Breakfast Topic: Performance anxiety
by Zach Yonzon 
Mar 16th 2009 at 8:00AM
Mind you, I'm a founding officer of this guild, but the tryouts apply to me just the same. I respect that a lot, as it means that our GM looks at everything from a performance persective and not just because this or that person is a friend or this or that person has been with the guild a long time. This gives me a lot of confidence for Ulduar. While most of the game now is pretty casual, I guess there are still a precious few aspects that put butterflies in our stomach. Would you agree? Let's say, being the healer in a PUG. Do you feel the pressure to perform? Do you feel like you're under the microscope? Or being the new recruit in an Arena team, do you feel like you have to come up with the numbers to keep your slot? Or how about when your guild is going after Immortal or Undying? As easy as the game seems now, what situations give you some form of stage fright?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
wilfwj Mar 16th 2009 8:09AM
I don't get stressed out by my WoW experience, I'm in a casual raiding guild and choose to be so because I don't want to stress.
IMO, when something you do for fun becomes stressful, it's becoming work. I work enough as it is!
I think if WoW ever became something I was stressed about, I'd stop playing, life's too short to worry about a game.
cente_ddr Mar 16th 2009 9:32AM
On the other hand, a game is a game: there are clear goals within it and there are all sorts of other things blizz puts in to distract you from those goals (=more $$ for them long-term).
Why bother playing a game if you don't attempt to win? I'm not going to say," see you guys later, I'm going to go shoot some hoops and just let everyone else around me score the points". WoW is no different.
Gaming is all about eustress, positive stress. If you don't play with a little you're not playing to win and you probably shouldn't be playing at all. Besides, at the heart of every "casual" raiding guild is a hardcore gamer leader who makes sure they progress (wowinsider's been over this before). There is no way you can have any sort of progression without eustress and I don't believe your anti-stress spiel for a heartbeat.
talkingmike Mar 16th 2009 12:48PM
@cente_ddr
Holy cow, you have made the most insightful comment I have ever read on WOWInsider (I mean, this is the anti-"I love BGs but Arenas aren't real PVP" comment).
I could not agree more. Sure, I would prefer to have it easy-going for each hour I play the game, but I also realize that there are going to be wipes, deaths, rep-grinds, XP-grinds, material-grinds, and all kinds of other stuff that, while perhaps boring and tedious while doing them, will have a hefty payoff once complete.
Thanks for a making a clear and insightful point.
Eisengel Mar 16th 2009 3:10PM
I wouldn't call it really 'stress'... but I constantly try to push to do the most I can with as little as possible. I'm also in a casual raiding guild. We don't have the size to raid anything but 10-mans, so usually I'm operating with less than max buffs. Plus since we're so small, I don't bother our guild crafters for elixirs or stat food. When I go into Naxx, or ObS, I'm playing against myself. There are very few cases where I don't top the damage meters per boss, per fight and overall, but I constantly try to improve my DPS, tighten my rotations, try a slight change to my sequences... whatever I can do to do better than I did last time.
As the members of my guild have been gearing up and have been getting more experience in Wrath, they're been slowly getting better, making me push even harder to put out the max DPS I can since everyone is doing more damage than they did a month or two ago and bosses only have so much health.
Without my own bar to push above there would be no real reason to play... the game can only record/reward advancement to a point. When you hit max level, gear up, learn the fights... there isn't much more unless you try to improve yourself. You can never win, because you always do better, but you'll never run out of 'content'... because you can always do better. :^)
Sarabande Mar 20th 2009 11:45PM
I agree. Yes, there are moments that get me nervous (even just regular heroics) but I don't want to put myself into a situation where playing the game is no longer fun. I have a job and I come home to unwind. I enjoy challenges and facing them with good friends make it all that much better. But there is a difference between the feeling of stress from challenges of the game, and those from knowing that if you mess up even a little bit, people will treat you like crap.
