Why You Might Not Get Healed

[Furrawn]

Honestly, I suspect it's group-think. Psychologically, people see someone run off in a stupid direction, and they think "Ok, let me save this idiot's butt" ... one sheep runs, then two sheep run, and before you know it, it's a stampede. Then, since no one wants to double back at that point, they just march on.

You might be AMAZED at how you can actually INFLUENCE this behavior by running off in the "right" direction RIGHT AFTER the last mob dies .. or even a little bit before. In fact, if you really want to test it, run BACKWARD and sometimes the entire party will follow you.

Bottom line is people look to a leader, and running off in a random direction sometimes constitutes "leadership" in this game, since we're not always big on communication.

Very true...
I find this to ESP be the case if I'm playing my paladin & she's in a tank/healer role...
And/or when playing with friends...

But in a motley crew of unknowns, there are often multiple folks trying to lead which can lead to two or three different fighting groups which leads to that thing you mentioned in the original post about doofusses (doofussi?) who come running back to the group bearing the gift of a 20+ mob w Boss... Lol

I LOVE this game... So many possibilities....