_eeek_
-
Posts
375 -
Joined
-
Quote:Not what I was asking, but thanks for the updateOriginally Posted by Golden Girl
All the new stuff gets tested on the Beta server first - just check the Beta forum area from time to time
-
I don't know about anyone else, but I think this is great news! Jeez, I ran the whole thing just for fun - and it was a lot of fun! Not only do fun new stuff, I get e-merits now, AND there is a Null the... Taskmaster? Uhh, Gabriel the Gull? Well, I don't know. But there is a guy who keeps track of things for me, and I'm very glad to hear that (The more Nulls in this game, the better, I say!).
I see this as win-win for everyone!
May I register one small bit of dissatisfaction? Why is news about the live game being announced in the Beta sections? Has this been going on for awhile now? Are there vast areas of new and important information about the live game that I'm missing?! NOOOO!!!! -
Quote:If it's a "fix" - sure, they owe it to people. That's because it was broken and should have been given out in the first place. Just like if the store overcharges, one gets refunded the amount that was overcharged. Same thing. Just making good on their offer, nothing more or less.Originally Posted by Zombie Man
And there were other badges added later that did not give retroactive rewards simply because there was no counter in effect at the time until the badge was put in.
You got the rewards due you the first time you went through it. *Now* there is an additional reward *from this point on*.
No one has been cheated out of anything.
On the other hand, if it was decided the rewards were too low and this is a "new perk", then they don't owe anyone anything. It's new and if one ran it and enjoyed it, well, there you go. Sweeten the pot, then go run it and enjoy it again!
Was it a fix, or a new reward?
Um... wait, CAN it be run again for the e-merits (via Ouro, I presume)? Is this the 20 hour cool down before more e-merits that was discussed in beta? -
With all due respect, the OP sounds a bit like grandpa saying "when I was your age, I walked 5 miles to school! In the SNOW! With no BOOTS! We couldn't AFFORD boots! And we were grateful! GRATEFUL, I tell you!" About that time, grandma would wander in and say "no you didn't, Henry. You walked once because you missed the bus, and your mom was at work and couldn't drive you." Then grandpa would mutter something about kids being too entitled these days, and grandma would add that might be right, dear. And that might apply to us, too.
There are any number of things to be nostalgic about - like being tight with your sg mates, because you needed a decent-sized group of solid players to build an sg back then. But honestly, I like the game soooo much better now. This was the first MMO I'd ever played, and I remember when I started (right after ED came into play), venting at my husband, saying "WHY on earth does it take SO long to get to _____?" And "Why do I have to go to the furthest away zone, hunt 10 guys for no experience, then spend forever going back to where I started?" He'd say I was crazy, that this was a thousand times better for travel time and lack of busywork than any other MMO. It made me wonder why anyone ever played any of those things, if they were even WORSE than CoH, since I seemed to waste so much time that I would rather spend actually playing.
Back then, I took every possible QoL option I could find. People would regularly ask me why I had 2 travel powers. The reason is, of course, because anything else drove me batpoo crazy. Sprinting across the Hallows? Dying over and over, and going to the hospital... in Atlas?! How much "fun" was that? I recall the only way I finally got across the Hallows to my mission was to use my level 6 hover - which at the time was ungodly slow, and took me about 45 minutes, what with getting lost and etc. But I didn't die!
Now I can just buy a jet pack and be done with it. Now we have Ouro Portals, and FF is on the train line, and there is only 1 train line. I no longer have to run the entire length of Steel Canyon on my level 3 (with its requisite multiple deaths) for a costume fix. I can even get a tail AND a belt!
And reading the content? WHAT?! I never read the content, after the first few arcs I'd run. They were all the same! "We have a terrible problem! Go interrogate 10 ___ and get us information!" "Good, you got that information, now go see the Longbow recruiter, I think he has an offer for you" "You're back! David Wincott needs to see you immediately!" "Go clear out all the ____ in (zone far away from you)" "Well done! Now go arrest 10 ____ (foe group that is impossible to find at your level)" "Good job! The Security Chief in Perez needs to talk to you!." I needed to read that? Really? Now we have great content I WANT to read! Praetoria has some great writing, and First Ward is top notch stuff: I laughed, I cried, I wanted to adopt Noble Savage.
