Pickup Groups For Instances

[George Clooney]

This may be long, but I think I need to vent....

Firstly, I'll admit that I have had some good pickup groups in the past. While the place itself was boring, the group I went into the stockades with was great. And I had a good group in the deadmines too. Gnomeragen was average, couple of good players, some bad. But recently things seem to have been getting worse. In fact, I havent ben in a good pickup group for ages.....

I have 2 characters, a level 42 human priest and a level 23 orc hunter. Being a priest I tend to get a lot of random invites or whispers asking me if I want to go to a particular instance. I get one asking for a healer for SM, and I go, as I still need some stuff from there. The group consists of me, a pally, 2 warriors and a hunter, all 39 or below. So we're talking on the way, saying what drops they're after and stuff and me thinking that it's lucky that I'm the only cloth wearer there to roll on the cloth drops. We get there, and go into the library for what we need to get, then head onto the armoury. This is where things started to go wrong. There were no tactics or communication, and they had the typical zerg mentality of the 12 year olds who appear on the looking for group channels, rushing constantly to get to the next mob. By some miracle I manage to keep them all healed. Then we get to the final boss, which we take down easily enough but then I get killed by the oncoming rush of mobs through the door while they're discussing looting. Still, not to bad. They're not very good, but they're not cocks or anything. Anyway, we go to the cathedral and the pally says "gotta go get some food, back in half an hour". There is uproar with 2 of the members, but eventually, we decide to ALL get some food. Only problem is, this takes the other guys 15 minutes, while the pally is gone for nearly 40. One of the warriors says "he is eating too long" and HS's back to IF. He does it about 3 mins before the pally comes back. So, we talk about whether we can do the rest, and the general opinion is that we cant, so we LFM there. Then the pally says that he's going back to IF, his bag is full. The remaining warrior goes mental, yelling "NO YOU WILL NOT! YOU ARE STAYING TILL WE DO THIS!". They argue, and the pally eventually leaves, saying that he'll look for more in IF. He HS's back, and then decides that he cant be bothered to make the trek back and leaves. Then the hunter leaves without warning. Me and the warrior both decided that we've wasted enough time there that day and both give up on it for the timebeing.

With my orc, I have tried instances 3 times now, and they've all been bad experiences. RFC was ok, then a guy left. Another guy said "we will not do this...I'm going to get my level 36 priest". Then the priest who was there spammed "fu you noob". Eventually he left and came back with his main, and the other guy finally said "fu u will ruin the exp" (we were near the final boss at this point I might add) and he left too. The 3 of us remaining finished it off easily enough though.

I've tried the Wailing Caverns twice now. the first I did the LFG thing, and another hunter invited me. He managed to get another 2 shamans to join and then said "ok, lets go". I asked if he thought we should get more people - "no this is enough, have done it b4 dead easy" So we go...and die....lots. The shamans cant (or dont) heal, and aggro mobs loads. One of the shamans then leaves. The other says his bag is full so he's going back to org to empty it. The group leader then kicks him. We go back to the crossroads and try to get more people. We get a mage, and then someone post on the LFG channel "LFM WC 2 slots open". We then get a message that the group leader has left the group....I tell the other guy he should proabably try to get into that group too, and logged off.

The second time we had a mage who was very good, a warlock who wasnt there half the time (and died a lot when he was) a warrior who was worse than my pet at tanking (and rolled on everything. We then explained the whole n/g system - which he then took as meaning everything he could use was a n roll) and a shaman who used a low dps staff to melee with (because he could and it gave him an int bonus) and "needed" everything that the casters needed. The shaman also really fancied himself as the team leader, telling everyone what to do (the amount of times he told the mage to sheep mobs pissed me off, let alone the mage) then he decided to go back to org to get his armour repaired right before a boss battle, despite us telling him if he let the warrior tank and he healed he'd be fine. I now have 2 people on my ignore list because of that instance. The warrior because he was a cock who rolled on the items that the mage was doing the instance to try and get. And he moaned because eventually if he rolled on something, so did I. He rolled on 3 two hand axes, so on the last 2 I did 2.

"I thought it was only need if you used it?"

"I do use axes"

I'm a warrior though"

"so?"

