I recently finished running an 8-man normal EV with a majority of people that have never done it before. The real interesting part, even for me, was that I was able to lead the group through all the fights without relying on the use of voice chat.

 

Granted, I typed damn near a novel's amount of text describing the boss fights and mechanics. But I'm a touch typist so I was able to write out all the mechanics within a couple of minutes. It was to the point that it may have been better for me to write out boss fights than it is to tell them.

 

Just to give you a quick run-down of what happened for every fight:

 

Annihilation Droid XRR-3: In my opinion, the first boss encounter sets the vibe for the remainder of the session. If we wipe multiple times on the first boss, it usually indicates that it will be a long, long, possibly depressing operation. To my surprise, we one-shotted it! As a result, it gives us this invisible, virtual buff that improves the morale of all your players.

 

Gharj: We wiped at 1%. Not to be discouraged in any way, we proceeded to kill him the second try with great success.

 

The Ancient Pylons: I designated the healers (including myself) to manage the consoles. I let the guest healer go south and finish first while I was north and finishing second (to prevent bugging). The lack of a console debuff present in harder modes made the fight incredibly simple and we finished the puzzle in one try.

 

The Infernal Council: We had an off-tank that wasn't able to successfully defeat his boss. Thankfully, the team effort prevails and we were able to kill his boss and finish the fight on the second try.

 

Soa: Not only was this was an ordeal to explain (remember, I'm typing). We definitely wiped multiple times on this fight. We also saw some bugs such as Soa despawning and people falling to the ground from the air toss and being trapped while transitioning. I later threw in some additional rules for the PuG that I would typically just say out loud (~35% stop DPS if a person's in the air, off-tank taunts Soa when main tank is mind trapped). One new healer and about 7 tries later, we were able to defeat Soa!

 

Through this experience, I've also accomplished a lot of firsts, including:

 

1. Successfully completing an operation with a largely-composed PuG

2. Running a PuG without voice chat

3. First time healing in an operation

 

All in all I've had a great experience hosting a PuG operation. This whole thing only started simply because I asked "Would anyone be interested in pugging an EV normal mode?" I was actually surprised how many people whispered me wanting to do it. I'm glad that I was able to help people that are brand new to operations get a grasp of endgame PvE and wish more people would do the same for others.

 

TL;DR Host PuGs! People want to do them, and it's nice to have a person in charge (that could be you) that will lead them to victory. It also can be a very rewarding experience.

Edited March 18, 2012 by xGBox

I feel you man! Running a PUG for people who want to try it but have never had the chance is great. I wish they'd adjust lockouts- if I could I'd be happy to run more than 1 normal a week to help friends and newer 50's get a handle on it. Being in near full rakata myself, I'm sure not there for the loot.

 

Usually people think "PUG" and assume it's going to be a horrible mess of morons, but there are a ton of great players who just haven't gotten their feet wet in endgame PVE yet waiting to be found.

Gratz man, that's awesome. I wish that happened more often, but largely, its a guild affair.

Being a fairly small guild, we tend to fill in our raids with PuG's all the time.

 

We rarely have issues doing HM content with PuGs. Also, its a great recruiting tool, both from the point of view of "hey, this is what we're capable of, come hang out with us" and being able to see how the recruit acts/performs in an ops.

TL;DR Host PuGs! People want to do them, and it's nice to have a person in charge (that could be you) that will lead them to victory. It also can be a very rewarding experience.

 

I'd change this to "Host EV PuGs!"

 

I've done both with PuGs and while we completed Karagga's it was really a pain to explain everything. There are a lot more mechanics and even with voice chat I started getting a headache. Too many people getting hit by bonethrashers swipes, too slow solving the puzzle, people hitting the wrong "trash" mobs, etc. Sadly I can't afford many wipes and don't need the gear.

 

That said, EV with PuGs usually goes really well. The only thing we generally need to worry about is a new tank positioning for pillar drops.

Yeah, KP can be a bit tricky (hosted the run wallywaffles is talking about), but still quite rewarding. EV is definitely better for an intro PUG run, even if you only plan on 4/5 it.

 

@OP: Yes, PUG runs are rewarding and more people should do them, to help the community as well as simply have fun.

