The Classifieds: The most uber players of the week

Welcome to the Uber Player Edition of The Classifieds. As you know, we've been building Random Acts of Uberness, a section of the column devoted to shout-outs to the folks who've made your PUG experiences shine. With more and more submissions every week, we're inevitably approaching that time when we'll have to start editing notes for length. But not this week. This week, your stories were so inspirational, your experiences were so uberific, that we simply decided to turn over the bulk of The Classifieds to the Random Acts section and let the uberness run wild and free.
"I'm not to proud to admit it: when we're short on tanks, my husband and I will let our kid tank for us -- our just shy of seven-year-old, who diligently (and with trade chat disabled and parental controls on, his toon parked in our friends-and-fam guild instead of the casual raiding guild our mains are in) ground his teeny gnome warrior up to 80," writes Haelmari of US Eonar-A. "Tonight, we and some guildies needed a random. He wanted to play. Win/win, right?
"We lacked a healer. ..."
The uber resolution of Haelmari's situation, after the break.
"So we sucked it up and joined LFG," Heilmari continued. "Our dungeon master yanked aside the unwitting victim -- I mean, the l33t pro healer we got -- to let him know: the tank was a kid, he was learning, we had another plate wearer right there just in case things went to hell faster than you can yell 'For Lordaeron!' ... Was he okay with this?
"Dear Arkouda from US Gorefiend: you bloody well ruled, man. You made a kid's night. You were beyond patient and understanding. You were encouraging, you cheered him on, you watched what he was doing, you whispered hints and tips. We didn't have a single death, and we made it through HoL heroic in under half an hour with a very, very fresh tank. Thank you. I hope every PUG appreciates you as much as we did." (Haelmari, <Saints of Elune>, US Eonar-A)
We've got lots more Acts of Random Uberness where that one came from.
Mattmatics (US Dragonmaw-H) "I had zoned into Gundrak as a healer, only to find we had a fairly new-to-80 paladin tank. After a close shave on the first boss (said paladin tank was the only one left alive), a few group members dropped. "This is when Mattmatics came to the rescue. He not only stopped a warrior DPS (from) saying the tank should go and drop group straight away to do normals instead, (but) he also did most of the damage and made it possible for us to defeat the bosses before I tore my hair out at the aggro-pulling, group-wide healing-needing situations. He also answered my inane questions about warlocks ('Err, what's that bouncy green thing between you and mobs?' 'Why, Haunt, of course!'). And his name is awesome. =)" (Risqtish, <Oceanic Guardians>, US Shadow Council-H)
Raeynne <Last Stand of Valor>, US Whisperwind-A "We were in a Vault-25 PUG together and the Wrathful gloves dropped off Toravon. I won the roll, but the raid leader mislooted the gloves to Raeynne. A short tell later, and she agreed to trade them to me next chance she got. It's randomly uber because she could have kept the gloves for herself or just ignored me, but instead she chose to do the right thing. Thanks, Raeynne!" (Urzah, US Whisperwind-A) Unknown New Level 80 Tank, Rampage battlegroup "I generally play randoms pretty 'heads down.' I focus the tank, assist, misdirect and generally make things die so I can have the group's enchanter give me mats and the last dead boss give me frost badges. This particular run was no different. Trash is dropping, the tank's health never gets alarmingly low (my Recount window slightly covers my focus unit frame, but I was never scared for the tank), and we're progressing at an acceptable rate.
"Just before pulling the boss, someone starts complaining about the tank's gear. I take a quick look and see that our pally tank has 25k health. Turns out, it's the healer complaining, 'You barely have more health than your healer.' The healer had 23k health and almost 30k mana. The tank simply says, 'I wondered how long until I'd get bothered about that. I'm defense-capped, and you get gear from heroics.'
"Trollgore is engaged, and we nearly take him down before the tank goes down and a wipe follows. I was flabbergasted. I didn't pull threat until the tank died and was near (if not on top) of the DPS chart. The healer drops and the tank says, 'Wow, I didn't get a single heal during that fight. Fourth heroic since turning 80 [hours ago], and that's my first death.'
"At this point, another DPS drops and we requeue. I didn't want to wait out the debuff or another DPS queue, and I knew the tank could do it. The other DPS and I are giving the tank our support as the new group comes in. (While waiting for the new members, I checked out the tank's gear; could not have been better for a four-heroic 80. I was really impressed.) We preemptively let the new healer and DPS know that we have an instance-appropriate, geared tank (not over-geared, as per random heroic usual) and we know we can complete the dungeon with no issues.
