No Pugging Problem

[Garbudo]

You have not swam in 7 years dip your toes in the water, there is a whole new generation of people in game now it's a good healthy mix. You may find yourself to actually enjoy pugs again the players and fun experiences you seek are out there, but you have to start somewhere and want to try and not just for a day or two, go a month or two pugging and give us a report.

[ned_ellis]

Hope it wasn't my bad jokes...

On a related note; I really wish I could find a group of people to do raids with. (especially the hard, never run ones....)

I really wish that too; do you have any ideas on how to create such a thing that go beyond being accepted into the right sort of guild?

I feel you, OP.

I've been feeling this in most of the games I've been playing, to be honest.

snip

I've been chasing that feeling of expertise, of being part of a larger community as well. For maybe the last 4-5 years. I've chased it from game-to-game. LotRO to DDO to GW2 to WOW and over and over again. Each time, I download the game, I give it a shot, and I end up running around alone, because not only am I not good/well-geared/expert at the game, I can't Dunning-Kruger myself into thinking that I am.

I recognize my badness and I go away.

I'm trying DDO again, but it's hard. I have a good group of people, a good guild and channel, but they're all expert. Everybody's running high reapers. I'm running solo on hard. Normal if I have to. I don't have the gear. Haven't done the years of grinding greensteel and raids. Still trying to figure out which class fits me best. Still dying occasionally. I feel like a burden and a liability with others.

Okay, enough rambling from me. But I see you.

The feeling of expertise has been prolonged by the addition of character progression systems within the game; I think the ship has sailed and the only way to accomplish it is within a 'micro-climate', hence grouping with similar / like-minded players. With regards to how to accomplish this however, pug's are not the ideal system but the only universally available one - anyone have ideas on how to facilitate the process?!

What gets me is that I find many players on the forum that have a similar desire to not become xp/min machines but veryveryvery rarely actually find them in-game...

[DaviMOC]

To be honest I love pugs. I dont care if its a first life barbarian/fighter that joins my reaper group and dies on the first group of mobs neither I aim for the elite players on my server.

I'm just happy to find people to play along specially those quests that requires more players or specific roles, its also fun to interact with different people.

What i dont like is actually guild leveling groups. Sometimes I'm just playing with random people or soloing a given quest and guildies keeps asking for groups and many times they want me to drop the pack or quest I'm doing to help.

Sadly when I do their bidding many times they slack or pike... But that seems more like a problem in the guild. XD. Good thing is that guildies still does some nice stuff at level cap such as raids and high reaper runs.

[remember1]

I like pugs but I ain't a very good player, and nowadays every LFM asks for Reaper runs, no more Elite runs. I prefer Elite because I ain't a power character.

[weyoun]

Fixed this for you.

Dear Diary,

Once upon a time, I pugged. I would join every PUG I could. That was the way I approached DDO - play any quest with any group, regardless of classes. In a game that I have been playing for 13 years, I spent probably the first 5 or 6 years constantly pugging. Then, something changed, I decided to disappear from public view, and I quit pugs. I don't mean I mostly quit pugging, I mean I quit. It wasn't a particular event or thing; I woke up one day, and just started playing with RL friends and family, or running solo. Over the last 7 years, I have probably been in 7 pugs, maybe.

It's interesting. My wife occasionally considers putting up an LFM when we discuss running certain quests, but I balk, and we either run the quest alone or not at all. I'm not sure why this happens - why I get so anti-pug. I haven't had miserable pug groups. Quite the opposite, I greatly enjoyed pugging when I was doing it. Once upon a time, I was a "go to" for pug grouping, constantly receiving requests to join groups. I just don't seem to want that experience any more, and I'm not sure why. It's just a negative feeling when I consider joining or hosting a pug.


It could be that perhaps I believe that the pug experience today won't compare to the pug experiences of yesteryear. Certainly, much has changed over the years. Perhaps, I don't feel like having others join my party will elevate my experience as I once believed it would. Playing any quest with any party (and succeeding) used to be very entertaining.

Maybe, it's why people play now. Most of the players I know from way back are now very xp/min kinds of people. Grinding that next life as fast as possible, repeating the same high xp/min quests, over and over ad nauseam. It just doesn't seem to be something that strikes a chord with me.


Maybe I could find a group that is just casually running stuff, smelling flowers, and so on. Sadly, even running with that kind of group doesn't entice me. No, it seems that I have my niche now in DDO, and it involves playing solo or with my wife, kids, and grandkids. That's my DDO now. I'm not sure what could happen, or what DDO could do, to get me back into pugs. My head knows that pugging should be a great experience, but my heart just doesn't seem to agree.

E.

[AkromaAoW]

Fixed this for you.

Thank you.

[weyoun]

Thank you.

yw

[Enoach]

First I would point out that based on what the OP posted it appears there was a personal decision made for some reason. Only the OP can determine what that actual cause was, which does not appear to be a bad experience (just based on what was posted)

As a long time player that has been running pugs, guild groups and static groups the entire time I can say there are some changes over the lifespan

At one point putting up an LFM during your normal time of play likely had you running with mostly the same group of people - Maybe not the same characters but the same group. Much like going down to the local park and playing basketball. Sure there was fluctuations in the group but it was easily a majority that you could get to know. Early days DDO was full of players with past experience in PnP groups so there was more connecting and the style of play lead more towards adventuring vs advancement.

Then there was the raiding scene that actually increased in many cases the other players one regularly participated with.

As the player priority shifted from adventure to advancement, something that people will disagree on is the actual why... was it more the draw of a more typical MMO player? Was it the addition of multiple advancement mechanics (Reincarnation, Crafting, Epics) or was it the spreading out of levels as it expanded from 10 to 16 to 20 to 25 and eventually 30, or was it the switch where content wasn't necessarily available to every player to some extent the adventure packs but also considering the Expansions? But in any case this reduced the chances of meeting up with "known players" where before when you went down to the park you may recognize 80%+ of the players, where now it may be less then 10%

Of all the years I can honestly say that I've only been in a few groups where one player robbed the "fun" from the group. Something that was easily remedied .

I would say, don't fear pugs, there are still many people out there that are a lot of fun to meet up with. Much like sitting at a large table of random strangers for dinner. You never know you just might run into someone that becomes a new friend. Of course you may also run into someone you will avoid also - Box of Chocolates