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by Eliah Hecht 
Dec 28th 2009 at 6:00PM
Tinwhisker sent us this link to a set of entertaining PUG bingo cards on the official forums, made by Cruce of Scarlet Crusade. While I'm not sure I would actually have gotten bingo on any single run, some of the squares have certainly happened in many of my runs:
- A pure DPS class doing triple digit DPS (especially Death Knights; sorry to all the good DKs out there).
- RankWatch. Almost every run.
- Three or more members are "the Patient." I guess it's nice to show that they have some PuG experience, but that just makes egregious failures that much more disappointing.
- Someone starts on a mob the tank hasn't even hit yet. More often than not.
- Melee DPS attacking from the front. It's really not that hard, folks.
One thing I'd add to the list is people protesting that they don't take the game that seriously when you give them advice, like that they might want to put up diseases before using other strikes on their DK. You don't have to break out the spreadsheets, but there's a certain minimum effort to not be letting everyone else in your group down.
What do you guys think of this bingo set? Going to print out a few sheets to keep you entertained during those long, cold dungeon runs? Are there any squares you'd add?
Filed under: Instances
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 8)
nwoods13 Dec 28th 2009 6:13PM
oh and id add the square "hunter using a grey bow"
Arbolamante Dec 28th 2009 6:50PM
Not sure how downranks happen accidentally. My bar and macros update automatically when I train (and yes, I went and checked).
pietrex Dec 28th 2009 7:02PM
@Arbolamante
It's dual spec. It does update your spells for your current one, but does not for the other one.
Adamanthis Dec 28th 2009 11:33PM
The dual spec "feature" definitely got me. My main was 80 by the time it was introduced in 3.1, but both alts levelled 70-80 with dual specs. I didn't realize my spells hadn't updated properly for I don't know how long. If someone had told me (nicely), I might have been a little chagrined, but would have appreciated the knowledge.
Kuato Dec 29th 2009 9:02AM
When I first read about RankWatch, I thought "Wow, what a pointless addon. Who would make this simple mistake?" But people raved about it, so I gave it a shot. It is SHOCKING how often it goes off. It even caught a few spells on my bars (Rank 2 consecrate on my Pally tank, ftw!). If you dual spec or play a lot of alts, get this addon.
Briscoe Dec 28th 2009 6:13PM
"One thing I'd add to the list is people protesting that they don't take the game that seriously when you give them advice"
This one can go both ways. On one hand, I get leery when I see a resto shaman who claims he can heal Heroic CoS in half greens, but on the other hand, you have those "Super-Tanks" who rail on someone who is in minimum 232 iLevel armor but hasn't got all his enchants yet because he/she is "not even trying".
Really, do I need to be dressed for ICC 25 to do a speed run for heroic Culling?
cavemantom Dec 28th 2009 8:20PM
I echo your sentiments.
2 of the characters I play the most are a Frost Mage and a Subtlety Rogue. I know neither tree is favored for topping the DPS charts, but they're also a great deal more fun than Arcane, Assassination or Combat. As long as I'm putting out over 2k DPS, I'm happy, and that should be enough for the rest of the pug, too.
Unfortunately, the double-AIDS that is the gearscore plugin for Recount and countless irritating elitists have ruined my pug fun at least once a day.
C'mon people. At least wait until after the first pull to start pointing fingers.
Sedirex Dec 29th 2009 1:03AM
I'm probably exactly the elitist you're talking about, but I'd rather see someone in fully gemmed and enchanted blues than someone epiced out with empty sockets. It's better that your dps is capped by your opportunities to get gear (hard to come by) than by your gold (easy to come by).
Briscoe Dec 29th 2009 1:10AM
What a silly expectation. If my performance is drastically below par, then you are allowed to give me a hard time, but if I am keeping up with the rest of the dps and pulling my weight, does it really matter that I didn't want to fork over the dough on what very well could be temporary gear right before rolling the dungeon? is it worth ruining the experience for the other player if the job is getting done? I don't think that many people understand how much of a buzz-kill such behavior is.
