In which I didn’t do so well, but

If tonight was an audition – and I were the judge – I’d not be putting me on the a-list. Or maybe even the b-list. Warning, a bit of a ramble going on below…

sigh. OK, let’s use it to teach you, the loyal readers, some lessons. to start, theory and practice are not the same. I know this, you know this, and we all get to learn the same lesson over and over. you know what – let’s start with my two instance runs tonight.

First, I got a nice little SteamVault (SV) run – cleared the whole thing, and by the way picked up my last fragment for the kara key. The main purpose was because one of the regulars was trying to get revered for the heroic key. We had four kara+ runners (at least two were on the team that’s getting ready for SSC), and me. Which basically means the only thing everyone knuckled down on to get RIGHT were the bosses. Trash? pull, hit, spread the fire, oh look at them drop.

The laziness tempted me at first. And I even took my eyes away regularly to get a better grip on my glass of water, and answer my wife’s questions, and… oh, crap the hunter is dying slap key……..dead FLASH !crap!. Or to do that more completely – greater heal (didn’t get done in time). If I’d been paying attention I’d have seen that he got hit hard and hit him with a shield first, then the greater heal. Just an instant… Or maybe I’d have started the heal faster… I never lost a player after that except in boss fights. But I lost the hunter’s pet two more times (that I remember – it may have been three). NOT what I consider a top game.

Oh – I drowned getting the kara key. Somehow I slipped out of the bubbles while looting and didn’t notice. Add that embarrassment to the rest of the story.

Evaluation at this point — adequate. Needs some polish, but don’t put on the A team. do a followup.

And that’s where… sheesh. My tank died four times. That’s the bottom line in my eyes. Let’s make it “not so bad” with the whole story, but don’t forget the bottom line.

The test was BM. Hey, I needed the key finished, and some people wanted an amulet. Synergy is great.

1) DO NOT let your experienced players take off without you. No, let’s be more accurate. You are the healer, you are THE critical factor. If you do not know what is going on, STOP. ASK. Don’t run madly trying to keep up. Because I didn’t do this… I wasn’t on the right vent channel. And I was so busy later (that’s coming) that when they’d send a message for me to get on the right channel I’d pop over, look at the fact I’ve got a channel with the same number (but not rest of the label), and think I was fine. ESPECIALLY (and this was funny, later) when there’s another thing being run and when the tank dies the message coming over the channel is “oh, crap I died.” yes, two times, a player in this other group died just about the time my tank died. Verbal reinforcement that I’m where I’m supposed to be. sigh.

2) DO NOT let your experienced players take off without giving you the information on what’s needed UP FRONT. I said busy. It was my first time into BM. I didn’t understand what was going on with cats and gators – and worse, why the heck is this group GOING OUT OF MY HEAL RANGE AND SIGHT. There was a really good reason, actually, that relied on their experience. But because of point one (vent) I couldn’t get them to tell me what was going on. sigh – add another fail point for me here. I got jumped by some cats. I had a rescue coming – and started. I saw people dying, and thought it was THE OTHER GROUP (which I could see surrounded by gators). No, the player who died was the one rescuing me. I completely lost track of who was where and needing what.

3) Find your primary player and stick to him. My primary player is the tank. period. Now, the fact that I lost him (cast a spell and get out of sight or out of range) more than once was bad enough. Twice, though, I had him in isight and range and stopped to cast a health on someone else — and didn’t get back quite in time. Great, saved the mage (or the hunter), but in the process the tank died.

4) WHEN I got together what was going on AND on the right channel, we were on the 14th portal. At that point… I got my act together. and I STILL lost the tank one more time. Now, I use my instant (renew) as a range-finder in this situation. Move, cast, move cast – repeat till the cast succeeds. At that point through the frisbee because the glow path points the tank out to me. and I can go back to healing. Why do I lose them again? Because as soon as the portal’s done they’re dashing to the next – – while I’m stopping to chug water. (another lesson learned – by the 16th portal I was running half-way, then sitting to get water while keeping them somewhat in sight. 16, 17, and 18 went smoothly.)

If there’s a saving grace, that last sentence was it. 16, 17, and 18 went smooth. I’d learned and assimilated and corrected errors.

OK, it was a stress test. And I recovered. But… By my score, ‘tolerable, but if we need to lose a healpriest he’s choice number one.’

LESSONS…

1) As an experienced player you need to have what it takes to tell the mission boss STOP when you don’t understand. It’s an excellent test for a guild to run – intentionally take a fast, tough instance, and see if the player does the test. I failed, by the way. Not completely – I was asking what was going on and asking for clarification, but I didn’t grab the brakes.

2) Repeating the same point – you are one of the two critical players. You HAVE a brake that doesn’t exist for any other player. If you stop, they stop. The tank might be able to do it. DPS can’t. You and the tank are what allow the rest to succeed. It’s an awesome power, but don’t be scared to use it. By the same token, don’t abuse it by stopping every. single. time.

3) Heal the tank. Heal the tank. heal the tank. if there is ANY doubt at all, heal the tank.

4) BM is not quite as bad as heroics and (other) raids. It’s your lesson that from here on out mana is going to be out far too often. EVERY little trick you can think of should apply. Pick the tough guy in the second portal and send your fiend – and do it at the start of every portal in which the cooldown is open. Don’t wait to use Inner Focus. Time the potions you use – use them when they’ll bring you to 100% so you just might get to use another due to cooldown expiring if things get that nasty. If you’ve got trinkets that CAN save you mana, use them every chance you get. (By the way, I did fine here. I ran out twice – both times right after a portal was done and we were going to another. )

5) And even when everything is going the absolutely worst, remember you can still win. Don’t bother trying to run out of the instance unless you are the ONLY one left. Why? Because if it’s going to be a wipe the darn thing resets anyway — all you’re doing by running is guaranteeing it (and spending a bit less in armor repair costs).  By staying… you get those “Holy crap” situations.  Whether it’s that way for everyone or just for you, you made it when you thought you wouldn’t.  It’s a very good feeling, and…

redemption matters.  Not least, because even when you feel like you did tons and tons of things wrong, that redemption reminds you of THE most important thing.

6) If it isn’t fun, don’t do it.  The guild isn’t your life or death.  It’s just a different version of fun.  If it doesn’t work out, do something else.  Me, I expect I’ll continue.  I did screw up some things, but the end result is that I got my act together and succeeded.  And I didn’t join this guild as a “A-team” player — they’ve got too many healers, they can afford to have me in the scrubs.  Which works for me – a casual player who is interested in higher level raids – and for them, as they get an experienced priest on standby who has time to get the kinks worked out.  It’ll be fun.

~ by Kirk on September 9, 2007.