The Cranky Old Gnome

Looks like the plague I managed to contract is beginning to clear up.  (Thank you magical antibiotics!)  Now that I’m coming out of it I’m realizing how far behind I am in my blogging!  I haven’t posted daily (I was lucky to get out weekly), and my feed reader have 94 posts waiting for me.

Here are some highlights:

• Most people are enjoying the new LFG feature.
• Big Bear Butt warns us about a subtle change in AI movement.  And I thought it was just my tiny gnome hit box.
• Syrana is wrapping up 2009 with a scavenger hunt. Fun!
• Gnomeaggedon is leaving reindeer droppings around the net.  Apparently there was a guest post bandwagon and I missed it.
• Miss Medicina is working on a discipline priest experiment.
• Confessions of a Girl Gamer confesses that gear scores are of the devil.  Also, the new LFG system brings pros and cons. Pro: Easy gear and shortened run times! Con: Easy gear and monumental iditios.
• Krizzleybear assures us that Frost is absolutely a viable spec and reminds mages to hug their squirtles every chance they get.
• Anea joins the exciting world of tanking! Hopefully if she can get past the back seat tankers, the gear/gem/enchant criticism, and the heart stopping moments when that giant whirlwinding mob goes after the healer–if she can get past that she’s in for a fun and exciting life as a tank!
• Calli over at Pew Pew Lazers muses over the new LFG tool.  “Sure must suck to be new to the game, though.” Agreed. Or at least new to being 80 and running heroics.
• Tamarind at RIghteous Orbs is giving everyone syphilis…in the form of a meme…eeeww…

It’s nice to know there are so many WoW bloggers going strong despite the fact that we all know we’re not actually playing the game with feeling–we’re just waiting  for Cataclysm to drop.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone! I’ll be back on boxing day!

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”

~Fizz

Are you an internet adviser? Do you read blogs and respond with ‘sage’ advice?  Do you answer every question, rhetorical, unasked, or implied?  Do you seek out other comments on blogs/forums to give counter or ‘better’ advice?  Do you feel that it is your job, nay, your social obligation to impart your astounding wisdom and unending knowledge to the ignorant masses?

Well stop it.

Seriously.

Stop it.

I know, you’re totally smart, and know everything and everyone should always listen to what you say.  However, there is a time an a place.  99% of situations it is not the time, or the place.

Confused? Here’s a couple of examples where giving advise is unwarranted:

Scenario 1

Someone puts up a guild application on the WoW guild recruitment forums.  Maybe they have a few gear items, gem/enchant choices, etc that you find disagreeable.  You might think this is a good time to point out the error of their ways.  Guess what?  It’s not.

Most likely they are aware of their own shortcomings.  They probably know where they need to improve.  And unless you plan on recruiting them I can guarantee they don’t want to hear anything you have to say.  Especially if it’s ‘haha noob lern 2 ply”.

Scenario 2

A blogger pours their heart out about a difficult problem they are having.  They rant and rave a little bit, admit some of their faults and complain a little.  You have gone through a similar situation and know exactly what they should do.    So you should tell them what to do right?  After all you’ve gone through the same thing and it worked for you.

Wrong.

First of all your situations are only similar, not identical.  It’s likely that the blogger did not give all the facts because they were just venting rather that looking for advice.  Offering sympathy or telling them you understand is fine, but telling them what to do usually comes out condescending at rude.

Scenario 3

One of your guild mates excitedly tells you about how they just totally rocked an instance and won a rare gear drop.  You know that the gear item in question isn’t best suited their class or spec, because six months ago when you played that class/spec those stats were totally useless.   Clearly you should point out the error of their ways right?

No.

Are you playing that class/spec right now? No? Then shut your mouth.  Even if you are, pointing out their folly, especially right in that moment, robs them of their joy.  If thinking about their gear mistake might give you an aneurysm if you keep it inside then point it out to an officer and let them deal with it.  If you are the office, wait until their moment of joy has passed, and then ask them why they went with that piece of gear.  Maybe they have a good reason you don’t know about.  Point is, don’t give them advice (re: tell them what to do).

.

The point I’m trying to get at is that before offering your clearly wonderful opinions, consider the following:

Did this person explicitly ask for advice/help/opinions/etc?  Or do I think it’s implied?

If they asked questions, are they rhetorical?  (If you aren’t sure assume they are and don’t answer them.)

If you posted this entry, would you want people telling you what to do?

Are your answers painfully obvious? i.e. Will people look at your response and say, “well duh.”

I don’t want to discourage you from commenting on other people’s blogs, or even giving your advice/opinion from time to time.  I’m just saying that you should think before you type.  Really consider if giving advice is really appropriate.  And when you do give advice, try to avoid sounding like you are telling people what to do, or criticizing what they are currently doing.  Consider other people’s feelings.  Sometimes people just want to vent.  They want to know that they aren’t alone and want others to sympathize with them, but a lot of the time they just don’t want advice.

And other times they are just trying to apply to a guild and don’t need to be told they don’t know how to gem/enchant their gear so back the heck off.

Ok this is more ranty and less coherent so I’m gonna stop now.  Just please, the next time you feel like imparting your vast wisdom, take a moment and think about whether or not it’s really appropriate to give.

