Quote Originally Posted by Ebuddy View Post
Heh...

I work my butt off at my job. I work my butt off getting my kids too/from sporting activities or helping them with their homework, I work my butt off to keep my wife happy ( you know what they say ;oD ) but one thing I do not, will not ever work my butt off for is a MMPOG. I am and I have always been a casual player. I play for fun. I'm LUCKY if I play 10 hours in an entire week (and probably average closer to 5). I read the forums, I ask for advice, I use the character planners. I also pay attention in groups, let the leader know if I'm new to a quest (and especially new to a raid) - often before I hit the LFM and I take direction well. I think that in my tenure here in DDO I've become a reasonably good player and rarely, if ever, a detriment to the group.

I've said it before and I will say it again, good, smart, game play and a willingness to pay attention will trump gear any day, any quest. So all I ask is for the ability to have others decide whether or not I'm "worthy" of their group based on my ability to play and willingness to learn and not whether or not I have the number of HPs they think I should have. A suck player with a barb who has 900 HP still sucks.

But ok, fine... it's still new so we'll see what happens. Perhaps I'm wrong and if I am, I will cut myself a big slice of humble pie (with milk).
There's a pretty distinct correlation between an experienced/skilled player and the gear/hp/sp they have on their toons. Looking at one extreme of the spectrum, the most recognised or 'Elite' players on every server tend have toons with high HP/SP and probably a butt-ton of epic gear. Conversely, the Gimpadons tend to have stats in places that are questionable, as well as poorly thought out (if any thought at all) race/level split/gear choices. This is where I use MyDDO to sort what type of player I let into my groups. I find that a 'good player' and a 190hp Rogue with 0 fort are mutually exclusive. To prove my point, I used MyDDO on your toons, and the results showed me a person who has thoughtfully built their toon, but has some way to go in terms of epic gear. In all honesty, if I was posting a raid/epic and your cleric sent me a tell to say that it was your first time in said epic/raid, I'd gladly take you based on your willingness to learn as well as your MyDDO page.

My beef is with people who cry foul because their sense of entitlement had been bruised by my declining of what was clearly a terrible toon. Good players don't build terrible toons (unless they're just griefing, but that's a different kettle of fish).