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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: What kind of PuG are you?
by Matthew Rossi 
Dec 11th 2009 at 8:00AM
For contrast, the Drak'Tharon Keep run that I did immediately after was a lot more fun. The healer told a continuous stream of awful jokes and kept informing us that she'd never been there before. The enhancement shaman was directionally challenged. I pulled King Dred with all of his adds just to see if I could hold them (I did, but it was pretty hairy even in full TotGC gear) and the druid kept asking me questions about tanking, as he or she wanted to start doing it. ("Uhm... hit swipe a lot? I don't know much about druids.") The second run wasn't as fast or ruthlessly overgeared, but it was a lot more fun.
So what kind of PuG's are you seeing? What has your experience been so far?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Instances, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 8 of 8)
drspaceman Dec 11th 2009 3:25PM
I have mostly loved it. Gotta agree that we're either way geared or undergeared (or way skilled vs way stupid). My worst experience was doing H FoS. The healer was the party leader (a pally with gs 2400 or so) and after everyone ran out to the first pull, I (tank) kept dying first, before anyone else, holding all aggro. Died about 3 times in a row before the healer said, so are you gonna ready check? We were still pulling the trash--hadn't done the first boss. We did one group after the next and every time he let me die first. So then i asked for lead and readychecked every single little pull. I thought that was retarded. Everyone was yelling, lets make this a fast run, all buffs were up, everyone was jumping around, healer had full mana, and then i pulled and died. Total crap, I hope I never play with him again.
nekorion Dec 11th 2009 3:34PM
As a Enhancement/Restro Shaman, I'll never be able to dps again in a dungeon, and be angry as I see people standing floor of death and wondering why I can't heal them through it. I love dungeons and being able to find a group on my low pop realm, but I'm gonna bop someone in the face
I can't tolerate these people who want to explain the fight to people who are putting out excess of 6k dps, as if they somehow didn't know it.
I've been all sorts of pugs. a 4 person group of friends (all the same guild) where they were awful players with talent builds that looked like them putting a single point into half of two different trees (think arcane/fire mage with 4 points in arcane stability), groups that could do the instance without a healer if they had a mind too, groups that want to do bosses in the weirdest of ways, tanks that want to worry about every single pull, and can't get over the fact its okay to wipe, groups where its mostly my own realm, and people ive already ran with (once again, low pop, its easy to see repeat people)
I just want to normal runs. Nothing special, not fast not slow not serious not comical.
Creelie Dec 11th 2009 3:44PM
I'm very happy with the dungeon finder tool. Anyone good enough to get good enough gear to get through the gear filter tends to be good enough to get through to the end of the dungeon. I've had 2 groups that failed and dissolved, and in both cases I was invited to the dungeon while it was in progress because the previous healer had left. So far all the fresh PUGs I've been in have successfully completed the instance - some have wiped once or twice, and some had weaker players who were very challenging to heal, but not impossible. On the whole I'm having a great time. Dungeons on demand!
Sl0th Dec 11th 2009 3:46PM
The pug tool has worked quite well for me thus far. I've had a pretty varied experience. Some have been filled with the various players spouting one-liners as we smashed our way though the instance. Others (Coincidentally, a Nexus run springs to mind) have been us zerging our way though the instance with few words. All in all, most of my pugs have been surprisingly successful. Well, except for about half the Heroic Halls of Reflection pugs. I keep ending up in groups where the other DPS are doing about half of my damage and we fail to even get to the first boss.
Viber Dec 11th 2009 4:12PM
Most of the runs have been quite entertaining. As a mostly geared TOC 25 tank, the tanking isn't the problem. The low dps on wrong mobs won't pull threat, the high dps on the wrong mob burns them down to fast to really make a difference anyway.
And the opportunity for the truly lol moments are exponentially increased. Like the HCOS run with the dps DK who's dps was 620. And recount showed only using melee and death and decay... ONLY those two. I still chuckle about that one.
dracoamericanus9 Dec 11th 2009 4:19PM
was that you in my Nexus run yesterday Rossi? i had the same thing happen to me but i am in no way overgeared. was fast though. if you remember a death knight that stopped and got left behind alot, it was me. i have connection issues sometimes and i kept DCing.