I'm still all about QoL - I get common IO's at 22, so I don't have to hold up a team for 15 minutes, or play horribly because all my SO's suddenly all turned red. I have enough vet rewards that I can respec around 38-40 and Frankenslot set pieces, so I'm more effective, and thus have more fun. And respec again at 47 - having saved all those IO's from the respecs and place them in bins in my SG for the next alt. This, thanks to the fact that now I have 3 enhancement trays because of the lovely and wonderful paragon market (Yeah, tell me this costs more than SO's).
No, I wouldn't go back for anything. I'm not sure how I stayed in the game, other than the fact that with every issue, things got easier to negotiate, and there were fewer and fewer mindless tasks to perform. If I'm doing puttering things, it's because I'm costuming or playing the market, and it's done when I choose to do it.
We can fuss, and whine and be entitled about this or that. But looking back to where we were, to where we are now, the devs have done a great job, because the game keeps getting better and better with each issue. -
This is why I've given up and shut the sound off completely. Just 1 minute in WW's with a demon summoner (provided I can GET into WW's with a demon summoner) is enough to make me want to choke the snot out of someone. This is not a heroic mindset to continue my adventures in saving the world!
Can I add to the list the Toughness yodel as well as the leadership trumpet blasts? Makes me horribly embarrassed any time one of my soft-capped characters turns on their toggles. How much do I really need to announce that I have toggles? >CRINGE< -
When I get any of my builds perfect, then I'll let the free respecs overwrite. However, I do not foresee such a thing ever happening.
In fact, I have yet to check on a build with the next issue is close to release and not thought "aarrggh, WHAT was I THINKING!??!!"
Am disappointed there was no free respec this time. Am saddened to think that when I23 is close to release, all the arrgh-worthy misdeeds I just committed will continue, unnoticed, unresolved and unarrgghed upon.
....'course, I should add that I22 has been fabulous in every other way! -
I think this is one of the best sets they've ever put out, to be honest.
*it's GORGEOUS
*User-Friendly! One doesn't have to have a Chinese-themed character, or even an Asian-styled one to use this set, so it offers great flexibility. Even the more dramatic pieces like the belts, can be used in a myriad of ways for different costume effects.
*it's an excellent value - lots and lots (and LOTS!) of pieces for 400 pp's
These are the three things that determine whether or not I purchase a set, or just purchase some of the pieces I know I'll use. Purchased this set as soon as I woke up and found it on the market. Can't wait for maintenance to be over so I can go play with it some more!
BEAUTIFUL JOB, ART TEAM! -
I don't think the ATO prices have that much to do with the popularity of different AT's. I have to agree with the previous posters that it's all about the set bonuses.
If any of the other sets had the same amount of s/l defense, recharge and a great proc., we'd see high prices for those sets, too. -
Quote:I understand what you are talking about. I don't really get resist armors, either. I don't understand how to slot them to make what they already do get even better.Originally Posted by Humility
So I've been kind of itching to play a spines character and was thinking about probably a scrapper with an armor set that has a damage aura just to double up and see how that goes. I have little experience with the resist sets however, and they just don't seem to offer the kind of survivability you would get with a defense set.
I just wanted to see if they are viable on their own for mid level play at a reasonable solo pace. I guess I would consider that to be +0/x4 or greater. Will I have to start stacking IOs with defense bonuses to get any kind of reasonable play experience?
Have a spines/dark, which at 50 still seemed too squishy to me, even with tough/weave, CJ and hover. I decided to add defense, because I just didn't know what else to do. To my surprise, despite the fact that her s/l is only at around 35% so far, she has turned into an incredibly durable force to be reckoned with. Considerably tougher than my shield scrappers, who have all their positional defenses in the high 50's.
To me, this goes beyond "reasonable play experience" - it's pretty amazing. Oh, and the damage is just as you'd envisioned - everything around you just melts. -
Welcome, it's wonderful to meet you!
-
Quote:I think some of the best storytelling has come out since I19. I understand your point, and agree that continuity is extremely important. I also agree about the darker, edgier stuff (In Praetoria I didn't like "choose which one of us to murder," for example, to say nothing of "let's lure these nice people down here so we can feed them to the ghouls"). But the contacts in Praetoria were memorable. They actually seemed like my characters' friends. They were not just random, generic contacts. I cared about these guys. I cared what happened to them. And when my resistance character did the final mission and moved to Primal Earth, it was a genuinely emotional experience.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Going Rogue itself wasn't a bad idea, or even badly executed. I wasn't a fan of the darker and edgier storytelling and named characters constantly dying to feed some writer's bloodlust, but it fit the thematic of the place. Variety is always good, and I guess we could have used a crapsack world. But then that writing spread like a disease, and where in Praetoria there was no real canon to speak of which could be defiled, when Paragon City and the Rogue Isles contracted this disease, it was terrible. It has been killing my interest in the game's story pretty much since I19, and it just keeps getting worse.
