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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Your random dungeon experiences
by Matt Low 
Dec 14th 2009 at 8:00AM
It was a dark and stormy night. It all started with a one drink. Isn't that how it always goes? One tough raid is followed up with some drinks to calm the nerves. One drink leads to another and you start thinking about doing crazy things.
Crazy things like jumping into pugs using the new random dungeon finder tool.
I hadn't done it yet myself and I know the people I've spoken with said they've had nothing but good things to say about it. But I'm a skeptic. What's the worst thing that could possibly happen? Maybe I'll get stuck with a party that has never done Oculus before with a tank that's no where near defense capped. But what are the odds of that happening, right?
I'm not much of a talker when it comes to dungeon running. My job is there to heal and ensure a stable run. I enjoy the silence and the peace. One of the things I like to do is inspect people just to check them out, you know? I like to see what kind of gear players are packing. It's not indicative of their skill, but it kind of represents the time investment they've spent on their character (usually, anyway).
The tank? He was sporting a nice shield and tanking weapon at the ToGC 10 level. The mage and warlock seemed to be acceptable enough with assorted emblem gear and a mix of ToC 10. But the hunter? My heart just about stopped.
He was using a Shattered Bow.
Yes, that is a gray quality bow. I almost ran away screaming. But nah, that's totally un-Matt-like. I bit my tongue and healed through Forge of Souls. It could've been worse. It could have been Oculus (even though it's been nerfed).
How about you guys? My horror story was pretty mild, but do you have any at all?Any that were worse?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 15)
Himarl Dec 14th 2009 8:43AM
I totally know where your coming from. I had the same experience twice in one day where the tank had no clue on how to properly gather all the mages resulting in the dps taking insane damage and me frantically popping out crazy heals to keep up with the damge they were taking. I too was kicked after two wipes. The third lfg I entered was again HoR and the group was already dead and flying back. I asked if they wiped, they said yes, I asked if they kicked the healer they said yes, I left.
quyit Dec 14th 2009 8:24AM
I really have had good experience in the pug groups. biggest problem i see are DPS hybrid classes logging in as tanks to get a group fast and are unable to tank. Also notice no coordination in most groups. people just want to run through the dungeons with no regard for strategy if it is a vanilla dungeon, trying to bulldog through it. wiped twice on these types of runs, however, coordinated runs go smooth and are a lot of fun. hope battlenet's potential to friends cross-server will work out as met several people i would most definitely like to group with again.
Keveline Dec 14th 2009 8:57AM
This is the worst part, everyone being in such a darn hurry. Slow down just slightly and maybe enjoy the dungeon. Or at least not wipe.
I was in a group yesterday and we wiped in the entry hall of H-UK. Mr UberPallyDPS was in a great f'ing hurry to get his heroics farmed and charged ahead of the tank (me) pulling everyone in the entrance hall back to us. We wiped and he quit "sorry guys, gtg". Yeah well good riddance; we picked up another dps'er in about a minute and finished the instance with no further problems.
I haven't used the tool much yet due to limited playtime, but that's been my only bad experience, and really that's not even that bad...
Pemberton Dec 14th 2009 9:34AM
THIS. It's RUNRUNRUNRUN then they're all surprised when the priest is out of mana.
Jay Dec 14th 2009 8:25AM
My problem has been douchebag tanks that are running the instances faster than their teammates are able to and then blaming everyone else of failure. Seriously pugging is not soloing if you're teammates can't keep up you're gonna wipe.
I myself is pretty decent healer in ToC-gear and have had no problems keeping up, but I have had my share of chain innervating poor little mages in greens who had mana issues and was left behind cause the tank didn't feel like letting them have their Honey Mint Tea.
Be nice to people and let everyone enjoy the game. If this doesn't suit you for Pete's sake don't use the random tool. Got my pretty pup now, so I'll be out of randoms for awhile :)
Jay Dec 14th 2009 8:46AM
Hey, you are not me :P
Jay Dec 14th 2009 9:59AM
Yes I am, you're just forgetting you have split personality :)
pasks Dec 14th 2009 11:34AM
Honey Mint Tea? A Mage? That's a disgrace, if you ask me. I've never ever eaten vendor food or drinks on my mage, and that's the way it's supposed to go.
PictoKong Dec 14th 2009 8:26AM
Yesterday, i was running H nexus with my firend, after a somewhat long 6 minutes of wait time. We were me (mage) and my friend (shaman elemental) and we were grouped with a Warrior, a Druid and a Pally. Druid was heal and pally was tank.
After nearly 2 mins of waiting doing nothing, the pally said his tanking gloves were in bank... After leaving out the dungeon, the warrior decided he could tank, switched spec and gear, and the healer said some f words to the pally saying he was a liar... After some desastrous pulls (we did not died, it was just awful) and some chain pulling (i remember he managed to pull the entire arena before taunting Grand Magus boss) the pally, who was back but trying to tank too, died. After a B-rez from the Druid cause "it was faster", the druid went to the bathroom, the pally rage quitted, followed by that DPS-who-can-tank-even-if-there-is-another-tank and the resto druid. Me and my friend were just LOLing at themk, because they said we were complete noobs cause i was taking 10 sec to drink.
