Zen and the Art of Looking For Dungeon
I am remembering now that I used to really enjoy PvP in World of Warcraft. Not necessarily because I'm good at it - I'm not, particularly - but because it works well with my approach to most things. That is, I go into something with almost no expectations, and if there's anything positive from it, I'm pleased by it. Expectations, by and large, are responsible for more misery in the world than anything else. So it shouldn't be surprising that I can extend that to the LFD tool, and the occasional terrible group that arises from it.
Last night, buoyed by success on previous occasions, I brought up the LFD tool as soon as I logged in, and set it off looking for a random dungeon. In the meantime, I did a spot of crafting, some tradeskill dailies, a bit of archaeology, and bought some new kit from the AH. In due course, the LFD tool pulled me into a group who were one boss into Halls of Origination.
I was immediately asked to vote to kick a hunter. I took a look at the text he was spewing, and voted for just that. He disappeared, and another one appeared within seconds. Then the healer (paladin) (who had, I think, just been parachuted in as well) started to have issues with his interface. He and the tank (druid) discussed this, in English and in Polish, for a few minutes, and he refused to take the tank's advice. Then he disconnected, warning us sternly not to kick him before he came back. Of course, he had barely gone before the kick vote was on screen, and the yeas won. Seconds later, a new healer dropped in, a paladin with an offensive name.
The tank asked the paladin for a different aura, a few times, and finally got what he was looking for. And then he trundled on into the place where the troggs are, and proceeded to try to clear them before we tackled the elementals. Unfortunately, they respawn until the main boss appears, so you can't clear them. He was told this, over and over, but didn't appear to be paying attention. Eventually, however, he took on the elementals, and one wipe later, the boss.
Thence on to the upper chamber, where there are four bosses, each of which have their own unique approaches. One of the DPS folks, a death knight, had some firm opinions about how these should be handled, but the tank went ahead and did it his way, over and above the swearing. Finally, we took down the last boss, and everyone disappeared without a word.
Terrible group? Well, maybe. But I really enjoyed it. My only expectation going in was that I might finish the run. As it was, I got some really entertaining people-watching done, learned some new configurations of swearing in English, noted a tendency toward Polish players on one of the other servers in our battlegroup, learned some ways in which the fights can go wrong, and how to handle them, admired the scenery in the dungeon, and finished the run.
And after that, I went into a random battleground, and really enjoyed that for much the same reasons. These things can be pleasantly intense, but no matter how bad they are, there's really very little negative consequence from them. It's only if you go in expecting large positive outcomes that you'll be disappointed.
Posted by Drew Shiel at January 13, 2011 12:21 PM
