The Daily Grind: Singing the PUG blues

Give and take.

Why not help a few of the lowbies level up, then I'm sure your good deed will be repaid in time? You personal goals are yours alone, you have to create shared goals to be truly successful, very often overlooked in MMO when you hear nerds rant in vent about how THEY need to update a piece of equipment or what they want people to do for them. PUG's are not a common goal, they are people with different goals being funneled through the same content.

I had this problem, then I decided to step back and play the game, rather than the grind. I wrote off about 60% of my time to not chase my own personal goals, joined a guild, grafted, and now in the two games I play I am chasing new content and raids, established myself as an integral member of a group and changed my whole play style. I would never be where I am, unless I had made the compromise about how I spend time in game.

Having a pre-formed guild sub group will help you form a PUG easily, you need to have some sort of compulsion to change your situation, this sounds very passive, sounds to me that you are not particularly engaged with the game. Gear never stops you being part of a team, these games are designed to allow you to carry one or two folks to a certain degree, you need to be realistic about what you can and can't do.

It's often said, it's not you, it's me....

In this case, it's you I'm afraid. You get back what you put in, and from what you've written I don't think you've put yourself in a position to succeed, you are simply waiting to fail, fall behind, then lose interest.

There is lots and lots of content to be had in AoC at end game, as long as you don't pvp. My advice is join a raiding guild, you will be in full tier gear in a month or two if you raid 3 or more nights a week. In order to really contribute to Kithai 6 mans you need some raid gear anyways imo. To get started out though if your gear is really terrible find someone to craft the culture gear, shouldn't cost you too much.

Most of the time, I feel like I'm on the outside looking in. I think that is by design, though - keep me feeling like I have more to accomplish.

Traded AoC for WAR 2 weeks after RotGS.

AoC has never been PuG friendly. The game is not oriented towards social gaming. The problem lies with the game design. Its a fundamental flaw.

However in WAR PuG's are pretty good. There are always a few open parties, warbands or just people who happen to be in the same place.

The problem lies with AoC and its awkward social structure.
In sharp contrast to AO where social gaming feels natural and is managed by game design.

My guild on Wiccana has been running raids every 2-3 days. We always turn to global chat and our alliances. It is actually an easy process for us. We also run 6 man groups and faction grinds. It has been a ton of fun. We are gaining quality members through this and making friends with other guilds. It is all just a matter of typing in the global chat or using the search tools. We then post our vent info. That can be fun or weird lol!

The bottom line is the raid leader calls the shots and cuts the chatter. Sure there is some debate from PUGS on how to attack, but when it comes down to hit YAK the chatter stops. We have to remember that it is a game and we try to have fun. But we also break it down when needed. But sometimes we get a real jerk and that can be annoying for everyone.

As a dps, if you want to run 6mans, you are going to have to set up your own groups or have specialized skills to help a group with an encounter. There is a game imbalance with healers/tanks versus dps. It's possible to pug, but you are not going to get the results you are seeking without forming your own groups. Good Luck! (sent from a dps who starts groups daily)

*sigh* I'd love to play this game...once they send me an SMS with my code. >_<

I've requested 3 so far and I haven't gotten anything yet.

I really don't like to PUG much anymore and definitely not for instances, since it usually takes too long to form the group and THEN still run the instance. Plus, get a bad group or one that falls apart after some wipe or other and then you've REALLY wasted some time.

The only PUG'ing/grouping I do in MMOs I do nowadays is the short and quick stuff: "LFG to take down 3-man Elite Boss X in Region Z." Otherwise, forget it.

The only game in which I actually run dungeons is Guild Wars 1 -- and that's only because you can ALWAYS find an (AI) group to run it with.

MMO developers need to get a clue and either provide better grouping mechanics or else offer solo/AI-assisted versions of the dungeons, imo.

Wasting scads of time in LFG channels and in bad/doomed PUGs is the single worst feature of 95% of MMOs.

The problem with Khitai is that it’s intended for experienced players who has learned to play their class. Instead, it’s full of noobs who started to play just because of the expansion caught their eye, or levelled their characters grinding DMC. It’s very painful to get a good PUG unless you know the people from before. No wonder everyone with brains relies on friends from guild.