There's so much wrong with Trade Chat it's hard to know where to start.

Trade Chat has deteriorated over the last several months.

At peak hour it’s so full of six-liner PuG advertisements that it’s near impossible to read guild chat: the green text flies past so fast. And the more crowded the channel gets, the more players repeat their own macros over and over again just to try and get some exposure and screen time.

Of all the chat channels, [Trade] is the only one that is broadcast to all the major cities. If you’re standing in Dalaran, and decide to put together a 10 man group for Icecrown Citadel, what’s the best way to advertise and find additional group members?

The answer is not the Raid Finder. It’s Trade chat.

[General] Will only broadcast to other players in Dalaran. The raid members you’re looking for might be visiting the Auction House in Ironforge or Stormwind. Or they might be on bank alts, or other characters in those other cities.

[LookingForGroup] Is a strange one. Theoretically this is where you should advertise your open PuG raid spots. It’s also the channel that players should join when they’re looking for a PuG to join. In the past you would join the Looking For Group tool and automatically gain access to this chat channel. Now, almost nobody does – and I don’t know anyone who uses the Raid Finder. You’re also not going to reach potential players who are logged onto their alts.

[Trade] Will broadcast across all of your faction’s major cities. Surely this channel was designed to allow sellers and buyers to find each other and exchange goods. This is the channel that you could use to find a Mage to teleport you (you could also use General), or where you could find a Tailor, Scribe, Enchanter etc.

[Guild Recruitment] There is actually an additional channel that exists solely for guild leaders and players to find each other. Unfortunately, the only time most players see this channel is when they are not part of a guild at all (the game puts you in there automatically). The reality is that most players don’t leave their guild until they have secured a position in a new guild.

It’s really no surprise that [Trade] is actually used for:

1. PuG leaders seeking additional raid members
2. Guild recruitment
3. Legitimate trade opportunities (professions, want-to-trade, want-to-buy)
4. Conversation

If [General] were changed so that (if you are standing in a major city) it broadcasts to all major cities I think half of the messages currently posted in [Trade] would instead find their way into [General].

But in the meantime we need to deal with [Trade] chat. And the spam. Oh… the spam! Here are some ideas:

1. Turn it off

Consider, for each of your characters, whether you really need to see Trade chat. Are you totally happy in your current guild? When was the last time you joined a PuG raid? Do you respond to players who are seeking someone with your crafting professions? Do you really read the WTT or WTB messages? Or do you ignore them?

Why don’t you turn it off and see if you miss it.

To hide Trade chat right click on your Settings tab above your Chat panel, navigate into your Global Chat Channels and uncheck Trade.

2. Tone it down

For Cassandri, I really don’t need to see anything posted in Trade chat. Curiosity leads me to watch the trade related messages: I like to see what the going rate is for Frostweave Cloth and which players are trying to buy up the same items that I’m trying to buy up – Snowfall Ink, Eternal Life, herbs etc.

You can trick your eyes into treating Trade chat with less attention. Change the colour to something difficult to read, or difficult to see. I like to go with a mid, dull grey and this tends to turn Trade chat into something that blends somewhat with the tiles in Dalaran and Stormwind. The great thing about this method is that linked [achievements] and [items] will still colour up properly and jump out at you but the rest of it will fade away. Less reading and more meaningful information ftw!

3. Don’t yell at me

One of the things that I’ve noticed standing around Dalaran (particularly the crafting section near the Horde bank) is that the Horde on Barthilas also use /yell to spam their macros. I have no idea what they’re advertising, but it’s seeing the same three red lines of Orcish nonsense gets really annoying really fast.

So I switched off the setting which displays Yells in my chat window. Finally! Peace and quiet. You can do the same: right click on the General tab, go to settings, and uncheck the Yell box.

4. Police it

Ok, now we’re getting into more serious coping methods. These are the ones that really will only ever work if many many players on the server take the same route.

Report Spam.

