Playing a squishie class solo in pugs is tricky, playing a sorc/bw is even trickier since you kill yourself in the process. There is of course the cookie cutter sorc build that everyone uses and it is a shame that it is pretty much the only viable one, but if you are soloing scs, I always favor the healing dot and it is the first thing that i cast on someone and I find it helps me a lot to keep the pressure on while not expecting too much from the healers. I little trick that I use is using pets for my heal dot. No one cleanse them and they tend to stay alive for the full duration of the dot.
Second, you want to pay attention to your position in the match, I know everyone says that, but I am amazed of how many ppl have no clue how to anticipate crowd movement. There are times when you can definately go ''Staff wizard'' as I like to call it, but it is usually once you have the upper hand. I sometimes go staff wizard in order to separate some overextended tanks from their healers and am willing to take some risk in order to do that, but it is an exception rather than a rule. You will see an example of that in the video when I get on the bridge all alone while my team is finishing off some overextended tanks. Sometimes I even go out of my way to piss a tank off for him to chase me in order to separate him from the lot. You will see plenty of that in video 2. Of course we all make mistakes and you will inevitably have some ''oh ****'' moments, but if you don't know where the other ranged players are in your team, you are most likely not positioned well and should back off to reevaluate your proper place.
Third, as a rule, I think everyone should play a healer, it will improve you as a player. You'll be able to tell who's gonna die 5-10 seconds ahead of time based on their positioning alone, and that will teach you how to play ranged classes in the future.
Fourth, be patient. You are not supposed to be hitting on tanks cuz its a waste of AP, but when I pug I do it all the time waiting for an opportunity before crashing through and bypassing some tanks to get in the back line. But if you always rush in and ignore the front line, you will get rolled over. I don't know how many times I heard on comms ''oh they are really focusing me tonight'' when in fact they should be saying ''I'm in the middle of the **** therefore they are focusing me because I am an easy target''. Dying creates tremendous pressure on the healers because resing puts them at risk and takes time away from healing the rest of the team. In conclusion, if I don't have a ranged dps or a healer in sight, I target melee dps first, followed by 2 handed tanks and then maybe a shield tank, but I try not to. In first place however, regardless of class is an overextended character. The reason is that while it may take you a little time and maybe a healer to help you finish him off, you will then be able to rush back in the fight and kill unguarded ppl while he is slowly watching the countdown to resurrection on his screen, not to mention the time it will take for him to get back in the fight.
Fifth, protect your healers. Them noticing that you care for them will make them care about you in the future.
Sixth, use a /assist macro and try to assist off of a good melee dps if you can, if not then pick a good ranged dps. In one of the video you will see that I have always Rayzr targeted because I know that he is one of the best choppa in the game. I am not always on his target, but if I don't have time to pick and chose a target i just click a mouse button and I am on his target instantly.
Seventh: detaunt, root, disarm.
Eighth: Find your own playstyle and try to refine your target selection system based on your own experience. This is what I found that works for me but I am certain other ppl will have their own way of doing things.
Nineth: Try to do aoe pressure when there are 2-3+ players that could be hit. Sometimes I find that some sounds and animations of certain spells play even a psychological effect on others and it helps in maintaining pressure and initiave.
Tenth: Use M2 focus mind to get away from crowd control abilities when **** hits the fan, as it always does sooner or later. Also, don't be afraid to hit that flee button if you feel you are getting focused.
Here are videos playing a few scs with a relatively low lvl sorc with very easy to get gear and still pulling my weight for the team. If you pay attention you will see plenty of killing overextended chars, pressuring backline, bypassing shielded tanks, isolating ennemies, assisting, detaunting, rooting, disarming, pressuring dps and helping healers. Keep in mind that this is purely pug gameplay and playing with an organized team is quite different and this playstyle would not be optimal. I hope this will be helpful to any players that are relatively new.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QORr9heOOek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4PyxVOqIpU
