PUG quality

....is UP!!!!


This is coming off of Monk Woes and similar threads complaining about PUGs.

but in my totally UNscientific sampling... of late; I've had GREAT PUGS!!!

I did Thunderhead Keep the other night, very tough mission for many folks, myself included. I was a warrior/monk, although had beaten it twice w/ 2 different Monks... Monk/Ranger & Monk/Necro

Well, I wasn't have much luck with groups as a warrior...tried maybe, 10x, but then I get this amazing group. We lose somebody very early, probably a disconnect, because another teammate vouched and said that was highly unusual.

We were all worried going into T-Keep with 7. Especially since 4 or 5 had never won it before... a couple had never even done it once. This was their first.

Well, another guy and myself had... and we started talking the others thru what we wanted and what the plan was. It called for a a split team, one east side, one west side, Eles and Rangers manning catapults and a lot of running back and forth to the trouble spots. luckily, I had sprint equipped and that helped tremendously.

But wow! The communication was awesome! We had a ranger spying on which mob was going to east or west and yelled out. Would run back to help in the fight. We had people saying that their side was clear, very important. We had a couple of folks go down, myself included, but the heals and the rezzes were timely. We smoked. And oh yeah, the catapult work was outstanding, mobs would get to me with 30% health and many didn't get to me at all.

So, the following day, a guildmate complains of how tough T-head Keep is. HIs ranger has tried dozens and dozens of times to fail at the end. I link up with him using my monk this time.

We get a PUG. We die very quickly due to some wrong skills. Lose 2 people, get replacements, swap skills, compliment each others skills and try again. AGAIN, saddled with about 5 who have never even TRIED this one yet, this was their first. Again with the talking, again with the planning. We triumph even easier this time! Again, great communication, my guildmate was simply awesome on teh catapults, I saw entire mobs fall to him. Great communication, calling out which side was clear, which side needed help.

Then yesterday, I'm doing a bit of farming in Sorrow's with my monk. I have a PUG of 8. And they are bickering and arguing and talkign about football and not concentrating. But slowly, I start to talk them into compromise and its still a bit hairy.

We get to Sorrows and lose 4 for some reason. The remaining four of us go "what the heck, lets press on as long as we can". All of a sudden, the guys who were bickering, started talking and cooperating and we died a few times, but kept at, becoming this well oiled machine. I went from a DP of about 25-30 to a bonus of 8% in about 45 mins. We were still going strong, I just had to leave because I had to make some dinner and return a video.

So, PUGs can work and work very, very well. That might be rare.... but I've had a chance to be with some AWESOME teams. So. If you teamed up with Toris Bel or Twilight Drake in the last few days... thank you so much... really made the game wonderful.

I've noticed the same thing. I had and AWESOME group in SF the other night. We got tired of waiting around for monks and just took the henchies, but we were still able to complete a number of missions. Everyone worked so well together you'd have thought we were guilded or at least on TS.

It seems that the recent skill fixes and game changes apparently discouraged most of the "sub par" players from playing GW. Thus netting us better pugs.


High Five anet!

Although I normally just use henchies, because I generally can't stand pickup groups (people disconnecting, afking, running ahead, dying and blaming the healer, calling people "noobs" etc.), the times when I do venture into a pickup group, and it turns out to be good, and everyone works as a team, make it feel so worthwhile. There's just something special about being pleasantly surprised.

Good PUGs is the reason I want at least 3+ hours for thunderhead, after my first experience of starting off one night at about 8-9pm and finishing hells prenciple with the same base group at 5am the following morning.

We just had an awsome time together.

I'm now looking forward to doing the mission again this time with my warrior and not before the weekend, just in case I end up in an awsome group again.

I generally join PuGs for missions because using henchies is so boring to me. There's just something about finishing missions with an excellent team that makes it so worthwhile. PvE just seems built around having other human players, and to me the game is best played with other people.

However, always hench the runs to outposts, and also 4 missions: Thirsty River, Elona Reach, Dunes of Despair, and Thunderhead Keep. I prefer to keep my stress down as opposed to watching teams die helplessly and foolishly over and over again. All the other missions are okay to me (maybe except Ring of Fire, where I've restarted millions of times cuz of skill cappers leaving after a boss fight).

