A Waste of Time
| Problem | Time | Group Size x Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mins | 5 | 10 | 25 | 40 | |
| brb, pvp, drink | 2 | 8 | 18 | 48 | 78 |
| reboot | 3 | 12 | 27 | 72 | 117 |
| bio, repair, forgot item, small group wipe | 5 | 20 | 45 | 120 | 195 |
| afk, large group wipe, didn’t show up | 10 | 40 | 90 | 240 | 390 |
| quick trip to the store | 15 | 60 | 135 | 360 | 585 |
| people hate you | 30 | 120 | 270 | 720 | 1170 |
Most of you have been in this situation. Someone in your group goes afk, brb, bio, gets a drink, has a computer problem, phone call, spouse aggro, inc kids, didn’t show up on time, forgot a quest item, forgot the daily quest, didn’t bring food, flasks, elixirs, needs to repair, is pvp flagged, or gets everyone killed when they didn’t pay attention before or during a fight. They just wasted everyone’s time.
This is especially a problem in pugs when you aren’t there to socialize or in raids when the goal is to get to a certain point. How much of a problem is this really? Let’s take a look. A typical brb lasts around 2 mins, an afk can go on for 5 mins, a computer reboot can take 3 mins, on pve servers deciding to flag up or down or dealing with the split buffs can take 2 mins, running back to the bank for what you forget is 5 mins, and so on. If you multiple that by how many people are in the group (minus the person who did it) you get a feel for how much total time was wasted for everyone. Players tend to think, “Hey I was only gone for a couple minutes”. But when there are many people waiting, this is more time than they think. In a 5 player group you only wasted about 8 mins. But in a 25 player raid you just wasted 48 minutes of other peoples time. If you have a five minute bio or repair in a 25 player raid, you just wasted a whoping two hours.
No one wants to have to sit down at a computer for one, two, or even four hours without a break. And because of that players will quietly take one whenever they can. For example, if you died early on a fight you will probably get up, stretch, and go get a drink. Or if the whole party wipes you may wait for someone else to resurrect you. However, waiting for resses also slows down the whole process of getting going again as well as making the people who do them upset. Why should they not get a break and everyone else does? Of course some problems are unavoidable, but minimizing the others can save a great deal of time.
The key is for everyone to take a planned break at the same time. This way no ones time is wasted. A good time to do this is either just before or even better, after a boss fights. Depending on how quickly your group is moving; take a planned break after every, every other, or halfway through. People need a quick break at least every hour or two, otherwise they are going to be quietly doing them anyway possibly causing problems. If you are a group leader, let everyone know ahead of time when there will be a break. It may save you time.
Good advice for sure…pugs can be the worst for this in my experience…
The short little afks, bios, and brbs can be nonstop. They really stack up unless players all do it at the same time. Perhaps in pugs it’s a good idea to setup a short break ahead of time too. Especially if it will take longer than an hour to do what the group is for.