My brother just did raisu on masters in Hm with a pug. The people were friendly, weren't picky about classes and even played well.
I plan on pugging some stuff myself.
Quite nice update.
PUGs 2.0: Zaishen questing.
kostolomac
Fril Estelin
Just did Raisu Palace HM with a PUG, quick and simple in 16mins, great experience. I manage to make the group somewhat balanced, but we had to respec once.
Someone saw an ER healer ele and said "I want a real monk or I leave". He stayed and was humbled by the great work of the ele.
This is the kind of experience that revitalise you. PUG 2.0, indeed!
Someone saw an ER healer ele and said "I want a real monk or I leave". He stayed and was humbled by the great work of the ele.
This is the kind of experience that revitalise you. PUG 2.0, indeed!
BenjZee
THK was interesting i thought especailly when one monk disappeared after the cutscene and wouldn't help....that left it down to me we did pretty well for healing 
was thoroughly enjoyable plus it was nice having a chat with other players.
Raisu was funny aswell straight away masters HM...even when i had to leave quickly to sort out a pet came back to find they wern't too pissed off just a request to "get the hell over here"
was thoroughly enjoyable plus it was nice having a chat with other players.Raisu was funny aswell straight away masters HM...even when i had to leave quickly to sort out a pet
came back to find they wern't too pissed off just a request to "get the hell over here"
Zen1331
It was pretty amazing seeing all these chars in THK. I hooked up with a Sin who had his discord heroes. I asked if I can bring mine and proceeded to be the AP caller on my necro. We just smoked everything in our path and we had an understanding, that when we see our red bars start going down we would hurry along and help each other. Needless to say we mastered that mission.
I h/h'd Raisu palace because you really have to be co-ordinated with that run and I've done it in HM a couple time b4. Rragars was/is a pain in the ass. Hard to find healers so I did hybrid healing as a Necro/Monk w/ WoH and standard prots only bringing enfeebling blood and necrosis as a standby attack skill, but the rest of the time I would help a monk with prots and party wide healing.
And as stated in a lot of posts, I quickly noticed how there were no pricks or attitudes and generally everyone wanted to do good. Everyone was ping'ing their builds so we all had an idea of what we were packing. This was also a good reason for a lot of guys to bring out their consets and other goodies. I packed a couple or res scrolls and 4leafs, candy canes, cookies and cupcakes.
Mind you it was nearing 11pm CST in my neighborhood when we tackled rragars and everyone was pretty tired. We all resigned at lvl 2 b4 the roj hounds and flesh reavers. Way too tough imho. Oh well off to find the next z-quest and pug group.
I h/h'd Raisu palace because you really have to be co-ordinated with that run and I've done it in HM a couple time b4. Rragars was/is a pain in the ass. Hard to find healers so I did hybrid healing as a Necro/Monk w/ WoH and standard prots only bringing enfeebling blood and necrosis as a standby attack skill, but the rest of the time I would help a monk with prots and party wide healing.
And as stated in a lot of posts, I quickly noticed how there were no pricks or attitudes and generally everyone wanted to do good. Everyone was ping'ing their builds so we all had an idea of what we were packing. This was also a good reason for a lot of guys to bring out their consets and other goodies. I packed a couple or res scrolls and 4leafs, candy canes, cookies and cupcakes.
Mind you it was nearing 11pm CST in my neighborhood when we tackled rragars and everyone was pretty tired. We all resigned at lvl 2 b4 the roj hounds and flesh reavers. Way too tough imho. Oh well off to find the next z-quest and pug group.
Nessar
I pug'd THK HM three times. That was usually because of over-aggro/bad monks.
I pug'd the coldstone quest once, and that was with mostly melee and me monking :x But it went well, considering the hero monks build was...bad.
Pug'd the rocktail quest w/ one person monking, we surprisingly lived.
Pugs are surprising me these days, from ursan to flare spammers, yet they still succeed. People are really fun to play with now since people aren't being build nazi's
. Although there are some bad seeds, based on my experience lately, I think it's possible to find a competent group now.
Pugs are ftw imo ^^
I pug'd the coldstone quest once, and that was with mostly melee and me monking :x But it went well, considering the hero monks build was...bad.
