While we’re not about to discuss a lot of Cata–at least, not yet**–we can start looking back at Wrath of the Lich King. What were some of the best RP experience within the Client itself? What were some of the best experiences that you created OR participated in? Why were these experiences so memorable?

**Come back saturday…

I’d like to touch on what I’m afraid of going forward. If you ever did the Illidan fight in BT, you saw Maiev come in and pretend to be helpful. She dropped traps all over that would hurt Illidan. There were a few snippets of dialogue here and there that came across as needless color commentary (OH LOOK LORE, WEEE). To be fair, Chaos pretty much ignored the traps (and her) unless a trap got dropped right near where Caulle tanked him, but . . . point being, there was NPC help and scripting. I’m fearing NPC help on the Arthas fight, BIG TIME, mostly because YOU KNOW WHO will be back to BE OUR GREAT SAVIOR.

No, no thank you. No PLEASE.

I have two major concerns with Jaina popping in during the Arthas fight:

a) They martyr her. She dies and we’re all supposed to cry. We won’t, but we’re supposed to think about crying. Maybe.

b) She saves the day, you don’t actually beat Arthas, she’s a total kill stealer.

Either of those scenarios do not please me. Let’s tackle A first. If Jaina pops in, realizes HEY I KILLED TONS OF FOLKS WHEN I WAS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT IF YOU WERE REALLY THAT EVIL, and throws herself in front of him to take the brunt of his magic so we can nuke him . . . that’s dramatic lame at its finest. It’s overly done and cliche, reeks of the actor who grabs his chest and totters around a stage for five minutes before he finally falls to the ground. The bright side? At least the bint is dead so there won’t be anymore dungeons with her bitching about how she’d rather be studying.

Scenario B would actually bother me MORE, though, because . . . well, no one likes a kill stealer in PvP, and if you already loathe the npc going into the fight thanks to terrible writing, how the heck are you going to feel if she’s like THANKS FOR DOING THE BRUNT OF THE HARD WORK, I’M HERE TO FINISH HIM OFF. SQUEE!

No, no no no no.

I guess it’s safe to say that the 5 mans have made me dubious about the end of Citadel. I will admit that the first four bosses in ICC 10s/25s have made me happy (especially the Saurfang bit, which was VERY WELL DONE), but . . . yeah. Fingers crossed that I’m wrong about those two scenarios. Time will tell I suppose.

(One thing worth noting, thank you itanya, Sylvanas is abrupt and bitchy through the hordeside equivalent dungeons, which makes me want to watch Gharr or Davien one day just to get some exposure to an NPC that doesn’t make me want to rip my eyes out. I don’t mind NPC influence if the NPC is written well.)

I am hesitant to say that one particular faction won or lost a particular event. The brief Forsaken Civil war was ended in no small part by the Alliance’s invasion and subsequent killing of Putress. The Horde did get to put down Varimathras and eliminated a significant chunk of the traitors members of the Royal Apothecary. On the Alliance side, we get to how blood thirsty Wrynn is after his stint as a slave-gladiator; Horde wise we see how an insurgency grew underneath Thrall’s nose. This is not an ideal situation for a warchief. But did the Horde really emerge stronger?

I don’t think they did. True, the Alliance lost Bolvar and according to my horde sources, the Forsaken were not blamed for Putress’ insurgency; however, the horde has taken a hit in terms of their Apothecary and it has show how Thrall and Sylvannus were duped. This event provides more evidence for Garrosh’s rise to power within the Horde–an event that may end up fracturing the horde if certain rumors are true. While the Horde reclaimed the Undercity, it was the Alliance who got to kill Putress. And the Horde have to address the fact that one of their capitals was retaken due to Alliance “help.”

I would say the event was a wash. Neither side won or lost. In fact, what we witnessed was some fracturing among the horde races. This fracturing may continue in Cataclysm. Please share your opinions with us! Who “won” Wrathgate/Undercity?

So last night I ran a ten man Ulduar which was, in retrospect, a smashing success even though we only dropped three bosses.  Most of the group had done said bosses on twenty five man, but I had found very little information about the pared down versions so we kind of had to wing it.  Thank god no one wanted to kill me.

One of my pet peeves is a poorly informed raid leader.  I don’t like someone calling the shots that has no business calling the shots, and I try to not be that person by being open to raider input.  Like, did you know the person at the direct center of the platform will tank Razorscale blue fire patches?  I didn’t. 

MY BAD GUYS.

At any rate, it’s really neat to experience this content as a healer and then as dps, because you really do get a much better understanding of mechanics.  I’m quasi-hoping I can get this same group together each week because we did well and I think everyone had a good time.  Anna at least did.  That’s good, since the poor thing was healing it and healing in there is an absolute nightmare.

This all leads into the meat of my post, by the by.  There was a discussion in my living room the other night about raid tactics and how “raider input” can be a bad thing when there’s too much of it.  I’m not of this school (simply because I ran with a raid leader who had horrible ADD in the past and raider input bailed us out), but I understand the mentality.  Someone has to lead, twenty five people cannot.  Some people have a horrible time adjusting to change and switching tactics will utterly confuse them if it’s done too quickly.  The tough part about boss strategies is there are usually five or six good ones out there, and you have to balance those tactics with the strengths of your raid.  Example:  crowd control on Razorscale versus no crowd control (which was what started this conversation in the first place).  If you have a bunch of multi-shotting crazy hunters and someone with a felguard?  Yeah, CC might not be such a great thing.  If you have superior dps in general, though?  Nuke ‘em and nuke ‘em hard.   Will a raid leader always have the best strategy up front? No, or at least, not in your opinion.

So how do you communicate that well?

First off, if you don’t agree with your raid leader, keep in mind your raid leader likely spent a lot of time outside of game putting things together – especially if this is new content.  Raid leading is a rewarding thing, yes, but it can also be incredibly stressful.  You’re watching pulls, giving out directions, doling out loot, listening to what people have to say, and in general trying to keep chaos from winning the day.  The last thing any raid leader needs is attitude from a raider who doesn’t agree with your call.  I’m not suggesting that you can’t disagree with your raid leader or can’t bring up a concern.  I’m suggesting you should think twice before you verbally eviscerate them.  They likely worked a lot harder to get this raid working than you’re giving them credit for.

Secondly, if you think your idea still holds more weight than one implemented, wait until after the raid to bring it up if you can. Why?  You’ll find a raid leader a whole lot less distracted post-raid which in turn means they’ll give your opinions a lot more attention.   I don’t know many raid leaders who out and out ignore their folks.  That’s how raids fall apart and lose people.  The problem is, if they’re too busy managing healing, positioning, and every other crazy thing that comes up during raids, there is the distinct possibility the brilliance of your suggestion will be lost in the shuffle of Raid Madness.

Lastly, if you feel you have to get your information out there RIGHT AWAY, try a whisper first.  There is absolutely nothing more aggravating than trying to give directions during an encounter and having people interrupt you.  You may think what you have to say is positively imperative, but you are very likely adversely affecting someone else who is paying attention to the raid leader for an instruction.   Unless what the raid leader is saying is point-blank wrong (which hey, it happens, I understand that) . . . don’t mess up your raidmates by cutting the instruction-giving person off.  They might end up jumping back into their instructions at a different point than where they were when you cut them off.  Their flow might be disrupted.  You may actually knock the leadership off-kilter, and if the leadership is off-kilter, your raid is likely borked.  Someone has to hold the group together.

That’s all for me today.  I’m sure people have thoughts or comments about this, so feel free to add on.  Good luck in Ulduar, guys!  Ta.