Curse

glacialphoenix · Apr 27, 2009, 10:14 PM // 22:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arkantos

Pugs are successfully completing hard mode missions?

The miracles are just stacking on, aren't they. Not only are they successfully completing HM missions, they're doing it politely and with coordination!

Daesu · Apr 27, 2009, 10:21 PM // 22:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by glacialphoenix

The miracles are just stacking on, aren't they. Not only are they successfully completing HM missions, they're doing it politely and with coordination!

You must be in a totally different district from where I find my PUGs.

Marverick · Apr 27, 2009, 10:22 PM // 22:22

Hmmm... really depends...

I got a good group for Blacktide Den that knew what they were doing, and we had a good time.

THK was epic fail with a PuG. I found someone else and just ran 6-necro Discordway and owned the thing (same for Perdition Rock).

Did Raisu Palace with Discordway too yesterday.

Daesu · Apr 27, 2009, 10:27 PM // 22:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marverick

Hmmm... really depends...

I got a good group for Blacktide Den that knew what they were doing, and we had a good time.

THK was epic fail with a PuG. I found someone else and just ran 6-necro Discordway and owned the thing (same for Perdition Rock).

Did Raisu Palace with Discordway too yesterday.

In other words, PUGs vary so they may or may not be good enough to complete the mission. H/H is more consistent.

I join PUGs for fun and if I have the time to waste. If I want speed, and certainty of success, I usually go for my heroes.

glacialphoenix · Apr 27, 2009, 10:39 PM // 22:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daesu

You must be in a totally different district from where I find my PUGs.

Possibly. Then again, when you're a group going "GLF monk" for quite some time, you're probably more inclined to listen to the monk.

It's true that PUGs vary, and the thing about PUGs is that you'll always get a fair share of idiots. But I think people who used to PUG (and who haven't in a while) are coming out of the woodwork, because they know they can form a party. Maybe nostalgia plays a factor.

I PUG only on my monk, because she's completed most of the things they're doing already. On other characters, I find a couple of friends and heroway it. I think if you want to enjoy PUGging, you have to relax and go "Well, this might not work" - which is harder when you have a title you want to go for, a particular skill you want to cap or a particular drop you want to farm. Zaishen missions offer, I think, the luxury of waiting. You only get the reward once at any time, anyway, so there's always time to do it again if you failed the mission. I found people more willing to sit down and work out what to do, more inclined to sync...therefore, better success. I don't think it's a result of better players per se, I think it's a result of players being more relaxed instead of expecting "OK, we have two HB monks, 6 Ursans, GOGOGOGOGOGO - OMG YOU NOOBS /ragequit."

bhavv · Apr 27, 2009, 10:41 PM // 22:41

I tried a pug for HM oolas lab today ....

I regretted it. Party wipe after party wipe, lack of heals, people seemed to be half asleep all the time.

H/H are better because they always work and do what they are meant to.

Daesu · Apr 27, 2009, 10:47 PM // 22:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by glacialphoenix

I PUG only on my monk, because she's completed most of the things they're doing already. On other characters, I find a couple of friends and heroway it. I think if you want to enjoy PUGging, you have to relax and go "Well, this might not work" - which is harder when you have a title you want to go for, a particular skill you want to cap or a particular drop you want to farm. Zaishen missions offer, I think, the luxury of waiting. You only get the reward once at any time, anyway, so there's always time to do it again if you failed the mission. I found people more willing to sit down and work out what to do, more inclined to sync...therefore, better success.

Really? Interesting view. I dont find that people are any more patient than before.

Taking myself as an example. I have 16 playable characters across 2 accounts. It can take a long time to bring all of them through the mission in 1 day through pugging alone, considering the attempts that resulted in failures. And I dont have a full day to play either. I suspect people with many characters would want to get through the quests as fast as possible too.

HawkofStorms · Apr 27, 2009, 11:02 PM // 23:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhavv

I tried a pug for HM oolas lab today ....

I regretted it. Party wipe after party wipe, lack of heals, people seemed to be half asleep all the time.

H/H are better because they always work and do what they are meant to.

Oolas lab I'm definately doing H/H. All I need is my elementalist spamming Blinding Surge, and that quest is over.

own age myname · Apr 27, 2009, 11:13 PM // 23:13

I think I should try this "PUGing".

I haven't PUGed pve since like I was a noob warrior in prophecies. I remember THK giving me a hell of a time on NM though.

I'll have to check this out :O

Zen1331 · Apr 27, 2009, 11:25 PM // 23:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkofStorms

Oolas lab I'm definately doing H/H. All I need is my elementalist spamming Blinding Surge, and that quest is over.

Yeah Oola's lab is easier doing H/H. Just getting there with an unco-ordinated group can be a big pain. This is one of the missions I do to fill a hero's HM handbook for points.

glacialphoenix · Apr 27, 2009, 11:38 PM // 23:38

Quote:

And I dont have a full day to play either. I suspect people with many characters would want to get through the quests as fast as possible too.

Not that there's no pressure at all, just that 1. it's not like, say, farming VS, where five minutes wasted is five minutes you could have opened the chest again; 2. the rewards are once-off, and you can hold the quest in your log indefinitely. You just have to make sure there's at least one slot in that type of quest per day so you can pick up a new one. So you don't have to panic and go "SHIT I WON'T COMPLETE THIS QUEST TODAY AAAAARGH NOOB PUG".

I think if the quests had been arranged such that you could only have one quest, or you HAD to finish the quest on the day you picked it up... things would be different.

