Project Lore

Each time a new Vault of Archavon boss is added, it seems that a PUG's chances of actually completing a full run decrease more and more.

VoA, when you're in a situation like mine in that your faction rarely holds Wintergrasp, can be a tough raid to pre-plan. Once you hold Wintergrasp, your regular 10- or 25-man groups likely aren't entirely on, and other guildies may already be saved to the raid. But those two Emblems of Frost for each kill of Toravon are precious loot that you don't want to pass up; usually, the situation calls for a PUG.

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When good PUGs go bad. Up until recently, my participation in pick-up group (PUG) raids has been non-existent. However, I recently changed my death knight's spec to Blood to take advantage of the vast amounts of armor penetration (ArP) found on the gear in Ulduar. I was an Unholy death knight previously and cared little for ArP, but as Blood some of the items I passed up when we did Naxxramas and Malygos are suddenly huge upgrades. My guild exclusively raids heroic Ulduar at this point, so if I want to get my hands on items like Grim Toll or Melancholy Sabatons, I need to join PUGs. So over the past few weeks I've joined probably around a half dozen PUGs. While none of the PUGs I joined were disastrous, they certainly left much to be desired. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the top five people to /boggle at that I met through my recent pugging endeavors. #5 The Undergeared Complainer During one of my heroic Naxxramas PUGs, one of the women in the raid kept keying into vent to talk about all of the loot upgrades she needed. Every time we downed a boss, she would be very vocal about what item she wanted and would swear over vent when she lost the rolls. After losing her second roll she spoke over vent and complained that she couldn't believe people were rolling on these items when they already had purples equipped. That's when I inspected her. She was mostly in greens and a few blues. Her gear was so bad that the 24 other people in the raid were literally carrying her through the instance. She still had the gall to complain about other people rolling on gear. I believe I watched her lose every item she rolled on that night. Karmarific! #4 The Worst Ninja You knew there had to be a ninja story in here somewhere right? Well this one still has me baffled. A priest in our Naxxramas pug rolled need on an epic trash drop. It was bind on pick-up and it was a leather item, which of course a priest cannot equip. We asked him if he rolled need on accident and without a reply, he dropped offline and logged out of vent. He never returned. So this was either an accident or he is the world's worst ninja. If he meant to do it, what did he gain? He can't equip it and he can't give it to another player. At best he was an enchanter and could get a shard out of the gear. Otherwise, he can sell it to a vendor? What a score that was! More than likely, it was an honest mistake, which is fine. He should have, however, admitted it and then he could have put in a ticket to have the item transferred to someone who could use it. #3 The Backseat Raid Leader This is the guy who isn't leading the raid, but wants to be. It started off innocently enough. He was a hunter and used vent to coordinate misdirects with the other hunters. Fine. Slowly he started telling people where to stand and how his guild usually does this boss. The raid leader didn't stop him and by the end of the raid he was talking almost non-stop on vent, giving people advice about bosses we've all been killing for over half of a year. The part that really got on my nerves was he used the term "skaters" and "skating" when I believe most of the MMO population calls it "kiters" and "kiting". #2 The DPS Diva I was in a PUG in the Vault and we were about to face Emalon. Right before the pull, one of the warlocks interrupts the raid leader on vent and states that he needs someone assigned to help him mitigate his threat. He then goes on to explain that his DPS and threat are so high that even after he soul shatters he needs a paladin to cast salvation on him. He asks the raid leader which paladin will be assigned to him. Everyone was in shock. I couldn't believe someone would make 24 other people wait for this self-serving ego stroking session. So I sat up straight, moved my drink and snacks away from my playing area and put all of my focus on the encounter. I beat the diva in damage done and DPS for the fight. "IN THE FACE! IN THE FACE!" #1 The Lying Leader So as I mentioned earlier, one of the items I'm trying to procure in these PUGs is the Grim Toll trinket, which drops off of four different bosses in heroic Naxxramas. That's the only item I need in the entire instance and the sole reason for me to raid there. I joined a PUG with one of my guildmates and away we went. The loot rules were laid out to us in advance and they seemed very standard. Then my heart skipped a beat as the raid leader said something about wanting the Grim Toll. I got nervous and before getting saved to the instance I sent him a whisper. I asked him if the Grim Toll was reserved for someone or would we all be allowed to roll on it equally. He replied that everyone who could use it would be allowed to roll. Satisfied I zoned in and we began killing bosses. We got to Maexxna and sure enough, she dropped the Grim Toll. The raid leader asked everyone to roll and after losing says over vent that he's wanted that trinket for a long time and was going to take it for himself. Now I had lost the roll to someone else anyway, so that softened the blow a bit, but he downright lied to me. I was really angry. I told some of my guild members what had just happened and they all told me I should drop the raid. The issue was, I was already saved to his instance now and the trinket did have a chance of dropping off three other bosses. So it was either drop and have no chance at the trinket or stay and pray. So I stayed. Well a few bosses later, the raid leader cheated my guildmate out of a piece of loot that she had won fair and square. He altered the loot rules that he posted in chat at the beginning of the raid. Shortly after, I left the raid. I shouldn't be shocked. I know that kind of stuff happens all of the time. I guess I'm just used to raiding in the safety of a mature guild where everyone is happy when anyone in the guild receives a piece of loot. I can't stand liars and cheaters and that raid leader was both. Well in any case, I'm still searching for my Grim Toll and Melancholy Sabatons. Do you have any horror stories to share from your PUGs? Have you met any strange or amusing players that you would like to add to my list?

