5 Things Your PUG DPS Wants You To Know
…because we can’t let those goddamn healers & tanks point all the blame at the DPS, amirite?
Ok! So you’re a warlock. Or a rogue. Or a hunter. Or *involuntary shudder* a mage. You ask around in guild or in your local global channels to see if anyone’s interested in running a random heroic with you. Hell, we need our badgers as much as the next guy or gal, right? Instead of an overwhelming line of chat saying “Oooh, take me, take me! I’ll heal/tank/DPS!” you get nothing but the disturbing sound of crickets. Queue the LFG tool.
Sure, those bastard tanks & healers only have to wait around for a minute or less before they’re nabbed. We have to sit around for TEN WHOLE MINUTES OR MORE doing other things. And let me tell you, there are few things more unnerving than being in the middle of a tournament joust when you get the notification that it’s time to enter the dungeon RIGHT NOW!
So in you go and, dammit, would you look at that, it’s yet another Occulus run. No problem, says you to yourself. This thing’s been nerfed to the ground, baby! Except the tank says they’ve never been here before and the healer has, but only on their DPS main.
My friends? Prepare for a long, arduous dungeon crawl with hefty repair bills.
But there’s a few things we as DPSers expect of our tanks and healers. I will endeavor to list them with as much snark as I can muster on a tired Tuesday morning.
1.) I know there’s three DPS for every five-man group. There’s a reason there’s so many of us compared to one of each of you. We’re friggin’ just as essential! Without us, that 10 minute H-CoS run you’ve become used to will take much, much longer. We bring the pain. You don’t have to like the fact that our numbers are normally much higher than yours. You don’t have to like the fact that we become entranced by looking at those numbers and occasionally standing in shit. But for the love of all things holy, please, please, please help us stay alive a little bit by tossing us a little healing love once in awhile or by pulling that random mob that peeled off of your “awesome TPS”? Please?
2.) Buffs, we needs them. It doesn’t matter that it’s Heroic Nexus and everyone’s run their mother through it 1500 times already. That extra bit of health or intellect could mean the difference between dying stupidly to an inane trash pull or succeeding to the point where party chat remains a silent endeavor and I can get my emblems and GTFO of dodge.
3.) As much crap as I give healers, I do my level best to help them if they’ve pulled healing aggro by taking one for the team and quite possibly incurring a nasty repair bill. If this happens (and it has. A lot.) and the rest of the group lives, for fuck’s sake, could you toss a guy a rez? Pointing at my corpse and saying “lolnub” willcause me to soulshatter or vanish next to you when I intentionally pull aggro. Assholes.
4.) If you as the tank have a set kill order in mind, it would do you well to explain it to the rest of the group. Preferably by way of actually marking the damn mobs. Otherwise, my dots are going willy-nilly on any and all mobs, followed by some rather magnanimous AoE. If you did not mark it, I will kill it in the order I’m used to. This does not necessarily equate to how YOU’RE used to doing it. So save us both some time and gold by marking, k? Thanks.
5.) As a warlock, I do tend to use Life Tap. Seldom do I use it during the fight except to refresh my Glyph of Life Tap buff for increased spellpower. I DO, however, use it between fights. I have talents that allow me to regain health slowly without need of heals. This is not to say I don’t appreciate them. I do. Great oogly-moogly, I do! But if I’ve only Life Tapped once? A heal likely isn’t needed as 10 seconds later, I’ll have recovered all that health back anyways. And if worst comes to worst, I can Drain Life the next set of bad guys to full health. The point is, don’t feel the need to piss & moan at every life tapping warlock unless they’re going beyond the half-way mark of their health bar. Tell them to eat. Tell them to eat some of their soul cookies. Tell them to Drain Life. Or just let them be to handle themselves like every good warlock should be able to do.
(Sidenote: Renew or any other HoT is still a warlock’s best friend.)
Get to the Choppa!
