Fact: PUG Ditchers Used To Be More Annoying Than They Are Today

Not to say that I think people should feel free to ditch groups they got into and have progressed part way through the instance with, but I definitely think with the cross-realm LFG, there's a lot more flexibility than there used to be.

It used to KILL a group when the Tank or Healer would leave, especially when it comes to Heroics and having already completed one of the bosses in the instance. DPS has always been easier to replace, but there have been times where that wasn't possible either, so the loss of a DPS in the group killed the party, too.

But now any role can be replaced rather quickly and easily with just a little bit of patience.

Do You Commit To Stay For The Whole Instance?

I was listening to a podcast the other day (unfortunately I don't remember which one) and the hosts were talking about the new Dungeon Tool and how great it was, and about the types of parties they had been assigned to in terms of class balance and ultimate ability to quickly complete an instance.

One of the podcasters spoke strongly about his opinion regarding the quality of player who will leave a dungeon instance in the middle. He went so far as to say that if you could not finish an instance, then don't start it, because you're "screwing" the other four people in your group if you leave.

What do you think? Is it really a big deal to ditch PUGs these days?

And do you feel GUILTY when you leave, even if you know they'll likely find a replacement quickly?

Related posts:

1. What’s With All The Healer Ninjas??!!
2. To The LFG Tool: An Ode
3. To The LFG Tool: Some Laments

But man, what's with all the Healer Ninjas in the leveling dungeons??!!

Playing With Friends? Playing With Strangers.

Personally, I love the challenge of PUGs with complete and utter strangers.

Druid Tanking In Wailing Caverns

In fact, for a while there were social friends I wouldn't invite into dungeons to fill final slots in parties, because I found that playing with complete and utter strangers was a more positive playing experience with less negative ramifications after the party was complete.

After all, BC was a time where Crowd Control was valued extremely highly, and as a Mage I was getting into parties right left and center specifically because I was not only DPS, but I was one of the more reliable classes in terms of repeatable Crowd Control techniques.

The social friends I would avoid inviting to fill out dungeon groups were generally DPS classes (Healers and Tanks got regular invites), and the ones I'd avoid inviting the most were the ones who only wanted to go into dungeons in "guild groups", and then once they got there demonstrated exactly why - they had NO grouping skills, and didn't think that was a problem.

For whatever reason, guild Hunters were the ones I remember the most in terms of ones I'd avoid grouping with in a dungeon.

Huntards who refused to freeze trap. Who broke other forms of CC with their flame traps, snakes and multi-shot. Who "liked chaos" and therefore didn't pay attention to kill order. Who pulled aggro, and only feigned death once the mob was on top of them... generally leaving the mob to turn its attention to the nearby healer. Or a DPS wearing more than toilet paper for gear if the healer was lucky.

After a few runs with such social guildmates and hearing them talk about their beliefs and intentions for future runs, I started to realize that in order for my playing skills to improve while I'm actually enjoying myself, I'd be way better off playing with complete and utter strangers.

Crazy Eyed Gnome!

Some Strangers Suck, But I Can Ignore Them

This isn't to say that all of the strangers played better than these social guildmates - not at all.

There are always plenty of strangers who are either under-experienced or over-experienced, and both of those levels of understanding can result in challenging (or annoying) group situations.

But at least they're strangers, which means I have no urge to say "hello" to them when they log in the next day, or the next week. If they're annoying, boasting, aggro-pulling, chaos-generating players, I can pretend they don't exist - at least until the next time we end up in a PUG together (which didn't tend to happen much with the bad ones, even before cross-realm LFG).

Yet Another Dungeon Tool Effect On Parties

These days, it's not very often that a social guildmate is the right level to join me in the Dungeon Tool, so I'm doing a lot of PUGs with complete strangers. My social guildmates are all pretty decently skilled now that we've been playing for years, though, which makes it easier to invite them to groups when we do match up.

But now what I'm finding is that it's BETTER to bring in a social guildmate (as long as they're not complete tools), because that extra person that I can influence cuts down on potentially annoying, time-wasting situations.

Like the Healers who are incredibly crappy healers, but who have discovered they can get into dungeons much more quickly if they mark off that they're able to heal, than if they just list themselves as DPS.

Healing In Deadmines

Beware The Healer Ninja

As a lowbie tank, I completely expect that every dungeon I go into is going to have its share of challenges.

Whether the challenge is that the dungeon is Wailing Caverns or Gnomeregon which have players drop as soon as they zone in (because both are very long and have huge potentials for someone unknowledgable to spend a lot of time wandering around trying to find their way to the end to get the satchel), or the challenge is that the DPS are predominantly weak (due to inexperience, class dynamics or just plain laziness), or it's that the healer is new to their job and doesn't have any addons to help them heal (*cough* Healbot *cough*), I fully expect there to be SOME kind of challenge.

I am, after all, tanking at under level 30 at this point, and by default most players haven't had much experience with their characters to really know how to rock their role.

Most challenges aren't a big deal - if someone leaves the group, the Dungeon Tool fills their spot. DPS and Healing requirements are quite light for low level instances as well - everything is very forgiving and it's not very often that a DPS who pulls aggro even experiences death at this point.

But the one challenge that's bugging me these days is all about the Ninja Healer.

What's A Ninja Healer?

