Venting / Thoughts on PUGs and "good" guilds

[Seelowe]

short version: pugs ftw.
conclusion at end.
wot-version: keep reading, otherwise scroll down.


/ranton
I joined a madstone crater run on a 16 wf wiz. only text on the lfm was "madstone crater". I was the last to join, so i informed the party I can teleport so will catch up with them if they want to start. no answer... using the teleporter I arrive and find that all 5 of them were spread out in the ruins.
I ask why and they say they are running "as a group" incase anyone had not completed it yet for the toon they were on. fair enough, I say I will just wait at the entrance since I'm already there.
couple of minutes later 4/5 of those running die. I ask if they need help but no, they are fine.
long story short, 20+ minutes and a couple of more deaths later, they have went to about any rare you can run to and I'm not talking about the ones on the way to the crater.
I say something alone the lines "lfm said madstone, not slayers,rares. If you are going to pop a bunch of chests I can just run with you"
party leaders mumbles something about needing relics for a guildie and leaves it at that.
finally some chests later and after 25+ mins everyone arrive at the entrance and the group with several 16s enters on normal. now, I should have asked about difficulty before joining (my fault there) since I would have soloed it on normal by then but w/e, it is not like I would drop from group over that.

I buff everyone up completely, including the things they don't really need but makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside and ask if anyone is new to this.
no response.
3 mins later most of them have died at least once before even clearing to the 1st charmed seer. the healer puts down a couple of blade barrier on him. seeing thatI try to explain what the objective is and what role the seer has, I get YELLED at over voice by that healer sounding pretty drunk or high on some experimental stuff to shut up.

I am spending more sp rebuffing them after deaths than I am spending on casting myself, so i rebuff them once more and run ahead to clear the 1st encounter. once again, I ask if anyone else is new to this. no answer.
running ahead trying to keep more ppl from dieing, since the healer obviously couldn't handle his job even on normal and I could heal myself, I clear to the 1st seer, set up what was needed and hope they will survive the 3-5 mobs that didn't follow me. 1 person dies.

the whole group arives at the seer as he shatters the crystal. I say we are done here and jump to the next part. 2 ppl jump into the lava and die. one releases to run back and 1 is trying to find a shrine. I say I will clear the 2nd seer, which I do. by the time they are somewhat back in a group 2nd seer is done and it is time to move to the 3rd seer at which point half the melee dies again while trying to fight everything in their way after being told to simply ignore those mobs and run to the cave. those mobs at the base of the stairs, like the skellie giants you just use to bar the way to the seer that is.

at that point the leader of the group gets verbally abusive basically letting me know, that the lfm didn't have zerging in it and that we should stay in a group bc then everything goes better. now, that was the first attempt once in the quest he actually made at "leading" anything.
the only one not staying in a group after watching them die with 4 mobs on them, then fully buffing them again was me. they still died left and right with just a fraction of the mobs, that would have been on them if they were not following me while running ahead so I get somewhat annoyed, mainly bc of his tone and cursing. I remind him I waited 25+ mins outside the quest while they were doing rares/slayers, the lfm also didn't say anything about and that we are in a quest 2 levels under our level. all in a civil manner. he keeps cursing and nerdrages into dropping group. soon after the healer and a 3rd guy drops. they were in the same guild with the pleader. 2 ppl stay. I quickly explain to them what the plan is, they follow instructions to the letter and we complete the quest a couple of minutes later without any more deaths/complications and are back in town while the ppl that dropped are still standing around the tavern.
/rantoff



now: the 2 ppl that stayed and completed the quest were from a no-name guild or guildless.
the 3 ppl that left were all from the same guild which is well-known on the server and seems to have a lot of guild pride building up on the forums and in their lfms lately. (no, not one of the "most members, recruit you in korthos" ones).

to my conclusion:
I will keep pugging bc otherwise I would not meet ppl, like the 2 that stayed and behaved perfectly. they can join a pug of mine anytime. tis the ones, that behave like the other 3 I need to meet and filter out before they hit up an LFM for something demanding, keeping me from really wasting my time in epics or hard/elite raids.

Party leaders PLEASE describe what you want to do in the LFMs and stick to that description. some ppl are not unemployed or similar and actually have limited time to play. it is not our role to guess. if you say you are doing A, stick with A, so we all can be respectful of each other's time and rl. if you want to do B, then don't advertise for A. tis like saying you are going to Vegas for the weekend, then flying ppl out to a Jechova's witnesses convention to discuss piety. not cool.

A specific guild tag can be an indication but not a guarantee of quality or lack thereof of a player. I didn't use to have issues with members of that guild before but that pleader is the first person to ever make my squelch list. just need to figure out who his alts are -.- similarilly, I had no clue the no-name guilded guys would behave as well as they did in the end.

imho PUGs have gotten a far worse reputation, than they deserve because the PUGs that go really bad stand out. most ppl won't remember an smooth completion but will remember all the details of one that went horribly wrong. *points at wot above*. so gives pug a chance! ^^

p.s. don't pm me about the name of the guild, that is not the intention of this thread, not to mention I had positive experience with other members of theirs.