Pug'd the rocktail quest w/ one person monking, we surprisingly lived.
Pugs are surprising me these days, from ursan to flare spammers, yet they still succeed. People are really fun to play with now since people aren't being build nazi's
Pugs are ftw imo ^^
JoeKnowMo
Pugged Rocktail x 7. All successful.
Pugged Raisu x 7. 2 early wipes. 1 wiped about the middle. Restarted with the same pug and finished it.
Pugged Blacktide once. Went smoothly.
And pugged several AB matches. Found a good group where we won several in a row.
PUGs are so much more fun than h/h. Gotta do some more later tonight.
Pugged Raisu x 7. 2 early wipes. 1 wiped about the middle. Restarted with the same pug and finished it.
Pugged Blacktide once. Went smoothly.
And pugged several AB matches. Found a good group where we won several in a row.
PUGs are so much more fun than h/h. Gotta do some more later tonight.
Zahr Dalsk
My teams have been going like this:
Me with AP and PvE skills.
Other guy with AP and PvE skills.
Six discord heroes.
It works nicely so far. Well done, ArenaNet.
Me with AP and PvE skills.
Other guy with AP and PvE skills.
Six discord heroes.
It works nicely so far. Well done, ArenaNet.
A11Eur0
I pugged Blacktide once, two warriors brought their monks and we kept dying 
I'm usually a proponent of pugs but i'm skeptical at times.
I'm usually a proponent of pugs but i'm skeptical at times.
Valcion
Overall competence seems to be up. Either I'm lucky or only those who's at least somewhat decent do HM.
My group blitzed THK all the while complaining the final assault needs to be faster. Me and one other person ended up carto'ing while the other 6 laid the beatdown on the waves.
Raisu was finished in about 14 minutes, we steamrolled through it despite none of us having anything to counter sliver armor, and nobody died even once, it was pretty O.O considering we had 4 melees up in the front at all times.
Perdition was a tad slower due to overaggroing, but we eventually finished it with 1 person down. Most of it was everyone bitching about not knowing where the boss went.
I can't say for Ragra (sp?), since I couldn't find a group, but for overall missions, PUG'ing is definitely a good alternative to h/h.
Still need to see how pugs handle GoP and GoM missions though.
My group blitzed THK all the while complaining the final assault needs to be faster. Me and one other person ended up carto'ing while the other 6 laid the beatdown on the waves.
Raisu was finished in about 14 minutes, we steamrolled through it despite none of us having anything to counter sliver armor, and nobody died even once, it was pretty O.O considering we had 4 melees up in the front at all times.
Perdition was a tad slower due to overaggroing, but we eventually finished it with 1 person down. Most of it was everyone bitching about not knowing where the boss went.
I can't say for Ragra (sp?), since I couldn't find a group, but for overall missions, PUG'ing is definitely a good alternative to h/h.
Still need to see how pugs handle GoP and GoM missions though.
Targren
I generally have mixed luck with PUGs. These are no different.
Raisu - H/H'ed.
THK - PUG worked out great. No imbiciles, though a bit of poor coordination on the torches (too many people went for them, rather than not enough, so it's all good)
Blacktide - Smooth sailing. Someone was either running with Wiki or knew the map well so we didn't have to muddle around looking for the monitors.
Molotov - Cake walk.
Coldstone - Charlie-Foxtrot. The group I was with was horrible. We had the typical narutard sin bitching at my ranger for not interrupting the baddies he aggrod and led back to us (it;s hard to Dshot after casting rebirth because we were SUPPOSED to be clear), impatient group who didn't know the patrol route so insisted on running around blindly rather than the two logical choices (wait in one known spot, or follow the route backwards). It was just baed.
AB and JQ pugs were as awful as ever.
Raisu - H/H'ed.
THK - PUG worked out great. No imbiciles, though a bit of poor coordination on the torches (too many people went for them, rather than not enough, so it's all good)
Blacktide - Smooth sailing. Someone was either running with Wiki or knew the map well so we didn't have to muddle around looking for the monitors.
Molotov - Cake walk.
