In MMORPGs, there are many types of players. However, particularly in group content, you often encounter clichés with “Randoms”. Here are 10 of them.
Those who enjoy tackling group content in MMORPGs can only rely on friends and guild members in the happiest of cases. More often than not, you find yourself having to deal with a few “Randoms”. Usually, that goes smoothly. But the encounters that stick in your memory are often the clichés that you can only shake your head about later.
We want to outline some types of players that everyone has probably encountered in groups. While these players are based on experiences in World of Warcraft, we are quite sure that you can find them in similar forms in other MMORPGs as well.
Note: This article was updated in December 2024.
Also interesting are the funniest bugs that WoW has produced so far:
1. Warlocks with strange names
When creating a new character, things often need to be done quickly. Most people just use their usual username for their first character or think of some random fantasy name on the spot. However, warlocks are more likely to feel the urge to use some “super-genius” pun that clearly shows they know their class’s abilities. Usually, some pun with “Fear” or other skills. Want a few examples?
- Critneyfears
- Incinderella
- Feargewinnt
- Harrydotter
- Mattdemon
- Hartzfear
- Succubusdriver
At least, with these colleagues, usually only the name is the “problem” and the rest works. Because we already know that they know their abilities. At least a few.
2. The greeting AFK-er
As so often, only one player is missing to get started. Since you only need one DPS character, that one is quickly found. You invite the first brave soul, greet them kindly, port them to the dungeon, and just as you’re about to go in, the chat lights up.
“BRB, having a smoke.”
This doesn’t necessarily have to mean a cigarette; it could also be brewing tea or writing a semester paper.
The rest of the group stares at the last player with increasing aggression as the minutes slowly tick away.
Why on earth would someone gather a group just to go AFK immediately? Why not take care of the things that are clearly important first and then join a group?
Aside from spontaneous emergencies, this is primarily one thing: rude. And it doesn’t leave a good impression.
3. Hunters
This is one of those clichés that has persisted over the years. Ever since Uncle Barlow comically ridiculed the class with his hunter blog on YouTube. Yet it stubbornly remains, and time and again the hunters that fit this cliché stick in memory: they seem pretty confused, deal way too little damage, and their gear just doesn’t seem to fit together.
If you look closely, you quickly find out that the hunter is actually only using their automatic attack and occasionally lets their pet rush ahead. Sometimes the hunter also charges into melee – not to use strong abilities but to heal their pet with a bandage.
That alone would still be bearable; however, the pet also has the habit of running into groups of enemies that you actually intended to avoid. But the hunter is quite certain in the chat that “pets can’t pull anymore” – even when the mob group has beaten his pet to pulp and is now charging happily towards the healer.
4. Players with over-rating and no skill
As soon as the warrior with an item level of 278 and a rating of 3,200 signs up, everyone in the group raises their eyebrows in confusion. Because for these dungeons, one only needs gear of level 200 and a rating of 700 would be more than sufficient.
But alright. Maybe this god has an open quest or simply wants to amuse himself by blessing these lower creatures with his presence.
However, by the first boss, it becomes clear that something is wrong with the warrior. The boss mechanics are played in a remarkably bizarre manner, to put it bluntly: not at all. Abilities are not dodged, and there seems to be a complete lack of basic knowledge about one’s class or the dungeon – and that, despite wielding overpowering gear.
With a bit of research, it becomes clear: this guy has only been carried through dungeons so far and has probably shelled out a lot of gold or even real money for it. Now he probably wanted to show off a bit with his gear and ends up looking ridiculous.
These players represent one of the biggest clichés and are one of the reasons why many wish that boosting would be banned. However, encounters with such players are rare, and usually, it becomes clear within a few seconds whether these characters actually have anything to offer. After that, one has to look for a replacement or feel compelled to teach the over-equipped player everything very slowly.
5. The silent ones
Even if social interaction in games like World of Warcraft may have suffered a bit in recent years, at the very least, a brief greeting in the group chat is still expected. A quick “Good evening” or “Hello :)” isn’t too much to ask, is it?
Well, sometimes it appears to be. Because no matter what you ask, no matter how friendly you offer a port to the dungeon – there is simply no reaction.
Various questions run through your mind:
- Can the player simply not type?
- Have the parents restricted communication in the account settings?
- Has the player simply hidden the chat?
Such players turn out to be a complete mystery regarding their gaming performance. From absolute bomb DPS players to the grand prize in the “idiot lottery”, anything can be included.
If the player can’t even manage to type a quick “Hi” in the chat before the dungeon starts, one should seriously consider whether to take them along.
On the other hand, many MMO players do somehow enjoy loot boxes… and sometimes you end up with a zonk.