Call in the Cavalry
Make It Count
The Plagueworks (10 player)
The Crimson Hall (10 player)
Utter Win. And, I think, the best of the series. >.>
From a tank/healer (yes, main spec is tanking, off spec is healing)
1. Good DPS is always welcome. But good DPS that does not understand the concept of threat is better dead.
2. Agreed, everyone should be buffed equally.
3. As a healer, I do heal DPS and rez them when needed. But I have to admit that it is bothering to see a DPS toon tanking something simply because they fail to click on the tank and press “F”.
4. Agreed to an extent. Best thing to do as DPS: follow whatever the tank is tanking (refer to the “F” key).
5. I love locks and being a druid, I get to give them HoTs regularly.
“Pointing at my corpse and saying “lolnub” will cause me to mis-direct on that person’s ass too!” Oh gee so sorry, I thought you were the tank.
A few comments, as a Paladin.
1) I know you want blessings. There are five of us, and we may all need different ones. You may be the worlds weirdest rogue and want BoW. That’s great! The time to ask me that is /at the start/ – NOT halfway through a boss fight.
Also, if you can’t do a trash pull without Kings? Having Kings isn’t going to make us win. Get over it.
2) We haven’t pulled yet. Yes, I still have crusader aura up. I just got here and am trying to get buffs sorted so you won’t whine. No, it won’t kill you, and the more you bitch about it, the less likely I am to change it, or to run something useless.
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1) No.
2) OMG PALLY BUFFS R SRS BZNS. …No.
3) You get a rez if it’s not a wipe. If I die, run back with me, bitch.
4) Kill the thing I’m targeting first, duh! Casters are ow!
5) You don’t know how obsessive healers are about less than full health bars, do you?
5) omg yes. healbot is all flashing and saying HEAL THEM TARD!!! There can be no less than full health bars!!!!
And if the healer doesn’t have that attitude, then I question them as a healer.
So let me get this straight… you question any healer that isn’t blowing all of their mana overhealing everyone? It’s obvious you don’t understand healing then. There’s a hierarchy, there’s understanding the situation, and there is being responsible with your resources involved. I also ignore any pleas for “healz plx” unless it’s actually warranted (I’ll be the first to admit sometimes we get tunnel vision!)
3) You get a rez if it’s not a wipe. If I die, run back with me, bitch.
5) You don’t know how obsessive healers are about less than full health bars, do you?
^ Also these.
I keep having to stand up for warlocks everywhere as well. Healers don’t always understand us. I play both, so I am overly critital of both.
There are fail locks out there who over life tap. To those morons, don’t heal them. For every other one who does it to refresh their spellpower buff, we aren’t doing it to ruin your day. If we get super low, then worry about us, but 99% of us can re-heal ourselves just fine.
I don’t disagree with any of what you said. But that said? Life tapping to half health in the middle of an AOE heavy fight and then bitching when you take a 11K hit of aoe and go down before I can heal you? Not my problem. I get that’s your mana. Try and respect mine, too.
And I always rez people if only one dies. But if I run? You’d better run, too. And while I’m happy to top people off since I have pretty darn good mana regen on my main, if I’m way down after a big fight and a lot of people are also way down, you might as well eat something. You’re gonna have to wait anyway after I heal people for me to get mana back. I promise, it isn’t faster for me to heal until i have no mana, then have some retard tank run in cause he’s at full health while I’m still drinking and wipe us. (It’s happened.)
And it’s called triage for a reason. If you’re pulling aggro over and over and I heal you and take aggro from you, we wipe. I know as soon as I cast a spell if I screwed up and pulled healing aggro. It doesn’t happen much. I’m good at what I do and tanks have pretty good threat most of the time. When I screw up, and you eat it for me, hey, I’ll rez you and heal you and thank you profusely. My goal is that we finish every fight with the whole party at full health and my mana bar at 3/4. I usually meet it. I hate seeing deaths more than you, believe it or not, since I consider it a personal fail.
Except that sometimes it really IS your fault.