Everytime you see a gold seller, right click their name and Report Spam. Do it many times if you like. Encourage other players in your guild to report them. Gold selling and buying is the reason why players are still getting their accounts hacked, so do your bit to make their life difficult! And never, ever, ever buy gold.

Gold Sellers in Trade chat? Report them.

If a player decides that they just need a little bit of attention and posts the same stupid sentence more than 3 times in a row, Report Spam.

Repeat one line offenders? Report them.

If a player has a LFW or LF macro and repeats it multiple times – even when they are the last person to have posted in Trade chat! – Report Spam.

5. Get Personal

Unfortunately, not matter how many times you Report Spam, Blizzard are slow to catch up and ban the worst spam offenders. The next thing to do is to identify the players who contribute to Trade chat that personally offend or annoy you.

Part of Trade chat is pure chat. Conversational, it probably has absolutely nothing to do with the game at all. There are at least 2 players on Barthilas Alliance who routinely spam the same stupid joke once every few minutes. How they have nothing better to do than stand in a city seeking attention, I don’t know.

Racist, sexist or downright ignorant trolls in Trade chat? Ignore them.

Put these individuals on Ignore! Now!

Anyone who posts offensive, sexists or racist remarks quickly joins my Ignore list.

One player constantly wasting space in Trade chat? Ignore them.

It makes Trade chat much more bearable.

6. Don’t Let Them Win

Now you should be left with a Trade chat that doesn’t make you angry, but still one that is full of 6 line guild recruitment and PuG messages – often typed up in UPPERCASE of course.

You can use the Report Spam for the worst offenders:

1. the PuG Raid Leaders who repeat their advertisement too often
2. the PuG Raid Leaders and Guild Recruiters who consume additional lines or repeat characters to border their message
3. the PuG Raid Leaders and Guild Recruiters who have messages 5 or 6 lines long
4. the PuG Raid Leaders who post their message all in CAPS (uppercase).

PuG Raid Leaders wasting lines and space? Report them.

If you’re not interested in PuGs at all, add the most annoying Raid Leaders to your Ignore List and be spared their terrible advertisements for ever after.

And if you do PuG, you can simply refuse to join PuGs who spam Trade chat. Why don’t you apply a bit of social pressure and whisper the Raid Leaders spamming Trade chat in order to tell them why you didn’t respond to their ad? Perhaps once they realise that they receive a greater response when they post concise and meaningful advertisements they’ll change their ways.

***

We must stay vigilant.

Report Spam whenever you have a free moment or are scanning the Auction House.

Don’t join PuGs that spam or abuse Trade chat.

/Ignore the players that fill Trade chat with useless, meaningless comments and questions day after day.

Enjoy your new, meaningful, Trade chat.

It takes 5

Lathere and I love our PVE. Always have.

I remember, way back in the day when I would wander Stormwind and get lost, Lath told me a story about going into this cave with some other people in Westfall and killing bad guys. She told me she wasn’t just a Warrior – she was the tank! And then she said to me “all these abilities I had, that I didn’t understand when I got them from the trainer, make so much more sense now!”.

Your character is designed for group play. But there are so many players out there, successfully questing through to 80, who have never set foot in a challenging instance designed for 5 players at their level.

I’ve read so many comments like the one below:

I am absolutely scared to death about my first group run. As of now my other half & I just wait till we’re over leveled and just run through with the two of us. If one of us screws up, oh well. The thought of me DPS-ing in a new group is just terrifying. I don’t want to screw up and do the innumerable fail/death methods, but I know I will. Probably a lot. And reading stories like this, (even though wonderfully entertaining to read!) make this fear just that much worse.

I hate to think of all the players missing out on this game experience. Imagine what WoW would be like if they removed all the quests. That’s what I feel the game would be like if they removed all the Dungeons. Not really a game that I’d bother playing at all. What I’m trying to say is: if you play World of Warcraft without experiencing a 5 man Dungeon you’re not really experiencing World of Wacraft at all.

Most of our readers are raiders. At least, I think they/you are based on the feedback we’ve received. And I know that most of what I’m going to say in this post is going to make you think “comon Cass, who doesn’t already know that?”.

