The Straw that Broke Dueg’s Back

Let me start this post by saying that I like to consider myself a nice guy.  I try to see things from other people’s point of view and generally don’t let jackassery get to me.  If you’re being an a-hole, you’re more likely to see me walking away then you are to see me getting upset because, quite frankly, I don’t want to be upset.  The last time I got truly screaming and shouting red in the face angry with someone was about five or six years ago and I had to go lay down afterwards because I got a stomach ache from it.

I also try to be somewhat loyal in the sense that if I give you a commitment I’m going to try my hardest to fulfill it.  This facet of my personality fits in the game in the sense that if I join a group, I’m probably not going to be the first to leave it if things get frustrating.  I will stay in shitty groups because in general, people don’t join groups to dick around and if we’re not accomplishing our goal, it’s not through lack of trying.  Some people will drop after a couple of wipes assuming that the rest of the group are morons and can’t get it done, so they just give up.  Others have a specific goal and once it’s accomplished, or they see that they may not get it accomplished, they’re gone.  These people are what I commonly refer to as “jack offs,” but, to each their own.

But this doesn’t mean that I never get mad or frustrated with the game or people in it.  Quite the opposite, little annoyances pop up on a daily basis, constantly trying my fraying patience.  I just do my best to take them in stride and enjoy the game as best I can without letting that sort of thing get to me.  However, it’s not always so easy to ignore the little things when they start to become bigger things.  So let me relate you the story of the one time that a group truly broke me.

I leveled Dueg with an eye for healing instances.  I wanted to do all the old world instances up until level 58 when I abandoned them for Outland.  This was a few months after BC came out and was before they adjusted the exp totals for 20 to 60, so dungeons were still the quickest way to level at that point.  As a healer, I pretty much had no problems whatsoever finding a group for instances.  Times were good, I danced the Charleston on top of flag poles and flappers smoked cigarettes out of long thin tubes.  Then came Uldaman.

Now anyone who’s ever been to Uldaman probably nodded to themselves with a knowing smile just know.  For anyone who’s never been there, I offer you two words of advice:  don’t go.  It’s honestly one of the worst plotted out dungeons in the whole of the game.  Originally designed that the front half would be done in the late thirties/early forties levels and the back half late forties/early fifties, the dungeon itself is just a mess of caverns and dead ends.  Even when they readjusted the levels so that it evened out, the place was still a maze and generally considered the worst instance in the game.  I had gone on Proto Dueg once and the only reason I wanted to go this time was to be able to say that i had done all the instances up to Outlands.

So I find a group composed of a warrior tank, two mages, a rogue and myself and we make the run through the iron dwarves till we get to the entrance.  Once inside, things go smoothly for a while till we come to the first boss.  One of the mages has the staff so we can summon the maiden and he does so.  During the fight the rogue pulls aggro three times, finally dying the third time when I just couldn’t keep him up.  Turns out the tank is new to Prot spec, previously being arms/fury for leveling and had just switched.  He wasn’t aware that you had to continuously taunt and thought one at the beginning of the fight was good enough.  I begin to have my doubts.

However, we got through the first boss a-ok except for the death and we get the loot, a tank ring or something like that.  One of the mages, however, ninjas the item and DCs at this point.  We’re all confused as to why he would ninja some crap blue ring that he can’t even use.  Whatever though, no one int he group really wanted it, so we figured he’s more than welcome to it.  So we move further in, looking for someone else, but not holding our breath as Uldamanwas very unpopular.  The group is just awful, damage is all over the place, no one seems able to focus on single mobs, pandemonium reigns supreme and we wipe a couple of times before finally the rogue asks us to help summon the enchanting teacher mob hidden in the instance.

So we clear to the mob, summon her out, the rogue takes care of some training and then promptly disconnects.  My urge to kill at this point begins to rise.  Whatever, we figure we’ll just keep going and if we can’t get someone new for the final boss we’ll just drop out.  At this point the final mage decides we’re going too slow for his tastes and begins to starts pulling mobs for the tank without informing us that they’re incoming.  After a couple of these, I tell him to please let the tank pull because it’s putting an unnecessary strain on me and my mana when I have to heal him up from almost dead on every pull.  “Quit being a pussy, I’m trying to get us through this,” comes his oh so classy answer.

This is when I turn into the most rarest of beasts, the Mad Panda:

DUEG SMASH!

So I send a whisper to the tank saying sorry for what’s about to happen, which he responds to with a “?”.  On the next mage pull I immediately drop group and hearth out, placing the mage on ignore.  The tank doesn’t respond after that and I go on my merry way, feeling vindicated that I totally let the mage die, but feeling a little bad for the tank.  Either way, glad to be done with the group.

So I ask you, gentle jerkwads, what’s the worst crap you’ve had to put up with dungeons?  Do you even put up with that sort of stuff or is your tolerance for morons so low that you would’ve been out of there a lot sooner?  Drop me a comment and let me know!

-Dueg