My Debt = Delete 1-50 All PuG Quest

My quest can be summarized as 1 to 50 with zero faceplants of any kind while only joining Pick up teams. I have lots of other rules of thumb and I'm a very quirky and picky player.

I don't start any teams myself and I accept blind invites. I offer no City of Heroes advice, strategies nor opinions. I don't play the market or move Inf over. I sell what I want to sell for 1 on the market. I'd buy whatever off the market but haven't wanted anything yet. I have left many teams due to frustration. I don't tell my team that I am a debt = delete character. I don't join any teams of people I know. I try to avoid playing with people I know but once or twice someone I know was on the team by random chance and I would leave after that mission. If I die I will complete the mission (or TF) with the team and then excuse myself and delete after.

I'm a quirky player. What I want from a team is to meet up with a bunch of players who are relatively close in level or at least understand that seven level 1s and one 50 fighting a level 50 mission probably isn't going to be a real "team" atmosphere. I want everyone to have attacks and use them. I don't want to stand around and wait. Teams don't need anything specific. No team needs a ****ing healer nor a **** tank. Once you enter a mission wait 20-60 seconds then start shooting stuff. There are always more bad guys so unless the mission is unique waiting isn't important. Basically, I want you to shutup and shoot the bad guys. I'm blessed with a great network of players and know many fantastic global channels full of great players. In general "Pugging" (pick-up groups) are torture. I've met a lot of great players and teamed with many fun people pugging but often the few bad apples make me want to gouge my eyes out. At times, playing this hardcore guy feels like torture.

I've tried this project and died many times. I've learned many things along the way. Nothing teaches you playskill like permanent character death when you make a mistake. I've reached level 25 on my Mind/Sonic controller. I like having Mez protection, lots of controls and teammate buffs. I've taken 23,312 damage and have been held, slept or disoriented for 3 minutes and 36 seconds. I have been asked many times to slowdown, wait for others or to stop playing so aggressively. As anyone who has ever played with me can attest: I am no pansy. I don't play this guy like a complete pansy though sometimes I understand "I better move back" or "ok this team will get me killed".

I type my journal/log up immediately after a mission or team and sometimes while playing. The words just pour forth and there is no period of reflection. Some of the parts aren't understandable but that's ok. The main concept is I'm trying to get an accurate picture of what I felt occured in each mission. I try to record the difficulty levels, general team composition, and report any characters exemplared down so there aren't any 50 purpled ringers on a level 12 team. So, from my perspective, here's what has happened along the way.

I read through my log and have selected some highlights for your amusement. If you are crazy and bored you could read the whole thing in the following post(s). Here's the top 12 moments not necessarily in top order.

12) "We come up to a huge pack of +3s, no bosses. A few "woahs" and "let's pulls". Someone without warning takes the alpha with Freezing Rain. I TK them all into a corner. Clean and easy. Ding 14."

11) "I'm the last to get to the mission since I was in Talos and the mission is near the Perez entrance in Steel. About 3 or 4 people of 8 had entered. Two people exit from the front. One is a body. I'll wait. Someone say "nobody come in, they will kill you"."

10) "A controller fires first into a huge pack and dies. One of the trappers shoots a boss in a different pack. Seems their normal operating procedures. They do that a few times. The team splits up a lot. I stay in the FFGens religiously until I get a BF. Ding 13. We stop a jailbreak. One of the players on the other side of the map says "Why aren't we doing side missions" right after we get the bonus time for Jailbreak. Enemies are pouring on top of us from the roof of the jail. The silly people on the other side of the map say some other complaints about "us not doing sides and everyone always stands still" and eventually come to us with a horde of guys in tow. I decide to exit."

9) "It's set to -1/x0. A whole lot of brutal Ice Patches from a teammate make it a cakewalk despite the team size growing to 8 and packs being pulled from lots of directions. Leader jumps into a pack alone, aoes them. Then says "AFK". I can't make this stuff up. 4 People aren't even in the map yet. I decide to move on to another team."

8) "A level 25 team is broadcasting for 1 more. I send "I'm level 20 I'll join". "what are you" "I'm Smurphy". "lol at?" "I'm at Talos." "lmao archetype". "I'm not longer interested. Good luck.""

