When would you become a ninja?
by Alex Ziebart 
Feb 11th 2009 at 2:00PM
An interesting question was posed over on Less QQ, More PewPew: When would you become a ninja? It made for a pretty good read, the author lays out a few situations that might warrant an act of ninjery* that really made me think about the whole thing. Would I ninja in those situations? The situations that the author describes are situations that would certainly make me consider it, but they're also situations I don't ever put myself in.The author lays out a scene: Your raid is in Sunwell (when it was still sexy), you have your regular Hunter, and you have a terrible PUG Hunter. You kill Kil'jaeden. Regular Hunter did great, but PUG Hunter was terrible and died almost instantly. You loot the boss and... Thori'dal drops! The two Hunters roll off, and the pickup Hunter wins the roll. Do you Master Loot the bow to your regular Hunter anyway? Or do you play nice and give it to the pickup?
Well, like I said, I wouldn't put myself in that situation at all. My raid doesn't take puggies along at all, and even if we did, we use a DKP system. If that puggie had more DKP than our regular Hunter by some miracle, they probably deserve the bow and aren't a PUG at all. In this make believe situation where we brought PUGs and rolled on loot, though? I would probably try talking to pickup Hunter, work out some other deal. If they wouldn't cooperate, yeah, it's pretty likely I would 'ninja' the bow over to our regular Hunter. If the PUG Hunter did a great job I'd consider letting them have it, but if they performed horribly and died pretty much right away? I'm not going to give a Legendary to dead weight, even if it's just pixels at the end of the day. They're extra pretty pixels, and they're pixels that person didn't earn.
The author of the original post also makes the argument that everyone has a breaking point, a point where they absolutely would ninja a drop. I don't think that I would personally ninja anything in any realistic scenario I'd put myself in, but there's certainly a point I would do it. I don't PUG, I make sure my smaller groups are with close friends if we don't master loot, and I really doubt that I'd be offered a million dollars to ninja some random Naxxramas item, so the life of the ninja is not for me. If I was offered a sexy mill to ninja some sword, though? Yeah, you bet I'd do it. I don't think the victim would feel so bad about it if I sent a good hundred grand his/her way to make up for it.
How about you guys? What's your breaking point? What would it take for you to ninja?
*No, that's not a word.
Filed under: Hunter, Analysis / Opinion, Cheats, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
Kellerune Feb 11th 2009 2:05PM
I think I would ninja if the case was very very extreme. But in most cases, I would never ninja anything. It's wrong and only gives you a bad rep.
macandcheeseifyouplease Feb 11th 2009 2:14PM
flying mount
for sure
Kellerune Feb 11th 2009 3:12PM
A flyer ain't worth a ninja to me.
Adamanthis Feb 11th 2009 3:12PM
Interesting that you mention flying mounts, as it is "vanity" items that drive me closest to the brink of ninjahood.
The problem is that many PUGs use a ridiculous loot rule that vanity items should be "greeded" rather than "needed." The problem of course is that the players who actually want the item are competing with those that only click "greed" out of habit and will vendor (or junk) the item.
After several tries for a green winter hat, and losing the last one to someone who only took it to vendor (for 1 copper), I had had enough. I said "I'm rolling need on this, roll need as well if you want a shot." No one else rolled need.
Kevin Feb 11th 2009 5:00PM
@Adamanthis
It's funny that you brought up the hat, because I got accused of being a ninja over that same item. It's the only time I have ever been accused.
I was in a pug and no loot rules were announced. When the hat dropped, I immediately rolled need on it. The way I looked at it, you either need it for the achievement or you don't need it at all. I was the first person to roll, so everyone had a chance to see what I did. The second person also rolled need, the third person rolled greed (about 5 seconds after my original roll) and the other two passed. One of the guys that passed laid into me ("you DON'T roll need on achievement items.") I told him my thoughts on it, and he basically dropped it.
Gemini Feb 12th 2009 4:38AM
I always roll need on vanity/achievement items, and that seems to be the common rule on my server (Garrosh). Rolling need on such items PREVENTS ninjas from stealing it.
