Saturday, June 13, 2009

The one where Av pugs stuff

.

So I was hanging around Dalaran the other day - I had just done the cooking and fishing dailies, and was doing that thing where I run around aimlessly, or rifle through my bank aimlessly, or really do anything aimlessly, as I contemplate what I'll do next in game. When I see in gchat:

[Guild] [Belgar]: Oh well this'll be fun.... two priests in this raid, and only two other healers.

Lightbulb: 25 man pug on Razuvious. Four healers in the raid, and two are priests, both of which will be needed for MCing. And so I think, ohey, I haven't been in Naxx in a while. MAYBE THIS WILL BE FUN.

To [Belgar]: I can come in and heal for that fight, if you need a healer
[Belgar]: seriously?
To [Belgar]: yeah sure, why not =D


And so I get invited and summoned. We do Raz without a hitch, I get some compliments from a priest healer who came in just behind me on the meters, all is well. It's awesome - I'm throwing heals *everywhere*, and boy, is it nice to not worry about mana for once. (Note: our ten man team tried killing Steelbreaker last on Iron Council last Thursday, and I have to watch my mana like a HAWK. There's just no pause in healing - I'm using every single GCD I have and wishing they clocked faster. And this is with my Idol of Awakening AND Spark of Hope AND my two piece T7.5 bonus equipped. AND an Innervate. AND a mana pot. AND spirit food for the regen. Damn. That's a lotta ands. So it was really nice to not have the stress of wondering if we'll wipe because I'm bone dry on mana. We got him down to 12%... sooo close. Ok, I'm tangenting. Back to the pug.)

They're doing loot when suddenly I realize Belgar is pulling trash (he was MTing), so I run my little tree legs over and heal him. I also realize that I'm probably in this for the long haul, so I best get comfy. =D So we move along, and I'm having a blast. I don't even need anything from here, because I'm pretty decked out in Ulda gear for the most part along with other BiS items from this very instance, but who cares? I haven't been in Naxx in months, and I don't have anything else to do. We're pulling really quickly, split up on Noth, get Noth down, and the Forethought Talisman drops. Yummy! I already have it, so I don't need it, but I'm interested to see who will win the roll. I'm hoping one of the trees, because it would be an upgrade for both of them, it looks like (I actually don't think either of them rolled, but that's besides the point).

Lolimapugger rolls 43 (1-100)
Hahametoo rolls 41 (1-100)

[Raid] [Averna]: grats, lolimapugger!
[Raid] [Ipugtoo]: yea man, grats
[Raid] [Lolimapugger]: thanks :D
Hahametoo receives Forethought Talisman.
[Raid] [Lolimapugger]: wait, what?


Here were the excuses that the raid leader gave:

1. Hahametoo needs it more.
2. Lolimapugger came into the pug later than Hahametoo.
3. It's just a piece of gear.
4. It's not even a good trinket.

o.O

1. If loot rules were based on who "needs loot more", then you should have wowarmoried every single pugger that graced your group. You should then have compared their gear (every slot, mind you) to every possible drop in the Naxx run, running some kind of mathematical algorithm to determine what loot would benefit them the most, as compared to other people in the group, based on 1. how much of an upgrade it would be, 2. how likely they are to have it drop for them again, 3. their playstyle and how the piece of gear will correspond to it, 4. for how long they will use it before getting another upgrade, and 5. how much they will appreciate getting said loot.

If you haven't done all of that, then you can't use argument number one, kthx.

2. Lolimapugger came in before I did, and I had been there for at least 2 bosses. He came in with the assumption that he would have a shot at gear. Otherwise, why else would he have joined? Do you think he joined just to be nice? (I mean, yes, I understand that in MY case, it wasn't for gear, it was just for fun, but you can't assume that about puggers). Also, Lolimapugger was willing to come into the instance and be locked to it with it half done, and was willing to stick it out. He won the roll, he should win the gear.

3. If you use the argument "it's just a piece of gear", then why wouldn't you just give it to the highest roller? It's just a piece of gear, after all.

4. It is the highest spell power trinket in Naxx, and it's best in slot for most healers in that tier of gear.

Grrrrr.

Next wing: Aboms. We all get ready for Patchwerk, and the raid leader gives us healing assignments (which, by the way, were total crap. Why have trees healing one target when we can roll hots on two or even three?), and then says this:

IF U LET UR TANK DIE ITS UR FUCKING FAULT

Way to boost healer morale, buddy boy. Don't swear at me. It's degrading for both of us. Also, stop yelling at me. I read just as well if it's not in caps. Is it all-caps day? No. So stop.

