I am interested to know what other people look for in pugs. I have a specific way of forming my groups that has worked pretty well, but I can always get better. I always queue my keys as a healer. Below are the requirements I have for my group.
Battle Rez
Lust
At least 2 fast kicks
Completed the key at most 2 levels below mine in time
If 2 qualified dps are invited and no tank has queued, I will wait until I get a tank to invite the 3rd dps in case a tank/dps combo queue up that are qualified.
If 2 people queue together and one is way underlevel, I won’t take them to high keys, it’s likely a friend trying to get you to carry their buddy. I will take them for mid or low keys. If it is 2am and I need a lust, I might bend a little.
Ilvl ranks above IO as long as their experience meets #4, gear goes a long way. Even if someone is bad, they will do better with better gear. Either could have paid for it.
Class doesn’t matter if #1-3 and affixes are covered.
As the tank usually forming the group I base my needs around what I don’t bring. This expansion is very demanding on healers, so usually I will target the healer first, and then fill the group accordingly based on what the tank/healer don’t bring.
Rez, lust, party buffs, utility needed for affixes (lol DK/Warrior)
From there gauge experience from runs they’ve done.
I form groups based on ilvl, io score and how many timed keys. I’ll invite a player with 21 timed keys vs another with 10 timed with similar io scores (one was carried the other wasn’t). I don’t form groups with more than two of the same class.
EFFFFFFFF U. DK has bres at least, warrior has battle shout. Abom limb is also pretty nice for gathering up mobs in a lot of spots like the sparks in VP. I do wish DK had a group buff like all the other classes though, pretty dumb being the only class with nothing to bring to the table as far as buffs.
I agree with you. My top priority is that they have a timed run within 1-2 key levels for the particular dungeon, and after that I look for total IO score and total number of timed runs in the bracket that I’m doing. I also look for red flags such as 50+ 10-14 runs and very few 15+ ones. Item level isn’t really a consideration, as anybody who meets my criteria is almost guaranteed to have good enough gear for what we’re doing.
It’s a mistake to put too much weight on item level when people could be running lower ilvl tier pieces, be extremely lucky/unlucky, or got to 437 gear grinding 11s.
That and I take lower score people on alts who have a very strong main as it shows they are a good player and that they likely know the dungeon well. I generally ignore ilevel completely - there are so many awful players out there who have huge ilevel.
Let me clarify this. When I say they will do better with better gear I mean they will do more dps or be able to tank more than someone who is the same skill level in worse gear. Of course lower geared players who play better can outperform bad players in high gear, but they will have to work harder at it, and that can cause mistakes as well. I don’t look at a player’s complete history on warcraft logs before inviting them and I don’t like addons, so I am using the default UI. Besides IO for the dungeon I am doing and ilvl, I can’t see any other info about the players in the queue.
Gear only raises their potential. Someone who is less geared and more skilled will absolutely outperform someone with more gear and less skill, to a degree I agree. However, if the gap is 10-15 ilvls the higher skilled player will still be the better pick.
It is not just about dps numbers. With skill comes experience about when to use defensives and interrupt. Someone who is max ilvl who never interrupts or uses personal defensives will be more of a liability and headache for the healer than someone lower geared, but does. Defensives have low 1-2 minute CDs and will effectively reduce damage taken more than what the ilvl gap would mitigate.
The same can be said about experience and skill surrounding DPS CDs. Holding CDs or mismanaging them would end up with significantly less overall damage done.
You hit the nail on the head. I don’t give a hoot what their gear’s “potential DPS” is. I want to know that they have at least some basic idea of what they’re doing. That potential DPS is meaningless when that player is constantly dying, not interrupting, not CCing affixes, etc. Especially on Tyr week when people think that a +16 VP is the place to be learning boss mechanics on somebody else’s key.
I’ve only been back since the beginning of this season, and I learned very quickly to ignore item level unless it’s egregiously low for the content, lol.
Haha no hard, one of my best IRL buddies plays DK so I get to give him endless crap about it. I’m also a warrior main by nature but playing pally because warrior is turbo-garbage tier for raiding this season.
IMO blizzard needs to give some sort of engineering tool or item to classes to deal with these new affixes. DK and warrior are feeling SHAFTED by having two back-to-back weeks of affixes they don’t engage with.
There has been outrageous wins this expansion with Blizzard implementing all sorts of new and great features that have kept the game fresh and made the game more fun, but this is a complete oversight and it’s been rampant in the feedback I’ve heard from friends who play warrior/dk.
Yep I know, just playing. I’m about done playing DK after i tanked on my pally alt for awhile. DK needs some rework and warrior at least enjoyed being OP for the first few months.
I bring whoever signs up that doesn’t look like they’ll brick my key within 30 seconds. You get the occasional smooth brain, but it’s mostly alts or returning players that are pretty talented just missing the io / gear components.
Push keys -
Minimum 1 melee and 1 ranged, third DPS is open. Buffs based on comp, consistent dispels, any classes required for a skip, I play lust classes so I don’t need to worry about those, at least one brez class.
As for vetting players, you can’t just judge someone based on their io / gear and say “yeah that checks out”. I’ve had more than my share of 2500+ 440 players that will say “lol yeah first time doing that mechanic” when they get targeted by a boss mechanic and die instantly, or get smoked by an obvious frontal.
Gear and io score are not fluid, so they are horrible metrics to purely base your invites on.