Ask WoW Insider: How to avoid idiots?
by Mark Crump 
Apr 28th 2008 at 1:00PM
Welcome to today's edition of Ask WoW Insider, in which we publish your questions for dissection by the peanut gallery -- now with extra snark and commentary by one of our writers. This week Benjamin writes in:Hi, my name is Benjamin. I am a daily, if not hourly reader of WoW Insider as it is my Warcraft fix while slaving tirelessly under the oppressive regime of work. My question is this: How do you separate yourself from the idiots when trying to PuG? With Mr. Rossi's articles about never Pugging, the endless replies of concurrence, and the numerous other articles of horror stories, I see why I can never get that group together for Black Morass. Part of my issue is that my main is a Night Elf Hunter, which does not exactly inspire confidence but I can chain trap, I am learning to FD BEFORE I pull aggro, and I protect my healers. Bottom line is this, do you have any recommendations when I am hitting the LFG to distinguish myself from the numerous other "OMG, I PEW PEW AND LEWT!" folks, regardless of class? And yes, I do have a Warrior and Priest alt. =) Thank you for your time.
When it comes to avoiding idiots in PuGs, often times the answer is a line from the movie WarGames: "The only winning move is not to play."
Myself, I'm largely removed from the PuG game as well. I'll do a variation of a Pug, where myself and a couple of guildies might seek out a fourth or a fifth, but the days of me hitting the LFG tool have passed. These days, I'm more interested in a Heroic for the badges, and those can be dicey even with guildies; doing it with strangers is just too much of a hassle.
How about you folks -- any tips on how Ben can avoid idiots?
Got questions? Don't wait! Send them to us at ask AT wowinsider DOT com and your query could be up in lights here next week.
Filed under: Tips, Guilds, Ask WoW Insider
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Treima Apr 28th 2008 1:11PM
A. Retire the Night Elf Hunter.
B. Roll a new character.
C. ??????
D. Profit!
Surtr Apr 28th 2008 1:16PM
Two options:
1) Add something to your LFG comment. For example, "LFG any heroic, hunter with omen can chain trap & keep up 600dps"
2) Look in the LFG tool for 'lazy' healers or tanks already registered for an instance but not yet running it. pst them, start the group yourself, and then YOU can be the choosy one with who you take.
Angelus Apr 28th 2008 3:25PM
@ Surtr
How is this a reply to Treima?
Savel Apr 28th 2008 1:16PM
There is a little box when you use the LFG menu for any notes you want to add. Put in there something like, BM/SV, geared, can chain trap, and you'll likely have better luck. Putting anything in there is better then leaving it blank and making people wonder.
cloudkiller Apr 28th 2008 1:16PM
"Heroic(s)... can be dicey even with guildies."
Are you being serious? I almost exclusively PUG for my daily heroic and I have yet to encounter a group that could not clear the place. With gear being what it is these days, the entire heroic PUG is usually all purple and we usually have the place clear in about an hour.
Dakira Apr 28th 2008 1:28PM
Try it on Ravenholdt...
I only wish we were as lucky!
Jewbanks Apr 28th 2008 2:41PM
Just last night me and 4 guildies picked up a tank.. apparently after 4 hours of raiding and it being 2 in the morning our tanks werent up for anything / were offline (I mean god lazy tanks). Anyway we still managed to have trouble because the 16k hp SSC TK and beyond (much better gear than me and my guildies have) could not help but pull extra mobs continuously and could not keep threat on more than 1 target at a time. I hate pugs...
Nick S Apr 28th 2008 3:08PM
heroics with guildies are always smooth as butter. even if one of them is an alt in greens, knowing the people you're playing with well enough to know they're not idiots is valuable.
Super Guest Man 9000 Apr 28th 2008 4:58PM
I've PuG'd nearly 250 badges worth of heroics. And for the most part I have a fairly smooth time. But that might be attributed to the fact I'm the tank and in a series of T4/T5/Badge gear and I take control of the group to ensure that we don't fail. That and I listen to that little voice in my head that screams "RUN YOU FOOL! RUN!" when I see any of my group members in more than 2 greens.
Sam Apr 28th 2008 1:22PM
when Puging I ask the guild if they know the person. I also usually check out which guild they belong to. I have found that avoiding members of certain guilds is a good screening process.
