Problems finding good groups.

I am having a hard time finding good groups. It takes me forever to find a group - and even after I do - they usually aren't that good.

I'm not trying to say that I am the best at this game, or that I have it all figured out. I do however want to be the best I can be....so what am I doing wrong?

Is it that that teams don't need ranger/elems?

Should I be looking for a guild?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Striker

There are a lot of bad groups. You aren't alone. When you hit a good group, run with it. Add them to your friends list so you can pair up again. Make your own group. Add the healer bot when you are without a healer - I can't believe the number of people who don't bring her and instead pack up one more PC when they have no healer - even the healar bot is better than nothing; she's not great but it's healing. Guilds are one way to get around the issue of finding a group.

Out of all the groups I've been in, only 3 or 4 players total knew how the targeting system works when one leader presses Ctrl+shift double click target, and pressing T for the same target.
So mostly, when running up on huge mobs, everyone in the team is targeting a different enemy.

if u r over 18, and use teamspeak...
my guild is recruiting

check out gw.teamhaf.com

my ingame name is Lord Dunc X... add me, and chat sometime

we use teamspeak to comm ingame, and try our best to play together only,
we have 30+ strong members, and a lot of us help lower lvl players advance some.

The population of GW had grown since the beta... and as expected... the averge skills of the society have also drop a grade from this.

I finished a mission today with only henchmen that 4 groups in a row I was with last night could not do.

You just have to be patient and realize it may take a few times before you find a good group. I think of bad groups as reconnoiter.

As an Ele/Mo lvl 11, now in Yak's bend and the area surrounding, I find it easier to just load up on henchmen and solo my way through the missions. The henchmen are terribly inept and incompetant but are suprisingly more intelligent than a large portion of their human counterparts.

I've done all the missions and more up to D'Alessio Seaboard so far exclusively with either 1 PC and henchmen or all henchmen. Every time i try with an all PC group, i die horribly. I truely believe henchmen are better then the real thing =P.

bah dont get me started lol. the number of people who just run off then have a go at you for 'poor teamwork'... grrr...

actually whats beginning to bug me is that you can have three secondary monks in a group... and the others in the group will start moaning "we need a healer. get a primary monk. blah blah blah"... hello people, secondaries can heal too you know. I have no monk skills at all and feel like im not even wanted in a group. Sure you need at least one person who can heal, but not just monks. Heck I have healing spring; sure it gets interrupted easily but anyone who's standing near me when it does cast sure as hell isn't going to complain about it...

I find you need to do a few things in order to get a pick up group (PUG) thats half way decent.

1. Build the group yourself. That way you can make sure you have the right mix of classes to complete the mission. I find that asking in the local channel for people who like to move "slowly" though the mission and using complete, correct English usally gets the right type of people.

2. Choose a "core" character for your class. I consider that either a warrior or a monk. Why? Because a warrior can lead from the front (like he's supose to) to guide the group through the mission, or a monk because you can deny any morons in your groups heals if they persisit on being stupid. People pretty much start listening or quit if they keep dying (it depends on their personality type). You could choose other classes, but it is a little harder to lead the group. Elementalists I would consider next on my list with Mesmers, Rangers, and Necromancers last.

3. Talk to your group. Tell them which way your going, draw on the map the way you want to go, etc. Most of all act confident, even if you have no clue to what your doing. This is simple, trite advice, but its still 100% true.

4. If you not a monk, find a good one and stick with him/her. Add them to your friends list, find out if their going to be playing tomarrow, ask if they want to meet up again, etc. If you are a monk, try and find a good, reliable warrior to stand behind. A good warrior will try to watch out for you, try to body block mosters and basically keep you alive so you'll keep him alive. Who knows, you might just start yourself up a guild after a while.

Thanks all. I appreciate the advice. I will definitly try all of these suggestions.

Striker

For those new to guild wars or new to rpgs in general, can you elaborate more on the targeting system and how it should be done? Thanks.

And most of all be careful who you listen to.

