The way I play MMOs now is pretty quick and dirty. I log in, check and see if my guild is doing anything interesting or if they need me, and if not I hit up the server PUG channel. A simple "Resto Druid LFG for VoA or OS" gets me an invite almost instantly. And so far, every pickup raid I've done (10 and 25 man) have been successful and not any more painful than a guild group. An added advantage is that I don't feel as terrible rolling on an upgrade that has spell penetration over another class. I'm respectful to other druids, but since nobody really cares about spec in PUGs I roll on anything that's an upgrade. And so far, it's been successful.
I did my first 25 man Obsidian Sanctum (actually, my first OS altogether) and I thought it was a pretty neat encounter. Although we didn't leave any drakes up, so I haven't tried it when it was more difficult. I got the incredibly sexy Staff of Restraint.
I'm just about to 2k spell power now. In the past few days I bought and earned a few more upgrades, such as Darkmoon Card: Illusion, Wispcloak, Sash of Jordan, and Titanium Spellshock Ring. I'm almost to the point where I have to run Naxx for upgrades, so I may be reaching a lull in playtime for me. The next few months are going to by busy with moving to our new loft and getting settled in, not to mention a ton of work at my job – and I don't see much WoW time in the future. We'll see though 
Tami Baribeau is the Associate Producer for Metaplace, Inc, currently working on Island Life. She is also the Lead Editor of feminist gaming blog The Border House, and the National Facebook Games Examiner for Examiner.com. She can be reached on Twitter or by email.
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I can attest to that; I’m actually unguilded still, so I pretty much only PuG. I think I’ve only had one bad experience PuGing at 80, although I’ve only been on one raid (10-man Naxxramas). Maybe being a tree increases the quality of groups?
Being a tree means you can pick and choose any group you want, because trees are superior in every way.
Whenever I play an MMO, I always enjoy doing PUGs. Sure, it is with people I don’t know, and occasionally I run across a bad seed – but more often than not, I find intelligent people playing the game as well. Occasionally I even find someone who ends up being a friend. Given the social nature of MMOs, I always find that to be… well, good!
Arrakiv,
Typically I’m the same – however in WoW I’ve had bad luck in the best. So far so good now though!
Being a tree means you can pick and choose any group you want, because trees are superior in every way.