It's been about another 10 Balder's Temple runs since my last post regarding disbandiing, still no lance drop yet so, still plugging away. But anyways - just another situation I encountered today.

So I queued up again today for BT and everything was peachy till we got to the last boss and here was the make-up. This was not our initial make-up as the slayer was a queue-in at the last boss as our initial 3rd DPS was DC'ed due to subsciption issues.

1x 145 Sorc
1x 145 Mystic
1x 147 War
1x 141 Slayer, 142 Slayer, 141 Slayer

As the Slayer (from VoT) queues in - we all inspect him and determine that his iLvL was kind of low for this fight. However, since my last post people said do not judge and jump to conclusions based on gear and give people a chance. So the war said it shouldnt be a problem and he would be able to carry since his iLvL was so much higher. So we agreed to try it out.

Keep in mind we asked the slayer if he knew the fight and he said yes and he did carry scrolls/pot. Needless to say - he screwed a couple of tiimes during the attempt and we ended up wiping at 1%. Group Opted to replace him.

Queue again. We get another slayer - (from VoT again) - iLvL 142, 1 higher than the last one. We begin to inspect his gear. We ask some questions but he doesn't respond, but we inspect anyway. LvL 48 crystals and LvL 35 Crystals. Hmmm... I don't like being an [filtered] If I don't need to be - but when someone does not take the effort to even ensure they have updated crystals... are they worth the effort of 4 others to carry him? and that he doesn't bother to communicate? Group Opted to replace him.

Queue again. We get yet - be amazed, Another SLAYER, but this time from Basilisk Crag. iLvL 141. So we are already kind of shaky on low iLvL slayers but, we don't want to leave room for doubt. Upon inspection crystals are ok, he stated he had completed this before and has scrolls/pots. Ok - we decide to give it another shot. FAILS - DPS was pretty tight at the end, could we have done it maybe, but didn't happen. Slayer fails to dodge laser and dies while boss is at 6%. The rest of us continue to DPS the boss down to 1% but black phase stops our progress.

Sorc leaves the party. Mystic is disgruntled. War is surprised his high iLvL DPS was not enough to carry. I explain that its fine - and DID not disband but gave apologies and left so that others may continue if desired. More than 2 hours waisted in BT which normally takes 35 minutes.

What do you think? was I premature to leave?

TL:DR = First Slayer low iLVL, gave it a shot. Said she knew fights - messed up quite abit. Wiped due to failing DPS check- group kicked.
2nd Slayer did not communicate, had lvl 48 crystals and 35 crystals - group kicked before attempt.
3rd Slayer low iLVL, had experience with fight and had scrolls. Death by lazer during burn phase - could not recover dps in time. Wiped. I apologized, pass lead and quit.

Have I improved upon my "ethics" in LFD since last time? or should I have kept continued trying?

Shoulda stuck with #1, in hindsight. There's nothing you did that I could criticize, though.

I'm only 48 so not at end-game yet, but it sounds like you were plenty patient. The one thing though is you look to still be hung up on whether their gear mattered, yet you also mentioned that 2 of the slayers messed up. If they messed up, doesn't sound like a gear issue.

That's the thing with LFD, never know what you're gonna get. The queues are long but you still might be better off just waiting it out locally...

No, they should keep kicking the random odd dps because that's CLEARLY where the flaws are. It cannot be with, say, the Lancer not interrupting the laser, or the healer not throwing out a critical heal, or something like that.

No: If someone fails, it's that "low item level [enter class here]" Skill matters not in this game, only gear, and thus only getting some higher iLvl player would make the run better.

Moreover, since no one fails on the last boss at 1% without being an utter screw up deserving of being kicked, trying again with the same group can never be achieved. Imagine, if everyone had to know and have completed the fight before even attempting it, NO ONE would ever be permitted in. EVER.

The problem is your using the instance matching tool to do endgame content, which is just silly. You should be forming your own server groups or with a guild of players that are about the same skillcap/gear cap as you.

Why bother using a random player finder tool then complaining about it? If your serious about BT, Fane, and other endgame instances you should be we a preset server group and on Vent/TS/Mumble.

Your problem is that your using a wrench for fix a loose screw that you need a flathead screwdriver for.

Also as a lancer you should have leadership qualities and have already built a reliable friends list at this point to pull people from.

I've been in groups where me and the other 2 dps had 139-143 and we cleared beat the last boss easy with 30 seconds+ left to go

IMO your war and sorc were bad and also you should've stuck with the second slayer

Unless you have perfect stat weapons, Skill > Gear for dps races

You should have continued trying if you wanted it bad enough. Granted that's a frustrating fight, my Slayer dies constantly because (i don't care who you are or what you say, you're wrong) of the latency and dodge.

It trashes the class all to hell since they're sole ability to live is dependent upon their 4 sec dodge which , sometimes, just doesn't work. Period.

On my Slayer, (never finished BT, only down to 5%) I died to the AOE, in all dungeons, not the laz0r beams, not the boss hitting me in the face, not me standing where I shouldn't, the simple fact of dodge FAILING when pressed.

I do everything I can to NOT quit a group and keep trying until I get it.

As much as I want to hate you, IF what you typed was/is true, then you're reasonable, though I doubt the Slayers were aware you're checking crystals, who cares really, if you dodge, you live, if you don't you die.

Crystals seem to be the new gear score sadly, 1.54% of anything is worthless unless you're dealing in millions which we're not.

Here is what I think. You may not like it. In my guild, as a much lower level of item per player, we have beaten Balder's Temple a few times. I think there is randomness about the DPS coming out, maybe the first two groups were fine but their glyphs were not hitting enough critical hits or their abilities were not resetting enough times. It is too hard to tell. The one thing that people are not asking is how are your glyphs set up? I find them WAY more useful then crystals or item level. It is a complete package and should not be ignored.
The one thing that I keep thinking about while reading and writing this post, you did not kill the 3rd boss and you did not kill the golden orb. If you cannot kill the golden orb before being overrun then you will almost NEVER beat Balder's temple. Plus you get the electricity damage buff to take less damage from the electricity of Balder...
In your shoes I would not have kicked the first slayer after being SOOO close. I would have chatted up a storm, trying to bolster their egos a bit. It helps a lot; do not underestimate player Moral. Good luck next time.

Quote: Lordhelmos on 06/03/2012, 10:36 PM - view

I disagree with this. I speak as a person who has tanked endgame content in WoW, and the same bias persists there, that the tank should be the leader, or is somehow innately qualified to the role.

The leader is not the point person, but the person who exemplifies the qualities of judgement, organization, and communication in the group. I've had terrible Lancers pretend they had power as leader, and great non-tanks who had all qualities and led the groups in fantastic ways.

My favorite group leaders have always been the healers, because unlike the tanks, they are not always face deep in something's crotch, thus permitting them scope of observation that exceeds that of almost every other player. Some guy telling everyone what to do is NOT what makes a good leader, and Lancers thinking they are without demonstrating the fact is just more ego piled on to the entitled Lancer ethos.

LOL Only bads would think that 141 iLvL is too low for BT normal mode. Kicking the first slayer after being so close was the wrong decision, don't disagree with the others.