Simply put, it's a player who joins the party in the Healing role and then chooses "Need" on every gear drop they can roll on.

And on top of that annoying behavior, they're usually horribad healers who prefer to DPS (and do), but don't want to wait for the Dungeon Tool to place them as DPS!

The Dungeon Tool's restriction for kicking players early in an instance is what makes this player especially annoying to me more than anything - if after the first five minutes I've done 40% of my own healing, as a Warrior Tank using Healing Potions periodically, something is very wrong. And my not being able to vote the healer out because we haven't been in the party for long enough is highly frustrating to the rest of the group as well.

Sometimes I'm lucky and there's a class that can cast backup heals to keep us going until we can remove the dead weight, but lately I haven't been so lucky, and I've had to make the long run back to the instance because the One Who Doesn't Heal But Needs Everything also doesn't ressurect - and generally doesn't even respond to conversation on the party chat line.

It's getting to the point where I can recognize a Healer Ninja within the first three or so pulls in an instance, just by watching my health as I progress from group to group. The healing meters in Recount serve as a source to back up what I've noticed, and at times communicate it to the rest of the group before I initiate a kick.

But unfortunately, as I mentioned before, early in an instance there are kick restrictions in place, and therefore our group generally has to live with a Ninja in the group for what feels like an eternity before the vote actually gets past the restrictions and has a chance to pass.

How High Do The Healer Ninjas Show Up?

I'm working on lowbies right now when I get a chance to play, and I'm finding that Healer Ninjas are more prevalent at 20-30 than they were from 15-19.

I wonder, what's your experience with crappy Dungeon Tool healers who have to be kicked early in the instance because they're rolling Need on everything they get a chance to roll on?

At what level can I expect this horribad population to more or less die out?

Related posts:

1. Do You Feel Guilty Ditching An LFG PUG?
2. LFG Tanks: Don’t Screw Your Healers!
3. Tank/Healer Not Required: An Alternate Universe

Hey! Don't walk away from me!

To Entertain Myself.

Whether it's completing daily quests, or going into PUG dungeons at various levels, or PUG raids that are failure raids right from the start (follow me on Twitter to read about my #failpug #badpugs experiences as they happen), I'm in them for my own personal entertainment.

Sure, some of what I do helps other people too - raiding, running friends' lowbies through instances for gear and leveling up, Wintergrasp - but I've taken up the mindset that if I'm not going to have fun doing whatever I do, I'm not going to do it.

Raids and PUGS Need To Be Kept "Fun"

I know, I know - some people wonder how in the heck I can have "fun" while in some of the FailPUGs that we all get into.

Or loud-mouthed individuals who talk on and on about themselves, like any of us care ;)

Or the new VoA PUGs that are forming still full of people who expect a faceroll raid and don't gear-check.

How do I have fun?

Well, first of all, I view everything as being like an interactive television program, specifically created for my personal entertainment.

This way, I get to play the awesome character that everyone loves, AND I get to laugh my ass off at the stereotyped personalities that are presented to me through the "WoW Sitcom".

Maybe I can give an example of what I mean, to make my example more clear:

A Recent FailPug Adventure Into Blood Furnace

Shaman Ready To Heal BF

I see an advertisement immediately on the LookingForGroup channel that a BF group is looking for a healer and is good to go. I respond, they invite, we exchange pleasantries, and the adventure begins.

Before we even got into Blood Furnace, I am reminded that Hellfire Citadel is, indeed, a Driving and Coordination Test for new players. Those pathways are thin in some spots, you have to be comfortable with the speed and turning abilities of your mount.

Needless to say, two people died "falling" deaths before we made it into the instance.

They make their way back to their bodies and get summoned back up and eventually we all make it to the instance.

We get in and get started, and it's all going great - we were rockin' through the instance, clearing trash packs at a time, and we defeat the first boss no problem.

Casualties, and Loss Of PUGmates

But then an unfortunate pull in a place with bombs silenced my healing for a while, and we wiped.

One of our DPS logs out without a word, leaving the party and the game.

We pick up someone new.

On the way to summon the new DPS, the Tank (who had had a falling death before coming in) fell to his death AGAIN. When he ran back, he repeated his performance (by dying a THIRD time to falling), and then just left the party and logged out. In frustration, I'd suppose.

I really can't help but laugh at the vision of the frustrated Tank who couldn't figure out how to drive his mount safely...

What's Our Party About, Again?

So, we summon the new DPS and pick up a new Tank. Only, the new tank is dead, and Flagged for PvP.

A DPS in the group decides it would be smart to go over and resurrect the Tank so we can get going on our dungeon quest, but then HE gets PvP'd.

The Tank's other DPS buddy tries to convince our entire party to go out there and join in the PvP.

Suddenly, I'm AFK. ;)

Continued Challenge of Re-Filling

We get back to the instance - four of us, and then the DPS who attempted to rez the Tank, leaves without a word.

And JUST WHEN YOU THINK it can't possibly get worse, we pick up a new DPS and his first words are:

"How do I get there? I'm new to the Outlands"

Guess what class he is?

Deathknight, of course. So he's new to Outlands, which means he's probably pretty new to the game.

At this point, the party fell apart because the new leader left without word as the new Tank was trying to lead the newbie DK up to where the Blood Furnace entry point was, and myself and a Mage who had been there all along during this debacle both exclaimed at the same time how crazy this attempt at Blood Furnace turned out to be.

