It was a holiday yesterday up here in the North, and I decided to take the day and see how far I could get my beloved Paladin. He was all set with his Charger at level 61, ready to head to Northrend to slay demons and red Orcs.
After about 10 hours of playing yesterday, I managed to go from 61 to 64. That’s practically halfway done Outlands! In a day! Hah!
I even picked up dual specs, he’s my very first character to specialize. I made up a prot spec for his secondary talents and tried to learn what it’s like to tank as a paladin. I haven’t had a chance to try yet, but I’m looking forward to it.
I did want to try some instancing though. So I jumped into LFG while questing, and hoped for the best. I get a few “u healz?” whispers, which I promptly answered no to. Then I got an invite.
Ramps PUG attempt #1: 2 Death Knights, a Rogue, a 64 feral Druid, and me (62 Ret/Prot).
Group Leader DK asks me if I’m a healer. I say no, I’m ret/prot. Druid pipes up and says she can heal, she is our most viable option for healing and doesn’t mind doing it even though it’s not her main spec. Sounds good to me! “Who’s tanking?” I ask. “I’m not, DUH, I’m BLOOD I don’t tank” says Group Leader DK (this is the same guy who insists on a ret paladin healing). I volunteer, since it’s my second spec. “Ghugh you are HEALING.” he says. /facepalm. The druid and I both say that she’s volunteered and is a better option to heal.
We run to the instance. We zone in, I Bless everyone. “OK so Ghugh you are healing let’s go” says Group Leader DK. I say, “Uhh… why me?”
You have been removed from the group.
…
OKAY! Well, it probably wouldn’t have gone well anyway. A little while later, I get another group invite
Ramps PUG Attempt #2: 3 Death Knights, a DPS Warrior and me.
“We need a healer” says DPS warrior. I tell them it’s not my spec, but I put my healing gear on and seem to heal effectively enough for a Ramps run, and the tank is 64 so that should help. We start running off towards Ramps. A couple of us fail to make a jump and end up splattered on the ground underneath Ramps. We all have a good laugh, blame Crusader Aura and start the run back to our bodies.
DK #1 has left the group.
DPS Warrior has left the group.
…
OKAY! Looks like we’re done here. Back to questing. I get a whisper from a healer. He invites me to a ramps group as DPS, says he has a tank already. That’s a good sign! We pull a group together quickly.
Ramps PUG Attempt #3: 1 Death Knight, 1 Feral Druid, 1 Holy Priest, 1 Elemental Shaman and me.
We made it into the instance. This is a good sign. We pull the first group – this is the furthest any of my PUGs have gotten. Good sign!
We make it through the run with no Deaths. Huzzah! Success! I can’t say it was a perfect run, but it was something. We all agree to go again. This is where the problems started. I believe the healer and tank began to get a bit cocky. “Just chain pull” says the level 59 healer. “Just pull the entire room” hears the 61 DK tank.
I started noticing a strange behavior. The DK was just… standing there. Tanking. He used some abilities, but he was NOT auto-attacking. I target his target – it seems he’s always got whatever mob is BEHIND him targeted. Man, DKs must be so easy to play if you can tank without even facing your target! Things got worse and worse – after a wipe, he pulls before the healer is even into the zone. He pulls when no one has mana. He facepulls and lets the ele shaman and I try to pull the adds off of the healer.
We get to Nazan… make it through the Rider’s phase pretty smoothly, but then everyone forgets the “don’t stand in the flames” rule. Priest gos down, Shaman goes down, Druid goes down. It’s just me, the DK and the Dragon now. My eyes look towards the very close instance exit and I contemplate making a run for it. But no – I’m at nearly full health and mana, I can do this! Holy Light! Judgement of Wisdom! Holy Light! Judgement of Wisdom! Luckily I’m regenning enough mana with my Judgements to afford my big heals. It’s a long fight, but we take him down. Just the two of us.
Ramps PUG Attempt #3: SUCCESS!
Today’s lesson:
There is an inverse correlation between the number of Death Knights in a PUG and the success of the PUG.