6. The over-tank
The search for a tank is difficult and often takes a lot of time. Most of the time you just take the first one who responds. Often that goes well. Sometimes it goes poorly. And very rarely, the tank is so incredibly good that the healer can just deal damage, and the DPS players hardly have to dodge abilities because the tank is already distracting them all. You basically fly through the dungeon, as quickly and efficiently as never before.
When you ask at the end of the dungeon whether the tank is available for more instances, you usually get the same answer in a modified form:
“Ah, thank you for the offer, but I just wanted to quickly do a dungeon before my guild gets back, with whom I’ll be heading out now. Have a nice evening and good luck!”
As your tears slowly seep between the keys of your keyboard, you say goodbye – and see the tank never again.
7. The wannabe over-tank
But where there’s light, there’s also shadow. Where there’s an incredibly good tank, there are also those who merely maintain this facade and pretend to be something they are not. Most of the time, however, you only realize this when it’s too late.
With a self-importance that leads the group to firmly believe that the tank usually plays this way and absolutely knows what they are doing, the warrior jumps in with a running start into the first, second, and third group at the same time. A big pull, many enemies to be defeated at once. But that doesn’t happen.
Even before the healer can click the first spell, the warrior already falls over dead. Amid the roar of enemies tearing into the healer and DPS players, all you see is the group chat flashing with an aggressive “HEAL?????”.
The sad play repeats itself. Twice. Three times. Four times. While the healer ages years in just a few minutes and wonders if they should have chosen the path of a DPS character instead of this class.
Then the warrior, who you only now realize is still wearing some green items, silently leaves the group.
8. The macro monster
Macros and addons can be a great thing, making many aspects much easier. And sometimes, an automated chat message for special events is also helpful in quickly informing the group.
But then there are those who take it too far and have truly associated every action in the game with some ridiculous command.
Not only is summoning a soul wellspring accompanied by a “I summon from the depths of the Nether a spring of healing energy that will consume your soul” line, but pretty much every attack as well.
Whether it’s interrupting an enemy spell – which might still be sensible to communicate to the group – or scoring a critical hit, summoning a demon, or simply sitting down for a mana snack, everything has been plastered with some macro or addon text, so that after the first 10 minutes, the chat window already has the length of the first “A Song of Ice and Fire” novel.
9. The confused one
In the beginning, this hero turns out to be a completely average random. They deal solid damage, follow the group, and don’t accidentally pull; they belong to the 95% of standard experiences you have in dungeons. At least until they die.
Then they become a bit overly eager and don’t wait for the healer’s resurrection, but revive themselves – and end up at the entrance of the dungeon.
Annoying, but not entirely tragic. Typically, it doesn’t take long to reunite with the group – if you know the way. And that’s exactly where the problem begins.
Utterly clumsily, the player now stumbles alone through the dungeon and has apparently lost their sense of direction. Even after minutes, they are unable to rejoin the group.
However, this version of a player at least has some humor and a little shame. He or she apologizes dozens of times in the chat while the rounds continue to be turned in circles, and the interface announces several times that they have apparently walked into enemies again and died again.
After several minutes, someone finally takes pity and returns to the missing player, who has somehow ended up back at the instance portal after another ten minutes of wandering. Hand in hand, the character is now escorted back to the group and the final boss. Although the dungeon was not completed within the time limit, somehow everyone still had a good time – because sometimes this complete, naive scatterbrainedness can also be a little cute.
Or there were drugs involved. One can only speculate.
10. The unteachable hothead
DPS players love one thing above all: damage. As big numbers as possible, as quickly as possible. And everything that could possibly reduce their damage is extremely annoying. Also this huge fire area they are currently standing in. Of course, they could move out of it, but that would reduce their damage output – so… they stay put.
However, because this often cannot be compensated by the healer in tougher dungeons, the player dies.
After a noticeably annoyed “HEAL????” in the chat, the incident repeats.
Most healers are somewhat patient people (or elves, dwarves, whatever…), but after the third time the colleague has chosen fiery death, a message is finally sent: Either you move out of the fire promptly or you can find another group, because the healer cannot compensate.
And – of course – this doesn’t work. So in the end, nothing remains but to remove the player from the group and look for a replacement.
But that’s not where the story ends, because now the spurned one really gets going. In the whispers channel, the healer or group leader (or both) receive a good rant.
The group consists only of failures if someone like him is thrown out. He already has a new group, which is much more competent. But ultimately, that’s better this way, because one does not associate with such [insert pet name here]. He actually plays on a world level in a mythic raid guild – how stupid does one have to be not to notice that?
Furthermore, he should greet his mother, he left so early last night. And all in all, he is a pretty poor sausage if he spends his leisure time in an MMORPG on a Saturday night instead of going out partying – while ignoring the fact that he himself was still part of this activity.
This encounter typically ends on the ignore list.
Do you know any other “cliché encounters” with players in dungeons? Have you had any quirky experiences with people in MMORPGs that ultimately can be summarized as “somehow quite funny”?
