When to drop group...

[RoboVanguard]

don't take this the wrong way but if yer worth yer salt as a melee and the mobs have been killed once , you 1 should be able to get to Vod by yerself, or 2 need to reroll.

Ah yes, of course if the way is clear that's one thing... but they've long since left the sub so everything had respawned. I really don't fancy trying to kill the gate guardians and hitting the pressure plates alone.

[Solmage]

Ah yes, of course if the way is clear that's one thing... but they've long since left the sub so everything had respawned. I really don't fancy trying to kill the gate guardians and hitting the pressure plates alone.

Either they're inside in the buffing area, waiting for you, which usually means they just stepped in, or they're inside the fight and you can't join them anyway since the portal vanishes. So assuming they're not complete morons and thus were still inside the buffing area and invited you to follow, only the skeletons by the main door should have respawned.

Sadly, I have seen casters, paladins, fighters, etc, ie all the classes that should not even blink killing those 2 sad little skeletons don't make it past them, and then be *****y that nobody came to help them. It's amusing - the first few times. The question is, do you want such a great contributor inside your raid?

====

[HGM-Chi]

Alright, I'm completely new, so in hoping that I can avoid a) joining bad groups, and b) becoming a poor group memember I have a couple of questions:

1) "Share plz" - what does this mean? They need you to open the quest for them, or that they want you to share info on how to complete the quest?

2) "Gogogo" - implying that they want to just dive through it as opposed to have some kind of order and roles assigned?

3) Why is having ones helm showing bad?

4) "Playing in a group with Creeg telling me what to do, makes me far far more effective than me muddling through on my own. Last night Creeg had me giving out more damage..." = who is this Creeg, and how do I get into his guild?

Judging by the general talk in here it sounds like I should more or less solo stuff until I'm mid level and have a basic idea of the dungeons. Or at least only go into groups if it's a dungeon I've soloed on hard or something so I know what to do? Alternatively if I'm lucky enough to get some vets to let me join a group, I should shut up, do what I'm told and learn? I have no problem with that.

Oh, and since I'm currently playing a cleric... I shouldn't expect that I have to keep everyone alive or I've failed the group, eh? That's good. I like to go in swinging sometimes too.

Any answers appreciated, being ignored is fine too.
Thanks in advance!

[Kalari]

Alright, I'm completely new, so in hoping that I can avoid a) joining bad groups, and b) becoming a poor group memember I have a couple of questions:

1) "Share plz" - what does this mean? They need you to open the quest for them, or that they want you to share info on how to complete the quest?

K to answer that Share to me is a feature Turbine put in for convienience but has bred very lazy players to the point where they wont even go up to quest givers right at the darn quest. I think new players should definitely talk to quest givers more then asking to share plz. And any vet asking to share when its an easy giver unless they drunkenly went into the quest and didnt notice the red letters saying they werent on the right part just get me grumbly..

2) "Gogogo" - implying that they want to just dive through it as opposed to have some kind of order and roles assigned?

Gogogo to me means move fast they want to do the quest as soon as possible that means getting in doing as little buffing shooting the breeze and going threw the quest as fast as Dungeon alert allows. Ive played at this pace before prefer it threw the harbor and mid level quests but its not recommended for new players in my opinion. I got to play my first year slow and I do not regret it learned the quests and now I can go fast when I wish to without mishap.

3) Why is having ones helm showing bad?

I think that was someone being funny, though considering some of the helms and armor are butt ugly I dont really show any on any of my girls. thats just personal tastes though dont take it personal Im thinking it was a joke.

4) "Playing in a group with Creeg telling me what to do, makes me far far more effective than me muddling through on my own. Last night Creeg had me giving out more damage..." = who is this Creeg, and how do I get into his guild?

Ahhh who is Creeg? hehe that is a good question, since I am in his guild I can tell you he knows his stuff, has played every class in this game and knows the game well. Hes fun and patient to a point and will help out new and old players a like. He brought me out of being completely bored with ddo and I have not regretted joining Lost Legions the guild he leads. As to your other question to join us you'd probably have to run with our officers and we tend to be adult only since we all tend to drink if you have on problems with this look us up on Sarlona.