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When I said that SolidSamm's guild "canceled raiding for the foreseeable future" I knew it wasn't going to last long.  For starters, the GM has been a big PvEer since EverQuest, and many of the officers and other members have been with him since then.  Two of the members outside of that group are formerly from a hardcore guild - where they met the current GM - who still take the game very seriously, but can no longer dedicate the same amount of time.  Thus, they never lost their itch to dominate content, just the time required to do so.  Lastly, the Heroic Wednesday event that I initiated has been quite a success in its short life, with numerous dungeons being run on the formerly inactive day.  The indications were obvious that the Warriors were ready to head back into Naxxramas, so we gathered up the troops and dominated Kel'Thuzad's stronghold in record time. Actually, that is a lie.  We failed.  Epically.  The Warriors of Faith wiped for hours, downing a single boss - Anub'Rekan - over the course of a night.  Yes, yes, it certainly sounds pathetic but the repair bills are forgiven because we attempted to move up to the big leagues, Heroic Naxxramas.  Hey, even Ghostcrawler said 25-man Naxx is "too easy to pug", we just wanted to test out his statements. Our little guild barely has enough raiding ready level 80s in its entirety to fill a full raid, so we had to flesh out the ranks with non-guilded friends and a handful of random players.  Where does the blame for the collection of graveyard runs go?  On everyone.  We allowed pugged players with terrible gear and little knowledge in the raid, we had our own members with inadequate gear, and we even failed to research the subtle differences in 10-man, 25-man and 40-man encounters.  I ended the night with something along the lines of a 110 gold repair bill. Am I upset, annoyed or angry at our failures?  Not at all, we tried something a bit different and difficulties are to be expected.  Heck, there is actually an upside to what didn't go down.  A few of the PUGs joined the guild and have already begun to gear their toons at last night's Heroic Wednesday run.  How those went?  Well, that is a story for another day.  I just hope that our morale stays high and these new members stick around for the long run.  After all, if tonight's second attempt at Heroic Naxxramas doesn't go a bit better, members may just disappear until Ulduar.  But I don't believe our core members expect instant gratification or to be carried through. As masochistic as this may sound, I absolutely love these times in a guild.  Despite the numerous setbacks we are sure to face, they help weed out the weak players or those who are just in it for the good times (read free loot).  They push players to the edge, getting them to eek out every bit of DPS, mana or threat-per-second their class can muster.  They breed competition, creativity, interesting discussions and strategies.  From these difficult times comes good, long-lasting members and friends.  And when there's finally that taste of success, it becomes that much sweeter.  It's the digital equivalent of being in the trenches - just without the trench foot, machine guns, mustard gas, shell shock and death.  See, just like it.