An emotional experience! In CoH! This was an element I'd never come close to experiencing in the game.
Don't get me wrong, I love CoH! But I'd never felt emotionally connected to any of the stories before. First Ward had the same effect, and added another element: actual laugh-out-loud moments. Previously, I'd never experienced more than a rare grin ("Recover the Plot Device" still makes me smile). The the Mortimer Kai SF was so chocked full of throwaway funny lines that after I first ran it, I scrolled back to read all the dialogue just to find any stuff I'd missed.
Myself, I've never bothered with game lore I see people in the forums who know everything about cannon and am baffled. I don't understand this. I mean this NOT a criticism at all, mind you! I mean that I don't understand why anyone finds it terribly interesting. I think I read something once in the official site somewhere that explained the backround of the major characters. I forgot most of it almost immediately. Why? Because after all the years I've been playing, I'd never gotten to know most of those people. I've never cared about them. Only a few of the pre-I18 contacts heroside seem memorable, with distinct personalities and stories I cared about. Several of these are found in Faultline.
I'm delighted to see that they're being give "new life." I'm happy to see their characters grow up, and find a place among the Big Heroes. THEM I'd go research and learn more about.
Oh, wait. I don't need to. I remember their stories. Why? Because they mattered to me.
I have been recently been wondering about the criticisms of the new story content, specifically the SSA's, and the thought occurred to me that maybe I am getting a bit spoiled? Maybe I'm getting used to getting involved in the storyline, and caring about the characters? Maybe when I run things that don't have the same depth, I am too critical? If so, this is rather unfair of me, isn't it?
As for Penny specifically, I find her new look to be perfectly in keeping with actresses or pop stars who gain fame as teenagers, but as young adults are determined to show the world that they're not kids any more. And then act rather immature. -
Quote:Because hover scrapping RULES! It rules best of all when you have a bit of ranged, especially short ranged damage in the mix, and then it shines like nobody's business.Originally Posted by Helluva_Goon
@Deacon_NA
It looks like a very good, very damaging build but one thing, I know we are entitled to choose what ever travel power we want but why "Fly, Hover & Afterburner"? It seems so much like a melee range kinda toon, you know what I mean? -
The plot critiques in this thread are all valid enough, but there's a lot of older content that has us doing numerous small errands, fighting un-fleshed-out characters (at the behest of two dimensional allies / Big Heroes), plot holes you could drive a truck through, and writing that seems to believe that any hint of wit or charm is somehow lacking in the requisite gravitas of a Real Hero.
Just like everyone else, I either avoid those arcs, or race through them to get to the more enjoyable content. *shrug* What I have a difficult time with is this old-style mission writing COMBINED with the old-style "run around for ages for no apparent reason" format.
********MORE DETAILED SPOILERS**************
The first mission is fighting carnies until you get to Vanessa DeVore. We don't fight her, but waves of Malta show up to stop this discussion, and after they're defeated she basically says "uhh, I dunno, go try the Thorns." Ah.
Second mission you go to Portal Corp via the safeguard paddy wagon (?!), talk with the Thorns guy, then fight a bunch of nemmies scattered all over the lawn and parking lot (with one in the portal room next to the room with the contact). Oh, and there are PPD Psi-cops (sorry, don't play villains enough to know their correct titles) scattered all over... NOT DOING ANYTHING AT ALL. "Fake Nemesis on the lawn suddenly? Yeah, whatever, don't bother me, I'm busy GUARDING, awright pal?" Er... alright.
