Had a Thugs MM last night on a PuG who had absolutely no control whatsoever over his pets. They'd always end up chasing a runner and aggroing the next spawn of Rikti while we were in the middle of the current one.
It was awesome!!
My Earth/Fire Domi (who had just hit level 26) had a ball mezzing them to a standstill as they ran towards us and we tore them to pieces.
It was like the Thugs were consumed by Scrapperlock (more likely he had them on Aggressive all the time) and meant we ran at a decent speed rather than the "herd to here", "wait for the tank" mentality on the PuG I was on before that (Wait for what tank? We're villains, we didn't bring one).
The "Wait for tank" team thankfully died a death when a Demon MM (with more skulls on him than a Lordi reunion gig) joined and spammed Local and Team Talk with a load of "Ready", "Help" etc binds. My "PuG disaster waiting to happen" senses went off so I legged it.
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Must be a Fire/Kin troller thing because neither of my Fire/Kin Corrs faceplant that quickly, hehe. And I play them like I'm on a scrapper to boot! |
Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Really?
You've met Fire/Kins that live that long?  |
On topic though, I've rarely ever had the [bad] luck of winding up on a bad PuG or teamed with a generally stupid player. But there was this one time...
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So I'm running some of the never-ending Marcus missions in Cimerora solo on my Kin/Sonic Defender and I pop out of my most recent mission to find someone broadcasting that they're forming a casual ITF team (ie, no speed run or anything). I think "hey, I've not done the ITF on this toon yet, so why not" and call back in broadcast that I'll join. I can't remember the exact team composition, but the pivotal characters in this tale are myself and a Stone tank. Since I didn't know this Stone tank and was curious as to the quality (build-wise) of what I'd be playing backpack to, I figured I'd have a look at his powers and set bonuses (if any). Sure enough, he seemed to be pretty well built and even had a couple of purple IO bonuses in there. The only thing that worried me was that he'd taken Hand Clap, but that part doesn't come in until the end of this tale. This Stone tank was our lead tank, and in fact our only melee toon. Now, that in and of itself isn't a bad thing. But this tank had to be the most timid Stone tank I've ever seen! He kept on insisting that we wait while he would creep up to groups and hit them with taunt, then promptly run back to hide behind us. On some occasions he would flat-our refuse to herd up mobs or otherwise use his tank to aid in aggro control, and instead wait for me to jump in first (as I am sometimes wont to do, but that's another story, heh). Not once would he do the typical Stone tank thing and just charge right in. I can understand that you might not want to over-aggro or what-have-you, but considerations like that seemed to be the farthest from this tanks mind. He was straight up nothing more than a chicken and feared that being killed while on a Stone tank would reflect badly on him and that people wouldn't want his tank on their team. At least he wasn't using Hand Clap at all when we'd actually get a nice herd. By the time we'd gotten to the last mission, most of the team had started wondering if the player behind this tank was really all that bright. Any suggestions on how to more effectively play the tank had been swiftly rebuffed ("I'm an XX month Vet, I know how to play my tank!") and when it finally comes time to hit the rooftops to deal with the remaining traitors (we'd jumped straight to Rommy, pulled him and flattened him quickly, tank or no tank) I finally break down in team chat and ask the tank to herd properly so that we can make the best use of our AoE's and finish the traitors off quickly. But nooooo. Instead, he insists on using Hurl to pull them in small groups. At this time the team leader decided that he'd also had enough and told the tank that we'd dealt with his timidity for the entire ITF but could he please do this one thing our way? Sure enough, he doesn't want to so the team lead asks me in a /tell if I could herd on the other roof since our tank is too chicken (my Kin/Sonic has about 71% S/L resist, so she's no puss, heh). So I quite happily pop on Repel (yeah, yeah, laugh at it, I took Repel and slotted it!) and proceed to charge around the rooftop, knocking Romans all over the place and then run back towards our group, who had by this time assembled again on the corner of this second rooftop, trailing pissed off Romans behind me well in excess of the aggro cap. I say something to the tank in team chat to the effect of "this is how you herd, lol" and that must have set him off. As soon as the herd starts to arrive and before we could paste them, what does he start doing? He wades right in and starts Hand Clapping for all he's worth, knocking my nice little herd to pieces and considering that the rest of the team had just started firing off their various immobs and AoE's we ended up with a bunch of Romans spread all over the roof, pinned in place by immobs and no more herd. So much for the quick AoE finish! |
Q/R
My worst PUG moment is generic in nature but it drives me nuts. You wait around to get the PUG formed. So everyone is at the mission and in we go! You get into your first scrap and a few of the heroes go down. Normal up to this point but I have seen so many people quit after the first fight because they faceplanted. At least give the team a chance to gel before you take your ball and go home!