7) "leader says "ok we're still alive" as I'm walking there. Level 20 and no exemps +0/x0. Two teammates dead when I enter. No probs with controls on all the mezzers. We go to 8 and got a FF bubbler as well. Next mission even more mezzers... 2 bubblers means no prob. Ding 21. A 3rd mission, no deaths, no problems. I'm a dot from 22 and a 35 Scrapper malefactors down. "smurph were gonna hve to keep tehm in bubblesat all tmes..we only got hand heals right now"."

6)"First "let Tank go first comment". I think it's to me?! The same person asked for buffs before... when I was the only buffer, they had my shields on still, and I was buffing everyone else. Ding 19. Radio of Lost. Annoying person tosses out a "Follow Tank." Asks me for buffs (everyone else has got them) I say "no thanks". Then I promptly walk into a pack myself on autorun by accident. I eat all my candy and barely survive. "

5) "I enter, the team wipes before I walk 5 yards. Two blasters re-enter the mission first, it's a 7 man team. They both run past me and die."

4) "Silver Mantis AV. The pure healer... who uses no attacks and has fort but doesn't use it says "Stay with team" to the blaster who dies". We're fighting an AV. Where the hell would the blaster have gone?! The blaster was shooting the whole time. Long fight. The Healer says "we need ffs", I assume to me there are no other buffers, I was already putting them on, and it was said while they are still on. Ding 24 when Mantis goes down. I promptly leave the team."

3) "The emp doesn't make it to mission 1. The 3 teammates of mine do piles of damage. Tank smashers die before my Confuse recharges. A Tank Smasher hits me for 275. I toss him before his cannon hits me. P1 "Who is outside the mission?" P2 "Our healer" P1 "That is a revolting development." What is wrong with you?! We just crushed half the map already. I add a question mark. P1 "being without heals is bad". I add another question mark. He says "I can't explain it if you don't get it." I respond "You can't explain it. Period." We are crushing everything. Mission 1 complete free and easy without our "healer" - which is bad. If you can't tell I'm close to turning off team chat or putting people on ignore :-P"

2) One person says we need a Tank and eventually brings up the name of a Tank to invite. The dcons returned and we were kicking butt during the time between saying "maybe Tank" and finding a name. I say "I'm going to do something else" and quit the team. A person asks me if I don't like the Tank. I say I don't like the person who wanted the Tank. "Why?" I simply responded with "We need X" in quotes and wish them a good day. I get "oo demanding? haha least you don't have to sleep with her".

1) "A Radiation "Healer" joins the team: a Radiation defender with no attacks and no Radiant Infection nor Enervating Field. Does autohealing really require Stamina? Mission is set to +1/x0. My spider sense is tingling, but we'll see what happens. I think I get Team Teleported? Did my prompt turn off? Yes, I turned my prompt off. Back on. Sky Raiders. 21 Tank and 23 Blaster and the healer are exemped. Team wipes on double pack of +2s with 4+ bosses and a horde of FFGs, I can only confuse so many. The leader says "I thought you were an Emp" to the healer. I fall back and confuse what I can as all but 2 or 3 wipe. Healer responds "I'm doing all I can". You only have 1 friggin power! We finish the mission, somehow. I WW teleport to Talos WW- Safety- and decide to take a break. As I leave the leader says "Should I up it to +2?"

Solo'd to level 4
Invited randomly to a level 6 and level 7 scrapper.
Fighting level 7-8 Clocks. Teammates wiped once, twice.
Ding 5, left.
Solod to 6, got jet pack.

I16
I solo'd a mission on +0/x0, got 6 dots. Ding 7. Time to make some pretty colors and watch for a team invite.

Blind invited to a full level 6 team. 3 Tanks, 2 Scrappers, 1 Blaster, 1 other controller. A few random deaths. Peace of cake. Ding 8. Ding 9, no deaths in mission #2. 4 Tanks, 2 Scrappers, Blaster, me enter a Bank. I was answering tells and barely saw the robbers before we took them out. This team is doing well, no exemplared high-bees though. New leader was set to -1 and the mission was from a level before. We blow through it. Two missions - 2 dots of experience. We set my standard +0/+0 level 9 mission. I don't have star. CoT Lots of bosses. I get mezzed a few times but not in danger so save my 1 BF. Two teammates run off and die. Ding 10.

