PvE campaign: how not to play alone?

waeland

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2009

26 Mar 2010 at 09:44 - 1

I finished Nightfall with ele some time ago, now I just started new necro in Factions. Nightfall I played mostly single player with heroes. Now I promised myself to try missions to do with humans whenever possible. But HOW?

First mission (Minister Cho's Estate) - I looked looooong time to get anybody (yes, I tried party search across many district). Then finally some Ele joined me ... he has skill bar full of spells from three different elements with no energy management ... I told him he can get GoLE for free in monastery... he was a lot confused. Instead he asked some his friend to join, lev 20 Rt Spirit Spammer, we started mission but where is fun if all you have to do is exactly nothing? Also they wanted to skip all cinematics, I felt impolite not to do so, but without them storyline is more or less gone for me.

Before second mission I searched some time but nobody was to be found so I then gave up and did mission with henchies. I am not QQ that game is hard, quite contrary, especially now I am in Kaineng Center and have access heroes. I would just love to play with other people. Any advice?

upier

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Done.

[JUNK]

26 Mar 2010 at 10:14 - 2

Carma

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jan 2009

Denmark

League of Friends

Mo/

26 Mar 2010 at 10:46 - 3

It's hard finding a PUG to do missions (but possible).

Best way would be finding a guild that still plays through the game (yes, they do exist).

waeland

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2009

26 Mar 2010 at 11:07 - 4

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carma View Post

It's hard finding a PUG to do missions (but possible).

I tried and I failed. So either there is better way than party search + district switching or this is wishful thinking. Of course, I can search even longer, but to search 40min to form PUG for mission which will be finished in 20min even with heroes/henchies is crazy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carma

Best way would be finding a guild that still plays through the game (yes, they do exist). I see no sense to make a guild for normal mode. How much people this guild would need so I can have fair chance to find someone interested in one specific NM mission? Window of opportunity is so small, from Kaineng it is 10 missions till end of Factions, about 1 (one) day of gameplay. And as I told, I am not interested in help from advanced players.

LoneManWolf

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Apr 2009

Mo/

26 Mar 2010 at 13:14 - 5

you have to understand that this game is nearly dead
if u want to experience the story line then you are more than likely going to do it alone or with maybe a close friend who might be willing to start a new character or use limited builds so it's more fun for u both
i have been through this game so many times with so many friends
the storyline for me is so boring now but to just spend time with friends i will endure it
that's what you need
finding a pickup group is next to impossible these days

HigherMinion

Forge Runner

Join Date: May 2008

East Anglia, UK

Order of [Thay]

26 Mar 2010 at 13:16 - 6

Yes, a big guild of helpful players is all you need. Play in American districts, as they're the busiest in most areas, and stand around for a good ten minutes before resorting to heroes, if you really don't want to play with bots.

PUGs can sometimes be idiots; usually foreign or >7 years old. Just type louder and your advice might get through to them. Good luck finding people. You can always post a thread here in the PUG section, find some regular people to do Missions with?

~Minion.

Urass

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Sep 2008

UTC -5 or -6

26 Mar 2010 at 13:18 - 7

Quote:

Originally Posted by upier

You can't.
Multiplayer does not work as a primary way to play the game anymore. Welcome to the post "skill balanced" unpopulated Guild Wars world. A few more strategic "skill balances" and ANET can finally start shutting down their servers.

Only positive suggestion if you prefer PUGing, is do z-mishs & z-bonus'... then h/h the rest. That again is HM only though, very few Z NM (though many shud).

PaulVanK

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Sep 2009

[HiH]

26 Mar 2010 at 13:18 - 8

Look for good guild

Gennadios

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2009

N/A

26 Mar 2010 at 20:08 - 9

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulVanK

Look for good guild

Good luck. Guilding is used primarily for HM or high end content. They won't help much either.

As for the OP, what upier said. The only people that will really spend a great deal of energy on grouping will be the epically bad ones that can't get thorough the content on their own.

Everyone else knows that they'll save a great deal of time by just henching the early parts.

Either way, there seems to be a false premium attached to the PvE campaigns. The GW community has outgrown them a long time ago. The only real content in GW now is EotN and the various elite missions.

You'll get more fun out of the game if you make an effort to get to them instead of trying to group through the irrelevant filler.

Anime Divine

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Nov 2007

26 Mar 2010 at 20:14 - 10

It feels almost like a spiral. It starts with noobs want help and/or play with people." Enjoying the game" But if they have finished everything
They dont want to play with noobs. Cos they are generally dumb and you dont want to waste time anymore. And just rush trough.
So you see the game is only spiralinging down.