Marvelous Dec 11th 2009 4:45PM
My first pug with the new system went like this. Zoned in. Healer says "afk 20 mins or so." Hunter pulls. I (tank) leave group.
Arizor Dec 11th 2009 5:08PM
Hmm...
Enter LFG queue.
Enter instance.
Everyone says brief hello.
Own stuff...or watch THEM own stuff while I keep them alive :).
Everyone says brief thank you for the run.
Exit instance.
PhoenixSmite Dec 11th 2009 8:12PM
I'm usually the one telling the bad jokes :D
But I'm also the Roflbution paladin who's trying to break the stereotype of useless Retardins. I dispel, I HoP when DPS pulls aggro, I rebuff any 10m blessings I had to use, I never keep up crusader aura, I top the meters of most groups I'm in (although now that I'm reading that Recount is bugged in cross-server dungeons I'm starting to doubt myself on that point).
But unfortunately, I'm also a ToGC geared DPS with a terrible knack for getting all of the mobs right on me by the time my "rotation" has reached Divine Storm, even when I'm holding back. My guild's tanks can barely hold off of me in 5-mans and they're much better geared than 99% of pugs I run with. So I end up also looking overzealous and unable to control my aggro, and I had to establish a pull-by-pull rotation of Hand of Salvation, Divine Shield, Hand of Protection, and Divine Protection just to keep myself alive and, as often as I can, away from the top of the threat meter.
Mythryl Dec 11th 2009 11:10PM
I'm loving the new system! I've had more good runs than bad. Blizz must implement a x-realm friend system as I encountered a friendly pug that we cleared all the new 5 man content with and we were genuinely upset that the run was over.
Must admit the silent killer runs scare the poop out of me.
Sarabande Dec 12th 2009 6:31AM
I have to agree with Matt . . . while I don't want to hear strangers' personal problems or anything, I like a bit of communication. The runs where it's efficient but silent just kind of feel . . dehumanized.
So far, I've gotten into good groups - some are full PuGs, but most have a friend or two in it. The one I enjoyed the most since the launch of the new system had a tank and healer who were friends of mine, and two PuG DPS - one, we got by advertising in General in IC, and the other was a replacement for another DPS, and we used the new Dungeon system. The DK was very nice and I didn't mind that she had to go and feed her kids. And the Warlock we got from the system was a real riot - kept making odd (though somehow very funny) comments and jokes throughout. We ran the new IC Heroic 5 mans (and I'd only done the first one on normal before). Many of us were still learning the fights. We communicated, helped each other and just had fun. In the end, the DK and I (we are on the same server) friended each other, and the group expressed regrets that we could not friend our funny Warlock, and then we said our goodbyes.
Other groups are efficient and I guess if you're chain-running those things, that's probably the most important thing to you, but I like to feel like I"m playing with other people and that the rest of the group members also see me that way. Otherwise, I just feel like I'm playing a single-player RPG and the rest of the group are NPC party members.
One of my pet peeves lately has been tanks who start the instance without saying a word. I generally like to set down a table and sometimes, feast, and make sure everyone is buffed. While most of the time, people are overgeared for the places, we still have newbies and alts in blues who could probably use the buffs I also use that time to macro-assist the tank for easier targeting. I know the pace of instances has increased a lot but a few seconds at the beginning wouldn't hurt the run I don't think.
But I think I have little patience for people that most people have little patience for - people who don't listen, who ninja, who are chronic (and often silent) AFKers, who repeatedly pull (who is NOT a tank), who are obsessed with the damage meters (I had one of those in a group - it drove me nuts), and people who insist on being snide, rude, or using the opportunity to endessly epeen, or to make themselves feel better by needlessly putting people down. You're in a group with other people. Even if they are on another server and you will probably never see them again, treat them with the same courtesy you would someone you have contact with in real life (standing in line or in the same waiting room, for example).
But if I had a group of equal gear and skill, one who was silent and merely efficient and one that was friendly, patient and fun, I'd take the latter. We can still get it done fast but enjoy it more :)
Random Dec 12th 2009 8:13AM
Having only PuGged a couple times on my mage, who needs the badges, I think I must be the quiet, deadly type. My H Oc PuG made the speed achieve with a few jokes, some quick tips - y'know, "This way" stuff - and a quick conversation about who would run what drake. My PuG that went through all of the new 5-mans was brutally efficient, with about 8 lines explaining things on a couple of fights... but it was a hilarious run. The opening trash in HoR? Myself and a shadow priest were mauling down the casters/ranged while the pally consecrated then /danced and the dk ran in circles around him hitting such random skills I think he was actually literally facerolling. The pally healer healed it using nothing but FoL and his instants. Nobody said anything, and we had no problems whatsoever. (Incidentally, why is everyone complaining about that trash again?)