Instantly invited to a full team. The blaster star holder, already at 1/2 life, decided to fire the first shot against an 8 man spawn of council. He dies. Team is fighting at level 8 on +0/x0. Ding 11. We relatively easily finish the mission. Team falls to 4: 2 Scraps, 1 Tanks and me. He changes difficulty to +1/x1. +2 Lost Boss is first pack - I'm able to confuse him before the team arrives but not the 2nd one in the pack. I get mezzed but in no danger, save the Break Free. A 2 Boss +1 pack, two teammates had dinged, no probs. Leader dings. No deaths. We start fighting some guys outside boss pack. One teammate dies. I start losing life. I fall to half. Two enemies shooting at me. I exit. One person leaves so we can grab the level 6 Healer. I quit the team.

Blind invite to a KR team where everyone is already in the obvious Radio. It's level 11. I enter, the team wipes before I walk 5 yards. Two blasters enter the mission first, it's a 7 man team. They both run past me and die. They didn't see the enemies above and charge the further pack below and beyond. It's a pure Healzor defender, 3 blasters, 2 tanks and me. Again they don't see the enemies above, I get hit by aoe attacks as teammates retreating. We regroup and defeat. The 3 Bosses get juggled by levitate, 1 confused and 1 held. Ding 12. The leader quits. I head to Steel Canyon and pickup 1 End Reduc and 1 Acc for each of my 4 attacks and 1 endreduc for TK. I had 70k Influence.

Level 19 8-man team in Steel Canyon. No exemplars. Bank, +1/x3. A teammate assembles and I move. Woah, didn't have prompt on. Huge horde of lost approach bank door while we are all fighting 1 Lost Boss. I decide to step inside with 2 others. Everyone quickly follows. The two trappers turn the wrong way in bank and I get mezzed. Use my lone Break Free to be safe. 3 +1 Bosses. A controller fires first into a huge pack and dies. One of the trappers shoots a boss in a different pack. Seems their normal operating procedures. They do that a few times. The team splits up a lot. I stay in the FFGens religiously until I get a BF. Ding 13. We stop a jailbreak. One of the players on the other side of the map says "Why aren't we doing side missions" right after we get the bonus time for Jailbreak. Enemies are pouring on top of us from the roof of the jail. The silly people on the other side of the map say some other complaints about "us not doing sides and everyone always stands still" and eventually come to us with a horde of guys in tow. I decide to exit.

Blind invite to a 16 new formed team. Sets it to +2/x0. There's 8 of us. No exemplars. Lots of damage taken by teammates, a few deaths in first two packs. First "We have a healer?" We come up to a huge pack of +3s, no bosses. A few "woahs" and "let's pulls". Someone without warning takes the alpha with Freezing Rain. I TK them all into a corner. Clean and easy. Ding 14. Leader lowers difficulty for next mission. They say hot door. I enter... it's hot and Tsoo. I exit. The team seemed to be doing ok. I'll wait outside. Everyone else exits right after me or hospitals it. Maybe not ok. Everyone enters together, I do as well with purps and Ice shields. It's hot again. We blast through it and I stay in the thick of things. Next pack is TK'd. Up an elevator, there's a pack about 100 yards ahead of us but an obvious intersection before it. Everyone is at the intersection facing east. A tank comes up the elevator, runs by everyone facing east, and runs into the north pack while someone else pulls the pack east. One scrapper follows the Tank. We slowly take out the east pack, with me confusing/fighting/holding from the elevator with enemies around me. The Tank/Scrapper die. We finish the pack just as they die. Finish that pack. Just as we finish that pack another pack comes from the West. Eventually it's all clear. Ding 15. We come to the final office room where there's a wall dead ahead of you, a path to the right, and a pack straight ahead. Another pack is hidden behind the wall directly in front of us. The Tank and 5 others run directly ahead and aggro both packs. One controller next to me steps around the wall and takes the brunt of the hidden pack. I fall back to the entrance and TK the hidden boss away and confuse/hold most of the hidden pack. About 1/2 the hidden pack finds my teammates and the rest are TK'd or held/confused/levitated/slept. Whew. I think I'll take a break from this team though it was very fun.

