SoW Casters UNITE!Follow

Warning, post contains virulant rant. Parental discretion suggested.

This topic may have been touched on before but I am calling for a organised revolt!

I have characters who can cast SoW, and I have characters who cannot. My non-SoW casting characters WILL NEVER ask random SoW casters for SoW. If someone says in /ooc Casting Sow blah blah, that is different. Or I may ask in /ooc any SoW?, and if I get a positive response, fine. Plus if someone casts SoW on me I usually offer some plat.

So now why, because I am a Shaman or Druid and just happen to be passing by, am I OBLIGATED to SoW anyone who asks? And if I say sorry, I am busy, I almost invariably get a ration of sheet.

So what needs to be done is, people need to be educated. Too often in the past we SoW casters have aquiesced to the intrusive requests and some non-SoWers have come to expect this as the norm. Well NO MORE!

NEW SoW Policy:

1. WE will NOT cast SoW on anyone who merely asks. Sorry but some of you may be nice people but you should learn to live WITHOUT it or re-roll a SoW caster. Worst offenders are the people who /who Druid and then send tells to you soliciting free SoW. Point is to get people to STOP ASKING!

2. Anyone who offers to pay gets the full buff package.

3. Guild and Group members do not need to ask, they get it.

4. My non-SoW characters will only badger guildies for SoW :)

Ok so a few of the more ridiculous requests:
Just died with MY LEVEL 9 Shaman, popped naked into PoK. Not 10 seconds elapses and I get a tell for SoW. I did not even mem my spells yet!

Last night, I get ready for my customary Kill the Brownie in LFay (while foraging). I zone in, turn into a wolf and flip track. First person who walks by in the tunnel 'Cane you spare a Sow?' I say 'sorry'. They say '***'.

Then the 'Straw'...(also last night)

Go to Steamfont, check windmill merchants. Go see if Kobold Missionary is up and he is. Head to Minos Mine and buff up. Two low-level gnomes there, one a necro.
'Can we get a sow?'
I say, 'sorry busy atm, maybe in a sec.'
'Plz?'
(Oh yeah that's gonna convince me...)
'Can you thistle shield my pet?'
I say 'What do I look like? Your personal servant?'
'Obvioulsy not since you wont do what you are told'
'Hope you like Kobolds cause a screaming Kobold Shaman is coming this way'
To which they respond with the usual l33t remark topped off with a 'beeotch'.

So I am calling on ALL SOW Casters. REVOLT! WE decide who gets SoW. If we want to drive-by SoW that is our choice. Count yourself fortunate to get it! NO MORE RANDOM REQUESTS! If they cannot accept a polite refusal they can take a long walk of a short pier WITHOUT SOW! We must make people AFRAID to ask for SoW, then and only then the ones in DIRE need will dare ask or they will have their wallet handy.

/rant off


Edited, Dec 11th 2006 4:23pm by Danalog

If the person comes TO me, and asks politely, I generally hand it out. I see nothing wrong with that, it's the people who say, "sow plzzzz i am at the spires dr00d" that will never get a buff out of me without a hefty donation.

I try to be pleasant. It's dirt cheap on mana and doesn't consume components. Besides, you never know when some nasty attitude you had with a guy in the past over an SoW will cost you a group or rez in the future.

Dothammer has a point though. It's one thing if you have time and mana to burn and someone needs it, but when someone sends you a tell and demands sow, thats wrong. I've switched to roleplay so that ppl cant look me up. I get enough tells as it is I dont have time to be told I NEED to Sow a total stranger.

If someone DOES send me a tell though, and they ask nicely, I have no problem at all helping them out. I even tend to buff them a bit just to reward their niceness and sometimes make a friend in the end. But if I get some jerk who tells me "Sow me" or some other such blatent demand... no way. I refuse to reward jerks who think they get what they want just be demanding it.


Dot, have you tried going anon or roleplay? Since I switched my random tells have decreased drastically. Now the only time I get asked by a stranger is if Im in POK and someone notices Im dressed like a druid. Most times it's someone nearby and I've been lucky to mostly get polite requests.

I think you need to lighten up. I cast SOW on anyone who asks, never too busy to help someone in need, but that is the Rangers credo, my shaman does it too because of peer pressure from my ranger.

Also, rangers have given up some DPS for added utility, SOW is part of my utility, so if I am not casting it, I am just losing out on DPS.

This is true if someone said to me,

"SOW me!" I would have to reply,
"Blow me!"

Thats fine for my rogue, as he can easily make up the 75pp a sow potion cost in a night. However, for the longest time 75pp was a small fortune and to my little necro on MR it still is. Walking is fine 9 times out of 10. However, when running through a potentially dangerous zone a SoW can make the difference between a safe run and a corpse run.

