Curse

Charcoal Ann · Aug 26, 2005, 09:55 PM // 21:55

i have such a small guild that i have been through this game 4 full times surviving only on PUGs. i have been the necro (never had trouble getting a group); i have been an Ele (never had the monk shout at me for trying to tank when i'm being chased across the map by bladed Aatxes); i have been a warrior (never been shouted at for being Leeroy when i'm trying to take the aggro for the casters); and finally i have been a Monk (never had a warrior charge of to certain death and then spam i'm dead!).

i have encountered no real problems in my PUGs. yet from reading this forum you would think that the entirety of all PUG population is made up of total N00bs.

i think that this is undeserved.

i have met a few warriors who do not listen but they are always only come one at a time, i can survive without them. i have been i groups of people who are willing to spend 15mins whilst i outline the 'how not to die' rules in UW and FoW and Thunderhead and Aurora Glade.

People only remember their bad experiences. People only post their bad experiences. Its not much of a post to say; today i played with an OK PUG.

the secret to playing with PUGs is patience. they do not know you, you must explain things fully because they do not know your play style.

i'm sure people have had good experiences with PUGs and i would like to hear them. as i'm sure everyone does.

Some groups gel some don't. but a good player can still play in a group that they don't get on with. don't take offence, don't give offence. only make jokes about Koreans

one of mine was when i did all of the Kryta missions with the same group. no fails. no deaths. no sticky moments.
we simply gel'd. all are now on my friends list.

(and yes, PUGs are good for expanding your friends list. not your ignore list. my ignore list has none.)

just give people a chance eh?

Sanji · Aug 26, 2005, 10:00 PM // 22:00

Guild Wars isn't my first experience with Pick up Groups and won't be my last.

While I'm glad you have the patience and tolerance for them, I have to say that they are maligned for a reason. I would rather eat a bowl of asbestos than play with most of the people I've met in PuGs again.

But I would not be so narrow-minded to say that anyone of quality will be limited to playing with Guild Mates or friends and that all PuGs are bad. They definately are one of the leading reasons for people being cliquish, though.

zehly · Aug 26, 2005, 10:01 PM // 22:01

PUGs FTW... it's the best way to meet people, instead of just staying inside a little bubble and never experience the strategies of other players.

IlikeGW · Aug 26, 2005, 10:04 PM // 22:04

Bitching about PUGs mostly applies to PVP.

Bitching about a PVE group would be kind of silly because PVE is so simple to get through, that people can't screw it up for you that much.

edit: with the exception of FoW and UW

Jenosavel · Aug 26, 2005, 10:09 PM // 22:09

I do have to say that the majority of my PUG experiences have been horrible. It's always funny when you can beat a mission much easier using henchmen than player characters. However, despite my apparent bad luck with PUGs, I've had some really priceless experiences with them too.

I will never forget the PUG I did Abbadon's Mouth with on my ranger. I had advertised myself as a Choking Gas ranger, 'cause at the time I was set up to use Practiced Stance to keep Choking Gas up constantly. I got invited to a group, and we went into the mission with a few words on strategy, but nothing much. Once we got in the mission though, it was stunning. We breezed through Abbadon's Mouth so quickly, and decided we'd give Hell's Precipice a try. It was the same story there, as we only had 2 deaths throughout the entire course of the mission and the enemies fell quickly.

sidepocket13 · Aug 26, 2005, 10:17 PM // 22:17

I had a good experience with thunderhead. we were a very well balanced group for the mission, everone listened to one another and it was a breeze! i had no idea why people said the mission was so hard until i attempted to help my guild mates through it! HA!

Sanji · Aug 26, 2005, 10:41 PM // 22:41

Thunderhead isn't hard. It is one of those missions where people who either lack common sense or are emotionally unbalanced can easily sabotage it for their entire group.

Morganas · Aug 26, 2005, 10:42 PM // 22:42

Alot of people end up joining pickup-spam groups and get their PUG experience from that.

