Going to school in a PUG

emilemo · September 2014

We've all been in random pug teams, sometimes in PVE, mostly in PVP. So, what do you think of folks telling other folks what to do/how to play etc ?

In general I see it as out of place. A friendly advice once is cool, any more should be saved for premades. You see, in a PUG we dont get to be mad, we dont get to complain. Complaining äbout "getting an idiotic party again" is like skipping voting but then complaining about the government.

Seriously this trend of bashing folks who dont meet our expectations ( in a freakin online game nonetheless ) should just stop. Refraining from that is a really good character builder, you're on your way to becoming a better human being if you dont get worked up over a random pvp match trust me on that one.

Reason for this post - had to get this off my chest

crazymikee · September 2014

some people like me really dont like to lose because the inability of others to support the team, and in any team if its randomly made or put together intentionally your expected to do your best and try to coordinate with the other team members. in random pugs most people are blindsighted to whats going on and just run to the enemy and fight not even noticing there is an uncontested base somewhere, losing the game and making the other teammates annoyed that they lost

jrfbrunet · September 2014

getting worked up is one thing, and it should be avoided.

Telling someone that they are missing something obvious is quite another, and it usually welcomed when i give advice to other players.

Sorry, I've been thanked too often to totally agree with the OP

kattefjaes · September 2014

jrfbrunet wrote: »

getting worked up is one thing, and it should be avoided.

Telling someone that they are missing something obvious is quite another, and it usually welcomed when i give advice to other players.

Sorry, I've been thanked too often to totally agree with the OP

Yes, precisely.. The "have you tried.. X, Y and Z loadout?" can be a godsend for someone who feels a bit out of their depth. Heck, far from having their manhood impugned, most people are quite grateful for a bit of help. You often end up having a short chat via /w after the instance answering questions, but as long as it's reasonable, there's no harm done.

(I recently levelled my SW, and did quietly ask a couple of the more capable players that I grouped with for some opinions- it helped a lot)

On the other hand, if you're grouped with someone spamming Ice Storm, Repel, shield bursting etc.., or a DC fond of divine Sunburst, then they need told. Stop throwing mobs all over the place or leave the group- your lack of consideration for the other players means that you deserve very short shrift if you don't immediately stop when someone warns you that what you're doing isn't helpful or pleasant for everyone else.

norsemanx · September 2014

Someone just complaining about being on another team full of "scrubs", match after match is different than someone reminding a TR to scoot down and contest #3 because it's open, or reminding folks that it doesn't take 4 people to cap home base at the start of a match.

The complainers are annoying but I have an ignore option warmed up for them. More experienced players offering suggestions is fine imo.

velynna · September 2014

Communication is important.

For PvP, I don't mind people trying their best on a node and constantly dying. My pet peeves are: never standing on a node, always running away the moment they think they're going to die, staying on nodes they aren't needed simply because they don't want to die (leaving players on other nodes out-numbered and dying).

When I see this happening, I'll put something like "please stand on node" or "come to mid" in chat. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, when you're forced to play as a team.

I only wish people actually read party chat/listened.

metaplexus · September 2014

As people stated above, advice when needed is okay, sure. When you are in the heat of a match, you don't often get to write full and polite sentences, so some advice may just sound rude, but at least I give it away without negative feelings. Another thing is when people start yelling and calling everyone else in his/her team total scrubs without giving any constructive criticism. Then you ask the person how you could improve your playing, you get called more names and end up on the ignore list.

Cough... those rogues who think they are the whole team, cough..

benskix2 · September 2014

I couldn't disagree more strongly with the OP, unless we are talking about doing content so trivial that failure isn't really a possibility. People usually aren't going to learn my osmosis, if they aren't doing what they should be doing in order to successfully complete the content (win in pvp), then they should be told what they are doing wrong. If you can't take criticism you shouldn't be playing with other people.

lewstelamon01 · September 2014

I usually regard the opinions of others telling me how to play in much the same way as the old adage about unsolicited opinions goes.

lycragirl · September 2014

I've never received friendly advice, though God knows I could've used some along the way. What i have received is "Worst team I've been stuck with today" from someone who gave up after 30 seconds and sat at home while the remaining 3 of us (1 dc-ed) ran around like headless chickens. We only lost by a couple of hundred in the end.

I've had "put you ****ing pet away" Still don't get that. We were in the last room of Fardelvers crypt. He was healing away nicely and everything was on us anyway so he wasn't pulling adds.

People seem to go from not speaking at all to nasty, sweary, shouty cap locks in this game.

hefisdo · September 2014

I could literally write a novel here to defend telling people what they should do.

neverknight5 · September 2014

It's nice to post constructive criticism on how others can improve, I have only used caps once but not in a rude way just so I could get through to them. Yes it is annoying when ranged classes fight off node whilst the enemy is on the node. It looked like I had a cow incapable of standing on a node last match, try queuing with guild or pre made. And i absolutely hate it when high vs people pick on others because of gs.

zelfiron · September 2014

I for one am quite fine with a lil chit chat in an instance, makes the run less monotonous. From the first day last year when i started playing ive enjoyed the back and forth. However as mentioned above there were some on their proverbial high horses that were a pain in the ***. Those people i have no time for, when they feel there way is the end all be all of how a run is supposed to go

rashylewizz · September 2014

I'll make the counter argument that if you do PUG, there should be some level of expectation that you will not get the nicest/politest teammates, you probably will not get along with everyone all the time and as with EVERY MMOs, some people have different opinions than you.

Before you PUG, be sure to remember those things.

godlysoul2 · September 2014

As an experienced PvP-er going into a PUG group, I would expect others that show inexperience to welcome advice from others who are higher up. If I don't critique them and give them advice, they are not going to learn. At least probably not for a long time. The only way I learned the key fundamentals of PvP was from taking advice from other people who were higher up than me at the time. Advice such as nodes > killing, always stand on point, holding multiple enemies on a point is more valuable than just 1v1, holding the enemy point is the role of the most experienced/tanky, build advice such as building tanky for point holding, Halfling, max CON, stack hp, keep regen ~1700+, ect. Even if some of the advice came from people being harsh with me in the group chat, it still helped me get better.

If I am 10 - 0 and you are 2 - 6 with low GS + goofy enchants/stat distributions compared to mine, you would do well to welcome and implement any advice I suggest. There is a reason for it. Unfortunately most people feel they know best or do not care what anyone else has to say because they want to blame other factors outside of themselves. (Pay to win, matchmaking system, ect.) That is the point where I get frustrated because there are obvious signs that someone better is trying to help you get up to their level, but instead you are intentionally holding yourself back as well as the team from achieving their potential because you are too stubborn to realize you might not be doing something right.

I try my best to stay cool and offer advice in a kind, suggestive manner to aid those that appear to need it in order to help the team achieve its maximum potential in any given match. However, if they start behaving in the way mentioned above after I try explaining some stuff to them, and they are rude/blatantly dismissive about it, then don't expect me to be all bubbly and kind towards you for the rest of the match.

Going to school in a PUG

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