"How to convince tanks to PuG

May 28, 2008

"I'm getting back to WoW Insider after a month's real-life-related absence and have been spending some time playing catch-up on the site. One of the articles that caught my attention was Matt Rossi's popular ""One reason tanks won't PuG,"" in no small part because I play a tank and my own PuG runs have been few and far between of late. My main, a Tauren Druid, respecced from balance to feral at level 69 because there were so few tanks on my server, and I literally spent months and months tanking PuG's to get experience and gear. During that period I saw everything from rogues rolling on +healing maces to warlocks needing on tanking cloaks, and I learned that you never can tell what you're going to get from a PuG. Yes, you'll get hunters who can't trap, mages who never resheep, rogues who mistakenly believe they leveled a warrior, and priests who Power Word: Shield you straight off the pull -- but you'll also find people who know their class well, or are in the process of learning just like you are, and who are fun to be around. I have now killed Illidan with a contingent of people who showed up to my PuG's back when I was a wee lolbaretank in quest greens and Heavy Clefthoof, so as a matter of personal experience I think PuG's are a somewhat underrated way to meet people who will later turn out to play crucial roles in how you experience the game. I don't PuG as frequently anymore due to time constraints and increased time spent leveling alts, but I still hang out in LFG from time to time for the pure enjoyment of meeting new people. Yes, it is often difficult to PuG tanks and healers (I would submit, as someone who typically tanks or heals in dungeons, that it is also difficult to PuG skilled DPS), but a lot of people could make it easier on themselves than they do.

If you're having problems finding a tank or healer for your PuG's, try these. A note; this applies to anyone who's looking for more people (regardless of what role they're meant to play), but let's be frank; any given PuG is much more likely to be hunting down a tank or healer than they are to be hunting down more DPS, and it's tough to argue that these folks don't have a little more leverage. Nevertheless, these are the same rules I obey myself when I track down good DPS for my own 5-mans. For the record, these don't just apply to PuG's; even guildmates will have a tough time procuring a tank for their runs if they constantly ignore the following rules. " "Blizzplanet has a new Wrath of the Lich King related video from G4TV. It has interviews with Jeffrey ""Tigole"" Kaplan and J. Allen ""No nickname I'm aware of"" Brack and very short previews of the new zones, the Death Knight hero class, quests and raids. It also has a very annoying soundtrack underneath the interview snippets which made me want to rip the speakers off of my computer when I watched it the first time, so be warned. A few notes of interest during the interview: They definitely want to make sure that the Horde and Alliance experiences in WoTLK are different: ""While some of the story threads will be the same, how you get there will vary for Horde and Alliance."" We will apparently not just ally with, but also have to fight some of the Tuskarr. wow gold This makes me sad. I don't want to kill the Wilford Brimley's of Azeroth. I mean, I'll do it if there's a shiny copper piece involved, don't get me wrong, but it still will make me sad as I rip that purse off of their blubbery corpses.

wow gold I just dread the ""Gather x Tuskarr tusks"" quests I fear are coming. I saw tusks right on him! What do you mean he doesn't have any. They're planning out all their patches in advance this time. buy wow gold I didn't actually know they didn't already do this, so it was news to me. David has a great tip for roleplaying a rogue: Don't be up-front about yourself. wow gold Charging into situations going on and on about your tale of loss and sorrow and heartbreak and your thirst for revenge doesn't exactly fit in with the mysterious ways of your class. wow gold Instead, listen to what other have to say, and only drop tidbits of information about your life when it seems like you can trust them. If you're truly a spy, thief or assassin, why would you broadcast that to the world. Plus, if you're RPing a member of an assassin's or spy guild, gathering information on PCs is going to be one of your character's main goals. mp3 players Not to mention it can lead to a lot of fun on the forums. "