Intellect is not a rogue stat. Did you know that?

| Friday, July 27, 2012
Imagine that in your group there is a rogue in full heirlooms buy whose damage is terrible.  Upon inspection, he is in all caster gear.  An intellect robe drops.  He rolls need.
If you respond by kicking the rogue, then you're looking a lot like the person who was yelling at me (in the original intro, someone yelled at me)(omg beyond the scenes of the making of Troll Racials are Overpowered)(Original name: Lucas Starkiller)

Here's my pet peeve: Not explaining problems.

Let's look at that rogue again.  Is he a noob?  It certainly looks like it.  Note that he is a noob, not a ninja, at least it does not appear so.  Based on the gear he had and the gear he tried to get, it appears that he does not know that intellect is worthless for rogues.

Either that or he's obsessed with style.

Whichever it is, the important thing is to talk to him, rather than just shoving him off into a new group of victims.  Explain, politely, that intellect is worthless to rogues, that agility is a much more useful stat.  If that is unconvincing, invite him to mouse over his character sheet where it describes the primary stats, with emphasis on the part that says "Intellect: Provides no benefit to your class".

Alternatively, if he insists that he needs it for style or transmog, then explain the problems with that. Transmog is obvious: you can't transmog leather for cloth appearance.  Style, well that's trickier.  You'll need to carefully explain that rogues go for a leather-based style with dark colors and maybe knives, rather than flowing robes.  If he insists on dressing in robes, avoid using homophobic slurs (seriously, not cool) and instead use tribalistic cultural appeals, similar to why your company insists on a dress code and you don't let your children get their eyelids pierces.  The important thing is to talk it over first.

The wrong thing to do, and I don't just mean "impractical" wrong but "you're a sociopathic menace to society" wrong, is to simply kick them.  That puts the burden on another group without solving the problem.  Instead the rogue is likely to think that you're an asshole.  And maybe that everyone is an asshole, "Why do people keep kicking me?  This game is filled with assholes.  Well fuck them, I'm ninjaing everything!  I bet that druid won't like it when I take his agility gear!"


Anonymous said...

He's in heirlooms which means he's hit 85 before, so I give 90% chance he knows how the game works, but doesn't care (his focus is on 85+ and probably thinks everyone else sub 85 is a noob) or 10% outright moron. If he is outright moron, then explanation is the proper route to chase. If he is an 85, chances are he's in full 400 gear and blah blah blah his epeen is bigger than yours (at which point you kick him anyways, and he goes back to his leet guild to talk trash about you). idk. All I can conclude is he is playing the game "his" way and within the parameters allowed by Blizz; meaning Blizzard technically allows you to roll need on gear he can't use... !? So yes, your only recourse is to boot him.

Klepsacovic said...

You went from 10% chance to "only recourse is to boot him". Eventually players lose the ability to roll need on everything.

flosch said...

I have to agree with the anonymous poster, though.

The character is wearing heirlooms, so said player must not only have hit 85 before, but also spent a considerable time doing heroics to afford those heirlooms. I refuse to believe he is that oblivious to fundamental game mechanics. My little bubble of the world does not allow people to be so ignorant as to make it to level 85 and then some and still not understand even the most simple concepts. Na na, na na, I put my hands over my ears, I can't hear you!

Which only leaves one solution: he is wearing the cloth heirlooms because they're "catch all" (can be used on all characters, regardless of class) for the EXP bonus, and is being an asshole by rolling on the int item. It doesn't hurt to try to explain to him why he's about to be kicked, more power to people with the patience. I'm just afraid it sadly won't help, either.

Azuriel said...

When did it become other players' jobs to teach someone how to play? Is there no individual responsibility to ensure one is positively contributing in a group setting?

And on a related note, is having some kind of upper limit to charity really a sign of sociopathy? I would say that most friendly people in LFD have probably been rolling that rock up the hill for months or years before deciding they have taught enough. There is only so much time and effort you can throw down the Memory Hole before you wind up a withered husk upon the ground.

Klepsacovic said...

@flosch: We have two potential reasons: idiot or asshole. There is the phrase "never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence." Though I must admit, I prefer the reverse at times.

@Azuriel: Under the ignorant scenario, they may not notice that they are not contributing. The boss dies and no one says anything, so why would they suspect any problem? Individual responsibility is not a matter of setting up one's own island, but of paying attention to the continent on which we live.

I was not suggesting that having an upper limit is sociopathic, but that it points in that direction, much as north towards toward the north pole, but merely going north does not mean that one is at the north pole.

Arcadius said...

I once began healing a wrath dungeon with a dps warrior wearing only white gear. His explanation was that his account had been hacked and he was trying to gear up again. As a result, he was needing on everything: cloth, leather, spirit, agility. It was all junk to the rest of us so we didn't particularly care. "Let's help this guy out," we thought.

Then after a few pulls, we caught him disenchanting something. His bags were full, apparently, of loot he'd needed on and he had to make space.

To my shame, I stopped healing him at that point. When he complained, someone else initiated a vote kick. I'm sure he was back in another dungeon 15 minutes later, working his system to farm enchanting mats.

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