"The healer wholeheartedly agrees, and we proceed to destroy DTK at current-day heroic speeds. Tank was never in trouble, DPS was good, healing and threat were great. In fact, my thought halfway through the dungeon was that this paladin with 25k health seemed easier for the healer to keep up than a 45k DK tank I'd recently healed on my druid. I really wish I would have noted every toon's name, but it was a great run and reminder for me, so I thought I'd share." (Purloach, US Ravencrest-H)
Around the World of Warcraft
There's something about EU Emerald Dream: Emerald Dreamers, a self-hosted realm forum designed to build community and participation. "We started the site in November last year because we were sick of the forums (official and unofficial) being mostly guild recruitment spam and bots posting porn threads," explain founders Holyshell and Tethane. "We wanted a place to write about interesting people and events on the realm and showcase some talent (we have a web comic and an upcoming machinima featuring voiceovers from 'The Staff,' which should be fun). Of course as time went on, we started to feature more generic posts, too, though all by people from our realm -- so even if it's unrelated, it's still giving EDers a voice."
Do you blog about WoW? Or are you addicted to reading WoW blogs? We may have just the guild for you. Miss Medicina, of the eponymous blog, and Tamarind of Righteous Orbs are nurturing the WoW blogging community with a new guild specifically for bloggers and blog-lovers. <Single Abstract Noun> resides on both the US and EU versions of Argent Dawn realms. As Miss Medicina puts it, "It's almost like the antithesis of Gevlon's Blue Guild ... We have absolutely no real purpose EXCEPT to be social."
You don't have to be a blogger yourself in order to join. Visit Miss Medicina's post for more information about joining the US/Oceanic guild, or pop by Righteous Orbs for deets on the EU version.
Don't forget about WoW.com's own bloggarific guild, <It came from the Blog> on US Zangarmarsh-H. Guild mama Robin Torres runs regular events that players of any level can enjoy, including meetups with many of the WoW.com team. Membership is open to all; visit the guild FAQ for more details.
Do you blog about WoW? Or are you addicted to reading WoW blogs? We may have just the guild for you. Miss Medicina, of the eponymous blog, and Tamarind of Righteous Orbs are nurturing the WoW blogging community with a new guild specifically for bloggers and blog-lovers. <Single Abstract Noun> resides on both the US and EU versions of Argent Dawn realms. As Miss Medicina puts it, "It's almost like the antithesis of Gevlon's Blue Guild ... We have absolutely no real purpose EXCEPT to be social."
You don't have to be a blogger yourself in order to join. Visit Miss Medicina's post for more information about joining the US/Oceanic guild, or pop by Righteous Orbs for deets on the EU version.
Don't forget about WoW.com's own bloggarific guild, <It came from the Blog> on US Zangarmarsh-H. Guild mama Robin Torres runs regular events that players of any level can enjoy, including meetups with many of the WoW.com team. Membership is open to all; visit the guild FAQ for more details.

Recruiting
Do people even read these things? Apparently, they do -- and reader AQ turned to The Classifieds and its readers for help finding just the right guild fit. "I figured this would be a good place to ask," he writes. "I am looking for a large guild on a PvE server. I'm fine with Horde or Alliance. I'd just like to find a large guild with multiple raid groups and lots of active people. Ideally, it would be something like Serious Casual, the guild for benefactors of Elitist Jerks, or Taint, the GLBT guild on Proudmoore. The problem with SC is that it is on a PvP server and a very lagged and unstable server, and I'm not GLBT so Taint is out for me as well. Do you or any of the readers have suggestions on guilds that would fit the criteria? I'm dying to find a big, social, active and great guild." Anyone in a guild that sounds like a match for AQ? Link your guild web site in the comments and help a guy out!
On that note, if you're LFGuild yourself and can't seem to find the right fit, drop us a line with your Armory link and one or two sentences on what you're looking for.
25-man is where it's at
- REBORNE (US Stormscale-H); raids Sat. 9 p.m.; two 10-man teams with openings (another two filled 10s); "mature, relaxed and progression-minded"
- Aeternus (US Llane-A); raids Tues./Wed./Sun./Mon. 8:30 p.m.-12 a.m. ET; new hardcore approach, 90% attendance requirement, 5300 GS minimum, no alts
- Quarantine (US Proudmoore-H) ; seeks ranged caster DPS, especially elemental and resto shamans; Triumph gear minimum
Still building up their 10-mans (with an eye on 25-man content) is <Honorbound> (US Thrall-A). Honorbound raids 7-11 p.m. server time "a few nights a week" plus Saturday afternoons and evenings and is "particularly excited" about ranged DPS and feral and resto druids.