Join full 17ish +0 radio team. One 18 Tank exemped. Bank first. Resuscitate power... nice. We do sides. Ding 16. The leader takes a 10 minutes smoke break. Team assemble. One person doesn't accept. I enter. Everyone else enters. We beat a pack. Person outside says almost there. Everyone stops and stands around doing nothing. I quit the team.

Blind invite to a 19 controller. Doing Cim intro, Rikti on +0/x0. Lots more quickly join. No exemps. I get hit by a sleep that drops me to half in 1 shot. BF, Green, fine. I get held, no danger, save last BF. Slept, same. We reach the hole in the ground. 3 people stop moving/fly around confused. Maybe don't notice the hole? Myself and two others go down, one teammate quickly dies against the 6 man spawm. We retreat up the hole. 1 AFKer dies, first player dies again. Lots of danger but I make it through and we defeat the pack. Everyone seems afk after. Ding 17. We aggro two packs. 4 of 6 die. 4 Anathema Lts, 2 Mezzing bosses. Confuse a boss, team takes out other. Hold, sleep, fling the other Anathemas enough. Whew. Use last BF. Mission 2, CoT. Leader D-cons. I have no Break Frees. I'll take a break.

I got a random invite. It was to a SG not a team. I guess I'll stay in this one 'till they kick me so I don't get other SG invites.

Level 23 team doing Cim arc +0/x0. A 24 Defender exemped. 3 Man team. One mission done then they craft the thingers and I get some badges.

Blind invite to a full team already in a radio mission. level 18, one 20 controller +0/x0. Ding 18. Council. A few people die randomly. Council Radio #2, we got 6 now. Get a 7th. One random death. 3rd mission Rescue Vahz. Full team. 3x boss packs. I confuse a few "bombs". First "let Tank go first comment". I think it's to me?! The same person asked for buffs before... when I was the only buffer, they had my shields on still, and I was buffing everyone else. Ding 19. Radio of Lost. Annoying person tosses out a "Follow Tank." Asks me for buffs (everyone else has got them) I say "no thanks". Then I promptly walk into a pack myself on autorun by accident. I eat all my candy and barely survive. Got my heart racing for the first time. Karma? I get held a few packs later. Have no BF. A boss is shooting at me. From very far away and I'm fine. I leave the team to avoid the person who annoys me after mission.

Blind invite to a level 17 team of 5. A level 18 Tank and controller exemplared as well. +0/x0 Clockwork. Cakewalk. The tank never entered the mission. I notice one player on my team is an RO member. I don't mention my character status. Up to 7 players, another controller exemped from 18. +1/x2 now. Trolls. I randomly get hit by a rock for 100. All enter mission. Cakewalk again. Start of next map w/Trolls someone sees a huge horde and says "Oh dear". I TK them. Two teammates ran into a huge horde of +2s and died. The team aggros two packs apart from each other and splits. A couple teammates go down. At one point two bosses are aggrod on me. Get one confused. Toss the other one in the air long enough for my teammates to clear one pack and gang up in force on the other. Whew. Ding 20 and Big Bubble. Leader dinged mid split fight as well. My pale greenish bubble (and shields) are super subtle. Very nice. I'm no giant Green blob.

I get a "lft?". "Yes". Level 21. A 24 scrapper and 23 blaster exemped. Difficulty says +2/x0. "Rescue a Midnighter". I'm the last to get to the mission since I was in Talos and the mission is near the Perez entrance in Steel. About 3 or 4 people of 8 had entered. Two people exit from the front. One is a body. I'll wait. Someone say "nobody come in, they will kill you". Yeah. Two people quit the team including the leader. Oh well, maybe I'll try out my Bubbles another time.

I stand around Sister Psyche with my generic Looking for any flag. Two people stand around eventually and one tries to form up a Syche. No other interest.

Level 23 team in Talos. The star holder was a 50 though. He is a Tank with a few small set bonuses. They decide to stand around until they get 8 players. I decide to go do something else.

