Resurrection etiquette
No matter what you do in the World of Warcraft, you risk stepping into a sludge pool of drama. From arguments about class mechanics to heated discussions with trolls, to distribution of loot, it is impossible to avoid conflict.
In my personal gaming experience, I would have to say that most of the time I become upset, angry, annoyed or feel the need to take a time out, it is because I chose to run a dungeon with a pick-up group. Whether I'm tanking or healing, I inevitably run into people who seem to have no regard for other players.
As an example, I have a strong policy about my resurrection ability. I feel that if you die, whether from a stupid mistake of your own or a legitimate reason, you deserve to be resurrected.
On the other hand, if the entire party wipes, and no one had a soulstone or self-resurrection available, I believe everyone should run.
Sure, if you have to hit the washroom or someone comes to the door, I'll run with everyone else and pick you up after, and that's no problem.
My one pet peeve is that I did not become a healer because I have a passion for long and annoying corpse runs, while everyone else plays Bejeweled, makes a snack, browses the Internet, and generally entertains themselves.
As a healer, I'm willing to pay for elixirs, flasks, buff food, mana oils, potions, reagents, and anything else I need to keep the group alive and working, no matter how much the runs end up costing in the end, even for people I do not know. It gets expensive, but it is my job.
Most people I know, including friends, guildmates and the members of my sister guild, intuitively will run if there is no resurrection from a surviving party or raid member to be had.
Some players, however, will automatically assume that I'll run after each wipe to resurrect them come off as self-absorbed. It is almost as though they simply can't see the situation from my point of view. At that point, I'll usually mention that my rule is a wipe equals a corpse run for everyone. It's only fair, and I think running is the respectful and polite course of action.
Of course, sometimes I run into people who will sincerely refuse to run, become irate, and eventually drop group because I'm too 'selfish' to resurrect them.
How do you feel about resurrection etiquette?
Should the healer, who already spends more on the run than anyone aside from the tank, has a more stressful job than any DPS, and makes sacrifices for people they do not even know, be forced to make all the corpse runs? Does the ability to resurrect automatically dictate this in the job description? If so, would you still choose to heal, or to run PuGs?
