Another Day – Another Failed Pug Run

The following post is nearly 88% true.

Ugh. Last night was a particularly miserable run. I believe I’m actually starting to understand how some of the “less-informed” players of WoW think. The random heroic brought up the Pit of Saron instance. Ok, not too difficult. Of course, this is assuming that the people you are with know boss fights, know how threat works, know class mechanics, etc. Oh, how ignorance is pure bliss! Actually, ignorance is more like drinking just a bit too much alcohol – the initial effect is pleasing, but the aftereffects are just a really bad headache. I would have thought that, if very few in a group don’t understand a particular boss fight, or maybe they don’t understand the mechanics of some of the more challenging “trash” mobs, those individuals should, at the least, start to learn those things through trial and error. Hell, I’m even willing to sit and type out as best as I can a detailed explanation of the fight – no matter how long it would take. But, as was the case in the heroic Pit of Saron last night, it’s more like trial and keep-making-the-same errors will be the standard one should come to expect from bad pugs.

So, let me just point out that what I’ve learned has been though extensive field study. More research will be needed to confirm my findings, but I may be able to explain some of the more mysterious, bizarre behavior exhibited by pugs. What I’ve learned can be best described as a sequence. This process is a series of steps that many pugs experience when attempting a challenging instance. Starting with the first reaction, I’ll demonstrate the process that many pugs follow from first entering the LFG dungeon finder right up to the point when a pug leaves the party. First, whenever a well-geared tank leads a group through a challenging instance, pugs can become very insecure, particularly if that tank can match or outperform a pug’s dps. When faced with this performance, pugs will often lash out at anything they feel they can take one-on-one – which can be practically anything that happens to be hostile to the pug or to other party members. This is known as the “Dps E-peen effect” wherein a pug sees his/her dps lower than or matched by the tank, and thinks to himself/herself, “Oh noes! My deeps isn’t the highest in group! I must attack something else and unleash my rawr to raise it! I MUST!” This is a common trait among most anthropoids but it can lead to behavior that is harmful to the pug.

To address this, most team leaders will resort to marking targets to identify a specific “kill order” to help prevent pugs from pulling threat and possibly killing themselves. My studies have shown that this will do no good at all. The reasons for this aren’t too complex but a quick, simplified answer will be the immediate thought the pug will have once marks are introduced, “A skull! That means that it’s important! I must avoid hitting skull and probably ‘X’ so that I don’t get one-shotted and my deeps goes down! Therefore, I must hit anything that isn’t marked! I MUST!” The correct term for this is the “Unknown kill order” reaction. This is normal, and indeed, should be expected by group leaders.

A natural response by most group leaders would be to try to explain the concept of threat buildup and management. The intricacies of threat and dps will most likely be alien to the pug. One should expect statements from pugs such as, “Omen Threat Meter? Will that help my deeps?” This is known as the “Manage your threat” response and is indigenous to all competent group leaders. Despite their best efforts, even the best group leader or tank will often have difficulty helping pugs understand threat, and how not-managing it can lead to premature character death. Premature character death or PCD is a common problem among pugs. But there are resources available that can help. It’s at this point where the pug’s insecurities can become a real issue socially. This is usually the point that will make or break a pug. Pugs that are capable of learning will begin to demonstrate traits that show responsible behavior such as: keeping threat below the tank’s level, avoiding threat-building AoE abilities, and waiting patiently for a tank to generate enough threat before using hard-hitting abilities that can cause major threat buildup. Other, less-skilled pugs will continue down the process this article is describing.

The next step in that process is defined as the “Berate your teammates” action. This is where the uninformed, and un-teachable, pug lashes out again, only this time towards his/her teammates. Statements such as, “L2tank noob” and “Noob healer Y didnt U heal me” are so common during this action that one could argue that it’s deemed mandatory by the pug. Please note that the contraction in the latter statement may not be available to some pugs and the statement would be revised as, “Noob healer Y U not heal me.” It’s theorized that the pug may not even realize what he/she is saying at this point. Perhaps this is instinctual behavior. It is usually at this point that the pug will often quickly progress through the final phases in this overall process.

The “Acceptance” phase is the point where a team leader will realize and accept that the pug is beyond help. No amount of explanation, regardless of how simple the process was kept, will help the pug understand the problems he/she is facing. Additionally, it is at this point that the pug is more properly referred to as “fail pug.” This is a more accurate description of the individual’s abilities. The following “Separate” and “Search” phase can be described as two phases but in application can appear concurrently. It is the point in this process where separation occurs from either the pug(s) removing themselves from the group, or more commonly, the group removes the pug themselves, followed immediately by the searching phase. The searching can have a double meaning; one description for the pug and another description for the group. The group begins their search for a suitable replacement for the recently removed pug and the pug begins his/her search for another group, and starts this process over again.

The overall process is as follows:

1. Deeps e-peen effect
2. Unknown kill order reaction
3. Manage you threat response
4. Berate your teammates action
5. Acceptance of pug failure aftermath
6. Separate fail pug from group reflex
7. Search for new pug outcome

While this process is still being studied, it may ultimately lead to a better understanding of pug thought processes and behaviors. Again, more field study may be required and this process may become a “living” document. That is, the steps shown might not be absolute. Careful study could prove to show that each step is fluid and may lead to other steps not yet known. To help better understand this process, we can label it with an acronym that would best describe it to others. Let’s call the process – D.U.M.B.A.S.S. It is hoped that this article will be beneficial to all pugs interested in improvement as well as a benefit to all fledgling tanks or group leaders. Once one understands D.U.M.B.A.S.S. one will surely understand fail pugs. Hopefully, understanding D.U.M.B.A.S.S will give novice and maybe even experienced group leaders some ideas or techniques in handling fail pugs in future instances. Thank you.

Ok, yeah. I know I probably seem like some elitist. And I know all pugs are not that bad. This is just another attempt at some creative writing. Well, writing made to look a bit scientific. Hope you enjoyed. :-P

BB