Zen, and the art of the Pickup Group

[Emizael]

Okay, all pretensions aside, I just had one of the best gaming experiences ever...

Okay, all of us here know how to play our jobs, and what to do, and what not to do. Most of us have had good and bad experiences with the pickup group, and we all have our own experiences with them. Today, however, I had the fortune of being in two of the best pickup groups ever.

First off, I was playing with my mage for the first group. (( A 50 mage soon to be delivered wholesale to Feathermoon, just as soon as I can cough up the 25 beans required to move it here. )) The group consisted of myself, a frost mage, a hunter, a rogue, a priest, and another mage, who was split between frost and arcane. No tank, one healer, bandages and heal pots at the ready, this group set out for the Sunken Temple, one of my least favorite spots in the whole darn game. To my surprise, this group of level 50's not only took the Temple, but took OUT the temple...We rocked them to Hakkar and back! Them dragons never stood a chance! Bam, zowie! We moved a bit slow at first, and then, we really picked up the pace. Barely slowing down to regain mana --(( thanks very much to that mage talent what lets you recharge mana at 1500 % ))-- but all said and done, a good group, good players, and none of them known to me, at all. They're all on my list now, though. Great group, good fun, treasure had by all. The best part about this whole thing was thinking about how in the beginning, we were all sure we were doomed! We just knew we were going to die, and loose all our hard earned loots in repair bills. Not this time though, this time, the Gods were with us, and we won!

Spurred by my success there, I came back to Feathermoon, and hopped on my druid just for a little bit of the old feral-violence, just because I could. Got an invite, to a rather wierd little party...

Five druids, vs. Gnomeragan. Yeah. Five druids, versus the crazed irradiated horrors. It worked. I was nearly crapping myself with the glee at how yet another uncommon party just seemed unstoppable.

Just goes to show you..sometimes, gear doesn't matter, sometimes ...classes don't matter..its just the luck of the draw..and a handful of good players. Even when you don't know them.

So, using my newfound appreciation of the pickup group, I think I will start talking about party balances, and the appreciations thereof of the parties that work, and the parties that don't. Keep in mind that this work is totally of my own opinion, and nothing said here should be taken as gospel, or that I think this is the way you should play your game.

Nope, none of that stuff, this is just me saying, " Hey! I found some neat stuff that seemed to work one time, and ...lets try that again! "

The first art of the Zen then, is finding the happy balance of the party, dealing with the mood. As Defenders, we usually have quite the bit of RP during our raids, as well as in most of our instancing, whether it be 5 man, 10 man, or even 20 man. So, you have to take into consideration whether or not your pickup group is going to do any RP at all, or if you are just going to be doing random bits of violence with a group of mayhemers. Both have thier benefits, and drawbacks, but, we're not concerned with that right now. What we're talking about right here is the dynamic. If the whole party is on the same page, so to speak, all doing a bit of rp, or all doing just the opposite, the group tends to mesh better together. Especially if you agree on that kind of stuff in advance. Once the ground rules are discussed, and the party actually gets moving, you usually pick up the clues on how the party is going to act just by observing the party chat.

Rp groups in general hate to fill in a last slot, with everyone talking and chatting in character, and the new guy comes in with " Hey, ur all talking funneh..."

And, of course, Mayhemer groups hate to have everyone discussing last nights CSI and the Rp'r comes in with " Yeah and Verily, dost thou confusest me with thine speech! What manner of wizard is this Grissom you speakest of?"

The point is..everyone gets along better if they are of the same mindset.

Group Dynamics. That's actually a viable term, you human resource-management types have probably heard of before. The character, and the characterization of the group. You feel better about joining a pickup group that has nearly the same mentality as your own. If you feel good about a group, you are liable to perform better in that group. Better individual performance is directly proportionate to group performance, and when the group does good, everyone gets rewarded. Rewarded both in better loot, and a better game experience in general.

So, to finish this one up...when looking for a pickup group, try to find the ones that seem most like you. Hard enough for some folks, but easy enough, if you know all the tricks.

Next time, we'll chat about how to find the best pickup groups, and how best to advertise yourself!

[Fechak]

Well said Emi. For our raids and such I always grumble about class balance (which is actually necessary for the true end-game) but for 5mans and UBRS, Windy and I always liked to go against the grain just to prove it could be done with great players in any class. I mean, look at Windy - he was the feral tank befor feral tanks were fashionable!

[Celera]

Interesting! As you know, I've had disastrous pugs, but also been in some that were nearly as good as guild runs.

I've been wanting to do an all-druid run, but didn't think of doing it before 60. However, druids are so versatile -- depending how they are specced they can be really good at almost anything. Except crowd control.

I also agree that class balance makes things easier, but it is not remotely as important as 1) competent players and 2) having a strategy. I'd much rather do an instance with four mages and a priest who figure out how to use their strengths to best advantage than a perfectly balanced group of idiots who all run off in different directions.

Can't wait to meet your mage!