If you're just starting to make friends, <An Epic Family> (EU Darkspear-A) sounds like a good place to start. This "social guild with a twist" focuses on forging friendships with regular guild events and birthday celebrations. They welcome new players. Contact Fawnish or Kesi for more details.
Burning the midnight oil: <Clandestine> (US Greymane-H), currently first on their server in 10-man strict progression, seeks more tanks, healers and ranged DPS for its late-night squad, starting at 10:30 p.m. server time two mid-week nights per week.
Raiding progressionStill slamming against Festergut and Rotface? It may feel like so much still lies ahead, but some people feel that we've already reached the beginning of the end ... Speaking of which, let's see who's managed to make it to the end of the end of Icecrown Citadel this week.
- World Hall of Fame Who got there first? Check out the charts to see who won the race to down the Lich King and who's in the process of nabbing the attendant achievements.
- 25-man Progress The bleeding-edge guilds are working on heroic modes in The Frostwing Halls and The Plagueworks.
- 25-man Achievement There's a new guild who's cleared the top of the pack this week in terms of achievements: <Cráb People> from EU Talnivarr-H, with 1,480 achievement points.
- 10-man Progress 25-man guilds <Paragon> and <Ensidia> have both sent in teams to down the Lich King in 10-man heroic mode.
- 10-man Achievements Ten guilds hold top spot on the list of achievement points earned in this category.
- 10-man Strict Progress Eight guilds are working on ICC heroic modes now.
- 10-man Strict Achievements What a hard-working group of guilds! The groups at the top this week are all slaving away at different angles of ICC.
Milestones
- Happy fourth anniversary to <RuneFire> of US Eitrigg-A. They're kicking up their heels with a trivia contest, an old-school raid, a level 1 gnome race and raid, and a rousing game of hide-and-seek. Have fun, guys!
- And celebrating five years are <The Keepers of the Realm> (US Scarlet Crusade-A). Leaders Asher and Minxee sent us a shout-out to their members: "Thanks to all Keepers, past and present, for their role in making our guild what it is today! /salute"
- Also marking five years are the folks at <Sleeper Cartel> (US Perenolde-A). "No, there's no server party planned," they admit, "but we'll be doing at least a little celebrating around the server to mark such a big milestone. (And yes, the next server party IS planned for later on this summer.)" Sounds like a plan!
Filed under: Guilds, The Classifieds







Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Daco Mar 10th 2010 2:12PM
While I'm sure we'll shortly see complaints here about the lack of guild drama, I for one greatly enjoy these stories. While most heroics I run are absolutely clinical (little talk, fast runs), there are still enough jerks out there to make me appreciate this acknowledgement of not only those players who make this game fun most of the time, but also those willing to recognize them for doing so. A hearty thx to all mentioned here for their uberness.
Wars Mar 10th 2010 10:16PM
I am actually in the other side of Taint, The Stonewall Family meta guild(A) of Proudmoore-US. www.thestonewallfamily.com
I am not GLBT and neither are many of the members whom are just looking for a social environment with the ability to raid.
If you're looking for a good social guild, The Stonewall Family is a very fun, and very active place to be!
Arodiel Mar 11th 2010 7:37AM
What bothers me is the type of story. It makes me sad that things like a player giving a mislooted pair of gloves to the correct winner is considere uber. This really should be normal behaviour, not a reason to post on a well-read blog. So, until this sort of thing is taken for granted the uberness stories definitely have a place here.
(sorry I picked you out as an example, Raeynne , it really was a very nice thing to do!)
Deius Mar 10th 2010 2:24PM
I don't want to have to hate this hard, but I really don't understand why the drama was taking away. Maybe you could explain this in the next column?
Secondly how are some of those Random Acts of Uberness?! "We were in a Vault-25 PUG together and the Wrathful gloves dropped off Toravon. I won the roll, but the raid leader mislooted the gloves to Raeynne. A short tell later, and she agreed to trade them to me next chance she got. It's randomly uber because she could have kept the gloves for herself or just ignored me, but instead she chose to do the right thing. Thanks, Raeynne!" That has seriously got to be a joke, that is not a Random Act of Uberness, it's basic kindness that ever WoW player should show.
And finally your review of the weeks top raiding progress is completely useless. The information is easily findable by just going WoWProgress.com and it's doubly useless when there is unusually a whole separate post for all Region First kills. To offer an alternative maybe you could provide things like how many guilds out of all of them have down normal mode Lich King? Sindragosa? Hardmode Saurfang? These are still available on WoWProgress.com but aren't on the front page and take a little digging to find.
jealouspirate Mar 10th 2010 2:33PM
1) It was explained in the first article with the new format that the removal of drama was to foster a more positive community where we don't get our kicks out of making fun of others.