Your PUG experience will suck if you don't talk to the people in your group through PM's first. Just ask them what they do, and as long as they don't say something incredibly stupid let them in (roughly half will say something incredibly stupid or nothing at all, these are the people who would have screwed you over otherwise).

Xanatos786 · Aug 26, 2005, 10:54 PM // 22:54

Some people in this game are jerks, and others are really cool, just like in real life. I've also had a lot more good experiences from PUGs than bad.

trelloskilos · Aug 27, 2005, 12:48 AM // 00:48

PUGs in PvP, particularly HoH are probably the most annoying for me. I'm no veteran at PvP, but I'm no n00b either. My character's versatile enough and sensible enough to adapt to most groups, but unfortunately, even when the Tournament group I'm in are winning, there will always be one who will say "OMFG u suXX0R!" and leave, even though the opposing team were wiped out, and leave so the third round is a foregone conclusion (Usually it's the W/Mo or the Mo/Me that goes)

PvE PUGs are largely a different matter. I've only had 3 or 4 terrible experiences with quest PUGs, maybe a few more with mision PUGs, and some fantastic ones with some PUGs for some of the more difficult co-ops. PUGs only need 1 bad apple to spoil them, but in a team of 8, that means another 7 are potentially good players, and all feel exactly the same towards the one who's ruining it.

Son of Mooky · Aug 27, 2005, 04:39 AM // 04:39

95% of my PUGs have been fine. Compliments eary tend to smooth things over. Last night joined a pick up group and finished the last quest. Everyone just gelled perfectly.

If you ever have the chance to be a Monk with a character "Magical Powder" as the supporting blood necro, do it. Best necro I have ever worked with.

I was in one group where the leader just spit profanities off at everyone. Group was together for all of 2 minutes. Bad groups are a rare instance for me.

Kool Pajamas · Aug 27, 2005, 04:48 AM // 04:48

I only play in PUGs and I've been fine with it. Yes you run into a few jerks, but there really hasnt been that many to make me hate the game or anything. I've met many more nice people than idiots.

Red Peasant · Aug 27, 2005, 05:17 AM // 05:17

While most of the time I just use henchies for side quests, I have used PUGs for all the storyline missions up to the Wilds (as far as I've gotten). Most have seemed to work well enough to get the mission done without restarts, and some have been very enjoyable experiences (notably running one of the Kryta missions with myself, 2 other R/?'s and a ?/R or two. Power Rangers jokes the whole way through

). I've had a couple where a tank or monk decided to drop out, as well. That kinda sucked, but those tended to be the groups where we were having fun and decided to keep going and ended up beating the mission. I've also had people do stupid stuff during missions, but never anything that endangered the rest of the group (I had a team member run into the big horde of charr that Rurik says to "avoid at all costs" in Ruins of Surmia. Quickest death I've ever seen). People complain about PUG's, but I think that "one bad apple..." just about sums up the PUG experience.

That's my two cents about PUGs (in PvE at least, I haven't tried Tombs yet).

Ilya Khan · Aug 27, 2005, 05:25 AM // 05:25

Ann, you make some terrific points. My friend's list is filled with tons of people who are incredibly skilled with whom I stomped the PVE missions and quests perhaps better than if I were with my guild. Because you musn't forget, when someone good has no one in his guild to play with, what else to do other than join a PUG?

Arturo02 · Aug 27, 2005, 05:30 AM // 05:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by IlikeGW

Bitching about PUGs mostly applies to PVP.

Bitching about a PVE group would be kind of silly because PVE is so simple to get through, that people can't screw it up for you that much.

edit: with the exception of FoW and UW

very true point, but usually it starts off with an aggro issue. Then an argument, then someone drops from group. I think it's silly to get worked up over a quest in a videogame.

the aggro arguments and the quitters are my biggest beef. Even when you pull and try to be careful, it's like you got the baby Rex in the scene in Lost World. They go nuts, and it takes EVERYONE to get out of target range to shake that aggro.