All my worse PUG experiences revolve around the Hollow Trial. Trying to synchronize eight players to click at the same time is like herding cats.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
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Or getting two-thirds of the way through it, only to have someone say "hey I have to go, see you later..."
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Originally Posted by Father Xmas
All my worse PUG experiences revolve around the Hollow Trial. Trying to synchronize eight players to click at the same time is like herding cats.
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"Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level." - Quentin Crisp
"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken
My worst? I was kicked during the last fight of the LRSF for doing exactly what the leader told me to do. He also kicked everyone else claiming I'd quit and the SF was 'over'.
I haven't done the LRSF or PuG'd ever since.
The plastic tips at the end of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister.
--The Question, JLU
I teamed with a level 30 healer the other day(meaning emp with only one secondary power) and she didn't take her rez. While healers aren't needed in this game, I really don't care if one of my teammates that route. Whatever floats his boat, besides I'm of the opinion that if I need a particular teammate to have a certain power to function then I'm doing something wrong(I'm looking at you stone tanks and brutes that gotta have SB, lrn2play).
It didn't bother that this 'healer' didn't have the rez, it just seemed like the strangest damn thing.
Just finished a Statesman TF that pretty much qualifies. We had:
* A shield/dark tank
* A kinetics defender
* A dark defender
* A plant/storm controller
* Three scrappers
* A blaster
Decent enough team for running the STF, right? Viewed a different way, we had:
* A "leader" who decided that we should try for a "master of" run. This was the only decision they made during the entire TF.
* A plant/storm controller who has trouble managing endurance in a long fight without [Recovery Serum]. (No temporary powers? Oops!)
* A kinetics defender who is unfamiliar with their powers (Increase Density gives stacking hold protection? Who knew?)
* A tank who'd never done the STF before, but is convinced that the solution to any survival problem is More Defense Buffs.
* A blaster who grabs the glowie at the end of the Thorn Tree mission.
* Three scrappers who have trouble with any tactic more sophisticated than "headlong charge".
126 defeats later, we completed the STF.
I had a feeling I'd see this in this thread... I'm the Shield/Dark tank...
I do believe when playing a defense-based tank when resistance just won't cut it for you, defense buffs are the answer. I can tell the difference in how sturdy I am between a team with no shielder and a shielder. It's a personal preference and I truly believe that once I started having trays of purples and started kiting Mr. Recluse effectively, I was able to succeed at my task while the rest of the team slammed away on the Towers. We got it done relatively quickly once I got enough defense to keep LR from hitting me.
However, that was pretty sad that it took us 2 and a half hours to do a TF that should only take 1. But then again, I was the tank and it was my first time. I don't plan on doing PuG STFs anymore, just because I feel like it's only run the right way if you have a team make-up that fits the bill properly. I was truly worn out by it, and just finished up an ITF before the server crash because I like the ease of Cimerorans. My SG is Unknown Heroes. Stryker will be running nightly STFs in a month or two. I'm not too terribly worried about what happened as I know I will only get better at it in my SG.
I would like to apologize to you and everyone else on that team for my lack of experience, and my arrogance-turned-bad situation that cost us many, many deaths in something that should NOT have been that difficult.
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Hey, you left out the problem with the Dark Defender. What was their story? |
Originally Posted by Katie V
Just finished a Statesman TF that pretty much qualifies. We had:
* A "leader" who ... * A plant/storm controller who ... * A kinetics defender who ... * A tank who'd ... * A blaster who ... * Three scrappers who ... |
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Originally Posted by runt9
I had a feeling I'd see this in this thread... I'm the Shield/Dark tank...
I would like to apologize to you and everyone else on that team for my lack of experience, and my arrogance-turned-bad situation that cost us many, many deaths in something that should NOT have been that difficult. |
Anyway, sounds as though at least you learned something from the experience, and that's never a bad thing.
EDIT: I'm being light-hearted (which is tough for a dinosaur like me
) and I hope that's obvious, but if it isn't, I'm not implying that Katie V *was* at or even near the top of the proverbial totem pole. When I reread my post I thought it could possibly be taken that way.
Props to Runt9, I'm willing to PUG with anyone willing to learn and own up like that.
My worst PuG experience? A series of radio mishes with the damage dealers perpetually AFK at the door, getting lunch or just chatting ... I was carrying it, often on my own, on a defender. I got tired of the leeching, told the leader that either he kicks the dead weight or I would quit myself ... his call, but I don't feed leeches. He talked to them, got attitude back, and booted them. The subsequent tells - to me, not the leader - led to my first use of the ignore feature.
I was playing on a relatively new server for me, on Redside.. which I am not accustomed to.