Like hunter who refuses to feign death to try and break damage meter.
ALl in all, good players are good players, regardless of class.
And I bet my plate repairs cost more than your cloth ones, so I don’t want to hear it
I should write up a post. “Five Things Bricu Would like you to know about Pugs”
I did the 7 deadly sins of pugging ^_^
I just played bingo:
http://myguildhome.com/WTBSpellchecker/?p=637
As a Main Ret, Off Holy Paladin…
1. …I want you to know, fresh new 5-man heroic group, that I will distribute buffs accordingly and I will not grant wisdom whatsoever if there is a Shaman in the group. Furthermore, I expect you all to understand why this is so and say nil regarding it. Thanks. Now Crusader Aura is off too…see how good things happen to those who wait?
2. Tank, you could always go faster if you feel the healer is up to it, because I always will be. You set the pace, whether its turtle crawl or bat-out-of-hell speed, Im down.
3. As a 1337 hybrid DPS, I’ll have you know that I hate Hunters and Mages only because they out-DPS me so easily. My best friends play those classes and I couldnt live without me some strudels. However, dear 5-man heroic group, it IS a DPS race and I will be looking at those numbers and occasionally standing in shit for a second longer than necessary. No need to worry though, for I am a Pally hybrid and we DPSTANKHEAL quite nicely to stay alive in our lapses.
4. Considering the recent affirmation above, as a Ret Paladin, I shouldnt have to heal myself. Enough said. If the group is running nicely and I am feeling festive, I’ll toss my Art of War buff via Flash O’ Light towards someone who could use it. Your welcome. Wanna see my wings?
5. Tank, if my DEEPS pulls aggro, do try and withhold your anger for I wear plate and can handle most single mobs without you, while you distract the rest of the group that I didn’t manage to pull from you. After all, its not everyday that a Paladin can pull aggro. It feels “righteous” to utilize our annoying stuns and bubbles on an NPC for once, it feeds our flames and keeps us humble when we think of what could have been if only more mobs had attacked us. Especially if they weren’t zombies. LFG HoR.
1. My Main is a DPS. All I ever ask of a tank is try and mark targets, if you can’t I’ll just be a bit more careful. From a Tank perspective, if you can’t follow my marking order, feel free to leave. I can always replace a DPS.
2. I had a PuG last night that drove me batty. Was trying to make sure my buffs were set BEFORE moving. Shadow Priest suddenly whined “Can we get on with this?” So I made sure the heals and I were buffed and MOVED. If the DPS isn’t willing to wait for buffs, then they can go without. Heck, half the time on my hunter, I don’t even realize I’m missing a buff. I don’t keep track.
3. As DPS, unless its an AoE Damage effect, you should NOT BE TAKING DAMAGE. Or, if you get a mob on you? RUN TO THE TANK!!! (Cannot stress that enough). From a tank perspective see the second bit of DPS advice. Bring it to me. If I’ve got a Consecrate down, I’m NOT dragging the rest of the pack after you if my taunt fails to swing it back to me.
4. I mark my order, and since its a pretty standard mark system, I’ve yet to have people get confused. Work with me for two pulls, and it won’t change the rest of the way.
5. I’ve run with warlocks on both dps and tank. Most of the people I work with regularly remember that the warlock can steal life from targets, so rarely worry about it. Its when I get PuGs and the whiney Locks that demand heals that I just want to whack them over the head with my staff or mace (depending on the character).
“The point is, don’t feel the need to piss & moan at every life tapping warlock unless they’re going beyond the half-way mark of their health bar.”
Thank you for this. As a healer, this is exactly when I’ll complain. I see ‘locks do this until they’re almost dead and expect me to heal them back up during combat. The ones that use it in moderation don’t bother me at all.
Just doing my part to educate those yet unawares of the awesomeness of all things warlockery. And if the warlocks themselves don’t know? Piss on em. Let em die.