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”

~Fizz

First, sorry I’ve been a little absent.  I haven’t been feeling well lately and also haven’t felt much like playing wow.  This is lead to a general lack of inspiration for posts, so rather than fill the days with drivel and nonsense, I just didn’t post.

But now I have something to be cranky about again.  And that’s the WoW guild recruitment forums.  As you know, I’ve been looking for a new guild to join, so I thought to myself, “maybe I’ll try the official wow forums; I’ll put up an advert and see what happens.”

Well apparently what happens is rather than getting any guild invites all I get is more criticism on my tanking.  I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised; everyone and their dog thinks they know how to tank better than the guy next to him.  What shocked me I guess was that I posted the ad on the Quel’dorei realm forums and the responses I got where from people from other realms, telling me I had no idea what I was doing.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.  It seems that people on the internet feel that giving unsolicited advice is their job or something.

Here’s what I said:

I am an experienced protection warrior looking for a casual raiding guild on Quel’dorei.
Already geared (at least up to Ulduar 10/Trial of the Crusader 10), and have some raid experience as a tank (and lots of raid experience as a healer).
Flexible schedule, already have vent/know how to use it properly/own a mic, multiple alts with most professions maxed, knowledgeable about how to play/gem/enchant/talent/glyph my class/spec.
Contact: Thistlefizz

Fairly innocuous.  Simple, yet concise.  Covered all the bases.  Nothing controversial.  Or so I though.  Apparently I should never had said I know how to gem and enchant myself, because first few replies were criticisms along the lines of “yeah, you don’t know what you are doing because you gem and enchant for defense.”

Someone else did “stick up” for me a little in that they pointed out that I was probably gemming +def just to get to the def cap, but couldn’t leave it well enough alone there and gave me “advice” on how I can improve if I just “apply myself to those heroics. [I] can get tier 9 stuff in no time!.”

It was just so…unhelpful.  First, it’s a guild application advert.  Why do people insist on criticizing everything they come across?  There was absolutely no need for that person to comment and say I had no idea what I was doing.  First they have no idea what my situation is.  They don’t know if I play all the time or hardly at all.  They don’t know if I’m struggling just to reach the defense cap or am just to poor to afford gem and enchant upgrades.  Not without actually talking to me anyway.  And I’m not even on their server.  Why the hell would they care?

Blindly criticizing me accomplishes nothing.  It doesn’t help me get into a guild.  Even if I was a crap player, it wouldn’t make me a better one, because who in their right mind would listen to advice given to them by someone who just called them an idiot?

And as far as the “advice” goes–I didn’t ask for it.  I don’t need it.  I don’t want it.  Go away.  Your advice doesn’t help me become a better player, nor does it get me into a guild.

Sorry this post is a little disjointed.  Guess I’m just venting my frustration.

So much for the WoW forums…

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”

~Fizz

Dear random PuGers;

First, I think you should remember not everyone spent the last 6 weeks on the PTR running these dungeons. And it’s only been two days since their release.  So there are going to be a few people that haven’t run the new 5 mans yet.  I know, shocking right?  I mean, you’ve clearly spent the past 48 hours doing nothing but running these instances, and now you’re pro at them, why hasn’t everyone else done the same thing?  Well, because we all have lives, jobs, significant others, pets, and other things to occupy our time.  So please, have a little patience with people.

That being said, I have a request for those of you who haven’t done this yet.  Before you queue up to do these dungeons through the new LFG system and get magically whisked away to the instance, please take a few moments and familiarize yourself with Icecrown Citadel.  Specifically make sure you know how to actually get into the instances.  Why?  Well, because you might die inside the instance and may need to run back.  And I promise your group does not want to spend 20 minutes waiting while you fly around on your dead gryphon trying to find the entrance.

Thanks,

~Fizz

So, anyone else notice that the character selection screen looks a tiny bit different?  Well, I did.  It’s just a slightly lighter tint.

Also, the character creation screen underwent an overhaul.  The fonts are a little different, and now it shows a graphic for each class despite the race.  However, some of them are lit up, some aren’t.  Only those classes that you can play as that race are lit up.  Also a giant “Wrath of the Lich King” icon is in the upper right hand corner.  And the race and class descriptions are slightly different.

Why am I bothering to ‘break this news’?  Well, news breaking isn’t actually my thing.  Actually I wanted to use it as a jumping off point for discussing the character selection screen.  It’s time it underwent more than a tint change.  In my fantasy world where I am King and everyone bows to Thistlefizz and I have a long purple robe, with a long scepter with a rabbit on top, here is my list of changes and additions;

First, increase the number of characters that can be created on each realm to 12.

Next, I would make it so that you can see if a character has any mail or calendar invites.  I don’t need specifics, just if there is anything pending.

Also, maybe a clock with server time displayed.

I would move the enable addon icon from the character selection screen to being an in-game feature.

I would change up the default background.  Yes, I’m sure we’ve all grown to love the current ones and there would be plenty of nerd-rage nostalgia fights if it changed, but I think something new would be nice.  I would also make a different one for the gnomes (different from the dwarves), same with the trolls/orcs.  I don’t care if they have the same starting area.  I want unique backgrounds dammit!  Makes me curious as to what the backgrounds will be for the Worgen and Goblins.

Oh yeah, how could I forget?  I would make it so you can change the order of the characters in the character list.

That’s it really.  Anything you would like to see different?

“[Insert clever sign off phrase here]”

~Fizz