Coldstone - Charlie-Foxtrot. The group I was with was horrible. We had the typical narutard sin bitching at my ranger for not interrupting the baddies he aggrod and led back to us (it;s hard to Dshot after casting rebirth because we were SUPPOSED to be clear), impatient group who didn't know the patrol route so insisted on running around blindly rather than the two logical choices (wait in one known spot, or follow the route backwards). It was just baed.
AB and JQ pugs were as awful as ever.
Eragon Zarroc
yeah, this finally put pugging back into the game. It's good to see a ton of people playing with other people. it is also quite a good way for a guild to bond together through grouping and having the same objectives.
Zen1331
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Targren
Someone was either running with Wiki
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At least the groups I've PUG'd with understood not to bum rush mobs. But PUG's FTW! Makes the game really fun again. Nice seeing different capes flying about.
Targren
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Zen1331
I have 2 monitors with the other running the Wiki so I have and idea on Maps and the groups we are up against. Plus it really does help if you've had some experience with HM, because aggro control is sooo important and plus having the experience in doing a lot of these missions over and over and over again, you pretty much have a good idea of where you should be going and the role you play as your main character.
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Another nice part is that so far, I'm 3/3 (GWEN excluded) on HM missions I still needed to do (incredibly lucky with THK since it was one of 2.5 missions I had left for proph).
FengShuiDove
I'm enjoying the coordination this encourages between guild/alliance members, but I tried puggin on the first day and it was miserable. Doing Blood Washes Blood HM with a PUG, seemed like they knew what they were doing and had decent team comp. I ran HB (for pug happiness) and the other Monk was running [[Life Sheath] which I assumed meant he was running at least a somewhat capable prot bar.
Well, we ended up with a Dervish who had a bunch of self-heals and no damage, apparently to compensate for his incredibly low health, and the prot could NOT keep up with him, especially as we over-aggroed a ton and as his DP stacked up. The damage our team put out was pathetic, and the other Monk and my ability to use Rebirth and kite successfully kept the team from 4-5 wipes. Eventually, after doing everything we could to keep him up, we both refused to Res the Dervish and went on to (finally) complete the quest.
I may try again to find a PUG, but if I can do it quickly without one or get an alliance group together, you bet I'll be doing that. Looking like PUGs are gonna be my last resort, at least until I try again and hopefully have a more successful one.
Well, we ended up with a Dervish who had a bunch of self-heals and no damage, apparently to compensate for his incredibly low health, and the prot could NOT keep up with him, especially as we over-aggroed a ton and as his DP stacked up. The damage our team put out was pathetic, and the other Monk and my ability to use Rebirth and kite successfully kept the team from 4-5 wipes. Eventually, after doing everything we could to keep him up, we both refused to Res the Dervish and went on to (finally) complete the quest.
I may try again to find a PUG, but if I can do it quickly without one or get an alliance group together, you bet I'll be doing that. Looking like PUGs are gonna be my last resort, at least until I try again and hopefully have a more successful one.
Scythe O F Glory
I did THK, Blacktide, Molotov and Raisu with guildies, so that went well. I pugged the Elusive Golemancer which went well also. I also pugged Blood Washes Blood which wasn't so good: We wiped 3 times, but still got it done. All in all, I am impressed with the overall skill of the players, and people not getting as frusturated with other people in the party.
Lord Of Blame
For me, all HM
Rocktail, 2x H/H, 1x ran people for free with my 600 monk
Coldstone, H/H since I needed the vanquish anyway and I'm sure no pugs wanted to stick around that long. Successful, with only a couple of henchies dieing from standing in MS from hydras.
THK, PUG'd this one, I ran a discord setup they had sabway. Too easy.
Raisu, PUG'd this one too. Took about 10 min to form the party and 18 min to finish the mission. I was a little worried with the first few groups but after that it seemed everyone started working together much better and we rolled thru with no problems.
Great job on Anet part breathing some life back into PVE pugging. I have enjoyed the update, and my male ele looks sooooooo much better as a female.
Rocktail, 2x H/H, 1x ran people for free with my 600 monk
Coldstone, H/H since I needed the vanquish anyway and I'm sure no pugs wanted to stick around that long. Successful, with only a couple of henchies dieing from standing in MS from hydras.
