How to be successfull with Pick-Up Groups (PUG)

Im an ass when I monk. I will tell people that if they dont do exactly what I say I wont heal them. I will force my PUG (by way of witholding my presence) to do Temple of Strength before the other quests, because I like that one.

Its a good thing that despite being vindictive and impatient that Im competent. Elsewise I might die when my Monk tanks.

I agree it's certainly always funny when you a group advertising "6/8, just need 2 monks and we go!!". 2 monks, is that all, enjoy your wait! They usually won't be amenable to bringing a hench monk either.

For the guy who said he'd leave if he was a single monk with 7 warriors. Are you kidding? As a monk I'd love a group like that. Warriors tear stuff to pieces so fast it isn't even funny (well, as long as they aren't complete nubs with skill bars full of heal spells and defensive stances).

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For me, when i start a PuG group, i have a set of builds needed:

Two tanks (that don't rush)
must bring armor boosting skills and stances, damage is not important. Also, they must protect the squishies with shouts like Watch Yourself and Shields Up

Two healers
one monk or ritualist that maintains health on the party while the other spike heals

1 interrupter
preferably a ranger or a domination mesmer

1 degen/conditioner
a blood necro, illusion mesmer, and condition ranger fit this role quite well

2 AoE/massive damage dealers
this category can range from spiteful spirit necros, minion masters, elementalists, and possibly assassins.

some notes:

Rangers/warriors must bring a hard ressurection skill and are responsible for ressurecting fallen party members ASAP. I tend to not let monks/casters res due to their high demand for energy.

Avoid Barrage rangers, since their damage is pathetic compared to those sepcialized for AoE damage (MM's, Spiteful Spirit, and nukers)

Warriors who are extremely impatient before the mission/quest begins should be kicked immediately

Check the builds of everyone you invite, and correct them if they are really absurd

Many of these roles can be substited due to the lack of players in some areas, so be sure to keep that in mind.

When entering a large/challenging mission that I can't do with henchmen or whichever couple of friends are online, I go by a few guidelines to start a group.

First, anyone with a stupid name, horrendous spelling and grammar, or extreme impatience goes out right at the start. I've found that people with any of these qualities usually just aren't skillful enough to be worth bringing along. They generally end up being a drain on the monk, or a warrior that just hacks away without using any attack or defensive skills and doesn't know how to hold aggro, or they're a caster that just wands things, and the like.

I'll also try to engage everyone in some conversation for a few minutes before leaving. Sometimes unpleasant qualities and personalties will emerge that make the filtering process easier. The end result is worth taking a few minutes to ensure quality control.

Joining groups with 'LFG' doesn't have a high success rate for me. I've just found that the overwhelming majority of people in pick up groups are, well, underwhelming!

I know this may not sound very accommodating, but it works. *laugh*

There are some missions and quests where just about everyone wipes--Villainy of Galrath, for example. You start out in gentle Nebo Terrace. Nice 11s, a few 13s, alright, here's one 17 in with a group of 13s. Not bad, right?

Also not for long. You'll soon hit the Black Curtain, where you've got patrols SCREAMING down, composed entirely of 17-20s. You've got poisonous swamp water. And they always seem to know which ones are the Monks, too--you can barely drag them away.

Unless your group synchs JUST RIGHT, you are going to all die at least once. If anyone survives, it will be that hardy tank.

Pack a Bane Signet--many of these foes are undead. Judge's Insight does well also.

Pack a reuseable rez skill, because if anyone survives, it will be you. And you again. And guess what? You again. Rez by suicide is not the way to go. Bring back your Monk primary first, and then HELP them. Foreign concept, I know, but it works. You can't do that with the One-Time-Only Rez Signet. Reuseable deus machinae are a good thing.

Healing Breeze or Heal Area, for when you're in the poisonous waters--this is about the only time I'll advocate the use of Heal Area, but it can really help a dying party in those waters. Just don't use Area in battle. The alternative is Healing Breeze, to counteract the poisonous waters. On the Monk, please, and let them heal everyone else. Healing Breeze also works as a quick heal against conditions in battle, but be greedy--use it on yourself. You're the tank, and the point is for everything to aggro you so that the casters can cast, the Monks can heal, and the squishies can generally do what it is that squishies do. If you die, the mobs attack them, and they die. And they can't resurrect anyone when they're dead.

Useful, also, is "Charge!" The Allied AoE 25% faster retreat skill, I call it. I'm sure they meant for you to charge in and not out of battle, but whatever works. If you're about to wipe and you can retreat, DO IT.

I'm not much of a stance/shout user; instead I go for attack skills in the remaining slots. For an axe warrior, Triple Chop from Factions (Wing, Three Blade) or its non-Elite cousin Cyclone Axe make decent PBAoE skills for when you're surrounded.

For sword, Pure Strike (which cannot be (either blocked or evaded, can't remember which) if you're not in a stance) and Sun and Moon Slash (first can't be blocked, second can't be evaded, another Factions) are I think some of the most powerful skills. Two attacks for the price and time of one? I'm all for it.