2) Basic kindness among strangers in WoW is more rare than the Ashes of Al'ar. Sometimes it's nice to be reminded that there are some decent folks out there.
3) Just because WoWProgress.com has the same information doesn't mean that WoW.com can't or shouldn't post it.
(cutaia) Mar 10th 2010 2:34PM
http://www.wow.com/2010/01/13/the-classifieds-news-briefs-on-guilds-and-players/
Meijnrr Mar 10th 2010 2:52PM
1) I don't think reading about Drama is really making fun of those people.... And also the reason they gave was kind of full of bullshit as I'm guessing it was just an order from Harper.
2) If you really think they are that rare, I feel sorrow for you as you must have only meet assholes while in Azeroth.
3) Although I do like WoW.com and want them to keep posting, I'd like them to be a little more creative than that. I think people saying the Daily Blues is copying MMOChampion.com are incorrect, giving that Boubouille does not post everyday and leaves some of the blue posts the deems "irrelevant" out, but this is just a blatant copying of WoWProgress.com .
(I'm trying not to just hate and actually add to the discussion, so I don't really understand the down rating on my first comment)
Deius Mar 10th 2010 2:54PM
^ The above post is by me, but it weirdly still used the name that I previously had on this account.
Brian Mar 10th 2010 2:57PM
Just as jealouspirate already mentioned, you can't expect that kind of kindness everyday. Just last week, I was in a PUG VoA25 and the master looter accidently looted PvP Mage pants to a Shaman (Shaman rolled for them too D:). Instead of handing it to the mage with the highest roll, he was trying to sell it. In the end, he left the raid WITH the pants.
In a game where your real identity is hidden behind an avatar, it's easy to pull of jerk stunts like that without any real punishment. It's sad that it is this way, which is why it's so nice to hear about people who are genuinely kind and helpful to others when they don't have to be.
Hangk Mar 10th 2010 3:36PM
Psychology 101: Calling attention to a behavior, whether positive or negative, reinforces that behavior. So the end result of writing a lot of articles about drama, is more drama. Conversely, pointing out when people are nice, results in more people being nice. See how that works?
SoulMasterKaze Mar 10th 2010 5:49PM
It's actually really rare to see people doing the right thing, as sad as it makes me to say. Nine times out of ten, the person would just bugger off with the loot if it ended up in their inventory. Anonymity + Internet generally brings out the worst in people, because there's no accountability, in my experience.
(cutaia) Mar 10th 2010 2:25PM
I was hoping you'd be able to post more than 2 of these stories per article one day. Sometimes I need to be reminded of some of the awesome pugs I've been in, to forget some of the jerks I've run across in game.
Ellowynn Mar 10th 2010 2:31PM
Wouldn't it be cool if we could give kudos that would count. Perhaps a little box pops up before you leave that allows you to rate your fellow players. I think it would be great to be able to reward these players.
Cataca Mar 10th 2010 2:35PM
All for this! I know there are a few websites that to this already but...eh. That's more work than I want to do for random people I don't know.
Maybe even an addon? (Don't know if there is one already) Would love it if Gear Score provided this. Would be a lot more relevant than a number.
Cataca Mar 10th 2010 2:38PM
Oooo! They could rename Gear Score to Skill Score!
(cutaia) Mar 10th 2010 2:40PM
Well, there could be no "anti-kudo" option available. Otherwise, people would vote others down for their own personal reasons. Like the new tank in the story above...he would have gotten a bad review from the healer, even though it sounds like the healer was the one being a jerk.
And if only "uprankings" are possible, you end up with a situation like X-Box live where eventually everyone has 5 star ratings, and it ends up being more of a measure of your newness than your actual enjoyability to play with.
It would be nice to have a system for this that works well, but I'm just not sure what system that would be.
jealouspirate Mar 10th 2010 2:40PM
Unfortunately, this would probably lead to a huge amount of abuse from players. For example, giving someone an awful rating simply because they didn't overgear the content by a few tiers.
Aislinana Mar 11th 2010 4:25AM
ElitistGroup allows you to do this. It is also a comprehensive experience and relevant-gear-and-gems mod.
Bobbo Mar 10th 2010 2:41PM
ElitistGroup provides this functionality and does a form "gear scoring" without the Gear Score. Check it out.
Murdock Mar 10th 2010 2:45PM
I've played WoW for 4 years and 3 months, 4 years I've been with Sleeper Cartel (Perenolde, US) and I'm can't imagine leaving.
Congrats SC on 5 years!
-Foxtrot