There will always been competition between players of the same class and spec. I was helping a friend out in 25 man Naxx half guild ( theirs) half Pug – and there is another Shadow Priest in the raid. We check out each others gear like Gunslingers from the west. She nods at me… linking a peice of my gear.. ” My guild just killed him the other day.” I nod back puffing my chest out a little bit. I outgear her, she’s close, but Skill > Gear ( sometimes… ) Spiderwing is a good wing for Shadow Priests to kill everyone else on damage just with our mindsear. My trigger finger is itchy. I must prove myself in this wing
First pull. The little spidys down the ramp. I wait for concencrate from the Pally. She doesn’t – she didnt pull threat, but then she links the Damage Metre. Showing herself as top DPSer
Seriously – on the 1st pull.
The raid politely says to hold off the linking of spam till on request after a boss.
I pawned her the rest of the fail run. Spider Wing cleared and that was about it. at the end of the run I got 10% of the total raid damage overall..
Yes I have an ego.. and I would be embarrased if someone undergeared me and beat me, but I also pride myself in doing what I am told/supposed to do, and sometimes that costs you DPS but doing what your told is more important then toping the chart and dying because you didn’t listen.
I was top DPS on Anub’Rekhan – and got a few comments “Nice DPS” the only reason why I beat everyone else was I was killing the little adds that were hitting on the raid healers while everyone else merrily dps’ed the boss . That means I use mindsear, = more damage. It wasn’t my raid so I wasn’t going to yell out kill the adds on the first boss in, they had already checked to make sure people knew what they were doing.
So yeah my ego got stroked a little when I killed them all on the damage metres, but it was a failed run. The people that came and went are all locked into a raid id.. its ok for me, I don’t need the raid ID, my purpose was satisfied I was helping a friend. , and some people got some gear.
Every shadow priest I’ve met in a pug has to stretch their Epeen… I do it by performance… 😛 So I don’t need to brag or ask for Dps metres because they always ask first..
Are all classes so competitive.. or am I just being smug because I like being a fig fish in a little ocean on occasion
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Pugnacious Priest's Warcraft Blog 
I usually only get into raids as a sub or a pug, so when I do get to run, I’m very careful of my cast priorities, and usually get pretty high on the meters because of it. I don’t post them either, but it sure makes me feel good when I’ve manage to out dps the regular group members 🙂
We usually have 3-4 shammies in a raid. 2 are resto 99% of the time (one doesn’t always make it), and me and the other shammy switch between resto and elemental depending on a situation (though my main assigned spec is ele and his – resto) I watch him like a hawk. I compare our gear, the distribution of stats and after every raid – I have WWS reports open on him and me side by side, comparing rotations and choices for each bossfight. most of the time, he outdpses the crap out of me with only a slightly better gear. the day I came close to him on damage and even got a bit ahead without pulling aggro was a happy happy day (until they asked me to switch to resto for Hodir and then I got stuck healing our first iron council kill /mumble – that’s what I get for being a pretty good healer :P)
so to get to the point of above lengthy rant is – no, in my experience, its not just shadow priests 🙂 Our warlocks are in competition with each others, so are our mages. granted its a friendly competition that ends up beneficial to the raid (as things die faster) but its a competition nonetheless. there’s just something about having the biggest numbers 🙂
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I love friendly competition and am usually neck-and-neck with my 25’s other regular shadow priest. And the only meter we *ever* spam in raid, and never before it’s half over, is the death count. And then only to make good natured fun of a raid member who doesn’t watch their aggro, or forgets they are dps and not a tank and keeps pulling.
Aye. As a frost mage, I’m in a similar position, except that instead of gear, I like competing against other mages with superior specs as well. Seeing the Frost Mage in Naxx 10 gear outdo the Arcane and FF mages in naxx 25 gear is a great boost to my ego.
@Kriz: What, mages are for DPS… I thought we were about utility these days?
I can drop more Arcane Brilliance and food than any other Mage in the raid!
I often buff AB 2 or 3 times before each pull just so I can buff my numbers…
I bet you are the sort that drops frost nova around critters just to boost your numbers 😉
@ PugPriest: I tend to look at other Mages…. briefly… but it’s the rogues I watch.
Rule #1 of DPS etiquette! Don’t link damage meters globally unless asked by the raid leader. Anything else is ass-hattery.
I want to beat everyone all the time, regardless of class, spec or gear… if im on my mage or my dk… or even if im tanking or dpsing.
must win!
That’s why we play games right? to win? no prizes for second place right? nobody wants to be first loser 😉
when someone of the same class / level / gear level beats me… well I don’t like it, so I try to casually get a chat going and find out what they are doing differently on the sly so I can beat them next time 😛