I actually enjoy running PUGs. There's just this air of mystery about exactly what will happen. We PUGed HM FPs when we first hit 50, and most of them were disasters. We picked up a fresh 50 GS with quest greens and carried him through False Emp, only to have him inexplicably save us during the Malgus fight. We PUGed EV normal last week and only wiped once on our first try with Soa, then had him bug out once, then beat him third try. PUGs are often frustrating, but always fun. I highly recommend them.

When my original guild faded away we formed "PUG Life" with a couple of us that ran hardmodes together.

 

We puged Normal Ops for a few weeks and were very successful although we had a vent server and I would probably not pug an Ops without voice communication.

 

It's a little stressful but it's feels good to run folks through Ops that wouldn't normally get a chance.

 

What's interesting is a few weeks later some of our regular PUG's actually joined the guild and now we do guild only HM runs.

 

This game is what you make of it.

 

-Aeth

Nice post, and nice job to the OP.

 

I'd also like to chime in that when it comes to PUGging ops, especially with brand new 50's, is that you don't need to do a complete clear in order to call it a successful evening. If you have a group of people who are essentially in no Columi gear at all, being able to PUG and go into EV and even down a couple of the bosses is a good start. Obviously a complete clear is better (get credit for the weekly quest etc.) but the point is, since every boss drops decent stuff, even to clear one or two bosses is a solid start, especially if you have a bunch of non-geared first-timers.

Props to you man. People need to step up sometimes and help others out. The community will be stronger as a result.

I did basicly same, twice. To be said all attempts on EV vere those PUGs.

( i did my homework and research and lead my first EV with 100% fresh crew, it was insane, we went like a storm through it. I also typed a wall of tactics, not realy knowing what i write about, but it worked )

 

first time we made 4/5 and platforms bugged to hell.

 

Today we run out of time after Pylons, to be continued.

 

Thumb up, and as OP said: do it!

Heh, yesterday I pugged another bunch of people to EV normal, we cleared 4/5 in 90 min, after some hour of looking for people.

 

Great fun, also people got to know each other, got experience and gear.

I've lead pug EV's a lot, but I must say I don't really like running it with randoms. It's such a pain to lead when people don't pay any attention to what's going on. Especially clear on SOA, but I've had people mess up on every single boss, even pylon and the council. I mean how do you screw up council? Ugh. We've always cleared the whole operation though, but it's just annoying.

 

KP I've pugged once. I lost my will to live when after 15 minutes I still couldn't get my ranged dps to understand how the puzzle works, even after showing it to them a dozen times. In the end I had to do it with two friends (the rest were randoms), one of whom was our best melee dps (one was ranged dps and I was maintank), so we ended up hitting enrage timer and wiping, since we were one dps short. We did manage it in the end, but even after the fight I don't think our randoms understood the puzzle.

 

So yeah, it's not very hard to pug these operations; just takes a certain attitude that I don't possess.

umm... noob question. what's a pug?

umm... noob question. what's a pug?

 

 

Pickup Group; used commonly in WoW and other MMORPGs. Basically means a group that isn't formed by people you know; instead, it's formed up of random, possible noobs that will completely wreck whatever experience you are getting the group for. - urban dictionary

I see '_' thank you...

So.....the server never crashed due to the size of your *****?

 

I sometimes have enough of a hard time healing ops in my guild, so the thought of a PUG just scares. On the other hand, I have been tempted to heal for one of these PUGs just to mix things up and after reading this, I think I will.

So what exactly is the point of this post? To tell us that you were able to pug EV normal without using voice? Thats super great and all, but really who cares? Pugs are horrible and frustrating. I guess I am happy for you, you seem to make it seem like a huge accomplishment. Great to see you can pug ev on normal mode and one shot some of the bosses!

 

Cleared nightmare mode on both KP/EV in under 2 hours with the same 8 man group, it gives a much better sense of accomplishment. You should try it.

Edited March 22, 2012 by CHEMLCAL

So what exactly is the point of this post? To tell us that you were able to pug EV normal without using voice? Thats super great and all, but really who cares? Pugs are horrible and frustrating. I guess I am happy for you, you seem to make it seem like a huge accomplishment. Great to see you can pug ev on normal mode and one shot some of the bosses!

