Saturday, November 17, 2007

Dungeon Chaperoning

I'm never quite sure why people read my blog. I don't track stats, though I know for sure lots of people read here in the shadows. I write about my experiences as a Protec Paladin. I don't Theorycraft as a Paladin at least not usually, we have many good Paladin blogs for that and the Maintankadin forum for it. What I usually do any serious post on it all falls under perspective or observations but its all perspective to me. So one of the things I've being simmering a while now on is the act of Dungeon Chaperoning if you call it by that name or better known as Dungeon run thoughs. Not clear yet! Ok ..... /w Will you please help me and run me through "X" dungeon OR Will pay "X" gold if you run me through (RFC, WC, SFK, RFK, SM etc) please?

Plain and simple Galo's personal policy is the answer is NO! And I don't care if your offering me 10g to do it either. I can't tell you how many and how often I get a /w like that or see it in general or trade chat. For all I know it could be you or someone else like you, a newbie, a noob or on a high level with a alt as the guilty party that did that /w. My number one policy as a Paladin and as a level 70 is: I do not under any circumstances run anyone through a dungeon ... period! I'd rather heal for a lowbie or group so they learn how to play in groups as a team than run someone or group through any dungeon.

People sometime wonder how people get to lvl 60 or lvl 70 in Outland and have no idea how to play the game. You walk into a PuG and you wonder how some people have no idea how to play or even group and play effectively with each other. You wonder what the heck that person has being doing for 60+ levels. You get frustrated when you see people like that and you wonder how? Well one the many reasons I think is Dungeon Chaperoning by level 70's to low level players and to alts or people in their own guilds for quest, loot or whatever. Your not doing those people any favors by depriving them of the opportunity to learn to play before they get to lvl 70 and make your life hell in 5-mans or even raids. Heck I've even gotten /w where when I said "No, I'm sorry I can't do that" people resort to question why I won't run them through a lowbie dungeon. Imagine that.

High levels are not doing lowbies any favors by chaperoning them through dungeons. I know you sometime do it for the gold because your broke maybe. Your not doing any lowbie or group any good favor if they are never learning how to fight instance mobs and bosses as a group by one manning the dungeon for them. Sure you save them a lot of time and a quick run through but at the price of them never learning how to play properly. If you want to run someone through a dungeon that's up to your its your character. But if you /w me and ask me to the answer is a NO. I've never asked a high level to run me through any dungeon when I was leveling. I always tried to find a group at my level and if I couldn't I just bypass the dungeon completely leveling up. But I learned to play in groups on my own effort and thus developed my own skills over time and playing my class. I'm not sure why people are so lazy that they wont take the effort to find a group, learn to play and quit asking to have everything handed to them easily even a instance. What happened to putting in your own sweat and effort in a group and pulling your own weight?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well Galo - you got there before me - this is one of my pet hates too.

I was actually invited to tank a pug the other day in SM, when a 70 warrior joined the group. Someone has asked him to run us throught. I said "no thanks i prefer to do it myself" and got kicked from the group.
Seriously I enjoy the challenge, Whats the fun in being run through?

I personally never run people through an instance unless they are high level guildies on an alt, and they genuinely cant find a group - otherwise you are 100% right. They don't learn how to play.

I had a guildie (level 62) doing Ramps wanted me to come along on the rogue as they needed 1 more dps. So I went along.
The tank refused to tank the "pets" (the wolves the beast handlers have in there) because they were "pets and tanks shouldn't have to worry about them".

We asked him what was going to keep these "pets" off the healer. He said "I dunno, a pet on a pet, im a tank I don't need to worry about pets!".
He expected that tanks need only worry about humanoid mobs in an instance, and that that was the reason hunters had pets. Needless to say the group quit and reformed, this time with one of our guildies tanking :).

Seriously Galo - best post ever.
I have lower levels friends who want a run through instances all the time. I tell them no. Not because im cruel, but because I want them to learn. Its important to me that people can play the game, not just simply run around killing the odd boar.

Leukos said...

This has always been my position on helping new lowbies on runs. The only exception I would make is for players I know have a skilled 70, and are unable to find a group on a lowbie alt. I would say tanks and healers though need these hours in instances to hone their skills. Solo leveling teaches dps the basics of their role, but not so with healing or tanking. They will only gain skill in groups.

Unknown said...

You hit the nail on the head brother. People try to bypass the content in 1-60 levels so they can get to the 'fun' stuff in Outlands. What they don't realize is the skills they need to be successful in Outlands are learned by doing the quests and instances from 1-60.

I shouldn't be amazed by the number of stupid people there are in WoW. Of course, if people are going to be jerks in real life, they are going to be jerks in the virtual world as well.

Ardent Defender said...

Only exception I would make if any is someone I already know with a very skilled lvl 70 already who just can't find a group. However it not something I would wish to do either way if can help it. You can always hold a quest in quest log until you find a group for a dungeon.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes, even often... the people who are offering 10g+ are building twinks, especially the lvl 19 or 29 twink. They want someone with a high lvl to run them through so they minimize XP and can get loot drops. I ran a guildie friend of mine through stocks about 10 times and DM about 15 times for bop gear drops for his twink.

I also think it's good for a real-life friend who took me through DM when I was lvling my first toon. It gave me a sense of what a dungeon is all about, how it works, etc etc - I didn't get group dynamics obviously, but it's good to SEE the instance and how it plays out prior to bringing through an entire group of all the same lvl.

I agree that by the time someone's up to SM/ST/BRD/Outlands - a 70 running them through is ridiculous - they ought to be pugging it or finding friends to go. That's the way it is - that's when you start learning your toon.