A PUG for Your PUG

I was sitting around in Dalaran yesterday, flipping through the achievements pane when I noticed that a particular achievement was 99/100.  I cheerfully put myself into the queue, and waited. And waited. By the time I got into an instance it was looking tight – would I finish in time to leave for our dinner appointment? Most instances can be finished in 30 minutes or less, so I thought I still had the time. The loading screen showed a lovely picture of an underground world – Old Kingdom. I reluctantly dropped group (for the first time ever on my rogue).

After returning from dinner (with our lovely future wedding photographer) I quickly fired up WOW and pulled together a healer and tank team of friends to get me into the queue without delay. Of course, we landed in Old Kingdom. I am just that lucky.

It went swimmingly – in fact it was the fastest Old Kindom run I’ve ever been in. We even snagged Volasj’s Quick Demise.

Awaiting me in my mailbox was the adorable Perky Pug. I also found the note that it was enclosed in quite amusing:

Dear Very Patient Individual,
We'd like to recognize your tenacity in running dungeons with people you probably haven't met before. Hopefully you even showed some rookies the ropes in your pick-up groups.
In short, we heard you like pugs. So here's a pug for your pug. So you can pug while you pug. Or something.
Hugs,
Your friends on the WOW Dev Team

I know many people have already received this adorable package. It was something I was aiming for, but it snuck up on me.

It’s odd to think that I’ve been in more PUGs since 3.3 came out than ever before. Since finding my guild last April, PUGs have been something I avoided. In my opinion it’s just more fun to run with friends, but PUGS are not without benefits. They test your skills in unexpected ways, and  more often than not they are mercilessly quick. When you’re in an anti-social I-just-want-to-kill-stuff mood, they are actually preferable. They also provide us with amusing stories, and even provoke discussion of social topics (as evidenced by the uproar in the WOW community lately).

Good luck in those PUGs everyone! It’s a dog eat dog world out there… (ah, now I see another interesting undertone to Blizzard’s decision to reward us with a pug).