f13.net forums - Great pickup restores my faith in humanity

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June 23, 2025, 01:36:23 PM

we're back, baby

I had a fantastic pickup group the other day. I had just entered westfall with my level 12 warrior and got the beginning quests there. While going for one of those quests I saw a priest in trouble so I charge into one of the mobs on him and attack until it aggroes me, kill off another mob with heroic spam (westfall is so full of beasties you'll often be at full rage if you like to save it for a rainy day), then we kill the other mob while I take the hits from the first. After that he asks me what quests I'm doing, then suggests grouping up and shares with me all his westfall quests (which are all first-tier, but I have to go down half the zone to get them).

Things are going well, he likes to wait a while before healing which freaks me out a few times, but he keeps me alive and I say nothing about it. All the fights go a little something like this: he shiels me, I pull with my gun (THE reason to go warrior over paladin, though there aren't many of those), and we smash face with liberal uses of taunt (defencive stance at the moment), rend, healing, and his DOTs. The occasional spammage of heroic strike takes care of any bad adds we get. I also manage to finish a few running mobs with my gun which makes me disproportionately giddy. We then decide to go after a camp of gnolls. We soon find out that all 4 are linked and 2 of them are ranged, which is too much for me to keep off the priest alone without thunder clap. We wipe and decide to move on.

Going after a kill quest we run into a paladin who is also killing what we are. Now, it's my personal oppinion that people who don't group with anybody else doing their kill quest are flaming retards so of course we invite him to join our little party.

After that things are pretty damn good. It's amazing what a secondary tank and a secondary healer can do for a group, especially when contained in one compact package. I then switch to battle stance as I feel clap is more important than taunt given our new addition.

Soon after I realise how kickass our group really is, and not just with killing ability. Without any discussion it is seemingly decided that I am the puller, and we rarely have to say anything before a pull. If it's hard the priest will shield me, he'll also shield the paladin if it's bad enough for that, no need to ask in either case, and no need for him to tell me to wait. Everybody gets into position quickly and knows what I'm pulling by where I'm facing. I generally only pull when we are ready (with ONE exception, heh). It seems both myself and the pali watch the priest's mana as he only has to say "oom" during battle and soon stops doing even that. Both the paladin and myself are willing to heal ourselves when things get messy. Instead of bitching for a heal when the shit hits the fan I suck down a potion, and the pali has self-heals he uses liberally in bad fights. Whenever someone stuffs up they admit it afterwards and appolagize to the group. Everyone else says "np" or something to that effect.

So, all 3 of us know how to play, know our jobs, and do them pretty well. We're all mature enough to know when we were at fault and as a result mistakes are rarely repeated through the entire session that stretches over hours. It gets even better though. Amazingly for a pickup group, everyone understands proper WoW ettiquette and follows it. Myself and the pali both have mining, and we quickly get into round-robin mode with any mine we see. Both of us will also wait until the coast is clear before mining, and we'll stop mining to help out if something spawns on the group. The priest never complains even though we do waste some time mining that could have been spent fighting. We also do a few quests that somebody in the group has done before. The pali has a quest we've done, and we have 2 he has done. We also finish one kill quest WAY before the pali as trappers decide not to spawn for a while, but nobody complains about completing quests for the rest of the group.

Loot ettiquette is just as good. Cloth, wands, and staves go to the priest, nobody else rolls on them. The priest doesn't roll on weapons he is able to. A sweet 2-hander drops off a lvl 18 named gnoll and I win that roll easily (even got comments like "wow, nice roll" as it was a pretty damn high roll). After that I pass on a vendor fodder axe, and then a nice belt to make up for the sword I got. It's fair enough to roll for anything you'd want, but it's nice to pass on things after a sweet win. Another belt comes up which is better than what I have, but not quite as good as the palis. He passes. All mana pots and drinks get traded to the priest, all the health pots and food the priest gets are traded to me. It was excellent.

All through the session the group takes on more than a normal pickup group of 3 would, just because we work so well together just by knowing our jobs and using some simple tactics. We even survive some things we never should have. The one time I mess up a pull is one such occasion, the other is when we pull a large camp only to find out one is a level 18 named mob (we wipe the first time, but take down 2 gnolls, which allows us to win the next try).