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One of the perils of doing anything publicly is the risk of being labeled "Stupid". Ignorance we can handle, stupidity not so much. Is there a difference? You bet. Ignorance is the absence of knowledge. How do rogues do an attack rotation? We have no idea; we're ignorant about rogue-mechanics. Stupidity is acting in a manner inconsistent with known facts. We know not to pull aggro from our main tank. If we were to start firing before the main tank has established aggro, we'd be acting stupidly. There is a fine line between ignorance and stupidity and that's "Unconventional". A hunter who melees because he knows no other way is Ignorant. A hunter who knows the proper method of playing a hunter who chooses to melee his way while leveling is Unconventional. So also would be a player who eschews killing mobs while leveling -- known as pacifist-leveling -- or someone who refuses to wear gear while leveling, just for the challenge of doing it. Being unconventional is fine, as long as you don't affect other people without their knowledge and consent. For example, it is known by most hunters that bringing a level seventy-five pet to a heroic instance will be gimping his own damage-output. It is also well known that the fastest way to level a hunter-pet from seventy-five to eighty is in heroic instances. A single heroic Violet Hold will usually give a pet almost an entire level. Bringing a level seventy-five pet to a heroic with the goal of leveling it quickly, but seeking the permission of the rest of the raid before the raid starts, is Unconventional. Bringing a level seventy-five pet to a heroic because you didn't know there are level seventy-nine pets available for immediate taming is Ignorant. Bringing a level seventy-five pet to a heroic and without caring about the feelings of the rest of the raid is Stupid. Personally, we are ignorant about just about everything there is to know about tanking and healing. When we bellow at our tank, "Make more threat!" we are very fortunate she doesn't yell back, "Why don't you, in your infinite wisdom, tell me just how you expect me to accomplish that!" Because if she did, we'd stammer and stutter and exclaim, "Just... you know, get it angry. Hit it, whatever, right? Threat! Do it!" And she'd reach through the Internet and squash us for our ignorance. However we are not stupid, and we know that regardless of how the tank is generating threat, it is our responsibility to not pull aggro from the main tank. Our ignorance of tanking-mechanics can be compensated with our knowledge of hunter-mechanics. How do we compensate for a tank not generating as much threat as we'd like? * Cast Misdirection at every opportunity. * Feign Death before we overtake the tank on the mob's threat list. * Just chill out and decrease our DPS until the tank has a solid threat-lead. If we were to refuse to Misdirect, Feign Death, and reduce our DPS when the tank is having difficulties maintaining aggro, we would not be "teaching the tank a lesson" by intentionally pulling aggro. No, we'd be Stupid. Eliminating ignorance requires two people: an apt teacher and a willing student. Eliminating stupidity is the job of just one person: the stupid one. You can encourage, enlighten, educate, and cajole a person towards not being stupid, but ultimately, it's his decision. But what else can you do? You can learn to differentiate between ignorance and stupidity yourself and react accordingly. Your PUG is having a hard time in Culling of Stratholme because the priest keeps running ahead of the party? Remind him that the paladin tank makes a wonderful Undead battering ram. Teach the priest that standing on top of, or slightly behind, the paladin tank will basically guarantee the priest's survival. If the priest adjusts his tactics appropriately, you'll have eliminated a little ignorance from the game and probably ensured the success of your run. But if the priest says nothing and keeps running amok, you'll know that you're dealing with Stupid and it's time to abandon-party. Ignorance, stupidity, and unconventionality are big parts of Warcraft. Learning to modify your behavior when confronting these characteristics is key to your progression and fun in the game, (and in real life too).

