Breakfast topic: Bunk in my trunk
by Amanda Dean 
Jan 17th 2009 at 8:00AM
I'm sure we've all had someone dash ahead of us when we're out gathering to take our mining node, our herb, or even our skin. It's frustrating when it's a member of the opposite faction who does this. On a PvP server, you might kill them, on a PvE server, your only recourse is a /rude. It's more annoying when it's a member of your own faction and you can't even kill them. Ultimately the same is also true of Daily Quests and some quest mobs. Whenever recourse's are scarce, bad blood settles in.I have never seen a quest that brings out the worst in players than "Junk in My Trunk" in Utgarde Pinnacle. For this quest you must gather items laying around the instance. There are not enough for a full group on the quest to pick therm up on the same run, so many people jockey to be the first to get their junk. The first time I ran that instance I was amazed at how greedy people would be. The tank would pull but the healer was off picking up a silver bar or a bauble. You guessed it, wipefest.
It almost seems like a social experiment on Blizzard's part. There are other quests where you have to pick up stuff in instances, but this one seems somehow different. How would you handle a group member who shirks their responsibility in favor of sparklies?
Filed under: Items, Virtual selves, Breakfast Topics, Instances, Quests
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Malkara Jan 17th 2009 8:07AM
if I'm dps I just pick em up while the others as fighting, if I heal I pick em up between fights, deliberatteely standing back. If the tank is too lazy to look at his screen for a moment to see the healer aint there its his fault, not mine.
Sporkstabber Jan 17th 2009 10:07AM
You SUCK.
AyaJulia Jan 17th 2009 12:55PM
I'm not sure why Malkara is being rated down here.
I, as a holy priest, am not at your group's beckon call. I am not your heal-ho. I want loot and quest drops, too, but I have to drink. If the tank continues to pull when I need to get full mana, loot two corpses, and then pick up a couple of quest objects, particularly when I'm the LAST one who needs those quest objects because everyone else took advantage of my mana breaks to get theirs done ahead of me, why am -I- at fault?
In previous MMOs I've played, it was ALWAYS the puller's responsibility to check and make sure the rest of the group is in range and ready before pulling. What makes WoW special or different? What makes healers lower-class in WoW? Why can't I do my quests and loot my corpses? I like all the gold that comes from my greys just as much as you people do.
Specifically referring to this "Junk in my Trunk" quest, when I did this my group disbanded halfway through the run and I had to spend well over an hour in the instance after everyone else left, waiting for the quest items to repop. Eventually I had to call my husband back in so we could duo an abomination and I could get my last item. There was no excuse for having to do that at all, but the quest reward was an upgrade, so I was stuck at the mercy of a mean pug who didn't think my quest was as important as theirs.
In short... no, YOU suck.
sara Jan 17th 2009 8:07AM
Strangely, I've never had this problem... I guess I've never run it with a full group needing them items, and on the occasions where a pull has been made while someone's gathering, either the gather was over fast enough or the person abandoned the gather until after the pull was done. Then on the other hand, I've never pugged UP.
Heenk Jan 17th 2009 8:07AM
There isn't enough for 5 players? I was under the impression there is. At least when I ran UP, everyone completed the quest just fine.
Fallion Jan 17th 2009 1:53PM
I have to agree here, when i ran this with my guildies, there was plenty of loot to go around for this collection quest. No, not all the items were laying in plain sight, you had to move the camera around and look hard sometimes, but we all got everything we needed and no one had to re-run the place.
Has blizzard ninja nerfed the spawn locations since the second week of the Xpac perhaps? I have not heard that this quest was a problem to complete. =(
vexis58 Jan 17th 2009 4:45PM
Same here. Everyone in the group needed the quest, and by the time we were 3/4 of the way through the instance, everyone was done. Do some groups skip that little room near the first boss that has an abomination guarding it? There's a ton of quest items in there.
I don't see why people are complaining. Maybe people are just unobservant? I mean, some of the quest items were a little out of the way, but there ARE enough for five people to do it.
NightSaw Jan 17th 2009 8:09AM
Never been to Utgard Pinnacle but I know how problematic it is.
Question about this: Are the q items white? green? Maybe possible to regulate it through the loot system?
Donaghy Jan 17th 2009 11:48AM
There are no green quest items. Ever. Regardless, the items come from lootable objects on the ground.
Stacy Jan 17th 2009 8:18AM
Psst: There are plenty if you clear it and keep your eyes open. :) the first time i ever stepped foot in there, I was with four people who had never done the quest. We *all* finished it by the time we were out.
Amaxe Jan 17th 2009 8:13AM
Likewise we all completed it without having to snipe during battles to get it. If people in your party are doing this, it may be time to leave group
Personally I think things like the Hodir quests are the worst examples of quest competition, as people who can see you making a beeline for a target will try to mark it so you end up killing it for them. Blizzard needs to either expand where the quest can be fulfilled or increase the spawn rate of needed mobs
jam Jan 17th 2009 8:30AM
There are enough items for a full 5-man group to do the quest.
sephirah Jan 17th 2009 8:43AM
Oh noes, an incorrect wowinsider article!
How can it be!
Atonal Jan 17th 2009 8:47AM
Especially if you kill the two mobs stood by the table under the stairs & then go into the room behind them :)
Whyisretgimped Jan 17th 2009 8:46AM
What's worse is that Blizzard has done nothing to fix this kind of thing. They actually made it easier to ninja mining nodes from people when they nerfed mining in the middle of BC. Now you auto aggro any mob within a certain range of the mining node, even if you're level 80 and in Elwynn forest.
This never made sense to me. Mining is used by three professions, not one like its counterpart herbing and there are less mining nodes in the world than herbing nodes. So you already have more competition for less resources and they decide to make it even harder to gather? Yet another stupid decision on Blizzard's part.
When they change mining in the next patch to get you all the goodies from a node in one swing, this will help some. But I can't tell you how many times someone has ninja'd my node while I was fighting off a monster I auto aggro'd. They really, really need to change that.
Gotperl Jan 17th 2009 9:10AM
Herb is used by two now...inscription uses herbs
Flint Jan 17th 2009 8:59AM
Herbalism is actually used in two professions now ever since inscription came along.
Malkavos Jan 17th 2009 11:06AM
Actually, I've noticed that in Northrend, at least, mobs do not seem to be tied to mining nodes. I've mined cobalt with grey mobs very near who did not aggro. I've certainly been attacked while mining, but the mobs in question have always been those that patted past me while I was doing it.
Whyisretgimped Jan 17th 2009 11:19AM
Malkavos, you definitely aggro mobs when you mine. I can't tell you how many times I've landed on a node with no aggro, and had a mob run at me as soon as I started my first mining swing. This happens more in Shalozar because of all the furry animals and birds near the nodes. Happens less often in Storm Peaks or Icecrown where nodes end up on top of mountains half the time.
Also, though inscription uses herbing two there are still two VERY unbalancing factors with this. One, for half of the time we had BC, only Alchemy used herbing and we had our mining nerf before inscription ever existed. Two, there are still three professions tied to mining, where herbing still only has two and there are a lot less mining nodes out there than herbs along with the mining nerf. Completely unbalanced, and like many things in WoW, it favors casters/clothies more than plate wearers/melee classes.
I swear, all the devs at Blizzard were the ultra nerds who always wanted to play mages and priests in Dungeons and Dragons games. Even more nerdy than the rest of us who played melee classes in D+D.
Xigageshi Jan 17th 2009 12:03PM
"even more nerdy than those of us who played melee classes in DnD"
I lol'd