Not just one Overton window
7 hours ago
With the new LFG tool, these are so much easier to write, since everyone is pugging more now. However, this week's edition of Pug n Pray has nothing to do with the LFG tool. Also, I need to actually start posting these on Sundays so that they make more sense or something. But I'm always a day late and a dollar short, so whatever.
ANYWAY. The awesomest pug ever happened some time this weekend.
I had tried getting into a couple of ToC10 pugs, because the weekly was Lord Jaraxxus Must Die. In fact, I'd probably started in two or three ToC pugs, but dropped before Northrend Beasts was even down, because people were being so rude. I have no patience for rudeness. People weren't even being rude to me - they were being rude to others who made mistakes, which is not something I can abide.
It was 11:00pm and I was bored, so I threw myself into the LfR lists for anything I wasn't saved to. I was in the lists for less than 2 mins, when I received a whisper... "ToC10?" Having had some pretty bad ToC runs in the past week, I was hesitant, but I really wanted to finish the weekly quest, so I accepted.
What followed was a two hour run of ToC that was wonderful. Did we one-shot everything? Nope. Every boss was a two-shot, except Faction Champs, which only took once. Just about everyone in this raid had only been to ToC once or twice, with a couple of people who had never been at all - including the fresh level 80 Rogue who did not know how to /roll, how to get into vent, and was not even naxx-geared. Did the group kick him out? No. The vent conversation went something like this...
Guy 1: "Dude, this rogue has awful gear and dps. What the... he has spellpower leather!"
Guy 2: "Heh. He's been doing okay so far I guess. Let's just carry him, he will get some nice upgrades."
Guy 1: "Yeah, true enough. Someone who is more familiar with rogues though should probably send him a tell and offer to help him figure stuff out."
And that is what made this PuG so awesome. Instead of lawling at one another with recount spams and shouts of "L2PLAY N00B LOL", if someone was having a hard time with something...
Now, I get that not everyone will want this for a pug. To be honest, normally if it's something with which I'm familiar, I don't even have the patience for it. I mean, that's two hours, in a pug with strangers. Most of the time, if I'm pugging a raid, I just want it to be done, though it's a lot better if people are friendly and conversational with a sense of humor.
What made this different is that everyone (with the exception of the rogue) was well geared, and knew how to play their class - they just didn't know the fights. Wipe on the boss once to figure out how it works, take it down the next time with no problem. Cheer at one another, say something about the awesome DPS, or wonderful heals, or perfect tanking, and move on to the next.
It's one of those things you don't see in PuGs often enough. The ratio of Recount-spams to compliments is about 20:1. I don't know why people don't want to compliment others in a PuG, but if you don't ever do it, you should try - Especially if there are newbies in the group. In a pug last night, we had a rogue who was a fresh 80 - he got so excited about his 2.2k dps on one fight, that I admit I found it somewhat contagious. Good job kiddo. That actually is really good for your gear level - and there are few compliments better to a fresh 80 than a few well geared raiding 80s telling him he's doing a good job.
So readers, that is your homework for this week - in one of your pugs this week, compliment someone who does a good job.
To continue on with my perfect pug story, after we two-shot Anub'rekhan, we decided that this group of folks was too awesome to waste... so with a couple of member changes as some peeps had to go to bed, we went and hit up Onyxia - and took her down in 5 minutes, 2 seconds. Had we not had a few loose whelps that got attention instead of Ony, we would have had our More DoTs achievement.
As it stands, I walked away that night with a few more emblems under my belt, and six new people added to my friends list.
At which point I received an error message, saying my friends list was full.
And that was the proudest moment of my 2009 in World of Warcraft.
ANYWAY. The awesomest pug ever happened some time this weekend.
I had tried getting into a couple of ToC10 pugs, because the weekly was Lord Jaraxxus Must Die. In fact, I'd probably started in two or three ToC pugs, but dropped before Northrend Beasts was even down, because people were being so rude. I have no patience for rudeness. People weren't even being rude to me - they were being rude to others who made mistakes, which is not something I can abide.
It was 11:00pm and I was bored, so I threw myself into the LfR lists for anything I wasn't saved to. I was in the lists for less than 2 mins, when I received a whisper... "ToC10?" Having had some pretty bad ToC runs in the past week, I was hesitant, but I really wanted to finish the weekly quest, so I accepted.
What followed was a two hour run of ToC that was wonderful. Did we one-shot everything? Nope. Every boss was a two-shot, except Faction Champs, which only took once. Just about everyone in this raid had only been to ToC once or twice, with a couple of people who had never been at all - including the fresh level 80 Rogue who did not know how to /roll, how to get into vent, and was not even naxx-geared. Did the group kick him out? No. The vent conversation went something like this...
Guy 1: "Dude, this rogue has awful gear and dps. What the... he has spellpower leather!"
Guy 2: "Heh. He's been doing okay so far I guess. Let's just carry him, he will get some nice upgrades."
Guy 1: "Yeah, true enough. Someone who is more familiar with rogues though should probably send him a tell and offer to help him figure stuff out."