Apparently, offing the last nemmie gives us enough info to take Sister Psyche to an altar for this ritual (!?). So, third mission - 3 glowies to get, but luckily these are pretty much right on the way to the altar area, which is nicely marked on the map for us. Except this is an Oranbega map. *facepalm* Or, more precisely, THREE maps, because we have to go so far that 1 map, even 2, cannot contain the length of this. Along the way we fight the usual spawn along the entire length of all 3 maps. In addition, because Sister Psyche is with us and she gets confused easily (2 people in her head, you see), you can't stealth any of it. You must fight every dreary spawn of 3 minions or 1 Lt/1 minion group the entire length of 3 maps. And when you finally arrive at the altar room and place Sis on the altar, you're immediately told to go fight the Big Bad who is someone you've never heard of (apparently unless you've played the villain arc). SO... you have to traipse back through all 3 maps, fighting NEW irrelevant spawn of 3 minions, and etc. to fight the EB (who is a little wimpy, or else I'm just that darned good). But no, you're still not done. Then you have to go ALL THE WAY BACK AGAIN for no reason other than to see that Manti's upset. (NOTE: obviously, one can make the spawns larger, or the EB tougher, for more of a challenge.)
Aarrggh does not begin to sum up my feelings about this mission.
But hey! There were some good things!
1) Penelope Yin was a delight. Her character, her look, her powers, all wonderful! Like meeting an old friend again. LOVE HER!
2) Apparently the entire Freedom Phalanx, and every single established hero or police group has poo-pooed Penelope, because though she can demonstrate that she is incredibly powerful, she is still Penelope Yin. So, this idiotic and hidebound mindset I find to be totally consistent with all the Freedom Phalanx that we have all gotten to know and want to kick in the shins repeatedly. I rate this a 10 for consistency!
3) The locations of all the missions were all quite centrally located, near the contact.
4) Penelope can follow. I mean, she really follows us. My illusionist was using her superior invis., AND (occasionally) fly with afterburner. And she STILL followed me! (she's a cute little super speeder) HOLY MOLEY!! If this NPC-follow ability exists in the game, am crossing my fingers that it gets ported elsewhere, too! (They can start with Sister P., I don't care how many people are running around in her head)
So, despite Penelope's best efforts, I still couldn't help having flashbacks of doing Ghost Widow's Patron arc, minus, of course, GW, animated hair, and, you know, GW. If others enjoyed that arc, they may well enjoy this one, too. For myself, uhhh... not so much. Personally, I am done on Oranbega maps after the 2nd torch I get stuck on, but that's just me. -
Quote:Add Katie Hannon!Originally Posted by Infernus_Hades
The trouble is the old Hydra xp was severely nuked from space.
So many people were doing the Hellion/Hydra and ding 7-14 in an hour that they completely nerfed Hydra XP.
Now Hydra are one of the most ignored creatures in the game. Many of my favorite things the Devs in their infinite wisedom have nerfed so badly they are unplayable.
Abandoned Sewer trials - Nerf Kraken XP and stop you from Mezzing the Monster = Dustbowl.
Perez Park - nerf Hydra XP = Dustbowl
Respec trial reduce difficulty to -1 or less on the spawns and it becomes a snoze festival = Dustbowl and one of the most boring things in the game now.
Eden - never fix the walls enabling 10 minute trials and thus some of the most epic maps in the game become Dustbowls.
You know so many things that were FUN have been nerfed to suck the life out of them. I really have to wonder if sometimes they even play this game.
It used to be so much manic, crazy fun to do speed Katies! Why, oh why, did change it in that gawd-awful huge map to: "take her back to the entrance. And by the way, she gets stuck in the wall on a regular basis."
The R-merit "nerf" was enough to discourage the lewt-mongers. Why couldn't they at least have left it FUN? -
I think the alignment change tokens are a great idea! Yeah, I wish they were cheaper, and yes, if they were I'd buy one - maybe several, actually. But I also think it's totally fair for them to charge more for something that's a time-saving, QoL item.
As long as there is an alternative, free (VIP), in-game ability that is easily accessible, then I'm fine with higher prices at the store for these sorts of luxury items, regardless of whatever reasoning they have for doing so. -
I think the hami raids are an apt analogy. Perhaps if we put it into an old perspective, that might facilitate understanding, rather than cause people to staunchly defend their "side". (I hate that we all seem to do this, rather than just listen or discuss. And yeah, of course that includes me!)
What if, back in the day, people were told they can finally go up in levels from 40 to 50 - but the only way to do that is by doing hami raids? And what if in the next half issue (which they didn't do then) it was "hey, we just made a new zone! the RWZ has been revamped from the old Rikti Crash Site! And now you can also progress by going on something called a mothership raid!
"What, people don't like that? Well, ok, you can progress anyway, we made some nifty missions. But you'll only gain exp at 1/100th (or whatever the non-trial progression rate is currently in beta) of the rate of people doing these raids."
