I Love Improvement - A PSA

As blunt as I might be, I really do want to see others improve.  That's probably why I'm so blunt when people do things incorrectly.  It's not hate. I'm not being a dick for the sake of being a dick.  I just really want people to click on things and I love to see them do better.  This is a PSA about helping your fellow raider and fellow mage.

There was this mage in our guild.  We'll call him Blinky for the time being.  He was leveling up when I rerolled mage for the guild, so I wasn't 80 too much sooner than he was (although I already had an 80 warrior).  Once he started raiding Naxx-25, he was struggling to pull 2000 dps and he was rolling/spending DKP on MP5 items.  I tried dropping hints like "That's a healing piece," "That's a great item for priests," "I wish there was a mage drop," but it didn't click.  His gear became a ton of spirit/MP5 (before the molten armor change) and it was kind of disheartening.

The Guildmaster also has a mage, and he wanted to do something about it but didn't want to be upfront.  He had me post all this crazy theorycrafting about mages on the guild message boards in hopes that he would actually read it and take heart, but weeks went on and nothing happened.  Eventually, he had me talk to him about his spec.  When I asked him if he wanted help, he said "I don't really care about it that much" and my heart sunk.  I really wanted him to want it, because people who don't care bring the rest of the raid down.  At that point, I thought it was a lost cause and did my own thing.

A few weeks later, on a Uld-25 run (we never did get far in 25, only killed Cat Lady once), I saw his DPS jumped to about 3000.  I checked out his spec and saw 57/3/11 and fireworks went off.  Somewhere along the way, Blinky went to a site that had specs on it, because I never poster the Arcane spec!  Sure enough, he was using the appropriate spec, using the proper rotation, and was gemming for spellpower like he should.

Now, Blinky is a rockstar and all the bitches in Dalaran want his Mana Strudel.  The only fires he stands in are the ones he lights in the ladies hearts. He's top 3 DPS, even though he's not rocking Incanter's Absorption (I might be wrong, he may have shifted because he's smart and dynamic now).  I'll gladly throw him my focus magic, and if I lose a roll to him on some mage gear, I think to myself "I'm glad the raid is getting an upgrade."  And if I can't go, I know that the raid has a strong mage there to carry the important mage duties.

Keep trying to help your fellow raiders, and eventually it'll click.  There's nothing more fulfilling than a when a new raider finally clicks and gets the game.