The Scarlet Mathematician Dec 29th 2009 1:58AM
"2 of the characters I play the most are a Frost Mage and a Subtlety Rogue. I know neither tree is favored for topping the DPS charts, but they're also a great deal more fun than Arcane, Assassination or Combat. As long as I'm putting out over 2k DPS, I'm happy, and that should be enough for the rest of the pug, too."
Now don't get me wrong, I love Sub as much as the next guy, but if I saw a fellow rogue in a PUG specced Subtlety, I might bring it up with him, too. Is it the end of the world? No, but it's always struck me as kind of rude. Kind of like underdressing for a fancy party. You may not be technically breaking any rules, but it's annoying to everyone who *did* dress up.
Briscoe Dec 29th 2009 2:04AM
Are you talking about talents or gear here? To "dress up" implies wearing certain gear, in which case, it should neither be rude nor annoying that this rogue didn't come in all epics. This may be the exact reason he is running random heroics in the first place. Talents, however, are quite different, and if you contention is that a player should know his/her class and come speced appropriately for the role he fits best in, then I agree.
Knowing what little I do about rogues, subtletry is geared more toward PvP style combat, with emphasis on less bursty damage and more cc.... is this correct? This being the case, I would be annoyed as well, but really... again, as long as he/she didn't lag too far behind in what he/she was dealing, then I probably wouldn't mention it.
The Scarlet Mathematician Dec 29th 2009 2:22AM
"Are you talking about talents or gear here?"
Sorry for the confusion; I meant talents. DPS has it easy as far as gear requirements go. You can pretty much waltz into Heroics fresh after dinging 80 and get by. Furthermore, I will take a good player in bad gear over a bad player in good gear any day of the week.
Subtlety is, officialy, the "Utility Tree," which unfortunately favors PvP over PvE. In exchange for the lackluster DPS you get a bunch of shiny toys (like Shadowstep, Honor Among Thieves, et al). Unfortunately, it just plain sucks in practical PvE scenarios. On a training dummy, I can get Sub to about 80% of Combat's DPS in equivalent gear. With a full party, under ideal conditions and a little bit of luck, you could probably close the gap to 90%. In actual test runs, I've ended up at about 66%. There is just too much that can go wrong with its "rotation."
As you might be able to tell, I love subtlety. It is absolutely a blast to play and I want nothing more than for a viable PvE build to emerge. But it just doesn't perform. In instances, it kind of feels like riding a tricycle when all your friends have bikes.
For the record, I do all my Sub PvE test runs with guildies who know what they're getting into.
Sarabande Dec 29th 2009 11:16AM
I guess I don't see the point. If your group is getting through the instance with little or no struggle, is doing decent time (maybe not record-breaking), people are getting emblems or rep or whatever they came for, who cares? Unless people are stacking ALL the wrong stats or using completely the wrong spells for their spec. (that may indicate that they might need help - in a polite and non-condescending way, if you can manage it).
One thing I do miss is being able to whisper people cross-realm. Those kinds of suggestions - if made at all - would be better done as a private discussion. You don't need to embarrass anyone if it can be helped.
I remember when the first boss in Gundrak was hard, and we dreaded some of the bosses in VH (now they are an annoyance, but usually get through it, unless something is very wrong). And being able to succeed a TIMED RUN in CoS felt like a big accomplishment. All that happened when we just turned 80. Granted, gear was harder to get then, but even now. it takes a bit of time to accumulate and if that's your main that just hit 80, it is all new to you - no wealthy mains to get you lvl 245 crafted gear and BoA head / shoulder enchants, no previous experience to guide you - not even sure of what the best sites are to visit to get info on playing better. But you know what? Back then we ALL struggled together and somehow, that was OK. But it's not OK now for a newbie to come in and try to get through, just like we did back then, just because they came in after we've all geared up and learned a bit about how to play better. Maybe they don't WANT to be carried (as is often the accusation). They may just sign up for a random, happy to be able to get into a group and a chance to gear up, to hopefully, catch up to the rest of us. When their play-style / gear / spec causes problems and the group can't seem to get through -yeah, that's different. Maybe the internal gear checker should be a bit more stringent for the newer, tougher instances. But as Blizzard is making 5-mans more accessible, players are putting up roadblocks that may be even tougher for people to overcome - harsh criticisms, embarrassments, and a generally unforgiving and unfriendly atmosphere that might make future runs undesirable.