How would you have felt about this? How do you think others would have felt about it? Would we see people leaving the game, or would they just be content with level 40, and continue on as they had been playing it all along? What would you have done? -
Quote:One of the things you're missing are that salvage and IO's are cheaper than they've been in ages. Not every single thing, no. Currently, as fewer players are logging on until The Next Big Thing (I22) hits, prices on things like rare salvage are getting more expensive. But the more people who are on the game, the more "stuff" there is out there, the cheaper everything is. Things are cheap now. A doctored wounds heal/recharge is 3 million. A performance shifter end mod/rech is 10 million. This is less than 1/3rd the cost they were last summer, when they were 10+ and 30+ respectively.Originally Posted by troy26
I've been out of the game for a good while, but was thinking about giving it another run. Ony thing is I see that costume contests are going as high as $100M! That got me thinking something along the lines of "if prices in the market are so inflated that $100M can be given away on a regular basis for a costume contest, how in the hell would I ever get my characters off the ground?!? (I probably have about $300M total...and I'm not the type to beg for cash).
Maybe I'm missing something?
With the big influx of reward merits, things like LotG +rech. and the numina proc right now are less than half the cost that they were last week. This will change, but for now, even this stuff is relatively cheap.
Huge amounts of surplus infl. are available to those who have figured out the economy, and have found ways to make bajillions. This makes a few items ridiculously expensive (like damage purples and pvp IO's), because there are people willing to spend this kind of infl. with their surplus.
How does this affect you? Well, mostly it doesn't.
Avoid thinking that purples are all that and a bag of chips. They aren't. They give you recharge. Your scrapper could care less, and if it's a big deal to him/her, then go after the spiritual Alpha slot. (What your scrapper wants is a set of gaussians, only one of which is is expensive.) Good, solid builds are not expensive.
If having infl. is important to you, figure out the economy and play the mini-game of becoming a bajillionaire. If that doesn't appeal to you, then enter those costume contests. Or, just buy good solid sets (recipes, and craft yourself) and stop worrying about people what other people have.
Or, to sum up, go play and have fun! -
Quote:The brute set also has that same s/l bonus. Thing is, you can split up the set, and use 3 in one power, 3 in another. In addition to the obvious "wow, now those powers don't suck!" advantage (edit: by not using Kinetic Combats), you're also saving 2 slots.Originally Posted by Organica
The Scrapper ATOs for example, grant more smash/lethal than Kinetic Combat plus high recharge, and can be slotted in a Targeted AoE attack instead of something like Positron's Blast, which has no defensive bonus. I can see those things always being valuable. But since you can only slot 1 set per character, whereas people typically slot 4-5 sets of Kin Combat if they can, maybe demand won't outstrip supply?
But yeah... a billion. Lol.
My only "yeah, I'm really pretty sure on this one" prediction is that for the s/l reason alone, regardless of AT popularity, will make these two sets far, far more valuable than anything else. The procs in particular are highly desirable just on their own merits, so that will make them worth a great deal more.
I can't recall all the bonuses offhand to tell you why, but when I looked at what was offered as a bonus on some AT sets, I had very little interest in using them for myself: defender, MM, tank, SoA. I presume I am not going to be alone in this view.
The dominator and controller ones have very desirable bonuses, but their relative value will be tempered by the fact that they are not damage sets, they go in mezz powers. Other mezz IO sets also have very good values, however. This may put a lower ceiling on their value than they might otherwise have. What I like about them (and the controller one in particular), is that it offers BOTH good ranged defense and recharge in the same set - other sets offer one or the other. But the fact that it is not a damage set is going to dampen its price, imo. If those sets offered s/l defense rather than ranged (I love ranged defense, but it's far easier to come by), a set that ALSO offered 8.18 recharge (the controller set) would be in the same league as the scrapper/brute ATO's. Alas... ranged.
(edited for spelling and grammer - as usual) -
Welcome, Honey Badger! Great to see you posting!
Here are my suggestions, for whatever they are worth:
-LOVE to see a "no FX" option for powers, including (yeah, I know) pool powers. Have not seen my boots or my gloves in years on some toons. *sad* Also would like to see the glowie that's right underneath me...somewhere...I'm SURE of it...it was just here a moment ago... when I'm hovering on my dark defender, as just an example. Love FX, but not when I can't play the game properly because of it.
