PUG Horror Stories #1: Ah $#@% it!

By way of introduction, my shadow priest Zenborg will be covering all things related to pick up groups. I to a lot of 'pugging' on my alts, and will share some of my experiences (both good and bad here). On with the story...

Today on Twitchie, I had a random heroic dungeon group disband in record time, and it inspired what will probably be a long series of posts describing some horror stories, as well as my own advice on how they could be prevented.

The Death Knight tank asked at the start of our Heroic Throne of Tides run, "Any CCs?". I was only a few words into my sentence describing my fear / succubus combination, our Ret Paladin’s repent (and the group disbanded so quickly I can’t even remember the third DPSs class) when he followed up with, "Ah $#@% it" and pulled the first pack which is notable for it contains not just one, but two healers.

The tank also didn’t specify a primary target, so we all merrily opened up our AOE and set in for what turned out to be quite a long haul. Eventually, the tank marked a skull target, but with virtually non-existant interrupts it just wouldn’t go down, since two healers far out paced the DPS. I did my best to time fears and a death coil, but to no avail and the healer left... then a DPS, and another... and after a final expletive declaration, the tank as well.

So my plea to tanks (especially for a pick up group) is firstly, mark a skull target! If nothing else, a single skull means a mob burned down quickly, reducing the healing load. It also gives melee a definitive target that their white damage lands on, and should help substantially with knowing which mob will have the majority of aggro pumped into it.

Secondly, in a pick up group, use some CC at least on the first pull. As we all just experienced, a 15% buff to damage and healing can’t overcome completely ignoring the basic abilities of the mobs you’re trying to kill. If you EVER have to wait for the healer to regain some mana, use MORE CC. It is completely false economy to avoid using CC and burn the group as a whole down faster, if you then have to wait around for healer mana. Be nice to your healer, use CC, and the run will go smoother and faster than if you didn’t. If after the first pack, your healer announces they are bored... then by all means ramp it up a little bit.

Lastly, a plea for all tanks and melee DPS... interrupts are awesome.