Tag Archives: LFG

Wicked Pug Diaries

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I have hated pugging quite a bit during my WoW life. I think I have even done quite a bit before the new pub system to remind our guild that pugging is bad for your sanity. Then blizzard throws a curve ball and makes the game yet again funner to play by making the idea of pugging cool again.

Two things used to make pugging painful beyond belief. Getting people to the dungeon. Someone would tell you, I am on my way to the stone… only to find out later that they either did not know where the stone was or had not paid for a fast mount yet. That would set the tone for the run and a pug would take hours on top of some more hours. Now the new system lets you to deal only with issues during the run and those can be a lot easier to deal with and you are only subjected to them for 15 mins. So why not talk about some of them here, specially the ones that amuse me.

We have a third or maybe fourth wave of 80s leveling up. I think most people in our guild now have 2 raiding 80s and have a couple more on the way or already there. Some of us have stayed away from the DPS since we have plenty there, but we have several people trying to catch up with Kabara and Theydrin on their ridiculous DK DPS specs.

As a guild we always try to help out people through their last push of levels and when I have a chance I tank even regular dungeons to have people que up faster. So two guildies and I set out to dominate DTK… my favorite instance.

We que up and the first statement out of the pugs that join is like MAAAAAN! THERE GOES MY EXPERIENCE… THERE ARE 80s here, the other one was a mage and started down the same path. My reply was simply, “no worries this will be quick, and remember the door is just a click away we can 3 man this if needed.” The non mage pug quickly corrects himself and comes back with, I just want my emblems so its cool with me.

The run was a lot of fun, and since I was tanking and did not need much healing the pulls were big and we moved quickly. The pace was set and we were almost done with the whole run and just cleared a big pull right after the big Dino. There is single pat with mobs all around, but he can be pulled by himself. My plan was to pull him first then kite him to another group and grab agro. The mage had been having fun with his blizzard and was not pulling agro so it was all good.

As I run forward and I am ready to press my charge button I see a fireball flying over my shoulder. I try to recall if the mage has been pulling or not but I had not been paying too much attention since I run DTK almost in autopilot. I stopped and did not press my charge button but instead turned my toon around to face the offending mage.

The mage has cojones, I will give him that. He gets ready to down this elite and did everything to get ready except flex to show me he could handle it. So the mob is running past me and I am static and just waiting to see what he is going to do. I am half waiting for him to either cast something to slow him or freeze him in place when the mob starts to go into a whirlwind.

See, casters are squishy, but a whirldwinding mob in WoW can mow down even plate weares… so a 70s toon in a dungeon wearing green cloth will meet the spirit rez faster than you can say “lightning bolt.”

As soon as the mob start spinning the mage stops casting and starts backing away… then the magic word comes! I’m Sorry, I’m Sorry! I promptly trow my weapon and the mob and charge him. Sometimes the best thing to do is to let someone stick the fork into the socket… you might just have the power to take the electricity off and just let themselves give a little shock.

LFG Tips

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Perky Pug

I got my pug last night, after a very good experience with the new LFG feature. I had 4 consecutive runs where the DPS was excellent and the only problem was that people kept pulling agro, but that is something I can deal with and great healers did not let anyone die. In less than an hour I got the rest of the “pug” numbers to get my Perky Pug.

The road there was not an easy one, but some things I did made it easier to stomach.

Say Hello
I find it fun to see where people are from sever wise. When you say hello most people will respond and if the group is waiting for a member take the time to just chit chat and make the wait less monotonous. I have not had people drop a group when there has been a greeting, if there is none and there is a wait and no interaction people will leave. Filling a group after it has been formed can be a pain specially if someone is just going to the first boss or just want to ninja something and leave. Making conversation will lower the probability of that happening. Also try to talk about loot rules, my encounter with ninjas (they need every time instead of greed or disenchant) has been about 25% of the time. It will not make them stop but make everyone aware of why you will also start needing instead of greeding.

Help Others
Less so now, but many people are not familiar with all the features of the LFG system. People get confused when they are not automatically ported and in some cases it is simply that too many instances are launched and you cannot enter yours, instruct people to keep on trying and announce that they can join when you do get in. Make sure that if someone is not showing up, let them know that they can click on the green eye by the mini map to be ported into the instance. Be the patient person in the group and it will help set the tone.

Be Prepared
Most groups will be ready to go as soon as they can port into place. I am lucky that I go with my tank most of the time, but going as a healer has made me see that some people don’t care that you don’t have full mana or buffs before you pull. Conversing helps this, because you can fit in a, lets buff first before you start. Also if you are going to use buff food or flasks, announce it and people will be more likely to wait. Also try to leave your toon sitting by a repair person, repair after every run specially if you died during the last one. It is very easy to forget and then get stuck being dragged through an instance while gear just further degrades.

