Stop the Running!

Ok maybe its just me but it seems that in every single group I have been in there are always 1 or 2 members that feel the need to take off running from mob to mob and leave half the team behind, which in turn leads to ineffective fighting and unneeded deaths? I for one am a Necro/Ranger and have to constantly remind the group that they need to slow down between mob engagements so I can make my pet horde (which has been superbly effective during recent high level missions). If you are in a group then think about the other ppl and what their skills are before just taking off after the next group of mobs. I must have done the mission from the Wilds where you chase the Shining Blade 7 times because people had to just run in and fight without taking the time to strategize and prepare (hmm like dropping a healing well at the appropriate place or using dark bond so u take 75% less damage...) I don't know if this is just me or do other ppl have issues with this as well?

You don't sound very evil.

Anyway, this is how it is going to be when playing with people you don't know. Everyone has different expectations of the game, and everyone wants a different playing experience. Some people are in a hurry and rush ahead without thinking. The more work you do to recruit a like-minded party for your missions, the better chances you have of a group that fits what you want.

Just take some time before hand to question people.

Matt

Warriors like to go from mob to mob since their adrenaline based skills become inactive after waiting for more than 20 seconds or so. When warriors solo, it's more efficient to keep a steady pace of carnage so you are always recharged. In stark contrast, an elementalist wants to wait 60 or more seconds to recharge a huge energy buffer.

I've also found necromancers /w minions to be very push-buttonish. As soon as they have their legion, they only have a short time before they degenerate; so they often want to engage instead of talking about pulling strategy. The other problem with minions is that they don't seem to follow called targets; they attack everything (although perhaps this is fixed).

As a healer, I also need to recharge energy. Once the fight is over, I leave health bars at 50% rather than continuing to heal. Having 1/2 the team with large chunks of their red bars missing should give a strong signal to "wait up". I also ctrl-click my energy level (is there a keyboard short-cut for this very very useful feature) to inform the leader that I'm not ready yet for the next engagement. By the time the red-bars are at full health, I'm usually at full energy. By contrast, if I heal, I end up spending energy and end up low on energy right as we engage with the next mob.

The last runner I had in party was actually an elementalist believe it or not. Somone gave me a whisper to just let her die but I didn't have the heart...

I noticed that in the desert missions people are now paying monks to go with them, I'm thinking about taking a 250 gold deposit per person and if they let me recharge I'll give them their gold back at the end of the mission...

(but yes for now I'll probably just do guildmates and henchmen it's just too frustrating to go out with strangers, especially when you have to listen to the death penalty whine when you spent the previous 10 minutes begging for them to just stop for 10 seconds)

I think this resurrects the issue about not being able to see the other party member's Energy/Adrenaline. Managing a party would be much easier with that information and would prevent people from rushing off before they had full energy or waiting around if the Warrior has max adrenaline.

Regarding the Necro's minions, what I've done as a N/Mo, is taken Heal Area. If I am stuck waiting for ppl, I can fire off Heal Area a few times to heal my minions at least until I can take advantage of more corpses.

I just Spam "STAY IN GROUP" over and over again untill they

A: Listen
B: Quit

Either way the team is better off

If someone is acting like a fool, then as a ranger/healer, I have no problem "barely" saving them once or twice with a note to stay in group and then after that - they get nothing. I reserve support for those acting within the structure of the team. I type my warnings on the team channel for all to see and I have had very good luck with people slowing down. I'm also quick to point out that if you solo and you die then... well that is what you get.

This isn't directed at appropriate bursts by warriors - this for simply running off and not showing any willingness to travel as a unit. It might be one of the major benefits to playing a healer - I get some say as to the pacing.

Somewhere, someone obviously read that monks NOT ONLY have the ability to heal half way across the map, BUT ALSO have infinite energy to heal with.

There is something to be said for NPC henchies who STOP when you do. People are still better in the long run though.

But all in all... a freindly comment from the back to hold up a sec normally works, and if it doesn't I just quickly mention that if they die running way ahead of me, they will just die tired .


Jana

Not just in PvE >.<

Has a great group going in the tombs, except for one little elementalist.

