Give us noobs a chance

[Llewndyn]

Last night I was on with my 16 cleric and saw an LFG for SOS. I send a tell because I have never run before and I don't like going in and then saying I am new as it causes all sorts of drama. I thought this would be fine since there was a 20 FVS in the group already, so I could provide backup heals and pass out resists (which STILL turned out to be a huge job, can we get a mass resist spell? I will pay 150 or 200 sp just to not have to go through 2 minutes constantly clicking on that stupid spell), leader graciously accepts me into group and we set about waiting.

I mention in party chat that I will do whatever I am told as this is my first run (I don't count the one I did to cap my rogue as I didn't get to do a whole lot there), and leader says it's cool the FVS said he knew mission, then mentions it's his first run too. FVS drops group. We fill with whatever else hits lfm, and my first run is also going to be a solo healing run. Great.

To the FVS that left: I COMPLETELY understand you not wanting to teach us noobs what is (I've heard) a tough mission, but you should have stayed. We had a ball, only one person knew mission but we finished with only 1 death (me, literally RIGHT after he said don't agro fire eles I hit blade barrier instead of heal :P) and with 21 minutes to spare.

I guess I am posting this not only to brag that with the exception of my own idiocy no one died and we all finished in good time, but to some of the vets out there we're not ALL completely useless, sometimes just give us a chance, it doesn't ALWAYS have to end in /fail.

PS- as an aside, I took the nerd high I had acquired from SOS and went and solo healed eye of the titan with 2 hireling casters and had 0 deaths there as well, which is an awesome feat. Why is that music not in every mission? I am not kidding I was dancing around in my chair the whole time, fell off the altar rock thingy 2 or 3 times because I was so busy jamming.... pure awesome.

[Chette]

I agree with you for the most part. Everybody runs a quest for the first time sometime, and the easiest way to learn is from somebody who knows it well. You do a service to the server to teach people new quests, and hope that they pass along the information. Especially when they express an interest to learn, and aren't just piking for loot or xp; when they seem competent, are on voice, are being upfront about not knowing a quest.

That being said, I can also understand that sometimes you're just not in the mood for teaching. Especially if you've run SoS 20 times and still don't have the rune you're looking for. Especially if you've had a bad day and a few failed pugs. Especially since SoS, even when zerged to the max, still takes a good 30 minutes, and frequently results in **** for a reward.

Glad to hear you all had a good time and learned the quest:)

[Bloodstealer]

I am assuming by this that you never actually went onto to kill Sorjek after u finished the easy part.. as you mentioned you still had 21 mins left and nothing about grabbibng your Sovereign Rune.
Thats where many first timers tend to be tested a bit more. Then little mephits are tricksie in there but still not really to challenging a fight as long as the caster / healers keep up the heals buffs and of course dmg spells. Melee need to know when to stop hurtin the big guy and kill a mephit or two.

Anyhow Gratz on achieving the first part tho with an inexperienced PUG.. that in itself isa triumph i guess.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

Good for you OP. I love hearing success stories like this. :D

[Fancy_A_Fling]

That being said, I can also understand that sometimes you're just not in the mood for teaching. Especially if you've run SoS 20 times and still don't have the rune you're looking for. Especially if you've had a bad day and a few failed pugs. Especially since SoS, even when zerged to the max, still takes a good 30 minutes, and frequently results in **** for a reward.

Glad to hear you all had a good time and learned the quest:)

Hmm, ye.. SoS can be very tricky, my first run was done with 2 very well rounded players that pretty much went off and solo'd fire other then that.. i mean the boss fight was cake.. then 2nd time party wasnt as well built, and nearly wiped.. i can understand with the pug's that i do still run... some quests are just not fun with first timer's especially first timer's that either
a. dont listen
b. feel that criticism is bad
c. do their own thing like they own the place

All those combined = 1 horrible run that makes me want to either jump in all guild parties or get the hell off the game.

its great you guys comepleted as formentioned i hope you all got ur sov rune's if not no biggie.. but ive partied with alot of pugs in my day, now i have a great idea of who i do party with and who i dont..

and Proc Element's is a very useful mass, like 60 sp for a full proc on group.. tell them stay together its like a mass heal in its own sort's. <-- has never had a healer :P

was in an 1 hr and 30 mins sin's other night pug's didnt know the quest well and it took a while to get started.. but i felt obligated to help.. (i solo sins daily in 15-20 mins per run..) i was feeling generous.. plus the guys did make me laugh a few times haha so it was a fun party.. i like giving pug's the occasional party up. ESPECIALLY VOD PUGS!!! those are fun when first timer's come and dont listen!! and u run around on the bottom and get red dung and half the party dies and the BARB saves the day! LOL always a good laugh.

