One never knows what one might encounter when joining a pug raid group. To say there are good groups and there are bad groups would be doing a disservice. For every good group i seem to find, i run into three to four really bad ones. The type lead by people that have no idea what they’re doing and only leading so they can maybe get an item they’ve reserved. It’s like walking into Bartertown where anything goes and the biggest loudmouth comes out on top. Luckily i can quickly spot those groups and move on before my evening is wasted.

Then there are the really good groups like the one i happened to join for a heroic Archemonde. Lead by the type of person that takes pride in their leadership and actually guides the group to a successful kill. Persevering through failure after failure without raging or playing the blame game. These groups are rare nowadays, which i blame on the inability of most of today’s players to do anything longer than 15 minutes. It’s amazing what can happen when people stick to something without giving up easily.

I managed to get my Ahead of the Curve: The Black Gate achievement in this group without too many attempts. It was a bit bittersweet since this didn’t occur on our guild run, but we only raid two nights a week and sometimes run out of time. The joys of being in a guild with working adults as an old dork myself. It wasn’t all terrible as we did have a few members from my guild in the group to share in some of the fun. It’s always nice seeing those achievements scroll by in guild chat multiple times at once. We’ll be there later in the week as a guild hopefully to capture our own kill.

Dr. Dealgood: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls… Dyin’ time’s here. – Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)