L2Forums

Whenever I got frustrated with Amantara I used to read the forums just to see what I was doing wrong. You see, at first I was convinced that I just sucked playing WoW and went there to get pointers. And then I started reading everything and started to buy into the "Druids are underpowered!" posts by frustrated mid-level druids and the "lol! L2Heal! Innervate me, mana-battery!" posts by... well, just about everyone else. I started to develop a chip on my shoulder and the more I read this stuff, the bigger the chip would get.

Then Burning Crusades came out. Well, then the patch before BC came out and I saw what druids could become. We were suddenly the kings of the jungle! People saw us racing by in cheetah form and would cower in fear, hoping that we wouldn't deign to notice them. Yes, we got stuck up, horribly stuck up. Then the nerf bat came and that was enough. See my introduction post to read about the stupid tantrum I threw. No, I'm not proud of it.

So, learn from me, O young cublings, learn from the mistakes of Papa Hirnek.

Mistake #1: if everyone says something, it is true.
No. Just... no. In this case, everyone was saying that druids suck, that they should just heal, that they're ok for solo boss hunting but if you're with a group, just heal. People have a tendency to post with feelings and not with thoughts, especially when they are frustrated with whatever they're trying to accomplish. You need to take that into consideration.

Mistake #2: everyone's opinion is equal
Why on Earth did I listen to the opinions on my class given by people who didn't play druids? Sure, people have druid alts, but until a person concentrates on something and learns about what they're doing, their opinions aren't as valuable as a more experienced person.

Mistake #3: everyone is helpful
Tying in with #2, I would read posts by people and think that they were trying to be helpful. When a priest would post "Druids should back-up heal and innervate, it's for the good of the raid", I would think they were thinking of the good of the raid. No. Priests don't want their mana-batteries to shred faces- that means they'd have to spend money on more mana pots and work harder keeping the raid healed.

Mistake #4: everyone posts
When I read the forums, I thought that they were a good representation of the players in WoW. No. They are a good representation of the people that post on the forums. The really good druids, they're not posting on the forums nearly as much as the mediocre and bad players- they're busy learning more about their class, researching boss fights and playing their toon!. All of the forums are in desperate need of guidance from the best players. They all need someone to come in and say, "STFU stoopid priest! Druids can tank!" or "STFU lvl 26 druid! L2Play!" We need more of these players to answer questions, point us in the right direction and just be there so that we all can know that the druid is more than viable and that the real thing that separates good druids from bad druids is the exact same thing that separates good players from bad players.

Ok- short little lesson that I had to learn the hard way. I suppose that I was lucky that I made these mistakes on the druid forums where the problems aren't as pronounced and good druids do post and are helpful.

Last bit of advice: if someone says that a druid can't do something, try to prove them wrong! Experience outweighs opinion every time.