The thing is, my recount said me and my friend were a 4k DPS, while the pally and the warrior were not even making 1k each...
After queueing in order to finish the instance, we managed to get another Warrior as tank, another Druid as heal and another pally as tank... At least, thoses were enough kind to finish the job.
Jay Dec 14th 2009 8:35AM
Recount is broken in cross-realm dungeons. I would love if Blizz removed the hidden channels from the /lfd groups, all it does is provide cheap lulz to raiders and grief to newer 80s when the more experienced players really should be helping instead of staring at a meter, or worse, copy/pasting it after every encounter.
kitsune Dec 14th 2009 8:27AM
I've had a mixed experience. There have been some really amazing runs and some that, as a healer, make me want to start pulling out my hair. I've mostly been doing this on my 60-something shaman so I'm stuck in the range with all of the DKs who've barely left the starter zone thinking that they're all hot-stuff tank....or that one pally who was taking w/o Righteous Fury...as Ret...because he was positive it was the tank spec.
Seriously people...is it that hard to watch your healer's mana pool or to move when she tells you to get out of the poison? And if it's a wipe, go get your damned corpse with everyone else. You won't get lost if you're all running together.
I just hope that I was never causing my healers to feel this way when I was dpsing.
Prissa Dec 14th 2009 8:31AM
I've come across the wait-for-the-healer-to-run mentality as well. It must be a server thing. I've always seen it as, if the group wipes, the group runs. But recently using the cross-realm finder, I've had to give the hard word "I'll res you this time, but if the group wipes again, you'll be running with us please".
Malfeous Dec 14th 2009 10:00AM
I have only had one horrible experience so there is always that one. It was late for me and we pugged occulus which by the way, now when done right is not bad.
The fill in priest healer decides they want to go for the achievement and we all agree to two tries.
This goes horribly and the priest "wants one more try, I know how we do it this time".This goes horribly as well, I don't think the group would do it easily on regular but this was improbable at best. The group breaks apart and life resumes a normal good flow
Flyhard Dec 14th 2009 9:52AM
I had quite good experiences - no more ID10Ts than before. Only thing I discovered - on other servers in our realmpool they have different loot-rules on the Frozen orbs. On our server everyone greeds - there they "need". I have started to anounce before we start, how to roll on the Orb (I think the need is good, because then noone can ninja the Orb)
Honeydew Dec 14th 2009 8:29AM
Before the random dungeon finder, I had only done maybe five heroics (four if you don't count the completed one). Now I've done nearly every five man heroic in Northrend and looking forward to doing more.
I've had my share of wonderfully nice people willing to help to those who will cuss you out if your DPS isn't high enough or kick you from the group if you roll need on something that you really do need, even when you tell them its better then what you have.
So far, the good has outweighed the bad. There really are helpful people out there willing to answer all the questions you have, no matter how noobish. They're willing to explain fights and the best way to get through them. And I want to say thanks to all those that are like that because it makes the runs all that more enjoyable.
Now that I've been doing many more dungeons, I've been able to up my gears big time and thats exciting because I never thought I would be able to before the DF.
Jay Dec 14th 2009 8:29AM
Worst experience is a pali tank in 3.6K GS gear using a DPS meter in a regular dungeon and complaining when people on level for the dungeon hit less that her.
You are a tard Alissanni, go back to your raids.
Oh and people who need on frigging orbs and bags. Bloody ninjas.
Shamrocco Dec 14th 2009 9:34AM
Why wouldn't you need on bags? I assume you're talking about papa's brand new bag from FoS. It is the same as a off spec roll. Roll need and if someone objects it can be fixed later since you are a practical, rational person. I'd rather roll need first and show everyone I'm willing to sort out a miscommunication later, than miss out on a roll entirely by some idiot looking to ninja the bag.
As for orbs, i cannot say anything that hasn't been said a hundred times previous. Greed the orbs, everyone can use them.
Joe Sites Dec 14th 2009 8:31AM
As someone who got his Perky Pug on Friday afternoon, I'd consider myself a bit of an expert on the random pug system.
Overall, I've had great experiences. The only truly bad one was an Old Kingdom Heroic run where the pally tank would pull multiple groups (at the area where the Shaman and elementals are), but luckily I was able to heal through it and keep me and the dpsers up after the tank died.
Super Guest Man 9000 Dec 14th 2009 9:09AM
Got mine Thursday morning ;)
videvekartuspaan Dec 14th 2009 8:30AM
besides dicks being in a hurry ( who seriously tells a tank to oom the healer?) ive had great experiences.