Please invite to the party before engaging (boss fights)

[Cabarcos]

It's very frustrating to be engaged in a boss fight alone, in a dungeon that was hard and time&resource-consuming, and then someone appears and joins into fight the boss too, and you don't get the kill.
I don't mean that it was done on purpose, it could happen to anyone in the heat of the moment, it's just trying to be a polite reminder.

[Eyeliner]

I don't really know what to think about this. I always hang back and let them have it. I don't really like someone coming up and inviting with no RP either, partly because the invite window often messes up whatever I'm in the middle of doing.

[Amateur Hour]

I tend to think of a party invite as a mechanics-only thing, in the same category as mechanically hostiling someone. A "party" doesn't correspond to any real, tangible thing my character is aware of, like mechanical hostility, and its implications - who gets hit by spells, how XP is distributed, how writ completion is determined - are likewise either intangibles or are artificial mechanical limitations. So if you're going to join in the fight, best to try to include them in the group if at all possible even if it's mechanics first, RP second.

This said, I think it's generally best, if you somehow stumble on someone who's fighting a boss, to hang back. If your guy is Good, they can hang back because "it's their fight to fight" and only jump in if it looks like the guy fighting is in trouble, and if they're Evil, they can hang back because "why take the risk when they're potentially doing most of the work for me?"

I feel like the worst possible choice would be to hang back and yell "hey, do you want help?" because that would require someone to stop actively controlling their combat in order type out a full response (compare to clicking a single button to accept the invitation).

[Cabarcos]

Yes, I think it would be better to hang back, but if you join at least invite so you don't steal the kill from the one that was already fighting.

[Fume]

I can understand your sentiment. Something similar happened to me where luckily I(fighter)just began the writ. A glowing mage appeared with summons in tow and ran straight past toward the boss. In their defence they did say hello on the way past.
I dont like doing hasted smash and grab writ style so exited and logged for the dugeon to reset.
It annoyed me alot but ive come to realise that there are different play styles going on, and mine isnt somebody elses. There was most likely no ill intent in it. But yeah, perceived jerk behaviour can sometimes just be innocent play style I have learned. Like some people play on consoles and etc

[AstralUniverse]

I tend to think of a party invite as a mechanics-only thing, in the same category as mechanically hostiling someone. A "party" doesn't correspond to any real, tangible thing my character is aware of, like mechanical hostility, and its implications - who gets hit by spells, how XP is distributed, how writ completion is determined - are likewise either intangibles or are artificial mechanical limitations. So if you're going to join in the fight, best to try to include them in the group if at all possible even if it's mechanics first, RP second.

This.

Party is ooc anyway. If you're fighting a boss and you suddenly see someone joining the fight - this happens a lot. Very often in low level dungeons where one writ doer is tracking a party and reaches them only at the boss since they stop to rest and ward before the boss sometimes - then be kind and invite them. The OP's reminder is a good reminder. Thanks.

But on the other side of the coin, it's also important to note that if someone trying to join a party in the heat of battle against a boss and they steal the boss from the party before/without joining, that's not very nice (IC).