Dakira Apr 28th 2008 1:30PM
Agreed, keeping up with the realm forums (although not often posting) is a great way to start to spot and recognize drama filled guilds and people, avoiding those for PUG's usually makes things go smoother.
zchang Apr 28th 2008 1:29PM
I haven't had much trouble with PUGs of late. I PUG the daily heroics, I PUG Heroic Magister's Terrace. I've PUG'd Kara and ZA when the opportunity presented itself. However, I do perform due diligence and screen pug groups for gear/spec. In fact, I find that I wipe no more or less frequently in a PUG than I do with a guild run. People make mistakes all the time.
Rob Apr 28th 2008 1:29PM
Well, BM doesn't require trapping (or its very optional). No CC really required there. Hunters are very useful for the solo add. I'd say let a mage handle the 3 pack add. Anyway. Yeah, let them know your spec, your dps, your gear level (full T4, some epics, etc). I've PUGed many a BM. If you have the gear, the the instance is easy. If you don't, the instance is hard. It really comes down to that.
Cheerio Apr 28th 2008 2:04PM
I've barely played my hunter at all since TBC came out, and I managed to control the adds my first time in BM with very few problems. It must be easy, because I suck.
rick gregory Apr 28th 2008 1:55PM
I'm with Sam, though I'm less picky about the person and more about the guild. It's not 100%, but if they're in a good guild they're likely much better than the average PUGer. Did a semi-PUG kara with half the people from a T5/6 guild and a very well geared tank from another good guild. Went fine... full clear, 3.5 hours. Not record speed, but fine.
Angus Apr 28th 2008 1:33PM
"The only winning move is not to play." Nice advice. Come on, you can do better!
1: Spec + gear. If your spec is survival and you are not sporting insane agility, go away. Gear needs to make sense and not be a mishmash of "it was an upgrade" nor should it have anything people would consider you being a ninja having. (tanking trinket)
2: Attitude. When joining a group, greet them. Be nice and ask what needs to show up to finish the group, or if it is ready tell them you are willing to trap/kite/use harsh language as needed.
3: CHECK THEM. Inspect all of them before starting. The tank has damage gear on and is MS spec, maybe you should whisper and ask if he forgot to respec/regear. Mage have an amazing 20/21/20 build, yea time to see if he even has polymoroh hot keyed. Warlock SL/SL spec and wearing all arena stuff? Ask how many badges they need for something to see if they are often in heroics.
4: Ask questions in whispers and don't be afraid to tell the tank and/or healer that you have concerns with someone.
Maybe they'll agree and fix it.
5: Check the first 4 pulls. You have usually gotten at least 1 of the trick pull situations done, be it possible adds, large mob, casters, and need for CC. If those first 4 pulls are smooth, keep going and see how you go until first boss. If there is an idiot pulling adds, failing to CC or re-CC, breaking CC, or doing stuff that hurts the rest of you, call for a boot or drop yourself.
Dakira Apr 28th 2008 1:33PM
When you do find yourself in a successful PUG, having a good time enjoying the run, don't be afraid to let the people your running with know that and add them to your friends list.
Then in future ask those friends what they are running and if they have need of your services or invite them to your run, reminding them what a good run you had last time.
I'm a healer and I especially like being invited back by folks in PUG's that I've healed.
Krick Apr 28th 2008 1:42PM
When I was leveling my protection pally, I wasn't in a guild, so I had to PUG everything to get geared up for Kara.. group quests, 5-mans, and heroics. Luckily, along the way in one of my PUGs, I met two of the people who ultimately recruited me into their guild as a tank for their Kara group. So my experience with PUG groups has been pretty good.
The only time I ever had trouble in a PUG was when I was enlisted as the tank for a run of heroic Shattered Halls by a Spanish speaking guild (with me not knowing any Spanish). I doubt any of them had ever run with a pally tank and the worst part was that they were all in PvP gear. Needless to say, at the start of every pull, the shaman would land a mega crit on one of the mobs before I had solid aggro and wipe us.
We only made it to the first boss (after about 4 wipes), at which time two of the people bailed. I later realized that they were probably just interested in completing the quest chain to summon Nightbane and had no intention to do a full run.
...
Krick
http://www.tankadin.com
Arvenis Apr 28th 2008 1:43PM
My main is a Mage and I often put "Holy Spec" in my LFG comment just to see if anyone notices.
Auroch Apr 29th 2008 6:30PM
Holy Spec Mage, is that the one that makes kosher sheep?