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THE VERY NEXT TEAM I'M ON|
We were just PUGing missions, not having any difficulty. We have something like 5 MMs on the team, a brute, a pair of corruptors (one of which was me). We're completely slaughtering everything in our path. Our health was barely moving. A Corruptor takes the opportunity to start chatting. He's buffing, he's hitting things (as evidenced by the "SCOURGE" that wasn't mine). We are in no danger whatsoever. He's still doing his thing, while chatting, and we're still ploughing through everything. Our speed hadn't suffered, we weren't in any danger. The team leader's (TL) health lowers by a sliver.. no more than it had before and he gets uppity: TL: "Stop" We stop TL: "No... (corruptor) Corr: "What?" TL: "You're talking too much. It's costing us" Corr: "Costing us..?" TL: "Look at my health. Look at it." Me: "..and?" TL: "It's lower!" Corr: "I don't know what you're going on about" TL: "Stop talking, and play the game." Corr: "But we're murdering everything... it's getting boring" TL: "So leave." Corr: "..." TL: "If you want to talk, find another team." Corr: "Wow..." Me: "But it's a social game" TL: "I'm here to level not to talk. If you don't like the way I run things, leave" Mastermind1 quit the team Mastermind2 quit the team Corruptor quit the team Mastermind3 quit the team You have quit the team A few minutes later in broadcast: TL: "lvl x team lf6m" |
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It features 2 of the previous Masterminds. This team consists of: 4 demon masterminds 1 bots mastermind 1 brutes team leader (dominator) me Again, we're ploughing through everything. We complete the mission very quickly. TL: "Should we up the difficulty?" Brute: "NOT UNLESS U PLAN 2 GET PROPER HEALER" Yes, in caps. me: "Go for it. We're breezing by" Brute: "DIDN'T U HEAR ME?" Bots: "I agree. We need a healer." me: "Guys, our health didn't budge" TL: "I'll put it to +2. We'll see how we do" Bots quits Brute: "NOW GET A HEALER" Stalker joins the team Brute: "ARE U A HEALER" Stalker: "I'm a stalker." Brute: "CAN U HEAL" Stalker: "...I'm a stalker." Me: "No. We'll be fine." Brute: "NO" We go into the mission. We get through the first couple of spawns with relative ease. A little slower, a bit more caution, but there's no risk, really. Me: "See? We're fine." Brute: "WATCH" TL: "wait." Me: "Don't." The brute proceeds to aggro the room and promptly dies Brute: "SEE" We take out the first spawn, and stalker clicks the glowie. This triggers an ambush that takes out the team leader. We still defeat them. Brute: "SEE" MM2: "We should have gotten a healer" Brute: "YA" Me: "there have been 2 defeats. What fun is it just ploughing through everything? We should have some challenge" Brute: "NOW I HAVE DEBT" Me: "So don't rush into a room. Use some caution" Brute: "I HAVE BEEN A BRUTE LONGER THAN U HAVE EVEN BEEN ALIVE." Me: "Alright." TL rezzes, rests, and I'm applying buffs. Brute (in the middle of a de-aggroed spawn on the opposite end of the room): "WAKIE" Stalker (hidden) brings him one. Me: "Wait to use it" Brute hits wakie. Brute faceplants. Brute: "SEE WE NEED A HEALER KICK [my name]) MM1: "I have to go" (quits) MM2: "Dying all the time isn't fun" (quits) Brute: "I DONT NEED NO MORE DEBT" (quits) MM3: "Yeah I need to find a better team" (quits) Repeat the pattern till it's me and the team leader left. |
Thank you, Champion.
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I lol'd so hard, you don't even know.
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Originally Posted by Bramphousian
Brute: "I HAVE BEEN A BRUTE LONGER THAN U HAVE EVEN BEEN ALIVE."
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Wild Streak - Lv. 50(+3) Beast Mastery/Sonic Resonance Mastermind, Amnesty - Lv. 50 Staff Fighting/Dark Armor Stalker
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This just made my day, lol. |
Stalker joins the team Brute: "ARE U A HEALER" Stalker: "I'm a stalker." Brute: "CAN U HEAL" Stalker: "...I'm a stalker." |
The all CAPS made it even more fun. 
//Jack
The Kickers base.
Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.
-Groucho Marx
I actually had another PUG just prior to the first one, wherein THAT leader also commented about someone's talking too much, and the "offender" (incidently, also a corruptor) being bored... but it was much more civil, and less lolworthy. I figured they were the same two people, but the globals were different.
I don't know if socializing is frowned upon, in the Rogue Isles... but it sure seemed that way.
Also, the "I'VE BEEN A BRUTE LONGER THAN YOU'VE BEEN ALIVE" thing made me just stare for moments. "Alright" was the best response I could think of.
Thank you, Champion.
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Oh, how this made me laugh!
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Originally Posted by Bramphousian
Me: "So don't rush into a room. Use some caution"
Brute: "I HAVE BEEN A BRUTE LONGER THAN U HAVE EVEN BEEN ALIVE." Me: "Alright." |
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Other than seeing Spooky pop up from time to time, I didn't really notice them. That means they were either very competent, or very incompetent.