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Have you ever been in a group or pug that you thought was going in one direction and went the complete opposite? I mean, you thought you were going to do The Violet Hold so you could finally get the chance to complete Lockdown to get one step closer to your new Red Proto-Drake, but 10 minutes into summoning they decide that Utgarde Keep is easier to do for badges because the tank isn't defense capped just yet. This sort of indecision, lack of focus and disregard to certain members almost guarantees that I will leave the group immediately and go do dailies. And I have found out that doing just that is perfectly fine no matter what anyone one spams at you in chat. Let's face it, in WoW there are a few people, regardless of actual age, that are... well.. how should I say this... big cry babies who piss and moan when they do not get their way. That's fine by me. They can go their own way and I can go mine. I truly do not care if someone spams me that I am a traitor for leaving a pug or that I was now put on some list by them because I didn't finish a Heroic when everyone in that pug knew the tank couldn't hold aggro in a two-ton bucket. That is what /ignore is for. And the same thing goes for some guilds I have been in. Years ago, I was in a guild that felt that every member had to help every other member, not on a voluntary basis or when available, but right now, no matter what it was that had to be done by whichever member. Around the same time, I saw a guild advertising on their web site that in order to move up the ranks, you had to drop whatever your were doing at a moments notice while soloing to come the the aid of a guildie even if it was just the GM's lowbie alt that couldn't down Hogger. Now for some that is fine, and if that's you or someone you know or even if that's your guild now, great. You go your way I'll go mine. I have no animosity toward you not should you have any against me. It's just what you do or want me to do is not something I want to do or a way that I want to play. Everyone has a right to play the game how that want in the way they want at whatever time or frequency that they want. As for me, I will go my own way, and as far as being in a guild, if that includes hanging out with mature respectful people taking down end-game content on a daily basis, I'm in. And as you probably guessed, in RL you can go your own way too. If you want to be a florist, flautist, or philanthropist, be me guest. Better yet, be your own guest. It is your life - don't make a pug out of it. Go your own way and find people who are cool and hang with them. And always, /ignore those QQ peeps who want to pee on your parade. What do they know? So if you've ever gone your own way and it worked out better than you ever imagined, let us know. Your story can help others, and maybe you'll help give someone the confidence to go their own way. Thanks and have fun.

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I first recall hearing about the Faceless Ones – in World of Warcraft - around the time of Ahn'Qiraj and its faction's leader, C'Thun. While I can not recall why they came up in this context exactly, I assume it was because of the link between Forgotten Ones leading the Faceless Ones. No, C'thun isn't a Forgotten One, he is an Old God, but he looks a lot like the Forgotten Ones from Warcraft 3. Anyways, today isn't a day to dive into their lore, mainly because the topic could take more than a day to cover! Instead, I want to talk about my first interaction with the Faceless Ones via WoW.

While grinding my way to level 80 I skipped over one instance for some time, Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom. I wasn't dodging Herald Volazj or anything like that.  In fact, I much wanted to meet the oddly proportioned end boss, but I could just never get a group going, PUG or otherwise. Finally, many levels over the suggested range and at a time when I logged in to “play for 30 minutes,” I got invited to a party for OK and couldn't refuse. The fact of the matter is that after killing members of the Lich King's Scourge, decimating any spider mob is on the top of my list. I hate spiders, but I love their fangs and femurs.

The following contains ***SPOILERS*** for boss encounters. You have been warned.

The instance is pretty standard fare, feeling much like the earlier Azjol-Nerub. After replacing the tank due to a few bad pulls early on, we breezed through the cobwebbed corridors and on to meet the Faceless Ones and their leader, Herald Volazj. The fight is tank-and-spank with a substantial twist at 66 and 33 percent. At those designated intervals, Volazj will cast a debuff across the whole party. The debuff is quite frankly best one since Vaelastraz in Blackwing Lair, and possibly the best ever.

For the lore nuts, this gives us another link to the use of insanity and C'Thun for the Lovecraft connection.  Although I may be stretching it there since the evil eye is not a Forgotten One.

The spell makes use of the phasing design, showing each party member a slightly different scene. Each player's view has the rest of their party turn on them, playing their previous roles only now you are the target. Before you can get back to the boss fight (or help the slower DPSers) you must dispatch the shades of your friends.

***SPOILER OVER***

The encounter's design saved the instance from being run of the mill.  Launching it ahead of the insanely short Azjol-Nerub and into the realm of fun instances, if only for the gimmick. If you haven't been there already, be sure to hit it up as soon as possible, it is another aspect in WoW that everyone should experience.

Personally, I think the guys are going to go nuts when they finally get to The Old Kingdom. Hopefully someone is new to the instance when they film it so we can see the raw reaction.

Past that, lets get some more Faceless Ones in WoW now that we have opened up the Nerubian empire. I do hear there are some in Icecrown's lands, hopefully they come with some solid lore to boot.