Patch comes over, he sits there, we wait for an ok to pull, he sits there, we wait, he sits there, we wait, he sits there, we wait, he starts walking away, we wait, we wait some more, and then some tank runs over INTO THE SLIME and throws something at it, and suddenly -

"Patchwerk want to play!"


Sigh.

So we have no prehots on the tanks (and three of our four healers are trees), and the tank is starting with like 15% health. *Awesome.* Through some stroke of pure and hilarious luck, we made it through the pull. However, because it takes us a good 10+ seconds to get all our hots running on the tanks, and we had no holy paladins, and because some of the ret paladins judging light were almost outhealing the other trees, Belgar goes down FAST, but I get a perfectly timed battle rez on him. Seriously guys, it was sexy, sexy stuff. Patch had taken out a few dps, but once Bel was up, we got back into the swing of it.

Until Patch enraged.

At like 6%.

So we wipe it and run back in. And I notice that one by one, people are dropping out of our group. Not just one or two, but like, six. And with no warning! Ugh. I don't mind if you have to leave a pug - I don't even care if it's because we wiped (although that is pretty frustrating) - but I DO care when you leave without a "ok guys gotta go." Just a simple sentence. Maybe even throw a sorry in there, too! I know, I'm asking too much.

[Raid] [Averna]: bah, we're losing people

[Raid] [Ileadraidslol]: yeah i know
[Raid] [Ileadraidslol]: i'm kicking people below 2500
[Raid] [Averna]: .....
[Raid] [Averna]: do you have replacements?
[Raid] [Ileadraidslol]: in the process of getting them


Well then.

No warning to anyone in there. They were just cut off. Suddenly they get that "You are not in this instance's group. You will be teleported to the nearest graveyard in 56 seconds." That's just so sad to me - does anyone else imagine this when they think about it? (No? Ok, maybe I'm the only one. >.> ) No thought of, maybe we could do this if we pulled it right and didn't have 4 dps go down in the first 20 seconds. No thought of the fact that his replacements could be even worse than this original crew. No thought of, maybe that undergeared warlock who's putting out 2450 dps *isn't* going to leave a Mutating Injection in the raid on Grobb, but that ret paladin who's putting out 2650 *is*.

Note that Ileadraidslol's DPS on my meters was 2417.

I was SO close to saying "So, you gonna kick yourself?"

I know that people deal with this stuff all the time - it's no big deal, right? It's just so frustrating to me. Maybe it's because I rarely pug anything, so I'm still an innocent nub and think that everyone will be rainbows and puppies and hand out candy at the end of raids. Guys - JUST FYI - there is no candy at the end of pug runs. =(

Some other highlights of the run:

  • I tanked Lady Blaumeux. You know how she does Unyielding Pain when no one is near her or has aggro? Yeah. That started, and I totally ran over and hit her with my barky arms. It was AWESOME.
  • I tanked the two adds on KT for a good 20 seconds. AND my Barkskin was down! Spam heals FTW! Also, add-tank ftl =(
  • A druid brezzed Ileadraidslol on KT, only to have him rez right into a shadow volley. I giggled. Then when my brez was up, I rezzed him again, and said in vent, "You might want to take this at, you know, a *good* time this time around." Bwuahahaha.
  • The Torch of Holy Fire dropped. Why couldn't this have dropped like, 4 months ago?!?!

All in all, I really did have a good time, for a number of reasons - one, there were quite a few Ascended members in the raid by the time we did Sapph and KT, and it was fun being able to talk about the pug in gchat with each other. Two, it was awesome not having to worry about my mana, and three, I TANKED STUFF, RAWR!

I'm thinking I should do, say, one pug a week. Builds character, you know?

.

20 remarks:

Orbitz said...

O.O" Thats a pretty epic story. -cookie and hugs-

Corgii said...

Haha pugs can make for some awesome lolz sometimes. My guild hosts a Naxx25 pug every Saturday and they tend to be pretty fun.

YAY for tree tanks! \o/

Aertimus said...

Uhg. I don't know if thats why I don't do PUGs often or I do like 10 man VoA PUGs once a month - to remind myself why I don't do PUGs more often. I think I would have left at the loot roll. Thats just a dick thing to do, let someone roll but give it to someone else anyway...

We went back to Naxx 25 this past Thurs for the first time in weeks. I tanked an add on Razuvious for an extended time. I think he was bugging in the ramp or something. Or maybe my healing was just that HoT :P RAWR TREE TANKS

Sylveria said...

I pugged all the time on my shaman. I think the biggest downside to pugging is that it takes a long time to clear naxx.

You should have taken a screenshot of the tree tanking! :D

Lissanna said...

Pugs drive me crazy sometimes...

coil said...