Been having great Pug groups in FOW lately. Only wish some of the people could stay to finish the whole place. There are so many fun quests after dealing with the forge master. As a monk I have been getting linked to great monks too. Been having a blast. Also after forge we only need about 4-5 people so when others have to go no one minds because we get a lot more drops. Also night it was a shard and gold item bonanza. Seemed like the computer was listening to the talking. Someone would complain they hadn't gotten anything good in a while and 2 seconds later they got a gold or a shard.

Tonight was Jykel and Hyde for me. First I found a great group for the High Priest quest in the Furnace. One of our tanks afk'd the whole thing, but we finished it anyway. Enjoy the free ride? :P

But then I jumped over to ToA for a Fissure run. Eh... that didn't go so well. We didn't even get to the Tower before our nuker DC'd and then one of our war's over aggro'd and we got tore up. I got a shard though.

I agree with the OP's completely unscientific claim that PUGs have been better lately. Last night I took my R/N through Sanctum Cay with 3 other rangers, 2 Elementalists and a Warrior. No dedicated healer although one of the Eles packed a few healing skills and really saved the day for us. I don't think anyone in the group had actually completed the mission before this. I was the only one to answer "yes" when the leader asked if anyone knew it. Granted it's not a particularly tough mission except at the end. I made sure to watch for the boat and skedaddle onto it as quick as possible so that we wouldn't all end up dead with the boat sitting there. I hate seeing the "Get on the Boat" message on my screen while laying dead and no one else notices because they're too busy fighting. Got pretty good drops too.

I have had very good experiences with PUGs. The overarching characteristic of all the good groups, though, was attitude and friendliness. It never mattered if someone brought a weaker skill set, or if we weren't all "pro's." The value always came from the interaction of the players. Its fun to work out a battle plan *as a team*!

Just a few tips to all who may read, experienced and inexperienced alike:

1. It's ALWAYS the best idea to be patient, dont spam go go go to the leader the second a group is fully formed, or as a leader to instantly hit "enter mission" when the last spot is filled. Make sure all have skills set accordingly.
2. Its ALWAYS the best idea to determine who has experience with said mission and who hasn't and to take a lil time as you reach your goal to discuss strategies and why.
3. Play your build accordingly, not how you would play it with henchies!! Because youre an Ele and leading AI, you basically have to call targets for the henchies to get the hint....but in a PUG you shouldn't be calling targets/agro'ing them yourself. Not because you may not be able to take the damage, but because if you cant its a detriment to the team<--who are spending their time assisting you as you are them.
4. If you are said player who's playing outside their role in the GROUP, don't you ever DEMAND or BITCH at the Monk(s) for not doing a better job at keeping you alive. Letting one player die in order to keep the defenses up (i.e. Tanks) will ALWAYS be my choice when I'm monking.
5. If you've no experience with a certain mission or strategies, please dont feel it necessary to lead just because its your group. Be the better person and allow someone who DOES know to offer suggestions/hints/direction.
6. Remember, its is after all just a game but still something people take seriously and don't like wasting time when its really not necessary.

....lastly and this pertains specifically to a PUG I was in the other night with my Monk - Winter (ranger spirit skill) is NOT needed until final mission - Hells Precipice :-)

Bedside Manner is my monk and she does a damn good job of keeping people alive and attempting to coordinate the group to better heal/survive and limit the frustrations for all....especially on our fav missions like Thunderhead.

Winter ain't even needed period (imo, it's bad players using that as an excuse for dying if they don't have it). Communication is what the difference is. Eventually the people that lose alot will finally realize, maybe I should listen to that good advice that one player is giving.

I've also noticed pug quality going up a bit overall. Less noob calling and such. I only play in pug's so the entire game is pug for me to this point and Final Assault and Titans Source are my only two active quests

I don't think they've returned to the point when the game 1st launched and everything was new and everyone is helping each other.

One thing ive noticed is that a lot of people are on their 3rd, 4th, and so on chars so therefore they dont make most of the stupid mistakes and the group coordinates more often so the missions flow easier. the only prob you have is when you get someone who is impatient of new to the mission and dont listen to the group.

4th toon thru the game.

After spending 5 days tryin to beat Hell's Precipice with PUGs I went back to my old friends...the Henchies. Beat the mission first try with only one death...Devona.

Do I think PUG quality has improved? No. If it has improved it hasn't been noticeable to me at least.