Back from a GW sabbatical: Normal Mode and Groups

Hello all,

I'm making my second post a newbie question . I've been completely away from Guild Wars since the release of Eye of the North, but I've been inactive since the release of Nightfall. (Between Nightfall and EoTN I essentially just logged on for 1 hour a month or so.)

I probably know the answer to this, but I want to confirm. Ever since the release of heroes and the patch to get full hero parties, is everyone doing the normal mode (NM) stuff solo with heroes now? It's not that I suck at the game - I got myself through Nightfall flagging heroes and using a longbow to pull / tank mobs. I also got through a vanquish and HM mission with heroes - that was about as exciting as doing math for some theoretical physics school assignment with no resemblance to reality. The NM mission regions seem empty, and the only place I can see groups is where the Zaishen missions are with people going lfgzmhm and challenge areas with people going lfg / glf [insert abbreviation of cookie-cutter build here] [insert mission name]SC.

So has grouping in this game been reduced to Zaishen mission hard mode and speed clears? Is there a way to enjoy the "easier" portions of the game in groups nowadays?

About the only way to reliably do the 'easier' NM portions of the game with humans would be to join a Guild that has new people and/or people with alts who are doing that stuff too. PUGs for those areas are basically a dead issue. Few people take the time to form a PUG when they can just grab some Henchmen and/or Heroes, and go. (I try sometimes)

Short answer: yes

Long answer: yyyyeeeeesssssssssssss....

Given how retarded most of the randoms are, the 'easier' sections of the game will end up becoming frustratingly hard by way of pugging.

Actually, contrary to what some may say, PUGs are not 'retarded' and they can be a lot of fun if you play with the proper attitude, especially in normal mode. It's usually just the group Nazis who worry about other peoples builds and/or try to do everything as fast as possible, who make it crappy for others.

Thanks for the replies! I suppose I'll look around later - I just got tired of playing my primary so I'm trying to see if I can grind my secondary chr through some areas without having to play this like a 1-player game.

I've seen both the good and bad PuGs, but haven't tried a speedclear yet because I have enough "optimization problems" to do in my day job Given the attitude of some people in random arena / PuG, I wonder how many speed clears end with a wipe and someone calling everyone the usual newbie slurs even though they were part of the problem
I'd assume the name-calling would be even worse given that consumables are needed for some runs?

You might want to think about how many are successfull and dont end up with the usual childish flaming. The number wouldnt be as mind-bogglingly high that way .

Finding people for normal mode missions really is hard nowadays outside of a few rare ones starting on Zaishen mission days. The main problem is that most players have already been there, done that and killed those X-number of times. They tend to know the missions inside and out and breeze through Hard mode. Normal mode is like playing a game for toddlers in comparission.

If you have hard mode unlocked, then you may as well join PUGs for HM, seeing as most groups can easily manage with 1 or 2 players who dont use cookiecutter builds without breaking into tantrums.