I think I would have strangled that RL through the Internet if I'd been forced to take* direction from him.

*Note: "take", not "follow".

thegnomedruid said...

. . . *gives you gnomelock cookies*

That's a tough call. Do you leave because of the BS and lock yourself out for a week? Or stick it out and hope he's not a douche bag in your direction?

I'm not sure I would have stuck it out. I'd rather take the instance lock than have that much frustration in something I do for fun.

Aertimus said...

Naxx? I would take the instance lock : P

Anonymous said...

RAWR!

Stephanie said...

I hate pugs... really do. Especially when they swear at you. There is no reason to be rude like that. And I would probably take the instance lock too if that were the situations.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Just ... wow.

Loot issues like that just tend to irritate me. At least the raid overall was fun.

Also, that linked clip from Rejected was great. (c:

Averna said...

@Orbitz: /tar cookie
/om nom nom

@Sylveria: Yeah, I was actually pleasantly surprised at how quickly this particular pug went. There were very few wipes (save the one on Patch) and even when the RL insisted on replacements, he got them pretty quickly.

@gnomedruid: /tar gnomelock cookies
/om nom nom

@thanners: YES someone got the reference! =D

Anonymous said...

Heh, I'd only seen Rejected a few months ago. One of the strangest things I've ever seen, but so very awesome. (c:

Kae said...

Lol. There's some insane part of me that loves feral so much that I put up with weekly pugs on my alliance druid, just so that I can spend time raiding with her. Stories such as this are, luckily, not the norm for the pugs I've been in! Though I will list a few strange things that I have seen in pugs that made me /facepalm:

- I was removed before a raid started because I had two pieces of 70 epics that were better than blues (though others were in greens). Real reason behind it: the leader was feral and didn't want competition for drops ;)

- A resto druid was permitted to take feral gear over the feral druids and rogues.

- A female player was purring at the master looter, thus was defaulted any piece she wanted without a roll.

- Players rage-quit a raid and then run around in the instance ungrouped, pulling pats and bosses on people.

- Players afk when running back from a wipe, and then right before they're ressed as the raid's about ready to buff and pull, they release because they have to go repair.

Ahhh pugs, so much fun you are!

Jong said...

wow that ileadraidlol guy is a huge tool. those people who yell condescending remarks just for the sake of yelling condescending remarks don't get that it never works. all the best raid leaders i know commands the raid with objecive tones and soothing nerdy voice.

and i totally hear you about why couldn't this drop 4 months ago?

Anonymous said...

Cute story; it reminds me of all the reasons I hate pugs...seriously.

Unknown said...

I know what you mean, unfortunatly I'm forced to pug naxx25 since my guild isn't a real raiding guild.

I've seen my share of crazy stuff and made sure I wasn't involved in it, except one time >.<

It was a real fail pug, with people being impatient and leaving after a wipe. You know when 1 person leaves, it's like a domino effect, then the next one leaves and so on, and this happened several times, but I sticked by them. Loot rules where based on a point system, where you'd get a point if ya got a MS piece, and the person with the lowest points, and highest roll wins the piece. So I hadn't rolled on anything 'cause nothing dropped for me. After 6! hours we finally get to Sapphiron, where I was the last Tree standing(lol) and spamming moonfire for the last 15k while walking backwards. I actually got him down :)

We get to KT, first wipe, and again people leave. We get new people, try again, and whaddaya know, I was the second last standing this time, but i got a SS on me, so waited till KT got on the mage, ressed, and spammed moonfire again when the mage got down, and I managed to get him just before he reached me.

So we're finally done, and the Torch of Holy Fire drops, something I actually still need, and I rolled. I didn't roll highest, but I had the lowest points, so I still got it. That is until the guy who has been leaving and joining the raid whenever he saw fit also rolled, and offcourse outrolled me. That was seriously the only time I got upset about a lost roll, as I've been helping the raid forward for 6 hours, and that guy only joined for bosses he needed loot from, and immediatly left afterwards. But he still got the torch, because of my damn RNG luck. Pugs ftw >.<

Panos said...

Pugs...

They can be fun if you have a tongue-in-cheek attitude or a nightmare. Or in rare cases both. I guess the only gear you need form pugs is an epic sense of humor. And an epic amount of spare time...

Fun story, nonetheless ;p

Amalfi said...

Ugh...I have been on the receiving end of being kicked from a 25-naxx run...totally sucks, especially when you are there for the long run and you are now saved to the instance.

People actually whispered me after I was kicked and laughed at me for being saved to the instance. I've never been more angry in my life.

Anonymous said...

That's Gothik the Harvester, not
Noth the Plaguebringer who drops FT.

wowfacts nazi here >.<