PUGs in a New Age

This is the eve of Wrath, before Deathwing reaches the shores of Azeroth and decimates the world (of Warcraft) - yet leaving Northrend untouched... Would have thought some polar icecaps would be melting, but it seems the mages in Dalaran want to keep their new continent intact for a while and are straining to keep it unmelted. This is the twilight before the Twilight, the lowest point of the game before it starts bursting at the seams! This is Cataclysm!

So as some people know, I've been in the alpha and beta of Cataclysm for quite some time now. At the start of pugging instances, everything was fine and dandy, we only had the one functioning instance, but people were doing as they were before - just getting on with it. Then the big ol' Cataclysm downloader-streamer-red/orange/green bar of happiness and sorrow came along and I focused more on my Shaman and raiding ICC in general, because I didn't want to go and download all of the beta AGAIN.

Cut to a few months later, and I accidentally managed to leave the downloader on all night, and lo and behold, I could play on the beta again the next day! So I hopped onto the servers and realised that half of my quests had been wiped. Couldn't be bothered to trawl through Hyjal and Vashj'ir again when the beta bloat test was going on (the test where everyone gets beta invites, including people without WoW accounts, to see if the respawn rates and so on will work for launch), so I patiently waited until I could copy a premade level 85. That happened, and my mage was born a few days later! I logged in on him and realised I'd forgotten about discovering instance entrances... Sigh. Ah well, I could still sign up for heroic SFK and heroic Deadmines, which I did. I still haven't seen SFK, apparently it's way out of tune. Anyway, long enough introduction, to sum up the rest of it the experience wasn't great, people were still clinging to their Wrath ways and wiping because of it.

First thing's first, you're going to get a lot of ass-hats in the dungeon finder for the first few months, and the only way to escape them is by running with people you know (*cough* guild achievements/experience/rep *cough*). In the odd case that you do find yourself in the feared environment of a PUG, here's some handy tips:

CC

Crowd Control is back in action! This time round it's easier than it was in Vanilla or Burning Crusade, simply because you won't have a few niche classes that can only do certain things. Warlocks' Fear can now be major glyphed so that the target doesn't actually run around, they just stand cowering on the spot, with Elementals being banishable (and there's a lot in Cata). Shamans can viably Hex. Hunters can shoot their traps off into the distance instead of the old setting down a trap and Distracting Shot one away. Druids can Root indoors, and Cyclone something else for a short period. You also have your standard Saps, Sheeps and Shackles too.

Tanking

Know the difference between fights that you're AoE tanking, and which ones you're single-targeting to avoid breaking CC or whatnot. One of the main gripes that I saw common amongst all tanks that I was with, was that Paladins still used Consecration, Death Knights used Death and Decay, Warriors Thunder Clapping, etc... ON TOP of where the group initially stood. What, did you expect the Rogue to move the target 20 yards away and then sap him?

Practise the art of pulling again, if you're doing the pulling with CC coming after, give enough time for the 1.7sec cast of CC before you select a spot for tanking the rest of the mobs.

And keep an eye on the healer's mana before you pull.

Healing

The healing game has changed, though for the better or for worse is up for discussion. At level 80 with the current trees, all the healers are pretty cushty in terms of mana regen and healing output (I'll say it again for those that I haven't told yet, my Druid managed 12k HPS on Blood Queen 10-heroic without much concern for mana, this being in a mixture of 251 and 264 gear /flex). However, as you progress through the level up to 85, you might find that the Cataclysm 5mans, heroics especially, might put a bit more of a dent in your mana pool, and might cause you to actually break into a sweat at some points! The healing is much more focused and you'll generally get "predictable" strikes on your tank, rather than spiky damage we're used to.

And if the DPS pulls aggro... You won't have the time or the mana to save them 80% of the time (statistics pulled from my arse), so just plough through healing the tank where needed, maybe put one GCD on the DPS just in case the tank pulls aggro back again or the mob gets CCed, but generally your only focus will be the tank. Otherwise you'll be seeing this lady below a lot more than you want to.

And Azuregos wouldn't like that.

But even now, you can't use the saying of "If the tank dies, it's the healer's fault; if the healer dies it's the tank's fault; and if the DPS dies it's their own goddamn fault!" as we come out of the Wrath era. At 85 in heroics I'm still seeing tanks (quite possibly premade and jaded by Wrath) run in without concern for what the mobs do and start AoEing for 3 seconds before they die.

1. Don't blame the healers for lack of healing when you don't use CC or break it early.
2. Don't blame the tanks for the lack of threat if the DPS goes all out from the start, or attack the wrong mobs.
3. Do blame the DPS if they can't look after themselves. Blizzard have given survival opportunities for nearly every spec now - admittedly some are more survivable than others, but use them where you can!

Group synergy is more important now than ever - treat a 5man like you would a raid, at least for the first few months for sure.