2 groups are fighting, and we can just stand on the sidelines letting blue and yellow duke it out and pick off the weakened ones... Except, wait, what's that? A green dot (one of ours) is in the fray. Hello elementalist. Hello DEAD elementalist. Hello "Rez me plx" spam.
Same battle, I'm healing the bars as they go down, but wait, there's a bar that won't highlight... Oops, Elementalist died because he wouldn't stay in range of the healing. More "rez me plx" spam, only nobody will rez him because:
1) not in range
2) rezzing = not fighting/healing
3) priest auto-rezzes every 2 minutes, and it's pretty close

so he quits the team because nobody will rez him, joy =\


In another context, arena pickup group and nobody has a snare, but you've managed to kill the entire enemy team other than their mending+sprint warrior... Woohoo. (domination mesmers without illusion can prevent resurrection but not running, pyromancers won't have slows, monks probably won't, many warriors don't have hamstring, or a similar skill, it happens >.<)

Whats the chance of getting a solid semi random 8 person group?


....Slim to None

People just dont listen, you see people playing like they are still part of a 4 person group. Im a monk so a few things REALLY get to me.

1) Non armored class running ahead and not moving while there taking all the
hits. You waste litteraly all your energy in healing spell after healing spell to keep them alive.
2)
Monk: "Wait" "Wait" "Wait"...

Warrior: *runs ahead past my healing range and takes on mobs and then dies*,
Warrior: "**** you didnt heal me!" *prompltly drops*

*3 other people drop because he dropped*

Monk: Cries
3) Droppers.. Ive had 2 of my fellow monks drop before. People go into the mission just long enough to capture something and then promply drop.

let me say this:
There is no excuse for dropping.. EVER

People dropping in a group has made me fail countless missions.

If you drop on us and were a decent group, You will have to ignore me because i am going to harrass you untill you do

4) People that dont talk ever AND run ahead and attack there OWN MOB of level 24 monsters.. This one person just DIDNT GET A CLUE. We actually stopped ressing him because hed run and go way past us and take on his own

I'm a Monk and I love playing as a Monk but I find that for probably 90% of the groups I end up in I experience these same frustrating circumstances. It's almost made me want to shelve my Monk character and play something else, even though I've gotten her to Lion's Arch and the missions are still interesting and fun (when I have the rare luck to actually get on a decent team that doesn't mind talking and implementing some strategy).

Actually, I had a perfect excuse once.
As the only Monk in a 4-person PUG, on zone-in I got turned around, while one other guy took a while due to being on dial-up. The other two charged as soon as they were in-mission. By the time we caught up the first battle was over, and our leader was dead. After berating us for being slow, and calling us f-ing noob's, he told me to Rez him. Well, after explaining that I play the game for fun, and this wasn't, I left.
Screaming at your only monk is about as intelligent as pissing off the cook in a resturant

Oh i have lots of fun things to do with those people
Like constantly casting vengence on them instead of resserect. There always like "WHY DID I DIE?!"
I love having the power to go "Dont do this again or i wont heal you" And then watching them die constantly And then in the end going "wow next time listen to your monk okay"

Synthos - As a parent with 2 kids, sometimes life happens and there are indeed uncommon instances where RL must come before entertainment. Maturity and respect are well above "never dropping" in my opinion.

i don't drop games unless every person on the team is a prick and that hasn't happened yet. there have been several cases in which i simply refused to heal whoever is being stupid and they would repeatedly die only to be rezzed by a secondary monk. each time they died i would type out "hahahaha." it was great. on top of that, it makes my job easier b/c i have to worry about keeping 1 less person alive.

I completely understand if you drop because of life.. If you appologise im fine with it. But thats not the problem usually. People just drop, and remain in game and just go onto a different mission. Theres a huge difference here.

I haven't tried hooking up with other players....not because I don't think they're good enough, but because I'm so new at this game and still have problems directing my character where I want it to go. So I usually play with henchmen. When I go out on a mission or a quest, I like to creep along....even though with my second profession is a warrior and my adrenline level does drop between battles. My first profession is Mesmer. So far, I have made it to Yak's Bend and I'm a level 13. I still have two quests from Pitken Square because I've not been able to complete them with henchmen.

I do have a friend (who talked me into playing this game) that I play with on occasion. He's the rush ahead type who ends up getting us in battles with 7 or 8 baddies and ends up getting us killed. Because he is a friend and I love him dearly, I don't get too annoyed (at least to the point of saying anything) because I know I can go back and play the mission/quest over again with henchmen, but I'm not sure how I'd feel about one of the party always getting us killed if I were playing with a group I wasn't friendly with.

I think the way some of you are handling the situation (Monks) is appropriate, especially if it's the only way the "wayward" player gets the message.

Hopefully, one of these days I'll feel more secure about my abilities and feel comfortable joining up with a group. I think it would be more fun than playing with henchies.