How Can That Be Anything But Hilarious?

Okay, truthfully I know the answer to my own question, but let me say this:

That whole escapade was a royal waste of time, I didn't get any gear upgrades from it, but I still choose to see it as completely and utterly hilarious.

I love to know that there are still a lot of players who are new to the game and improving their skills from a very raw state, just like there are a lot of quality players who have honed their skills to a near art.

After all, I think it's a healthy game that attracts both the new and the elite at the same time - and every time I get into a party like I was in above, I'm able to see how far my own understanding of playing various classes on WoW has improved from my first days where I feared dungeons since I had a habit of killing people in them.

And of course, it also makes me appreciate the groups that run smoothly and don't waste my time.

I'm always up for things that bring me reasons to be appreciative, aren't you? :)

Related posts:

1. My First Heroics Dungeon: Blood Furnace
2. When The Worst Raids Provide The Best Entertainment…
3. Practicing The Adventure of Malygos

**It's Only Skellies** (pre-wipe words)

Okay, to be truthful, I don't need you to admit that for me to feel better, I just felt like opening the post that way, because that's what the Muse said to write.

Being a Law of Attraction geek who knows that Society teaches us to think differently than LoA states, I know that some people simply don't find chaos to be the exciting learning experience it tends to be for me these days.

The View Of Chaos Around Me

Most of my Social Guild friends hate group chaos with a passion and play solo a lot as a result, but some of them have come to terms with the fact that they, themselves, create chaos and therefore there's no use in battling against it.

The latter people find joy in Chaos in a similar way that I find joy in Chaos, but we definitely find joy for distinctly different reasons!

When it comes to my raiding guild friends, the split is about the same between Chaos-Haters and Chaos-Lovers, but the Chaos-Haters have enough good players to dungeon/raid with within guild that they don't need to turn to the solo route in order to keep the game joyful.

And the Chaos-Lovers are of a different breed than in my Social Guild as well - they love it for the same reason I love it, which is because I'm a solid enough player in a solid enough raiding team that Chaos isn't the norm for us. We actually have to go out and SEEK it in order to experience it.

Chaos Exists At All Levels Of Play

I've definitely noticed myself going through stages of playing challenge within the game, and noticed myself improving in skill and survivability in terms of personal self-defense over time.

Initially when I started, dungeons were scary places for me because every time I went into them, I was the cause of wipes as I tried to get far enough away from mobs to DPS them on my Hunter (before the "dead zone" was removed).

I killed people over and over until the fact that we had a guy needing on EVERYTHING that dropped became less of a priority than the fact that I was killing us all so regularly.

Shammy and crazy 71 Warrior friend in BRD

Entering into the Outland instances itself was delayed until I got my Mage up from 23 at BC release to 60 where he could start taking part in the Ramparts runs that were crying for DPS/CC - I was too scared to try to bring my Hunter in for the job, since I was still feeling so ill-coordinated with her!

And then there were my first Heroics. The first time I saw myself get one-shot, ever, in the game. For a while, I went back to killing my DPS friends. The pattern was Pull Aggro, Iceblock, friend next to me is dead. Oops. Good thing I'm good at CC, or I would have been a complete dud.

From Heroics, I dabbled a little bit in 10-man Karazhan, but I had only been a part of that 4-5 times when I was invited to join a raid team who needed me each week to fill out their 25 man team doing SSC and TK.

Heroic Raiding = Chaos

I had no idea what Chaos was before I got into 25 man raiding.

Naxxramas Heroic Raid: Heigan the Unclean

At least you could see where the mob was going (and to whom), and there were a limited amount of people the Healer had to protect while the Tank got everything back under control.

But 25 man raiding - holy crow. As you can see in the image to the left, just the stack of people on Heigan the Unclean's platform makes the fight seem chaotic - you can't even see yourself in the mess of people unless you've turned off everyone else's name but your own.

What Chaos Is Best For

Aside from practicing feeling joyful no matter the circumstance that faces me (another Law of Attraction thing), I find that Chaos has been the best teacher possible in terms of giving me a lot of practice handling personal self-defense within the game.

Personal self-defense is, simply put, the art of surviving during a battle.

Whether you are faced with additional mobs joining in on your solo fights, or your tank or healer has died in a group situation, or you're an over-eager DPS who pulled aggro accidentally, life suddenly isn't as easy as you had planned, and it takes a certain degree of quick thinking and skill to live through the encounter.

Thankfully, most of us don't have to seek out Chaos in order to get adequate practice at these lessons. The solo lessons come naturally at a very low level, and anyone who runs low-level dungeons with strangers can attest to how much Chaos exists there, too.

Do You Seek Out Chaotic Groups?

Depending on how much time I have to spend/waste, and depending on my personal mood, I'm certainly one who seeks out Chaotic groups. Simply joining any PUG lowbie instances (ie: below 60) or any PUG raids gets me into these without fail.

I feel like I'm largely alone in this way of finding joy within the game, however.

Friends and guildmates who regularly get the honor of being in raid groups that are non-chaotic and fast-moving seem to get more uptight about groups that don't go that way, instead of appreciating the awesome runs our guild is capable of in comparison.

