A guide to basic instance etiquette

Having run dungeons more frequently recently, I am convinced that a new guide on what is acceptable and what is not in an instance is necessary. The unspoken rules that we expect everyone to just know can no longer serve our purposes. As such, I have written down a list of instance sins I see committed far too often. Follow the advice bellow, and you will make many friends and few enemies... ok, I can't promise the many friends part, I can promise the few enemies part.

1. Know the encounters
Even if you have never run the instance before, this is the digital age, and we have things like WoWWiki to help us. Look up a dungeon before you run it, and read the strategies for each boss. That said, it's ok to ask for a reminder about what a boss does, as long as a short reminder makes you remember all the strats you read.

2. Stay behind the tank
If you happen to accidentally aggro a patrol, if the tank is in front, the patrol will attack him. The tank may also know something about the aggro radii of the mobs in the instance that you do not. If you are the tank, don't get too close to the enemies unless you are familiar with the instance and the mobs' aggro radii.

3. Never use the greed button unless you are the disenchanter
This is a personal pet peeve here. The easiest way to go about distributing loot in a 5-man instance is this: you need on an item if you need it, pass if you don't, and greed only if you are the disenchanter. Not A disenchanter, THE disenchanter. Saying "I'll greed for DE" is enough to designate you as the disenchanter, but only greed after saying you are going to. It will behoove you to have only one disenchanter, as it makes passing out the shards at then end easier. If no one in your group is a disenchanter, then you can find that out the hard way and roll on the item no one won. After that, and only after that, everyone can greed if they don't need an item.

I should add as an aside that we are in the middle of Brewfest, and that any loot you get from Coren Direbrew cannot be DE'ed, so he is the exception. Greed if you don't need it, need if you do, pass if you have absolutely no use for an item.

4. Stick to your designated role
As I healer, I have sometimes contemplated trying to cast damaging spells in caster form or using easy instances as an opportunity to level my weapon skill. These are the kind of ideas that kill groups, which is why I have never done them. They all distract me from my real role: keeping the group alive. We all know the three roles: tank, DPS, and healer. While in an instance, you should stick to your role and not try to partake in another role just because the run is going smoothly. Now, there is one exception to this rule: it is ok for a plate wearing DPS to taunt a mob off of the healer if the healer is a squishy, but keeping the aggro afterward, even when the tank is trying to pick up aggro, is dangerous and can lead to wipes. Similarly, even if you can take the damage, no DPS should ever strive to out-aggro the tank and, if you find that happening, you should tone down your damage.

5. Chill out
It is just a game. Every piece of loot that causes drama is, in the end, nothing more than a string of zeroes and ones. These days, if there is a bad roll, the item can be traded, so there is rarely just cause to freak out at someone for anything. Even if someone is doing their job really badly, just give them some advice. If they are just completely bad, you can always ask the leader to kick them from the group. If the bad player is the leader, well, you have better things to do with your time, anyways. Also, no matter what may be the cause of your anger, these is still a keyboard between you and other players knowing you are angry. Thus there is no reason to impulsively write about how angry you are.

6. Don't run an instance if you know you may not have time to complete it
I feel stupid even writing this, but two people in just the past few weeks have left groups I was in during the run, and they knew they needed to leave. This shouldn't require any explanation. Instances take time; factor that into your schedule.

7. Join the vent channel and get a microphone
This only applies to raiders, but there is little reason to not download Ventrilo and join your guild's channel during a raid. It always helps to hear that boss strats before the fight, in case you forget, and if you disconnect, you can let your guild know what happened so they won't replace you. I often find that the people in our raids who disconnect are the people we PUG who said they didn't need to listen to the Vent because they "knew the fights." These are the same people who act indignant after taking fifteen minutes to log in again and loosing their spot. Yes, that has happened.

8. Don't cause a wipe in Heroic Violet Hold
It's a really short, easy instance, but the fact that you need to do the whole thing over if you wipe means no one wants to run it twice. It may be pretty easy, but keep your wits about you regardless.