Judging by the general talk in here it sounds like I should more or less solo stuff until I'm mid level and have a basic idea of the dungeons. Or at least only go into groups if it's a dungeon I've soloed on hard or something so I know what to do? Alternatively if I'm lucky enough to get some vets to let me join a group, I should shut up, do what I'm told and learn? I have no problem with that.

Oh, and since I'm currently playing a cleric... I shouldn't expect that I have to keep everyone alive or I've failed the group, eh? That's good. I like to go in swinging sometimes too.

Any answers appreciated, being ignored is fine too.
Thanks in advance!

Answers in red and seriously pugging is always been a game of hit or miss, sometimes you got great groups then others you wanted to run away screaming or do bad things to your computer. All I can say to you as someone who plays clerics and supportive roles is do what you can, find your own fun and dont ever let anyone dictate to you how to play the game. The best thing you can do is find your fun and you will find others who enjoy the same things. Oh and welcome to Sarlona

[HGM-Chi]

Thanks Kalari, much appreciated.
I'm an adult and enjoy drinking very much, so perhaps I'll look up Lost Legions when I wander over to Stormreach next (I'm mostly trying to finish off everything in Korthos right now, up to Hard at least if I can).

[RoboVanguard]

Either they're inside in the buffing area, waiting for you, which usually means they just stepped in, or they're inside the fight and you can't join them anyway since the portal vanishes. So assuming they're not complete morons and thus were still inside the buffing area and invited you to follow, only the skeletons by the main door should have respawned.

Sadly, I have seen casters, paladins, fighters, etc, ie all the classes that should not even blink killing those 2 sad little skeletons don't make it past them, and then be *****y that nobody came to help them. It's amusing - the first few times. The question is, do you want such a great contributor inside your raid?

====

Well I saw their lfm up a few minutes ago and I assumed they were still in the sub when they were looking for members, but I suspect they were just waiting in the buffing room for several minutes since it took them about 3 minutes to add me to the group, and I had the feeling they had done that to a couple others already. Didn't really want to find out the answer anyway.

[MsEricka]

I dropped from two groups today, unbelievable.

The first group advertised as doing Gladewatch Outpost Defense, which I wanted to do to hit 150 coin lord favor for my 5th slot. Joined the group, and there were three of us. One more came and some party member started asking if we can do another quest while we wait.

Wait for what?

The party leader didn't respond so this guy asks again. I say in the party chat that it's your party, make a decision. By now a 5th member has joined, so I'm thinking we're good to go now.

And off they all go running to house D to do some other quest.

ding - I left the party

Note that only one person in this party was using voice chat, which is a big annoyance for me, and leads to my next disaster.

I log on with another toon, and there's a group farming for dragon scales. Nice and easy with a group of 16-18's on normal.

The white dragon went fine, and I advertised when the giant was at 10% and went to help beat up the dragon so we could take them both out. Then I went and finished the giant when it was time.

So we get up to the blue dragon, and I take the giant down to about 10%. Someone decided it's a good idea to not pay attention to who they're beating up and while the dragon is still at 75% the giant is killed.

Well of course the giant comes back, so I start to beat it up again and people start dying. Of course I do the nice thing and raise the cleric in the middle of combat (I'm a monk). Ten seconds later another player dies and the cleric hasn't accepted the raise. Another 15 seconds later and everyone but me is dead. So I run to the middle of the room and stand still and accept my fate.

I recall out with the intention of going back, until someone says "you guys should really keep the fight away from the cleric". And my response was, "I raised the cleric, she didn't accept it" and promptly dropped group as I was paying thousands of gold for a death that shouldn't have happened.

If she would have accepted the raise, she could have raised the party wile I kept aggro and we could have finished. Yes we would be beat up, but it's not a wipe.

All of this could have been avoided if people bothered to use their voice chat. I told them when the giant was low, but no response.

So what is it with people not using voice chat? Do I have to make that a requirement for groups I'm in now so we can coordinate and communicate properly? All the users had voice enabled, so what's the issue? I don't know the limitations of voice on F2P users, nor do I care. In situations like that voice is essential, so use it or /quit

[RoboVanguard]

I dropped from two groups today, unbelievable.

The first group advertised as doing Gladewatch Outpost Defense, which I wanted to do to hit 150 coin lord favor for my 5th slot. Joined the group, and there were three of us. One more came and some party member started asking if we can do another quest while we wait.

Wait for what?