I am now tempted to make an “Arrens said let you die” macro to go with the “GC says you’re doing it wrong” macro.
Mother holy gord of cheese do I hate Lifetap-happy locks. Had one the other day on my 40 priest. After every fight, he’d tap down to a full mana bar which usually left him hovering around 30-40% HP.
Lock: *tap tap tap tap tap tap tap* Heal.
Me: *ignores, heals tank who just pulled another group*
Lock: *tap tap tap tap tap tap tap* Heal.
Me: *bubbles lock, sits down to drink/eat hoping he’ll get a clue*
Lock: *tap tap tap tap tap tap tap* Heal.
Me: *praying he’ll die to AoE…*
I still remember a while back grouping with a lock who had a MACRO to “/y I am lifetapping, heal me!”
…he died. A lot. Cackle.
And I’ll be honest, I can’t stand buff-happy DPS (or tanks, or healers). Every instance, they nag my baby paladin for buffs. I tell ‘em my buffs only last ten minutes, and no one waits for me to ever rebuff/drink up anyway. So I don’t buff on him anymore till I get greaters.
We will not wipe because you have might instead of kings, or vice versa, or neither. I promise.
[...] goddamn healers & tanks point all the blame at the DPS, [...] by Through the Eyes of Death » 5 Things Your PUG DPS Wants You To Know December 22, 2009 at 1:34 [...]
From a Pally’s Perspective.
**Holy**
-If I am kind enough to switch to holy spec and throw on holy gear, fuck off with the bitching because I damn well bet I can find a group without you in it, being a healer. I’ll buff people and switch auras when I’m ready. If you run ahead and pull before I buff then don’t ask for it mid-instance. The only one who really needs a buff is the tank, the rest of you can manage. You aren’t paying the mat costs, so back the fuck off.
-DPS is EXPENDABLE. No DPS is absolutely guaranteed a spot, there’s a dozen or more DPS just waiting to take your spot and with the new LFG system it isn’t a hassle anymore to switch one DPS for another, even mid-instance. You are entitled to nothing, you are the lowest shit in the shitpile and I don’t give a damn what your gear is, you’re expendable. Get used to it and be kind to your tank and healer. Period. You piss either one of them off and you’ll either be booted (if they are nice) or die a crapton of times (if they are evil).
-If I’m healing as a Holy Paladin, I’m healing the tank, not the DPS. Blame Blizzard, not me. You all have to gather around the tank if you want constant healing (yes you too miss huntard) because Blizz nerfed the Holy Light glyph to only heal people within 8 yards. Sucks, but it is what it is. Even being up close you won’t get hit by the mobs unless they do AoE damage, and if they start doing that then gather on ME so I can throw some partial group healing on all of you at once.
**Protection**
-If I’m tanking and you pull aggro, just feint/vanish/bubble/soulshatter if you have it. If you don’t come to me for my consecrate to get them off you or you don’t bother to STOP dpsing for a second or two while I regain threat on the mob, then I’ll just laugh while they kill you, then boot you while you’re dead and replace your sorry wannabe-DPS ass. Nobody fucking tells me a damn thing about what to do if I’m tanking a 5-man heroic. I know my shit, I know the encounters, I have to, its why I’m tanking. Don’t act like I don’t know a damn thing unless we have an unexpected wipe for some reason.
-Don’t bitch at me about your DPS. I don’t give two shits about DPS in a 5-man heroic. This isn’t a raid so stop killing yourself over and over and bitching at the healer. I don’t need healers to leave the group either in the middle of a mob pull or immediately before/after a boss. Its happened, and it sucks, because you worthless fucking DPS want to bitch and whine about everything. STFU!!! Go reroll a pally and learn what its like to do something besides DPS and then see how you like it.
-If you are a DK and you have Frost Presence and full Frost spec, that doesn’t automatically allow you to be a better tank then a Warrior or Pally. Put on your tanking gear. PUT ON TANKING GEAR PERIOD. If you have no tanking gear then don’t tank, don’t bother to tank, just maybe OT if we desperately need it but please dont’ say you’re a tank if you don’t have the gear for it, kthx.