We are going after gnolls, the group starts off lining up against one group when the priest notices a smaller camp near us. So I go to pull that group and the priest comes along behind me, but the pali is slow to move up and a loner spots him close enough to pull half the other camp just as I fire my gun into the 3 gnolls of the other camp. 8 gnolls pour in from both directions and it isn't pretty, not to mention the add we get about 1/2 way through. Liberal uses of clap (spammage actually), debuffs, both tanks jumping on anything that even looks at the priest, potions, lay on hands, and a bit of luck sees us down the suckers without a single death.

The lvl 18 was worse, we also manage to all survive but it involves me running and screaming like a little girl when both the priest and paladin go oom, then running back when things get a little better. I was amazed that we managed to pull it off actually since we were scattered to the winds towards the end of the fight. But somehow the other gnolls hit the dust (I think this was helped by the lvl 18 chasing me quite a distance, taking him out of the fight for a bit) and we can finally concentrate on finishing the lvl 18.

Amazing group. It was even topped off by everyone having a good sense of humor and many jokes told throughout. Both were added to my friends list, as well as the priest's main.

Sorry about the length but I just felt like sharing as it's easy to forget that intelligent, mature people exist and can actually come together by random chance in a mmog.

Awesome.

As I'm hitting level 20ish, I'm starting to see a slowdown in solo-ability. Many quests are still soloable, but some are best done with a few people.

Due to that, I've become more open to pickup groups, and it really just comes down to recognizing when everyone else is retarded and not being afraid to bail.

Quote from: Jayce

Just hit 18, and I am seeing the same thing. I have a buddy I partner with when we are both online, but things are tough when he is gone. We found a very helpful priest last night that allowed us all to knock out a bunch of quests- Rogue + Warrior + Priest was luv.

Don't apologize for the length, either. I haven't been playing the game very hard or for very long and got a lot of good info out of that description of what's good and desireable in a team member. For instance, it never occurred to me to not roll for an item I couldn't use -- the Roll window popped up, I pressed the Roll button. From now on, I'll be thinking about that one.

Quote from: Jayce

Slow down in soloable content doesn't really happen until 40+. Right now now I'm somewhat running out of stuff to solo but I also haven't checked out a couple zones I could probably take advantage of.

I'm level 43 and in the same boat. I've found you really have to travel to find a zone to keep you going, but you will find it.

I finally found Desolace and will be there for awhile. Then back to Stranglethorn.

Ras and Dren,

Hammerfall (Horde Town) in the Arathi Highlands is good for the low 30's to mid 40's. The quests do turn elite, but they give out good xp moving to it.. Desolace is also great as you have found, but the terrain as expected is desolate.. though when you have to hunt the mermen/naga it gets interesting if you dig underwater adventure.

Had a huge PvP pitched battle last night... About 70-120 Alliance raided the Crossroads. Had about the same amount of Horde (probably more at one point as we drove them to the coast), but even with the Lag it was a fun event. The lag at its height was a bit crazy and even effected surrounding zones. The faction PvP has made me come to hate Night Elves, perhaps they just attract the assholes, while the dwarves seem to be the most courtious players for an opposing faction.

I kill NE on sight now...

Quote from: Fargull

The faction PvP has made me come to hate Night Elves, perhaps they just attract the assholes, while the dwarves seem to be the most courtious players for an opposing faction.

I kill NE on sight now...

I would totally buy that, even though I play NE... except for last night, we had a dwarf pally on the Van Cleef instance who loved to just pull the entire zone and then rely on us to bail him out (which didn't always work). Eventually I told him to stop pulling the whole area or I'd kick him out, at which point he disbanded without a word and tried to kill VC solo so we wouldn't get the reward.

After he died in the attempt, our NE priest brought his warrior on another box and we completed it.

So I guess there are exceptions to every rule?

-Captain Obvious, over and out.

Ultimately that's the true reward of MMORPG's, being in a group that just meshes, kicks ass, gets the shinies, and has fun doing it. Being in a decent guild gives you a pool of regulars to draw from to try for that high.

Quote from: Kageru

I'm not sure I'll ever have a guild in this game. I currently have ~30 people on my friends list, most of who I group with and help out all the time. Just the other day a friend asked me to help him do deadmines a few times real fast so he could try for VCs defias chest armor. I just hit O and a few tells later we had a full group of 25-30's who did VC 4 times back-to-back. I also filled out 3 spots in a stockade group earlier, and have added 1-2 people to most of the higher quests in each zone I've been to. All because of my friends list.