The party leader didn't respond so this guy asks again. I say in the party chat that it's your party, make a decision. By now a 5th member has joined, so I'm thinking we're good to go now.

And off they all go running to house D to do some other quest.

ding - I left the party

Note that only one person in this party was using voice chat, which is a big annoyance for me, and leads to my next disaster.

I log on with another toon, and there's a group farming for dragon scales. Nice and easy with a group of 16-18's on normal.

The white dragon went fine, and I advertised when the giant was at 10% and went to help beat up the dragon so we could take them both out. Then I went and finished the giant when it was time.

So we get up to the blue dragon, and I take the giant down to about 10%. Someone decided it's a good idea to not pay attention to who they're beating up and while the dragon is still at 75% the giant is killed.

Well of course the giant comes back, so I start to beat it up again and people start dying. Of course I do the nice thing and raise the cleric in the middle of combat (I'm a monk). Ten seconds later another player dies and the cleric hasn't accepted the raise. Another 15 seconds later and everyone but me is dead. So I run to the middle of the room and stand still and accept my fate.

I recall out with the intention of going back, until someone says "you guys should really keep the fight away from the cleric". And my response was, "I raised the cleric, she didn't accept it" and promptly dropped group as I was paying thousands of gold for a death that shouldn't have happened.

If she would have accepted the raise, she could have raised the party wile I kept aggro and we could have finished. Yes we would be beat up, but it's not a wipe.

All of this could have been avoided if people bothered to use their voice chat. I told them when the giant was low, but no response.

So what is it with people not using voice chat? Do I have to make that a requirement for groups I'm in now so we can coordinate and communicate properly? All the users had voice enabled, so what's the issue? I don't know the limitations of voice on F2P users, nor do I care. In situations like that voice is essential, so use it or /quit

I don't use voice chat mostly cause i don't have a headset/mic that works. I compensate by keeping aware of everything else that's happening though, and I always have sound enabled so I can at least hear what other people are telling me.

[HGM-Chi]

Went out with a group for the first time last night, and it was a massive success. It was a PUG but there were a couple of vets in it and they were great. Thanks again for the tips.

I don't have a mic for voice chat, but I do listen for others... There was hardly any talk at all in the group I was in.

Oh, and I've /showhelmet off 'd as well

[monkeyfunk]

I personally hate voice chat.

Half of you are talking with marbles in your mouth. One guy's mic is way too loud, another's is way too quiet. There is no record of what anyone said. He mumbled something. Go where? Do what? Who knows because someone let go of their chat button mid-sentence. Again. Am I to ask to repeat EVERYTHING people say? Oh and WHO even said that? No clue. We're in a 12 person raid and someone asks for fire resist (oh and why the hell don't you have a potion if you can't cast it?) and I have no idea who asked.

In text chat I can see it the chat history. If I go AFK i can come back and see what I missed.

Do people really type that slow or are that dumb they can't keep up with text chat?

We did it for a long time in Everquest.


And how am I supposed to have known to have poison immunity by level 10? I didn't even know that stuff existed until I saw my poison immunity belt in a chest. Oh yeah, everyone expects you to read about everything in the entire game before even starting the game, thus making the game completely BORING because you know everything already.

So many here are just so pompous and act like you're so special because you've memorized the game. You're freakin playing dungeons and dragons online and acting like you're the coolest person around. Yeah, I'm a cleric and recently I asked my group why when i nuked a certain mob it was giving me his dmg in purple numbers. Here, i'd be told i'm an idiot and no one should group with me, but how the hell was I supposed to know that meant he was weak against that?

What I'm shocked at is that i'm brand new to the game and seem to understand tactics and such better than most people on their 6th alt who have been playing 3 years. Seems most of your "tactics" are based on memorization of what is going to happen.

And as far as asking for sharing the quest... we don't have it memorized where every quest starts. Even quests i've already done i don't remember which house it's in or anything. But I guess you cool guys who have played for years have every single quest memorized because you've run them all 65 times. Half the time I'm quickly googling the quest just so i know what zone it starts in so i don't have to ask. I personally just share the quest when the group fills up so no one even has to ask.

Well, anyway, congratulations on playing the same game for several years. I'm sure that makes you a great person.

[Flasharte]

who's a happy monkey?

