WoW Dungeon Pick-Up-Group Etiquette

Since WoW patch 3.2 brought conquest gear within the realms of farm-ability, more and more people are relying on the so-called ‘pick-up-groups’ or PuGs to farm emblems of conquest and gear. Even Trial of the Crusader is apparently fair game for PuGs with many people not even raiding with a guild anymore. So with these random groups on the rise every day and more and more people succumbing to the dark side and raiding to their own schedule, it is no surprise that dungeon etiquette seems to be falling by the wayside in the process.

What is all this about Etiquette?

Many people are under the mistaken assumption that as long as they don’t try to ninja any gear from the group that they are being a good member of the group, but it is far from being this simple. There are many social rules to observe in dungeons and raids and although they are for the large part unspoken, breaking them can quickly earn you a bad reputation on any realm and can ruin the experience for the others in the group. A lot of these rules are simply a mixture of common sense and consideration for others and so they are not hard to observe.

Come Prepared

In a raiding guild this rule would normally be enforced strictly, but many people who join PuGs in World of Warcraft think they can get away with not using flasks, potions and even buff food and save themselves some gold. These people seem to forget that there is an important reason raiding guilds insist on people using all of these things. The simple truth is that Blizzard added them to the game to be used, and design encounters based on the idea that everyone present will be appropriately geared and using the correct choice of available buffs and occasional potions. A large part of the reason that PuGs often fail comes down to effort. People just don’t put in the effort and it starts here! If nobody in the raid used a flask or buff food, for example, the raid group’s effective DPS and healer’s mana pools will suffer, the tank’s health would be lower, and therefore the encounters would be harder. You may think it is only a small increase at a high price, but all those small increases add up, especially in a 25-man raid.

Respect the Dungeon/Raid Leader

The raid leader is the one who is expected to set the pace for the group at what they can handle, and is also usually the one who understands all the encounters they will be facing and who can devise a strategy for the current group to beat them with. This may not necessarily be the case in 5-man encounters where it is more common to simply assign the tank as leader for marking purposes, but in a raid usually only someone who understands the raid instance in question will try leading a group. The important thing to bear in mind here is this: if you don’t have faith in the person leading the raid then don’t join it! Assuming that you have joined a raid already and you have this prerequisite faith in the RL then you should follow their instructions without whining and moaning. If you think you know of a better strategy then by all means have a discussion about it if time allows, but don’t press the issue if the raid leader disagrees. The raid leader is already under enough pressure trying to make sure the group can clear the content, without arguing with people and lowering the raid’s morale on top.

A great way to gain respect of those playing with you is to have a highly leveled character and really know how to use it. You can gain this knowledge with a great guide, such as Joana's Horde Leveling Guide or Zygor's Guide. These are the two best guides out, bar none. If you have not checked in to either of them, you are really missing out.

Try to Lose your Ego

Nobody likes a narcissistic player, and one of the main culprits here will be DPS, although healers have fallen foul of this too. Whatever your class, nobody else in the raid cares that you are the best damage dealer, healer or tank this side of Azeroth. Everybody is there trying to play their role and contribute to the raid, and telling everyone how much you rock and they suck will only decrease the raid’s chances of success as everyone starts to feel bad about themselves. Some of the things to keep in mind include not spamming Recount or some other damage meter in raid/group chat, and not pointing it out if you are doing say 1-2K more DPS than someone else. If people care about their damage/healing output (which they should of course) then they will have a damage meter installed already and can see for themselves. If they see that they are lower than other people of equivalent gear, then it may just push them on to try and become better, but pointing it out and damaging their confidence will only hinder their play and hurt their feelings.