Dungeon Finder Personalities

I've spent a fair bit of time in Dungeon Finder over the past two months, usually with a guildie or two by my side, but sometimes on my own, I've met a number of interesting personalities on the way. One of the drawbacks with the dungeon finder, in my view, is it doesn't seem to group you with people from your server as often as it should which reduces the chance meetings of people who you are likely to get to know better through sticking them on your friends list and playing with them in the future. I've met two people thus far from other realms who I've added under the real id system, the first one a new player which I wrote about here and a recent altoholic who I got chatting to over the course of several instances which I mentioned in a post more recently. I added the priest because she was new to the game and needed some guidance, I'd spent a while talking her through the basics and said I was more than happy to help her again if she had questions, the friendly tank I added under the assumption that we could group together again. It seems on the later assumption I was much mistaken, come on blizzard, sort it out! Anyways, I digress (again? Would you believe it…), I was going to talk about the types of people I've come across.

Now I always try and be, at the very least, polite and tolerant of other players I come across in dungeon finder, peoples personas will change depending on the day they're having, or the way the group is going;I'd like to hope that I give people a fair crack at the whip. As a rule, I always say hi as I join a group, I tend to make the occasional joke, usually aimed at my own inadequacy to lighten the mood, especially if people seem to be getting frustrated at a roadblock, and if I think I've screwed up, I'll always admit it. I won't reach for the vote kick button too readily, with one exception, if a player is abusive to another party member which in my view is over the top, homophobic, racist or otherwise out of line. So these are my categories of the different types I've met so far:

Quietly Competent

Doesn't say much, just gets on with things, usually DPS or Healing types (Tanks tend to need to be a bit more gobby), they'll just get on with doing their job pretty well. The Quietly Competent player might just squeeze a "hi guys" out at the start of the instance, and possibly a "thanks for all the fish" at the end, but that'll be all you get. They normally have pretty decent gear, either from raiding or rep and dungeon drops. I imagine the Quietly Competents have an accomplished social life and a massively social circle in WOW thus don't need to talk too much in the PUGs, then again they never tell me anything, so I just don't know. Several QC's in a PUG usually make for a quick and uneventful run, but they don't mix too well with players who need a bit of guidance.

Talkative Types

Greet everyone with a hearty hello at the start of every instance, they are happy regale you with stories of their last instance, make sure everyone knows what to do on the next boss, or just generally talk about the price of fish. Can sometimes become a little distracted by the conversation and not notice the patrol mob who's just tapped them on the shoulder and is waiting patiently for them to shut up so he can slap them down into a bloody pool. TT's will often go quiet for what seems like seconds, at which point they're either talking in their guild channel, whispering multiple other friends, or dead.

Assertive leader

This guy knows his stuff; he's been around the block and got the t-shirt, twice. He knows everything there is to know about the boss you're about to fight and will make sure you four slackers don't mess it up for him. He'll generally courteous to other players and may join in with the talkative types on the trash, will get frustrated easily at Complete Noobs (see below).

Abusive Idiot

You all know the type, the Abusive Idiot is that guy who uses lots of acronyms, like OMFG, WFT, etc. (not "etc." that's an acronym I'm using to indicate there are more… oh you know what I mean), blames everyone else in the party for everything which has gone wrong in their life and is going to make damn sure you know it's all your fault. The Abusive Idiot, AKA CAPTAIN CAPSLOCK will often try to take the guise of an Assertive Leader, but often not have the first clue what he's talking about, occasionally he will know what he's talking about and just be a prick. He's not afraid to use the leave party button, SO YOU BETTER DO AS HE SAYS, right? Or save him the effort and kick him yourself. The idiot is generally a 15 year old schoolboy who hasn't seen daylight for 10 days and will never experience the pleasures of the opposite sex without first parting with cash, possibly in Amsterdam.

