Comments on: Sharing information in fights: Everyone’s a critic

By: Bronte

Bronte — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:13:36 +0000

This problem exists with any mods that rely on button clicks. For instance, In DBM, if you set up custom timers linked to your abilities, clicking that ability again will restart the timer, regardless of whether the ability has cooled down or not.

By: spinks

spinks — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:56:54 +0000

I used to raid in a group with a tank who had a macro that played when he pulled a group which would randomly shout one of a selection of bad pickup lines.

eg. “Hey! Orc Leader, grab your coat, you’ve pulled!”

By: uzbeck

uzbeck — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:37:07 +0000

I think its more important when its fail notices.

I’m not talking about player based incompetence finger pointing (I dislike that, most of us are human and make mistakes) I dislike mods like ‘Failbot’ I mean for example most tanks in WoW arent hit capped meaning that they can miss on occasion. If a critical ability misses early knowing that can be important.

Ie ‘Taunt failed:- I do not have aggro’ means the DPS needs to hold off a bit longer on the nukeage. this sorta thing saves raids.

I too like to have fun in raids but failing just ‘cos people didnt have a critical peice of info isnt much fun either (in this case Tanks cant really be hit capped as their itemisation focuses on Survivability)

By: JC

JC — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:45:21 +0000

My tanks in EQ2 both have macros that a) inform the group that a taunt has been thrown in groupchat, and b) do an audible emote so if the group’s playing with sound on they can hear that I did it.

Kinda funny having a high elf female shadowknight shouting “You are SO dead!” at the mobs. Granted, it does get a little old after a while, but by the same token — they know I’m doing everything I can to hold aggro too.

By: Dblade

Dblade — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:56:25 +0000

I think the bigger problem is that too many raid instances don’t allow for error like that, so you have to exhaustively pre-plan and stuff. First I heard of an add-on that annouces your moves though. In FFXI it was a line of party chat before each move.

I wish that they could get away a little from the whole “fail an instance, wait a week or so to try again” model. It forces people to be professional to the point where you do shout at the healers and feel bad when you accidentally activate a move at the wrong time. Raids really need to be about fun more.

By: spinks

spinks — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:32:14 +0000

Oh, combat logs have a huge amount of information in them. But it’s not really convenient to check them during a fight. I find with the macros, if you want someone to know as soon as you used a cooldown, it’s an easier way to make that automatic.

And Kristine, I agree. It’s like having a pet robot that just shouts out your moves, as if you were in an anime. Actually it would be funny to shout the moves in that style …

*** IMPERVIOUS SHIELD PRINCESS USED SHIELD WALL ***

By: jeffo

jeffo — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:10:12 +0000

Sometimes you don’t need a macro or add-on to let everyone know you screwed up. I was in an Ony25 PuG a couple of weeks ago — during Phase 1, everything started off fine until Ony turned, mid-Flame Breath, and wiped one side of the room before turning back to the tank. One of the OT’s used Mocking Blow on Ony — it was right there in the combat log. Knowing this guy I’m sure it was an accident (he raids while drinking, but isn’t generally mean-spirited), but denial was futile. If he had simply owned up to it all would have been fine, and it probably would have been worth a laugh. Instead, he argued, let fly with a series of F-bombs and left the raid.

By: Kristine

Kristine — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:03:08 +0000

Hey Spinks. Appreciate that someone is admitting that “not standing in the fire” is actually quite difficult. And in the rants about content getting too easy, a very valid point!

As for the addon you installed: Its not the only addon that have allowed you to “BigBrother” your raidmembers. Most of the standard addons we have (like Recount and oRA) are quite intrusive, but most players dont use their full potential. Still, when I lead raids I use these (and others) to show me anything from lacking buffs to who died of what. Then ofcourse there is things like WWS and World of Logs which really leaves nothing to the imagination, and any mistake or cockup is visible for the guild to see.

Some times I adore the preciseness that can come from using these tools. Other days I wish I could return to a time when hanging around, not making a fuzz and occasionally move out of the fire would target you as a solid player.

T.L. Taylor (a brilliant game studies researcher) proposed that Bossmods are like a 26th raidmember (or 41st in her case writing about MC). It gives warnings, it delegates, it keeps time. It does quite alot of things that we would otherwise have to arrange for raidmembers to keep track of.

I guess your tank addon can be seen in the same vein; a non-human raidmember that talks for you.

By: Longasc

Longasc — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:31:50 +0000

In Aion I had a panic button that shouted “Elyos! FIGHT” or “RUN” if the opposing party was supposedly too strong for us. F9 and F10.

I am against automation addons of all kinds that yell “X poisoned” or something like that. They definitely make things easier, but I don’t like that they support lazy and unfocused gameplay.