I've been kicking around this post for a while. Mainly, I don't want it to sound like I'm whining or digging around for sympathy because I'm absolutely not. I'm merely making an observation and stating my feelings on the topic.
Last night I left Mis in the Trade District Inn in Stormwind.When I log in tonight, my General chat box will be filled with people looking to fill out a raid group. When "LF1M Tank" catches my eye, that sentence will also likely contain the words "experienced" and "geared." Because of that, I'll go about my business...do my dailies, farm some ore...then log off.
As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I took a hiatus after dinging 80. When I came back I walked into a guild that was entirely different than the one I left. I was no longer a viable endgame tank for CoF, we had new, well-geared tanks and there were names I didn't recognize who were running heroics and raids and linking their epics in /gchat.
It kinda floored me, because I hadn't really been gone that long. While I don't regret taking the time off, the hiatus put me at a distinct disadvantage. We're at the point now where people generally don't want to bring someone, especially a tank, who isn't wearing all purples into Naxx, the entry-level raid, and let them see the fights for the first time. People want to run into Naxx 10, get their Emblems, and get out as quickly as possible. Everyone's thinking Ulduar and they don't want to put up with someone who will slow them down.
Maybe I'm wrong - I certainly hope I'm wrong - but it seems as though if you're not raiding now, don't hold your breath.
I'm not the best tank in the world, but I'm also not some n00b who doesn't understand how to play his class. All that seems to be keeping me out of the endgame are the blues I'm wearing and the fact that I haven't seen any of the endgame fights.
I've had one or two opportunities to run one-boss raids with our guild, but had to decline due to kid issues (Dad first, Tank second). We've also had some Left-Coasters setting up runs really late in the evening on weekends. I just can't start a three-hour raid night at 11:00 pm.
I am, however, signed up for OS 10 on Friday and I'm really hoping I get the chance to go. It just seems like there's always something getting in the way of the rare opportunities I manage to get.
A strange thing happened a couple of nights ago. A Shaman who's been on my Friend List since I was in my 30's whispered me while I was doing Scholazar ore loops. At first I thought that I got my first whisper because of my D-List Celebrity WoW Blogger status, but it turns out that this person was actually offering me an invite into their guild...an established raiding guild on our server.
We both tried to figure out where we initially met, but couldn't come up with it. I believe we hooked up in STV to do a group quest together, but I may be wrong. I told them that I wasn't raiding at the moment and they told me that anytime I wanted to run something to send them a tell.
I don't know. Maybe it's time to move on and find a guild that has a B or C Team that I can hook up with and see some content. That would certainly be a remedy for the constant subliminal message that comes across when you read in-game chat or many WoW blogs: your gear sucks, therefore you must suck, therefore we don't want you around, n00b.
I always felt like number 4 was the least likely to ever happen. Now I'm begging to think number 3 may take the top spot.
Here's hoping I get in on the fun this Friday.
Keeping my fingers crossed.
already do!
Dead Event League
1 day ago
10 comments:
Good luck - WoW can be extremely unforgiving.
Part of the reason I'm dithering so much in mid-70s is that I'm almost dreading hitting 80 because I know I'll want to continue playing the game but am unlikely to ever be in a position where I can.
The only way to get into running even heroics, as far as I can see, is to, err, run heroics. Am I the only one who sees the logical flaw in that? Essentially you seem to have depend on the good will of your extremely highly-geared guildies to nurture you through a couple of times until you actually get enough stuff not to be a liability...
Also tanks and healers are in an even worse position. Because they're the lynchpin of the operation, they're held to a higher standard. You can occasionally sneak into things as a non-ideal DPS which people would countenance for their tank.
And for what it's worth, this post really doesn't even brush up against whinging. *I* whinge. You most certainly don't.
Oh Mis is more than geared enough to main tank the 10 mans with the exception of EoE and Ulduar. The problem is we do not have a lot of active healers. Until just recently, we only had 1 semi active healer, so getting a group together for any raid as a guild was almost impossible.
That's one of the reason I leveled my druid as a resto. So that I can heal for the guild in the raids. We now have 3 extra healers that are geared for raids...however, the problem is that all 3 are alts of geared DPS in the guild. So worse case scenario we'll have tanks and heals but we'll have to pug some DPS.
On a side note, the problem I have with running pug heroics is that people will jump right into heroics without being geared for it. I've had many a group wipe because there wasnt enough DPS what with people wearing low 70s gears or tanks that cant take the hit because they are not defense cap.
@imsr: Heroics aren't really the issue, as I've been able to get my kind and loving guildies (like Jaz here) to help me out. PUGging them is infuriating, though.
To your point, the overall attitude that "You have to be well-geared to run this...but you have to run it to get well-geared" has a logic gap the size of the Atlantic Ocean.
You're right about tanks and healers, too. I've called them the "battery" of the group before and that's because the success or failure of the run often rests on their shoulders.
And thank you, I don't want to come across as a "QQ nobody wants to play with me" type :)
@Jaz: The problem with you rolling a healer is that we lose our epic little gnome daMAGE monkey. :)
Anybody trying to tank a heroic should have no trouble getting to the defense cap for a heroic because, since the bosses are a level lower than raid bosses, the defense cap is lower. I believe it's only 525 Def for heroics. If you gear right, you should get that without even trying.
Damn. This comment could have been a post.
@Mis: Yea but DPS is a dime a dozen. In all my experience its usually harder to find tanks and especially heals. So that being said, chances are higher for a full raid group if the tanks and healer spots are already filled. :)
I've spent 30 min - 45 min just sitting in Dalaran trying to find a healer for Naxx10 when someone had to bail after 1 or 2 bosses. And then end up calling it because there's no heals out there. Its very frustrating because now you're saved.
Oh and Mis, I've been in a group where the tank only had 450 defense. Yea it wasnt pretty. LOL :)
450? That won't even keep you from getting crit by Attumen.
I still have my fingers crossed for Friday. Here's hoping we can actually get it going.
I'm still not sure whether I can make it or not as I have the kids that night. But even so, you should have no problem with the 3 drakes. They are pretty straight forward. The last boss is where most people will fail the first few times because of the fire walls.
Let me put it this way: If you don't make it I'm gonna have another naked dance party with Fainora in the middle of Duskwood.
How ya like that, tough guy?
:)
Edit to a previous comment.
Heroic defense cap is 535.
I might have something to say about that. :-)
Hey, don't complain. You were there.
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