"I need them more"

"you dont need 3, all of which have less stats than the one you use"

"how do you know that?"

"because I've looked at your axe"

"wtf are you looking at my axe for?"

"BECAUSE YOU HAVE ROLLED ON 3 FUCKING AXES! HOW MANY CAN YOU POSSIBLY NEED?"

He shut up after that.

Then there is the shaman, also ignored. He rolled on caster items, saying that he needed the int boost. When he didnt win the roll, he would insist the item be given to him as he'd said need. A cape dropped with a +int stat, which he wanted. The fucking WARRIOR ended up winning it, and he kept spamming team chat with "N the cape!" or "can I have the cape!?". Then he walked up to me, opened the trade window, and repeated his request. After telling him to fuck off and that I didnt have the cape, he eventually bugged everyone else. I think he ended up getting the cape too.

[shock33]

Which server are you on out of interest?

Conversely, I think I've had maybe one bad experience in all the groups I've been in up to 56. And that was really early on when nobody really knows what they're doing anyway...

[sith]

Just one bad for me in RFK

Cause one guy was 40 he thought he could take the whole place on and in event got us killled loads

Other than that its been all good so far

[George Clooney]

Which server are you on out of interest?

Conversely, I think I've had maybe one bad experience in all the groups I've been in up to 56. And that was really early on when nobody really knows what they're doing anyway...

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Maelstrom with my main, Bloodhoof with the alt. I people on Maelstrom....god knows why I went on bloodhoof though.

[Colonel Panic]

It really is hit and miss.

I ended up doing a pickup group to Scholo once with a fucking warlock who decided the best way to win each fight was AoE.

Each pull took ages becuse the warlock was AoEing the warrior was lost and the other shaman was tanking elites on his own. It was a mess.

I asked why we were doing it that way and the lock said "because it's the quickest way". He said this after each fight while drinking...

It was the first pick up that I actually left... A rogue in the same group /w me 30 mins later telling me they'd wiped. How can a 10 man wipe in nerfed Scholo?

[scruffycat]

I think I have had maybe one bad experiance in an Instance, a warrior in Scholomance who was just useless and couldn't tank at all. He wouldn't take any help from anyone though, thought he was brilliant. He left pretty quickly in the end after an all out arguement with the group leader, who was also a bit of a cock. Oh and a hunter had a bit of a Leeroooy moment in that egg room in UBRS yesterday and wiped a whole raid, but it was accidental, first time he'd been there so it was more funny than anything. Other than that I've not Instanced as much as most but all the other pick-up groups I've been on have been pretty good to be honest, guess it's just luck.

[Hardwired]

It's all about being in a decent guild, man! I rarely quest with randoms any more. I had a few bad experiences, so now just stick to guild parties, with maybe the odd random to make up the numbers.

If you're not in a guild, or your guild isn't any good, sort yourself out. It made a world of difference to my enjoyment of the game.

[PopeSmokesDope]

We did a quick UBRS run yesterday and we were a couple short so we grabbed some Hunter from Org.

We got to the Hatchery and cleared it, up we went to the uper part of UBRS when all of a sudden we seethe sodding Hunter running all over the eggs and up to us.

Most of the chat channel consisted of "what the fuck is he doing???"

That Leeroy video has a fucking lot to answer for!

[scruffycat]

Ah yeah, The Hatchery! that's what it's called. Not the 'egg room'

Also about 10 minues after he'd done it and we had all rezzed, he typed "Right I'm back, I let a mate take over for 10mins while I got some food" or something. Worst excuse ever? I thought it was hilarious myself.

[PopeSmokesDope]

He must have been feeling guilty!

Mind you, I was the Raid Leader and dint realise until half way through!

HAHAHAHHHHA

You wanna go back in tonight?

I need to kill a dragon in WInterspring and the Wetlands then I need to go back for Draks blood.

[flicky]

It's amazing how many people get to level 60 without having a fucking clue how to play the game.

[Space Renegade Ulala]

The Rookery.