Yes, Monks are numero uno on the list. Warriors are a dime a dozen and are last before Rangers, but when you have a good one don't let him/her leave. Rangers should make the best shot callers and therefore be the best leaders, but I have yet to run into one that knows how to play with anything but henchmen, plus they are a nickle a dozen. Elementalist are vital to any group. Mesmers are under appreciated. Necromancers, when played right, are the leaders in the group. Most necromancers do not have a clue what to do, and are bent on doing destruction with their life stealing and such, but they play a much more important role. Half-way between the warriors and the monk. That is the best place to call targets from, and with the right skills they are the difference between a winning group and a loosing group.

So really, find your place in battle take that place, and let the group know theirs.


The targeting system is pretty easy to control.

Here is the senerio: Your group comes upon a group, you are the target caller, you want to attack the healers first.

1) Press "C" this selects the closest target
2) Press TAB until the target you want is targeted. TAB picks a new target one MOB further away.
3) Press CTRL+Space this brings up "I am attacking super long-horned wild-a-pig", on the chat box
4) Your team presses T for target and they now have the same target.

This is the most important part

5) When that target is dead you start over at 1.

There are other ways to communicate with this (one for normal target calling two for the target attacking our healer ect.........)

Two things to keep in mind.

Warriors make terrible target callers, because they are tied up staying alive while tanking, and most importantly, they are not in the place to see the whole battle.

"If you spam I am attacking bla bla bla", you admit to not instructing your team on how to play first.

In fact, if you spam anything. You are dumb.

...I didn't know these. =/

Then again, as a dedicated Monk primary, I don't really need to. I just watch my party's health and do my thing.

Get some rl friends to start with the game, much easier then. If you happen to find a good player in the game add him/her to your friends list for the future.

Easy missions can be done with henchmen. The problem with henchmen is not that they can't think normal, its their low levels and power.

Many never listen...

Last night no matter how much I begged they wouldn't let my monk recharge, just kept running as fast as they could to get the next battle. Then I got to hear "*sob* DP 30". I got tired of asking for the time to recharge so instead I just ctrl-clicked on my energy to tell everyone I had only 5 of 49 energy. You guessed it, they all asked me to please stop spamming...

But hey we got through the mission and had a good laugh, good times...

The best thing to do is make your own group, thats the only way I can ever get a really great group. I can usually tell if someone will be good or not, and I can boot at will in town. Even then, its hard to get a good group that works together.

most of the time when i join a group at Yak's Bend, 70% of the time the group dies when fighting against the surrounding area enemies. that's terrible. but the other 30%, i join a group that knows how to play and we actually get to complete some quests. so pick your members carefully. in all of the groups that i've been in with 30% success rate, there's only 1 warrior, 2 or 3 rangers and 2 of either monk or elementalist or necromancer.

i am a ranger/monk level 12. with my bow, it can take 50+ damage and i can also use my healing and res abilities. so i consider myself useful in a team.

well, i can help ya there... if you ever need me to help ya with a quest, just msg Lord Of The Dawn, and if im doing a quest atm, i will finish it and come and help... btw, im W/Mo15 right now...

Amen brother
I get tired of asking them to wait for a mere 10-20 seconds after each major encounter. Then they die. Then they think I'm not doing the job.

If anyoune thinks its that easy to be a good Monk, give it a try sometime.

The idiots who repeatedly run off will get no help. They are a liability in a game requiring teamwork!

LVL 16 Pure Monk Zilm Trufar

While I appreciate my monks in my guild....some pick-up monks surely don't know what they are doing.

"Hey guys! I'm a monk! I'm gonna tank!"

doh!

And one more annoying thing...sometimes people from PUG have played a mission already. But they don't seem to gain any intelligence...and seem to expect the rest of the team to run off with them to hit/pull mobs that are not important. (think riverside or cave of sorrows). And in the end, the team got hammered from multiple directions and die

This needs to be a writeup that we can post a link to...

