It's something we're all familiar with, comrades. It's an everyday, albeit annoying, part of life in the PuG lane. No trip to Trade Chat is complete without the call for warriors to join a group assault on one of the many bastions of our enemies, but with the requirement of X Gearscore. And while the right Gear can and does make a difference in any Raid or Instance, it is not nearly the end all be all indicator of a player's skill.
Of course you know this, we all do. But it's one thing to know something, and quite something else to see it demonstrated before your eyes!
Last Thursday, I got together with our allies, the Enemy of the Sun clan. They were interested in running an alt raid, so naturally I sent one of my intrepid, and undergeared, disciple, Alcína. Despite her gearscore of only 4.7k, her equipment was actually quite on par with the rest of the group. The Main Tank boasted the highest, at just over 5.1k. All in all, the average gearscore of the group was around 4.6k.
Not a big deal, it's plenty to take down places like the Obsidian Sanctum or even Ulduar. But as we were missing some dps, we would have to fill those spots with outsiders who very likely would not be excited about a pug such places. Finally, the unthinkable was decided...
We would assault Icecrown Citadel!
The notion was crazy at best, and survival seemed highly unlikely. But because we were just itching to try it, for no other purpose than to see how long we lasted, the sense of daring and recklessness superseded any concern for our lack of gear. We would go in and give them hell, with no expectations, and no delusions.
The first pull went as expected; full wipe. The pull was large however, so the next time, we made sure to exercise a bit more caution.
We then proceeded to one-shot every boss up to Professor Putricide!
Of course you know this, we all do. But it's one thing to know something, and quite something else to see it demonstrated before your eyes!
Last Thursday, I got together with our allies, the Enemy of the Sun clan. They were interested in running an alt raid, so naturally I sent one of my intrepid, and undergeared, disciple, Alcína. Despite her gearscore of only 4.7k, her equipment was actually quite on par with the rest of the group. The Main Tank boasted the highest, at just over 5.1k. All in all, the average gearscore of the group was around 4.6k.
Not a big deal, it's plenty to take down places like the Obsidian Sanctum or even Ulduar. But as we were missing some dps, we would have to fill those spots with outsiders who very likely would not be excited about a pug such places. Finally, the unthinkable was decided...
We would assault Icecrown Citadel!
The notion was crazy at best, and survival seemed highly unlikely. But because we were just itching to try it, for no other purpose than to see how long we lasted, the sense of daring and recklessness superseded any concern for our lack of gear. We would go in and give them hell, with no expectations, and no delusions.
The first pull went as expected; full wipe. The pull was large however, so the next time, we made sure to exercise a bit more caution.
We then proceeded to one-shot every boss up to Professor Putricide!
I tell you, comrades, the first few times it happened, we all laughed at our luck. Then we kept owning, kept conquering, and soon the laughter turned to stunned silence. Rotface and Festergut, the twin banes of incompetent, but highly geared, pugs, went down with little difficulty. In the end, the only reason we did not venture further was because we'd been at it for hours, and some people need to sleep.
I currently live with the master of another Guild in the Blackrock realm. He had his comrades over, all of whom bear the title, "Kingslayer." I told them of my most recent exploits, but apparently they could not grasp the concept. In fact, it was the first RL version of Trade Chat I'd ever experienced!
Ogami: "You'll never believe it! My group, with an average gearscore of less than 4.8k, one shotted every boss in ICC10 up to Prof. Putricide! It was insane!"
Blackrock Grunt: "That's nothing, my Main's gs is over 6k!"
Ogami: "No no, you don't understand. This was an alt run, with many of us in low purples and high blues, and we still owned ICC10!"
Blackrock Grunt: "I got Kingslayer! Did you get Kingslayer?"
Ogami: "No, but we only stopped because some of us have work in the morning. We were undefeated, and I bet we could of gone even further!"
Blackrock Grunt: "Couldda Shouldda, dude. Kingslayer, with a 6k+ gearscore. I got you beat!!"
Ogami: "...I don't think you're getting it..."
Blackrock Grunt: "In your face!!"
After throwing his fatass off my porch, I regained my composure and explained how awesome a feat this was to the more reasonable, and/or intimidated, members of the Blackrock realm guild. They agreed that they had never heard of such a low geared group invading the Citadel, but the idea that it could be done didn't seem too far fetched to them for a couple of reasons.
One is, obviously, Hellscream's Song. The presence of the Warsong Overlord, as incompetent as he may be, does grant a 30% buff to damage, health and healing. This does boost performance a bit, but only to about the level of having geared up in the Trial of the Crusader.
No, comrades, the most agreed upon reason we did so well was a bit of truth that, again, we already know: Gear is no replacement for a Good Group.
Certainly, it has its place. Getting into a PuG is definitely easier the higher your number. But Good players, with good attitudes, who know their characters are worth more than all the geared PuG's one will ever encounter! It's a fact comrades, and it has been proven, yet again!
Lok'tar Ogar!!
I see you are progressing nicely with the anger management program! /chuckle
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the run :p