And that is what made this PuG so awesome. Instead of lawling at one another with recount spams and shouts of "L2PLAY N00B LOL", if someone was having a hard time with something...
- They admitted it out loud (crazy, right?)
- They asked for help or an explanation.
- Others told them not to feel bad, we can take it slow and learn as we go.
- Others offered advice, help, and encouragement.
- Everyone was incredibly patient, and had a good sense of humor.
Now, I get that not everyone will want this for a pug. To be honest, normally if it's something with which I'm familiar, I don't even have the patience for it. I mean, that's two hours, in a pug with strangers. Most of the time, if I'm pugging a raid, I just want it to be done, though it's a lot better if people are friendly and conversational with a sense of humor.
What made this different is that everyone (with the exception of the rogue) was well geared, and knew how to play their class - they just didn't know the fights. Wipe on the boss once to figure out how it works, take it down the next time with no problem. Cheer at one another, say something about the awesome DPS, or wonderful heals, or perfect tanking, and move on to the next.
It's one of those things you don't see in PuGs often enough. The ratio of Recount-spams to compliments is about 20:1. I don't know why people don't want to compliment others in a PuG, but if you don't ever do it, you should try - Especially if there are newbies in the group. In a pug last night, we had a rogue who was a fresh 80 - he got so excited about his 2.2k dps on one fight, that I admit I found it somewhat contagious. Good job kiddo. That actually is really good for your gear level - and there are few compliments better to a fresh 80 than a few well geared raiding 80s telling him he's doing a good job.
So readers, that is your homework for this week - in one of your pugs this week, compliment someone who does a good job.
To continue on with my perfect pug story, after we two-shot Anub'rekhan, we decided that this group of folks was too awesome to waste... so with a couple of member changes as some peeps had to go to bed, we went and hit up Onyxia - and took her down in 5 minutes, 2 seconds. Had we not had a few loose whelps that got attention instead of Ony, we would have had our More DoTs achievement.
As it stands, I walked away that night with a few more emblems under my belt, and six new people added to my friends list.
At which point I received an error message, saying my friends list was full.
And that was the proudest moment of my 2009 in World of Warcraft.
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Cheers and /salute to your proudest moment of 2008! And great post!
I've had pretty good luck PuGing the raids. However, this weekend I got in the worst ToC 10 I've ever seen. It was the exact opposite of the group you described.
A lot of namecalling, etc. On the plus side, I did learn that it looks like Gormok's impale caps at 10. :)
I wish more raids were like this. I love helping people. I was running with a confused Disc priest on my 72 kitty druid yesterday. I pulled aggro a few times and received a bubble every time. He healed the instance perfectly fine but when I mentioned that I loved bubbles due to my main being a Disc priest, he begged me to stay in group after our run. I obliged and was able to answer his questions and alleviate some of his confusion about Discipline. I also told him that for someone who admitted that he was a bit confused, he did a good job healing UK. So I don't get why people feel the need to insult those who know less than they do. We were all nubs at one point, ne?
I like hearing good PuG stories better than bad ones :)
Usually when I PuG, I'm all about finishing quickly as possible too. But every now and again I come across that super friendly group and forget all about my business.
My favorite PuG of all time was a Uldaman run back when I was still leveling for the first time. It was terrible - wipe after wipe, people coming and going. Yet, everyone was so friendly that it didn't matter. We told jokes and laughed the entire time. Even though we never finished the instance, it was completely worthwhile.
/agree with everyone and to jess, the random dungeon feature that blizzard implemented this patch is awesome! I couldnt asked for more, because if I missed raids with guild I can just use this feature and I will still catch up if I am not busy at all. and pugging with anyone? yes! new friends on other realms its very nice! hopefully someday you, me, jess and other players here posting from diff realms will meet and raid! and have fun! that will be fantastic!
I will be honest, I love bad pug stories. They interest me for two reasons: the story tellers point of view/reaction and the fact that there is a person out there actually carrying out the crazy antics that made the pug "bad".
However, I did appreciate your good pug story, since 3.3 came out, it was VERY refreshing. I play a healer and we are usually on the frustrating end of the stick when pugs are bad. I will accept your homework assignment and compliment a stranger that is deserving.
I'm afraid I can't do this homework. I already do what you're asking us to do on a regular basis.
Being a small guild trying to do things, like 2 ten man teams or a 25 man when we're a few player short usually yields some interesting results.
I operate a "no yelling" "no complaining about repair bills or wipes" "no meter spaming" operation, we have fun, chatter, and goof off in vent, for both pug and internal raids. The end result in pugs is people who keep coming back for future runs. Some of the pugs do wind up joining my guild.
I invite candidates interested in joining to sit in on one of our progression raids. They get to hear first hand what a raid with us is like. Often times, they're impressed, especially when we're wiping and goofing off and having a good time, because people aren't getting pissed off.
How can you find PUG raids like these? Is it a US thing? Is it an Alliance thing? I play Horde on an EU server and I've NEVER seen something like that in a PUG. =(