 

Cleared nightmare mode on both KP/EV in under 2 hours with the same 8 man group, it gives a much better sense of accomplishment. You should try it.

You make it sound like clearing nightmare EV/KP in under 2 hours is astronomically more difficult. It's really not; the challenges we face to achieve our goals are also fundamentally different.

 

Completing a nightmare mode within 2 hours merely requires the following: A good amount of Rakata gear, additional refinement of boss strategies based off hard mode, and making the operation from start to finish more fluid and streamlined (read: no breaks). If your group of eight is consistent, you also won't have to deviate your strategy from the foundation you've already built upon.

 

On the flip side, the challenge of hosting a PuG is that the players are actually very volatile; They have no obligation to commit to the operation, their gear may not be on par, and they may not know any of the encounters. You will also almost never have a consistent group, meaning your strategy for some fights will deviate based on the composition.

 

Successfully hosting a PuG, in my opinion, showcases a different side of your leadership and networking skills that you can't find from in-guild hosted operations. And I assure you: There are players that want to experience endgame PvE but haven't had the means to do so, which can range from anything such as time, guild commitment, absence of friends, etc. Having a person (such as yourself) that will take them through these operations is actually the general topic of this thread.

 

I hope this reply brought you some insight.

Edited March 23, 2012 by xGBox

Id just like to say 5/5 for hosting pugs like you do! Im almost exactly the type of guy that would benefit from people like you.

 

Ive been playing with a friend of mine from lvl 1 and we have just dinged 50 now. We arent all that interested in a guild just yet (for a number of reasons)... maybe one day down the road. We are relatively noob when it comes to raiding and mmos in general, but we would still like to give it a try. We are experienced gamers... Just new to end game mmos.

 

On the one or two occassions we have been in high level pugs we have had some bad experiences. Some ppl tend to treat noobs like they are lessor human beings. All we need is an explanation and a little guidance and we are good to go. We arent below average intelligence... And yet if at the start of the event we say we are new or havnt done this HM before then everything gets blamed on us from there on after.

 

Anyway people like OP who have the time and patience to teach ppl like myself and my friend and take us out on a pug... Thats very cool!

 

You get two types of ppl.... those that despise noob players and blame them for everything, and then those like OP that actually have the patience to teach ppl and include them in the game. Its a pity the majority are the first kind....

Nice to see some people get the point: It is about opening acces to Ops for people without guild, or in small one.

 

For me best reward is knowledge that I helped few people to run their first or second ops, and I asure you, i got great fun even when we wipe here and there.

 

This topic is to encourage likeminded people that can and WANT to help others in the game.

Yesterday it took only 3 people from original PUG, that cleared 4/5 of EV two days before, to draw enaugh people who wanted to try on SoA and give it a try.

 

I assembled and led 8 man ops with only one member who ever saw soa dead (once, and it wasn't me).

Only two guys who didnt know antything were given some time to watch guide vid.

We went with merc and sorc healers, and one asassin tank, with me as offtank/taunter in case of MT mindtrapped.

 

First attempt : 2 fatalities during first jump phase, people lost track and split,-> wipe

 

Second attempt: we mark "leader of jumps" and go smoothly through 1 and 2 phase, not a single death till second jumps. 1 dps is thrown in air literaly 1 second before phase change - he ends up in the floor. One more dies on platform, 6 men with one healer left to fight, soon one more dies. Rest fights bravely until enrage. Not to mention that tank managed to drop succesfully 2? pylons WHICH HE DIDNT SEE due to unknown reasons - afterwards someone said: "Step by step, this time he goes down".

 

Third attempt: We blast through first phase in a blink of an eye.

Jumps go smooth, in second phase we kill mind traps like champs, we succesfully kite balls, stop dps for a moment for our hurled healer to drop back and begin second jumping.

Merc healer somehow misses jump and dies.

Rest manages to finish transition with sorc healer. Combat res on merc heal and we are back on track.

And gues what, we finished SOA smoothly without more deaths.

 

And then happines, laugh, congratulations and overaly very good mood as a reward.