Gearscore in Practice or When Shyste Hijacks YOUR Raid

Last Thursday night I successfully (meaning Sated) ran a 25 Ony. This is nothing to scoff at. I was in 4 or 5 fail-ass pugs in previous weeks before I eventually was able to clear it. I set out with a concise plan: 3 Tanks, 5 Heals (all Sated) and then I'd pug DPS. Stinky spammed the trade, Hazl gear checked those wanting to attend, and 20 minutes later we had a full group.

First Attempt we wiped at .8%--RNG made for a couple of bad fears...all in all a good attempt.

Second attempt: Success.

Fast Forward to Saturday. Was picked up in LFG for a ToCr-25. The Guys were gear checking pretty consistently, making sure everyone was geared enough. My gearscore addon showed everyone at 4400 rating or higher, so the group looked promising.

6 Wipes on Icehowl.

Sunday I received an invite from the same leader, this time for a 25 Uld. Players are being checked again...maybe 1 or 2 slip in just under the requisite. We're clearing trash on Leviathan, about to start, and I notice all the towers are lit. The following short debate ensued:
Me: "Uh, guys....we have 4 towers up, and we haven't coordinated whose gettin launched"
P1: "No shutdown. We'll just stack pyrite"
Me: "Have you ever done 4 towers without a shut down?"
P2: "Better loots! Let's do it."
Me: "If you've done 4 towers before, link the achieve...this can't be done without a shutdown. Take down Storms and Life...we'll make this doable."
P2: "Awwwww...come on. We can do 4 towers."
Me:"Have you done them before? You know what they do?
****Silence****
Me: "Increased HP to Leviathan, and 200% more dmg. Let's get to clearing these 2 towers."

This is where I hijacked the raid.

Quite a few of these players passed the gearcheck, and had never done these fights before. The didn't know their abilities in the vehicles, they didn't know trash abilities in XT or in the Antechamber, and most couldn't evacuate the area when getting hit with light bomb or gravity bomb...and they certainly failed at Kolo's eyebeams. I led them up through Kologarn...but most weren't talented enough to get the fight down. So we left.

I then took a 10 man in(guild alts in blues), and we 2 healed up to Auriaya. These are raiders...

In T-7, it was easy to spot our kind: we were the only ones in Valorous gear. My tier gear screamed "Raider," and it was a good feeling. Now though, tier gear is bought with emblems. They can be accumulated by running a daily heroic. With enough patience, everyone can get ilvl 232 gear...and ilvl 245 rings, trinks, offhands...this ultimately fucks gearscore.

I'm not in complete disagreement with the current, acquiring-of-the-tier-gear-system. On the contrary, I actually like the fact that I can gear myself, and make myself more viable as a raider. I like not having to hope for a certain token drop...

But on the other hand, As a raid leader, I like to be able to check a player at-a-glance. I guess there are other options out there: asking for achievement link, looking for non-emblem pieces, wep, trinks, etc. This is just more time consuming. And seems a little elitist. It was much easier when all I had to do was look at a players shoulders to know whether or not they could hold their own. At least this was a more passive approach. Maybe 5 mans just need to get harder. The new generation of players are skipping over content that will make them better, teach them mechanics, coordination, and improvization; qualities I've seen less and less of as the game has progressed.

I guess the moral of this convoluted story is: don't ever expect your pugs to know what they're doing, regardless of gearscore. Always take the time to explain things out--and omit the details that will confuse them (lol). And, if I end up in one of your pugs, and no one appears to be "leading," don't be surprised to see me step into the drivers seat.