Am I really such a unique person that our awesome guild runs are Appreciated, while still being able to appreciate the learnings and practice and variety of play that Chaotic groups present?

I'd love to hear from readers who get just as much joy out of bad raids as they do from good raids - but in a different way from one another, of course.

Is it you? :)

Related posts:

1. Gather Your Buddies, Get Ready For 10 More Levels!
2. How To Get Into PUG Raids Without An Achievement
3. Why My Raiding Guild Rocks, Part One

I personally find that strange things bring me joy - that is, compared to what I seem to see others around me deriving joy (or pain) from.

One thing I derive a lot of joy out of in this "weird" category falls under the topic of "Bad PUGs".

Deriving Joy... From Bad Experiences??

I do have to say, first off, that I wouldn't enjoy bad PUGs anywhere near as much as I do these days, if I didn't have excellent guild runs to fulfill my need of quality playing experiences.

I am fortunate to have found a solid group of fellow adults to raid and heroic with, and the fact that I am part of a solid 25 man raiding team means that I can relax outside of official raid times. Part of the relaxing means I can go into groups that may end up being total disasters, and still enjoy playing the game, because I know I've got quality playing experiences waiting for me on every official raid night.

What's A Bad PUG?

First, if you're not familiar, a PUG is a "pick up group" - basically, a bunch of people who happened to be online at the same time and wanted to try the same content got together and attempted it. It's your typical non-guild based dungeon run or LFG-built raid scenario.

So then, a Bad PUG would be one where many things go wrong, and if ultimately the goal at the end is reached and conquered, it's a complete miracle and players are generally relieved to quickly leave the group and never think about it again.

Oh yes, and generally everyone who sticks around for any length of time has huge repair bills to pay after many, many, many deaths.

My Recent (Highly Entertaining) Bad PUG

I'll tell you the story, and every once in a while I'll put some information in brackets. The bracketed information will largely be about why I laughed at how bad this all was:

Peacefully Fishing the Dragonspine Tributary

It was planned in advance, and the leader communicated useful information to the raiders about the raid we were planning to take on, and folks agreed to attend. It started out "looking" great, but I knew better.

I personally showed up because, due to the leader of this raiding scenario and his goals, I knew it wasn't going to work out, but he seemed to have no idea, and it was like I was invited to have a front-row seat at watching a train wreck in action.

I couldn't pass that up, knowing that nobody was really going to get hurt or killed in the interaction, after all.

(I've known this "Raid Leader" guy for about 6 months on WoW - we've talked for many hours in that time and due to his energy and youth, I've been one of the few people who has truly been nice to him over the time he's been playing. He does things that invite abuse upon himself but doesn't understand why it happens. I try to help him when I can, and I'm truly helpful to him - and not abusive - which means I get front-row seats to some pretty funny human interactions... from a distance, anyway. I'm always honest with him, and amazed at how well he takes my honesty because sometimes it's pretty direct.)

The Raid Leader's Goal For The PUG

The raid goal was the primary reason I knew this was a train wreck in action.

The raid leader wanted to attempt Obsidian Sanctum 10 man Sartherion with three drakes up.

Having watched the video for the 25 man version of the fight and hearing the first line of the video saying "this is currently the hardest fight in the game and will test the coordination of your raiders", I had to laugh out loud at my friend.

(Note: I told him my concerns but told him I'd still be there to attempt however many attempts we could get off, just for the experience. I am supportive of his efforts in general and if he really wants to do something I'll tell him to go after it with all of his heart because only he knows what he's capable of. But I still do laugh.)

This was our first time raiding together as a group (so we haven't gelled at ALL), and he wants to try an encounter that, at Heroic level, is currently the hardest in the game. I'm sure the 10-man version isn't THAT much easier...

Why does he want to do this? Because if we were successful it would get a lot of attention to his new (and currently very small) raiding guild, and of course to himself as well.

It might even be a Realm First, possibly. I'm not sure how to look that up.

Raid Scheduled For 10 AM, Starts At...

I got into the raid party 25 minutes before the raid was scheduled to begin, and lazily flew up and down the Dragonspine Tributary in Dragonblight, finding and fishing out pools of Dragonfin Angelfish while I chatted on Vent with my friends.

By the time the raid actually got inside and started to kill its first mob, I had gained 20 fishing levels, going from 415 to 435. I probably could have caught a lot more, but as I said, I fished lazily.

The raid didn't kill its first mob until after 12.

What was the problem? Neither one of the tanks he had invited as part of the original group showed up on time, so the raid leader was left trying to pick up a tank for an incredibly difficult encounter.

All the friends I would dare check with were saved, so I couldn't even bring in another "weird" friend who didn't mind huge repair bills in exchange for watching a REALLY bad PUG in action...

Getting The Raid Together

Okay, so, as I said, I got into the raid 25 minutes before it was originally scheduled to begin. A few others were in the party, and we were up to 6 before scheduled raid start.

There's a Vent server, but after configuring it I return to my Social Vent server with my friends, and soon find out the Raid Leader doesn't have permission to be on that Vent server he just handed out, and he's looking for a different one. I chose not to share my friend's Vent server information when he asked.

But then, the tanks didn't log in. So we had 3 healers and a variety of DPS, but no tanks.

And of course, because it's Saturday, all of the "good tanks" that people have on their Friends or Guild lists have already completed 10 man OS from earlier in the week.

