Proudmoore, being a well-established server, has a great PuG community. So much so, in fact, that in the past few weeks I've been able to PuG raids - 25man, 10man or even pre-BC 40man - that I don't have access to in my guild.If you're a tank or a healer, this may not be great news to you. Guilds in general are often short of one or the other, and will occasionally take a PuG to fill their last slot(s). However, I am a hunter - a female night elf to boot - and the past few weeks of being picked up for PuG raids has been a blast.
Since my guild stopped officially raiding, I have PuGged:
- MC and BWL for 2 pieces of Draconic for Dummies (for the AQ scepter quest chain)
- Naxxramas for 3 pieces of hunter T3, including the badass-looking Cryptstalker helm
- Tempest Keep - A'lar and a few attempts at Kael'thas
- Mt Hyjal - Azgalor and a few attempts at Archimonde
Now, my guild didn't do Naxx at level 60. We have also never seen Kael'thas (we were at 3/4 TK), or Azgalor/Archimonde (we were at 1/5 in Hyjal).
I know a lot of people hate PuGs and avoid them like the plague, but I say give them a chance - you may spend a lot of time wiping, but then again, you might not!
Tips for PuGging:
- Be prepared: This means consumables, Ventrilo/Teamspeak, and at least a threat meter for addons if you're DPS.
- PuG often: If PuG leaders see you a lot, they're more likely to remember you and give you an invite. Keep an eye out in trade, general and LFG chat channels for groups.
- Check your realm forums: People often organize events on the forums, because it's hard to get 25 people together on the fly.
- Know how to play: If you're a hunter and you can't chain trap or kite a mob for 10min without dying, do some practice. You're going to need something to impress the PuG leader, especially if you're undergeared or an unusual spec.
- Behave and be polite: People aren't going to invite you if they don't like you, no matter how epic your gear is.
- Shut up and listen: Don't talk/type when the raid leader is, and always listen for instructions. The raid will NOT be impressed if you are AFK for a ready check, or if you fail to Misdirect a mob to the right tank at the right time. This is especially true for the harder 25man raids where one wrong move is a wipe, and instructions can sometimes be a passing comment in a LONG speech before a boss pull - you CANNOT afford to tune out, or you risk your reputation.
2 comments:
To be honest, I actually like PuGing. I'm a 23/38/0 Holy priestess at the cusp of Tier 6, having participated in enough of both Mount Hyjal and Black Temple to be exalted with the related factions. That said, running heroics that are preforms are ridiculously dull at times, unless we're trying to set some sort of timer record. As a result, going into heroics is the only challenge that I normally encounter outside of advanced raid encounters these days.
Sadly, heroic preforms have all but ended. No one is doing them any more. There is, however, a lot of interest in retro-raids, which always snags my fancy!
I think Proudmoore is lucky in that people now successfully PuG (timed!) ZA and 25mans. It gives the "casuals" a look at something other than running the same old heroics/Kara, especially if you're a good player but maybe don't have a regular enough RL schedule for a raiding guild. :)
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