I’d like to discuss two issues that have bothered me while pugging VoA in WoW. It is not about the game itself, but about the attitude players have.
EDIT: Fixed math.
Too many of a single class?
The first issue is the attitude that people have in regards to several players of the same class joining a pug for VoA. I often see the following sentence:
“No more DKs, please. We already have 4.”
I think there is a rational/mathematical problem with this argument (it does of course apply to all classes).
Let’s assume you’re the only DK in a raid. The chance of a DK-tier item dropping is of course not high (I’m not sure how low. I believe Emalon and Archavon each drop 2x tier-items). But if it does drops, you have a 100% chance of obtaining it. If another DK joins the raid, your chance is reduced to 50%. Another one, 33,33%. Another one 25%. Another one, 20%.
So I can understand why a single DK would ask that no other DKs join (which is possible in a 10-man raid, but probably too much to ask in a 25-man). However, if you already are 2 DKs, I’m not sure it makes sense to be concerned about another one joining. I guess that 17% less chance of getting the tier is a lot, but you were down to 50% already. Most raids won’t have a problem with 3 DKs, but 4 or 5 are too many. Going from 4 to 5 will only reduce the chance of getting tier by 5%. How is that a problem? Apparently, you didn't mind going to 50% or 33%, so why is it a problem to go from 25% to 20%?
And it gets more silly when people transfer this logic to OS. Guess what? The tier-tokens in OS are shared by 3 or 4 different classes. Getting another Mage, Rogue or Druid would reduce the chance of getting the token just as much as if you got another DK!
I guess that people simply “panic” when they realize how low their odds are becoming. But this is not a very rational as far as I can see. So while you may argue that you are okay with 33%, but not with 25%, please make sure you have a good reason before you complain.
Too many melee?
The second issue is about another comment that I sometimes hear in a VoA-pug:
"Sorry, we have too many melee."
I think this is an example of people deluding themselves into believing that an encounter require things that it really doesn't. Of course, it is true that melee get a minor disadvantage against Emalon. They lose a few seconds of attacking (and may get their rotation screwed up) when they run between the boss to the adds. This means that a raid full of ranged with 3K DPS each would kill Emalon faster than a raid full of melee with 3K DPS each. It also means that if Emalon was an extremely hard raid-boss, it may have been necessary for the top-raiding guilds to bring more ranged than usual.
However, this is not the reality. Emalon is pretty easy boss, even for a pug. If you fail on killing the empowered add in time (or Emalon enrages), there can be two causes:
1. Some of your DPS did not attack the add in time.
2. Everyone did attack the add, but the raid DPS is incredible low.
It is NOT because there was too many melee in the raid!! And the Rogue that you refused to invite could very well be doing 5K DPS while you have three ranged doing 1.5K.
Conclusion: There is no such thing as "too many melee" for Emalon.