What compels people to sign up for raids they clearly can't do?

[Raelbo]

I haven't done much "real" raiding this expansion due to many RL concerns, but I am still a raider at heart who works hard at his game and makes the effort to progress as much as possible within the constraints of not having a regular group to do normal or better stuff in.

As such I quite enjoy opportunities to step into a normal mode and generally I perform well when invited to do so.

So, last night I see a Normal mode run being advertised looking for a dps. I have done quite a bit of Flex this tier and I know my stuff, so I decided it would be worth it to give it a shot. My thought process was:

"I am geared enough. I know the fights. I can do my bit and more".

If only some others in the pug had the same approach.

In the end it was an unmitigated disaster.

First of all the gear people were in was a mess. One healer at about 505, another at 515, and the best of the 3 at about 525. The tanks weren't much better: 517, 528. And 2 of the dps were below 520.

Inspecting their gear didn't instill me with much confidence, but I reckoned may as well play it out and see.

So on Immersius, first attempt, we lose 2 dps and 2 healers and a tank before the blob phase. The mage managed a pitiful 46K dps before he died with the first swirl (during which time I might add we had timewarp up). Apart from that I thought dps was probably enough to beat the encounter, assuming people could survive.

Anyhow I deterrenced the aoe from the blobs, and feigned death, thus surviving the fight on full health while everyone else was dead. A few complained about the healers until I pointed out that during the fight I had been healed for a total of 600K of which 500K was my own self healing. In other words I didn't rely on a single heal from any healer to stay alive.

Second attempt, same story, except 3 had already dropped group before the fight was even over. Again, I survived with everyone else dead.


Which leaves me wondering what the hell these guys were thinking when deciding to join the fight. We failed for a number of reasons, but they were almost entirely down to Illidan's explanation: "You are not prepared".

I wasn't expecting people to be in 550+ gear. I wasn't expecting people to have a full 14/14 normal clear. Hell, I wasn't expecting any normal progress from anyone. I wasn't expecting to one shot the boss.

But I was expecting people to at least know the fight and be able to get the mechanics sufficiently correct based on Flex/LFR experience. I was expecting people to at least have some of the gear that is easily obtainable from world bosses, LFR, Timeless Isle (with Burden of Eternity) and Flex.

Why on earth would someone who can't even get the basics right in Flex or LFR, and whose gear is doubtful even for Flex, elect to join a normal group? Clearly 7/10 of those guys were hoping it was a good group who could carry them, which is just never going to work....

I guess I am slightly annoyed. I feel like I wasted my time because of other, selfish, people who never stopped to think about what they were doing. In the end they accomplished nothing by joining the group except wasting their time and everyone else's.

To me it just seems obvious. Don't sign up for shit if you are simply going to be a hindrance to everyone else. It will 9/10 times end badly with other people annoyed at you.

I often find it sad to see flex part 1 groups asking for 550 ilevel, but given some of my experiences with the type of people who try to sneak into any group they find in spite of being totally unprepared, I find this phenomenon unsurprising. In the end, ironically, I believe it is hurting those undergeared, dishonest players the most, because they have taught the competent community to be very wary of them indeed.

[Beace]

Whoever created that raid obviously had no clue what he or she was doing. How does players below 530 ilvl get invited? The biggest failure of the raid you describe lay at the hands of the leader.

Anyway, yeah WoW is full of bad players that want to be carried.

[Skippy88]

Your probably dealing with multiple issues:

1. You have people who level and get into their own rotation not realizing that's not going to cut it in a raid setting.
2. You have people not gemming/reforging/enchanting due to multiple reasons and not realizing that has a big effect on how you perform.
3. Not realizing they are better served by going to the Timeless Isle or they do realize that but hate the experience.
4. Lack of skill/awareness.
5. Like you they feel they are ready but watching only a video doesn't make you an expert.
6. LFR hardly teaches you the fight.
7. Alts

Next time create your own raid and make sure anyone who joins is going to able to meet the bar that Blizzard has set.

[Defaulty]

Newer raiders don't understand the true requirements behind raiding. They shouldn't focus so much on overall "ilvl" but what gear that their class requires and is readily available to them. It's possible they don't know there are stepping stones to get to the bar that is required to engage the encounters.

Even then they don't know optimal play, optimal stats, optimal UI custimization. Every raid leader in the world says, "Have a boss mod" but many don't know that you can turn off specific timers that don't pertain to their role.

It's not entirely their fault they don't know all this, but being supportive in helping them understand and giving them a nudge can change a new player to a top quality raider.

[Last Starfighter]

You always here "Yeah, I'm a little undergeared, but I can out dps ppl in higher ilvl gear than me". Then you get them in the raid, and find out that's not even close to the reality. People want to get carried.