The only hassles I've had were when I led H ToC and a new 80 hunter in greens and blues threw a fit because I assumed people knew the fight, and when I asked the H UP group if everyone knew the fights and a ret pally took offense. And I handled those issues both with a minimal amount of talk and kept the group moving.
I AM A SILENT, DEADLY REAPING MACHINE! (Until I get on my priest.)
kaelthalor Dec 13th 2009 2:40PM
I get mostly groups complaining about my awful tanking =D well Dualspecced my DK to frost recently and it still got Unholy gear wich wasnt even good as that
monkey Dec 14th 2009 6:46AM
I'm usually the say nothing, zerg everything kind of dps that usually blows through a dungeon in 20 min. I like it that way, but I also don't have a problem with a social group. For example, the other day I dropped in a FoS/ PoS run and we had me and a warrior constantly tied in recount as both doing over 5.5k dps and no one said anything till we were at the last boss and the rogue who was in ilvl 200 epics screamed 'wth is wrong with you two?!'.
Good times.
Screwblade Dec 14th 2009 11:10AM
As I am leveling my 3rd toon to 80 (78 enh shaman), I know all the 5 mans like the back of my hand.
I ran a lot of PuGs this weekend. It's nice to put yourself in queue while going around questing and not sitting in a city spamming the chat channels and then having to wait for that one person that is in a city with their hearth on cooldown. For the most part, they were great! Most were quick, painless zergs. One group included a tank that had never been into Halls of Stone. I quickly took control of that one and taught the pally how to pull and hold aggro over a group that was composed of a lot of AoE.
I had two that are worthy of mentioning as "bad" though.
I joined up on a CoS that had this one foul-mouthed warlock leader. He was tossing around racial slurs like they were going out of style while the Arthas event was playing out. "BEAT THAT N****R!!" was the one that really stuck out when Arthas takes out 2 of the villagers before Mal'Ganis appears. I took a deep breath and said to myself, "It's Sunday afternoon. All the kiddies are home from school. I just need the XP, gear upgrades and Rep for my grind to craft the engineer motorcycle." The first pull comes up and this warlock instantly shadow fury stuns the group and hops into the middle of them and spams hellfire. Needless to say the tank was no where near ready and the resto druid couldn't keep him up so he was laid to rest almost instantly. The Tank and healer get their composure and we were able to down the first group. "OMG Nub heals! REZ ME!" That was met with the druid sitting down to drink to get her mana back. "Shaman, REZ ME!" "No. You were stupid enough to run in before the tank. You can run back to us as punishment." Almost instantly after that "You have been removed from the instance" and I found myself standing in Dalaran. Oh well. I queued up for another one...
That lead me to a HoL with a group that everyone except the tank and an Arms warrior were below level 80. No big deal. That just means that we need to be slower and more methodical in the pulls. We kill the first boss and he drops the thrown weapon. The hunter speaks up, "Can I roll need on that? It's a big upgrade for me." The warrior chimes in, "It sure is! You're using a green bow. Go Ahead" /facepalm Again I say to myself: "It's Sunday afternoon. All the kiddies are home from school. I just need the XP, upgrades and Rep for my grind to craft the engineer motorcycle." We clear to the air reverant boss. We start the encounter. The hunter causes too much friendly fire to the group by not running out when she was the first one sparked and subsequently killed me and herself. "Sorry. This is my first time in here." The rest keep at it and get him to about 2% before the last person dies. The DK tank, Pally healer and myself release and start to run back. "Aww That was so close. We almost got it!" Says the hunter. "Imma wait here for the rez." "Me too," chimes in the warrior. Nothing is more insulting in my eyes than not releasing and running back from a full wipe. I promptly left that group. I had a few quests I wanted to turn in anyways.
Of course I bet those two groups will say, "We had this enh shaman that was rude so rude...." Oh well.