But this post isn’t really for you. It’s for the people in your guild on “Friend” rank. It’s for your aunt, cousin or your little brother who you talked into playing WoW. It’s for all the players who, mistakenly, feel that they just aren’t good enough to hold their own in a pick up group with four strangers.

Most people have some fear of failure. If your fear comes from:

1. Not knowing the instance and what to do
2. Not understanding what other classes/group members can do
3. Being criticised by other players

then by the time you get to the bottom of this post you’ll know more than enough to step into your first Dungeon. You might even know more than some of the other players in your group!

1. Knowing the Instance and What To Do

Try to start with a level appropriate instance for you. Tell the group, or the person that invited you, that you wish to DPS (this is the most similar game play to leveling).

The absolute golden rule of 5 man groups is simple. You will never stuff up if you follow it, I promise. Just follow this one rule:

The Golden Rule: Help your tank kill stuff.

Just click on what he’s killing and start hitting your attack keys. If you’re hitting your tank’s targets with a physical weapon like a sword, dagger, axe or mace make sure you are always attacking the enemy’s back.

And you really don’t need to know the instance itself. Scarlet Monastery, Sunken Temple or the Halls of Stone are really all the same with different scenery. You’ll fight enemies in small packs, then you’ll fight a bigger dude for a few minutes until it’s dead.

2. Understanding What the Other Group Members Can Do

Working in a small group can be very satisfying and every class brings something unique. However, if you’ve never grouped up with 4 other players to work together, or if you have only played a few of the 9 classes, then you might be a little bit confused and overwhelmed by about what’s going on around you.

Below is a list, organised by class, which covers some of the abilities that each class brings to group play. Read your own class section carefully so that you’re aware of your own spells and abilities that you might be asked to use in your group.

The only classes that can tank are: Death Knights, Druids, Paladins and Warriors
(and, at very low levels, Shamans).

The only classes that can heal are: Druids, Paladins, Priests and Shamans

All classes do a good job at killing stuff. Don’t assume that because you have a Shaman or a Priest in your group that they will be healing. Or that the Paladin in your group will be willing to tank.

A Short Note on Crowd Control

Many classes are blessed with abilities that can, for a brief period, stop an enemy from attacking. A Mage, of example, can target an enemy during combat and temporarily turn them into a sheep using Polymorph.

A 5 man group can make use of Crowd Control to, well, control their enemy mobs, stop them from wreaking havoc, and kill them off one at a time.

All Crowd Control spells/abilities can be used during combat, except for a Rogue’s Sap. If a Rogue in your group has been asked to Sap an enemy your group will need to wait for them to do that before charging in to attack. If any other class has been asked to apply Crowd Control they usually will do so immediately after the tank/group attacks. So, upon entering combat, a Mage’s first action will be to select his assigned Crowd Control target and cast Polymorph. He will then follow the golden rule and help kill whatever the tank is killing.

It’s often not necessary to Crowd Control every single creature in a group. Each player can only apply their Crowd Control ability to one enemy mob at a time. 1 Mage cannot Polymorph 2 targets at once. However, removing just 1 enemy from the throng can significantly reduce the amount of damage your tank is receiving thus making the whole group’s success more likely.

Never offer to Crowd Control on your first instance run. Always Crowd Control if (a) you have been specifically asked to and (b) someone has marked a target for you to apply your Crowd Control to.

Death Knight

Death Knights, regardless of what talents they have chosen, can tank very well at a moment’s notice. Death Knights have abilities which can slow down an enemy’s movement but none completely incapacitate an enemy from dealing damage. Therefore they are rarely (if ever) asked to Crowd Control.

If you have a Death Knight in the party you can expect to receive the short duration buff, Horn of Winter, for the entire dungeon run which significantly increases your Agility and Strength.

Druid

Druids, depending on which form they take on and which type of gear they wear, can take damage as a tank (in Bear form, with talents in Feral), can deal damage from melee range (in Cat form, with talents in Feral), can deal damage from far away (in Moonkin form, with talents in Balance) or can heal the party (in Tree form, with talents in Restoration).