Clint Feb 12th 2009 9:36AM
Attumen's Mount dropped. I was master looter / raid leader of some pug on a monday night (guildies stopped running it a long time ago etc etc). I had everyone /roll. I was the second highest role.
After a lot of internal debate, I gave it to a dpser in green/blues that died to a charge.
/sigh
Spectre Mar 5th 2009 5:05AM
no no no! everyone knows jedi are just futuristic ninjas with glowing swords and THE FORCE!!! but still ninja's nonetheless.
And how to do Daleks even fit in here, they've tried to take over the world about half a dozen times and still haven't succeeded.
imagine that many ninja's trying to take over the world, Dr. Who in all his glory wouldn't stand a chance, NEITHER WOULD PIRATES!! or robots, i mean tbh, what happens when they run out of batteries?
NINJA'S > ALL
I rest my case
superstone Mar 6th 2009 4:18AM
I needed on the Green Winter Hat on my Paladin, and lost to a pug DPS warrior.
Stupidly I hadn't seen anyone else say they wanted it so I needed... and then she needed. I was furious, and I had to get up and go cool off for a minute. This was in regular UK during Winter Veil. I was obsessed with getting Merrymaker (and I did) on my 71 paladin.
Thankfully, I was a tank first and foremost at 70 so I had decent enough gear to do UK and Nexus. The next group I was in I probably looked like a prima donna when I said "I'm only doing this instance for the green winter hat. I'm one step from Merrymaker and if you need against me I'm not finishing." Kind of a dick move, but w/e, they laughed it off and when I got it I offered to run it again for whoever else wanted it.
peagle Feb 11th 2009 2:06PM
I would become a ninja if more than 50% of the raid were composed of pirates, in order to retain the natural balance.
kotathalas Feb 11th 2009 2:09PM
Ohhhh... touche'!
DareD Feb 11th 2009 2:46PM
We all know that Ninjas, Pirates, they all fail to Robots!
Alderbran Feb 11th 2009 3:57PM
pfft. robots?
no no no. this is how the system REALLY works.
pirates < ninja < JEDI
Neofox Feb 11th 2009 3:57PM
@DareD
Robots can't move their fat, metal, hunk-of-junk behinds fast enough to get away from a ninja... and to be honest, neither can pirates! lol
As for the post, I have no breaking point. This is true. However, the closest I would get to such a point would be similar to the Thori'dal situation, but I'd try to work it out first with some sort of other deal (as my fellow Alex said). If the punter wouldn't accept, rather than "ninja" it from him, I'd simply pass judgment on the grounds that he did absolutely nothing in the fight, whereas the good hunter did a lot for that drop... It's not ninjaing; he'd be stealing if he got something without paying for it, right?
Orion Feb 11th 2009 4:08PM
>peagle said...
>I would become a ninja if more than
>50% of the raid were composed of
>pirates, in order to retain the natural
>balance.
I hereby declare that this post is FULL of WIN.
Squiddles Feb 11th 2009 4:33PM
pirates < ninja < JEDI < DALEKS!!!!!!
Jillemixie Feb 19th 2009 11:35AM
@Squiddles
Dr. Who ftw!
Riz Feb 11th 2009 2:09PM
And that's why you figure out these details ahead of time to avoid being a ninja and pissing people off
VSUReaper Feb 11th 2009 2:43PM
I ninja'd the RSOC in HUP from the Holy pally.... then again, I was the prot warrior farming the place...
Does that count?
I set master looter as I was pulling the boss. I had already lost the rolls on the sword 4 other times.... So I think I was justified.
As for a realistic ninja... prolly not. But if its something really rare, (BOE world drop Epic) that I can use, then you better believe I'm ninja'ing that thing!
ash Feb 11th 2009 2:55PM
I dont think I have ever ninja'd anything but reaper brings up a good point about some BOE's. I remember when the singing axe (the one with the haste proc) dropped for my group on an Arc run and everyone said I could take it except for a hunter in the group who asked if we could roll for it. I figured he was on the run so he had a right to roll on it too. But, then after the run was over I went to the AH and found out he had put it up for auction!
So... lesson of the story is don't trust people in pugs, but more than anything, given the general asshattery of some people I can understand why you would ninja in some situations.