[Alektronic]

That FvS20 left because he didn't have the patience to run w/ a first-timer or you. Do you really want to run w/ someone that uptight? End of the day, you still will be able to find more laid back ppl to do the run, so no harm done x).

I don't know that FvS (obviously) but even I sometimes will drop a grp, if I'm just not in the mood of playing show-and-tell. I'm just saying not to be to offended. I 9/10 would rather someone drop the grp, then stay in and gripe about how much they hate noobs. We all have our offdays.

[Bargol]

SOS is a very fun quest, but if newbs do not go in prepared to fight sorjek then its fail. His DR is blunt and he is a lawful evil undead lich. So melees need to have a decnt weapon to take him down in a reasonable amount of time, alternately if you have a good caster or two that is another way to beat him.

I hadn't run SOS in awhile because of playing capped toons and ran my WF cleric through. Seemed like a good group. The party makeup was a little unconventional, a HO cleric, me on WF cleric, a wizard, pally, rogue, and barb.....not a terrible makeup. As we zone in the other cleric and I, who have both run it many times find out the others are....lets just say not so experience. We say not a problem and continue. We do ok through the quest then get to the option sorjek.

Wizard must of had 8 starting con and can't survive even a minute and racks up a few death penalties so we leave him dead. Barb and pally must be using holy flame clubs as DPS was so severly lacking. HO cleric has a MinII GS, but its not enough....finally most all die except for us clerics and the HO beats on him while I healed sorjek to death. After the run I commented to the other cleric that I was happy to see I wasn't the only one chugging majors to get the completion. Most times I would have just let it fail and drop, but because of the reflagging required and we were close we gave the new guys the completion on sorjek.

Moral of the story is....if your new look up the quest and go in prepared. If your new in with some more experience its not a bad thing, just don't always expect that someone who is experience will always want to run it with all new people. The main thing which the op stated is always be upfront about being new.....instead of once your in the quest.

[sheepface]

I personly don't like joining a group to find that the person who started the group has no clue what they are doing, so would have possibly done the same thing.

[taurean430]

That quest can either be an easy run with little mana usage past buffing/resisting, or a quick way to throw away majors and stacks of healing scrolls. Since by this time I've done numerous runs of either type, I will have to side with the FvS on that one. I'm generally all for bringing people new to a quest along. Yet that quest requires people to have some idea of how to play. Otherwise it's a gigantic resource drain for little reward.

I've found personally asking other party members questions helps me make the decision of whether the run will be worth the cost. I think the OP might be in for a surprise following the first few runs with players in key positions with either poor builds or lack of game knowledge/player knowledge.

[SlogUK]

Considering I've been playing for years, and last time I was solo healing sos I hit word of recall instead of unyielding sovereignty in the last fight of the fire room, you did good...

[THAC0]

Hey Llew... glad you got thru it. Lag was horrible otherwise I would have run that w/ya and Dr.

Catch ya soon.

[dogbreath68]

We all started somewhere and we were all new once.Most people that play this game forget that because they tr or they have a big guild or all the raid loot and the ythink it makes them better than the rest.Well anyone who is new feel free to hit me up and i will walk you through any quest you wanna learn ,all but 1 and thats the Abbot.I know its hard starting out and i know alot of you are afraid to ask questions or mention its your first run at a quest and thats a shame that these elitest dopes make you feel that way.It will be a breath of fresh air to group with people who arent the best in the world and think they know whats best when really they do mostly,but sometimes they just thinki their way is the only way,and I strongly dissagree,as they say ive been there done that more times than i will admit and I would enjoy sharing my knowledge with anyone who would listen.

My ignore list has many names so I may not be able to hear some of you,but to those I can hear and get mail from,feel free at any time if im on to send me a tell and ill be glad to help anyone i can.

Names of toons:Villanova,Vendemyrr,Columbus,Aalanna,Pottery ,Calabos,Mahogony,Allsimsayin,Furer,Enpina,Kesner, Quixx,Rambunxious,Avilla,Connors,Ghallow,Haesan.

Also many toons on Cannith but I dont play there much.