THK, PUG'd this one, I ran a discord setup they had sabway. Too easy.
Raisu, PUG'd this one too. Took about 10 min to form the party and 18 min to finish the mission. I was a little worried with the first few groups but after that it seemed everyone started working together much better and we rolled thru with no problems.
Great job on Anet part breathing some life back into PVE pugging. I have enjoyed the update, and my male ele looks sooooooo much better as a female.
Swift Thief
You guys like to get into horrible PUGs. All my PUGs did the quests in HM on the first try, except for Deep.
Daesu
All HM,
Rocktail is so simple you have to be a fool not to grab that 70 copper coins. Took 3 heroes, 3 henchies, 1 afk char from second account with me. Use Pain Inverter on him and it is done. Completed it with all my 16 chars. This is one is too fast and easy to PUG. By the time I get a group ready, I would have done it already.
Coldstone, pain in the ass with henchies/heroes which like to clump together for Hydras. Not worth many copper coins either. No confidence in PUGs for this one.
THK, I definitely gave PUGs a fair chance. PUGed and failed 5 times. Did it with 6 heroes, and 1 afk char smoothly.
Raisu, PUGed and failed 3 times before succeeding. From that experience, it takes too long to PUG, I did it with 3 heroes, the 2 warrior henchies, and 1 Ele hench, and 1 afk char very smoothly. Yes, I only bring 1 N/Rt healer (not counting Mhenlo and Danika), Warriors and Eles have the best celestial skills. Completed it with all my 16 chars (all within 16 to 20mins even though I am allowed 30mins for masters in HM).
Rocktail is so simple you have to be a fool not to grab that 70 copper coins. Took 3 heroes, 3 henchies, 1 afk char from second account with me. Use Pain Inverter on him and it is done.
Completed it with all my 16 chars. This is one is too fast and easy to PUG. By the time I get a group ready, I would have done it already. Coldstone, pain in the ass with henchies/heroes which like to clump together for Hydras. Not worth many copper coins either. No confidence in PUGs for this one.
THK, I definitely gave PUGs a fair chance. PUGed and failed 5 times. Did it with 6 heroes, and 1 afk char smoothly.
Raisu, PUGed and failed 3 times before succeeding. From that experience, it takes too long to PUG, I did it with 3 heroes, the 2 warrior henchies, and 1 Ele hench, and 1 afk char very smoothly. Yes, I only bring 1 N/Rt healer (not counting Mhenlo and Danika), Warriors and Eles have the best celestial skills. Completed it with all my 16 chars (all within 16 to 20mins even though I am allowed 30mins for masters in HM).
Smurf Minions
Well, i got into some kind of PUG which was loaded with pvp mates, and we didn't have much experience. Though getting the most (10) on vent worked out pretty well, it managed to save ourselves from a party wipe quite some times. So i was quite impressed on how far we came with a pug of pvp players
Arkantos
Wait, wait.
Pugs are successfully completing hard mode missions?
I really, really have to see it to believe it.
Pugs are successfully completing hard mode missions?
I really, really have to see it to believe it.
glacialphoenix
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Arkantos
Pugs are successfully completing hard mode missions?
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Daesu
Quote:
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Originally Posted by glacialphoenix
The miracles are just stacking on, aren't they. Not only are they successfully completing HM missions, they're doing it politely and with coordination!
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Marverick
Hmmm... really depends...
I got a good group for Blacktide Den that knew what they were doing, and we had a good time.
THK was epic fail with a PuG. I found someone else and just ran 6-necro Discordway and owned the thing (same for Perdition Rock).
Did Raisu Palace with Discordway too yesterday.
I got a good group for Blacktide Den that knew what they were doing, and we had a good time.
THK was epic fail with a PuG. I found someone else and just ran 6-necro Discordway and owned the thing (same for Perdition Rock).
Did Raisu Palace with Discordway too yesterday.
Daesu
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Marverick
Hmmm... really depends...
I got a good group for Blacktide Den that knew what they were doing, and we had a good time. THK was epic fail with a PuG. I found someone else and just ran 6-necro Discordway and owned the thing (same for Perdition Rock). Did Raisu Palace with Discordway too yesterday. |
I join PUGs for fun and if I have the time to waste. If I want speed, and certainty of success, I usually go for my heroes.
glacialphoenix
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Daesu
You must be in a totally different district from where I find my PUGs.