-Bear druids, much love and respect for you but unless you have a good knowledge of HOW to tank as a druid, don’t bother. Do us all a favor and don’t bother unless you know your shit.
**Retribution**
-If I’m DPSing and you are not a Holy Pally, then HEAL ME! You have no excuse since Blizzard blessed every class BUT pallys with awesome group healing utility. So use it and be kind enough to throw a HoT sometime, pl0x. Just because I’m DPS as a Pally doesn’t mean you can completely ignore me and not heal me. It sucks ass when I have to stop DPSing to throw heals on myself, or when I have to pop my LoH or bubble myself so I don’t get nuked since I’m not being healed. Bosses hurt, and plate armor alone doesn’t do shit against em.
-If you piss me off, I’m not buffing you. If you ninja my gear (to disenchant or whatever), I’ll make sure you get no heals or rezzes, or that you get booted. God help you if I’m the leader and I catch you pulling that shit.
-I don’t give a fuck about your DPS. You’re only DPS while I’m the person that threw a bubble on the healer when they pulled aggro, threw an instant Flash of Light on you or your buddies to top you off or help keep you from the brink of death, threw on my healing mace & shield and tossed a Holy Light or two to assist the healer in keeping all your asses alive, and so on. I’m utility, you’re not. And if I’m the only Pally in the group then it wouldn’t hurt to be kind enough not to piss me off, thanks.
The main problem with WoW is those people who feel entitled to shit because they can DPS. If you aren’t a tank then you really have no entitlement to anything. Healing is difficult to find but a lot easier to find then a tank, and I can even throw on Holy gear and manage. If you’re a DPS, be grateful you’re in the group, and if you aren’t grateful then don’t be surprised if you get booted. We are doing YOU a favor by letting you in to get badges or w/e.
Treat your tanks and healers with respect and courtesy, do the same with pallys, and you’ll be treated in kind.
Sweet merciful Christ. Wall of text crits you for 9,000,000.
Look, you realize this was tongue-in-cheek, yes? Maybe not. Well this is me telling you it was. Relax, don’t get your knickers in a bunch and just…breathe.
I don’t get the big deal about tanking. You just pull things and stand there, maybe hit a few buttons. You’re just TAKING damage – if you have a good healer you don’t even really need a “tank.” Should probably stop feeling so superior.
Wow, Nerdrage much?
Take the previous advice and breathe!
Having played a pally as prot, ret, and holy I understand where you are coming from. I have experienced all these scenarios. What I do not understand is your anger and hostility to others. First, you are not special (regardless of what your mother has told you). When your wait time in the new LFG system is short, it is not because your skill as tank is legendary. There are fewer tanks to fill the spot. It is simply mathematics.
Second, while I do believe that tanking and healing are the most difficult (and stressful) roles in a group, you are part of a team and it takes the whole team to accomplish the goal. Without DPS you are useless. And before you cite the ease of replacing a DPS realize how many people are currently leveling a pally or druid specifically to make them a tank or healer. Considering your willingness to not perform your duties (i.e. healing and buffing) do not be surprised when people boot you from the group.
And lastly, remember this is a video game! It is meant to be entertaining. It is not meant to be a surrogate for real life nor is it going to inflate a flaccid ego. People who are emboldened by the anonymity of teh internets to commit random acts of douche-baggery or nerdrage in a pug are the kind of people who could suck the fun out of a roman orgy. So come down off that pedestal, it looks rather rickety.
“The main problem with WoW is those people who feel entitled to shit because they can DPS. If you aren’t a tank then you really have no entitlement to anything.”
LAWL. Sorry, sweet cheeks, you being a tank doesn’t entitle you to treat everyone around you like shit and/or act like you’re kind of the goddamned mountain. There are 13 MILLION accounts active in this game. You, too, can be replaced if you’re going to act like a spoiled brat.
