It's amazing at times to witness the complete and utter lack of class shown to people in MMRPGs. Retnoobs and anyone who has ever played a ridiculed spec has a firsthand account of the pointless rudeness thrown at others just because that person doesn't like how you play (hi, Boomkins!).
It's one thing to be angry at someone for playing poorly. That I understand, though I would not advocate being rude to the person for their lack of skill, or ignorance in how to handle or gear their class. Of course, a gentle nudge towards some advice and help is always a good idea (and acting as a repository for knowledge about a poorly understood spec is largely why I created this blog).
What I have seen countless times, however, goes far beyond that.
Back before BC it was especially brutal, and paradoxically far less necessary. While spec'ing holy would certainly boost your healing ability, it was anything but necessary - though I did very little raiding, everything up to and including UBRS was doable as any job with any spec. I tanked Drak as Ret, healed it as ret, and DPS'd it as ret. I tanked all the 5-mans, and always held my own when we did do ZG (though I never tanked it, I may very well have been able to. My druid friend or our prot tank were usually available to handle it so it wasn't necessary to test it). Back then your spec was not very important - prot was even counterintuitive to tanking (half your skills required you to get crit to be used, and getting crit is never a good thing while tanking).
But man did I have some negative runs - the druid who tried to tell me his catbush would pull aggro off me and quit when I offered to OT in UBRS. The jackass who said in a PUG ZG when I asked about rolling on DoW, "Yeah, right. Pallies don't get that shit." All while ripping on me to his guildies in vent while I was listening.
BC has been better, if only because I largely avoided PUGs when I wasn't holy or prot (though prot still gets some crap from people, it's mostly accepted as a tanking class for 5-mans). But I received a run-in that was an instant blast from the past last night.
In AV, a Holy Pally gave me hell for my spec, all because I cast Might on all Pallies. He, in his poor grammar and general stupidity, tried to tell me all about how awful my spec was and how I'm useless in raids and arena. Nevermind that he was guildless and unlikely to be doing any raiding himself, he seemed to feel it necessary to rub my face in how I essentially had no right to be on the front lines. And while I had a couple people on my side, a former Retnoob and a warrior, some people chimed in with him as well.
And this is what comes to my point. It amazes me at times how much anonymity affects the way people treat each other. I don't know this guy, I have no way of finding out who he is and so as such he thinks he has some right to be as rude as he wants.
I'm tired of this. I'm tired of the populace being my #1 problem. As much as I'll bitch about our utility needing to be increased, or our threat problems, ultimately my only real problem with my spec comes directly from the image it has with other players, and it's been this way since I hit 60 with Modano. I have always enjoyed this spec, always done well with it and I rarely have had trouble putting myself in a decent spot on the charts, all while maintaining the group utility necessary to be a Good Paladin.
Though the class has shown its weaknesses at times, those weaknesses have always paled in comparison to the biggest challenge - image.
And I'm tired of it.
Blogroll and links
Welcome
This is a Retribution Paladin's view and guide to playing World of Warcraft, from way too much experience in-game with one of the most maligned class specs out there.
If you have any questions/comments for me about the site, about your experience, or about your character, feel free to send them to me at:
theretnoob@gmail.com
If you have any questions/comments for me about the site, about your experience, or about your character, feel free to send them to me at:
theretnoob@gmail.com
About Me
- Michael
- I play a Retribution and Protection Paladin on Frostmane, and have been in WoW off and on since the mid stages of the closed beta. Armory Profile
2 comments:
amen.
im holy, and i love it. but i hate when im trying to get a pug, and i invite a prot pally and every1 else leaves. why? not because they've run with him/her and they sucked. but because there isnt a fucking red bar. and i have a friend who is ret, loves it and owns with it, but just because some1 is ret doesnt mean i give them benefit of the doubt, and generally i consider them a retnoob until they play like a normal none idiot, im biased because 99% of ret suck. and no, i dont give my friends any leeway to his play because he's my friend, if he sucked, i would tell him to his face, the only difference is i'd help him lvl a new class if it didnt work out. where as some1 else i would just tell em they sucked and to L2P or do something they dont suck at.
all in all tho, i would agree that majority is just ignorant little brats, who will say anything, and why is that? because u can say whatever u want to a cartoon character, but i am willing to put money that none would say a damn thing if u were sitting next to them in a PC cafe.
the irony here? the ignorant 12 year olds are fucking adults/parents. that eats me like nothing else.
-Thename
Female Dwarf pala
Blackhand server
It's unfortunate how many of these people are deluded like that. Part of the problem is that many Pallies are still completely consumed by the idea that holy is the only viable spec, and so very few Paladins are other specs. Thus their experience is limited, and 80% of the time that I come in to tank for a PUG someone either doubts that I'm capable of it or states that they've never seen a Prot Pally before. There's a severe lack of alternatives to show the decent players to prove Pallies aren't just healers, and then you have the ignorant group who learn one thing and willfully avoid learning any alternatives to their worldview.
Those guys are the worst.
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