Complete Noob

The complete Noob really shouldn't be here! They're not good enough to be in heroics, and will never be, they're incapable of learning how to play the game and can't understand why they keep being kicked. Complete Noobs shouldn't be mistaken for people who are new to the game and still learning, they are complete basket cases, no hopers, useless. It's possible that your Complete Noob has just parted with their hard earned cash on a popular auction site, the very fact that they've managed to get to level 85 any other way is too scary to contemplate. The Complete Noob is a conspicuous type, generally given away by the fact that they've caused two wipes before you've buffed up, have a spec that looks like your three year old niece chose it for them and wouldn't know what reforging was if it jumped up and bit them on the arse. Noobs will often be quite bitter about the fact that they keep being kicked, and may try to conceal their nubidity (it's a word, I just made it up) by turning into an Abusive Idiot.

Better Than You

The Better Than You is clearly the most gifted player who has ever played WOW, and doesn't he know it. He's played WOW 27 hours a day since the Beta of Vanilla WOW was released, he knows every facet of the game and should clearly be placed on a pedicle by is fellow players. The better than you is at the pinnacle of his prowess and will whisper each member of the party in turn calling them noobs and asking them why they've made such silly choices with their spec, gear choice, enchantments and choice of tabard, despite not having the faintest idea about your class. BTYs have the propensity to quickly turn into and Abusive Idiot and flee the group should anyone dare to step out of line and die.

Happy to Help

Happy to helps are the type that will check you know what you're doing if you seem to be struggling, are generally laid back and unassuming, and are generally a bit more tolerant than most. They are the type who are competent with their class, and remember what it was like to be learning the ropes so are more than happy to offer their advice. This can lead to the Better Than You types getting quite irritated, "how dare you tell me what to do? I'm INVINCIBLE!!!11". HtHs will often offer advice to the party, or where there are Quick Learners in the party take it to whisper and even offer more general advice for classes they know in detail.

Quick Learner

The quick learner is a recent dinger at 85, has gone to the effort of getting some decent pre-heroic gear but doesn't quite know every fight but is prepared to ask. They might take a little more time through the instances than experienced players, but you'll know that they're a good player just waiting to turn into a butterfly. QLs are extremely thankful of a Happy to Help, and are particularly despised by the Abusive Idiots and Better Than You's of the world. They will one day become a Happy to Help or Assertive Leader themselves.

Mr Impatient & Short on Time's

Mr Impatient insists everything be done at the speed of light, he's living in the AOE filled past and doesn't agree with crowd control. He'll often spam "GO", "why are we waiting" and various other gems in party chat. He's not averse to ninja pulling just to help the tank along if things are going too slowly for his liking. Mr Inpatient's good friend, Short on Time is in the instance to do his daily, or get specific loot, he really hasn't got time to finish the instance for whatever reason (usually his mum won't let him play past 8.30) so will try and hurry the party along and is not afraid of logging out without a word of warning should the loot he want drops or he's had enough. Neither of these two characters get on with Quick Learners, Happy to Helps or Complete Noob's and will often imitate and Assertive Leader in order to get things done but invariably revert to becoming an Abusive Idiot.

Sneaky Cheat

The Sneaky Cheat is too good for the ilvl restrictions and has conned the Dungeon Finder by sticking as many rep reward items in his inventory as he can come across, even though he's a warlock and can't wear plate. He's donned in greens primarily, with the occasional blue if you're lucky. The SC has several other characters at 85 and can't be arsed grinding gear for this one, don't let his experience of other characters fool you, he's no more likely to know the strategy for the current boss as you neighbours pet dog.

Clique Group

Whilst not technically a person, the Clique Group is worthy of a mention. You've all been there, you join a PUG and three or four of the other players are from the same server and usually the same guild. The CG don't have enough friends to make a full group, so they've scraped the barrel that comes in the shape of Dungeon Finder and come out with you and your sorry excuse for an existence. They tend to be less forgiving than most groups, will whisper nasty things about you behind your back, and carry on talking on first name terms in party chat with each other as if you weren't there. It's important to note that not all groups of this make up are clique, just some of them, and it's impossible to tell before it's too late, grit your teeth, get on with it and get out as soon as possible.