#1. agree
#2. I likes my buffs, but I will not nag about them. I really do wish pallies would give me kings instead of wisdom when I’m healing, though. If a tree needs wisdom, there is something seriously wrong with their gear.
#3. Agree again, although, yes, if we wipe, I run back with the group.
#4. Marks are good, because targeting the tank and hitting ‘f’ doesn’t work when the tank needs to switch targets to keep aggro on everything. Not every tank has a lolsecrate.(Or knows how to use it properly.)
#5. As a healer, you get one rejuv between pulls for lifetap. And you only get that because I am OCD about my addon saying 100%. If I ever get a lock that is tap-happy, I will get over my OCD and let them die.
(That said, I haven’t grouped with very many locks besides Arrens, and he actually does know how to tap.:) Lucky me?)
That’s ’cause I’m awesome, Kel.
Obviously you’re just bad.
Also since when do people complain about lifetap anymore? I thought that died out a long time ago…
I can’t get into a PUG without the non-druid healer grumbling about life-tapping warlocks before the first trash pull. It happens. And if I’m in my Affliction spec, I just tell them to ignore me. Between Corruption & Haunt, unless I’m taking damage from stupid on my part, I’m rather self-sufficient on the healing aspects.
When I raid on my warlock, I have the opposite problem: exasperated healers /w’ing me mid-fight to remind me to lifetap! (It’s not so much that I’m OOM as it is I’m wasting their pre-emptive HoT because, in the heat of battle, I didn’t notice it ticking. >.> Sorry guys!).
Thanks for the link love, Arrens. <3
I only ever heal Locks out of combat… they get one HoT and that’s all… They better hurry up and Life Tap to take advantage of it, cause I’m not doing a 2nd one.
I call it revenge for them playing a “Mage” with a big health pool, then denying that they play a Mage…
Mages get heals all day long… even when at full health, I practice my overheal on them.
You, sir, would be the first one I’d soulshatter next to, be it on your mage or healer, were I to *oops* pull aggro.
Ohhh diddums….
I’ve shattered a Lock’s heart…
How will I ever live with myself?
Still, I don’t want you to think I am completely soulless… I will heal your Imp… because they are close enough to Gnomes… without the great comedy repertoire.
Ok I’m not going to piss bitch or moan…but I will say this WHY Bloggesphere did you not tell me about “F” until now?? hmm? hmm?
‘Cause I accidentally keybound it to Rain of Fire a LONG time ago. :3
True story.
Something for everyone:
If the rogue is attacking early and AoEing like crazy, they’re giving the tank Eleventy Fuckzillion threat. Don’t worry about them.
Unless they’re failing at using the greatest thing that ever happened to the class, at which case, confiscate their opposable thumbs posthaste.
ALL MY THREATS ARE BELONG TO U.
Interesting take from the other end.
I am a holy priest and I love locks and all other dps that helps us clear fast.
What I personnally dislike about some locks (the soul tapping with in an inch of your life/death during a fight, their unwillingness to let the tank grab aggro before unleashing their doomy prowess, and their babblement on why they died after the boss/mob turned to them for a hug.
Now I toss hots to locks during fights. Hell I even announce it with a “HOT Lock” making the other party members look at me like I lost my mind. I even toss hots on them when not in combat.
I am one of those priests mentioned who hate seeing any mana bar below 80%. It makes me twitch. I only ever don’t heal locks when the rinse and repeat the life tap, steal aggro, die. Then they are kinda on their own.
Reading a lot of blogs for other classes has helped me understand why a pally tank might run like a bat out of hell through an instance when I want to always have full mana. Live and learn.
Cindy
Opps that should read, I hate any health bar below 80%.
One other thing, if the group is pretty close to fail or the group seems like it’s over its head in whatever instance we’re in, I want full mana for each pull. those five pulls in FoS are a complete bitch for undergeared groups. Help me help you to live.