Yes, IMHO, a good Ranger will make the best target callers. Also, if the monk should also call targets -- but only when they are in trouble and need assistance. If a[*] goes up by your monk... quickly help him/her out.

A word on henchmen and group size. For a 6 slot group, in a pick-up group, I've found 3 humans to be optimal. Getting 6 humans on the same page is very difficult; too difficult. Furthermore, humans tend to disconnect and to go-off and do their own thing, making the whole experience frustrating. Humans have egos, and when you have two ego-maniacs in the group, it can get ugly. On 4 occasions now, I've asked one or two of the humans to leave; and they were kind enough to storm off with a "FINE YOU FCKN N00B". On 3 of those 4 occasions, the remaining group of 5 finished without any problems. If you only have 3 humans, and if one of them is a supreme jerk; you can probably finish by /msg to the sane human how to compensate. The jerk thinks they are doing great, and is surprised when he gets kicked in the next area.

I've found, with 6 slots, the optimal PvE pick up group is 3 humans with two warriors, and the healer henchmen. You need one human monk, and it really doesn't matter what the other humans are -- as long as they arn't warriors (who, by and large tend not to think tactically, and therefore are usually a liability more than an asset).

By contrast, warrior henchmen are very good, especially when running with an experienced ranger and healer. They always engage when you want, attack the targets you call, follow you closely, and never disconnect. With a primary healer, the henchmen monk is very good. She spams orson of healing very efficiently at the worst-off team members. Unfortunately, she gets a bit too close; but if you keep her buffed, you can stay _way_ back and engage more tactically with the enemy. If she dies, it is a signal to the group to disengage, because people start dropping like flys without constant healing. The only bone I have to pick with her is her decision to ressurect -- I wish she _never_ did resurrect except after the battle is over. I've had bad battles turn _horrible_ when the AI bot decided to raise a fallen spell-caster who is surrounded by enemy tanks. That said, I've found the other henchmen almost useless. Spell-casters and rangers need to be far more tactical, and this requires some thought. So, I almost never grab the elementalist, necromancer, or mesmer. Certainly you _can_ find better pick-up groups, but they are rare, and chances are 3 humans is more controllable and more likely to be successful.

But, as the poster I quoted remarked -- calling targets is essential, especially with henchmen who don't engage (or engage in a random way) unless you have called a target.

Yeah, being able to heal doesn't mean that tanking is advised - that said, there are reasons both for and against it.

Pros - monk tanking:
1. Takes a lot less skill - if they can keep up with the damage, that's great - they don't need to monitor 7 (or more - pets etc) other lifebars if thery are taking most of the damage. Monitoring 1 health bar is easier, and inexperienced players might actually be doing an overall better job at healing if they only have to watch one - at lest that damage isn't on the rest of the party (till he dies...)
2. Smiting monk build - a channeling monk with zealot's fire, symbol of wrath and a balthazar's aura who wades in to tank is doing a very useful thing. He deals damage while healing while draining energy from the enemy. That's good work. To a lesser extent, running in to plant a symbol of wrath is nice, and channeling can be useful if you can get in close.

Cons - monk tanking:
1. Monks have worse armour. For the sake of efficiency you want the person with the best armour taking the damage - that makes the healing most efficient and the damage least efficint - now, if the monk is part elementalist, is running Armour of Earth, Kinetic Armour and so on he might well be the best one for the role, but in general if the monk ends up tanking he spends more energy in terms of heals per atack than he would if it were a warrior tanking, which makes it a worse setup.
2. It is very distracting and has bad visibility - if you are being pounded on from all sides you probably aren't keeping an eye on other people's health. You aren't as aware of others who need your health, so even when you can save them you may miss the opportunity.
3. There may not be another healer. You are quite possibly the only Monk, and perhaps the only one with an actual resurrect. Yes, others may have signets with them, but those are finite - a monk who dies a lot is a real problem, using up the res signets and eventually perhaps dooming the party if the only resurrectors go down.

Quoted for emphasis. I never thought of that. Thank you.