Curse

kostolomac · Apr 27, 2009, 03:41 PM // 15:41

My brother just did raisu on masters in Hm with a pug. The people were friendly, weren't picky about classes and even played well.
I plan on pugging some stuff myself.
Quite nice update.

Fril Estelin · Apr 27, 2009, 03:45 PM // 15:45

Just did Raisu Palace HM with a PUG, quick and simple in 16mins, great experience. I manage to make the group somewhat balanced, but we had to respec once.

Someone saw an ER healer ele and said "I want a real monk or I leave". He stayed and was humbled by the great work of the ele.

This is the kind of experience that revitalise you. PUG 2.0, indeed!

BenjZee · Apr 27, 2009, 03:50 PM // 15:50

THK was interesting i thought especailly when one monk disappeared after the cutscene and wouldn't help....that left it down to me we did pretty well for healing

was thoroughly enjoyable plus it was nice having a chat with other players.
Raisu was funny aswell straight away masters HM...even when i had to leave quickly to sort out a pet

came back to find they wern't too pissed off just a request to "get the hell over here"

Zen1331 · Apr 27, 2009, 04:11 PM // 16:11

It was pretty amazing seeing all these chars in THK. I hooked up with a Sin who had his discord heroes. I asked if I can bring mine and proceeded to be the AP caller on my necro. We just smoked everything in our path and we had an understanding, that when we see our red bars start going down we would hurry along and help each other. Needless to say we mastered that mission.

I h/h'd Raisu palace because you really have to be co-ordinated with that run and I've done it in HM a couple time b4. Rragars was/is a pain in the ass. Hard to find healers so I did hybrid healing as a Necro/Monk w/ WoH and standard prots only bringing enfeebling blood and necrosis as a standby attack skill, but the rest of the time I would help a monk with prots and party wide healing.

And as stated in a lot of posts, I quickly noticed how there were no pricks or attitudes and generally everyone wanted to do good. Everyone was ping'ing their builds so we all had an idea of what we were packing. This was also a good reason for a lot of guys to bring out their consets and other goodies. I packed a couple or res scrolls and 4leafs, candy canes, cookies and cupcakes.

Mind you it was nearing 11pm CST in my neighborhood when we tackled rragars and everyone was pretty tired. We all resigned at lvl 2 b4 the roj hounds and flesh reavers. Way too tough imho. Oh well off to find the next z-quest and pug group.

Nessar · Apr 27, 2009, 04:41 PM // 16:41

I pug'd THK HM three times. That was usually because of over-aggro/bad monks.
I pug'd the coldstone quest once, and that was with mostly melee and me monking :x But it went well, considering the hero monks build was...bad.
Pug'd the rocktail quest w/ one person monking, we surprisingly lived.

Pugs are surprising me these days, from ursan to flare spammers, yet they still succeed. People are really fun to play with now since people aren't being build nazi's

. Although there are some bad seeds, based on my experience lately, I think it's possible to find a competent group now.

Pugs are ftw imo ^^

JoeKnowMo · Apr 27, 2009, 05:14 PM // 17:14

Pugged Rocktail x 7. All successful.
Pugged Raisu x 7. 2 early wipes. 1 wiped about the middle. Restarted with the same pug and finished it.

Pugged Blacktide once. Went smoothly.
And pugged several AB matches. Found a good group where we won several in a row.

PUGs are so much more fun than h/h. Gotta do some more later tonight.

Zahr Dalsk · Apr 27, 2009, 05:29 PM // 17:29

My teams have been going like this:

Me with AP and PvE skills.
Other guy with AP and PvE skills.
Six discord heroes.

It works nicely so far. Well done, ArenaNet.

A11Eur0 · Apr 27, 2009, 05:32 PM // 17:32

I pugged Blacktide once, two warriors brought their monks and we kept dying

I'm usually a proponent of pugs but i'm skeptical at times.

Valcion · Apr 27, 2009, 05:43 PM // 17:43

Overall competence seems to be up. Either I'm lucky or only those who's at least somewhat decent do HM.

My group blitzed THK all the while complaining the final assault needs to be faster. Me and one other person ended up carto'ing while the other 6 laid the beatdown on the waves.

Raisu was finished in about 14 minutes, we steamrolled through it despite none of us having anything to counter sliver armor, and nobody died even once, it was pretty O.O considering we had 4 melees up in the front at all times.

Perdition was a tad slower due to overaggroing, but we eventually finished it with 1 person down. Most of it was everyone bitching about not knowing where the boss went.

I can't say for Ragra (sp?), since I couldn't find a group, but for overall missions, PUG'ing is definitely a good alternative to h/h.

Still need to see how pugs handle GoP and GoM missions though.

Targren · Apr 27, 2009, 05:44 PM // 17:44

I generally have mixed luck with PUGs. These are no different.

Raisu - H/H'ed.
THK - PUG worked out great. No imbiciles, though a bit of poor coordination on the torches (too many people went for them, rather than not enough, so it's all good)
Blacktide - Smooth sailing. Someone was either running with Wiki or knew the map well so we didn't have to muddle around looking for the monitors.

Molotov - Cake walk.
Coldstone - Charlie-Foxtrot. The group I was with was horrible. We had the typical narutard sin bitching at my ranger for not interrupting the baddies he aggrod and led back to us (it;s hard to Dshot after casting rebirth because we were SUPPOSED to be clear), impatient group who didn't know the patrol route so insisted on running around blindly rather than the two logical choices (wait in one known spot, or follow the route backwards). It was just baed.