So the quest for a tank begins.

Tanks are picked up, DPS go AFK or disconnect and don't come back.

One healer leaves after 1.5 hours of no action, as he's working nights and has to get to bed.

The healer that was picked up to replace that one disconnected and didn't come back, and then the next healer went AFK immediately after we found the second tank, and we all stood around waiting for her for 15 minutes inside the instance.

All the while, the Raid Leader is obviously distressed - he bitches about people who leave without a word and keeps re-inviting people who say something and then leave, stating with firm belief that we'd be starting soon because he shouldn't have a problem filling the last couple spots.

Adventures While Clearing Trash

Eventually the party is filled for the most part, and we agree to start on trash while waiting to find the final off-tank to round out the team.

Once the AFK Healer finally comes back and we get into the instance, we start on trash.

The first fight is with a pair of big guys, and it turns out that our Mage doesn't have Decursive and doesn't know their dispelling responsibilities in this early stage, and the Raid Leader doesn't know, either. One of our Rogues gets smacked around and hit with a debuff that transfers healing to the mobs we're fighting, and because he's low on health, he gets a lot of heals.... which heals the mobs we're trying to kill because the Mage and the Raid Leader both don't know about the dispells.

The fight is INCREDIBLY long.

The Pally tank finally says something, and after we get the pair down, the Mage logs out briefly to activate Decursive, and we move on.

After we finish rounding the place and clearing all the trash from around the Drakes and the final boss himself, we're still a group of 9, looking for one more tank to fill the final role for handling "three drakes up".

Reviewing The DPS

It didn't take long before players in the group started openly questioning or outright stating that our group didn't have what it took to do Three Drakes Up.

Only two of the DPS did more damage than the Pally main tank did. Only three DPS did more than 1500 DPS, regardless of overall damage done.

But the Raid Leader was firm on his commitment to trying to get Three Drakes Up done. He says: "We'll try three drakes up 10 times, then if it doesn't work, we'll try a different strategy".

(L O frickin L. Hi, I'm Shrimproll the NPC at your service...)

While we continue to look for the last person to fill the group, the top DPS continue to talk about whether we should or should not be bothering to attempt Three Drakes Up. It's clear the Raid Leader has no other option in his mind but to grind on Three Drakes Up until we all fall asleep at the keyboard or we get the encounter right.

The top two DPS - the only two who did more damage than the Main Tank - drop group. The Pally Main Tank drops group, wishing us luck.

And still the Raid Leader presses on.

(And he chatters about his frustration at people who give up too easily on the raid line)

One of the Raid Leader's new guild's tanks logged in 1.5 hours late with a hangover, and everyone in the raid then got to see the RL flip out at his raider's lateness.

Friends Join In For Fun

It's at this point that one of my "weird" friends asks if we need a Mage for our group, because it really sounds like this is a "winnar" group and he wants to see it for himself.

I get him an invite, and almost immediately, the Raid Leader announces without warning that he has to leave, and assigns leadership to one of his Guild Tanks, saying "here, find a healer replacement and lead the raid".

(My Mage friend and I are on Vent and are laughing in disbelief as the guy logs out and doesn't even leave the group, leaving his Tank now in charge)

The Tank is shocked as well, and asks rhetorically, "Is he coming back?"

At any rate, my friend finds a Healer to replace the Raid Leader, and the group decides to do something that makes sense - NO Drakes Up.

Attempting More Than Trash

We head in again, with a different Main Tank and some different DPS, but some of the old DPS was re-invited back as well.

(Those guys must like pain in some way as well... why did they come back?)

We get into the instance again and Trash has respawned. We start on the pair of big guys, and Mage #1 gets one-shot after pulling early-fight aggro, and Mage #2 gets one-shot after pulling aggro about 20 seconds later, so there's nobody alive to dispell the healing debuff.

We all run out of the instance to reset it because we're near the door, then come back in, resurrect the dead and try again.

Next attempt, Mage #1 holds off early in the fight, but I watch as he creeps up on Omen. Higher... higher... over the tank... higher...

Boom, one-shot.

I didn't even try to shield the guy, but I did ask him if he was watching Omen, and told him I watched him pull aggro and die.

Omen wasn't loaded. What a great raiding Mage, attempting some really hard content...

As I continued to watch throughout the fight, I saw that the tank was building more threat on the unmarked target than the one marked as a Skull, and Mage #2 (my friend) and I had a mid-battle conversation on Vent about how to compensate for this poor tank in a way that would keep him alive.

We progressed through the trash and faced the first Drake, Vesperon. There's only two healers now, but we're both strong, and I ask the other healer if she wants to go into the portals or stay out, and she chooses "out". That's fine, I'll go in.

We get started on the first mini-boss and when the first portal came up, the hilarity of the entire raid group came to the forefront - clearly half of the raid group didn't know the encounter, and therefore half the DPS stayed out of the portal and half went in.

I have no idea what happened outside of the portal, but inside the portal was an additional mob which everyone got damaged by at one time or another as he ping-ponged around.

When I came out of the second portal, the boss had despawned somehow... I wasn't dead, but the encounter was over. I thought for a moment that we had defeated him, but I guess he either bugged out, or everyone out there died and the remainders Vanished or Feigned Death.