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It's true that PUGs vary, and the thing about PUGs is that you'll always get a fair share of idiots. But I think people who used to PUG (and who haven't in a while) are coming out of the woodwork, because they know they can form a party. Maybe nostalgia plays a factor.
I PUG only on my monk, because she's completed most of the things they're doing already. On other characters, I find a couple of friends and heroway it. I think if you want to enjoy PUGging, you have to relax and go "Well, this might not work" - which is harder when you have a title you want to go for, a particular skill you want to cap or a particular drop you want to farm. Zaishen missions offer, I think, the luxury of waiting. You only get the reward once at any time, anyway, so there's always time to do it again if you failed the mission. I found people more willing to sit down and work out what to do, more inclined to sync...therefore, better success. I don't think it's a result of better players per se, I think it's a result of players being more relaxed instead of expecting "OK, we have two HB monks, 6 Ursans, GOGOGOGOGOGO - OMG YOU NOOBS /ragequit."
bhavv
I tried a pug for HM oolas lab today ....
I regretted it. Party wipe after party wipe, lack of heals, people seemed to be half asleep all the time.
H/H are better because they always work and do what they are meant to.
I regretted it. Party wipe after party wipe, lack of heals, people seemed to be half asleep all the time.
H/H are better because they always work and do what they are meant to.
Daesu
Quote:
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Originally Posted by glacialphoenix
I PUG only on my monk, because she's completed most of the things they're doing already. On other characters, I find a couple of friends and heroway it. I think if you want to enjoy PUGging, you have to relax and go "Well, this might not work" - which is harder when you have a title you want to go for, a particular skill you want to cap or a particular drop you want to farm. Zaishen missions offer, I think, the luxury of waiting. You only get the reward once at any time, anyway, so there's always time to do it again if you failed the mission. I found people more willing to sit down and work out what to do, more inclined to sync...therefore, better success.
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Taking myself as an example. I have 16 playable characters across 2 accounts. It can take a long time to bring all of them through the mission in 1 day through pugging alone, considering the attempts that resulted in failures. And I dont have a full day to play either. I suspect people with many characters would want to get through the quests as fast as possible too.
HawkofStorms
Quote:
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Originally Posted by bhavv
I tried a pug for HM oolas lab today ....
I regretted it. Party wipe after party wipe, lack of heals, people seemed to be half asleep all the time. H/H are better because they always work and do what they are meant to. |
own age myname
I think I should try this "PUGing".
I haven't PUGed pve since like I was a noob warrior in prophecies. I remember THK giving me a hell of a time on NM though.
I'll have to check this out :O
I haven't PUGed pve since like I was a noob warrior in prophecies. I remember THK giving me a hell of a time on NM though.
I'll have to check this out :O
Zen1331
Quote:
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Originally Posted by HawkofStorms
Oolas lab I'm definately doing H/H. All I need is my elementalist spamming Blinding Surge, and that quest is over.
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glacialphoenix
Quote:
| And I dont have a full day to play either. I suspect people with many characters would want to get through the quests as fast as possible too. |
I think if the quests had been arranged such that you could only have one quest, or you HAD to finish the quest on the day you picked it up... things would be different.
Incidentally, minor complaint, but if you've completed two quests you can't pick which one you want to claim rewards for. I had to claim my AB reward (without the third bonus) in order to get the reward for a bounty.
Daesu
Quote:
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Originally Posted by glacialphoenix
Not that there's no pressure at all, just that 1. it's not like, say, farming VS, where five minutes wasted is five minutes you could have opened the chest again; 2. the rewards are once-off, and you can hold the quest in your log indefinitely. You just have to make sure there's at least one slot in that type of quest per day so you can pick up a new one. So you don't have to panic and go "SHIT I WON'T COMPLETE THIS QUEST TODAY AAAAARGH NOOB PUG".
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Quote:
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Incidentally, minor complaint, but if you've completed two quests you can't pick which one you want to claim rewards for. I had to claim my AB reward (without the third bonus) in order to get the reward for a bounty.