[Lost_Leader]

<snip>

Unless you are assuming you are the bad pug everyone is talking about, it sounds to me like you are a responsible player. Trying to pick up hints about how to be effective and self sufficient, using tools outside of the game to increase your knowledge, and keeping track of what is said in party as much as possible to make things run smoothly, are all things that say to me "responsible player".

It also sounds like you've been the victim of the "know-it-all" who is derisive when you don't know all the little details yet. Don't let that make you bitter, just accept that some people on the interwebs are jerks. If you get into one that is so bad that it is making the game not fun, then it is time to do what this thread suggests and Drop Group.

I would suggest that when dropping group wait until a quest is over, or if you can tell a group is going to be really rough and don't feel like dealing with it, do it before the quest starts. Dropping group in the middle of the quest is very bad form. USe the (/squelch add <name>) to help you get through a bad pug, then leave the group when the quest is over.

Are far as voicechat is concerned, it is a very useful tool, but only when everyone is on the same page with it. The ingame voicechat lacks individual volume adjustment, so a party using voicechat should take a moment to be sure volumes are all set so everyone is in the same range.

It's not a matter of being too lazy to type since your EQ days... okay that is partly it... but many of us on ddo are big groups of old friends, who love to chat. Or new friends who are going to chat. Or efficient questing machines who coordinate quick, complex directions via voicechat mid-combat which would take too long to type out, even if it only took a couple of seconds to type, before the party is dead. Also, if you tried to type with half the whiskey I tend to have in my bloodstream, no one would have any clue what you were doing. At least talking they have a chance to decipher it.

[Quikster]

I personally hate voice chat.

Half of you are talking with marbles in your mouth. One guy's mic is way too loud, another's is way too quiet. There is no record of what anyone said. He mumbled something. Go where? Do what? Who knows because someone let go of their chat button mid-sentence. Again. Am I to ask to repeat EVERYTHING people say? Oh and WHO even said that? No clue. We're in a 12 person raid and someone asks for fire resist (oh and why the hell don't you have a potion if you can't cast it?) and I have no idea who asked.

In text chat I can see it the chat history. If I go AFK i can come back and see what I missed.

Do people really type that slow or are that dumb they can't keep up with text chat?

We did it for a long time in Everquest.


And how am I supposed to have known to have poison immunity by level 10? I didn't even know that stuff existed until I saw my poison immunity belt in a chest. Oh yeah, everyone expects you to read about everything in the entire game before even starting the game, thus making the game completely BORING because you know everything already.

So many here are just so pompous and act like you're so special because you've memorized the game. You're freakin playing dungeons and dragons online and acting like you're the coolest person around. Yeah, I'm a cleric and recently I asked my group why when i nuked a certain mob it was giving me his dmg in purple numbers. Here, i'd be told i'm an idiot and no one should group with me, but how the hell was I supposed to know that meant he was weak against that?

What I'm shocked at is that i'm brand new to the game and seem to understand tactics and such better than most people on their 6th alt who have been playing 3 years. Seems most of your "tactics" are based on memorization of what is going to happen.

And as far as asking for sharing the quest... we don't have it memorized where every quest starts. Even quests i've already done i don't remember which house it's in or anything. But I guess you cool guys who have played for years have every single quest memorized because you've run them all 65 times. Half the time I'm quickly googling the quest just so i know what zone it starts in so i don't have to ask. I personally just share the quest when the group fills up so no one even has to ask.

Well, anyway, congratulations on playing the same game for several years. I'm sure that makes you a great person.

Uhhh. Thanks? I think.....

[Kalari]

I personally hate voice chat.

Thats fine its not for everyone though with friends I tend to enjoy it

Half of you are talking with marbles in your mouth. One guy's mic is way too loud, another's is way too quiet. There is no record of what anyone said. He mumbled something. Go where? Do what? Who knows because someone let go of their chat button mid-sentence. Again. Am I to ask to repeat EVERYTHING people say? Oh and WHO even said that? No clue. We're in a 12 person raid and someone asks for fire resist (oh and why the hell don't you have a potion if you can't cast it?) and I have no idea who asked.
You may have to adjust your audio its not as frustrating as it seems it can be believe me ive dealt with heavy breathers and eaters over mic its not fun but if you find people you enjoy you will see voice isnt all that bad.
In text chat I can see it the chat history. If I go AFK i can come back and see what I missed.
Just like you have a preference to type some like voice because they have a hard time typing. The game does cater for both types thankfully but many use voice over typing. Its best to try to find groups that prefer typing or form ones where you put that in your lfm.
Do people really type that slow or are that dumb they can't keep up with text chat?
What is the point of insult? Seriously you sound frustrated but this is where people will ignore your plight and write you off when you could be a fun person to play with.
We did it for a long time in Everquest.
Good to know welcome to ddo this is a different game but im sure you knew that.