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I accomplished two different tasks at the same time this weekend. First and foremost, I put my new Mutilate build to the test in an actual raid setting. That is assuming one believes Karazhan, post Patch 3.0.2 nerf, can be called a raid.   I enjoyed the new build, and it performed nicely, managed to take second in overall DPS.  Thus, I will be sticking with it for the foreseeable future. Along with that accomplishment came the second achievement, tackling the Invasion boss, Tenris Mirkblood.

New content is always a good thing, such as the recently closed Hallow's End, but new bosses are even better. Headless Horseman is cool and all, but a tad last year. I managed to get a PUG together for Karazhan just a few days before Mirkblood and his sect of Lich King worshiping elves disappear. Seeing as it was a PUG, it wasn't all fun and games. I brought along my Refer-a-Friend partner, a Resto Druid that hit 70 just a few hours before, and even a Mage who hit 70 not even 20 minutes before zoning in. With all these undergeared players you'd think we would have wiped a lot. Thankfully, we didn't.  On the flip side we did get hit with crappy overall DPS, causing the raid to take nearly four hours.

Our first attempt at Tenris was a messy one. The tank didn't realize that opening the door would pull him, causing the fight to start with most of the players still getting mana, and myself still going over the strategy. Although we were completely unprepared we managed to bring him close to 50% before the off tank backed into some of the hall mobs we hadn't cleared. The second attempt was much worse, thanks to a Warrior who was leaving the raid, pulling

the half-blood prince to cause us to wipe a second time. The joy of PUGing.

Finally, attempt three we decided to do things right. We went with the common strategy of kiting Tenris around the ring, as myself and the green-geared Mage screamed at people to stop DPS on Blood Mirror. A few trips around the hallway and he was dead, with no deaths to Blood Mirror or the Sanguine Spirit's explosion. The use of Blood Mirror especially touched me because I loved Spirit Walkers in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, which have essentially the same ability. The Demonology Warlocks out there should be appreciative, and jealous of it, because Tenris' visual effect is much cooler. All in all, I enjoyed the encounter as a whole, its design, the lore and the link into the Scourge Invasion. Just wish I could wield the Arcanite Ripper...

Now if only Blizzard would confirm that Tenris is indeed a nod to Harry Potter.

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Oh how I hate puggin'. Pick-up Groups (PUGs) in World of Warcraft are so freakin' random. I have had PUG groups that destroyed Heroic Shattered Halls in 41 min and I've have the unfortunate experience of PUGs wiping multiple times on the first Boss in normal Ramparts. Normal Ramparts! And most of them were level 65+. AHHHHHHH!!!! What to do... what to do... Join a guild is a good option... but sometimes that falls apart. People may not be on at the same time. Or people may not want to do that quest your on. Or what-the-freak-ever reason they have for not helpin' a guildie. And the other thing is that when they do decide to help out, sometimes the people are good and other times they just say that they are good. Mostly the second. Unless it's a group that's developed together over time. Then at least everyone sucks at the same level. I was very fortunate to be in a great cohesive guild for quite some time (Midnight Run, Frostmane thank you very much ) but that fell apart in the space of a weekend 'cuz a few jackasses screwed it up for everyone (that and some other stuff but that's a different blog...). But with that group now fractured beyond recognition, I'm looking for another guild that raids late server time, that knows what they are doing and likes to kill bosses instead of bitch about who got what purple three weeks ago. But back to my point. PUGs generally suck. Seriously. But what do we do about it? I know I know my class and it's responsibilities in a raid or an instance. I know I have the gear and experience in doing serious DPS and CC (Damage Per Second and Crowd Control). I also know what other classes are supposed to do and what spec they should be to do it. So I know what I'm looking for when I try and find a PUG. What I don't know is if some moron is going to go all emo (emotional) when someone else doesn't do their job or if someone who says they know how to hold threat couldn't hold a bucket of water without a forklift and two friends helping. I know we all need to get experience and learn boss strats (one of the reasons I'm helping produce Project Lore), but for heaven's sake - please be conservative in telling people how good you are when looking for a PUG. Be honest just don't tell me your the best lock in the game when you don't know when to use seed of corruption or when to enslave (Kara PUGs come to mind...). BOTTOM LINE: If you are looking to be in a PUG, be kind, be honest and don't be a freakin' moron that goes all emo at losing a greed roll on a stupid mail chest piece you'll never, ever freakin' wear. And if you do go all emo, I will forever ignore you.

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