P.U.G.

No I'm not talking about that cute little furry animal but about the notorious MMORPG phenomenon known as a P.U.G. (Pick Up Group).

I don't like PUGs! Am I original in declaring this? No way.

Earlier I wondered why I don't accept more Heroic instance invites... And part of it (as mentioned in that post) was that I wasn't sure I was geared enough to do it. I think that was actually a secondary reason and the MAIN reason is that I don't like to group with people I don't know for a variety of reasons.

So here are some of the reasons I don't like PUGs (aka "Why I don't run more instances")
Most of them, in one way or another connect to the others:

• Real Life ALWAYS trumps WoW - Probably one of the biggest reasons I am not a Raider, even casually. I have a beautiful wife and 2 hilarious boys with another little girl on the way. While sometimes I would rather be tanking than changing a diaper... my Wife threat meter goes WAY off the charts - and I tell ya... NOBODY wants or needs that kind of aggro! I'm lucky my wife lets me play as much as she does!
  
• Time - The time it takes to run PUGs in either Normal or Heroic is more time than I want to invest playing with people I probably don't know and more often than not don't even WANT to know. I don't want to waste your time, I don't want you wasting my time. Pretty basic there. I think I play a bit more than "Casual" players - but I'm not Hardcore either.
  
• I'm a perfectionist - If I can't do it right I'd rather not do it. So, when other people who I don't know mess up and it causes me to think maybe I'm messing up as well - (or if they rush me) I hate it.
  
• Flow - A really good PUG that meshes well and runs the instance flawlessly is extremely rare. I've been in one or two of these my whole WoW career and... WOW! Those were some awesome groups! (Had one in ZF - and that's all I can remember now, although I know it happened) BUT, the majority of PUGs are full of pushy greedy whiners that want to hurry and think they are the only one that is important or knows anything in the group.
  
• Groups in General - I love the social aspects of WoW - I have some amazing friends and guildmates. But I like questing, exploring, and soloing more than I like partying. This was most obvious to me when I used to play FFXI and you basically couldn't go ANYWHERE past a certain level if you weren't in a group. That group or nothing requirement (and school) was probably why I quite FFXI. WoW has been very refreshing in that you don't HAVE to group up to get most things done.
  

Now don't get me wrong, sometimes PUGs can be awesome, and on some quests, PUGs are a great way to get things done (Nethermine Ravagers, or almost 80% of the other quests in SMV anyone?).

Also for some reason my dislike of them doesn't apply to Battlegrounds. You'd think it would because many of the problems most people have with PUGs happen MORE often in BGs than they do in Instance PUGs. Whiners, complainers, AFKers, people with no beneficial input other than "Man you guys all suck" etc.