Breakfast Topic: How do you deal with self-entitled puggers?
by Christopher Fugate 
Aug 9th 2011 at 8:00AM
I pull hard and fast, so I don't want to hear about your drinking problems. Just keep up.
No, we're not doing that boss.
If you go in there, I'm not healing you.
Dude, I'm pulling more DPS than the other two put together, and I'm going for the achievement whether you like it or not.
Do any of those sound familiar? It's that one player in the PUG who thinks he's the star of the show and that everyone else is there to bow down to his demands. More often than not, this ends up being a tank, although anyone who thinks the group can't get along without them is prone to this sort of behavior. The tank thinks that DPS won't dare to kick him because of their long queue times (while they get instant queues). The healer refuses to heal anyone that he personally doesn't seem to like. DPSers can fall into this behavior as well, but this doesn't seem to be nearly as commonplace.
The same thing crops up when you down a boss, and suddenly someone just drops group. They didn't get their drop; therefore, they just leave the rest of you hanging. Has this happened to you? If not, consider yourself lucky (and brace for when it does). Or perhaps you've done it to groups you've been in; if so, remember, this is a group game, and those are four other people want their stuff just as much as you want yours. Be considerate. No single member of a PUG is irreplaceable, and the vote kick button is there for a reason.
How do you generally deal with self-entitled puggers?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 10)
MusedMoose Aug 9th 2011 8:04AM
The "Ignore" function works wonders. The best way to deal with someone who sucks the fun out of the game is just to make sure that you never have to deal with them again.
beeppedersen@hotmail.com Aug 10th 2011 9:31AM
Or just ignore them yourself, without ever having to type it. The game is big enough that it isn't very likely you'll see them again, so just suck it up for 20 minutes and not say anything to them. If it gets bad enough, the others will probably vote to kick him/her. When there's two or more, then just drop group yourself. You're paying for this, you don't need to waste your money on not having fun.
wow Aug 9th 2011 9:15AM
This is spades. I hate dealing with those types of people.
Narshe Aug 9th 2011 9:38AM
I try not to over react if something isnt going as smooth as I like but if a certain member of the party is causing issues even by the 2nd or 3rd boss I try a vote to kick. If it doesnt pass then I continue on and dont bother trying again.
http://joekey.deviantart.com/
exogenesis. Aug 9th 2011 8:05AM
I generally tell those kinds of people to shut the hell up, and block any of their insults with a witty one of my own. Usually they get flustered and either leave or just be silent.
Some people might see me as self-entitled though, when I'm playing my tank or healer. If I'm healing, "If you pull it, I'm not healing you" is a regular comment to the DPS, and "You pull it, you tank it" is a regular comment when I'm tanking. But I simply do that because I hate moronic DPS.
exogenesis. Aug 9th 2011 9:24AM
I feel I should clarify. I never say these things to suck fun from instance runs, I merely do it when the DPS are deliberately pulling and making my job as healing unnecessarily hard and stressful, or doing the same when I'm tanking (I'm quite a new one, so I'm very cautious and insecure about how well I tank - DPS pulling doesn't help), and let's face it: asking them nicely to please stop never works. Over the years, I've been worn down by the influx of jerks in instances that I don't much have the patience for trying to be polite, and end up doing the harsh approach to try and make them stop.
Khirsah Aug 9th 2011 9:55AM
Not sure why your original comment was downvoted. "You pull it, you tank it" is pretty standard instructions for a tank to give over-anxious dpsers. And as long as "if you pull it, I'm not healing you" is addressed to the dps and not the tank, that is also very reasonable.
As a rogue, if I pull aggro by accident, or I get too close to a mob I'm trying to sap, I sure don't expect the group to risk a wipe trying to save my stupid ass by rushing in unprepared. I'll use whatever tools I have to try to get out of there, and if I die, I thank the healer for the rez and apologize to the group for being an idiot and not paying attention.
No matter how new or seasoned the tank is, watching aggro is a shared responsibility. Never assume the tank sees you starting to creep up on his aggro. Take care of your business, and things will be fine.
