PUG-experience, not so bad!

[keveniaftw]

So yesterday, me and a guildie who recently TR'ed (I'm sorc, he's arti, both WF) decided after a couple tough duo runs to pug once more. We happened as 2 lvl 5's to quest with 2 lvl 5 and 1 lvl 6. All 28 point builds, all new to the game. A barbarian, a cleric and a rogue

The first quest we ran was freshen the air elite, one of the 28 pts said it was a really tough quest and that he had never succeeded it yet, another said he had succeeded it once with a nice group. Basically it was a very smooth and easy run, the newbies trying their best and me and my guildie nuking stuff as usual. This quest lvl'ed us to 6.

After this quest the group leader decided it was a good group and asked to run an elite pit. Since me and my guildie hit 6 we decided to do the group a favor and run a pit elite far underlvl. The run started very smooth, the group tried their best to support as me and my guildie were basically zerging (and splitting up). Even tho the newer players realized they weren't actually needed, they tried their best to support as well.

Everything went smooth (with a couple deaths on the newbies, yes these elite warlords hit hard on those lvl 5 adventurers). That until the restart of the intake system. Me and my guildie had typed multiple times in chat they shouldn't rush in there, because if too many spawned it might kill us. First lever cleared easily, but then the barbarian rushed in, spawning other 2 levers mobs and getting killed within 2 seconds. Lucky enough me and my guildie managed to pull em off, but we both nearly died (3 warlords + 4 preachers do really hurt on lvl 6 toons)

Well, in the end, the barbarian apologied multiple times for his stupid behaviour, and said he would try to listen if others said something next time. He said that with everything going so easily he didn't expect it to be a problem and he certainly had learned his lesson of not doing that. The rogue and the cleric did no stupid things in the end.

Now my question, why all the hate on pugs? Yes they are newer players. No they weren't a huge support to the group but they tried and learned in the progress. If all those multi-TR's would just one quest a day run with a beginning pug, we might get some new nice veterans :-)

[ImanCarrot]

What's a pug?

[OpallNotten]

What's a pug?

They are really cute dogs.
It looks like someone punched them in the face....a lot.

So ugly they are cute:p

[Ryan220]

I PuG my Cleric on EN and EH all the time when Guild runs arent available.


Some are bad but most are good.

Sounds like the group you were with had some semblance of skill or common sense or both. Many lowbie PuGs arent like that.



I never PuG a Divine below L9 - its just not worth the hassle. New players arent self suff because they either dont know about or kack the means to buy pots. I tend to get frustrated by multiple "heal me" requests from players not even in the same room

[Nephilia]

Pug is fine ainevek :D
I know u'd have preferred to party with me and malakiel but pug is not bad in the end :P

[keveniaftw]

Pug is fine ainevek :D
I know u'd have preferred to party with me and malakiel but pug is not bad in the end :P

Who is Malakiel? Haha :P
I understand you're underlying message that you really need me and mnmpower to complete any quest harder than normal :D Now it's just a matter of being online at the same time and you not being out of lvl range :P

We rlly just pugged for fun lol, we could've done it with the 2 of us too ^^

[TrinityTurtle]

Now my question, why all the hate on pugs? Yes they are newer players. No they weren't a huge support to the group but they tried and learned in the progress. If all those multi-TR's would just one quest a day run with a beginning pug, we might get some new nice veterans :-)

This is just an answer to the question, not an opinion on all pugs.

1) They're not all new players. I've pugged with all levels, and most of the ones who make me wary of pugging are NOT the newer players.

2) I'm a female player who uses voice chat. More than a few other players get stupid over this in several ways from the obscene to the insulting.

3) I always seem to get stuck in a pug with someone who drives me up the wall. Like the guy who was talking over the rest of us the other day trying to coordinate an attack plan to give us a running NASCAR commentary for some video he was watching?? it wasn't even live NASCAR as i understand, and the rest of us told him we're not NASCAR fans. LOL It was...odd. I always get the odd ones. :)

4) You never know if you are going to get a happy medium, or end up in a complicated quest with zero leadership coordination or a quest that requires nothing and you get an extreme micromanager in your group.

That being said, I still pug all the time on my healers and casters and often have really good experiences, but I do really have mixed feelings about it and find myself looking to avoid the unpleasant just by soloing more and more.

[Nephilia]

Who is Malakiel? Haha :P


U should just know better your ghallandian's fellows :P


understand you're underlying message that you really need me and mnmpower to complete any quest harder than normal :D Now it's just a matter of being online at the same time and you not being out of lvl range :P


Maybe I'd enjoy having mnmpower, dunno about u... still a bit uncertain about that :P :P :P


We rlly just pugged for fun lol, we could've done it with the 2 of us too ^^
I know I know I'm just kidding all around as usual, mate!!!
Both me and malakiel are duoing all quests till now and all it's going pretty fast and decent :P
Anyway... what lv are u? we could meet this evening in case :D

[keveniaftw]

We're both lvl 6, I guess we can be on 16:00 GMT to 17:00 GMT I think, not sure tho. After that, I need to go playing sports :D. Tomorrow maybe? (Wednesday and Thursday I have already planned something called 'social life' (aka go out with friends :P) same goes for mnm

[Nephilia]

We're both lvl 6, I guess we can be on 16:00 GMT to 17:00 GMT I think, not sure tho. After that, I need to go playing sports :D. Tomorrow maybe? (Wednesday and Thursday I have already planned something called 'social life' (aka go out with friends :P) same goes for mnm

Y I think tomorrow would be a better options :3
We're 7 with 8 almost capped atm and prolly we'll be 8 with 9 capped tomorrow!!!
So tomorrow we should be playing lv 6 quests if u're ok with that we're moving lv by lv and all is going better than fine till now :::: D <- spider's smile!)

