WoW Dorkism 1: PUG Psychology

As many of you know, I play World of Warcraft quite a bit. In game, I’m a level 70 shadow priest, and though I don’t consider myself a hardcore raider per say, I do enjoy playing the end-game stuff. Now, from here on out, I’m going to be using heavy WoW jargon, so feel free to tune out if you don’t want to read all this dork stuff. If you’re already a WoW nerd, read on after the jump.

As a shadow priest, I don’t consider PvP a viable end-game experience. When Burning Crusade came around, the tables turned. Once, shadow priests were great in PvP, but pretty much unwanted in end-game raids, since holy priests were way more desirable. Now, due to the addition of Vampiric Touch, shadow priests are known as glorified mana batteries, and are pretty much mandatory for mana intensive fights. This is why shadow priests are really key players in end-game raids and dungeons. However, in order to completely maximize this damage in PvE raids, I decided to re-spec my character in such a way that I would lose PvP viability (Feel free to check out my armory page if you want). And honestly? I’m not a huge fan of PvP, so no big loss there (That’s a whole other topic, really).

Anyway, this brings me back to the first in my series of dork-tastic WoW topics: The art of PUGging. Now, I come from a pretty small guild. So much so that there aren’t that many of us on at the same time, and even if there are more than five, we don’t have correct class makeup to make for the perfect 5-man (We have a lot of healers and casters, but sorely lacking in melee). So if I want to run a 5-man, for a quest or for reputation, I have to get into Pick Up Groups a lot, by using WoW’s LFG feature. A lot of people dread getting into PUGs, for fear of getting into a really bad one, and getting a generally sucky experience since you have to play with strangers.

This is where I differ from most people. I like PUGs. I welcome the challenge. I welcome meeting new people. I like making contacts with random strangers. I mean, it’s a MMORPG — running into strangers is pretty much par for the course. Sure there are jerks and assholes out there — they’re almost impossible to ignore — but if you stick with it, the good outweighs the bad.

Here’s my basic criteria for a decent PUG:

1) Everyone knows their role. The tank, the healer, the CC/DPS (crowd control/caster class), etc. Nobody is doing something they shouldn’t be doing. For example, a balance druid should not be tanking. The hunter should know how to kite and misdirect. The mage should know to polymorph the appropriate mob, etc. These are basics that everyone should know once they hit level 70.

2) Competency can sometimes override behavior. That means, if the players in the group are competent and skilled, I can pretty much forgive jerk/asshole-y type behavior, within limits. Luckily, I’ve only been in groups where only one or two of the players are jerks, while everyone else just suffers through the experience. Yes, I consider this a decent PUG, because at least you can get the job done. What can I say — I like my dungeon runs to be efficient.

3) Behavior is pretty important too. I am /always/ nice in PUGs, unless someone is being a total jerk that I need to call them out on it. I try hard to be friendly, and communicative. I apologize if I do something bad. I ask before I roll need/greed on something. Again, this is pretty much rudimentary Internet etiquette, but it’s surprising how many people forget these basics when playing.

4) Be willing to learn. I can’t stress how important this one is, especially when learning new dungeons and new fights. When you’re in a PUG with people you don’t know, this is even more important. Be patient with people who don’t know as much, and if you’re the one who doesn’t know anything, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to wipe. Don’t be afraid to die. Yes, it’ll be frustrating, but if everyone in the group is willing to give it a go, it can be quite rewarding. If everyone knows their role (see number 1) and are at least marginally competent (see number 2), then everything will be fine. If everyone is friendly with each other (see number 3), it’s even better.

5) Teamwork. Of course, this is the ultimate test of a decent PUG. Everyone not only knows their role, but also knows how to work together. That means if someone falls behind a little, someone else tries to pick up the slack. If the tank gets overwhelmed, someone else can step in to help heal. If the healer dies, the druid should know to battle rez. Again, these are game socializing basics that everyone should know. Teamwork requires flexibility, communication, competence, and all of the above.

The more I think about it, the more I think Pick-Up Groups, or PUGs, are the ultimate test of socialization in MMORPGs. If all you do is solo and stick with your own guild or group, that’s fine. I don’t blame you — there are PUGs out there that are bad and scary. But every once in awhile, give a PUG a try. You might find that you like it — and you might make new friends in the process.

PS. The reason I started off with the introduction about me being a shadow priest is that it’s harder for me to get into PUGs. Most people want a holy priest instead, or they want a warlock, since warlocks have a lot more crowd control abilities. But this, ironically, has made it possible for me to get into the really good PUGs — I’m guessing the people who welcome shadow priests into the party are a lot more aware of game mechanics and class differences than others. But I’m probably biased that way

Next time, I’ll talk about what to do when you get into a bad PUG. Or when one of the PUG players is a total incompetent jerk. Short answer? Rebel. Long answer? Wait until next time!

You may now go back to your regular non-WoW life.

Tags: nablopomo, wow

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 24th, 2007 at 11:58 pm and is filed under Geek Gab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.