Raid Rage: Do we really have the right?

Having previously stated that no-one talks in looking for raid I now have to revise this opinion and not for the better. My LFR group has just wiped for the 3^rd time on Megaera and (since the first wipe) the instance chat has been filled with a lot of vitriol directed at one of the tanks for not knowing their job.

‘FFS’ and ‘OMG ur crap’ are flying left, right and centre, and, in the time it takes for the raid to vent its collective spleen, I began to think about the whole situation. I understand that there is a degree of frustration in dying, suddenly that quick and easy run of ours has become not so quick and easy, but is that sufficient reason to repeatedly insult the tank?

To give a bit of background after the first wipe one of the two tanks admitted that they had not done this fight before and so were not 100% sure on what to do. This elicited such knowledgeable responses and ‘leave the raid’ and ‘go read a guide’ before the other tank tells them to focus on the blue head (we are fighting a hydra monster, complete with multiplying heads) and then switch, when the group shifts its focus.

SO the second fight does indeed go on for longer, but when we switch to another ahead the learner tank switches to the wrong head, cue wipe and further tirades of abuse. I am not exactly sure how the tank was supposed to know which of the two other heads was the right one (given it starts with 3). I have a look at those people giving the tank grief, find that all of them are performing the damage role (the same role as me and 16 others in the raid of 25) and begin to wonder whether they have ever tried to tank a raid.

The damage class within raids are the hammer to the tanks anvil, dishing out punishment to all comers. However (within LFR at least) it’s the easiest role to fulfil, providing your gear is suitably high and you copy what the other damage people are doing you can get by without too much trouble. In fact you can die at the beginning of a boss fight and get resurrected at the end without too much comment, other than the occasional jibe at how much of a ‘noob’ you are. For when you are damage you are important collectively, but not necessarily individually.

However tanking is a completely different ball-game; you are one of two in a 25-person group and if you die or make a wrong move the raid often wipes (dies). A good tank can make a heck of a difference within a raid, but these good tanks have to come from somewhere and try each raid for the first time. I guess I felt that members of the raid were being unfair to that particular tank and that maybe more constructive advice could have been given. Again it goes back to this idea that a raid should be more than the sum of its parts, it should be people working together to overcome a challenge, even if part of that challenge is that a person in a critical role has not done a particular raid before. I think that if between the first and second wipe someone had explained to the tank exactly how the fight went down and at what point they should be on what head it could have gone differently.

Therein lies the problem of which I’ll happily admit being part of, if I knew the fight then I could fill that role, but I don’t. To be frank I have gotten lazy in LFR, I know that as a damage role I can pick one of the other 16 damage dealers and copy their attack patterns if I am not sure. So maybe that’s the solution, maybe we should all try to be familiar with the parts each of the roles (healer, tank and damage) should play within each boss fight, then when someone who is uncertain is stepping up for the first time we can be there to support.

Don’t get me wrong, not every raid goes down like the above, but when it does stick by the player (whatever role they may be) and give them constructive advice on what they need to do. At the same time there will always be those who rush in and ignore whatever advice is offered by anyone and there is definitely scope for kicking them, but everyone deserves a chance.