I get invited to a team in Faultline. I have to look up on Paragonwiki how to get there. I don't play heroside much. Level 20 team. The leader is asking how to raise difficulty of mission. Asks "how high should I put it". I don't offer an opinion but do explain how to change via tells. A Radiation "Healer" joins the team: a Radiation defender with no attacks and no Radiant Infection nor Enervating Field. Does autohealing really require Stamina? Mission is set to +1/x0. My spider sense is tingling, but we'll see what happens. I think I get Team Teleported? Did my prompt turn off? Yes, I turned my prompt off. Back on. Sky Raiders. 21 Tank and 23 Blaster and the healer are exemped. Team wipes on double pack of +2s with 4+ bosses and a horde of FFGs, I can only confuse so many. The leader says "I thought you were an Emp to the healer". I fall back and confuse what I can as all but 2 or 3 wipe. Healer responds "I'm doing all I can". You only have 1 friggin power! We finish the mission, somehow. I WW teleport to Talos WW- Safety- and decide to take a break. As I leave the leader says "Should I up it to +2?"

I join a "level 19 scanner team lfm". It's level 20. A 28 controller and 23 Defender as well. It's set to -1/x0. A whole lot of brutal Ice Patches from a teammate make it a cakewalk despite the team size growing to 8 and packs being pulled from lots of directions. Leader jumps into a pack alone, aoes them. Then says "AFK". I can't make this stuff up. 4 People aren't even in the map yet. I decide to move on to another team.

A level 25 team is broadcasting for 1 more. I send "I'm level 20 I'll join". "what are you" "I'm Smurphy". "lol at?" "I'm at Talos." "lmao archetype". "I'm not longer interested. Good luck."

Join a Midnighter team. Dunno level. I make 6. leader says "ok we're still alive" as I'm walking there. Level 20 and no exemps +0/x0. Two teammates dead when I enter. No probs with controls on all the mezzers. We go to 8 and got a FF bubbler as well. Next mission even more mezzers... 2 bubblers means no prob. Ding 21. A 3rd mission, no deaths, no problems. I'm a dot from 22 and a 35 Scrapper malefactors down. "smurph were gonna hve to keep tehm in bubblesat all tmes..we only got hand heals right now". The person was on the team in the last mission where the situation was the same and we stomped everything and everyone was in bubbles. I'll go do something else.

Invited to a 28 team in IP. 5 Man team. Tanker and 4 Controller/Defenders. 3 and 1/2, ones a pure healer. +2/x2. Mission was mostly done by the Tank alone I guess. The EMP Ra'd at the start. We didn't make it to the first pack before it ran out. So many it's a 4 man team and a leecher. Ding 22. The stormer mauls a pack or two into corners. Nice.

Time to respec into Stamina. Buy SOs. I have 330k pre-respec. 410k post. 5 Accs, 8 Ends Reducs, 1 End Recov.

"lft" "Sure". Level 21. I make 8, +0/x0. I'm only exemp. I can spam my attacks with reckless abandon again! I fraps this mission-part of it. Sky Raiders. I get off a decent TK or two. No deaths. +1/x3 now. Freaks. Frapsed again. A split but we all make it ok.

Blind to a 23 team. Three exemps the highest being 26. We stand around a bit with no mission set and the leader having no mission and there being 6 of us and getting no information. I ask "what's the plan?" "currently i need to replace the healer the left". Good luck.

Blind invite to a 24 team. The mission holder (not star holder) was the guy who said "currently i need to replace the healer the left". I leave. This was several days later.

Faultline AV team. Level 21 team. +1/x3 8 total. One 23 Defender exemped --> Fortless Emp. Blaster walks into a pack and AoEs. Dies. Emp dies next. Leader dings. Ding 23. We pull AV and maul him.

Another Faultline team. "What kind of controller are you?" "I'm bad to the bone." +1/x8 level 24 full team. Two 25s exmeped. We aggro two packs on opposite sides as people aren't paying attention. One person dies. Someone Assembles team as we start the next pack? I hit "Don't accept" apparently the Tank doesn't either. I check the map, the team is on the other side of the same pack. Strange. More team splits and deaths. The same Defender runs off a few times and dies. I watched. "XXXX" had a Jingle Jet, Personal FF, and tried to solo packs. Captain Castillo fight. Another assemble in the middle of it right on top of him? I don't accept. I get shot a few times by Flamethrower. It hurts a lot. Inspirations make it a-ok and he goes down relatively easily.