I was in a group recently with a runner who kept pulling us into the next zone while the rest of the party was left behind dealing with the hordes that he pulled out. He ran straight to the end of the quest, got the booty, then logged off. However, because he pulled us into the next zone, none of the rest of the team had done the previous quest aspects, and so couldn't finish the quest without going back and doing it all over.

If u suspect a runner has this idea in mind, let him die and don't rez him.

I've often had groups which work together quite well, maybe I am just lucky. I'd been trying for the elona reach coop mission, with very little success, we'd get further sometimes. But then we'd have someone drop (because of school) or because "our healer sucks!"

We were running a bit short on time and had many deaths, there was like 3 guys left alive since some of us got impatient and decided we had luck last time running for the crystal. So the remainder alive decided for a bit of a run (we'd equiped sprint skills earlier) and we got to the crystal fine, I was given the task of distraction while the other guy got the crystal - he was crippled but I was able to distract them while he hobbled away. He managed to run through the mobs - with a bit of help from the other guy to the finish!

Hate to say it, but in that case it's a well-earned stalemate for the lone warrior. He [obviously] can't kill you, and you can't kill him; it's why I run Hamstring instead of Sever Artery. An extra DOT is nothing compared to a snare. That, or you can just herd him into a barbed trap.


-- Z.

The best is when I am the only Monk in the group, and they not only leave me behind but refuse to wait 10 seconds for my energy to regenerate. As a result I have like 15 energy to keep the whole party alive and I wind up having to use low level spells like orison instead of heal other.

So ppl die, then turn around and blame me. (these are the ppl that usually stand still while every friking monster attacks them and expect me to keep them alive. FFS common sense says that if monsters are halving your life per hit, its time to run away).

Well Bad warriors are common but so are bad healers... last night I had a group that we needed to deal with 2 piles of monsters at once... so theytell me, "ok you go tank that group over there, we'll take this one, but he'll heal you..."

I knew I shouldn't of trusted them, cause I died about 4 times already.... but I went anyway..,

So I go walking over to the group, swinging away, watching my health go down, down, down, down, down... dead... not once was I healed.

Same Party there was a E/W (the oposite of me) who was 2-3 levels lower then the mobs, and the rest of the party, kept running ahead and thought he was some kinda tank... died every single battle and was mad that he kept dying... in like 3 hits no less... durrrrrrrrrrrr.....

I am really starting to have trust issues with PuG's

whenever I play with my friends, half of the time they just run from place to place... we're track stars, cept I hate it

YOU are the type of player than I would never mind joining in a group, even just us or a few henchies, considering all the running around I am expected to do.

Extended invitation: Anytime you need a hand or just a friend to hunt with, no pressure, you let me know.

<--- In game name on the left.


Jana

I love you. I do the same thing.

If I am a healer & someone is acting the fool & charging into mobs & getting dead a lot after a while I no longer heal or rez them. Waste of mana to do so. Ill save my energy for ppl that actually work as a team. Yea I know that sounds real aholish but my mana is not there to be wasted on some tard. Wasting mana on such a person places the entire team at risk.

On a somewhat related note: Player idiocy reaches whole new levels of pain in the Underworld. At least in normal play one idiot doesnt usually completely screw up the whole mission. In the Underworld one idiot can abort the whole mission with one mouseclick.

For those who haven't been there Underworld is one of the high level "bonus" maps that you can only access when your country has the Divine Favor. It is brutally difficult and requires a very well coordinated team just to survive. It makes the final mission in the Ring of Fire look like patty-cakes.

On top of that you absolutely must do certain things in a certain order - most notaby you must NOT talk to the NPCs or take certain quests until you have cleared large chunks of the map or very bad things happen very fast.

Anyway you explain all this and of course someone still talks to the NPC or takes the wrong quest and boom it's mission over. SO FRUSTRATING.

Still, while stupid players are rampant, I have to lay the blame for this piece of obnoxiousness on the developers. Making it so that every single person in the group has to take the quests separately on those maps when taking those quests carries such severe consequences is very bad design.

Just as an example one NPC has three quests. One is fairly harmless. One spawns a whole bunch of extremely fragile ghosts NONE of whom can get killed without the mission ending and ALL of whom act like idiot berserkers. The third spawns a whole bunch of extremely hostile and totally invulnerable (until you fulfill a condition) melee type monsters. I'm sure you can see how unpleasantly two of those three combine.

Only the leader should be able to take and complete quests down there and they should be taken/completed for everyone in the party.