Groups and basics: observations

I wanted to throw this post out for those playing the Trial and or new subs players in grouping tactics. I feel it is necessary to get the word out on how often I see dumb mistakes caused by "not knowing" better. I blame this on the lack of guidance by most team leaders assuming people know how things roll or lack of basic guidance out there in general.

Much of this I would list as common sense things one would know from MMO gaming experience but I will cover some of it.

Grouping and what you should be aware of.

1. DO NOT pull till the team is loaded , buffed, pets out, and leader says let's go.

2. IF your team has a brute, Abuse him. Let him Go first...Don't pull mr corrupter of squishyness. To only take a alpha attack in the face and cause team wide panic. Especially if you have the only healing ability.

A> IF team lacks a brute, use the next best thing being soldier and or pets..work your way down the squishy man list.

Leaders please communicate better.
Establish your leadership by putting forth the game plan. Who Pulls ...when to engage...when to rest....evaluate your party as they fight to determine if it's too easy...if they struggle..dont ninja Up the difficulty. It's not about XP per kill its about XP per hour ...anyone who has played grind xp games like lineage 2 , ffxi online, and other grind outs...knows this is a better way to judge xp gain.

Brutes...Let it be known you have provoke. that makes a world of difference. The fact you can herd the mobs on you means AOE can let loose. This in turn makes it most easy for the uneasy feeling player to feel confident running in to heal you or aoe will not result in an army putting their guns on them.

So far these are what I have noticed since I have returned to the game. People seem unorganized and or timid ...at the same time hesitant ..

Establish who leads
Establish who pulls

This can in turn make a odd team build become a fun time with little down time...and fun for everyone.

Non important gibberish:

I was prompted to post this from the many horrible experiences yesterday. Now I have had some bad groups but this was the worst "day" so far. One after another a non communicative leader, a goof off one that didn't even "lead", or simply baffoonery behavior by team mates that made us eat debt.

I decided to test my theory out and lead by the way I am suggesting. My team did well. We had good leveling and a fun time. there was no chaos in my team. The main reason was I established leadership by communicating and acting as a GUIDE vs a tyrant or ignorant baffoon with my team.

Im done...to you veterans sorry if this was not a very informative thread for you...I know you all know what you are doing. I am not trying to insult your intellect here =). This thread is for the new and or clueless newbie.

If you have tips on party builds and leading do add...

All valid points. Pug teams have been getting worse lately I teamed with a 32 month vet the other day who didn't know how to enter an ae mission.

Usually its "taunt" that brutes sometimes take not "provoke". Its fairly rare but all of my brutes take it to get more aggro to build up fury in teams. Mostly an issue since IOs allows brutes to solo missions at x8, so many drop taunt as unnecessary since they don't need a team. It allows further pushing of power choices like taking tough and weave a couple of levels earlier.

I see the "lack" of guideance also when I run in pug teams as well. I think some of that comes from the fact that the "best" teams I am on there is no need to communicate at all. Veteran players check out teammates via info and note what powersets people have. Don't need to be prodded for buffs. tactics, taunts and heals.

When I am on teams where someone does try to give guideance, they got lots of rants back. Then you get players who get guideance who choose not to even try it. Then when you look, you find out its a 60+ month vet who should know better. So I am not surprised people don't say anything.

When I run teams I don't say much. Good teams and players don't really need it. If we fight something other than the easy stuff (Warriors, Council, Freaks) I ask if people know how to fight stuff. Tsoo, CoT, Rikti, Malta, Knives and bank/mayhem I just skip. Other stuff like Sky Raiders, Vahz, Carnival require some but not overwheming tactics. Yet, I see many bad tanks, brutes, scrappers and whoever else wants to open up fights who constantly let the sky raider engineer get off the Force Field generator. I have yet to see any time my "guideance" has ever corrected this other than me just taking over and "correcting" the problem with sky raider engineers.

