Why the Dungeon Queue Hates Me

I mentioned recently my feeling that the Rift LFG tool has had a deleterious effect on the game’s community and the way people interact with each other in game.  As exhibit A, I would like to recount a recent adventure in Darkening Deeps with my cleric.

I logged in to Rift and after doing the event dailies found I had plenty of time to run a dungeon or two.  I didn’t feel like shouldering much responsibility, so I flagged myself for DPS or Support.  I queued up, and went about my business while waiting to get in.  After smashing a handful of mobs with my huge 2-handed hammer, I was whisked away to Darkening Deeps.

Upon zoning in I found myself the 5^th member of an otherwise all guild group.  I breathed a sigh of relief, as guild groups are generally solid and I couldn’t screw things up badly enough all by myself to disrupt a solid group.  We had a warrior tank, a cleric healer, a rogue ranged dps, and a mage ranged dps.  Plus my cleric as Inquisitor/Cabalist/Warden, dropping nukes, debuffs, dispelling, and spot healing.

We blazed our way through the first couple of pulls, and things were looking good.  Then right after starting the fourth pull, the tank disconnected.  The healer tried to heal the tank, only to have the entire pack switch aggro and go for him.  He went down in a pile of goblins, and it all went downhill from there.  We wiped.  We made our way back and did some easy groups of enemies while waiting for the tank to come back.  The four of us weren’t having much trouble, seeing as we were now prepared and both the mage and rogue were using pets to tank.  I offered to switch to my tank role, but nobody was interested.

After nearly 10 minutes the group leader voted to kick their guild member from the group.  We requeued with the tank role vacant.  We worked our way down the other ramp, knocking off group after group of goblins.  Things started to get harder, and I again offered to switch to the tank role.  This time the group agreed, and I swapped out to Justicar.  We reached the bottom of the ramp and the first boss, still just 4 of us.  The mage went afk.  We waited for him to come back.  The queue popped and granted us a tank.  We all confirmed our roles . . . except the mage.  The queue expired, we lost our tank.  The guild mage remained afk. 

The group leader was getting antsy and suggested we try the boss with the three of us.  I thought it was suicide, especially as my cleric was on the low end of the level range for the dungeon, but what the heck!  Let’s go!  We actually did it without much trouble at all, though it was a pretty long fight with only one dps.  We finished up and rolled for loot.  The mage was still afk.  The group leader voted to kick his guildmate from the group, and requeued us.  We got lucky and got a new tank and replacement dps right away.  Finally!

The tank came down to the ramp right away, the new dps lingered at the entrance. We went ahead and started up again, battering our way through the next few set of mobs.  The new dps was still sitting at the dungeon entrance.  Our tank pulled the next pack just as the healer decided to run back to the entrance and guide the dps down.  The three of us died, but were rezzed when the healer came back, new dps in tow.  Oh well, big deal.

We proceeded through the dungeon to the second boss, and easily downed him on the first try, no deaths, not even close.  Smooth and professional.  We made our way to the third boss (the nasty spider boss) and wiped hard.  The healer used his Soulwalk and started to rez everyone, announcing that he was doing so.  Four of us were back in front of the spider boss, except for the new dps.  The healer cast another rez.  I cast another rez.  Nothing.  Then suddenly the new dps entered the dungeon.  Back at the top.  He had run back, despite being told to wait for a rez.  We collectively sighed and waited for him to run all the way back to us.

We tried the boss again, and wiped, except for the healer who somehow managed to get clear.  He started to rez everyone.  Soon, four of us were back in front of the spider boss, except for the new dps. Both clerics tried to rez him repeatedly, group members were shouting hysterically in chat to accept the rez and not run back into the instance . . . and the new dps entered the instance, back at the start.  I think the healer cried a little.  We waited while he ran all the way back down again, several group members trying to impress on him the need to just wait for a rez.

We tried the boss again, and wiped, again.  I used my Soulwalk and started to rez everyone.  The new dps didn’t take the rez.  He walked through the entrance again.  The group leader voted to kick him.  I’d barely even read the message before the rest of the group had booted the guy.  We requeued, and got a mage dps replacement instantly.

We tried the boss again, and wiped.  Nobody released.  Nobody had Soulwalks left.  After a few minutes of silence, nobody moving, nobody even chatting, I quit the group.  Enough was enough.

And then there was the time a group my mage was in wiped and the healer didn’t want to run back (the rest of us did), and instead decided to wait for his Soulwalk to recharge.  “Just 8 minutes guys” . . .

Thank God for kick votes.

Yeah.