An (almost) complete guide to pugging

[Anahronos]

Hello WoW players,i have been a pugger for nearly year and a half now,i know everybody has had either good and bad experiences with PuGs,so i decided to write(FROM MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE) some suggestions about leading/joining a succesful PuG,as i think it would be useful to new puggers(or even old ones who have problems in pugging).The guide is in two sections:Joining a PuG and Leading a pug

The example PuG im gonna be using for the entire guide will be ICC 10-man 11/12 with Kingslayer attempt

Part I:Joining a Succesful PuG
So you dont have a guild/didnt get into your guild's raid?But you still wanna get the loots dont you?
Here are some advices in choosing the best PuG for you:

1.Trade adverts sorting
Mostly,the PuGs are formed via trade channel.Every day you see countless adverts about ICC 10 pugs.But how to choose the best one?

--->Check how the advert is written.If the person is asking for GS first(putting the XP on lower priority than gear),using "plz"-like words in the advert(wisp meh plz),or 13375p33k,this is most likely gonna fail(there are ALWAYS exeptions to these rules,and as i have stated before,this is from MY PERSONAL experience).Also,pugs which require people to be overgearing the instance by a lot(say,5800 GS for ToC 10 HC),will usually have fail leaders,and will disband after a wipe(mistakes always happen,even if you have 9999 GS you will die from a voidzone,so l2move lol).Here are some example trade spams:

Spam 1:LFM ICC 10.Clearing 11/12 and going to slay LK.Requirements:11/12 experience,knowledge of the LK fight,patience and dedication.Link me your achievement,class,spec,GS* and come dalaran middle for inspect.Vent is required
*GS is like most things:it's a good thing in a good player's hands and a bad tool in a bad player's hands.It is useful ,because it can give you a quick info about the player's gear,but if you are using it for e-peen purposes or overgearing purposes,then it's fail
Chance of this being a succesful pug:99%.Why?
--->The leader takes skill>gear.Also,the "patience and dedication" part shows,that this raid is gonna stay together until the boss goes down,and not disbanding after 1 wipe.Also,Vent is going to be used,and communication is the key to success.Also,mind the "come for inspect" part.This removes the chance of getting someone with fail gemming/enchanting/speccing,also removes the "UnderAchiever" factor

Spam 2:LFM ICC 10.Doing 11/12 and sum trys on LK.Link achi,GS 5800+,class and spec for inv
Chance of this being a succesful pug:50%.Why?
--->The leader wants experienced people,but keep in mind that if you have 11/12 achievement,but you dont have 5800+ GS,you will be declined.And this can easily show that this will be an "elitist" raid,which will see a disband after 1 wipe.Also,keep an eye out for the typos

Spam 3:LFM ICC 10 11/12 link GS achiv plz
Chance of this being a succesful pug:1%.Why?
--->The advert says it all.Gear>Skill=Fail.And this advert doesnt have ANY effort put in it.This most likely means that the leader will put the same effort into the raid,and this raid will disband after 1 wipe,but the wipe wont be on LK,but on,say,Blood Princes

2.Convincing the leader to invite you
So,you chose your group?But how to convince the leader to invite you?Here are some things which will surely help:
--->NEVER EVER SAY "inv plz".This shows childish attitude,and will just lower the chances of getting in a good pug like "Spam 1".
--->ALWAYS link your achievements BEFORE gearscore.Skill>Gear.Always.It will also help if you link some past "skill" achievements,like GotUR,GotR,Insanity,Starcaller,Astral Walker etc(you get the point).
--->STUDY ALL TACTICS BEFORE JOINING THE PUG.Even if you dont have the achievement,a good in-depth tactic explanation will always make the leader happy(well,everybody had their first kill on the boss without having the achievement aye?),unless he is a complete retard,but then it's even better to not join this pug,because it will most likely fail

If you have followed all these instructions,you should be in an awesome PuG group now,killing all bosses without any problems.Happy pugging

Part II:Leading a PuG
So,you're not 2lazy2lead a pug?Or you just dont want to have the chance of getting into a failgroup or you havent seen a good one yet?Then this guide is just for you.Here i will cover almost everything a PuG leader should know when leading a pug:

1.Spamming in trade
DONT SPAM LIKE MAD IN TRADE.A SERIOUS LEADER WILL NEVER SPAM LIKE A MOFO

So,you want to make an advert?But you want to lure serious people aye?Then follow these instructions:
--->Dont make ANY typos in the advert,DONT use "plz"-like worlds,dont use 13375p33k.They will just force the good players to not join you.
--->NEVER request a minimum amount of GS.If the player has the achievement,then he has done it(exeptions are the "boosted" cases,but a quick inspect/armory always does the trick aye?)and clearly HAS the gear for it.
--->ALWAYS look for PATIENT people.Patience is the key to success.Include this in the advert,you might also put a DND saying "Raid lasts from X to Y.If you are planning to leave for any reasons,please DONT JOIN"

