain amount of glee knowing that I delayed them (just because they were being jerks).
Coherent Jun 22nd 2007 1:17PM
If you're higher level than someone else who's killing the same mobs, the lowbie ALWAYS gets priority. The high level guy has to leave, or at least always make sure not to kill the mobs around the lowbie.
This is common sense stuff, like "Pedestrians always have the right of way." If you don't respect other people and show courtesy to them, you have NO RIGHT TO EXPECT IT YOURSELF, EVER.
I have several high level characters. I ALWAYS respect the needs of appropriate-level characters when I'm playing in a low level zone.
Argent Jun 22nd 2007 1:21PM
@9:
read what #1 said. seriously.
rory hinnen Jun 22nd 2007 1:42PM
@9:
What?
I love the use of absolutes. Makes things so clear.
Rob Jun 22nd 2007 1:45PM
Worse yet when the highbe is of the opposite faction, sees you farming something, and kills you just for fun, then sits around, camping your corpse. Seems i'm running into alot of horde players who just love to run into a town or whatever, killing whoever they see, and run off. Should we report these people to the GM? I feel they are doing the game a huge disservice; eventually people will get frustrated and stop playing WoW because of things like this.
Tinwhisker Jun 22nd 2007 1:49PM
a) Higher level characters have to farm lower levels mobs for a lot of different reasons.
b) There are exactly zero mobs that are not involved in some sort of quest.
Put these two statements together and it's easy to see why these situations occur.
If you're the lowbie and your quest mobs are being eliminated, you pulled the short straw today. Take heart that the mobs will respawn and the higher level character isn't singling you out and it's not personal.
If you're the higher level character, try to farm the more vacant areas if you can, there are plenty around and at level 70, travel time is a joke to you.
Grouping is nice but not always feesible.
Sam Jun 22nd 2007 1:58PM
If I'm the offending 70, I respond well to being asked nicely. If ever a lowbie tells me they are questing, or that I'm hurting their efforts in a nice way, I offer to help them out or I just leave them alone.
Being bitched at by a lowbie who hasn't said a word about his problem to me, is a sure way to make their day miserable. If I have time to go out and level something up, or help a RL lowbie, you know damn well I have time to steal all your mobs until you logoff. I'm just that nice. =D
Oh, and if it's an opposite faction lowbie, I give them a chance to decide how they want it to work. I usually wander away from the lowbie I'm helping and if the other faction player decides to have a go at my friend, he won't live long enough to do anything until he logs. It's especially fun because I have enough accounts to camp him, camp the graveyard, and check to see if he's given up and logged off yet. If he leaves my guy alone, I leave him a share of the mobs, and go about our merry way.
Lori Jun 22nd 2007 2:03PM
I have not encountered this perticular situation often enough to let it bother me. More often, I have been in an area working on a kill X many mobs for a quest when a full group shows up apparently doing the same quest. With 5 to 1 they can tag a lot of mobs and clear a area rather quickly and keep it cleared. And needing 5xX mobs they can hang around for a while with me getting stragglers. I get bothered more about this than any other mob competition in the game. Especially when they ninja mobs I am obviously going to attack.
Also. last Christmas whith the cook cookies quest that required eggs I went to Westfall to get them and found there wasn't a live egg layer in the whole county.
tag Jun 22nd 2007 2:05PM
Seems like a simple solution to me if you can stomach being nice.
If you need the mobs, politely explain that you're questing on them and ask if you can join for the kill count or quest loot they drop. If for some reason a lvl 70 feels the need to loot lower level mobs, the quest items are usually only lootable by those who are on the quest. I've, personally, never been refused using such etiquette. Though I have been simply ignored (but that could be for a plethora of reasons... foremost in my mind being that they don't speak English...).
Being on the farming end of it, it only makes sense to offer to let them group with you. Make it clear what you're there for, and they really have no choice but to let you have it. I usually try to offer and invite unless the lower lvl quester is rude before I even realize they are questing there.
On a side note, I've come across some kind upper lvls who let me flip the scenario. A mage was farming bats for Darkmoon rep (does that sound right?), and I was lucky enough to follow him around skinning them all.
Chances are, if they're that high level, they understand what you're going through (and probably a few times over).
Nyx Jun 22nd 2007 2:39PM
I was slaughtering the green whelps in Swamp of Sorrows to get a [Tiny Emerald Whelpling]; I grouped with numerous people who whispered me and said, "Hey, I'm trying to do this quest and it's hard with you here...". They got the dust - I got the whelp [or would have, if it had dropped while I was grouped].
On the other hand, some very stubborn people decided that they just would not group with me when I offered, no way, no how, and their lives were made a lot harder that day.
So hey, if you are a lowbie, ask if you can group for kills... you'll lose XP, but you'll also lose the frustration of watching a level 70 annihilate your quest mobs.
@8: Been there, done that, several times. Once was with a level 45 undead who decided to /chicken and /spit me as I was helping a low-level warrior friend do this quest, so I stuck around and camped his kills for a while. :D
ErsatzPotato Jun 22nd 2007 2:52PM
"If you're higher level than someone else who's killing the same mobs, the lowbie ALWAYS gets priority."
This assumes the lowbie is a real lowbie, not the alt of some raid 5 70 or a 3000 gold twink. If the player is new, not only stop killing the mobs but ask if they have any questions or need any starter bags. Mentor mode: engage.
If it's a twink, screw 'em.
Spot on Sam: "If I'm the offending 70, I respond well to being asked nicely."
Half hour ago in Shadowmoon I worried I might have ninja-ed a plant so I asked and offered to give it. Then I did accidentally ninja a fire elemental tag. Appologized and cleared out of the farming spot--giving it to the other 70. My Girdle of Ruination can wait if it means not being a jerk.
Timbermaw rep is an odd one. XP is a heck of a lot easier than Timbermaw rep so take the latter if it's offered.
Rampaged through both Felwood and Winterspring with another 70 (he needed rep). We felt bad for the three 50s around. Sent polite tells followed by invites. No or abusive answers. No rep for them that night.
Falconous Jun 22nd 2007 2:54PM
'There are lots of other places he can farm skinning, so why does he feel the need to gank my quest mobs? "
There are also plenty of places to quest. WOW is a big game, if someone is using the mobs you need, I bet you anything you got a couple more quests you can do in your lag until he finished up.