All Druids have the unique ability to resurrect a player during combat, although only once every 20 minutes. This is referred to as Battle Resurrection or Battle Rez, or Brez even though the spell is called Rebirth. This ability is often used to bring the tank or healer back to life quickly mid-fight so that the entire group does not die. DPS players are rarely brezzed during combat and will usually be ressurected when the group ends combat. Druids can also resurrect as many players as necessary when out of combat.

Druids have three Crowd Control abilities sometimes used 5 man dungeons. They can Cyclone an enemy. They can send a Beast to sleep using Hibernate. They can stop melee enemies coming into range with Entangling Roots.

Druids can increase your resistance to magical attacks and increase all your attributes by casting Gift of the Wild on you at the start of your instance.

Hunter

Hunters bring two unique contributions to a group aside from dealing a huge amount of hurt:

They can Misdirect (often abbreviated to “MD”) creatures to attack particular party members. This means that they may be asked to apply misdirect to the tank and then shoot at the enemy. Any shots fired by the Hunter during the period that misdirect is applied to the tank will cause the enemy to attack the tank and not the Hunter. Your group’s tank may ask a Hunter to do this as a method to initiate combat or “pull”.

They can control an enemy mob by placing a Freezing Trap in the enemy’s path. Once the enemy stands on the trap they will be frozen in an ice block. A Hunter can lay a second trap before the first ice block wears off thus keeping that mob incapacitated indefinitely (this is sometimes referred to as “chain trapping”).

Both abilities can take some practice to get right, so be patient. A good Hunter will endeavor to master these abilities.

Mage

Mages are usually the very first players requested to Crowd Control, if your party deems it necessary to control anything at all. Polymorph is a very reliable method of controlling enemies in 5 man dungeons – it can be applied quickly, can be applied during combat, can be reapplied once it wears off and it can applied to the most common enemy mobs (Humanoids).

They can also conjure, using just their mana, food and drinks for your party when you first arrive. You may be asked to click on a Ritual of Refreshment portal to help the Mage create a table, which you can click on to loot stacks of food.

Mages can cast Arcane Brilliance to increase your Intellect.

Paladin

A heavily armored Paladin can tank (Protection talent spec, or “Prot”). A Paladin with spell power gear can heal your group (Holy talent spec).

Paladins, especially while leveling, can DPS very well if they have talented into the Retribution talent tree, or “Ret”. They have access to their own form of Crowd Control: a stun that makes a single target go all dizzy looking. It’s called Repentance.

If you have a Paladin in your group, or several Paladins in your group they can buff your character using Blessings. This is usually applied by the Paladin to your character as your group prepares for the first attack. If you play a melee DPSer (like a Rogue) you’ll most likely be blessed with Blessing of Might. All other players will most likely be blessed with Blessing of Kings.

Paladins can resurrect dead party members when combat has ended.

Priest

A Priest who arrives to the instance in Shadowform is ready to DPS for your group. A Priest who does not arrive in Shadowform has chosen talents to improve their healing.

All Priests have access to a form of Crowd Control called Mind Control. It’s is rarely used in 5 man dungeons because an enemy that has been controlled does not drop any loot. The Priest is unable to heal or DPS while controlling an enemy. You should never ask your Priest healer to Mind Control during combat.

Priests can be called upon to Crowd Control Undead targets using Shackle Undead. Undead targets are quite rare in dungeons, but if you need to control one, your Priest can help you out.

If you have a Priest in the party you will receive increases to your Stamina and Spirit. Priests can resurrect dead party members when combat has ended.

Rogue

Rogues have only 1 Crowd Control ability, Sap, and it is somewhat time consuming to set up because it must be applied to an enemy before the group enters combat and the Rogue must stealth, unseen, right up to the target to apply it. It will leave the target dazed for some time but it cannot be reapplied.

Shaman

Shamans can help deal damage (by casting spells from a distance, or by attacking up close) or they might offer to heal.

