The Experiment Continues

PFTW = 23
PFTF = 6
LHB = 4

Since the last update, Zaphodicus has run Azjol-Nerub, ToC, Utgarde Keep and Utgarde Pinnacle. All were PFTW. Van ran Old Kingdom, Azjol-Nerub, Utgrade Keep, The Culling of Strat, ToC, and Violet Hold. The ToC and the Violet Hold were the 2 PFTFs. In ToC we never even got to start the jousting because of the bickering between the tank and a dps. It was so ridiculous the others just started leaving and I joined them. The Violet Hold was interesting, in that we wiped on a boss about half-way through and one of the dps said they “didn’t have time for this” and left. After about 10 seconds of silence everyone else left too. What surprised me was that up to that point it was a smooth run. It wasn’t like there had been issues all along. Considering the concept that pugs are usually comprised of people that haven’t played together before, I would think that a wipe here and there is to be expected. One-Wipe-Wimps. Oh well.

Zaph ran one random: H Nexus with Kreios, Odie, Aradia and one pugger. As you can see, Van and Zaphodicus are getting the random action, more so than Zaph. There is a reason for this.

When I run as Vandalayinc or Zaphodicus, I am queued as DPS. No one pays any attention to me, regardless of low gear score, the low dps numbers, nothing. No nonsense at all. When I run as Zaph, obviously I am queued as tank. Which means that I am the focal point of any jerk that either wants to go faster, go slower, says I can’t hold agro (even though they open fire without giving me a chance to establish threat), or they just want to be the class clown for attention.

Whenever I run Van or Zaphodicus, I still see the nonsense, it’s just not directed towards me. Always the tank. Sometimes the healer, too, but the tank ALWAYS gets pulled into it. Unless I’ve grouped with my guild mates, because then people tend to keep quiet, not wanting to take on the whole group.

So is it any wonder that there are less tanks out there and that it takes longer to get one for a pug?

I think I speak for all tanks when I say:

We gear up and study our specs, optimize our enchants and gemming in order to take heat from the enemies. NOT FROM OUR PARTY MEMBERS.

If someone dies because they have no patience and can’t wait for the tank to gain the threat lead and grab the agro … guess what? IT’S YOUR FAULT YOU DIED.

And to all you murloc turd-ball hunters and dks out there that like to make an un-announced pull just to speed things up? Tanks do the pulling unless the tank says otherwise. Henceforth, if I’m tanking, you can bet that IF YOU GRAB IT, YOU STAB IT. I’ll just stand there and laugh at your sorry butt while it’s getting flattened.