Incidentally, minor complaint, but if you've completed two quests you can't pick which one you want to claim rewards for. I had to claim my AB reward (without the third bonus) in order to get the reward for a bounty.

Daesu · Apr 27, 2009, 11:51 PM // 23:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by glacialphoenix

Not that there's no pressure at all, just that 1. it's not like, say, farming VS, where five minutes wasted is five minutes you could have opened the chest again; 2. the rewards are once-off, and you can hold the quest in your log indefinitely. You just have to make sure there's at least one slot in that type of quest per day so you can pick up a new one. So you don't have to panic and go "SHIT I WON'T COMPLETE THIS QUEST TODAY AAAAARGH NOOB PUG".

Even so, there is a max limit of 3 quests of the same quest type in your quest log. If you dont finish it today and if you already have 2 other quests of the same type in your quest log, which you like then you can't get anymore new quest for that type. Since we just started this ZaiShen quests, it is still not such an issue but over time, you can find it hard to decide which quest to keep and which one to abandon in your quest log.

Quote:

Incidentally, minor complaint, but if you've completed two quests you can't pick which one you want to claim rewards for. I had to claim my AB reward (without the third bonus) in order to get the reward for a bounty.

So it makes sense to collect the reward immediately upon completing a single quest. Luckily for me, I have only used my pvp chars to AB.

Ghost Dog · Apr 27, 2009, 11:51 PM // 23:51

I guess I'll try again but I tried a pug the first day of all this and it was a sad reminder why I H/H.

Yawgmoth · Apr 28, 2009, 12:05 AM // 00:05

This is the BEST thing about this whole big update - PUG'ing is back and alive like it's 2005! I'm totally loving it.
Failures happen but overall I've had better experiences and success ratio than expected.

Now the only thing that's blatantly missing - PUG Vanquishing. It's practically impossible to find people and make a group to vanq a specific area or one of the many areas you still need. Hope the next content update will help with this (global partysearch or even special rewards for area of the day vanqs)

J I L T · Apr 28, 2009, 12:37 AM // 00:37

I had a pleasant surprise when doing Thunder Head Keep in hard mode even though we had mostly rangers and warriors it went pretty smoothly. Though we almost failed due to a majority of the team trying to run back a forth between gates and surprise surprise some monsters slipped past. Was a close call but everyone decided to listen and guard Jalis after that. I don't think I'll press my luck too often and certainly not with a difficult dungeon or elite area.

I don't think anyone is really getting better it's just more people are doing missions and whatnot so you have a better chance of getting a good or at least decent team.

Puddin Cheeks · Apr 28, 2009, 12:45 AM // 00:45

i can H/H oola's HM and its cake walk. Other missions i like to find a partner for a 2 man 6 discord/roj setup. It takes a very good PUG to beat that team as far as versatility and speed goes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yawgmoth

This is the BEST thing about this whole big update - PUG'ing is back and alive like it's 2005! I'm totally loving it.
Failures happen but overall I've had better experiences and success ratio than expected.

Now the only thing that's blatantly missing - PUG Vanquishing. It's practically impossible to find people and make a group to vanq a specific area or one of the many areas you still need. Hope the next content update will help with this (global partysearch or even special rewards for area of the day vanqs)

I have found it really easy now to find my mate for 2man 6d-way and if he leaves after a "bounty" quest i get his necros

So i am essentially vanquishing areas that have a bounty quest when i haven't finished it yet. I find that far less stressful than doing them all at once.

Of course i ask ahead of time if they would like to vanquish with me, but they usually are going to do something else.

Me + 6 necros = perdition rock annihilation. It is so fast it is redonkulous.

Chthon · Apr 28, 2009, 02:17 AM // 02:17

So far the ZQuests haven't got me PUGing, but they did get me to drag out some alliance mates, which is something I don't do as much as I'd like.

glacialphoenix · Apr 28, 2009, 06:15 AM // 06:15

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Luckily for me, I have only used my pvp chars to AB.

Oh, I got it on my PvP monklet, too...

Quote:

So it makes sense to collect the reward immediately upon completing a single quest.

Yeah it does. I was holding off on the AB because the final bonus said 'win 6 alliance battles'. I'm Kurz, so the waiting times are horrendous, so I was doing it slowly... Ah well.

Charlotte the Harlot · Apr 28, 2009, 06:57 AM // 06:57

Pugging is a lot of fun but its only a matter of time before people realize zcoins really aren't that useful. 90 z coins (the usual mission reward) is about 600g for raisu its decent 12-15 mins for that + the gold but for THK its pretty terrible. Some of the bounties are just terrible 35 coins is a little over 200g worth for the maxine/harn its bad the most recent kourna one still wasn't good. Considering the only interesting reward that you couldn't get much more easily by doing something more profitable is the equip pack I think they should probably add some more interesting rewards or increase the number of coins.

EPO Bot · Apr 28, 2009, 07:52 AM // 07:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlotte the Harlot

Pugging is a lot of fun but its only a matter of time before people realize zcoins really aren't that useful. 90 z coins (the usual mission reward) is about 600g for raisu its decent 12-15 mins for that + the gold but for THK its pretty terrible. Some of the bounties are just terrible 35 coins is a little over 200g worth for the maxine/harn its bad the most recent kourna one still wasn't good. Considering the only interesting reward that you couldn't get much more easily by doing something more profitable is the equip pack I think they should probably add some more interesting rewards or increase the number of coins.

Maybe they should add one free Zkey for each completed Zmission?