The party broke up at that moment, when we all came out and realized what happened.

I wonder what next adventure this youthful and energetic friend of mine will present?

Related posts:

1. Achievement: For The Horde! Off Night Raids
2. The Entertainment Of A FailPUG Adventure In Blood Furnace
3. How To Get Into PUG Raids Without An Achievement

One of the things I've seen coming together in the last 4-6 months is the primary reason why I hunted out a new progressed raiding guild to join:

The Easier The Leveling Game Gets...

... the more chaos reigns in all PUG groups - from leveling PUGs to Heroics to Raiding.

So many players are zipping through to 70 on their first or second characters and then jumping into raiding with the overgeared ones who have been raiding Burning Crusade content for a year+, that if you don't luck into a cohesive group, it's likely you're going to end up see incredible chaos even if the group is untimately sucessful in taking down the bosses they're fighting against.

A guildmate put it succinctly when he described a Gruul's Lair PUG the night before that three of our raiding guildies had gotten into:

"Gruul's Lair PUG last night - first shatter, 13 people die."

Another guildmate asks "did you still get him down?"

The answer?

"Yep."

Gear Up! Get A Head Start!

So, while there's some chaos, there's also loot dropping and being disenchanted in every raid instance in the game (minus Sunwell, I think :) ), and there's a billion raids going on.

If you're level 70 and not a tank, it's likely that you can get into a Karazhan raid that will literally shower you with purple gear.

Then you can get yourself into Zul'Aman and get another gear-shower.

The SSC and TK raids might be a bit harder to get into but again, there's enough clearing run-through PUGs that one could still get a few items, even though competition will be stiffer with 24 others in the raid.

Get Ready For The Harder Slog To Raiding In WoTLK

Right now, however, I think a lot of players are getting some great gear really quickly, but they're also getting a poor understanding of how the raiding game works, and when the expansion pack comes out, they're going to be top of the list of people who have troubles.

They've had a taste of raiding, and many of them are going to be eager to get back into it, but many will find the task of getting into raiding guilds or into the raids themselves troublesome.

Why troublesome? Well, mainly because many raiding guilds that make any type of progression in the new raiding world at level 80 will expect their members to do a lot of their gearing up themselves - gearing up for Heroics will be the first big barrier many face, since many new raiders have been able to skip that step and go straight into Karazhan for the purple shower.

Then, there'll be the other fine-tuned things that the raiders will have to do more than they do now (while many people are overgeared)... things like consumables and gear enhancements... gems, enchants, and the likes that are in heavy demand but low supply. I'm quite sure the new raider from the last 4-6 months won't be able to afford these things like they can now, when the market is flooded and prices are low for many things.

How To Avoid Having Troubles Getting Back Into Raiding

So, if you're new to raiding and it's been a fun, invigorating and easy ride from hitting level 70 to getting a mitful of Epics and becoming infinitely more powerful very quickly, and you want to keep it going, what can you do to avoid these troubles?

First, learn how to earn gold. If you haven't already found a profitable niche on the Auction House which requires minimal time and effort to obtain, I strongly suggest you figure one out over the next while, and continue to learn how to earn gold. Important gear bits and upgrades and enchants and gems are going to cost a LOT for those getting into Heroics and Raiding again at 80.

Second, find a solid friendship group of people who think the way you do, and play when you do, and plan to level as quickly or as slowly as you plan to when the xpac hits. Even having one or two friends in your dungeon PUGs or quest groups can make things go a lot smoother if you pick up a few of the more reckless players who are used to overgeared players making up for them.

Don't be afraid of the LFG tool for getting your dungeon groups, but know - the fun, fast ride of end game purple gear is about to come to an end, and we'll all have to work hard to get back to a world of overgeared raiders making life easier for new toons coming up (whether alts or mains).

Are you ready for the ride? It's bound to be bumpy for some, and exhilerating for others!

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And sure, every player is unique, everyone is special. But each of us who are unique and special still have a billion traits that can be "categorized" even if the whole person cannot accurately be.

Let's talk about the trait of being a Tourist in a dungeon group.

What Is A Dungeon Tourist?

In short, a Dungeon Tourist is a player who feels compelled to be at the front of the party - generally in front of the Tank before the pull is done.

A Dungeon Tourist will decide without notice to head down a hallway that the Tank is not heading down, just to see what's over there, or to mine a node or pick a flower that's spawned.

Generally, what they find in their short journey is a mob that starts to attack them, and the squishier they are, the more panicked they are when they ask for help.

How Can You Detect A Dungeon Tourist?

Unfortunately, it's not easy to detect a Dungeon Tourist immediately.

They don't wear loud shirts, they're not carrying cameras, and they come along WITH you into the instance instead of already being there when you arrive. In short, they look just like everyone else in your group, and with your hopefulness of a successful run, you might even think them a "good player" by looking at their spec or gear.

The only way to truly know you've got a Dungeon Tourist on your hands is to watch their behavior during the instance:

- Do they stand behind the tank before the pull?
- Do they get hurt regularly yet do negligable damage compared to others who are not getting hurt?
- Do they regularly move up and past the tank before thinking about restoring mana or health between pulls?

Tactfully Handling Tourists

Most Tourists, I've found, are young players behind the keyboard.

