So there I was, in Dire Maul, with my little Disc priest Verðandi (it’s pronounced “Verthandy” and it’s the name of a Norn and a reference to the female lead in the “Ah My Goddess” manga), Reversion with his prot warrior Consistant ready for a few hours wandering around killing ghosts and gaining XP. The dps arrive; a mage, a warlock, and this guy.
Our buddy Iceknight starts off just fine, by backing into one of the trees that pat around the place. Oh well, that happens, we don’t wipe. We start clearing and I keep noticing him at the very back of the fight. Like, behind me. He’ll run in at the very end. Is he some sort of weird ranged DK, the counterpart to the fabled melee hunter? Anyway, after a couple fights I ask if he’s paying attention.
“LOL guild chat” he says, having done nothing but jump up and down for the last few pulls. Rev links Recount and we ask him to step it up (note: his DPS was fine, but he was contributing a full 6% of the damage. I was doing almost 1% with reflective shield damage).
Well, a couple more pulls, he’s still doing nothing, so we call him out again and then – he runs over to the next group of adds and starts tanking them. I stand there and we watch as his health dips – then the mage has to spoil it by running in and arcane exploding, so Rev picks up the aggro and the DK lives.
“LOL how’s that” he asks. The “Vote Kick” pops up on my screen, and he’s gone so fast his eyeballs must be spinning.
We got a really on top of it Balance druid who Typhooned appropriately, saved us by battle rezzing me, and did three times as much damage as the tank. Thanks for being such a jerk that everyone was willing to kick you right off, IceknIght!
Moral: people in random pugs put up with a lot, but not even pretending to try will get you kicked fast. Normal human social mores mean that most of the time, someone who tries and sucks will be tolerated long past the point where someone who clearly isn’t trying will be kicked. Since “tries and sucks” makes my life just as miserable as “not trying at all”, I wonder sometimes why that is…
(PS – Verdandy’s armory still looks pretty dire; she skipped the levels between 28 and 54 thanks to Recruit-A-Friend’s level-granting feature and our AH was a bit… weak)
Your story reminded me of “my own rogue”… impatient little bugger who begged for buffs the second I zoned, started with the gogogogogo and pulled for the tank (this was SM Cath). In the beginning I asked him if he’s going to grow up to be one of those people I hate in heroics… silence. We die, we run, rogue asks for res… the tank has had enough and vote kicks, then ‘yes, he’s going to be one of those’. <3 Mr. Tank!