I certainly understand. It really depends on the players, if I am on a team I am invited to, I just go in and do my role. I do what the team leader says to do as long as its not stupid and a waste of time. (Like single pull warriors with a defense capped team or fight Longbow with diff set +4 or fight +2 or higher mobs like Tsoo or CoT <insert other hard mobs here>)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DogTags I wanted to throw this post out for those playing the Trial and or new subs players in grouping tactics. I feel it is necessary to get the word out on how often I see dumb mistakes caused by "not knowing" better. I blame this on the lack of guidance by most team leaders assuming people know how things roll or lack of basic guidance out there in general. Much of this I would list as common sense things one would know from MMO gaming experience but I will cover some of it. Grouping and what you should be aware of. 1. DO NOT pull till the team is loaded , buffed, pets out, and leader says let's go. 2. IF your team has a brute, Abuse him. Let him Go first...Don't pull mr corrupter of squishyness. To only take a alpha attack in the face and cause team wide panic. Especially if you have the only healing ability. A> IF team lacks a brute, use the next best thing being soldier and or pets..work your way down the squishy man list. Leaders please communicate better. Establish your leadership by putting forth the game plan. Who Pulls ...when to engage...when to rest....evaluate your party as they fight to determine if it's too easy...if they struggle..dont ninja Up the difficulty. It's not about XP per kill its about XP per hour ...anyone who has played grind xp games like lineage 2 , ffxi online, and other grind outs...knows this is a better way to judge xp gain. Brutes...Let it be known you have provoke. that makes a world of difference. The fact you can herd the mobs on you means AOE can let loose. This in turn makes it most easy for the uneasy feeling player to feel confident running in to heal you or aoe will not result in an army putting their guns on them. So far these are what I have noticed since I have returned to the game. People seem unorganized and or timid ...at the same time hesitant .. Establish who leads Establish who pulls This can in turn make a odd team build become a fun time with little down time...and fun for everyone. Non important gibberish: I was prompted to post this from the many horrible experiences yesterday. Now I have had some bad groups but this was the worst "day" so far. One after another a non communicative leader, a goof off one that didn't even "lead", or simply baffoonery behavior by team mates that made us eat debt. I decided to test my theory out and lead by the way I am suggesting. My team did well. We had good leveling and a fun time. there was no chaos in my team. The main reason was I established leadership by communicating and acting as a GUIDE vs a tyrant or ignorant baffoon with my team. Im done...to you veterans sorry if this was not a very informative thread for you...I know you all know what you are doing. I am not trying to insult your intellect here =). This thread is for the new and or clueless newbie. If you have tips on party builds and leading do add...

My advise and tips i put over in the new player area on the forums by the way. Just to be clear I am targeting new players to the game on some of these tips to make their leading teams or being a part of one, run smoother.

The higher levels I don't really have these bad teams or behavior. It seems to be rampant in lvl 1-20...20-30 it smooths out.

So don't get my post wrong it's only tips ...not the rule to follow. I just hope it helps others run smoother teams in the future. That is my purpose in this post.

People still pull...?

And herd....?

I've seen just about everything while pugging.

Petless MMs, "healer" stalker, "healer" brute. scraptrollers (trollers who use melee attacks from pools), trollers who skip the single target hold, 'fraidy Tanks, Empahty Tanks, Blasters with Provoke and "Brawlman" 6 slotted brawl on auto.

Not meaning to "nitpick" but if I saw a brute with provoke vs taunt I would probably ask them why provoke instead of taunt. Most brutes are pretty tight on pools so I would be curious as to why.

That is why i don't PvE. PvE is really not THAT hard but every time once in a while i feel weird urge to team up with randoms and do some missions i end up explaining ppl game mechanis and how to play this game... bleh

I was on a PuG yesterday that defeated a +5 (to the mission owner, +6 to everyone else) Dominatrix.

With only 5 or 6 players.

Not all PuGs suck.