Sarlona, what is with you?

[UrbanPyro]

Deleted.

[cdr]

Was in a Shroud PUG yesterday. "Leader" is clearly clueless, but that happens often enough and usually the rest just carry the leader since even most puggers know what to do in the Shroud.

Start part 1. Two arcanes in the group and three divines, and not a single one of them is killing trash. Also, only one of the divines is even attempting to heal as the trash piles up on the melees trying to beat down the portals.

Portal keeper spawn message happens, I think fine, surely the arcanes know enough to at least go find and kill it. Second portal keeper message happens, and I'm the only one the least bit concerned. "Leader": "Oh, it's no problem, keepers are squishy." I give up at this point. A few seconds later, third portal keeper message. Part 1 failure.

But 19 out of 20 Shroud PUGs are fine, even if it takes twice as long to complete than a zerg.

[Original]

I am really getting sick of this, and it has to be said, although chances are the ones I am 'ranting' about are not forum goers, but still...

Sarlona has this new wave of people, many of them TRs(So have been around some time, the 'new' excuse don't fly) where they seem to purposely do exactly the opposite of whats said. Every pug I make, every quest I run, if there's someone in the group that I don't specifically know, that person WILL do this. Whether its 'do not kill X mob' (And he will go out of his way to target and attack THOSE first, even if that fails the quest) or 'please kill mob X before u finish quest(and this type of person will train 30 of them along behind him/her refusing to touch them.

Am really quit sick of it, the above are only 2 examples, but its enough to illustrate the issue. I'm sure a lot of the response will be 'so don't pug' but this is a MMO, meeting and cooperating with new people is the lifeblood of what the game is about. I suffer this occasionally before, and it was fine, but this TR, during this life, this is almost a constant.

In the past I've always strongly defended pugs in the 'don't know them, dont accept them' mentality of some of sarlonas 'elite' - I guess I'm just getting all of the bad apples thrown in my face all at once this life?

Oh and to the clown who suggested 'well don't say it then' tried that... if ppl don't know what to do, they will make mistakes, which is fine, but shorting the learning curve helps them out.

This may shock the people who know me but I am going to say something nice o.O!
I have been gone almost 6 months. And have been doing nothing but pugging since ive comeback.
I still notice the noobs, froobs, etc... but everyone seems to listen, stick together as group even thou there gear and brains is lacking... minus the Hound I ran :P. It almost reminds me of the good ol days when the cap was 10!

[GrayScioto]

I like the OP have noticed that the quality of the pugs I join are somewhat lacking compared to the those I joined early in my time in DDO. When my cleric first got to the Shroud, I went many runs without a wipe. Granted, I have only completed the Shroud nine with another 20-30 DDoor exits, but that has been over a long enough period of time to see a trend. Now I would say it is 50/50 on finishing and this was before U11. I can't honest say that I can put my finger on the cause of the decline.

Given the "decline in pug quality" and the changes in U11, I was very leery of joining a Shroud raid after the update. On Friday I gave it a shot and joined a Shroud. As far as I could tell we had the perfect group with three healers ( me being the backup) and enough DPS. I think we were missing a bard so maybe we were just sub-perfect. The players were mostly vets some of whom I have heard of. We started on hard and it went textbook 1-4. Harry was just too hard. The two main healers did everything perfectly as far as I could tell. Their heals were staggered and I has spot healing and mass curing when the red bars got at 50%. Harry just lasted too long. Maybe we need more DPS but since we had a fighter, barb, monk and a couple of rogues and the fact that I couldn't eve get a second DP on the portals in section one before then went down you would think we should have been fine.

We reformed and got ready to try it again. In the entrance many of us noticed that an infamous player on Sarlona had joined us. We all had doubts that the run would be successful even with five healers. ( Maybe because of five healers) But, we went on. Part one went fine but in part two, SOMEONE started a red named parade in the middle of the zone and 1, 2, 3 wipe. We all had a laugh, booted the guy and restarted.

The last try was on normal with a perfect group minus a bard. One each caster, three healers and assorted melee types. The run went perfectly and was fun. Like the leaders said, it was not the fastest run he had ever had but it was the most fun. We were still giggling about the previous two wipe and the better players had time to crack jokes. Me being a gimp healer had my hands full keeping up with my more skilled peers.

Point is if folks are good humored, just the experience of playing can be a win and eventually the group can make it through if they are willing to go at it at normal. I think the buffs to the bosses were a bridge too far for most of the population and I hope that the Devs find a better way to provide the powergamers a challenge while keeping the moderately skilled players in the mix.

Regardless, there are still some good, solid veterans out there who are willing to pug with folks and just laugh and try again when they come up fifteen cents short.

[Tembyr]

I would think I am they kind of guy that makes the PUG fail the raid, but to be honest I cannot remember the last time I have failed a raid. Shroud, ToD, etc: I click a random PUG and everything works out. Perhaps I am just lucky.

Hmm, to be honest I do remember the last raid I failed. "So who got the lever before we killed the Reaver?".

[drewrayder]

so glad i solo everything til about 14, or my wife plays healer with me, either way, i dont deal with this problem each tr i do.

[Munesai]

I blame myself..

I leave the LFM open not caring who joins, and by the time someone does, I'm well in progress.
I don't care when they come in and I don't wait either, I just go about my business, leaving the LFM open brings a change of pace and some excitement. When people die, I might not bother..I know they will soon rez out and leave group.
When people catch up, usually they are great and we go about destroying the dungeon.

I'm far too aloof to be an effective leader...

However, If I join a group, I do all the good things that people in groups need to do. Like pay attention, do things the leader wants to do and not touch anything.