And how am I supposed to have known to have poison immunity by level 10? I didn't even know that stuff existed until I saw my poison immunity belt in a chest. Oh yeah, everyone expects you to read about everything in the entire game before even starting the game, thus making the game completely BORING because you know everything already.

Its called asking many new players will send tells to players they think have been around a long time. My high levels get them and you can ask in advice about immunity items. They drop in all sorts of chest I picked up a bound to account proof against poison necklace in ww as an end reward that I will pass down to lowbies as I get better. But asking questions about what items you can use to help yourself is never a crime. And those who know this stuff are not all jerks there are very helpful people out there so thanks for the generalization.
So many here are just so pompous and act like you're so special because you've memorized the game. You're freakin playing dungeons and dragons online and acting like you're the coolest person around. Yeah, I'm a cleric and recently I asked my group why when i nuked a certain mob it was giving me his dmg in purple numbers. Here, i'd be told i'm an idiot and no one should group with me, but how the hell was I supposed to know that meant he was weak against that?

Your right there are arrogant players most are very easy to avoid though and when they arent you should drop group. There is no one forced to play with jerks and Id say that the percent of know it all jerks is a lot smaller then you would think. Also I play clerics to but many have played this game for many years its pretty darn easy to learn this game when your running the same quests over and over even as different proffessions. You dont want spoilers try to make your own groups lay down your own rules. As a cleric myself believe me its easy to do and many will jump into a group a cleric runs.
What I'm shocked at is that i'm brand new to the game and seem to understand tactics and such better than most people on their 6th alt who have been playing 3 years. Seems most of your "tactics" are based on memorization of what is going to happen.

And as far as asking for sharing the quest... we don't have it memorized where every quest starts. Even quests i've already done i don't remember which house it's in or anything. But I guess you cool guys who have played for years have every single quest memorized because you've run them all 65 times. Half the time I'm quickly googling the quest just so i know what zone it starts in so i don't have to ask. I personally just share the quest when the group fills up so no one even has to ask.

I personally hate the share option it comes in handy sometimes but most of the time I think it breeds lazy players who wont even talk to a giver right in front of the quest. If im leading a group and someone constantly types share plz I will instruct them once where to get it if they wont they get dropped.
Well, anyway, congratulations on playing the same game for several years. I'm sure that makes you a great person.

Another tip for you as a healer you probably have to get used to everything going in a blur unless you find a dungeon crawler group. Basically the game is only as rough as you allow it to be. Insulting long term players and grouping everyone into the category you did is very unfair though I can tell you wrote this out of frustration. Im giving you honest feed back in telling you that it may not get better from what im reading of your post. Being a healer is a demanding duty in this game. Half the time im ready to take a long break and thats even running guild runs so you need to figure out if your patient enough for the task as well. Also having other alts that dont play supportive roles will help you to. Hopefully your experience will get better but you are the only one that can really make that happen. If groups you join arent going the way you want you will have to think about making your own setting your rules and having players follow them.

[hermespan]

So wasn't much going on for my level 15 fighter last night so out comes the lowbies. I had a bit of an epiphany last night, and realized there were certain signs that always proceeded a REALLY bad group. The first few examples caused me to drop a group advertised as WW on elite.


All Melee group (Unless doing content absurdly under level and easy)

Group leader asks "Can anyone open this on elite?"

Someone say's "gogogo"

Every time I'm in a lowbie group, or even higher, and someone starts saying gogogo before everyone's even at quest... It never ends well. Especially going into Black Anvil Mine, without healers and down two . . . on Elite.


Anyone else got any signs of impending doom?

Quest is level 8, group is levels 5-7, someone opens the quest on elite.
Extrapolate for higher level quests.
Have fun with that. I'd rather stick a fork in my eye than die 12 times only to have the group splinter because it's pointless.

/bail