But I've heard of guilds that constantly berate and yell at people, act like Real Life doesn't matter (or doesn't exist) and where you have to constantly worry about your performance to the point that it takes all the enjoyment out of the game. Some people love that but I don't. And I see nothing wrong with someone who goes into WoW and plays by his own terms as long as he's not bothering anyone.
The people who may like a slower pace and value leisure over gear shouldn't be put down for it. Also keep in mind that some of the population skew older. NOT that all older people have bad reflexes . . . some are lightning fast, but they CAN slow down with age, and eye sight can decrease as well. But for whatever reason, I think it's up to each player to choose his or her own comfort level in playing the game. And hopefully, if it's challenge they seek, they can do it in a friendly environment where people will help them learn rather then insult them the whole time.
skreeran Mar 16th 2009 8:09AM
Yeah, I feel presure when I'm in a raid and there's two other healers doing all the healing. I'm wasting mana if I overheal when I don't need to just to sta comparative to the other healers. I get worried that the time will come to post healing meters and I'll be on the bottom, even though no one actually died.
I call it SNS: Safety Net Syndrome.
Candina@WH Mar 16th 2009 9:24AM
Ditto.
I play a resto shammy. With a Druid and Priest healer in the group, my HPS doesn't shine until the fecal material strikes the rotating blades.
Since we're 'farming', this doesn't happen. I stay focused, throw out top off heals. And end many boss fights with 3/4 mana.
No one died. But it feels like I am wasting the time and the slot could go to someone who needs the gear.
Treason of Farstriders Mar 16th 2009 12:15PM
This is why healing meters should never ever be looked at.
It's like measuring doctors on how many yards of the thread they use per year sowing people up after surgery.
Use of tools like grim reaper, etc is valid. They showed why a person died, and what healers may have been able to do about it.
But the "healing done" meter should be ripped out of recount and shoved up people who think it means anything.
Kinoko Mar 16th 2009 10:24AM
Healing meters are a tricky, tricky thing.
It's fairly easy to zerg the healing meters and be completely OOM. I'm an "Epic Achievement" geared CoH / spirit buff build priest, and if I sit there and spam AoE heals (especially in 10 man) I can easily outheal everyone by a long shot if I just don't give druid HoT's a chance to tick, etc. A less geared priest of the same build could do the same thing and just be drinking after every pull.
You're doing your raid a favor IMO.
However, my performance anxiety comes when I'm shadow specced for Naxx 25 and we get to the military wing... Especially since I NEVER talk in vent because I hate listening to feedback when certain people who never shut up and choose not to wear headphones, then all of a sudden I'm in the spotlight. It was the worst the first time I ever did it, though.
MaineIac Mar 16th 2009 8:11AM
I can really respect a guild that makes its officers compete for a slot in the upcoming Ulduar content.
What makes me nervous is the first day of joining a new guild. It's just like the first day of going to a new school: new people, new teachers....you don't know really what to expect.
Chri Mar 17th 2009 9:10AM
I used to get nervous pugging on my first character (I was always convinced I didn't know what I was doing when playing the rogue - maybe that's why I gave it up). It used to make me very anxious when all the mobs in a pull weren't marked!
Raiding with a new guild for the first time still makes me nervous. Especially MCing Instructor Raz on my first night for the first time. We wiped the first time as I got the hang of it but I must be doing something right cause I always get asked to do that job :)
These days I don't get nervous when I pug - I enjoy it! Best way to play with people outside your guild.
Matchu Mar 16th 2009 8:16AM
As the dps, I don't really feel the pressure. When I tank, I do a bit, especially when I can see that "losing threat" bit pop up.
Just as an aside, I hope your GM is putting himself through the same performance test.