I guess what I'm saying is try to make friends with everyone you group who is nice and good (this goes double for any priests you meet). Help them out whenever they ask, and send them tells whenever they are in your area, or even close if you have time to kill. It'll make things so damn easier it's not even funny. Whenever you get something hard you just hit your friends list instead of general chat. Much better. It also makes it easier to be group leader, which is a must so you can kick retards as most people wont.

Oh and on night elves, I'd have to second that. Naturally they're not all bad, but alot you meet are way too eager and overconfident. I've had to kick a few of them from my groups simply because they didn't listen to me and pulled whole rooms due to being retards.

Also, anyone notice general chat in the newbie zones going to shit far more often now since christmas? It's gotten to where I /leave 1 everytime I hit Elwynn Forest.

Quote from: Calantus

It's gotten to where I /leave 1 everytime I hit Elwynn Forest.

Heh, funny. I did this after I created my character. Took me about 1 minute till "wanting" to close it and 5 minutes to figure out "how" .

Fargull, yeah I already tapped out highlands as far as I can until I get help with the elite quests. I go there to mine most the time =).

I bounce from highlands, stranglethorn, and desolace areas right now. It seems that they designed the game to have 3 zones that are appropriate for your level at any point in your progression. I figure that matches the concept of 3 "main" race cities/regions on each faction.

For those not finding quests easily, try out thottbot.com and look for quests in your level range. It will list them out for you and you can organize them according to starting area. I've been following that pretty well to cut down on my "wander around looking for !" activites.

Quote from: Der Helm

Quote from: Calantus

It's gotten to where I /leave 1 everytime I hit Elwynn Forest.

Heh, funny. I did this after I created my character. Took me about 1 minute till "wanting" to close it and 5 minutes to figure out "how" .

Might be funny to share Ignore lists…

Quote from: naum

Might be funny to share Ignore lists…

Who knows, I just /ignore people who disturb our guild events, so far it is not very impressive. Most people tend to stay quiet (fear ? awe ? who knows), during a lineup of 30-50 orcs at the crossroads. Except for one or two clowns, but that is the reason my ignore lists grows, slowly, but it grows ...

My ignore list is fairly small really, only 3 people. One person is the biggest leach this side of the amazon, the begging got too much and I just had to ignore them. The other 2 were sending /yells about joining their guild. Yells get an instant ignore unless it's important, or I'm in a good mood at the time. I tend to ignore retardedry in general, if its bad enough I leave it.

I actually only have one person on my ignore list. This was due to the following interaction:

Some Jackass: "Buying iradescent pearls."
Me: "I've got one."
Some Jackass: "50 silver"
Me: "Nah, sold the last one for about 1.5 gold."
Some Jackass: 2 minutes of tells about how he can get them for less and they're not that hard to find.
Me: "Ok. Terrific" /ignore

Usually I can avoid all of the jackasses by simply leaving General chat if I happen into a lower level area. I'm still ahead of the curve enough for most of the zones I frequent to be very lowly populated and devoid of: "fuxin' a, whre teh hell is [insert random mob here]. Fuk yer moms!"

Hell, I even gave money to the one person that begged me, even if they had a really dumb (innocently dumb though, it was Lady[something]) name. They were fully equipped, a mage, and very polite (also above 20). They called me sir, asked if they could enchant a piece of armor for me, had just bought spells and was currently dead broke, and were thrilled with the 30 silver I handed them.

Hmm. I'm guessing I'd be an easy mark for presentable, polite, non-insane hobos (in fact I am.. eek).

Do hobos ever ask you for leather armor and gold coins?

I want to reach through the computer screen and stab you with a coat hanger.

Quote from: Rasix

Some Jackass: "Buying iradescent pearls."
Me: "I've got one."
Some Jackass: "50 silver"
Me: "Nah, sold the last one for about 1.5 gold."
Some Jackass: 2 minutes of tells about how he can get them for less and they're not that hard to find.
Me: "Ok. Terrific" /ignore

I've had this occur too.

I also had someone send me tells for 5 minutes about how AE mage spells are completely useless. All I had said in general chat was that they can be useful in certain situations. Maybe even necessary in certain situations.