"lft" "Yes". Blind invite to a level 25 full team. Two 26s exemped. Bank. Silver Mantis AV. The pure healer... who uses no attacks and has fort but doesn't use it says "Stay with team" to the blaster who dies". We're fighting an AV. Where the hell would the blaster have gone?! The blaster was shooting the whole time. Long fight. The Healer says "we need ffs", I assume to me there are no other buffers, I was already putting them on, and it was said while they are still on. Ding 24 when Mantis goes down. I promptly leave the team. I get a level 25 Luck of the Gambler Def/Recharge.

A level 26 paper team broadcasts. I send a tell saying "I'll join". I get a blind, accept. It's the wrong team. I quit team, accept to right one. In the process I get a tell for a SIster Psyche. I quit... accept again.

I check my badges. I've received 19,624 Damage so far. I've been slept, held or disoriented for 3 minutes and 35 seconds.

33 Blaster. 33 Scrapper. 50 Blaster with some Purples. Another 50 Blaster very few sets. Leader says "Looking for heal". I leave. Later he's looking for Heal and Tank. Gross.

"interested in Sister Psyche" - Yes I am. Level 25 Blaster. A 21 Emp with lots of attacks and Fort joins the team. 28 Tank. 30 Warshade. I answer some general questions about "server local time" and "what does the time thing do on a Task Force". We start.

The emp doesn't make it to mission 1. The 3 teammates of mine do piles of damage. Tank smashers die before my Confuse recharges. A Tank Smasher hits me for 275. I toss him before his cannon hits me. P1 "Who is outside the mission?" P2 "Our healer" P1 "That is a revolting development." What is wrong with you?! We just crushed half the map already. I add a question mark. P1 "being without heals is bad". I add another question mark. He says "I can't explain it if you don't get it." I respond "You can't explain it. Period." We are crushing everything. Mission 1 complete free and easy without our "healer" - which is bad. If you can't tell I'm close to turning off team chat or putting people on ignore :-P

The warshade quits. Emp still afk. I say keep going. In mission 2 I hold a few enemies. The Tank asks me to wait for him to aggro them all before using my powers. I say I am no longer interested in being on the team and quit.

But I found a level 25 Steadfast Protection KB Protection IO in the 1 mission! Jackpot!

Holiday Events. I don't think I'll open any presents in Peregrine Island while on any teams.

"lvl 26 bank mish team has room for 3" I'll join. 3 Controllers, 2 Blasters, 1 Scrapper. We don't stand around and hop right in once I'm on the team. I like that sign. We had no problems with the mission. Easily did a side. I tried to TK two packs. Failed, slowly took damage. Exited at 1/3 life with no real danger. Difficulty is raised. 29 freaks. Two players disconnect while we start a pack. One person dies. One person says we need a Tank and eventually brings up the name of a Tank to invite. The dcons returned and we were kicking butt during the time between saying "maybe Tank" and finding a name. I say "I'm going to do something else" and quit the team. A person asks me if I don't like the Tank. I say I don't like the person who wanted the Tank. "Why?" I simply responded with "We need X" in quotes and wish them a good day. I get "oo demanding? haha least you don't have to sleep with her".

"lvl 28 team lf3m" 4 Scrappers, a Tank and now me. One Scrapper is 29. Another Controller and Warshade join. Someone tries to make "Smurf" jokes. Nothing ruins jokes like saying you don't understand and making the person explain it. So I type a lot of question marks. 30 BPs. Other Controller is a Fortless Ill/Emp. They ask me to wait for others while I confuse. I ignore. I confuse the Shamans and we have no problems. Sewers, lots of good TKs. Ding 25.

Woo Hoo! Half way there. Go Smurph Go! Raa-raa-raa.

Just one bit of advice.

Whatever you do, do not set the Undefeated badge as your title. Once you do, you will faceplant within 3 levels.

Im almost half tempted to try doing this, but with how often I jump into the middle of groups I cant handle just to blow myself up I dont think I would get very far

Wish ya luck getting to 50.

Good luck in your quest Smurphy.

I recently joined a debt = deletion sg starting up on Virtue and it's quite the experience, especially at the low levels when just getting to a mission can kill you. Depending on what other rules you put on yourself, it can be very challenging.

I take it you couldn't stay away very long. ^_^

Great stuff!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smurphy "what are you" "I'm Smurphy"

I'm stealing this.