AB and JQ pugs were as awful as ever.

Eragon Zarroc · Apr 27, 2009, 06:00 PM // 18:00

yeah, this finally put pugging back into the game. It's good to see a ton of people playing with other people. it is also quite a good way for a guild to bond together through grouping and having the same objectives.

Zen1331 · Apr 27, 2009, 06:07 PM // 18:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Targren

Someone was either running with Wiki

I have 2 monitors with the other running the Wiki so I have and idea on Maps and the groups we are up against. Plus it really does help if you've had some experience with HM, because aggro control is sooo important and plus having the experience in doing a lot of these missions over and over and over again, you pretty much have a good idea of where you should be going and the role you play as your main character.

At least the groups I've PUG'd with understood not to bum rush mobs. But PUG's FTW! Makes the game really fun again. Nice seeing different capes flying about.

Targren · Apr 27, 2009, 06:16 PM // 18:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zen1331

I have 2 monitors with the other running the Wiki so I have and idea on Maps and the groups we are up against. Plus it really does help if you've had some experience with HM, because aggro control is sooo important and plus having the experience in doing a lot of these missions over and over and over again, you pretty much have a good idea of where you should be going and the role you play as your main character.

Oh, it wasn't a complaint. It was GREAT. I hate muddling around getting pounded on by HM mobs trying to find that last little bugger (see my mini-story about hunting down Harn Coldstone).

Another nice part is that so far, I'm 3/3 (GWEN excluded) on HM missions I still needed to do (incredibly lucky with THK since it was one of 2.5 missions I had left for proph).

FengShuiDove · Apr 27, 2009, 06:38 PM // 18:38

I'm enjoying the coordination this encourages between guild/alliance members, but I tried puggin on the first day and it was miserable. Doing Blood Washes Blood HM with a PUG, seemed like they knew what they were doing and had decent team comp. I ran HB (for pug happiness) and the other Monk was running [[Life Sheath] which I assumed meant he was running at least a somewhat capable prot bar.

Well, we ended up with a Dervish who had a bunch of self-heals and no damage, apparently to compensate for his incredibly low health, and the prot could NOT keep up with him, especially as we over-aggroed a ton and as his DP stacked up. The damage our team put out was pathetic, and the other Monk and my ability to use Rebirth and kite successfully kept the team from 4-5 wipes. Eventually, after doing everything we could to keep him up, we both refused to Res the Dervish and went on to (finally) complete the quest.

I may try again to find a PUG, but if I can do it quickly without one or get an alliance group together, you bet I'll be doing that. Looking like PUGs are gonna be my last resort, at least until I try again and hopefully have a more successful one.

Scythe O F Glory · Apr 27, 2009, 07:33 PM // 19:33

I did THK, Blacktide, Molotov and Raisu with guildies, so that went well. I pugged the Elusive Golemancer which went well also. I also pugged Blood Washes Blood which wasn't so good: We wiped 3 times, but still got it done. All in all, I am impressed with the overall skill of the players, and people not getting as frusturated with other people in the party.

Lord Of Blame · Apr 27, 2009, 08:06 PM // 20:06

For me, all HM

Rocktail, 2x H/H, 1x ran people for free with my 600 monk

Coldstone, H/H since I needed the vanquish anyway and I'm sure no pugs wanted to stick around that long. Successful, with only a couple of henchies dieing from standing in MS from hydras.

THK, PUG'd this one, I ran a discord setup they had sabway. Too easy.

Raisu, PUG'd this one too. Took about 10 min to form the party and 18 min to finish the mission. I was a little worried with the first few groups but after that it seemed everyone started working together much better and we rolled thru with no problems.

Great job on Anet part breathing some life back into PVE pugging. I have enjoyed the update, and my male ele looks sooooooo much better as a female.

Swift Thief · Apr 27, 2009, 08:12 PM // 20:12

You guys like to get into horrible PUGs. All my PUGs did the quests in HM on the first try, except for Deep.

Daesu · Apr 27, 2009, 08:19 PM // 20:19

All HM,

Rocktail is so simple you have to be a fool not to grab that 70 copper coins. Took 3 heroes, 3 henchies, 1 afk char from second account with me. Use Pain Inverter on him and it is done.

Completed it with all my 16 chars. This is one is too fast and easy to PUG. By the time I get a group ready, I would have done it already.

Coldstone, pain in the ass with henchies/heroes which like to clump together for Hydras. Not worth many copper coins either. No confidence in PUGs for this one.

THK, I definitely gave PUGs a fair chance. PUGed and failed 5 times. Did it with 6 heroes, and 1 afk char smoothly.

Raisu, PUGed and failed 3 times before succeeding. From that experience, it takes too long to PUG, I did it with 3 heroes, the 2 warrior henchies, and 1 Ele hench, and 1 afk char very smoothly. Yes, I only bring 1 N/Rt healer (not counting Mhenlo and Danika), Warriors and Eles have the best celestial skills. Completed it with all my 16 chars (all within 16 to 20mins even though I am allowed 30mins for masters in HM).

Smurf Minions · Apr 27, 2009, 08:21 PM // 20:21

Well, i got into some kind of PUG which was loaded with pvp mates, and we didn't have much experience. Though getting the most (10) on vent worked out pretty well, it managed to save ourselves from a party wipe quite some times. So i was quite impressed on how far we came with a pug of pvp players

Arkantos · Apr 27, 2009, 08:50 PM // 20:50

Wait, wait.

Pugs are successfully completing hard mode missions?

I really, really have to see it to believe it.