World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

You have seen them in Org, Ironforge, and various other cities across the vast World of Warcraft. Almost everyone knows their name, even new arrivals to the server. They may consider themselves to be “popular”, however the rest of the community may not hold the same ideal. Nevertheless they are there, a constant part of the World of Warcraft landscape.

Most of us at some point in time are guilty of stroking our e-peen. I myself am guilty of posting the damage meters to show off my numbers or linking that new piece of gear to anyone who will listen. This is all part of the game and honestly there is nothing wrong with tooting your own horn once in awhile.  But there are some who take this to an entirely new level.

The people that I refer to are usually cut out of the same mold with only slight variances. Well-known, enjoys spouting off in General chat, will berate those who they feel are lesser than them, and delight in doing so. They will find nothing wrong with insulting everyone around them to point out exactly why they are more awesome than you, even if they happen to be wrong.

These players can be “popular” with the general community, with a huge following of friends, and even more who have heard the name and just wish they could be counted among that inner circle. Even if they have a terribly abrasive personality people tend to make excuses for them, reasoning that because they have amazing gear, are a great player, or just seem so darn confident that they can’t possibly be wrong.

On the flip side these players can also be universally hated. When they talk in General Chat you just know a good argument will ensue because most people can’t resist doing battle with them. But even this kind of attention gives the player what they want. They reason that those that dislike them are just jealous and wish they could be more like them.



These players can’t resist linking the meters after every boss fight (they might even link it during trash), or gloating over their PvP rating. They are unafraid to whisper players in a group with them (even if it’s a pug) and engage in a lengthy conversation as to how everything they are doing is wrong. These players usually cannot see why this advice is unwanted and expect everyone around them to make the changes without question.

Sadly enough these people tend to be excellent players, but not always. I’ve seen plenty of players with huge egos that are terribad players, and are obviously wandering around in welfare epics. If they do happen to be excellent players it makes it difficult to decide if you want to play with them or not. While you want good players, and would rather not play with people who are unskilled no one wants to play with someone who is constantly explaining why they are super awesome and you’re not.

Usually I’ve found that these players tend to be a DPS class or a tank, healing classes just don’t seem to appeal to these types of people (my wife would tell you this is because healers are very underappreciated), although it’s not unheard of. My own personal experiences with these types have been for the most part with tanks, although I‘ve seen my fair share of DPS snobs. These tanks pulled without abandon and then proceeded to yell, mock, and berate the other raid members if anything went wrong. I mean, obviously it wasn’t their fault, right?

After the raid these players would all head to Org where they would stand on the bank and congratulate themselves on being kings of the universe. You could almost see their toons chests puffing out as they strutted around. I can’t say that I disliked them all, some had a certain appeal and I would call them friends without hesitation.  However despite being friends it was still apparent that they loved to stroke their own e-peen.
Thankfully in my new guild there are no huge egos, and very little e-peen stroking except in jest. However they are still out there, on my server, and on yours, and they could become a part of your guild at anytime. Causing some laughs, some anger, but mostly eye rolling.

I know without a doubt that every World of Warcraft player knows someone like this, even if they don’t know them personally. They know exactly where they will be standing in that major city, and they know that at least one point in the day there will be uproar in chat usually caused by them.  They are as constant as the sun setting in the west, and even if we don’t like them sometimes they are just another part of the diverse World of Warcraft landscape. It wouldn’t be the same without them.