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Originally Posted by Tyrrano
Hey, you left out the problem with the Dark Defender. What was their story?
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I've got to tell you, I've never had a bad PUG experience.
Once you have played this game for a few months, it is trivial to make a self-sufficient toon. So playing on a team just adds gasoline to the fire in terms of goodness.
I've played PUGs with idiots, I've played PUGS with (self-proclaimed) masters. I wish I could remember who first said this but, "It's not like the game is very hard".
If you opt into a PUG, and that PUG doesn't perform as per your expectations, you might want to start soloing. Otherwise, just enjoy the ride!
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a *real* useful invention. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...t-sarcasm.html
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Not for everyone, lol. Not going to name names, but I've run into at least several people who have been playing longer than I have that still don't know the first thing about properly building a toon, for solo'ing or teaming. But by and large, yes it should be a simple matter.
| Once you have played this game for a few months, it is trivial to make a self-sufficient toon. |
ITF, a year ago or so:
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I usually solo, so I don't have much PuG stories to share, for better or worse. I got another crappy ITF experience, that wasn't really a PuG though, but people from a global channel that really should have known better, but that doesn't belong here. |
Wasn't a stellar ITF to begin with, but we were getting along. I think I was playing a Controller or Blaster, not sure, it's been a while. Anyway, we got through it up to the last mission slowly, some deaths, and we lost 3 people due to either Linkdead, or they just logged out. We made it to Rommi, and wipped the first try. As said, the team wasn't that great, but we had still had decent chance. We got (the first) Rommi to half before we wiped, so I'd say it could have worked with some teamwork, planning, maybe splitting the healer etc. Not fast or elegant, but still doable. So here we are, discussing plans after the wipe when the less then stellar brute says: "Yeah, let me get some inspirations" and drops down an Ouroboros portal (mind you, this is a mixed team of heroes and villains). Everyone types "NOOOOOOOO, don't use it, you get dropped from the team" etc. Brute klicks anyway, and gets kicked from the team. That was that. At this point, we kinda agreed that this wasn't worth it, and disbanded |
Ah well, win some, lose some.
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The correct response there is "I'm not sure any healer could cure that amount of stupid"*|
Originally Posted by Bramphousian
I was playing on a relatively new server for me, on Redside.. which I am not accustomed to.
THE VERY NEXT TEAM I'M ON Quote:
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Love the "I HAVE BEEN A BRUTE LONGER THAN U HAVE EVEN BEEN ALIVE." line.
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It depends on your expectations. For me, debt is part of the fun. The 3 SG's I'm part of are Suicidal Maniacs and Debt Collectors Blue side and Suidical Lunatics Redside. Self destruct is practically a requirement if it's up. |
Originally Posted by Yomo_Kimyata
If you opt into a PUG, and that PUG doesn't perform as per your expectations, you might want to start soloing. Otherwise, just enjoy the ride!
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But then... we like blasters.
Another bad PuG experience. Same server as before.
We're doing a mission in RWZ, and the Team Leader recruits a kin. We're in the mission, the kin is on his way. She says something to the effect of, "It's level 47 here, I only invited you cause I want SB"
Kin: "SB?"
TL: "you ARE a kin, right?"
Kin: "Yea. Still new though"
TL: "Good God, please tell me you know how to play it"
Kin: "I don't know what to say to that".
TL then went on to regale us with a story about how she played with a Kin who didn't use Fulcrum Shift or Speed Boost, and so that made her roll a kin. Then bragged about how great she is.
The kin arrives, and TL sees no vet badges. She's polite for about a minute, and asks when Kin started. He tells us he registered this month, but has been away for 2 weeks. TL says, "I'll show you how a real kin plays. The next member is my boyfriend".
We play around for a bit, and she belittles him a little more. He asks "anyone who wants SB, speak up, I can't read minds". I politely tell him about the arrow in the team window displaying icons. TL has a different approach:
"Have fun dude. Good luck with adventures ahead" and she boots him. A level 20-something in the middle of a mob in our level 47 RWZ mission. And says, "I guess he didn't see that coming either, since he can't read minds".
I immediately say, "Thanks for the team. I think it's better to coach and teach new players rather than to degrade and belittle them. Good luck." and quit the team and noted the global. I apologized via tell to the kin and tried to explain that the community as a whole isn't like that. He mentioned he doesn't intend to continue playing, as it wasn't his first experience like that. I told him to ignore the people who attempt to tell him how he should be having fun, but he seems unconvinced.
It's unfortunate how negative interactions can sour a person's opinion on a great game.
Thank you, Champion.
Firekins that have picked Increase Density are not building for farming, where it is quite useless compared to the alternatives. I have too many firekins and I have not actually picked that power very often.