The Year of the PuG

I’ve noticed that in writing in my main WoW blog, the entries I enjoy putting together the most are the ones about the pick-up groups I run instances with. Sure, a lot of it is complaining and venting, but every now and again the group really comes together and works well all the way through an instance, and it’s very rewarding. I think the dynamics of pick-up groups are interesting, and when I’m not so hell-bent on the getting the particular tasks out of my quest log, I like observing how people interact with each other. I often re-run instances with different groups, just to see how things go.

So, I’ve been thinking that a fun writing project independent of my main blog would be to pug my way through as much of WoW as I can over the next year. I’ll become a regular in LFG, and even stick it out in the other chat channels to help myself find groups. I’ll be staying horde side for this experiment, of course. Also…

- I’ve created a new alt for the project and have not connected them to my guild. If anyone asks if I have an alt, for the time being I’m going to say no, that this is my main. Being associated with a guild means that you represent the guild, and so I often hold back in these group situations (especially when someone does something ridiculous). I also want to resist the temptation to run instances with guild folks also starting new alts. I want to fly totally solo for this experiment.

- I’ve chosen a DPS role so that I can pay more attention to what happens during the run. I’m not much into tanking, and I’ve noticed that when I’m the healer, 90% of the time, I’m just watching the health bars of those in the party. I’ll be a fire mage, stand in the back by the healer, and blast things.

- I opted for a race other than Blood Elf to minimize the “u r hawt” crap. I decided to go with a rather disturbing looking Forsaken. The skin on her face is pulled back to bare her teeth and gums in a grisly smile, she has straps across her face to hold her skull together, and she has a really wicked case of bedhead. I think she looks awesome.

- I don’t plan to take on a leadership role in any of the groups. Instead, I’ll see how leadership emerges amongst the other four, and keep my suggestions to a minimum. (If I know a good strategy to get us through a fight though, I won’t withhold it.)

- I won’t focus my play time on this character. This is a side project, and really meant as a writing project as much as another fun thing to do in WoW. I’m thinking I’ll run no more than one or two instances a week at first, and it will probably be more time in between later, as I’ll have to level more and gather more quests. Even so, a year should be more than enough time, I think.

In this blog, I’ll also be tallying:

- Total # instances run.

- Total # wipes.

- Total time spent with each pug.

- Total time spent with each pug actually inside the instance (my prediction is that it will be about half the previous number in the beginning of the project)

- Anything else I think of before I enter Ragefire Chasm.

For each group, for my personal notes, I’ll probably keep track of the names of the other folks in the group, but for the blog, I’ll just note the classes that participated. (I’ll need this for the narrative anyway.) If there are particular things that you think would be interesting to note, I’m open to suggestions.

So! The scary little fire mage has been created, and she is currently lurking around Tirisfal Glades. She’s level 7 now, and as soon as she gets to 13-14, she will start collecting the RFC quests, and begin this journey.