Their Crowd Control ability is called Hex, and, although it appears to be similar to Polymorph, cannot be reapplied immediately and is therefore an inferior option. It does turn the enemy into a frog, though, which is pretty darn cool anyway.

Nobody knows a Shaman’s totems like a Shaman so it’s probably best if you let the Shaman in your party choose which totems they will place down in order to enhance the stats of the group. Their most popular totems can increase attack speed, increase casting speed or increase mana regeneration. You’ll need to stand within about 30 yards of the Shaman’s totems to benefit from them.

Shamans can also self resurrect after dying once per hour instead of releasing. This ability is called Reincarnation, but many players refer to it as “anking” or might ask the Shaman to “ankh” (named after the reagent). Shamans can resurrect other players out of combat.

Warrior

A Warrior makes an excellent tank or damage dealer. They have no Crowd Control whatsoever. They can increase your Attack Power by using their Shout abilities during combat.

Warlock

Warlocks have a large variety of Crowd Control methods available to them. However Fear should never be used to Crowd Control enemies in a dungeons because the results can be unpredictable. In 5 man dungeons Warlocks are occasionally called upon to Banish. When playing alongside their Succubus, they can also cast Seduction to control a Humanoid.

Warlocks have the ability to create their own summoning stone for their party anywhere in the world, including inside a dungeon, as long as they have some help to create it.

Warlocks can also protect 1 chosen party member by creating and applying a Soulstone to that party member. If that player dies they will be prompted with an option to immediately resurrect. This should almost always be given to your group’s healer, who can then resurrect others.

3. Being Critised by Other Players

This is probably the single strongest reason new players are hesitant to jump in and try a 5 man dungeon with other players.

The truth is, most people don’t like being critised. Most people like playing with players who are unlikely to criticize them. Therefore most people want to play with people like you.

I’ve leveled 3 characters to max level. I’ve run dungeons at level 17 – 80. Nobody expects, until you start joining Heroics, that you will play perfectly. Players in level 80 instances do not play perfectly. Everyone is still learning. It’s normal.

It takes practise to get really good at playing your character in a group. No player, no matter how well they play now, played perfectly in their first dungeons. We all have embarrassing stories from our early days when we were still learning the basics.

And if you do make a mistake, and it’s a serious enough mistake to wipe the group (highly unlikely), just confess to it and say you’ll do your best to get it right next try. If you set the tone from the start I think you’ll find more people will be friendly and willing to help than you think.

And remember, in a group you are just one fifth of the success or failure of that group. If the run goes badly don’t assume that it’s all your fault. It probably isn’t.

Good luck. Perhaps I’ll catch you on the Cross-Server Looking For More system.

Part Two: Finding the PUG Holy Grail

1. Take an invite to anything you can get!

When you start out pugging be available for anything and everything.  You’ll get rejected heaps but if you getting lucky with an invite accept it first, question your sanity later.  Yes the majority of PUGs are horrifying but you need to shut up and stick with it – any boss downings is at minimum a badge and leading you one step closer to achievements which future proof you from more rejections.

2. Scout out Reoccurring PUG Raids

In the 3 weeks I’ve been checking out the Nagrand pug world I’ve learnt that:

• 2 players run an “elitist” PUG every Friday night advertising around 7pm.
• Saturday night one Ulduar guild advertises a PUG Naxx 25 that generally has a 50/50 split between guildies and PUGs.
• Sunday daytime is great for VOAs & EOE runs
• Mysteriously no one runs OS 25… very weird and creepy if you ask me!

To me getting in on a guild lead Naxx run means a much better chance of completing the entire instance because half the players are used to raiding together and will generally have set assignments and strategies.  If you are really lucky you’ll get into a run with people who are just after one or 2 KT drops and all other drops are yours for the taking.

3. If you get rejected – don’t rage

Raging will get you on ignore lists, you know your worth don’t stress out, there are always more PUGs in the sea.  Politely respond saying “no worries, I’ll keep looking” and leave it be!

