Pretty much this.
You have to put in triple the effort to succeed in pugging than being in a guild roster.
On top of which you’ll most likely have to lead yourself if you’re undergeared.
Also tanking is literally the easiest role to pickup, as most of the mechanics are the same on every boss.
Exactly this attitude is the problem with WoW currently, it started out as a team / community driven gameworld but got twisted into this jealous and envious mess where snowflakes need to feel good because they know how to play a game.
Given that 445 ilvl is way too low for a HC N’zoth, do some mythic+'s with your friend and try to get some better gear before attempting N’zoth on HC again and make sure you know the tactics.
True
But if you are not a casual and put enough effort in your game, you are already done it (and possibly in a guild also) and don’t really need to pug it
While - like the OP and friend - have some problems and lower Ilvl in your point of view 465+ is the realm of “Overgear HC Ny’alotha”
But yes, what you said is totally true, if you have those, you don’t need to waltz around 475 fully geared fully enchanted /corrupted BiS set to get an invite
This has been WoW forever.
Pugging is personal responsibility and grit. I got myself through this raid tier with effort and time. I didn’t expect or need anyone to carry me through it. Would have been nice - but that’s what guilds are for.
Like I said, this is not an optimal or even advised way to do it - if you want community and a real raid experience; join a guild.
*Edit: I don’t know if your guild still does H Nzoth clears - but you seem to be in a position to help the OP and his friend out. Not being snarky - it would be a genuinely nice thing to do.
440 ilvl for HC N’Zoth goes beyond empathy.
Nowadays players can easily get 455 ilvl…
Honestly, if you’re not paying or you don’t have a guild wanting to boost his friend for free nobody will stay on that group.
Edit: the only useful advise I can provide without paying for a boost is gearing up and apply to that HC Ny’alotha forum run.
I’ve been guildless for some time now but seems forum still hasn’t caught up yet, think Blizzard needs to remove the timegating from the forum as well?
And yes i could help, though the least i’d expect someone to do when they take part in a raid is to read up and watch some movies on YT or whatever to get an idea on how the battle is going to be.
Not to mention pots, flasks, etc. especially if you’re lower geared.
Gid gud 
I’d say, farm herbs or something until you get like 100k gold and buy a boost from tradechat. If you don’t care about the accomplishment and just want the mount before it’s gone. You can realisticly farm this amount in around 2-4 weeks.
well id say your friend has to gear up a little bit more 455 or 460
100k for hc nzoth is good price
p.s i got this main curve and mount by paying 100k and already at 465(not bragging just the usual 460 pvp conquest weekly caps+1 hc wrathion trinket)
Gear both of you, or farm gold for a boost. Carryes are done in guilds not pugs.
It won’t catch up until you find a new guild, I’m afraid. The guild that shows under my name on the forums has been disbanded for almost a year.
Thats not empathy, it doing a boost because he doesnt want to do it himself. If you want empathy send him 100k gold to buy it. Or you wont do it because that would mean you have to do the effort?
While you are there, send me 100K too!
You know what, 75K will be enough
I’m not greedy ^^
Really? I always make my own group on reset day and just select a really well put together group with experience and 1 shot each boss up to nzoth, if you have experience best way to get ur weekly hc nzoth Is to lead yourself and control who you let in.
It’s lost in the rift somewhere?
You make a group yourself, solo, you make a bigger group, something like 2-4-14, so 1 lackluster DPS matters much less, you invite your friend in the last DPS spot when the group is fully formed and ready to go.
pugs were always like that
low gear pugs do exist (low geared ppl making their own grps) but they fail on basic stuff and quickly disband. Like, they may struggle to kill ra’den because vita too hard. Or you see a player with void collapse run out and get killed. This mechanic is a noob test pretty much, you see a player running out, you kick him.
Then there are 475 groups that one shot the content with ease. Been in many HC nzoth pugs that made it look like on autopilot. These are geared and exped players fishing for one specific item or the cloak upgrade. Was the same in wod with archimonde. Some groups could not get past mannoroth, others one shot both bosses in 3 min each.
Wrong so very wrong. The differance of pugs today and back in WoD and earlier is that now the leader Expects everyone to know everything. Back then part of the leaders job was to explain a simplyfied version of the strat and then you go for the boss.
Doing any raid as a pug learner group is always a hit or miss situation, but getting your ilvl higher never hurts.
I don’t know if you’re looking for it to be easy or a challenge but there usually are ‘‘Friendship mount’’ runs for these end of expac raids when they’re on farm, was one for the moose in WoD, for the bird in legion and i’m assuming there several for this mount too? Try checking those.
Maybe in classic. Leaders arent going to be giving 1 hour classes to people that cant read ttheir part every time he wants to raid. And even if they were, those that expected the leader to teach randos were terribly selfish. Its not normal that some1 has to do all the work, study every role, organice the raid and then teach all while the rest touch their noses.