And about that? Take sword or axe. Hammer is a decent enough weapon, but there are times when it should be used, and certain builds for it. For general use, it's too slow, too variable in its damage, and you can't use a shield with it. Among sword and axe, sword is lower damage but more consistent, and with Wa/Mo, that's my pick. The best use of a Hammer, I feel, is in the hands of an Assassin primary with high Critical Strikes, who can make use of those high-end damage numbers, and moderate-to-high Shadow Arts so they can get out of the way quickly. This theory gave rise to the A/W Axe-assin build, and while I've yet to see one for hammer, I can feel it coming.

I feel that soloing and running with the Wa/Mo is beyond the scope of this discussion, but I will say that if one is a Warrior primary, this is one of the most effective profession combinations for those things.

Best of luck, good article! And don't forget the decent Wa/Mo's out there.

fig
Wa/Mo: Ariyuna Merdenve

The last sentence of the guide :

If you die, don't spam "rez me!" a hundred time and don't blame the monk. Dying is your fault.


One day in Deep. I (monk healer) partner with a W/A (he is the leader of the pug team) in Room 1.

He instantly aggro the foes and just say "heal me" when we just enter Room 1 through portal. And then he always shout "heal", "heal", "heal", every second until he die.

After he died, he say "All players resigned, the monk is noob, need kick him out."

His health dropping rate is much faster than I heal, also I was knocked down many times in this room. He ran far from me to the frontline such that I must go to frontline to heal him.

In my experience
most warriors(not include guildmates) in PUG = rude+impolite+impatient

Awesome Guide. I know a Wammo, well, actually a Wanger (W/R). Applies Posion and rushes head long into the fray. Usually right past the mob's tanks straight into the next group. In the Divinty Coast mission, the group was engaged in a nasty fight. I try my darndest to keep everyone alive. I try to throw Healing Breeze on Wanger, and next thing I know I am running down a path perpendicular to where we are fighting. Come to find out, 'he is so good', he left us to get to the next 'villager' and ran into a mob of ettins and got his butt kicked. Meanwhile, the rest of the group needs my attention, me being the only healer. I left him there, spamming, 'I am Dead'. We finished up the battle and after resing and healing the rest, I went to get him. He kept up his 'what were you doing?' spatter, to the point that I told him to shut up or I would leave him there. I have been in multiple missions with this person. When he sees me he will lip off at me. All I say is, 'Shut up, or I'll leave you there." He laughs and we do ok. But once in a while he forgets and ..........

Stopped reading with the opening paragraph. If you want to be taken seriously come to the realization there are bad players in every class.

People that play warriors always end up being the worst in the game. Second worst are monks that have no energy management and are effectively orison turrets. Learn to prot plz.

Not true obviously. Bad players come from every class, the only difference is a bad warrior thinks he's good 'cause he's anyway the last man standing and keeps playing, a bad mesmer will not be effective in any way, will keep dying and will quit playing 'cause it's a bad class.

Monks are good even as healers, do not think that just because the vast majority of them are boon prots healer is a bad way of playing.

"INTRODUCING... MR.WAMMO ! "

I stopped reading there. Sorry.

This made my day :P

Funny guide and true for the most part.

My 2 cents.

While I play everything, my favorite 2 classes are Warriors and Mesmers with a variety of secondaries, and I can tell you that the over-generalizations get a bit tiresome.

1) Warriors are often ridiculed because their mistakes are out there and obvious to the rest of the group. The whole team knows when they overextend and die or aggro too soon and kill everybody else. If they overextend ALWAYS LET THEM DIE. Usually they will die, but sometimes not. There are lots of solo Warrior builds and they may actually be able to handle what they are rushing. If you as a monk or team follow an overextended warrior and die yourself, IT'S YOUR FAULT, not the warrior's. Now, before you get all hot and bothered, please know that I understand that there is rarely a good reason to aggro the next group when your casters are still regenerating (or rezzing people for heaven's sake). And the only time there is a good reason is if the warrior has a build that actually can solo a patrol that is heading your way anyway and would quickly take out your casters while they are low on energy. (Oni, Graspings, etc.).

2) Monks are often ridiculed because a death is always somehow their fault. Usually it is the player's fault, but to be honest there are just as many lousy monks out there as there are lousy warriors. When I play a monk it's pretty clear to me that I'm one of the lousy ones. So I usually just use him for smiting and bring henchie healer/prot support. When I do team up with a good monk, it's like a breath of fresh air.

3) Casters and non-trapping rangers are the easiest to play. Why? Because you can be the single worst player on the team and nobody ever knows (except maybe the monk who's watching the skills you use while he desparately tries to keep you alive).

4) Because of prejudice:
A) It's hard to get on a GOOD team as a wammo.
B) It's hard to get on ANY team as a mesmer. (But when you finally do, it's always a good one.)

5) Stop knocking mending. Of course it doesn't make you invincible, but it's a very useful self heal for a character class that doesn't need energy. And of course it gets stripped from you, just like every other enchantment does in every other class. I haven't run into a completely useless skill yet in this game, but I've run into gobs of skills that have far less use than this one. Granted, I never use it in PvP.....unless I'm feeling particularly naughty, of course. Sometimes it's fun to bring my Thirsty River Soloing Wammo mending build into RA and kill all the non-mesmers who spammed "Mending ftw " while we loaded.

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