To them, the game is still new and exciting, and the fact that they're in a dungeon group, or in this particular instance, makes it even more exciting. Team play is quite a bit different than Soloing or Pairing up with a friend, after all.

These tourists generally are well-meaning, and can be coached into altering habits - at least for one run - with a friendly person to give them a tip or two they find useful.

The most useful way I've found to tactfully pull most Tourists back is to appeal to their hope of not dying during the run. Simply saying "PlayerName, please wait behind the tank for us to go, if you aggro something, you're pretty squishy" works most of the time, at least for that pull.

Reminding is easy too - "Hey Squishy, let the tank go through first :)"

Handling Stubborn Tourists

Some Tourist-types are stubborn, unfortunately. Thankfully it's a small percentage of them the higher level you get - and certainly once you hit Outland instances, they're almost non-existent.

Stubborn ones might hang back once or twice, but in general, as soon as there's a corner they can't see around or a node they can mine or pick, they're off without a second thought. And again, aggro'ing something as a reward for their lack of foresight.

The best way I've seen to handle these types of tourists is to simply not assist the battle if they've done it too many times. Let them die as part of their education.

Even if they can get a quick resurrect from a party member, their actions will cost them two ways:

- Repairs
- A blow to the ego that the party members won't run in like Mommy and Daddy to save them.

Even if it means the rest of the party WAS put into combat and DO have to kill what was aggro'd after the first guy bites it, I still recommend this strategy. Even if the player leaves the party in protest, I'll bet your group will be the better for it, and unless you've got 2-3 OTHER weak players in your group, most pre-Outland instances can be 4-manned without many problems.

Tell Me About Your Adventures With Dungeon Tourists

I'd love to hear about your adventures with Dungeon Tourists - whether they be in PUGs or guild runs, or whatever.

I know of a casual raiding guild that has raid-based financial punishments for Dungeon Tourists, charging them a certain amount of gold every time they get part of the raid killed for their Touristism, and I think that's both great and hilarious.

What do you think?

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I mean, I've had experiences before where I knew I was dealing with a young person:

• The Hunter who was enamoured with Eye of the Beast, and would channel that pet-control spell and attack with his pet instead of attacking with the pet AND his bow...

• The countless DPS who never talked on the party line but constantly pulled extra aggro and had to be saved...
• The players who type quickly and talk ALL ABOUT THEMSELVES
• And of course, the Jumpers who are SO BORED with any stop of movement that they need to jump around incessantly...

But this one took the cake. I was honestly shocked.

I logged in to my 37 Druid healer with the intent of hitting Scarlet Monestary or Razorfen Downs or Uldaman to burn off some rest bonus.

I got into a party, it was already full and a couple of people were already at the stone to start summons. The party line had light and friendly chatter.

All of these things were good.

In fact, there was no reason to suspect this wouldn't be a fast-moving, "normal" PUG through a wing or three of the Scarlet Monestary right up until the moment that battle was to begin in the instance.

The tank came in a little behind the rest of us and DPS and myself on heals had taken down the first guy who aggro's when you've got a lower-level member walking into Cathedral, and then we all lined up at the back of the hall and faced down the first hallway, and got ready to get started.

We waited. The tank was there, responded short responses to some of us in whispers when we inquired about her whereabouts, but didn't move.

We waited longer. Lead was passed to the tank so she could mark if she wanted. Lead was passed on to a different DPS player than started with it, but the tank still didn't move.

The DPS member who was given lead let us know that the tank was a "slow typer". I said "She doesn't need to type, she needs to tank".

The other two DPS folk, including a Hunter with a squishy pet of 700 hp, get antsy and bored, and decide to let the pet tank the first 2 mobs. We get through it, but most of the fight I had one or another of the mobs hitting ME because of heal aggro to keep us alive.

The tank is still standing, motionless. Tank apparently gets onto vent with the party lead and the party lead lets us know that.

After a bunch of more waiting around, a second group is pulled with the tank involved, but again it's chaotic and I should have let the pet die... so I've got aggro all over me. But they don't hit hard, so we all live just fine.

I mention that we'd better pick up the pace a bit, or it's going to take us 3h to get through this wing alone - and others had been wondering if we could do 2-3 wings this run.

At this point, we're look into the lower courtyard of the Cathedral, and I stay back, as does the Rogue. A mob wanders by and aggro's on us - the Pally tank is there and does manage to grab the aggro and we down the mob.

After that mob is down I get the shocking whisper:

"She is only 6"

Six. Six?? SIX!!??

I whispered the original lead of the party and relayed the information.

Then, I said on the party line as I turned back towards the door:

"I'm sorry, I'm 6x the age of our tank, I can't handle that. Good luck"

And left the party.

Now, I don't mind if 6 year olds play WoW (although that's a big discussion on its own), and it's possible I've had 6 year old DPSers in my PUGs before that we carried through and coddled, but surely it's not to be expected for me to tolerate 6 year old TANKS in PUGs...

Note: WoW is officially rated T for Teen.

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Heroics in World of Warcraft

Heroics dungeons were introduced with Burning Crusade as a way to keep the general populace entertained for longer before having to commit to a "raiding guild experience" that went beyond a PUG in the Looking For Group tool.