Thank You for reading

[MownDown]

awwww but i ned to lrns how to shoot lazers at the abbot while killing arlos!

[Antheal]

I personly don't like joining a group to find that the person who started the group has no clue what they are doing, so would have possibly done the same thing.

The next time they release an adventure pack with brand new quests, I hope you never try to start an LFM for one.

[TheDearLeader]

The next time they release an adventure pack with brand new quests, I hope you never try to start an LFM for one.

Calm down.. I think you're taking what they said a bit out of context.

New content packs come out, and no one knows anything about them. That's cool. Everyone assumes no one knows anything, other than the folks who played through it all on Lammania. It is understood that there is a learning process.

Other quests that have been out for a long time are different. Lets use.. Hound. No that's a raid, I'll use a quest. Let me think... Shadow Knight.


Shadow Knight's good. Its Necro II, and it seems like a lot of newer players avoid the entirety of the Necropolis like the plague. But Shadow Knight, and of course Shadow Crypt, the quest that follows the other four, are both really good XP.

But whereas most quests have their "big XP" come from Base XP + Conquest/Ransack, Shadow Knight shows its highest XP based upon Optional XP. Checking the Wiki, Optional XP ends up being a possible 290% added on to Base XP. 230% of this bonus is due to Disabling Traps (And technically Ingenious Debilitation would automatically earn you another 15% upon completion).

Now we've set the scene, lets add characters:
Party Leader : New. Knows nothing about a quest that was added to game over three (maybe four?) years ago. Doesn't say anything like that in the LFM/Ask for guide/etc.

Level 8/9 TR, getting first time on Normal Bonus
TR's Friend, who tags along because the TR practically oozes XP.
Pug x3

Party starts with party leader. TR sees it, says "Okay!" and hops in. Brings friend along. That leaves three spots.
Barb.
Ranger.
Sorcerer.

Party is now full. TR realizes that Party Leader has filled the party... but not gotten a rogue for the traps.

Now, not just will there be a loss of ~245% XP for this mission, but party will also have to deal with taking trap damage, and often, because this quest is full of them.

I've actually had that happen before. Don't think I was on a TR, but our party leader filled without a rogue. I explained why a Rogue was .. well, frankly, necessary for that quest (that much XP cannot go to waste), and I graciously gave up my spot so they could find one.

Point is, some of us like party leaders that know the quest already. I've joined LFMs for quests/raids that the party leader wasn't even flagged for, because they're just that clueless. I've also joined parties where the leader just assumed one of the five of us would be fine buying them a guest pass (without prior knowledge of this fact/of this person), because they didn't actually own the pack.

One last thought : I often ask myself when I run into these or similar situations, or see LFMs up saying "need guide" : Where are these people's guildies?

[Ungood]

To the OP! Awesome Job! Glad you are having FUN! Rock on Dude!


I personly don't like joining a group to find that the person who started the group has no clue what they are doing, so would have possibly done the same thing.

Sadly, I am going to have to agree, when someone is the Group leader, I expect them to be able to lead* Unless they let me know, that I am going to have to show them this quest, in which case, I might not feel able to do so, just saying.

(*Leading as in: at least have an idea of what they are doing here, even if things get funny, like in VON and they ran the quest five times and decided they can leads, then after they are past the second door, they let us know "I always went right", that is still cool, I have witnessed many vets willing to pick up the ball and do what they can, as they can, to make an event happen when things don't quite go as well as expected, a warm thank you to the vets that have saved a few of my runs when I made it 3/4 through and then stopped going "What do I do next again?")

[redrose]

PS- as an aside, I took the nerd high I had acquired from SOS and went and solo healed eye of the titan with 2 hireling casters and had 0 deaths there as well, which is an awesome feat. Why is that music not in every mission? I am not kidding I was dancing around in my chair the whole time, fell off the altar rock thingy 2 or 3 times because I was so busy jamming.... pure awesome.[/QUOTE]

You kept the heirlings alive too!! Thats awesome

[Tom318]

PS- as an aside, I took the nerd high I had acquired from SOS and went and solo healed eye of the titan with 2 hireling casters and had 0 deaths there as well, which is an awesome feat.

And that alone shows you how easy it has become :) I just know one day someone will do a naked solo run.. :)

[drac317]

And that alone shows you how easy it has become :) I just know one day someone will do a naked solo run.. :)
3 months ago on my rouge actually just to get the **** red pies,once on elite but no worm:D