4. Keep a note of any disreputable PUG Raid Leaders

There is nothing worse than being fleeced.  If your server has a couple of well publicised bad raid leaders who kick PUGs for guildies, ninja loot etc etc know about them in advance and no matter how tempted – don’t go.

5. If a PUG run wants achievements still apply!

You never know they may have been hanging around for the “right” raiders for an hour, raiders are getting antsy and they’ll be willing to give you a shot.  Be warned – if they’re asking you to link the “Epic” achievement and you don’t even have “Superior” you may be in for a rejection whammy.  I would link any achievements you can proving you know the bosses – if you’ve done 2 wings of Naxx link the proof of this as an example.

The Results

So after taking my own advice last weekend I managed to get into guild run PUGs of Naxx 25, VOA 25 and a complete EOE 10 PUG.  The Naxx 25 wasn’t a full run but we cleared 3 wings in 4 hours.  In the PUG scene that’s considered a dream run.  For my troubles I picked up a new belt, shoulders, ring & chest.  I also had enough badges that I could then buy the 40 badge trinket & 15 badge idol after converting all my shiny new emblems of valor to emblems of heroism.  I still haven’t got the achievement proving I have completed Naxx but I did gain the Superior achievement and am well on the way to the highly coveted Epic achievement.

Please note – I spent a LOT of time this weekend levelling my herbing & hanging around Dalaran looking for invites.  It may sound easy but I did invest time making myself available in LFG hoping the right PUG would come along.  Last weekend I got lucky…. who knows what this week will bring!

Cheers

Lath

After venting about my predicament to  Cass who was experiencing the same rejections on her shammy healer Xata, I decided it was time for some strategic planning!  Both of us decided to scout out the PUG scene on our respective servers and meet back up with our different experiences so I could put together a game plan.

After 3 week of intensive PUG analysis and many catch ups with Cass I decided to split up my advice into 2 posts.  This post will focus on you the player, the raider.  Part 2 will focus on tips to finding the best PUGs around.

Part One: Its All About You

1. Play your class well

Seriously I don’t care how casually you play this game; if you want to be part of a raiding world of WoW have the decency to learn your class.  The internet is an amazing place, there are millions of websites and blogs which will help you with the best PVE talent build, gems, enchants, boss strategies available to your character.  While you’re sitting in Dalaran in LFG, put WoW in windowed mode, and do your research.

2. Only roll on decent items for your class/build

This point really links back into point 1.  Do your research – there are wonderful sites out there like Loot Rank that will list the best gear out there for you.  This is one of the most basic and simple raiding principles which manages to go so horribly wrong when you’re in a group with 24 other randoms. Create a good reputation for yourself and only roll on items with the right stat weighting for your character. Most PUG raid leaders don’t remember who’s dpsing and who’s healing, as a healer it makes my blood boil when that random mage needs on a cloth item with MP5.

3. Don’t be that guy

You know the one I’m talking about…. the one who sits there clocking less than 1k dps, the resto shammy gemming for spirit, the healer that just can’t move out of the fire.  Every raid has one of these and trust me you don’t want to be the one.  If you’ve never done the boss before, make sure you type this in raid chat and if instructions are given listen to them.  Rule 101 of raiding is that if something falls on your head or lights up on the ground below you -  MOVE!

4. Treat the PUG like it’s a guild run

Every PUG you run is an opportunity to network and add good players/raid leaders/guilds to your friends list! This seems so simple to me yet I have been amazed at the poor form of the majority of players who PUG.  Use a flask, don’t AFK, follow instructions and don’t whinge about loot when you lose a roll. Any players in a PUG who play well and you get along with add to your friends list -  you never know when you’ll need that tank or dps to fill your next heroic run!

The thing I find most sad when rereading back my pieces of advice is how stupidly simple it seems.  Sadly the majority of WoW players don’t seem to understand the meaning of word “etiquette” imo this has to do with the large percentage of male teenagers there are playing this game /sigh.

For further reading I suggest you look at this forum topic titled, Basic Assumption and Discernment System:  http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=16904295867&sid=1