The lost art of interrupting.

[Karlhungus]

Or even, the lost art of doing anything that isn't directly attacking the boss?

As time goes by, I've been noticing DPS players really just don't bother to interrupt. They don't even bother to do much of anything other than attack the boss. Even in 25 man raids I've noticed this (Frostbolts getting through on Lady Deathwhisper), which is generally the one place you don't want to see people slacking.

Now, tonight I had one extremely infuriating experience. TotC25 alt/pug run. We get to Faction Champs and are completely rofflestomped simply because people didn't interrupt/disspell/purge. Well, we finally get passed that on the second attempt, and when we get to Anub, nobody puts down ice patches. No joke, nobody thinks to put down ice patches.

On my main, if I want something interrupted, it interrupt it myself. I have Shield Bash keybound, and I'll use it constantly, because I can't rely on anyone else half the time. As Fury, I've got pummel as the same keybinding, and if I see a cast bar, I interrupt. Same on my DK in both tank and DPS specs. What I don't really grasp, is why so many people don't bother, when it's so very easy to do it and as pummel and the like aren't on the global cooldown, really doesn't cost anything either?

I'm reminded of leveling my Paladin.

Sethekk Halls. Those wonderful, wonderful charm totems. I get mind-controlled, and nobody attacks the totem. So the tank is running around slapping the dps, the healer is frantically trying to keep everyone up. I'm repeatedly saying over and over, nuke the charm totem. The charm totem, I'm mind controlled! Will you kill the damned charm totem! So eventually all the DPS and the healer die, and when I get out of the mind control, I manage to finish off the mobs. I ask, why wasn't anyone attacking the charm totem? I'm greeted with silence. Nobody touches the charm totems for the rest of the run, despite my reminders that they're top priority. I take my revenge by beating the crap out of any DPS I find MC'd.

I think to myself, I can't wait until this character is 80, I won't have to put up with as many scrubs. No such luck. Running the Nexus as my daily random this morning, all those Dryad mobs and nobody was interrupting tranquility, and I couldn't because my hammer of justice is on a 1 min cooldown. Yay. I know it didn't make a huge difference, they lasted a few seconds longer before they were burned down, but it's principle of the thing that annoyed me.

[Kazeyonoma]

Sadly that's just the case half the time, in some pugs or even heroics, we'll be on trash for 5+ minutes per pack because no one is thinking to interrupt heals or what not.

I'm all for the faster trash clears by making them aoe friendly, but it's harbored people into this idea that AOE+maximum DPS = fastest kill even if it means letting a mob get off some crazy spell or heal. It's the same reason why CC seems so foreign to everyone, yet on a fight like Faction Champs, it's essential to victory (sheep who? wtf is that)

[Eisen]

Don't get me started. I rant about this to my friends and wow-playing co-workers.

The fixation of DPS on NOTHING but their meters has caused more wipes than I care to count.

Heck, last night I was in PoS on my resto shammie. Now I know, regular 5-mans "r not srs bzns", but I still treat every encounter like it presents a genuine threat. So those flame guys on the hill? Woulda hellfired the all-melee dps and tank group to death if I hadn't been windshearing between heals. Ditto on those nasty Circle of Frost things cast by the frost mages just before the gauntlet. Mind you there was a fury warrior, a DK, and a rogue in the group. Interrupts a go-go. But not ONE used. I checked Skada just to see. I was the only one that stopped a cast the entire time.

[Raysere]

It's easy to forget sometimes and sometimes people just make mistakes. Sometimes, if I'm playing Mutilate on my Rogue, I don't pool my energy properly and don't have enough to kick in time. Tonight in ToC10 I was solo-interrupting Jaraxxus as I was tanking him. I left my first interrupt quite late on the cast bar and ended up pretty much interrupting on cool down from then on, a couple of the interrupts missed due to latency. It was my mistake, I won't make it again. That's what separates the good from the bad, not being perfect in every way every time, but not making the same mistake twice.

Just as long as it's not "Interrupting lowers my DPS". You not interrupting lowers my HP, and raises my repair bill.

[Eisen]

It's easy to forget sometimes and sometimes people just make mistakes. Sometimes, if I'm playing Mutilate on my Rogue, I don't pool my energy properly and don't have enough to kick in time. Tonight in ToC10 I was solo-interrupting Jaraxxus as I was tanking him. I left my first interrupt quite late on the cast bar and ended up pretty much interrupting on cool down from then on, a couple of the interrupts missed due to latency. It was my mistake, I won't make it again. That's what separates the good from the bad, not being perfect in every way every time, but not making the same mistake twice.

Just as long as it's not "Interrupting lowers my DPS". You not interrupting lowers my HP, and raises my repair bill.

There's a difference though. you're trying. I don't blame people for trying and failing. I blame people for not trying because their dps might suffer.