[Surcus1]

Lol

This was the most fun post I`ve seen in a while

[Spisey]

PM Sent!

[Seelowe]

Lol

This was the most fun post I`ve seen in a while

well, glad to not fail at trying a fun approach of the issue at hand

PM Sent!

oh noooes!! I said no pms and and and...
*blames legion and sol's bio in particular*

[cheever77]

I have to say I agree wit the OP. Have run a several PUG's, still prefer to stay in guild but PUG's can be fun and lead to meeting some great ppl.

Have invited 3 newbs to our guild from pugs and they are flourishing as better players due to advice and gear that has been handed to them to help.

Give PUG's a go ppl you may be suprised :-)

[Sinni]

imho PUGs have gotten a far worse reputation, than they deserve because the PUGs that go really bad stand out. most ppl won't remember an smooth completion but will remember all the details of one that went horribly wrong. *points at wot above*. so gives pug a chance! ^^

/signed

especially a lot of healers are whining about pugs. i played my healer fvs all the way up only pugging because my guild mates are lagging behind in terms of level. it was also my first character on the US servers, so i had absolutely no twink gear and i didn't find any super valuable item i could sell for tons of cash.

so i pugged with my horrible equipment. sure, i had a few bad groups, but also some really great ones and mostly normal ones. i met some great people on the way and quested quite often with a few of them (mostly monks, dunno why. Owmltlkicks, Elysidia and Aziiz spring to mind, thanks again for the great time guys).

i really don't see the problems people always have with pugs. sure, there are times when i get angry too in guild chat about the pug i'm in or maybe only a single player, but i just finish the quest and leave. those pugs are only a small fraction.

[Chai]

Actually the good ones ARE the ones I remember because they are getting more rare.

[Garseya]

I'm learning to cut my losses and drop out of a pug when it seems to really be a bad one. I used to try and stick it out and nurse everyone through. Now, if noone listens and guild X seems intent on leading everyone into disaster, I just drop.

On the bright side for pugs, I recently ran with a group where noone spoke english (except me)... All I could undertand was when they uttered "hooby dooby flooby Khazgar hooby dooby"... Elite completion way over level, smooth run zero deaths...

Adventure is a universal language.

[weyoun]

Pugging is the best entertainment around. Hands down. I run a lot in guild but also run my own raids, join pug raids, etc. There are a lot of people who are not the best players but fun to run with or just entertaining as hell. I'm just glad myddo is out there to help discriminate a bit from the pitiful pugger and the pugger who is just a pugger.

[Seelowe]

Pugging is the best entertainment around. Hands down. I run a lot in guild but also run my own raids, join pug raids, etc. There are a lot of people who are not the best players but fun to run with or just entertaining as hell. I'm just glad myddo is out there to help discriminate a bit from the pitiful pugger and the pugger who is just a pugger.

I still blame your bio.
nough said.

[Delt]

I'm gonna PM you a name just to see if my psychic powers are operating at 100%.

[Seelowe]

I'm gonna PM you a name just to see if my psychic powers are operating at 100%.

evil, evil man...

[Delt]

evil, evil man...

Madame Cleo I am not - but deceptive in your allusions you are.

See this is the quote that is gonna bug me:

same guild which is well-known on the server and seems to have a lot of guild pride building up on the forums

I can't think of many *proud* forum goers for well known thelanis guilds - DARPA, Legion and, maybe, Archangels. The rest are busy handing out digital confectionaries, apathetic or gave up anything resembling pride years ago when they role played thier first scantily clad elven female in the company of 5 other overweight dudes.

[LawstCawz]

Now what were we talking about again?

[Alter]

at that point the leader of the group gets verbally abusive basically letting me know, that the lfm didn't have zerging in it

I doubt my boys and girl would join a group that doesn't allow zerging.

the 3 ppl that left were all from the same guild

Three darpa members can easily quest up to cap so I highly doubt it was us.

Pretty confident that we were not involved.

Alter

PS: if it was 3 people from my guild I think I would have heard about it. Regardless please pm me names if they did have DARPA tags as we have 3 new recruits and 1 has already been booted. (quality control ftw)

[Seelowe]

the point of the thread was really not to slander a specific guild. it was merely part of the equasion that the 3 ppl acting up there happened to be from a well known guild etc.
p.s. say what you will the darpaganda posters are schweet

[DoctorWhofan]

I'll take a PM please.

[Seelowe]

I'll take a PM please.

/slap
and go roll that pally I built for ya :O

[DoctorWhofan]

/slap
and go roll that pally I built for ya :O

waiting to get him to 20 first...

[Fenrisulven6]

PUGs have been bad lately only because I was down with a bad vid card.

Now that I'm back, your PUG groups should run more smoothly