Mine is that I want a shaman in every single group I make. So lovable, usually good people.
They lust so I don’t have to (MM), they have the shortest interrupt in the game and it’s ranged, they bring an AoE stun. Shamans are the pug essential.
If I’m filling the last spot and there’s no shaman, I’ll keep waiting until we get a good shaman. 135 applicants, there will be more and one of them will be a good shaman. I take resto shaman over any other healer regardless of the meta. I’ll take elemental over even a destro lock (and now fire mage). I’ve grouped with many solid enhancement players over the last few expansions and I’ve always been pleased.
In keys I list I want bloodlust and battle rez primarily. The class doing lust I don’t care I pick hunters or shamans. I do like a warlock as they can provide healthstones and battle rez. In fortified keys (as tank) the healthstone is very nice. If it’s quaking and I already have melee DPS I go for a ranged healer (same with volcanic). If there’s a lot of interrupts needed I pick classes with short interrupts.
I used to love inviting nonmeta classes (don’t pug much anymore), just for the feeling of giving them a chance when many wouldn’t.
I also pay a lot of attention to names. A funny name might get you an invite over someone else better suited to the group. A stupid name will pretty much guarantee I will ignore the application, even if they’re 5k IO
Well im a blood dk so thats kind of a meta tank, but i usually just pick what ever really. I enjoy giving people who don’t get usually picked a chance. They tend to whisper me at the end thanking me for letting them get into a key.
I speak Spanish also, so if i have a ragnaros player I try to make it all “Latino servers” that way everyone can understand each other for the most part.
When we’re running high keys (around 25+ usually), I will basically run a full on background check on people (I’ll look up their IO, past IO, raid logs and check their names against some of public blacklists shared). A few times we’ve contacted some guild officers to ask about someone’s performance and/or attitude. It seems like alot but it’s saved us so much frustration.
I love inviting non meta classes. I know if I see a ret paladin with higher IO, they had to work twice as hard as alot of people for it and will pump and use their utility like crazy.