Skyy High

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: May 2006

26 Mar 2010 at 20:48 - 11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urass

Welcome to the post "skill balanced" unpopulated Guild Wars world. A few more strategic "skill balances" and ANET can finally start shutting down their servers. "They nerfed SF and 600/smite, and that's why you can't find a PUG on newbie island in Factions!"

Sure. Get over it already.

colosusjokers

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2010

Greedy Monkeys

Me/

26 Mar 2010 at 22:33 - 12

Most people on this game have played through all of it's content so you're not going to see them randomly in a number of the missions "just coming through". A good guild, friends list or alliance that just like to play around go a long way towards getting what you want. Try to ignore the idiots who just want to go "emo" and give responses like some of the ones you got here. They aren't very bright and should be ashamed of themselves.

DcVertigo

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jul 2006

Norway

Angel Sharks [As]

Me/

27 Mar 2010 at 01:04 - 13

Look for some of those new guilds, usualy formed by new players that are playing nm and quests ;)
There is in fact a lot of people out there, but do keep in mind the timezones, middle of the day or night in us districts will be pretty quiet.
Then you can try german districts if that's closer to your timezone. If you watch the times you stand a good chance of finding pug's, and to meet some fun people :)
I just pug'ed through prophesies, doing only a handfull primary quests with hench (attribute quests and some walks in between missions)
People have claimed GW is dying a long time, the truth of it is that they don't go out and meet new people, and as time go, the ones they know quit.
So in a way they are right, but it's mostly self inflicted.

Arrogant Bastard

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Aug 2009

Your mom's house

27 Mar 2010 at 02:01 - 14

Join a guild in a large alliance. Most active pve guilds focus on HM and elite areas, but you will be able to find many people willing to help you. There may be people working on protector titles too.

UnChosen

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Mar 2006

27 Mar 2010 at 02:04 - 15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urass View Post

Welcome to the post "skill balanced" unpopulated Guild Wars world. A few more strategic "skill balances" and ANET can finally start shutting down their servers.

Only positive suggestion if you prefer PUGing, is do z-mishs & z-bonus'... then h/h the rest. That again is HM only though, very few Z NM (though many shud). So true. But it doesn't really apply to the newbie missions though.

Cuilan

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2008

Me/

27 Mar 2010 at 03:32 - 16

In American districts I've always had good enough luck to find people to play with, even if it doesn't fill the part. In a way it's fine because you can use your heroes while also playing with a person. Large guilds help and so does making friends with people you find in-game.

PaulVanK

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Sep 2009

[HiH]

27 Mar 2010 at 07:56 - 17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gennadios

Good luck. Guilding is used primarily for HM or high end content. They won't help much either. Well I have a good guild that helps with NM also. Even with low lvl missions.

Swahnee

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2008

Italy

Mo/

27 Mar 2010 at 10:55 - 18

A lot of people play only to grind their titles, so they don't want to waste time doing useless nm missions, and when they accept to help some newbie, they come with lvl 20 characters with heroes and everything, looking for finishing that mission as quickly as possible. I know, i've been through that too. This is also the same reason why everybody wants always the same cookie-cutter builds: to have the smaller chance of failing the mission, because they have to go on grinding after that, and they can't waste their time repeating it. And this is also the reason why a lot of newbies don't learn how to play the game, they become the noobs who try to find pugs for FoW, UW and DoA, and who aren't able to jump to PvP.

/end rant

As someone else has already said here, however, there are a few people who still play for fun, but they're a bit difficult to find. My advice is to go on pugging when you are in the mood for it, being careful to understand if there is someone else who, like you, isn't there to grind, but wants to have some fun. Add these people to your friends list and play with them. However, you won't have someone to play with every time, you will need to organize yourselves a bit, for example fixing a date to make some mission together.

Marty Silverblade

Administrator

Join Date: Jun 2006

27 Mar 2010 at 23:42 - 19

Quote:
Originally Posted by Swahnee
A lot of people play only to grind their titles, so they don't want to waste time doing useless nm missions, and when they accept to help some newbie, they come with lvl 20 characters with heroes and everything, looking for finishing that mission as quickly as possible. I know, i've been through that too. This is also the same reason why everybody wants always the same cookie-cutter builds: to have the smaller chance of failing the mission, because they have to go on grinding after that, and they can't waste their time repeating it. And this is also the reason why a lot of newbies don't learn how to play the game, they become the noobs who try to find pugs for FoW, UW and DoA, and who aren't able to jump to PvP.