A good example spam:
LFM ICC 10.Clearing 11/12 and going to slay LK.Requirements:11/12 experience,knowledge of the LK fight,patience and dedication.Link me your achievement,class,spec,GS* and come dalaran middle for inspect.Vent is required
*GS is like most things:it's a good thing in a good player's hands and a bad tool in a bad player's hands.It is useful ,because it can give you a quick info about the player's gear,but if you are using it for e-peen purposes or overgearing purposes,then it's fail

A bad example spam:
LFM ICC 10 11/12 link GS achiv plz

2.Sorting out the whispers
God job,you made your trade spam,but now you are getting whispers.But how to see which ones are good and which are failers?Here are some tips:
--->Whispers including "inv plz".These whispers are beyond fail.Just ignore them,will make your life easier.
--->Whispers containing only GS,but no achievements,class,spec or whatever(and they dont whisper it after).There are mostly fail.Ask them for the 11/12 achievement,but they will most likely have just 4/12
--->Whispers like this "XXXX GS,know tact,no achi" are treated in another way.DONT IGNORE THEM.IF the player is serious,he/she will know the tacts by heart already.But mos of these whiesper ARE fail(sadly).To see this,just ask them a simple question about,say,LK tactic(What is defile and how to avoid?What is a Vile Spirit and how to deal with it?).If they can answer this QUICK(yes,QUICK,because everyone can alt+tab,wowwiki.com,copy+paste),then you can get them as long as they have the gear(4k GS is clearly not for LK 10-man)

Some example whispers/dialogues:

Good whisper:
MM Hunter [Fall of the Lich King 10-man] (OPTIONAL [Rusted Proto-Drake] or anything that takes skill) (OPTIONAL Gearscore)

Not-so-good whisper:
MM hunt [FotLK 10-man] XXXX GS inv plz m8

Fail whisper:
Hunt XXXX GS inv plz

Good tactic dialogue:
A:Hunt XXXX GS,know tactics,no ach
B:What is Defile and how to avoid?
Aefile is a black voidzone,spawing under someone's feet in LK P2 and P3,it grows bigger the longer you stand in it

Fail tactic dialogue:
A:Hunt XXXX GS,know tact no ach
B:What is Defile and how to avoid?
A:Soz i forgot can u remind me plz?

Fail dialogue N2:
A:Hunt XXXX GS,know tact no ach
B:What is Defile and how to avoid?
A:LOL u n00b there is always wowwiki.com i can go read

3.Leading the raid
Gratz,you have gathered your people
Now comes the hard part - leading the raid.Leading is easy,GOOD leading is not.Here are some tips:
--->ALWAYS give a QUICK explain of the tactic before more complicated bosses(Sindra,Princes etc),it will surely help
--->Before entering,tell the people AGAIN in /rw "Raid is from X to Y,if you are planning to leave at any point LEAVE NOW" (you can spam this a couple times incase someone was AFK)
--->Do an in-depth explanation of the loot rules BEFORE THE FIRST PULL
--->After a wipe(well,even Ensidia wipes -.- ),dont start nerdraging "LOL U n00bs l2play FFS U SUCK".Instead,explain the failers what they did wrong,and if they have a brain,they will take your advice,and wont fail next time.
--->Stop drama before it has started(or in the early stages).Even if that means spamming in /rw "STFU ALL AND FOCUS,WE GET IT NOW".If drama starts to go on,there will be leavers for sure,and you dont want this aye?
--->While doing bosses like LK,Sindra etc,call all the important things on VENT("Valkyr in 5 secs,get to the middle","Defile in 5,spread out fast").It will help for sure if someone was too lazy to watch their DBM timers

If you have followed these basic things,now you should be a proud leader of a Kingslayer pug.Happy pugging

[Deleted]

bookmarked this. realy good guide thank you

[Wayton]

Nice guide.

Will help me whenever i have to pug a ICC10 or something if i missed a guild run.

[Pokemaster]

GS=fail, I just require spec and I check trackwarcraft.com and armory, VT is quite obvious

[Ynna]

Wall of text crits...

It's not a wall of text, and even if it was one, it would be a very well written one.

I approve.

[Ormula]

GS=fail, I just require spec and I check trackwarcraft.com and armory, VT is quite obvious

There's no difference between WoW-heroes and WoWarmory, except for the fact that wowheroes is faster and gives a good overview of what content they've cleared, and how many times. :|

[skiiwee29]

Overall, an excellent guide for the average casual player to follow! Hats off to you.

[Greyarea]

very handy guide that's all the obvious things that people should know...but sadly fail to do so.

Good job! Maybe I will have less 'inv plz?!?!?!!?' requests when I forum up pugs for off nights or for fun.

Least one can hope....