I just had another 2 jerk experiences (I guess I'll have more now that the holidays are over).
Jerk the 1st
I was playing my monk (pure heal setup) and got in a group that was saying "fighting to Gates of Kryta" (from Beacons Perch). I wanted to take this character nice and slow so I join up.
We get start going and I notice that the last person added to group was a wammo lvl 20 (the rest of us were 11-16). The wammo casts mend and is off like a shot. No one knows where he went. We get about halfway to the cave and get zoned...no big deal, but everyone is saying "I thought we were fighting?!?!"
Wammo "I was going to run there anyway so I thought I'd tag along with your group" (he says this while running past all the ettins)
Everyone "We really wanted to fight through...don't just run ahead"
Wammo "Ok, I won't zone"
We get through to the next area and he is off again, and saying "when we get to Gates of Kryta, DON'T pick up the quest. I can run you the rest of the way to LA." Again everyone is saying "Wait, we want to fight through..." He zoned again whe we were about halfway there.
Jerk the 2nd
I finish Gates of Kryta, with an exceptional group even though the nec in the group died so much we couldn't ressurect her with spells only with signet (her max health with 60%DP was 5!!), and go on to Seaboard. Only one group started. I join up, again as pure healer. We head out but one of the party never actually gets into mission so we are doing it with 5 only. No real problem there.
The first fight goes ok, except that I healed this N/W (different than last mission), with a name that ended in Fooked (classy huh?), more than the entire rest of the group...by a huge margin. Second fight, same thing. 90% of my resources/time are spent on this one N/W (thought he was a tank I guess). We get close to the 3rd fight and he starts asking one of our warriors what kind of shield he is using and how much he would sell it for.
War "the one I am using??"
Fooked "yeah"
War "not for sale, I am using it"
Fooked "How much you want for it"
War "offer"
Fooked "700"
War "no, pm me after and we will talk"
Fooked "800"
War "no, pm me after mission"
We save the kid to get the bonus activated. All the while Fooked is trying to get everyone swords, sheilds, axes, etc. All the fights are very difficult for me because I am still spending 90% on Fooked.
Me "we need to call targets, we are too scattered on attacks"
Fooked *leaves* (4 left)
2 seconds later
War *leaves* (3 left)
Now our group is made up of me (pure heal monk lvl 16), a R/Me with pet (lvl 11), and another R/something with pet (lvl 13). I never broke a sweat on healing for the rest of the mission and bonus, only one pet died (just once), and the rest of the mission took us about the same amount of time as before everyone left...
Amazing what you can do with just a few competent players and no one throwing a wrench in everything