Anyway this guy sends me tells for 5 minutes while I do not respond back, saying how I dont have a clue. I didnt ignore for a while, because I wanted to actually see how angry he would get at me not responding.

He got pretty angry. It was funny. I bet he cried IRL. Maybe popped a vein in his forehead.

This is why we play MMOs.

Quote from: Pineapple

I also had someone send me tells for 5 minutes about how AE mage spells are completely useless. All I had said in general chat was that they can be useful in certain situations. Maybe even necessary in certain situations.

My response (provided you are high enough level) would be to take the fucker to uldaman, and laugh at his ass as he trys to deal with one of the non elite scorpion swarms without SOME kind of aoe effect :P

My favorite is getting a popup prompting me to join somebody's guild (or even better, a popup prompt panel to sign a guild charter), somebody whom I've never ever stumbled across prior who just indiscriminately wishes to fill their guild with whatever random avatars that cross paths...

Quote from: naum

Yah that's annoying, and so is getting 9 signatures. I think they should change it so you just have to pay more money if you have less than 10 signatures total.

To start my guild I did have to ask a few random people to sign it, but I certainly didn't prompt them without permission. A couple of people even stayed in.

Quote from: Viin

Yah that's annoying, and so is getting 9 signatures.

What is the attraction with being in a guild by yourself? Dont have to argue over command decisions?

Quote from: Pineapple

What is the attraction with being in a guild by yourself? Dont have to argue over command decisions?

Obviously.

Actually, my friends are in it (plus those couple of random people who stayed). Makes it easy to communicate as we are out and about doing whatever. Plus we get our own guild tabard. I just don't have 9 friends on the same server, that's all.

My group (just 3 of us) has considered trying to just collect sigs to form our own. But, we all talk on the phone or are constantly in tells all of the time when we're playing so it's not an issue of communication. We're not really interested in permanent members or being part of a larger collective, so, it hasn't really been a priority. The talbard might be cool though.

All of this reminded me to write my blog entry I've been meaning to for a while(somewhat tangential, but hits on naum's point).

Yah we talked in tells too, but when you have more than 1 friend online it's much nicer to have them all in the same conversation rather than multipule one-on-one conversations. We also use voice chat (ventrilo) but usually only when we are grouped together for a quest/instance.

Nice blog entry. :)

isnt there a way to create your own custom chat channels, which you can then have other people join?

Quote from: SurfD

isnt there a way to create your own custom chat channels, which you can then have other people join?

/join mychan

Creates a channel if it didn't already exist. I believe, but will have to login to verify, that you can separate out into a separate chat box too if you wish — right click on chat tab to see chat tab contextual menu that can resize fonts, change colors, etc.… You Cosmos users have a lot more tweaks, I think, but I prefer the Spartan UI, though I moved the combat chat box to the lower right (and narrowed a tad too)…

the even more interesting thing about the personal channel is that it persists - next time you log in, all the same folk (if they are online) will be in the chat, no need to recreate it.

it has some mod options (make everyone a mod, for instance) that i still do not understand (haven't bothered to figure it out, but it doesn't seem hard)

Yes, the personal channels are very nice. A group of friends and I have one since we all live close to each IRL and that is separate from our guild. That way we have our own subset channel to discuss things with each other. It works well.

The only feature missing is that you cannot link items in it. It just shows up as text. You have to either use guild chat or whisper a link for an item. That can be a pain if all you want to do is show your new shiny to a select few people all at once.

Maybe they'll add that later....

Quote from: Dren

Maybe they'll add that later....

No they wont. Because it will allow players to get around their design of the trade channels being only in the main cities.

If items could be linked in created channels then people would just create one called "WoWtrade" and it would become the new social standard. They dont want this to occur, so you wont ever see the linking.

Quote from: Pineapple

Quote from: Dren

Maybe they'll add that later....

No they wont. Because it will allow players to get around their design of the trade channels being only in the main cities.

Which is a bizarre design decision.

and interestingly enough, is already circumventable, because items CAN be linked in a Yell, which is heard zone wide anyhow.

Actually yell isn't zone wide except the npc yells. I find it odd they wouldn't let links work in private channels as well. I thought they just made links not work in non trade channels to keep for sale spam out of general, not to discourage a voluntarily joined trade channel. Bizarre decision if it was intentional.