Now don't get me wrong I will not EVER send a random druid,ranger,bl a tell asking for a SoW. That's just downright rude. However, if one is /ooc casting in PoK I will make my way over there and ask. And I will /say Anyone casting SoW over here?
When I'm near the nexus stone or bank. I will generally toss a few gold or pp their way depending on how much I have at the time. However, I think 5pp is a bit much to ask for 40 mana and less than 5 seconds of my time

BTW, thanks for the tip on the selling back to the vendor on the last charge. I did not know that.

Edited, Wed Aug 25 11:31:52 2004 by xythex

C'mon Dot. Don't hold back, tell us how your really feel!

Twiztid

I think there's a good point to be made here. People are getting more expectant of receiving buffs.

I don't think it is about the money so much as it is about being appreciated. I have newbies that give me 7pp for Temp. I accept it, /t about the price of dots, but say that I will not accept any more from them, for that cast. They donated, I appreciate it. Just offering information for future, so they don't **** anyone off.

I think you see it, from the clerics, as well. There might be 25 clerics in PoK, but not one is casting Temp or V. About the only way I can find V, for my monk, is to /t and ask them if they would be willing to cast. They say "No"? "Np, thanks." They say "Yes"? "Great. omw after I hit bank". They don't answer? I talk at my screen, and call them names. hehe. Very rude to not answer /t simply because you don't want to be bothered. Put up your AFK.

Anyway, if I bring my cleric on, to buff, I get people who want me to give them Temp, or to go rez them, or whatever. It's like, "This is what I'm doing right now. If I was looking to give Temp away, I would go to Kurns or to CB."

On the other hand, I am not afraid to /ooc a request for SoW. I figure that if someone is willing to cast it, they will. If not, they won't. But I will also donate, if someone is advertising. And I donate between 7 and 10pp.

SoW and MGBs are the only buffs that I don't believe it is inconsiderate to ask for, or accept w/o donation. All other buffs I donate on, and, as I said, if necessary I have no problems donating for SoW.

Rez's are the tough calls. You get people who die, in these out-of-the-way zones, and they expect you to come rez them. The best rez I did, the guy asked me, after rez, how much. I told him "Whatever you think is fair." He gave me 4pp, ~20gp, ~100sp, ~100cp. Everything he had. So I gave him temp, a couple other buffs, and 20pp back. :)

Always appreciate those that cast, for your benefit. Donate if it is requested, or is how things normally work. And never, ever, accept a buff without saying Thank you. :)

Any parent knows that if you unconditionally give in to your kids every request you raise spoiled, unappreciative, dependent kids.

Dot's policy seems fair, I'll try and adhere to it.

This is one of the reasons I seldom play my Shammy anymore. People have begun to think of a Shammy/Druid as a mobile buff station, that deserves no more respect than the soulbinder NPC.

I have gotten to telling people that I dont do SOW anymore, it is all potions nowadays, and for a small fee of 65 plat, they too can have a 10-shot Blood of Wolf potion. Otherwise, they can go buy me the SOW spell and I will re-mem it and cast it on them. Once they see there is either some cost or effort involved, most just move on.

I would suggest that you ask them for an item for each SOW, nothing extravagent, just something that requires some effort.
Like a rat whisker, beetle eye, rat ear, snake fang...some of the newbie stuff, heck most people can kill that stuff nekkid.

If they want you to expend some time, mana and effort on your part, they at least should make a small show of time and effort to get it. Most when they see that it is not just free for the asking/demanding, will move on.



Edited, Wed Aug 25 13:08:34 2004 by StandsInShadow

Wow you guys have some serious issues. I had never with my ranger had a problem sowing people if they ask for it. I mean jesus people, it takes 10 seconds out of your time to help another person out for 35 mins. The mana cost is nearly non- exisitant and you save someone else a large amount of time. For those complaining that they can buy a sow potion. 85pp is a large amount of money to a newbie or to some low level chars.

That sow could quite easily save their lives, and there by saving them a hour of RL gaming time. Stop being so selfish and dry your damm eyes.

Okay, for all you Rangers that keep posting about SOW. Pllleeeaaasseee....The last thing people look for when begging for a SOW is a guy/gal running around waving a couple of swords, decked out in what looks like plate/chainmail.

I am sure that beastlords probably get more tells than a ranger for SOW. Most people when they see a Ranger do not automatically think buffs. You look too much like a tank.

When people go on the search for a SOW, they normally target Barbarians (be they either Rogue, Warrior, Beastlord...does not seem to make a difference), a WoodElf running around in Leather armor, or any class with an animal type pet chasing after it.

There is a big difference when a class gets a spell at 9th lvl or when they get the same spell at 30th lvl....that is 21 more levels of conditioning. I seldom if EVER see a Ranger SoWing the whole group when I am grouping with my Shammy...that is a SHAMAN's job to SoW folks, not the rangers. Heck, I have had Rangers in the group ask me for SoW...and this is 54th lvl we are talking here.

You can't walk a mile in my shoes, till you take a shammy to lvl 54 and deal with the tells/demands/begs. So don't tell me what my opinion should be.

A ranger in plate? I wish!

Twiztid