A Little Courtesy

The other day, I decided to join a group heading out to do the weekly raid.  I figured it would not be a big deal because, after all, I seriously overgeared the raid content, which was Sartharian.  But then I noticed the raid leader asking a few interesting questions in Raid chat.

"So, how many tanks are we going to need?  How many healers?"

My Trouble Detector immediately started dinging.  Nobody was really answering the raid leader (another indication of potential trouble.)  I went ahead and typed in Raid chat the answer that it would be best to have two tanks--one for Sarth, one for adds--and 2-3 healers, depending on how well people knew to avoid damage.  Then someone else typed a statement in Raid chat:

"My friend showed me a video about it once."

Uh oh.  First, the raid leader doesn't sound like he knows what he is doing.  Then the people joining the raid don't sound like they know what they are doing.  Instead of being a really quick run, this could turn out to be a run taking more time and costing more repair gold than I really wanted to do.

I mentioned this to some of my guildies, and the response one gave me was, "Run, Ana, run."

I decided to run, especially when I noticed that a few other people were getting the same idea I was and dropping raid.

Instead of just dropping the raid, I decided to whisper the raid leader to let him know why I was leaving, thinking it would be the courteous thing to do.

I told him, basically, that his questions were not instilling confidence in the raid, so I was going to leave.

He responded something to the effect of, "I've run this about 50 times, you ^&*#in' prick!  I just don't normally lead the raids!"

I replied, "Thank you for confirming my decision as correct."

Might this story have ended differently?  Well, sure.  If the raid leader had said, "Actually, I have run this fight several times, but I don't normally lead the raids.  Thank you for your help, and good luck," I might have reconsidered the decision to leave.

After all, as the old saying goes, you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar.  And you can catch more healers with kind words--for, generally speaking, healers are the type of people who really do like helping people--than you will by calling them names.

In hindsight, perhaps I should have just dropped the raid.  Or I could have, as at least one person did, said, "My guild is calling me," and left.  (Except that it would have been a lie in my case.)  But I have usually lived by the principle that a little courtesy is not wasted.

I may have to revise that idea, for it certainly seemed to be wasted on that guy.