[Tharr]

I blame people for trying and failing aswell. If I can do it as a prot warrior then there's absolutelly no excuses a dps (who's even hit capped) can't do it aswell.

It's the thinking part that's been left out to long now. We did 10 man Coliseum hardmode with 2 rogues and they didn't think Wound Poison was good and they should have it. Or that enraged buggs is bad and they should not stay enraged. I keep saying every time what frost patches needs to be down, otherwise I fear it'll not happen. It took me 3 weeks to teach my dpsers that the Blizzard casted by the dragon before the Gunship Battle can be interrupted before they started doing it automatically. It took 4-5 goes on Deathwhisper achievement before people actually realised not marked mobs are supposed to be dead, even though it was said every single time.

I've played this game for 5 years now and I'm getting very tired of spoonfeeding people all the time. It really is not that hard, all it requires is using some brain power.

[Panttz]

Its even harder to have dps organise interrupt rotations =/

[Tharr]

Oh when you let the interruptors organise themselves you can get very funny results. Like Vezax hardmode when 1 rogue decides he takes the first and second interrupt and not a single other rogue realises it doesn't work. So we wipe. Or when we assign NE, NW, SE and SW corners on Anub'arak for them to take 1 add each and 1 rogue thinks North and South switches places when Anub does. Needles to say we had 2 interrupts on 1 add and nothing on the other, resulting in dead people before we could actually pinpoint the fault.

Or when we first got to Anub'arak hardmode and decided to go the 1 tank tanks all 4 adds route. The rogues didn't know the threat part of tricks stacks, only the damage part doesn't. So they fail on getting the adds to the tank and we wipe, many times. Eventually we just get 2 add tanks and let them get the adds themselves.

[Eisen]

I blame people for trying and failing aswell. If I can do it as a prot warrior then there's absolutelly no excuses a dps (who's even hit capped) can't do it aswell.

See I don't...at least not as much.There's a difference. Mistakes happen. lag makes someone miss. Someone screws up a rotation. But at least they are making an effort. People that are focused on damage meters to the exclusion of everything else are my biggest pet peeve. I wish Blizz could prevent meters from working, so people could focus on beating encounters, not topping a meter.

[Tharr]

Oh I blame the people not even trying more, but I do blame them all.

[methsnax]

There are two reasons why this occurs, the first is because the ability can go through and it doesn't really matter if it lands, the interrupting of it will just lower their dps, and the second is laziness of course. Most fights that I have seen are no longer like Illidari Council which require an interrupt rotation to actually down the boss. Nobody wants to interrupt because it lowers their DPS or quiet frankly they don't give a shit and view it as the healers issue. There are two steps you can take to encourage interrupts, the first is to specifically assign a rotation (from one to X persons), this is like assigning two healers to a tank, it holds them personally responsible for the action taking place, the second is to call people out on it via a mod, raid chat, or voice chat client. A simple 'Hey <char name>, you missed your interrupt', and leave it at that. You could also penalize them by not inviting them as much or having it hurt their DKP because they are hurting the raid.

[Eisen]

Quite frankly, if there's a raid I'm leading where the DPS are required to do anything besides kill mobs and fail to do so, I will kick the guy doing 8kdps and refusing to do the other tasks before I kick the guy doing 3kdps and interrupting or whatever. You can do all the dps in the world; if there's a "do this or we wipe" mechanic and you refuse to do it you're causing wipes. End Of Story.

[Destruyen]

i've noticed it's mostly due to alot of people switching mains and not used to interrupting or just started raiding in wotlk to where they aren't used to boss fights that rely on interrupts. prime example was reliquary of souls and illidari council in black temple (not to mention a few other fights in bc) that hinged on successful interrupt rotations. i don't think it's really "omg dps meters" since most interrupts are off the gcd and don't affect dps rotations, it's new or bad players who don't understand the fight mechanics.

[mavfin]

A very simple example of this that bugs the crap out of me is the priestesses in the 2nd fight in H ToC5 that cast Mind Control. I interrupt it with anything I have, including intimidation from a hunter pet, but, on the occasions I have nothing or it's on cooldown, usually no one else touches it, not even the tank.

How can they not understand that a wipe caused by MC is more important than their damned meters? I *will* kick a DPS out of a raid if they *refuse* to interrupt when asked. All tasks in a raid are important, same as all tanking tasks are important, whether it's the big baddie you're facing or not.

[Eisen]

i've noticed it's mostly due to alot of people switching mains and not used to interrupting or just started raiding in wotlk to where they aren't used to boss fights that rely on interrupts. prime example was reliquary of souls and illidari council in black temple (not to mention a few other fights in bc) that hinged on successful interrupt rotations. i don't think it's really "omg dps meters" since most interrupts are off the gcd and don't affect dps rotations, it's new or bad players who don't understand the fight mechanics.

You're forgetting that off the GCD or no, most people only focus well on one thing at a time. If that slows them even a half second every now and then to switch gears, omg that might drop them 200dps, which might put them *gasp* one spot lower than they were!