PS: obviously if I wont be able to buy a couple of exp stone!!! in that case see u at cap :P

[Arnhelm]

There are good pugs and bad pugs. As with the dog, a lot depends on who is leading and who is following. ;)

[Chaos000]

Now my question, why all the hate on pugs? Yes they are newer players. No they weren't a huge support to the group but they tried and learned in the progress. If all those multi-TR's would just one quest a day run with a beginning pug, we might get some new nice veterans :-)

I don’t think it’s a hate on pugs. It’s more of an efficient management of time due to timed durations imposed by XP potions, Renown potions, Ship buffs, House P & J buffs along with possibly limited gameplay.

The following is a list of time sinks:

> Waiting (before opening chests or completing) on players who can’t find the quest entrance, get lost in quest, get ship buffs, afk, or DC.
> A player joins with the expectation it’s the leader’s responsibility to fill at least one spot in the party with healing support
> A player wanders off, dies, needs someone to run back and get their stone
> Total party wipe, re-buff, re-entry

After they added the tomes of learning death xp hits don’t phase me as much. If it’s going to be a quest I’m perfectly capable of soloing with a hireling I will put up an lfm “(insert quest here) – Elite bravery in-progress – pikers welcome” I don’t have to wait, success is guaranteed, my hireling will heal pretty much anyone that happens to be nearby (I’m self healing, he’s just around as insurance vs lag during a fight).

Sometimes it’s not about the journey. I just want to get the extra past life feat and have a compulsion to do all quests/raids on heroic or epic elite for the favor. The quests that have a failure mechanic are tedious and not fun but I find it necessary to do them all at least once. It IS more fun in a group even if I could solo so I always check the lfms within my level (joining some but dropping out if it takes longer than 2 minutes to start) before putting up a group of my own.

[squishwizzy]

Now my question, why all the hate on pugs? Yes they are newer players. No they weren't a huge support to the group but they tried and learned in the progress. If all those multi-TR's would just one quest a day run with a beginning pug, we might get some new nice veterans :-)

It depends. Mind you - I PUG a lot on our server. In fact, I prefer PUGs to solo-ing quests. They are just more fun to do.

I ran in a PUG last night with a fairly well-known individual here on the forums, and he was farming. He decided to farm one portion of the chain for XP...all the rest of us had to do was stand at the entrance and pike. Someone decided to complain.

A few tells back and forth between the complainer and I, and I sorta helped squelch the complaining. But you could tell that there were a few hard feelings still out there.

The LFM when I joined did not mention zergs or farming. So, in one sense, I could understand the complaints. In the other...it was free XP in one part of the chain and no one had to do nothing to get it. Neither side of this was totally blameless, but still you're going to get "issues." Plus, we left a lot of loot behind to power level. This wasn't a huge issue for me as I just decon my stuff anyways. However, I could see where some people might get a little miffed by this fact.

And then there was the multi-TR guy who had done some 1500 Shrouds (yes, I'm exaggerating), who had a fit because someone stoneskinned his cleric.

So, on one end, it is hard-core Vets leading PUGs.

On the other end, I've been in my fair share of PUGs where people zerg where they have really no right to do so, get killed, and then blame everyone else. I recently had a couple of runs where people are looking to my Pally as being the main healer. Of course they are zerging off, getting killed, I have no idea where they are - I mean, it is a mess. Then they get nasty about it.

So, on the other hand, it is inexperienced players who THINK they know what they are doing, and being idiots when the screw up...or just don't care.

Then you get guys who do stuff maliciously, which is rare. However, it happens.

I think all three of these categories make up about 25% of the PUGs I've been in. The other 75% are usually like the ones you mentioned. To be honest, I generally like the ones where people go in, run headlong into a brick wall then are forced to regroup, and work as a team. Those I find remarkably fun to run.

But the problem is you have to deal with about a quarter of the PUGs being an annoying PITA in one form or another. A majority of the people that I group with either within the guild, or people outside the guild that I run with normally cite the issues of the 25%.

And then you have to pick through all the LFMs out there that are incomplete, or are never going to be filled. This, however, I think is a symptom of an anti-PUG sentiment.

I'll still run PUGs. I'm not a big one for starting them, but I'll be quick to join one if I'm invited outside of an LFM.

[CodyGenX]

Almost makes me wanna come back and ruin your pugs Ain... BUT my interwebz r toopid

[Llewndyn]

For the most part, and on a healer I usually intentionally PUG harbor and lowbie stuff more to be more prepared for later stuff... It's also fun to run with some newer players who are in awe of stuff still, makes you take a second look while you're usually busy just zerging through (favorite hands down is the first time a new player sees the Stone golem at the end of STK) or ask questions that don't require a dissertation to answer.

The best part is in OP the barb ran off, realized what he was doing, and didn't do it again. I would venture to say he might make it in this gentle game.

Cheers.