Chris M Mar 16th 2009 8:14AM
I gotta be honest, when I first stepped into Naxx (since Vanilla) in Wrath, I was literally shaking out of raw 'fear of fucking up'. I was in a PUG, totally overgeared (I was wearing the best ilvl200 heroic gear, had both pieces of badge T7 and sporting more spellpower and crit (I'm a disc priest) than one of the better-geared mages- but I was still plagued with the stage fright. And I'm one of the more confident healers - I've been doing it since BWL and healed all the content in game thus far, no sweat. I know my class and I know my limits and I'm generally confident, but I got hit -hard- that day.
"What if I don't remember how to dance?! Oh god, is it 1,2,3,4,3,2,1 or 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4??! What if I cross charges?! There are only 10 people in here, I can't afford to screw up! Oh my god which button was taunt and which was bone shield?! I forgot!! Oh thank god I don't have to MC in 10 man! OH GOD HOW are we going to do 4h with only two tanks!?"
Totally freaking out. I kept it cool on vent.. but man, my blood was pumping. And it paid off, too, we wiped exactly three times total, once on 4h, once on KT and once on Sapph. Pretty impressive for a PUG of geared 80s interspersed with fresh 80s.
Axolotl Mar 16th 2009 8:14AM
I don't like PUGs, but when I do heal in them, I feel no pressure to be the best they've ever seen since my gear won't allow it (and I don't swim in Gold to get the best enchants and stuff)
Basically if they don't like my healing, I leave the group and go about my own business again.
Malecden Mar 16th 2009 8:16AM
This is incredibly relevant to something that happened to me just last night. I play a rogue and I'm mostly geared in 25 man epics. because of this I find that I'm under a lot of pressure to perform at 100% at all times. If someone out DPS'd me on a given fight I feel I haven't done my job. During last nights 25 man my system or network or some force beyond my control decided I couldn't stay connected during any action. Granted, this is an uncontrollable circumstance, but its still one of the few things that will actually get me fairly annoyed. Its incredibly nerve racking when you believe you have to perform to your fullest, even if it may not be necessary or possible at the given moment.
cartman Mar 16th 2009 8:18AM
Agreed, I play to relax, I have enough stress in the real world. When it quits being fun I will quit playing, all this talk of gear checks and performance tests make me laugh, ITS A GAME! So sad to see how many people never learned how to play and relax. Its not about "winning" for me its about making friends, enjoying the journey, having fun with people. 10 years from now who is going to care if you finished the new expac in 10 days? Are you a fun person to be around? Does winning and losing come easily to you, and are you a friend? To me that is winning
steve Mar 16th 2009 10:28AM
I hear this attitude a lot -- "its just a game" -- usually in the context of things like attendance requirements for raids, making mistakes on boss fights, not showing up prepared, that sort of thing. I think everyone is clear that WoW is a game, but for me, I pretty much approach all games with the same desire to win or at least do my best. In my outside-of-WoW life, I play in a couple of tennis leagues and run races and WoW is just as "real" as those activities and I'm always playing/running to win. The point being, if you are a "Type A" person and like competition, you are going to operate the same way in WoW, whether it is by clearing raid content, getting titles, or knocking out achievements. Losing or playing poorly isn't my idea of relaxation ;->
Ted Trujillo Mar 16th 2009 11:23AM
How sad. It took me years to get past the winning is everything lifestyle. Enjoying competition has nothing to do with winning, again something learned on the road. I always show up for runs on time prepared for the run and struggling to do my best. At the end of the day though I would rather see a guild message of the day saying" Nice run last night, got some good drops and a good time was had by all, keep it up" Than " Naxx run tonight, show up early, prepared and be ready for a gear check" Winning is just something that happens besides losing, neither one is lifechanging, or in the end really much different. Enjoy the journey, help your friends, and remember, you learn much more from losing than winning, about the game and yourself.
Peace
ladrondelanoche Mar 16th 2009 8:06PM
I'll pwn you at Candyland.
Vine Mar 16th 2009 8:38AM
My most tense moment was stealthing down LBRS to kill Smolderweb and get the Wildheart Boots. The pressure of stealthing through a tight corridor full of patrolling mobs really got to me.