Anyway, I think your comments to the dps in the group are just fine, and good reminders when used at appropriate times.
Upvoted.
exogenesis. Aug 9th 2011 9:57AM
I always heal the DPS that aggro by accident. The DPS that rush in and pull, knowing exactly what they are doing, are the ones that I threaten not to heal, and I never threaten not to heal the tank. If he pulls too much, I ask him not to, and grit my teeth.
Leylostach Aug 9th 2011 10:46AM
Hahahaha Khirsah, you directly quoted something I said to some over-anxious dps on my tank not 2 hours before servers went down today, and here I thought I had come up with a fresh stinger to rein a wayward hunter in.
Trilynne Aug 9th 2011 8:05AM
I only run with guild groups.
hmm, I suppose that means I don't PuG. :P
Mortenebra Aug 9th 2011 8:35AM
Ditto on this... Call me a coward or whatnot, but I generally don't pug if I can't help it. Hell, as an achievement whore/pet collector, I still don't have my Perky Pug because I just don't want to do it. It's just way too stressful and really sucks the fun out of stuff.
Jack Spicer Aug 9th 2011 8:52AM
I'm seriously tired of people responding to topics about pugging by saying that they don't pug.
Its like responding to a topic titled "How do you deal with food allergies when throwing a dinner party?" by saying "I don't throw dinner parties".
Trilynne Aug 9th 2011 9:31AM
unless that was honestly how you 'dealt' with it. Which is true of how I deal with PuGs: I have decided not to. A legitimate way to 'deal' with abusive people in your life is to cut them out of your life completely. I am not interested in adding to my stress levels by trying to group with rude, self-entitled people in PuGs, so I don't.
Perhaps a more accurate metaphor would be 'how do I deal with the bullies that constantly frequent my local hangout spot?' I've chosen to go to another hangout spot that is, imo, better than the other. Kudos to those who are trying to 'clean up' the other place, but I have other priorities in my life.
talkingmike Aug 9th 2011 9:50AM
You may not PuG, but there are those that feel you are missing out on a significant portion of the game.
In my experience, the Legend of the PugDouche is fairly exaggerated. Most folks just silently do their job.
Trilynne Aug 9th 2011 9:51AM
I still run heroics and zuls, just with guildies. What am I missing? :P
Teiwaz Aug 9th 2011 10:17AM
To the comment earlier about "responding to topics about pugging to say you don't pug". Sticking to guild runs is a perfectly logical solution to the subject problem. It is entirely relevant and on-topic.
I don't pug either. 45 minute queues to get attitude and grief? Don't need it. I quit pve entirely after 4.1, that was my solution.
Chmmr Aug 9th 2011 10:21AM
Pugging may be significant, but skipping it is not "missing out" on content by any stretch.
noel mcleod Aug 9th 2011 1:16PM
I PuG random regs, and I was doing so quite a bit. I DON"T PuG heroics and I have no current plans to. (I play both tank and DPS, and have tanked Zandalari dungeons, but OMG NOT in a PuG thanks). My tank toon is an iLvL 356 DK, and I just don't need the BS from a PuG group. I tanked three random regs on Saturday afternoon (Stonecore, Vortex Pinnacle and Blackrock caverns which was a lol-fest) and probably made several mid-80's people happy as I was the only 85 in 2 of the 3 groups, but heroics? Uh-uh, only with guild, I don't care what extra goody bags you offer.
Since none of the loot is meaningful to me, I DO ensure that there are no entitlement issues and I am willing to take my time and explain (or be explained to, if appropriate).
I think one big issue for Blizzard is the huge difference in difficulty between heroic and non-heroic dungeons; the difference between UK and HUK in Wrath was not nearly as great. In Wrath I would run HUK and HDK repeatedly as specific dungeons (forgoing the random "bonus") in order to gear my tank with a dungeon I was comfortable with, can't find a similar scenario in Cata.
Luke Aug 9th 2011 8:06AM
If you can't beat them, join them...
Now try to keep up.
Luke Aug 9th 2011 8:58PM
Oh sarcasm, the internetz will catch up with you one day.