Realize that I'm saying this because I've actually had conversations with DPS about this. I've gotten flak from RLs about my dots on my lock being off for even a second because I switched up to have my felhound lock a caster mob. We've all become too focused on meters and damage rotations.

[kolben]

The price of easy fast content where nothing like interrupts and CC is required has been an overall loss of game skill by the community. Case in point, a recent Lady Deathwhisper kill - out of 6 people who could interrupt her frost bolt not a single one did - ginormous health pools make it a non issue though.

So even stuff that you really should interrupt, you don't have to. It's sad if only because it's a simple matter of press buttons and win. This is precisely what keeps many groups from being able to do hard modes, not that you can convince the people who won't move out of fire that their personal DPS is not the critical issue to beating an encounter...

[Blue]

I have never, and will probably never, led a raid, because of a lot of the frustrations that some of you have expressed. I really, really, don't know how you do it, guys...

My two centavos...take from it what you will...

As a pretty new raider, on my Shadow Priest, I got the chance to do TOC25, last weekend. It was mostly a two-guild endeavor, and was hosted by the other guild, most of whom I'd never run with before. I was nervous, but very excited...although it was a last minute grouping, I had time to gather my pots, check over my gear, and whisper to my guild leader, who was healing, about what to expect, in general, from the fights. I've watched all of them many times, here on Tankspot, but, strangely enough, they never show anything but how the fights are won, not how they are learned...(that's my pet peeve).

Anyway, we get through the first several encounters (I had a blast, with Icehowl), until we get to faction champs. Then, it's pandemonium...I get nailed, by the Warrior, before I can even finish putting up dots on the skull (healer)!

Ok, it's a wipe...

Three people just quit...no word, just gone!

That really makes me angry...so, you die, and suddenly it's time to go do your homework, or something? So, we wait, the Leader is trying not to sound frustrated, but I know he is...someone is aoeing like crazy--he's not naming names, but he mentions that he could see frost bolts flying around...so, he explains the strat, we find more people, and try again...this time it goes better, but still, we wipe...I die to the rogue, whom I cannot shake, with fade, shackle, nothing...I do manage to get four or five mass dispells out, though, but my dps is 2600 (which, for me, is not bad, but not my best).

Well, this time, even more people leave. Now, we are short on healers...my GL whispers me that I should try my Disc, in order to help out. I'm not really liking the idea, because, even though I'm square in the middle of dps, at least I know that better than healing, but I say, ok, because if they don't find heals, the whole thing goes down.

So, the RL says to me, "How well are you geared, for heals?"

I tell him, about the same as for Shadow (which is almost the identical gear, anyway...).

He audibly sighs, then he tells me to target him (he's MT, and DK). I'm whispering him that I have never healed anything but normal dungeons, and one or two Heroics...he says, "Just do what you can. You were kinda doing mediocre dps anyway."

Ouch! I know he was frustrated, but that stung, and I was interrupting and dispelling, like a mad fool! Didn't say anything, though...

Anyway, I did what I thought was pretty well, although we wiped twice more, and called it a day.

I whispered my GL, afterward, "Hey, too bad we stopped. I was moving up the heal meter, each time...last wipe, I was second only to you!"

He laughed, because we share the same disdain, for heal meters, and dps meters...

I guess the point of this long story (apologies), is that, although I am not the star shwangmeister of raiders, I do try, whether it's HoL, TOC25, or the kissing frog quest.
Some of you would have kicked me, and that would have hurt, but, not as much as it would have two years ago, when I was new to the game.

Either way, I'll get back up again, and keep trying, because that's how I learn...

And, ya know what? If you blame the ones who are trying, then you aren't trying. Think about that, for a bit...

-off soap box--

[Spinks]

"On my main, if I want something interrupted, it interrupt it myself."


This is one of the reasons that people like warrior tanks. Love the interrupt. Of course I interrupt stuff while I'm tanking, it's because I can.

Actually, I hope they give out some more interrupts to bear tanks and tankadins next expansion too. It'll whittle away at our traditional role some more, but it is so annoying to tank without interrupts that I think they probably need it.

[Arterius]

I was actually gunna post something like this myself. It really annoys me when I'm in pugs and spells that can be interupted, aren't. I mean okay it's not really that big of a deal since heroics aren't exactly "srs bsness" but still, if you can interupt it, why not? It's not like it's going to kill your DPS and it makes life a bit easier on me. Whenever I play my Mage or DK alt I always interupt every time I can because I know how much tanks appreciate it. It drives me crazy when I do a boss like the last boss in Forge of Souls and I'm the only one interupting his Phantom Blast. Not interupting it won't wipe the group or anything but if you can, why not?

[Panttz]

As a warrior theres nothing more frustrating than lining up your spell reflect and one of those 2k dps Death knights interrupts that frostbolt.