1. Said so before this last week.
2. Offered to help in achieving said goals.

That’s a pretty large flaw that seems to be guild-wide in AoT. People want to do stuff, but they don’t really want to do them together, necessarily. Maybe it’s just a big difference in playstyles, but I’ve always been one to try and help my guildies as much as possible.

Go with with Pie’s reference to being Hunter raid leader: I too was Hunter lead. I spent a lot, and I mean a *lot* of my time helping the other hunters out. We’d go farm materials to craft gear, we’d go practice strategies on mobs around Azeroth. We’d spend time getting to know each other’s playstyles.

This whole “mightier than thou” mentality is kind of disheartening. I really do appreciate the advice you all have, and I am taking it to heart… but you all seem to forget that this *is* just a game. “How committed are you?” Really? Umm… about $15 a month and a few spare hours between work and school. Not good enough? Too bad.

(Note: this isn’t written with any malice. Just throwing in my thoughts this morning before classes start. Thank you all for commenting! This is the most activity my blog’s ever seen! ^^)

The final point. When I did arenas in BC, the three of us on the team decided before we started that it wasn’t going to be about winning, it was going to be about farming honor gear. So it didn’t matter to our team. For the team that you joined, they do care about their rating. It can mean that they can get the newer season gear, which are upgrades, because they have the rating for it.

If you don’t care, you really should look for a team that doesn’t as well, otherwise you’re doing a disservice to your teammates.

Just my two copper.

Fik

If I come to a raid without flasks, will I be kicked from the group? What about reagents? Enchants? Better enchants? The best enchants?

What about if I come to a raid without a cloak? Without weapons? Without any gear? Without any talents?

Obviously I’m being absurd but the question remains. How much time/effort/money/gold should I be expected to put into something before I’m ‘good enough’?

It seems quite clear that the expectation is there that you be gemmed. It occurs to me that this is one of those cases where your arena team mates are fighting for gems “on principle” and that they really would prefer you to have better gems.

Are they in the right? I dunno, how badly do you want to do arenas with them? Is that extra 12 AP or extra 18 AP or extra 100 AP going to do you that much good? Are those uncommon/rare/epic gems going to cost you that much money? Further, think in PvE terms. How much time do you spend grinding heroics for that one great piece of gear? How much of a stat boost is it really?

You have to define your expectations you know, before you know what’s good enough for yourself. Do you want to dominate 1v1 duels, 3v3 1500’s bracket or do you want to be the BG Juggernaut. All of these will help you define what *you* want. The hard part comes in when your expectations don’t line up with the expectations of those around you.

As to the stated question: I do think that gems are important enough to spend your time on. I’ve found that a few hundred gold can go a long way in making your character markedly better. I also think the perception, right or not, is that lack of gems = nub. In general, it’s an easy sign of a player who isn’t prepared. With as many bad pugs as you find out there, people aren’t going to take the time to find out what other things you bring to the table, they’re just going to boot first and ask questions..never.

Don’t forget, they depend on you to bring the best you can bring to any fight. It’s their time/money/gold invested too.

@pie You run heroics in dresses and Outlands with no pants, you aren’t qualified to be in this discussion.

I’m more concerned with the statement of “I really don’t care about PvP at all.” Really? Then … why do you want to do arena? Or even, DO you want to do arena? Fiak and I are fine with just doing 2’s if no one is going to take it at least semi-seriously … after all, there are two other people on the team counting on you.

My questions in the post were more along the lines of why someone would rather me have stupid, worthless gems in than no gems at all. It’s more petty than anything.

I really don’t care about PvP at all. I’d rather use my gold for other things. I earned the PvP gear to help be better for my team. I’ve already gone above-and-beyond because most of my gearing has been without said priest along to even offer to help.

If you want your team to do well, you should gear up together. Not run around acting like you’re the best and everyone else sucks because PvP isn’t the whole game to them.