The PuGs – I like ‘em

I like 'em, those pugs.

Pick up Groups have a bad reputation. And I totally see why. One reason why PuGs are fun for me is because most of the time that group will include me and my better half which takes out some of the randomness of random groups. But that’s not everything and that’s not why everyone should pug from time to time.

Actually it was the trade channel that inspired me to write this post. Apart from desperate cries for healers I read stuff like “looking for DD, no DK pls” or “DD wanted for daily heroic, nothing under 1,5k dps!”. And that pretty much sums up most of the problems that come with PuGs: Most of the time you never know what you’re going to get. There’s everything out there, from fantastic player to persons totally new to group play to people who rerolled class or specc with WotLK to some guys that just seem born to sabotage your daily heroic run.

The first obstacle of course is always to find every needed class. Finding a healer is hardest on my realm. And nearly everyone seems to have hit 80 with his DK alt thinking he has magically won tanking skills. Only damage dealers are never a problem to find. Most people who try to get a PuG going still try to find some sort of balance between ranged DD and melee, I think having melees in a group is much less annoying than it was in BC. Stratholm timeruns with ret pallies, fury warriors or DK are just great.

When you get to the point where everyone’s ready and you pull the first group of mobs you’ll get a first idea if you’re group is going to do fine or not. And if you PuG regularly you’ll see huge differences in skill, damage output, healing experience, knowledge of boss abilities and staying power (people who leave a group after a wipe do annoy me).

So why go through all the hassle of finding a random group and most probably clear an instance in much more time (if at all) than you would with a group guildies?

1. You’ll get to know people on your realm. This still amazes me, how big a realm is and how many nice players you’re going to find. You’ll find people to have a good laugh with, you’ll find people that might live nearly next door to you and it’s a good way to let your friends list grow.
2. You are going to find people for future heroic runs, maybe even for a PuG Naxx10 or a candidate for your guild.
3. Most important point: You will learn so much about your class. I tanked a chunk of heroics with my warrior and I wouldn’t have learned half as much with guild-only runs (I certainly do enjoy them as well). If I loose aggro on a mob in a heroics instance in a PuG group it often kills the DD or healer. In guild runs there are many DDs than can kite mobs forever. I learned much more about when to use shield wall, last stand and my trinkets with under geared healers than I would have with T7 healers of our guild. As a healer it’s exactly the same, you just might want to check that not both, you and the tank are very bad geared.

Of course you’ll need the right attitude to enjoy a PuG. You’ll have to live through some bumps, wipes and maybe even bad rolls on gear you’ve absolutely wanted. Don’t get whiney, don’t give up if you start an instance but know when it’s time to call it a night.