Catchy title, eh?
I thought this would be a good topic to cover, now that everyone is happily (or maybe, not so happily) fiddling around in the new, shiny, cross- realm LookingForGroup System. I was gonna do some ICC25 bosses and strats, but frankly… it can wait. (Go to Tankspot.com- they have the best strat vids, anyways.)
PuGs. PuG, in case you didn’t know, stands for ‘Pick Up Group,’ which means that you are grouping with people you’ve never seen or heard of before with the intention of killing bosses in instances or, less often, raids. Now, PuGs have a sinister, underlying negative tone to them- and with good reason. How many times have you joined a PuG where The Tank couldn’t hold threat, resulting in your poor, squishie healer butt being pwned thoroughly by a group of mobs? How about Those Huntards who don’t turn their pet’s Growl off, then bitch at you because ‘my pet died?’ Or the Mage Noobs that don’t check their DPS, pull threat from a decent tank, take a couple of whacks, then Ice Block to drop the aggro- which YOU, the squishy healer, promptly pick up? Let’s not forget that hyperactive Warrior- Who- Is- Not- A- Tank that insists on pulling the mobs before the rest of the group is ready, or that Shadow Priest with the happy Psychic Scream finger. And, of course- the shortening- flavored icing on this cake of fail- the ‘leetspeakin’ 12 year olds who are happily LOLing and calling you a noob in /party, when they’re meleeing instead of spellcasting.
If your chat looks like this, you should probably run.
Gee, I haven’t seen all of these things, have I? But there is hope! You can survive a bad PuG! All it takes is a little time and a lot of patience.
Pyoska’s Guide To Surviving PuGs as a Healer
The first thing you need to remember is this- it will, eventually be over, and all you have to do is what you do best. This applies to you at every level, from lowbie instances to Heroic raids.
Things you should do to ensure you survive a PuG with most of your hair still on your head:
1. Bring your ownrefreshments. Seriously. Go and spend the silver on a couple of stacks of level- appropriate water and food and put it somewhere on your action bars, for easy access. If there is a mage in your party, and he/ she is willing to make you some food and water, then take the conjured stuff and use it first- save the stuff you spent your hard earned money on for later. NEVER expect or demand that the mage make you refreshments- they will do it if they want to, and it will save you an argument.
2. Make sure your bags are empty. It sucks having to destroy free money (grey loot items) because you ran out of room. I don’t care if they’re crap- if its an item that can be sold, PICK IT UP. You’ll thank me later. And, while we’re on the subject of bags…
3. Keep your bags organized. Grey items always seem to clog up those random bag slots in an attempt to camoflage that shiny new piece of gear you just picked up, regardless of color, and you always lose that quest item or potion in the mounds of stuff you’ve gathered/ ferretted away in your travels. Don’t be afraid to toss all of that Silk Cloth in your bank to use later for mass bandage crafting. Toss that quest item in there, as well- its just eating up space that could be used for sellables. And don’t let the big, bad price of extra bank slots scare you. They are worth it!
4. Make sure you have (if you want them) all quests available for the instance you are about to run. And don’t be aftraid to share. Everyone wants more experience, and sometimes, a clearly definable goal is the best way to get a PuG moving in the right direction.
5. Make sure your gear is completely repaired. Nothing is worse than having someone die and watching them go, ‘Oh, shit, my gear’s red, I need to repair lol can you guys summon me back?’ Don’t be that person. Most people in PuGs HATE that person (but not as much as we hate the Huntard Who Forgot To Bring Enough Ammunition. We REALLY HATE that guy.)
6. Make sure your bars and hotkeys are set up for HEALING, not DPS. This is especially true in those lower level instances, when you probably aren’t Resto or Holy- unless you’re into self- inflicted torture. In which case, rock on. Either way, when you are healing, your primary hotkeys (the ones your fingers hover over for mashing purposes) should be replaced with whatever heals you posses. Better yet? Get an addon to help- like Grid and Clique or Healbot- and only have it up if you are healing.
7. Expect a certain amount of stupidity from a PuG. After all, we do need to consider Wizard’s First Rule when it comes to dealing with others, no matter what the situation. Expect the worst, and you will be pleasently surprised if you get into a good group with good people, instead of disappointed with being stuck with the dredges of WoW society.
8. Do Your Job. Yep. That means heal to the best of your ability, doing whatever it takes to ensure it can’t be blamed on you. I know, I know, that does mean you have to heal that moronic DPSer who just pulled threat. I’m not saying keep him alive- but you should at least try. The first time, anyways. What kind of Angry Healer would I be if I told you to try more than once. Clearly, if it happens more than once, its him, not you. You can probably deal without his DPS, anyways.
9. Be Patient with the Newbs. I said ‘newbs,’ not ‘noobs.’ There will be people in your PuGs who haven’t played WoW until very recently. We will call them ‘newbs’, short for ‘new player who needs help learning how to be a good player’, NOT ‘noobs’, which is short for ‘fucking idiot who can’t play.’ Give the Newbs your assistance, especially if you’ve played their class at their level- trust me, your help now will mold them into better players you’ll actually want to play with later. And who doesn’t want that?
10. Try to keep an open mind. You’ll be dealing with lots of people from lots of places (even other countries!) Those people have different ways of thinking and communicating that you might not be used to. So if someone says something you find a little off, don’t go flying off the handle and TYPING IN CAPSLOCK to show how mad you are. That doesn’t help anyone- capslock is NOT cruise control for cool. Instead, calmly adress the person and ask them what they meant. If they reply in kind, then its all good. If they answer with, ‘LOL UR STUPID’, slap their ass on /ignore and continue on. If they say something that’s obviously offensive, tell them to knock it off and don’t hesitate to report them. After all, if they’re doing it in your PuG, they’re doing it in Trade, and General, and LookingForGroup, making asses of themselves and, undoubtedly, pissing all sorts of people off. And while a 72 hour ban is unlikely to change their attitude, at least no one will have to deal with them during that time.
All this aside, know when you’ve had enough and don’t be afraid to tell a group of morons that they can jog on. Have fun- isn’t that what playing a game is all about!
Well, thats it from me for now. I hope this helps someone out. Cheers, and stay angry, healers!
Obligatory Tree!Druid Shot.
~Pyo
Whoa, I didn’t know a tree could look pissed off. But this tree looks, dare I say it? LIKE A VERY ANGRY HEALER.
Watch out… Treepunch has a .00000000001% to crit, but when it does, it deals 1000000% damage. Its the truth, just ask anyone!
This is good advice!
In regard to #2, I’ve fallen in love with this Add-on called Scrap. It sells greys with the click of a button and you can build lists of other stuff that it will sell for you, too.
ROCK AAAAAWN