-There are a number of old (and some new) costume pieces which could use a pattern, or a texture, but can't use one (or look like paint's simply been applied to the item, like patterns on leather) for a variety of reasons.
Is it possible to add a subtle pattern effect to make some of these costume items look a little more fresh, or a little less painted?
Thanks for your time. Glad we finally got to meet you! -
Okay, that "Dink the Magnificent" thing in the Retro sci-fi update thread? Forget about it it.
You need an upgrade to "Deity" status. -
Quote:Thirded!Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
I second this notion.
All those in favour?
Anyone who names themselves "Dink" is automatically magnificent. But doing good stuff on top of that name? Another title is definitely in order! "Dink the Magnificent" It's got a good ring to it! -
This sounds like a fantastic set! Thank you for taking the extra time to toss in the extra items. Thank you also for giving us all the differing options - it sounds as if many parts will have a broad variety of uses because you went the extra mile with this stuff!
Seems like it will be a "must-have" set for me, even though I have no sci-fi characters at all. Not because I buy every set (I don't), because of the large variety of really interesting, customizable elements that can be utilized on a wide range of characters.
LOVE THAT!
Am really crossing my fingers that everything is universally usable with everything else we've already got, and not, for example, unusable with jackets option, or something. It sounds like this is exactly where you're going with this, saying that the helmet will be available with all the hairstyles, with a heads-up on clipping with some styles. If so, your team(s?) might just have come up with the best bundle to date. -
I have a variety of ranged characters, probably like everyone else. The two blaster primaries you mentioned are not, I believe, the higher damage blasters. I believe archery has the highest ST damage, and fire the highest AoE damage. Pair either of these up with /EM (obviously taking boosts only for your specifications) and you have a seriously powerhouse that can stay out of range of most foes.
(side stuff: Use 2 centriole hami's + 4 lesser-damage devastation IO's to make the short 40ft. ranged attacks equal range to the other 60ft. attacks. Makes life simpler. Rain of Arrows not only has no crash, but has the advantage of a fast enough recharge that it can be part of a regular attack chain.)
Another alternative might be an Illusion controller. The only controller I play as "pure range". The (hopefully perma) PA's tanking for you can offset this enough to make it a viable choice for you. Pair with a debuff set, and you may get more damage against higher-level foes than you would with a straight-up damage set.
Just my two cents. -
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheShattered
That must be in your head, because i'm sure as heck not crying about it.
It must be because I come from Union, where anything like that is frowned upon, then laughed at, in that order.
Quote:You're not helping Virtue's rep any by looking down your nose at anyone elses RP community, either. We're already looked upon as the "sex-crazed catgirl server", the "loony RPer's only server", and the "OMG Virtue RP LOLZ server." We don't need to add "rude, hateful, lore-based RP snob server" to the mix.Originally Posted by Demetrios Vasilikos
not helping unions rep saying they dont have any quality standard for RP. You do know anyone who actually is worth RPing with goes to virtue, those who go to lesser servers and thier minor RP populations are there to be ignored by thier server community, unlike virtue which is ruled by its RP community. And Lore in every form be it minor or major is far more important then so called freedom. In my experiance those who ignore lore are the worst of god moders.
I'm genuinely glad you have found a community that engages in your style RP. Some of the RP encounters you've described sound quite interesting, and it's clear from the way you write how much you enjoy spontaneous RP with new, like-minded people.
It would be a good thing to allow others the basic courtesy of enjoying their own communities without insult. -
Quote:THIS.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
The First Rule of DKTF is...
Crap. I'm not supposed to talk about it.
Anyway, my most important rule is: At all times you must be having fun. At the end of the day, we're playing a game. If you're not having fun, something's wrong.
The second most important rule is: Any build, any budget, no exclusions.
I've never once regretted joining a PuG advertised in this fashion. Even when I'm not looking for a team, I'll join these. (usually they're amazing teams, too!)
My personal rules are probably like everyone else's:
1. Be nice. Be polite. If you're waiting for something, find something nice to say about someone's costume, bio, whatever.
2. Be respectful of whoever it was who was kind enough to invite me to their team.
3. Remember that even great players can have lousy days where they aren't feeling well, where personal things are affecting their game play, or their mood. Cut people slack, you have no clue what's happening in their life.
4. If everyone else is acting like an idiot, doesn't know how to play, and are generally irritating and irksome, this is signal that am in a funky mood and I seriously need to get my own head out of my own back end.
5. Once committing to something, stick it out.