Heroics only exist in the Burning Crusade dungeons (but will also exist in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion) and are dungeons whose difficulty are significantly higher than the regular version of the same dungeons. That is, all the dungeons from Hellfire Ramparts clear up to Steamvaults, Arcatraz and the many others players can traverse through on their trek to 70... have a Heroic mode that can be run once a player is 70 and adequately geared.

The Purposes Of Heroic Dungeons

Heroic Dungeons serve many purposes on the game.

If you're a casual player who has no aspiration to ever see the inside of a 10-man-raid during the same expansion it was released in, Heroics offer a challenging environment that requires the same level of commitment and scheduling as a regular 5-man PUG, and offers a continuation of gearing-up that doesn't require commitment to other players on a continuing basis.

If you're interested in getting into Raiding, Heroics is a training ground for the skills required to be a good raiding contributor to the 10 and 25-man raids. Plus, the gearing from Heroics Badge rewards and Heroics drops (including otherwise-expensive Gems) is on-par with what drops in the 10-man raid instances - thus, gearing up through Heroics makes a would-be raider even MORE viable on a raiding team.

The Heroics Inside Track

I've noticed in my own gearing-up and PUG Heroicking (and social wheel greasing) and reputation grinding that the better geared I have gotten, the more people whisper ME to get involved in things - even when I'm not in their guild, and, in fact, my guild is a "nobody" guild when it comes to Heroics and beyond.

I've now got Heroics-geared Tanks and Healers who ask ME to join their group to handle DPS and Crowd Control. Folks who rank decently on the WoWJutsu.com ranking site for our realm. And let me tell you... partial PUGs where you know the Tank and/or Healer are solid make Heroics SO MUCH MORE FUN!

Why Do People Skip Heroics?

I've noticed something very interesting now that I've moved into this "gearing/geared up for Heroics" phase of my World of Warcraft existence - while Heroics gear is on-par with Karazhan gear (I'm going to have to find some links to point to here, I'll come back and edit this later), there are those would-be raiders who seem to want to "skip over" Heroics and jump right from "Quest-and-Dungeon-Blues 67+" into Karazhan in order to get their gear upgrades there.

I realize that PUG Heroics are a crapshoot in terms of being able to make it past the first boss with the continuing waves of barely-geared players dipping their toes into the Heroics water, but isn't that why we build a Friends list?

Oh, and BTW, if you're in a guild with a bunch of Friends, this question is much clearer to me. I guess I'm asking mainly about the people who apply as complete strangers to join a raiding guild without having an inside reference asking them to join.

Thoughts welcome!

Woot! Game's up...

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Wanna make it so tanks and healers you DO party with mystically disconnect, mid-run, and don't come back?

How about making it so that anyone you ran with in the past conveniently finds a reason why they can't run with you again?

Follow these simple steps (even just a few of them is enough!):

• Play "solo" while in your group.

  Start all the battles, ignoring crowd control, because you're so confident the group can DPS everything down without that pesky control stuff, and that your healer can keep you alive.

  Pick your own target to take down - preferably one that nobody else is working on so you can truly see how awesome your DPS is.

  Use your highest-damage/highest-threat attacks right at the start of the battle so you pull aggro right away - isn't it fun to watch the tank run around like that?

  When you pull aggro, DPS harder on that elite! Get it down faster!

  Completely ignore the healer and whether they've gained aggro or not - the healer can heal themselves and keep themselves alive, your job is DPS!

  Forge ahead after each battle, leading the group to the next battle. This is especially effective if you are not the ACTUAL leader of the party, and has the BEST effectiveness if the mana-users like the healer have no mana after the last battle.

• Make Assumptions About The Strangers In Your Group

  Don't worry about moving towards the instance when you get into the group and it's nearly full - just keep duelling where you are, or better yet - the party still needs to find one more person, jump into a battleground. They can whisper you when the party is full, you'll leave the battleground with a Deserter flag, and they can summon you. Easy peasy!

  Don't bother to buff anyone in the group if you have a buff ability. Let them ask for it if they want it, you need your mana for DPSing!

  Don't worry about repairing or bringing food/water/bandages/potions/extra arrows before you go in - you're an awesome DPSer who won't die, the healer will fix you up between battles, and you know there'll be a mage in the party to give you water when you need it.

  Don't worry about practicing your spell-interrupt or threat-reduction skills - any spell a caster sends, the healer can heal people afterwards, right?

  Come into the instance sincerely hoping that this team of complete strangers will pass on a rare drop in the instance because you want it. State up front that you'd like everyone to pass if this comes up. This works best if you've got one or more people in your party who are likely vying for the same item.

• Tell Us All How Great You Are

  You're awesome - you do "mad DPS" and have some pretty neat pixels on your toon in the form of equipment. Be sure to tell everyone in the party about it, because we all like to hear about how great you are.

  Be sure to give others advice on their playing - especially the tank and the healer. Be sure to mention that you have a high-level of that class because it earns you REAL credibility.

  Publish the damage meters REGULARLY. Like, after each boss or mini-boss fight. Don't bother to publish healing meters, they're just doing their job.

  Talk about your friends' or family members' achievements on the game and how they have bestowed certain privileges upon you (given you cash, equipment, or they have lots of cash or cool equipment).

  Keep talking even when nobody in the party responds to what you say, and the entire party just moves on to the next battle like you hadn't said a thing.

Then, come back here and let me know how it all went! ;)

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