It Only Takes One

I've been trucking along at 80 for a couple weeks now gearing up my rogue, and he's finally gotten to the point where he can do steady heroic-level DPS for... heroics. I'm still enjoying this guy enough that I'm less interested in rolling another alt than I expected I would be. I actually got to a low point, said to myself 'time to roll an alt' out of habit, then decided not to. Playing at 80 is still fun, which is a feeling I haven't felt in a while.

I did Wintergrasp a bunch of times this weekend and the closest I got to winning was on my Alliance paladin on Cho'Gall, which we never win. On Wyrmrest Accord - even though we supposedly outnumber the Horde - we win only a couple times a week. The faction is great, people are nice and the economy is fairly healthy, but when it comes to PvP people just can't get motivated to participate. Someday, maybe.

But I did a ton of heroics. My DPS is still not great but it's improving, and I discovered that Envenom is a pretty slick ability. I was rolling along with a whole bunch of good groups all weekend, then got one bitchy tank for Culling of Stratholme.

Arthas rolls up and sets into his narrative, etc., and the tank says 'so you didn't bypass the beginning huh?' I tell him 'guess not', and then he accuses me of talking to the 'gnome dude', which sets the narrative in motion. Now I don't know if the narrative can be bypassed or not, but I didn't talk to any NPCs. And the 'gnome dude' is Chromie, I know who that is. So he accuses me, and I deny it. He says he saw me do it, I told him he's mistaken. He says 'then it must have been a different rogue named Diagnose'. Finally I'm fed up with the accusations: 'Yeah, whatever. Just tank.'

So even though I was cheerful going in and laid out a Great Feast for people to share before we pulled, suddenly I'm on the poop list of the tank, for doing nothing. Awesome. The run is very quiet even with the stops in between, and there's a good chance the tank is talking shit in whispers to the other players. Yeah, we know how this is going to end. Second to the last boss has the potential to drop the plate armor that the tank wants. We kill the boss easily, it doesn't drop. Tank quits the group, two other players drop with him immediately.

Hey, that's your right if that's how you want to play it. You were certain that I did something that I didn't do, and you decided to be a jerk in return. Grats. And no matter how many good heroics I had with nice groups all weekend, I'm left wondering what I'd done to piss this guy off, and why bother playing if all I can aspire to is to end up grouped with jerks who can blow up our groups because they get their panties in a bunch.

So I think maybe I should step away from grouping a bit and try to solo for a while. Maybe roll an alt. I log in an alt, take a look at the starting zone, and log out again. Yuck, I don't have an appetite for that right now. So now between jerks and Wintergrasp I'm wondering why I play at all. Jokers to the left of me, clowns to the right.

I log out for a minute, and take out the dog. Bag up the garbage. Get a glass of water. Watch some of the closing ceremonies for the Olympics. Oh my god, a giant inflatable moose! Log back in, do an Alterac Valley. I love AV, it has magical healing properties, even when we lose. I queue for another heroic, and everyone is cheerful and sweet as pie, and they're all happy to be there. Suddenly, I love playing again.

I guess sometimes it only takes one group to bring you down, or lift you back up. I've got to make a mental note: The jerks are never worth worrying about. And I put the tank on ignore, so we'll never end up in a group together again.