PUGs have got such a bad reputation, not only in Guild Wars, but seemingly nearly every other MMO out there, that I though I’d submit the tales of two good experiences I’ve had this week.
The first was the other day when the Zaishen mission of the day was to complete A Time For Heroes. I first completed this in Normal Mode with heroes and henchmen, and then beat my head against it a few times in Hard Mode, coming close, but not quite any cigar. Party Search was full of offers to run the mission for 1-2k, but I took advantage of the normal Party Searches instead. The first group I joined was the winner; the group leader carried all his heroes, while two others and myself joined in. Everyone was friendly and non-elitist – although everyone was asked to bring along Breath of the Great Dwarf and wear their Delver title, no other build requests were made, and no specific ranks were demanded. We even went over the strategy prior to entering the mission, which is the first time I’ve seen that happen in a PUG I’ve been in. The run was a huge success with no casualties and the Great Destroyer handily dispatched in a short time.
Tonight I had another victorious PUG experience with Glint’s Challenge. After purchasing a Cloth of the Brotherhood from another player since I was convinced I’d never see the Brotherhood Chest that mission spawned (after another series of experiences throwing myself against that wall), the seller added a couple more members and asked if we wanted to go ahead and try the mission. We said sure, changed our builds around (at least I did) and went for it. The run was not without its snags; one member asked us to resign after a few minutes because he claimed to have brought the wrong build. Several of us did, but not everyone, so we continued to fight on until the aforementioned player disconnected. Now fighting with a handicap, we doubled down and kept on fighting. We had a few near-wipe experiences, and I was not sure we’d make it with the seemingly never-ending stream of Destroyers pouring into the room, but before too long we’d prevailed and each collected our trophies.
Now that I have two more Hero Armors for my Hall of Monuments, I’m officially on the PUG bandwagon. Sure, I’ve had some bad experiences in the past, but whether these new kinder, friendlier PUGs are a result of an influx of new or returning players, or I’ve just lucked out a couple of times in a row, I’m going to look forward to PUGs with a little less dread in the future. Who knows, maybe one will even help me get past the Gate of Madness one day (I may never know, as I’m too chicken to try the mission with my Ele by myself).
I was one of the people that just paid for a run in HM. I think i Paid 1 or 2k. It took like 10 minutes to get a runner but 40 seconds to finish it once we were inside.
as for pugs. wrangling them is such a pain. even if you don’t want them to bring a specific build just getting them to listen about strategy, pay attention to aggro, not make mistakes that you’ve already stipulated shouldn’t be made is like a full time job.
I might have been more tempted to pay for the HM run if I’d had 1k at the time (I’m spending all my money on rubies and sapphires for Vabbian armor at the moment) ;).
I wish there were people who would run the Gates of Madness mission for a fee. I’d pay for that!
I think it also depends on your role in the PUG.
Even though in GW, the tendency is a LOT less than in other places, bad players still carry the ‘blame the healer for everything’ mentality.
>.> I will help you with GoM HM if you poke me.
<.< I don't bite! Rotty will just take his tithe in toes!
Actually, I would be tickled to just get it done in Normal Mode (yes, I’m scared of a NM mission ;_;)! I will poke you when I next see you on!
The Zaishen Missions/bounties put the PuG back into GW. Sometimes it’s bad, but against all expectation you usually end up with a decent group. Reminds me of how much fun pugging was at the start of GW 🙂
I agree!
The GW community as a whole is a heck of a lot more civil than the WoW one imo.
Yes, you still get the occasional bad apples… like that poopyhead who claimed I was a crap healer for Battle of Lion’s Arch … when 3 of my group members weren’t infused, and he himself had the brave and wonderful habit of charging right out the front door, as well as standing in necromancer wells.
But it’s the good groups where you make friends that don’t get the publicity. 😉
Glad to hear your PuG experiences have been going well as of late. To be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve had some bad PuGs myself, across many MMOs. Usually, the worst part is waiting around when you’re trying to get a group together, or when someone invariably goes afk for a long time. But in general, people have been very polite, communicative and decently skilled.
Y’anno? I was so smug while I was reading this. I said to myself “I almost always have fantastic experiences in Guild Wars PuGs!” I then proceeded to run in three consecutive groups only to be lambasted as a terrible monk and left with nothing for my trouble. Serves me right!
Yus well… bad apples will be rotten poopies wherever they be!
The thing about support classes is…
Yes! I loves to save the day! I loves to make engines of destruction of my party members!
I do not love:
1) Being obligated to save the day
2) Being yelled at when I don’t save the day
3) Being taken for granted when I do save the day
!
Aww, yeah, monks get no respect! I can’t do the job myself (I keep starting and re-starting a Monk and always kind of give up on her around level 11 or 12 – ditto Rangers) so I have nothing but love for them! ❤ Also, the head of my guild is a monk and she's awesome :).
PUGs are a crapshoot, though it does depend on the game. It’s probably telling that whenever someone has a really good PUG experience they feel it’s noteworthy enough to share the tale with others (I’m not talking about your post; I’m speaking in general).
I’ve been rather leery of PUGs for a while now, based on the potential — borne out by experience — of having some pretty miserable encounters. Some people simply don’t care about teamwork or making any sort of effort to support each other. Then, you’ll run into some random group that just rocks it out.
I remember a PUG in City of Heroes years ago. I joined up, and the elitist in me recoiled at how these people couldn’t seem to communicate in anything but grunts and half-formed words. I thought I was in for a rocky ride. Once we went into the mission however, it was all I could do to keep up with these people. It was as smooth and seamless as if it were a group of veteran friends.
So, people can always pleasantly surprise you.
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