PUG's (Pick Up Groups)

I have to say that my current lifestyle choice, playing WoW, has introduced me to a rich and often obscure lexicon. Not more than a week ago I was listening to a podcast where they mentioned a PUG; one Google search later I knew what it meant. Put quite simply, a pick up group, or pug, is when someone collects a bunch of more or less random people for a run, often through an instance, or sometimes just to a scary and dangerous place where it's good to have backup. This is opposed to doing a guild run, where a known group of people set out for the same purpose.

Well this past weekend I had the opportunity to get involved in no less than 2 pugs, and I thought I would briefly discuss my experiences. I think it's safe to say that I saw both the good and the bad, but I'll start with the bad one.

Pug # 1 was what I would define as bad, and mainly because of one individual. It was a pretty rough group, from what I could tell thrown together on a whim. I was hanging out in Southshore, smelting a bit of ore when all of a sudden I had group invitation pop up on my screen. I ignored it for a few minutes while I worked until finally someone came on and actually talked to me and asked if I was interested. There were two relatively low levels, a couple of 29's who wanted to be run through the Scarlett Monastery and they were looking for a tank. Being that me and Darcy had done this one a few weeks ago so I knew the terrain and was familiar with the drops I figured why not, it'll be good way to kill an hour or so.

Turned out they didn't really need me, they already had a 65 Death Knight and a 69 Warrior along for the ride. Now that in itself wasn't bad, made the combat a little short, but at least there was very little danger. The problem came in the fact that the organizer, a 29 Druid couldn't keep out of the way and kept killing herself in fights she should have stayed away from; by the end of the third hour of this I was getting very sick of seeing her typing 'HLP', 'HLP ME', HLP' 'ME PLZ', followed by 'Rez plz'. Turns out my Paladin was mainly along as a mobile Resurrection machine, and although I like to help I wasn't getting much to pay for the mana I was burning through. She also made a habit of needing all the higher level items, whether she could use them or not. Then there was the constant bitching, ordering buffs, telling people how to play, and cranking at the Gnome wizard because he was disenchanting the few things he did actually get to greed; if it gets in your bags it's your stuff and you do what you want with it. The final straw for me was at 3:00 in the morning when she was not only telling me which aura to use, but telling me I had the wrong seal open. I said "I gotta go." and hearthed home.

After that I was leery when I got another request the next night. However this one got off on the right foot by whispering to me, asking if I was busy and wondering if I'd be interested in some tanking as they were putting together a group to go to Zul'Farrak. I don't like to discount anything on one bad experience so I said yes, good choice it turned out. I was in the upper end of this group but not by much, there was a 52 rogue my 50 Paladin, along with a Hunter, Rogue, and a Druid all in the high 40's. My job was simple, go pick fights and keep the bad guys busy while the rogue and the hunter did them dirt, Tanking in it's purest form, and this time it worked. The Druid stayed in the back and healed me, leaving me open to agro and hit. At the end of the battle, the high items were greeded and no complaints about anyone getting anything; if I didn't need it I passed on it and I saw the others doing the same thing. When the run was finished and all quest items were had and the Hydra was dead we all said thanks and parted our ways, better for the experience, both real and virtual.

As a result I don't think there's anything wrong with pug's, however it boils down to is this:

1. Be respectful. Ask people to join, don't shove stuff in their faces.

2. Be considerate. Need should only be a last resort for agreed upon items. Don't wait until it's over and say "Sorry, I needed that, thanks."

3. Be helpful. Give a heal or a buff, don't tell people when to do it or how.

4. Just be nice. Don't yell at the party or tell them how or when to do stuff.

That's about it, the stuff they used to teach us in Kindergarden, that's all it takes. I've been invited on another instance with the second group and I'm hoping to be able to make it. I guess it's much the same with most things in life, it isn't the item or even the action that's bad, it's the people that cause the problems.

Let it never be said that I have a problem with pug's.