Don’t Be That Guy

Last night my guild had it’s first 25 man raid. We raided Bastion of Twilight and got the first two bosses down. It was crazy fun and I was fairly pleased with the performance of my “nerfed” class. Trees are not really nerfed we are just having to go back to BC healing. Instead of blanketing the raid in rejuvs and twiddling our thumbs we are back to tank healing and I love it. Tank healing has always been my favorite. I will save a healing discussion for later though, today I want to write about that one douche bag in the raid.

In our guild we try to have one raid leader with the other officers chiming in when needed and the rest of us just shutting the hell up. This prevents chaos and unneeded wipes caused from lack of clear direction. I think this is pretty standard operating procedure. Sometimes people will give a suggestion or two but there is an understanding that any suggestions are better left to tells sent directly to the raid leader or officer. Still a suggestion or two here and there isn’t bad. The problem comes when you have that one person who just will not shut the hell up.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I am a bit mouthy and free with my opinions but I also know there is a time for suggestions and a way to give them. This guy, who we will call The Douche Bag, feels the need to talk constantly about what he thinks is the proper way to do everything and tells everyone how to do their jobs. He will talk over all the raid leaders and officers without any regard for the fact they are supposed to be talking and he is not.

Now some people are lucky and they only have to deal with The Douche Bag in vent and raid chat. This is still pretty bad because TDB (The Douche Bag) will drone on for hours if you let him and will tell every single person how to do their job no matter if he knows what he is talking about. TDB also utilizes raid chat to say passive aggressive things indicating that he knows better than anyone else in the raid and that we are only hurting ourselves by not listening to him. That is infuriating enough but imagine if you are the same role as TDB.

It is my misfortune that our guild’s TDB is also a healer and feels like he should tell us all what we need to be doing. TDB has run BoT in ten man therefore he feels he is the expert in healing it. He has also been in the guild longer than most of us in healer chat so he feels like it is his right to boss us around. I do believe that healers need leadership. Healing takes coordination and someone to see problems and fix them. I would welcome a healing coordinator in our guild but not someone globally recognized as the village idiot, and believe me everyone their guilds TDB is the village idiot.

Now I know I have been concentrating on our TDB but honestly most guilds have a TDB. He or she could be a healer, tank, or dps, but they all have the same behaviors and eye roll inducing abilities. Some guilds are lucky enough to not have TDB because they tell him to shut up or never raid again. Most guilds aren’t like that so unfortunately most WoW players are afflicted with TDB. (If you can’t think of one in your guild but you know you are really “helpful” with raid strats then you are probably TDB)

One of the most fascinating things about TDB is that he does not understand that he is driving people nuts. I know this is also universal. No matter how many times officers ask for quiet except for the officers or tanks, TDB will keep talking. No matter how many times the raid leader gets frustrated and tells TDB that they have a handle on it, TDB keeps talking. I think anyone who has the personality to become TDB you have to have an unwavering sense that you are right therefore everyone wants to hear you no matter the evidence to the contrary. I even made a really snarky comment to our TDB and he had no clue I was outright being an asshole to him. It is a fascinating phenomena.

My gentle readers I ask one simple favor of you for the sake of your entire raid: next time you press your press-to-talk button to give helpful hints ask yourself one simple question. Am I being TDB? This one simple step will make raiding a more enjoyable experience for your entire guild. Please, please, please. Think of the children.