But I have gotten into a lot of good pugs so far as well. The best is when you get into one that wants to keep going with two or three missions. That really rocks.

One of my best nights so far...

I got in with a group and we rolled along, doing a few missions then got to riverside where you have to split up to go on. The next mission only me and one other person from that original pug re-formed. We had to add four new people.

Then it got ugly. People were arguing, someone quit, the whole fun and chemistry was gone. The monk and I, the two original members went back to the outpost and managed to get through the mission ourselves.

We arrive at the next mission outpost and lo and behold there's the rest of our group! We re-team and we all had a blast doing another two missions. It was really exciting and fun because we all knew each other and what our chars did at that point.

Nights like those are rare and I don't expect to experience a repeat of that evening. Was a lot of fun though.

EinValentine · Aug 27, 2005, 06:07 AM // 06:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arturo02

the aggro arguments and the quitters are my biggest beef

Don't forget the Penises on the Minimap crowd, and the racist types! Just today somebody was drawing swastikas on the minimap in one of my groups.

That did wonders for group cohesion, of course.

Divine Elemental · Aug 27, 2005, 06:09 AM // 06:09

Pugs are how good guilds/friendships are made
*cough* sB

EverBlue · Aug 27, 2005, 06:25 AM // 06:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charcoal Ann

i have such a small guild that i have been through this game 4 full times surviving only on PUGs. i have been the necro (never had trouble getting a group); i have been an Ele (never had the monk shout at me for trying to tank when i'm being chased across the map by bladed Aatxes); i have been a warrior (never been shouted at for being Leeroy when i'm trying to take the aggro for the casters); and finally i have been a Monk (never had a warrior charge of to certain death and then spam i'm dead!).

i have encountered no real problems in my PUGs. yet from reading this forum you would think that the entirety of all PUG population is made up of total N00bs.

i think that this is undeserved.

i have met a few warriors who do not listen but they are always only come one at a time, i can survive without them. i have been i groups of people who are willing to spend 15mins whilst i outline the 'how not to die' rules in UW and FoW and Thunderhead and Aurora Glade.

People only remember their bad experiences. People only post their bad experiences. Its not much of a post to say; today i played with an OK PUG.

the secret to playing with PUGs is patience. they do not know you, you must explain things fully because they do not know your play style.

i'm sure people have had good experiences with PUGs and i would like to hear them. as i'm sure everyone does.

Some groups gel some don't. but a good player can still play in a group that they don't get on with. don't take offence, don't give offence. only make jokes about Koreans

one of mine was when i did all of the Kryta missions with the same group. no fails. no deaths. no sticky moments.
we simply gel'd. all are now on my friends list.

(and yes, PUGs are good for expanding your friends list. not your ignore list. my ignore list has none.)

just give people a chance eh?

THANK YOU! I thought I was the only one. I too have great PUG groups, and my friend list is huge. My ignore list is 0. I don't know WHAT is wrong with everyone at these forums. I'm beginning to wonder if they're completely sane.

Divine Elemental · Aug 27, 2005, 06:27 AM // 06:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by EverBlue

THANK YOU! I thought I was the only one. I too have great PUG groups, and my friend list is huge. My ignore list is 0. I don't know WHAT is wrong with everyone at these forums. I'm beginning to wonder if they're completely sane.

i have like 6 in friends

and like 2 in ignore
i feel so such a loaner

Sekkira · Aug 27, 2005, 06:30 AM // 06:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Divine Elemental

Pugs are how good guilds/friendships are made
*cough* sB

Indeed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Divine Elemental

i have like 6 in friends

and like 2 in ignore
i feel so such a loaner

Ignore list is useless to me. If someone is griefing in the team or whatever, chances are I'll probably never see or hear from them again. So why waste space? Although I have pretty much the same opinion about the friends list as well. Not too social, so I tend not to ask to group.