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Ghost Dog
I guess I'll try again but I tried a pug the first day of all this and it was a sad reminder why I H/H.
Yawgmoth
This is the BEST thing about this whole big update - PUG'ing is back and alive like it's 2005! I'm totally loving it.
Failures happen but overall I've had better experiences and success ratio than expected.
Now the only thing that's blatantly missing - PUG Vanquishing. It's practically impossible to find people and make a group to vanq a specific area or one of the many areas you still need. Hope the next content update will help with this (global partysearch or even special rewards for area of the day vanqs)
Failures happen but overall I've had better experiences and success ratio than expected.
Now the only thing that's blatantly missing - PUG Vanquishing. It's practically impossible to find people and make a group to vanq a specific area or one of the many areas you still need. Hope the next content update will help with this (global partysearch or even special rewards for area of the day vanqs)
J I L T
I had a pleasant surprise when doing Thunder Head Keep in hard mode even though we had mostly rangers and warriors it went pretty smoothly. Though we almost failed due to a majority of the team trying to run back a forth between gates and surprise surprise some monsters slipped past. Was a close call but everyone decided to listen and guard Jalis after that. I don't think I'll press my luck too often and certainly not with a difficult dungeon or elite area.
I don't think anyone is really getting better it's just more people are doing missions and whatnot so you have a better chance of getting a good or at least decent team.
I don't think anyone is really getting better it's just more people are doing missions and whatnot so you have a better chance of getting a good or at least decent team.
Puddin Cheeks
i can H/H oola's HM and its cake walk. Other missions i like to find a partner for a 2 man 6 discord/roj setup. It takes a very good PUG to beat that team as far as versatility and speed goes.
I have found it really easy now to find my mate for 2man 6d-way and if he leaves after a "bounty" quest i get his necros So i am essentially vanquishing areas that have a bounty quest when i haven't finished it yet. I find that far less stressful than doing them all at once.
Of course i ask ahead of time if they would like to vanquish with me, but they usually are going to do something else.
Me + 6 necros = perdition rock annihilation. It is so fast it is redonkulous.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Yawgmoth
This is the BEST thing about this whole big update - PUG'ing is back and alive like it's 2005! I'm totally loving it.
Failures happen but overall I've had better experiences and success ratio than expected. Now the only thing that's blatantly missing - PUG Vanquishing. It's practically impossible to find people and make a group to vanq a specific area or one of the many areas you still need. Hope the next content update will help with this (global partysearch or even special rewards for area of the day vanqs) |
So i am essentially vanquishing areas that have a bounty quest when i haven't finished it yet. I find that far less stressful than doing them all at once. Of course i ask ahead of time if they would like to vanquish with me, but they usually are going to do something else.
Me + 6 necros = perdition rock annihilation. It is so fast it is redonkulous.
Chthon
So far the ZQuests haven't got me PUGing, but they did get me to drag out some alliance mates, which is something I don't do as much as I'd like.
glacialphoenix
Quote:
| Luckily for me, I have only used my pvp chars to AB. |
Quote:
| So it makes sense to collect the reward immediately upon completing a single quest. |
Charlotte the Harlot
Pugging is a lot of fun but its only a matter of time before people realize zcoins really aren't that useful. 90 z coins (the usual mission reward) is about 600g for raisu its decent 12-15 mins for that + the gold but for THK its pretty terrible. Some of the bounties are just terrible 35 coins is a little over 200g worth for the maxine/harn its bad the most recent kourna one still wasn't good. Considering the only interesting reward that you couldn't get much more easily by doing something more profitable is the equip pack I think they should probably add some more interesting rewards or increase the number of coins.
EPO Bot
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Charlotte the Harlot
Pugging is a lot of fun but its only a matter of time before people realize zcoins really aren't that useful. 90 z coins (the usual mission reward) is about 600g for raisu its decent 12-15 mins for that + the gold but for THK its pretty terrible. Some of the bounties are just terrible 35 coins is a little over 200g worth for the maxine/harn its bad the most recent kourna one still wasn't good. Considering the only interesting reward that you couldn't get much more easily by doing something more profitable is the equip pack I think they should probably add some more interesting rewards or increase the number of coins.
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