It's not 25 man ICC. If you're in a raiding guild and you have people coming un-gemmed or whatnot (esp. if you know they've had the gear awhile) you could have a problem.
Maybe the guy just picked up the piece before the instance popped. Maybe he's waiting for his guild JC / enchanter to log on so he can get a cheaper gem/enchant. The fact is, you've just met the person just now - you have no idea what they were doing five minutes ago nor any of his other circumstances.
And if you ask me, a RAID is more like a formal event - dress your best, come in meaning business (if you're in that sort of a guild anyway). But the instances? Well, I think of them as more of a casual affair. Should you do your best? Sure - always try your best. But if you come in with a "fun" spec (maybe the person has the other spec SPECIFICALLY for raiding and has that one for just all-around fun, incl. instances) and if it's working and as a spec, it makes some kind of sense, what's the problem? Frost spec, for example, works for 5-man instances just fine. And actually, it's kind of cool to see people get upgrades with the drop from the last boss - that means that the run was even more useful and meaningful for someone in the group.
Want to do your part? Help someone who is asking for advice about their class - be it in your guild, could be one of your friends, etc. It's better coming from someone they trust. It may also instill some confidence the next time they go into an instance. Maybe even go with the person and use whisper or vent to help advise them during the run. Help them pick out the best gems and enchants and tell them about various sites they can visit. If more people did that, then maybe there would be less people doing thing wrong just because they don't know any better.
The Scarlet Mathematician Dec 29th 2009 11:44AM
The Dungeon Finder matches you with people you don't know, and so I think it's polite to put forth your best effort. If your DPS is low because that is the best you can do, I don't have a problem with that. If your DPS is low because you are in a spec not suited to PvE, that's where I see a breach of etiquette. Just like a tank showing up in a DPS spec, you are not performing to the best of your own ability.
I certainly make polite suggestions in groups, and I only bring it up if I start seeing problems. The righteous indignation I hear from "casual" players that there is no grounds for complaint if you are making progress annoys me, however. The idea that you have no responsibility to your group beyond the bare minimum effort required is naive at best.
Ringo Flinthammer Dec 28th 2009 6:16PM
I see Heroism being popped on trash (probably macroed to another ability) far more than I don't see it get used at all.
I've also repeatedly seen "hey, I'm tops of the damage meters! You all suck!" from some random night elf (it's always a night elf) 10 seconds before they ass-pull the next room and die horribly.
And the healer in quest blues right up front snarling about everyone's DPS before the first pull is underway.
ZakuraX Dec 28th 2009 6:16PM
BINGO! X5
On my server it is natural to need on frozen orbs, so you will see that happen in almost every run.
The only one I have seen who does ready checks how ever is myself. Everyone ells just asks if people are ready instead of just.
But sure sets a little spinn to things :P
hi19hi19 Dec 28th 2009 6:19PM
Runs where I have more mana than the tank has health always get me scared. I'm not even a holy pally...
tchernobyl Dec 28th 2009 6:23PM
psht at the patient title! starcaller is far snazzier >_>
studmeister247 Dec 28th 2009 6:24PM
I demand a retraction! Dk's are not pure dps. lol.
tatsumasa Dec 28th 2009 6:25PM
dps that just goes completely balls to the wall on a mob that i (on my tank) am not even attacking. seriously, why would you do that? hit the one i'm attacking, not the one i have only enough threat on to keep it from attacking the healer or aoe damagers.