/end rant

As someone else has already said here, however, there are a few people who still play for fun, but they're a bit difficult to find. My advice is to go on pugging when you are in the mood for it, being careful to understand if there is someone else who, like you, isn't there to grind, but wants to have some fun. Add these people to your friends list and play with them. However, you won't have someone to play with every time, you will need to organize yourselves a bit, for example fixing a date to make some mission together. You seem to think fun and ripping through NM again are mutually exclusive. For a lot of people this may be the case, but for some people, myself included, playing NM is fun with new characters, even after 4 years. Having to repeat things and putting up with really stupid people isn't fun; it's just tedious. I been through the whole struggling to beat PvE thing, I'm over that. If you think that's an essential part of your enjoyment, then you're welcome to that opinion, but don't just label everyone who doesn't share it.

PS: Running strong hero builds allows me a lot more flexibility to run random builds/playing with concepts without risking mission/quest failure. That's fun.

dagrdagaz

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2010

NL

E/N

28 Mar 2010 at 11:32 - 20

Ask for help in Towns or more popular/populated outposts, instead of the mission outpost or nearest outpost for a quest u wanna do.
Mission outposts and most outposts r often very low on players.

But yeah, a player that will help will prolly try that in a fast and best possible way, wich leaves no or less room to learn.

Finding more players to help with one mission/quest may be easier then to find 1 that will help u with more. So when asking for help in a town, it may be better to not advertise u want help with several mission/quests.

X CDH X

Academy Page

Join Date: Jul 2008

UK

nEo

Mo/E

28 Mar 2010 at 11:52 - 21

You do realise that Factions has been out for years so majority of GW players have beaten most the early Factions missions lol...

People that are are more than likely gonna want to speed through to level their characters and thus bring heros.

If you want to group with mainly full human group maybe you should have tried this some years ago. With heros is better than most human players bars for early missions as they have half the 'required for a decent build' skills missing

Swahnee

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2008

Italy

Mo/

28 Mar 2010 at 12:30 - 22

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marty Silverblade
You seem to think fun and ripping through NM again are mutually exclusive. For a lot of people this may be the case, but for some people, myself included, playing NM is fun with new characters, even after 4 years. Having to repeat things and putting up with really stupid people isn't fun; it's just tedious. I been through the whole struggling to beat PvE thing, I'm over that. If you think that's an essential part of your enjoyment, then you're welcome to that opinion, but don't just label everyone who doesn't share it.

PS: Running strong hero builds allows me a lot more flexibility to run random builds/playing with concepts without risking mission/quest failure. That's fun.

You are clearly missing my point. I never said that everybody should play in this or in that way. OP asked why is it so difficult to find people to play with, and i answered that IMHO the reason is that a lot of people don't have the time to do it because of grinding. However "a lot" != "everyone", you are a bit unfair

.

I obviously know that there are different kinds of players, some who likes to replay the game for fun, some who doesn't and some who "have to" grind. I wasn't talking about those who have fun ripping through PvE and using the most effective builds, i was talking about those who are too busy in grinding to even ask themselves if this is fun for them. I think that there are a good number of these players (and this is something you are free to disagree, obviously), but i never said or intended to say that everyone is like this, and neither that everyone has to do what i do.

I think i have to apologize for not having been clear enough in my previous post, i realize now that i used an inappropriate "everybody" in the third line: i had to use the "a lot of people" i used at the beginning. However, i don't like to be labeled, too.

Keneth

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2007

29 Mar 2010 at 13:13 - 23

There are 3 main reasons, you can't find a PUG for NM missions these days:
1) everyone's already done them (what would you expect after 5 years?)
2) most people are useless and|or uninterested (so it's less frustrating to just take henches and they won't mind when you yell at them)
3) most people can't communicate (seriously, I can barely get a complete sentence even out of players whose native language is english)

I help people out as much as I can these days but I won't even consider doing a mission with a full human party, at best it's me with some meta hero build like sabway or discord and up to 4 human player whose skill and participation is largely irrelevant.

JDRyder

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2007

Great temple of Balthazar

Mo/Me

29 Mar 2010 at 20:17 - 24

Quote:

Originally Posted by waeland View Post

Join a good guild. There are a lot of good guilds out there that are full of people that just want to play the game. As far as cinematics, meh nothing you can really do about that lol, everyone has seen them 100s of times.

That or send another Email to Anet about how bad of a idea heros were

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gennadios

Good luck. Guilding is used primarily for HM or high end content. They won't help much either.. sure, guilds that are bad or aren't really that active. I've been in many guilds that are full of active people willing to help with anything for the most part. It may take a day or two, but theres lots of guilds here on guru looking for such people.

Improvavel

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2007

30 Mar 2010 at 15:07 - 25

1) Bring a friend to this game so both of you start at the same time;

2) Find a regular playing partner and preferably use voip while playing with him.