Selective Healing and Anti-Socialism

Long time no-blog... I know. I've been slacking lately, but I've been a little busy, so you'll have to forgive me.

Hopefully I'll pick up the frequency of my blogs again soon. But I thought i'd spend a few minutes discussing a topic that's quite close to my heart... As in... It's one of my pet hates.

Over Aggro'ing:

I recently commented on Rummys Blog (Flowersz to those in the guild), about letting an over-aggro'er die.
Flow had been PUG'ing as a tank, and had been having some trouble with a numpty Hunter:

     "As a tank, you gain the automatic right to shout at people. It’s part of the requirement of being a tank.
It also comes with the added bonus of being the leader of the party. If you’re not… you usually should be.
If a DPS is stupidly pulling aggro on mobs, it is your god-given right to teach them the error of their ways.
And if the behaviour continues… to remove them from the group.
It’s amazing how many people don’t know the basic reasons for most wipes:
DPS pulls Aggro -> They get Hit -> Healer Spam Heals them -> Healer gets their Aggro -> They get Hit -> Healer Dies -> Group Wipes.
Unless you can break that cycle, it’s an inevitable wipe.
And when the healer dies, everyone points the finger at the tank for not saving them. So you’d be making a rod for your own back not to speak up sooner.
If you have a very sensible (or spiteful) healer, they’ll let any over-agroing DPS’er drop dead, because that way the mob will usually just wander back over to the tank afterwards.
No Tank / Healer = Wipe
A Dead DPS = Slower Win"


At first glance, I'm sure my attitude seems pretty harsh. And, to be honest... It is.
I'm no Gevlon. I 'can' be anti-social, but usually choose not to be.
My social skills tend to serve me fairly well both in-game and in real life. I get what I need, but I don't lose sleep if something isn't going my way, or if I choose to put my own desires first every now and again.

I've often been described as having a 'switch'. I can be the nicest guy you've ever met, until I have a reason not to be.
I find this works quite well for me. It means I can socialise and create freindships with those who I feel are deserving of my time and effort. But I can also blissfully ignore all over those who aren't.
And can happily stomp all over those who intentionally cause problems for me and mine.
The shock I often see on peoples faces when they've finally pushed things too far, or have presumed that I'm a pushover just because I speak nicely to them, and usually offer to help. It often makes me laugh afterwards.

Does it make me a bad person?
Who knows? I don't think so though.

But how does all this apply to the selective healing?

Flow later posted another blog about my comment:
     "...It never occurred to me before that letting them die was a sensible option, I’d always thought it was something you did when you were feeling particularly narked. But maybe letting them die really is the only way they’ll learn..."

Most people would never dream of letting someone die on purpose, Flow included it would seem. They'd  heal whoever needed healing, no matter what. Because it feels like the right thing to do. It's the friendly, and 'social' thing to do.

But I'm a big believer that being 'social' doesn't have to equal being 'stupid'.
I think I can honestly earn the right to claim mastery of the Tanking and Healing classes (maybe more-so the healing, than the tanking). And my Hunter has no option but to be a DPS guru. Even if he is a little dusty recently.
But if I was the one who was constantly over-aggro'ing, and I'd been warned not to do it again, I wouldn't start moaning if the healer just let me die the next time.

If someone really needs help, then I'd help them. If they need advice, that I can provide, I'd provide it. But if they're just going to ignore that help and advice then I'm quite happy to let them fail too.

'Letting them die' either in-game or in a real-life social situation (i.e. making a fool out of themselves) is a much better teacher than any text book.
Think about it. If you make a mistake in the privacy of your own home, or on something that no one else will ever see, you might try a bit harder next time.
If you make a big mistake in front of everyone else, after being told how to do it correctly, that's gonna stick with you a lot more, and you'll definitely put more effort in next time.

To reduce the frequency of this situation (at least when I'm tanking) I use a macro to put a skull over my targets head. Players who team with me regularly know what it means, and those who don't shouldn't find it that hard to figure out:
   Place DoTs, and debuffs on anything you like, but focus on the one with the skull over it's head. If not.. it's your repair-bill.

Of course, it's never as straight forward as that. And I make exceptions too. Some of the guildies are almost 'infamous' over-aggro'ers, but their imba DPS is usually the cause. And in some cases it's worth the risk.
If one of them is in danger, and I'm the healer in a raid / party situation, and I know them well. I'll usually try and save them... at least the first few times... but then, that's the bonus of having a plate-wearing healer. Who has more than one "Oh-Shit!" button.