Speak Up
Even in regular heroics there are fights that people used to skip and don’t know. I have had people in gear scores higher than mine wipe in Old Kingdom simply by not hitting the right mushroom in time or at all. Ask if people know the boss if he is not a tank and spank. Also call people out. If someone is DPSing without care to threat it will hurt not just the tank but the healer. Letting the drop works sometimes, but it might also leave you stuck in a place with a boss down and without a DPS. Also after a wipe, if you know what caused it say something without pointing fingers and the group will pick up and move on; it will make the walk back actually useful.

Answer Questions
Engaging the group will make it work better. If someone has a question about a boss or something you did or skip and you know the answer, don’t wait for someone else just answer the question. It will make what you say weight a lot more if you appear to know what you are talking about.

Know when to Hush
If you bring something up, but you can make up for it (low DPS for example), let it go and continue. Harping beyond the initial pointing out of the problem will not make it go away unless you decide to kick the bad player. Be aware that doing this is not a good idea, I’ve had little success with kicking someone out and filling the spot beyond the point one boss is already down. You will end up saved and with a broken group. Filling it up will waste your time.

Know when to quit
Even though a bad player can be dragged through and they might even be thankful, do know when to quit. I have experienced that one really bad player or three medial players will make a run double the time. Cut your losses and go somewhere else. Minimize the time you spend waiting and maximize the time you are getting stuff. The reason you use to tool is to get stuff done. The rules of when you run with your guild or friends do not apply here, so learn to fold.

Need before Greed
Try to be the last one to select your loot choice. I have been surprised by how many people pass, greeding should be the norm and don’t pass it is 1-3 gold every time something drops. Not only that, enchanting mats are going for good gold in the AH or will help your GB be full. Do not believe ninjas, if you have someone need before greed, they will continue to do so. Announce to the group that you are going to need the rest of the run unless it is something that you truly don’t need and can do without. Hopefully people roll before you and you don’t run into this problem but this has been the biggest annoyance for me.

Be polite and have fun! catch some of the gear that currently is running.

Patch 3.3 LFG

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Since I started playing WoW the game went from BC to WotLK and even though the changes to the game were fantastic and big nothing has changed the game like the latest feature implemented. They removed the annoyance of travel to dungeons altogether and let you earn money, mats, rep and emblems for as long as you can stomach it.

Even though there have been about 25% crappy groups, the chances of you having to group with those people again makes it a non issue. Besides the people that don’t know the fights at all, even gear seems to be a non issue in most heroics, minus of course the new content.

At first I though I was getting paired up with people with my same gear level, but that is actually just a side effect of the people on the first night who had downloaded the patch prior or had a faster connection. I’ve had some amazing groups that impressed me by their level of both play and good manners. I’ve also seen the lowest of the low. The question is now, why do I need a guild?

Raids – You will still your guild to run raids. Raids require good communication and knowing people’s play style. Even in the harder dungeons can turn into a wipe fest if people don’t communicate.

Enchants and Gems – Unless you have an unlimited amount of money and a good AH, you will have an easier time getting that shinny new gear ready for raids with a group of good crafters working together and everyone sharing the greens that are raining from the sky.

Fun groups – As much fun as it is to burn through a instance without stopping it gets mechanic and old quickly. Its nice to be able to run with the people you know when they are online. Specially now that we are all going to be so overgeared! Also with partial groups being filled so quickly, you and a couple of guildies can have tons of fun with the LFG system.

Cataclysm – I cannot wait for the new expansion and all the changes that will be attached to guild achievements. Having a solid guild going into the new expansion is going to make it 100x better.

That’s all I have for now. I am halfway to getting my pug and loving the experience.

Gank Fest

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Gank Fest

Our WoW time lately has been very hecktic trying to raid casually while we wait for the latest patch which will drop today. Most of us have been working on our alts so we have more 80s that can be easily geared just by grinding heroics, and with the promise of shinny new gear even farming ulduar. Before we get there we get to actually level those toons. My priest is almost capped on both inscriptions and alchemy now and is sitting at 69 at the moment. I will have some time off during December so it might be time to get him to 70 and have some fun healing.

One side effect of having to level toons in a PvP server is the occasional ganking. Our guild has a simple policy “See a Horde, Kill a Horde.” It little by little has made us the target of ganking… however, it is starting to taste less and less pleasurable for the gankers. When someone is getting camped our guild pulls together and heads to that area and kills as many as we can. We do get eventually overwhelmed since our server Alliance to Horde ratio during peek hours is just insane. This was not the case last night. We took over the circle of blood in Nagrand and then moved to neighboring town with little resistance. Actually had fun just killing the ganker.

Then we moved to crossroads and still no horde response. We then got a little greedy and headed to Thunderbluff to 15 man the dude there. That is when Doorhinge showed up (one of the best PvPers in our realm) and I was able to kill him once… then it was all over. We could not get back on our feet and decided to call it a night. It was tons of fun though, and now you know that if you gank one of ours, you will have to gank us all!