As for pickup groups, I was lucky as until I hit 60, 90% of my instance runs were with guildmates. Since then, I've partied with a lot of randoms and while some have been utterly moronic (a Shaman rolling on Dreadmist Sandals, some guy who got to 58 without knowing what the difference between BoE and BoP was, a warrior who didn't bother to repair either in Org or at Mojache before we started a tribute run and ultimately couldn't tank as his shield was broken, and, best of all, a Shaman who kept wasting his ankhs self-rezzing despite us all telling him the Priest was soulstoned, leading to a desperate run through the streets of Stratholme before everything respawned following a bad pull) for the most part, everyone knows what to do and how to behave. In fact, one of the best raids I've been on lately was with a compltete bunch of strangers and, despite having my worst set of rolls ever, I had a great time and everyone got on nicely.

One thing I would say is that of those who aren't so good when it comes to instances, many of them seem to be hardcore, high level PvPers but in fairness, they probably spent 50 levels playing a somewhat different game. Watching them struggle with the quests leading to getting keyed for Onyxia and MC can be pretty painful. And expensive.

[The Grand Pursuivant]

(a Shaman rolling on Dreadmist Sandals

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I hope you chopped off his testacles. I automatically blacklist anyone who rolls on another class set, it's just such an unbelievably shit thing to do.

[scruffycat]

It's amazing how many people get to level 60 without having a fucking clue how to play the game.

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Some people won't listen to any advice though, that's the main problem. If I'm messing up I would rather someone tell me in a whisper then I can change what I'm doing.

On the other hand I've raided with another Rogue who was constantly sending me whispers starting "Here's a little tip...." I mean constantly. Every 3-4 minutes another stupid useless tip.

Most importantly though it's not real life. Sometimes people get too hardcore about it it all and seem to forget and throw massive strops because it's not all perfect. There's at least one person I will always avoid doing instances with who's like that. Thankfully he's way further on than me now so it's not a problem.

[Mr Ben]

Never had any problems in instances with randoms in the past, but I only do them with the guild now at the moment. Only had one problem and it was Siths fault

[kitten]

Oh, pickup groups are evil. I had no idea just how bad random players could be til I had time to start instancing. However, having had one constant guildie to group with does mean that in any random five, two of us at least are already used to playing together.

Probably my worst instance was a really bad WC group with my shaman alt where I was backup healer at level 17, then the main healer who was a few levels higher and had better spells left halfway through ("my son will play now" --> quit). The druid, who had been trying to out-tank the warrior, grumbled "I suppose I will be main healer now" and promptly forgot about healing anyone except for the times when I had no mana left and everyone was on half health or less. I dinged level 18 during the instance and discovered when I went to collect my new spells that the other shaman (level 22, I think) should have had better totems, but hadn't bothered with them. We were so disorganised I didn't manage to complete any quests at all.

And the group I wouldn't join for love nor money (on my priest, about level 42) -

random (around level 36) whispers: "will u come to sm with me, i have a 60 warrior to help, it will take 5 minutes"

I'm in Ratchet and don't fancy it, even allowing for the level 60 nursemaid this group looks doomed. /r polite excuse

random: "plz, we need healer! so what do u say???"

[The-G]

I hope you chopped off his testacles. I automatically blacklist anyone who rolls on another class set, it's just such an unbelievably shit thing to do.

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Yes, because it says Classes : Shaman doesnt it?

I see priests rolling on dreadmist stuff all the time, if that's the stats they need, so be it. Most of the blue sets aren't exactly amazing and better stuff can be had with a bit of farming of certain boss mobs anyhoo.

[Geo]

I had a bit of a pick-up group moment but was totally and utterly my fault (the other people i was with were pretty good). Twas my first instance run as a mage, doing Ragefire Chasm and just on the ledge outside of where that Tauren is, i spot some Troggs on the ledge across the lava and think i'll hit him for a laugh so I fire a firebolt at him. I knew immediately what i had done and started appologising hysterically in team chat as about 50 of the buggers came round the corner...we wiped.

Another bad instance was some Tauren bitch who was lvl 25 when the rest of us were 20 doing WC, she got annoyed because i told her to chill out (she was being a bit of a control freak, ordering everyone around), she promptly left the group right in the middle of the instance...man i hate her.

[The Grand Pursuivant]

Yes, because it says Classes : Shaman doesnt it?

I see priests rolling on dreadmist stuff all the time, if that's the stats they need, so be it. Most of the blue sets aren't exactly amazing and better stuff can be had with a bit of farming of certain boss mobs anyhoo.

