Where's the real players?

The mode of playng rpgs online anymore (for candyland/carebear games like this one) is not the same mode of old. Today you have action jacksons that only want to get to the good portions of the game and bypass the grindy meaningless portions that offer up nothing but time consumption from the better more loot oriented parts of the game.

Being as the high level limit is ONLY 20 there's a great rush to get to that level because it can be gotten to within a days play easily for just about anybody. So, why waste time in the puny kiddiefied lands of no quality loot?

See games like SWG an Anarchy Online saw this kind of gameplay to be detrimental to the game as a whole and what they did was put things in the lower end of the game that high end gamers would still want. Like parts for Light sabre's in newbieland of SWG and lots of minerals for high end stim paks and other factory created goods like weapons and robots. This made every level of SWG quality playtime because you could aquire things for use for yourself and for higher ups. Plus SWG has a depreciation type of economy where items lose their power and value so that keeps lower level items just as popular as higher level items since they need to be replaced from time to time. This is a great system and keeps the economy alive and doesn't make people HAVE to RUSH to the HIGHEST LEVEL to obtain wealth and glory.

Things is Anarchy Online I remember from the low level play were Concrete Pillows level 10. High level Players would pay you 2 MILLION credits for ONE of these puppies and last time I played they were still paying 2 MILLION credits for TWO of them.

When you have a game like Guild Wars that pushes everyone to one end of the shoebox and as fast as possible the outcome is what you see. No players in the low end of the game, nobody wants to buy your stuff unless it is gold, max/perfect and in most cases 10k or less lol. GW has lost its lustre as far as a quality MMO to play where there's value in all levels of play. There's no fun in lower levels anymore. The only value in the game is at level 20 and having every skill from every class. There's no loot content worth having or going for because everyone and their mothers brother has one and got it easily and hardly had to do anything for it except get to LEVEL 20! lol

Guild Wars has become that game for the poor, carebear, candyland type of players who want as much as possible with little effort. Now, doesn't that remind you of a five year old attitude and personality? I swear if they put a Game Genie in this game 99.9% would be using it.

So. I've been PUGging HM missions, most of my groups succeed.

Unfortunately, it's true. It does happen. Today someone aggroed three groups of Afflicted, and despite at least two of us pinging, the rest completely ignored the Afflicted Ritualists healing the enemies, didn't get out of ROJ, etc. I wonder why we wiped? My second group, who actually targeted enemies, breezed through it.

It's true. Not all PUGs fail. However, those that fail tend to put people off from playing. I don't want to repeat a mission again and again because people don't target, or overaggro. Yes?

I very rarely get runs anywhere. I'm see no reason to be in a RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOing hurry. Its not like i'm paying a monthly fee for the time I use going through missions.

The problem with PUGs is, there are good PUGs and there are bad PUGs. But if you have PUG as often as I have for the past 4 years, you would have seen both.

It is well known that many PUGs are biased against certain classes like mesmers and rangers. As a mesmer, I have even been kicked out of a PUG several times before, because they wanted a monk or an ele.

Not only that, bad players absolutely refuse to listen to advice.

If their way of playing is to not heal the king and let the king die in THK, then YES, they are bad players because they just dont know how to play this game and refuse to listen to good advice.

Go with heroes if you want to win, go with PUGs if you dont care if you fail.

Tbh, if I see someone running something, I look at the price to see if it's worth learning to do myself, then look at their class and use knowledge of what's involved in the run to figure out their build. Why pay for a run when you can do it yourself and make some cash off other people's laziness in the process?

I love lazy people. Runs, Nicholas gift items (currently ~2k per scale, more if you find the right place/time to sell), etc... anything that takes even the smallest amount of effort to obtain for yourself is profitable, since there will always be people who won't put in the effort to do it for themselves.

All those missions you mentioned can be easily done with H/H also and they are so easy that most PUGs would succeed (except for the Eternal Grove).

If you want missions that most PUGs would fail, try Dzagonur Bastion HM + Bonus with PUGs.

If you want a medium level mission, try Thirsty River or THK HM+Bonus with PUGs. These are easy enough with discordway heroes, but many PUGs would just fail them repeatedly.

If you dont PUG enough (I have been PUGGing for the last 4 years) and only choose the easy missions, then of course you have a different impression.

Cut the bullshit nostalgia, people. There never has been, and never will be an online game where the majority of people will take the hard path for no tangible gain. And why would they? If it was fun, sure, you might have a point. But most of the missions are just killing monsters with annoying restraints and shitty rewards. Oh boy, 3 hero skill points and 1500 gold. Oops, I got distracted by the TV (the only thing keeping me sane while this character gets to the latter zones of the game) and piddled around for a few minutes too long, now I have to do it again for Master's. A barrel of fun, this is.

Take Diablo II, for example. People would (and still will) get rushed through THE ENTIRE GAME. Three times. Just to get to the max(ish) level. Now, I liked fighting my way through the difficulties, so I wouldn't usually get rushed. But tons of other people did, and I didn't bitch and moan because they weren't playing the way I thought they should. Not getting runs doesn't make you any better or more "real" of a player. Let people do what they want and get over yourselves.

Did I not specify that I did ALL of the z-missions so far? I probably should have added that I only did them in Hard Mode. So yes, I did pug Thirsty River HM and Dzagonur Bastion HM, both succeeded master's on the first try. And yes, my main character is also 48 months old, congratulations. Of course I can hero/hench all the missions, but I choose not to.

tbh, I love heroes, but they were the worst design decision Anet has made thus far.

Then you must be an extremely lucky player finding the perfect PUG to clear all these tough missions with bonus in HM ON THE FIRST TRY. I tried 5 times to clear them with PUGs but they all failed. Everytime when that happens, I switch to heroes and I clear them on the first try. I have played this game for 4 years now and I have seen some of the best and worst PUGs in this game.

I want your PUGs. I really do. The time when Z-missions first came out and I said I cleared Raisu with a PUG on the first try, everyone else went '...really? Where are all these people?'

Your experience is not other people's experience. My experience with a THK PUG was that half the people who say they'll camp at king don't. I've had good PUGs and bad PUGs - some have completed the mission flawlessly, some can't kill fast enough, some don't stick to the agreed tactics. While I don't think everyone who PUGs sucks, if the chance of you succeeding with a PUG < the chance of you succeeding with h/h or guildies... it's kind of obvious why people choose the latter.