Thats completely stupid. Look I haven't done the endgame raids but screw any guild that tells me I dont have the right gems....I mean, are you serious? Well hell if you want me to have all this certain stuff then the guild should pay for their members to have the gear and specs that they deem they must. If not, then you have no right to tell someone how to play.

Majeere has never raided a day in their life, and I'd wager they've never played any kind of competitive sport or excelled in any group effort, where success depends on every person doing the best they can in order to meet a goal.

@Majeere

I laugh at the naivete, or perhaps just plain stupidity, of your comment. If all raiders had this sense of BS entitlement, no guild would last long enough to down anything resembling a raid boss.

Correct, Majeere, they have no right to tell someone how to play. But those raiders then have no right to tell the raid leaders to tell them.

In order to be successful, you need to be dressed for success. That means having gear appropriate to what you're attempting to do and having it enchanted and gemed properly. If you don't, that's one person who is going to be less effective than he can be. And these are the days of the old 40-man raids when 25 people could effectively carry fifteen other people to the loot; between the weird spike damage, rage timers, and various other factors, it's much less feasible to take people into a raid who aren't going to pull their weight and even prepare to be successful.

I doubt anyone is advocate docking a priest who comes in all Bonus Healing gems or even a lot of Intellect gems. That's a variation of playstyle (and one that I probably wouldn't agree with, though I could maybe understand the reasoning). However, if I saw a priest come into a raid with Defense gems or Attack Power gems I'd have to question if he's ready or suitable for the raid.

Well, I buggered up again! Blame it on the early morning.

"Correct, Majeere, they have no right to tell someone how to play. But those raiders then have no right to tell the raid leaders to TAKE them."

Corrected!

I didn't mean to make such a hot topic here but i still stand by my comment. If the person is not spec'd or geared properly for their class, we can just find someone else who cares enough to do it right.

I know what you mean, but there is a fine line between stern and downright draconian when it comes to using the stick. On top of that, if you do use the stick frequently, you have to be ruthlessly consistent with it, or you will find yourself embroiled in guild drama faster than you can say "/gkick".

Really excellent point here. Especially on the official forums, its far easier (and too common) to tear the poster to shreds over spec/gear than to answer their question ie, what spec should i run, etc. Its not that people are not willing to learn, rather that far too few bother to teach. Which is why people like BRK and BBB are revered, they try to teach how to play the class. How many bloggers are like them? Very few. (I blog, but don't teach, i don't consider myself expert enough - but I will answer questions on the official forum).

Not to be contrarian, Rob, but BRK got embroiled in his own issue concerning helping people recently. I vaguely remember that he snagged someone's blog post without permission when she posted for some help on how to deal with unsolicited advice. And rather than deal with that issue, BRK examined her spec and then berrated her for how she was choosing to level. It errupted into its own little discussion in his comments -- and I don't think he ever addressed his conduct or the fact that he took her post from another community without permission.

I'm a long-time fan of BRK, but I did feel that he was a little uncouth for having done that. It's his blog and he is absolutely free to post what he wants, but it did cause me to stop and think for a moment.

@Cyrna: Actually, BRK did apologize to that poster and she wound up guest blogging on his site.

This is how I wish the game were played more often. More GURPS, less CounterStrike. Good points all 'round. Thank you for being a human being.

DKP is so eq. If you show up and preform you have the right to roll. I have quit guilds just over them starting to use DKP.

You sound like the kind of guy we use DKP to avoid.