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You're actually defending an action like that?

Sets are built for specific classes, do priests need an increased damage for pets buff? Like fuck they do. If anyone that wasn't a warlock rolled on a piece of dreadmist I didn't have, I would go fucking nuts.

[spork]

On a more positive note, via random groups I have managed to find a good group of players who Im more than happy to go into an instance with, which we seem to do fairly regulary now, although they are all from the PIE guild so it probably wasnt a true pick up group from the start but they were all randoms to me!

Also, playing as a priest it really makes it obvious if a warrior is actually a good tank or not. Some quite cleary have no idea what there actual roll is in a group and end up attacking just one mob at a time trying to do as much damage as possible while I cast a heal and end up with all of the other mobs on me

I do however usually end up with more good players than bad (i think).

[flicky]

You're actually defending an action like that?

Sets are built for specific classes, do priests need an increased damage for pets buff? Like fuck they do. If anyone that wasn't a warlock rolled on a piece of dreadmist I didn't have, I would go fucking nuts.

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Especially one that can wear mail.

[The-G]

Yes, there are set bonuses gear towards specific character classes, but if it was ONLY for one class it would say class : warlock or whatever, like the tier 2 and 3 epic stuff does.

http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?witem=16699 or

http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?witem=16694

I'd be happy if either dropped. If you want 100% guarantee on an item thats apparently for you only, go on one of those class raids.

3: +4 Fire Resistance.

3: +4 Shadow Resistance.

5: Increases damage done to Demons by magical spells and effects by up to 14.

6: Increases damage done by Shadow spells and effects by up to 21.

7: Restores 2 health every 5 sec.

8: Improves your chance to get a critical strike with Shadow spells by 2%.

Shadow priest? Not bad at all.

[Colonel Panic]

Likewise for PvP the hunter gear is great for Shaman. But a mail wearer rolling on the cloth item for the stats is taking the piss.

[Hackign]

Bad pickups are the reason I'mleveling my rogue without doing instances.

At lv35 and I haven't done an instance yet.

[Colonel Panic]

You're missing out on some good quests and loot if you do that. I'm sure there's plenty of alts to play with who actually understand the game.

[Hackign]

You're missing out on some good quests and loot if you do that. I'm sure there's plenty of alts to play with who actually understand the game.

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Well I've done most of the quests with my lv60 lock anyway so meh.

Plus I'm getting my guildies to make weapons for whatever level I am.

[Colonel Panic]

Fair enough... I guess I just see instances before 60 as a good way to learn a class as opposed to just grinding or levelling outside of instances.

[George Clooney]

Yeah, I find that they help you improve as a player. It's totally different to normal PvE.

Plus you get nice loot, and decent exp. If you're after cash, instances are great. And there'll almost always be some nice gear for your class to be had from there.

[descriptor]

Bleh, pickup groups suck full stop. Experienced a bit of verbal tonight, starting with whispered abuse (which I ignored), and quickly spilled into a full-scale character assassination on general chat.

Thankfully most of the peeps on there saw it for what it was, but still it's not nice to think of what some Swedish 13-yr-old's temper tantrum could do to your reputation.

Bloody Thunderhorn server

[Space Renegade Ulala]

Duncan and I had a pickup group for Scholo tonight. It began with much moaning that we didn't have enough warriors or healers and went off pretty much from there. A bossy priest, a clueless warlock (I'm not racist but I've found exclusively to a man that all my orc colleagues are thick as two short planks. Forsaken ftw), a warrior whose mother stopped him from playing, 2 rogues with questionable no-improved sap builds...

All I wanted out of it were my set mask and mantle, neither of which dropped. I did roll a hundred on some poxy, stupid BoE gun though, a Dwarven Hand Cannon or something. Frickin' figures the first epic I actually win a roll for is absolutely no use to me whatsoever. Bet when the Headmaster's Charge shows up sometime, I roll a 1 or something. Feh.

Fortunately, the group's hunter already had one and very surprisingly, no one else called need on it (though the idiot 56 rogue immediately offered me 20g for it afterwards) so I got to keep it. The hunter said he paid 400g for his on the AH. Hmmmm.