Tuesday 19 August 2008

Vicarious, the Legend of Cronyism (or What Price Loyalty?)




Much has been written about Vicarious and the treatment that Analogkid got compared to the two hunters. Some have expressed shock at the injustice, while others have defended the cronyism as a valid and fair loot council. I purposely wrote long after the fact to see if, like Primula before him, the sting of what had happened would be lessened somewhat. I find that it hasn't, but there really isn't much that anybody can do about it.

Many have written or spoken in defense of the Vicarious legendary loot council—basically the rogue deserved to have that legendary bow given to him instead of letting the hunters roll for it because:

  1. Hunters have rolled for rogue weapons and gear in the past—yes, we admit it, hunters have. That is why, despite all the written advice that hunters should not be afraid to roll on leather that gives you better stats, I have personally maintained a policy of only rolling on mail (despite a lot of the leather gear looking cooler than most of the ugly mail out there). Of course, this is just my personal principle, and apparently nothing hunters would ever do can shake the perception that we're a bunch of ninja-looters. (When I once offered to help take down Omen, I was rudely told off to stop pretending to help then ninja-looting the quest item [I had, by then, just finished the quest, know for a fact that anybody can get the "quest item"—which is actually a buff—no matter who killed Omen, and thought that I was doing somebody a good turn]; frankly, I've personally met more ninja mages and paladins, but what can I say? I'm one of them noob hunters.)
  2. Analogkid has displayed his loyalty and fealty and, therefore, deserves to be rewarded over those who aren't as loyal—I can perhaps accept that a warrior tank be given these over hunters for his loyalty. But a rogue? And not just any rogue, but one who already has both legendary warglaives? I'm sure the hunters have, by now, gotten the legendary bow themselves (if what they say about having Kil'jaeden on farm is true), that is, if they had loyally stayed with Vicarious and never made a fuss. But what I hated about this "loyalty" mumbo-jumbo is that no matter what any new members can do, they can never outdo a person who's been with the guild since Kara; and implying that, just because the hunters only have recently joined therefore they aren't so loyal, is a gross insult. But, if I were one of the hunters, I probably wouldn't have made any noise either. Insult or no, unfair or no, the guild still had KJ on farm, and I'll eventually get my bow anyway... as soon as everyone on the Loyalty List gets it, that is.
  3. Since Vicarious had KJ on farm, they will get their bow anyway—basically, since KJ is on farm anyway, don't give the drop to the ones who can make the most use of it but to the one with proven loyalty, since one can prove their loyalty by waiting for it to drop again. My question—why can't the rogue have waited if it drops so easily? What's so wrong about a rogue (who already has 2 legendaries) to wait until the 2 hunters got theirs? The reasoning is that if this group has KJ on farm, therefore, the group is already powerful; therefore, the hunters will actually just get a little bit more benefit, but really they don't need it. And since the reasoning of improvement has been casually done away with, just give it to our crony here.

To summarize: 1) Revenge on hunters (QQ moar), 2) Loyal members [cough]cronies[cough] first for epeen reasons, 3) Prove loyalty by still running with the guild after we bitch-slapped you.

I know that the wiser and shrewder course of action here is that, if you were one of the two hunters, to just bite the bullet (or arrow), grin and bear it, and just hope that nobody else on the loyalty list wants it when they want to roll for it... but it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I'd feel like I prostituted myself for a piece of gear, or a beggar hoping for some scraps. I don't envy the sort of choices those two hunters had to make.

Update: Of the two hunters (Tums and Zzerg) who were there in that raid, only one remains (Zzerg)... and that hunter still doesn't have the legendary bow. I guess the last hunter remaining ought to prove more loyalty, eh?


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