My First 25 Man Naxx PUG
Before I even get started describing my first 25 Man Naxxramas PUG I want to make it perfectly clear that what you are about to read is a horror story. This was a total disaster on every level and I know, I know that I should be in a guild if I want to seriously see this kind of content. Now getting that out of the way I can move on to the play-by-play of this PUG super disaster.
On Monday night there are usually players, who haven’t gotten into their weekly Raids yet, scrambling to form PUGs. This is generally when, at best, I hop into a 10 or 25 Man Obsidian Sanctum run but for some reason this time I went looking for some Naxx action. What a mistake.
I got a /whisper immediately after marking myself as available for 25 Man Naxx in the LFG panel. I accepted the invite and thus began what I like to call the “PUG Dance.” For the next hour and fifteen minutes, people joined the group. Then left the group. Then joined on their alt. Then found out they were saved (How could you forget that??) and left the group. Then a healer disconnected. And so on and so on.
Eventually we were at 24 people and it seemed like there was light at the end of the tunnel. Then the Raid Leader disconnected. The new leader was one in title alone and we sat idle for five minutes waiting for the original leader to return. He never did but apparently to honor him we never kicked him out of the group. The new Raid Leader was in a “really big hurry” so he convinced most of the group to go in and get started with a group that had only 21 people.
Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Naxx in PUG form at least a three hour event? How much of a hurry can you be in then? At this point I was about to leave the group myself but things were shaping up to make an excellent post for the blog so I stuck it out. When we got inside the Raid Leader asked who the healers were and we only had two inside with us. That’s not good at all but he pushed ahead to the Arachnid Quarter and started taking on trash.
People were dying left and right on the first pull. Nothing was getting marked and it was utter chaos. We pushed ahead to Anub’Rekhan with a new healer joining us just in time for the fight. As someone in the PUG explained the encounter to those of us who hadn’t seen it before the Raid Leader kept screaming that we had to “hurry up” and eventually, seeing that this wasn’t going to work out, the informative bunch gave in and we attacked.
I think the whole thing lasted about 30 seconds. Before I knew it half the Raid was dead and those tiny corpse bugs were everywhere. I threw my virtual hands in the air, met my demise and immediately left the group along with everyone else.
I’d love to try Naxx again some time but I think I’d probably be better off trying a 10 Man PUG instead. The amount of organization required for twenty-five random strangers to come together and complete a task as long and, presumably, complicated as Naxx is probably a bit much. Running Obsidian Sanctum is much easier to PUG so I’ll definitely continue to make runs at that as I try to stock up on Emblems of Valor as much as I can.
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6 Comments
Nance on March 12th, 2009
Good advice. Thanks for the comment.
I forget to mention how poorly some of the folks in this PUG were geared. I saw a lot of blues and greens for sure.
Korixys on March 12th, 2009
You should not be in any Raid still wearing Greens LoL.
BTW, today was my first time to your blog. Have to say, its very well done. I’ll be checking it out more frequently :)
Nance on March 12th, 2009
Yeah, well that’s just the kind of group it was. I remember my very first 5-man in Wrath I felt incredibly stupid still wearing most of my lvl 70 PvP set. Now I feel paranoid going into any group unless I know I’m overgeared or at least on par with the average.
Korixys on March 13th, 2009
As long as you run a decent amount of heroics at first, you should be able to gear yourself out in all blues and a few epics no problem. Don’t be paranoid, just be prepared.
Nance on March 13th, 2009
I think, by now, I’m more than geared for pretty much any Heroic or Raid at this point: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Greymane&n=Nance
But, obviously, that wasn’t always the case.
Korixys on March 12th, 2009
I’m sorry to hear this happen on ur first Pug into Naxx 25. I am in a very close knit social guild and I also have to pug all my raids. The key to successful pugging takes time and a little luck. First off you need to be prepared, gear wise, for the raid. Dont go looking for a Naxx 25 in all blues. Once you a sufficiently geared, your hit rating is capped, then you start to LFG. At this point you need to be selective. Ask the person whispering you, if this is mostly a guild run and how much of the raid makeup is their guild. What I got a lot of the time is “Beggars can’t be choosers”. Thats wrong, its your time that will be utilized for better or worse so dont be afraid to turn down a few pugs. Eventually you will find a decent pug, when you do, try your hardest and be polite. Eventually you will find a guild that enjoys running with you and they will invite you back on a regular basis. This works best if you start pugging 10 mans as you can stand out a bit more. Hope some of this helps. Oh and my friend IRL has a tendency for getting into every bad pug that forms. I keep telling him, that if warning flags start going up early bail. Dont waste your time.