[Sorcha'Rei]

When Sorcha was 41, the druid patch happened. The next day, she ran all four wings of SM with four other druids, and it ROCKED. Most fun I've ever had in SM, and SM is one of my favorite instances. She was not yet a moonkin at the time, but we had: one full-on restoration druid, one tank specc, one cat specc, and two motley hybrid speccs (she was one -- I always level druids that way until level 43 or so, when I respecc to their end game goal). It was wicked fun, even though we were all still getting used to the new druid skills, spells, and stuff.

The other day, I was on a rogue/druid stealth run of LBRS on Sorcha. She was supposed to be the healer, but the feral druid had forgotten to repair his tanking gear, so he suggested that he heal and she tank. Since she had her feral tanking gear in the bank, but was carrying tons of dynamite, I tanked it in moonkin. Worked fine. I was able to hold the aggro off three DPS crazy rogues with moonfire spam, with a little hurricane and dynamite for added aggro-grabbing oomph (I got the healer's innervate, since I could not afford to shift to elf to innervate myself, with all that aggro on me).

Good pickup groups make me happy.

What made BOTH of those groups work was that we all had a shared understanding of what we were doing. The SM group did a bit of RP but mostly we were just kids on Chirstmas day trying out our new toys from the druid patch. Much laughter and fun, and a really relaxed atmostphere. The LBRS group was also fairly relaxed, since they knew we were trying an experiment with the moonkin tanking.

If there is laughter, then it's fun.

[Emizael]

Finding the best pickup groups, usually is a challenge. Usually, it is just plain simple luck, that we bumble along and meet up in a chance encounter with a handful of individuals that share some of our same qualities. I mean, really, we are on an RP server, and we most of us do the RP thing. The problem is, 90% of the population of our server wouldn't know an RP from a stick in the mud, and I am being generous with that estimation.

There are many reasons for that statistic, and one of the largest is, well, role-players are a minority consumer, and the blessed company that provides our game lives must bow to the majority wish! We can see this as a misery, to be shared with our companions over a round or nine of ales at Bruuk's...or..we can see it as a challenge!

Okay, normally , I am the complainer type. I like to bitch and moan about how good RP is dead, save for here, of course. I am finding more and more though...that good RP..is what you make of it. The point here is, not to let yourself get down, or bummed out by the lack of role-players, but, rather to experience the world through the eyes of your own creation, and then, when the moment is right, allow that character to live and breathe on its own, and do the things they would do.

That isn't the subject here, though, this is where to find the best pickup groups, and how to advertise yourself ...to maximize your chances of finding the pickup group that is right for you!

I watch the LFG channel a lot. You see some funny things on there. Conversations, impromptu breakouts of Chunk Norris-isms, the plaintive cries of " Don't party with so-and-so, cause he r a Ninja!!" Or, my personal favorite, " 60 hunter, blah blah blah spec, full dragonstalker gear, looking for end-game raids, Not in this for lewtz, in this for the challenge!" The author of that last statement appended his cry for group with ..." Not interested in 5 or 10 man instancing, not interested!" So, I hope that cat found a group to raid with on one hand, and on the other hand, I bitch to Arlon endlessly about how guys like that give hunters in general a bad name, (( like we needed any help giving hunters a bad name, really!! ))

So then, the trick is to advertise yourself, and make yourself more appealing to the group in question. With my hunter, I've never used the LFG channel. Never advertised. Mostly , I just look at the one the most appealing, and then send a whisper. Sometimes, I get shot down, but , when I use my tagline..." Hey, I can Kite Drakk..." I get invited lots.

Its all about the sale. Telling me that you are a 60 mage tells me nothing. Telling me, " 60 frosty with Jumper cables and bandaids" lets me know that yer ready for action. Spamming that yer a tank tells me nothing...but, put in the LFG channel, " 60 War, LFG, blah blah, I tank Rag regularly! " makes me wonder why you are LFG in the first place, but..I want you in my group!

Presentation is key. Present yourself as invaluable to a group, and they will beat the door down to get you , and if you survive the encounter, or make it fun for everyone, you'll get like me, repeat customers! What's funny is, I have a short roster of people that I regularly do adventures with. Roughly half of that list is the Defenders, and the others are all cats I made in pickup groups. Some of that list, (( who yet resist my attempts to make them join the Defenders)) I do things on a regular basis with, and that makes me happy. Of course, it don't hurt that I tend to be a likeable player, (( except to Valand, who's anti-fan club I intend to join tomorrow, they have punch and pie, and home videos of Val! )) and I try not to kill the entire party all the time.

Sometimes, you just can't get enough of your friends together, and then....if you really need to raid scholo for run 160 attempting again to prove the myth of the Beaststalkers' helm...well then, you have to sell.

Don't really think of it as selling yourself. Think of it as making your toon so valuable to the LFG channel that you get a dozen tells right off the bat! It could be as simple as typing "60 priest." or something as complex as " Druid. 60. Will heal or tank. Anywhere." Try not to be too wordy in your descriptions, though, or people will think you are emo, and not invite you. Also, NEVER call yourself a hunter. Call yourself a Marksman, Survivalist, or Beastmaster...not hunter. Type in hunter, and you will be alone as a fat kid at overeater's anyonymous on free leftovers day at the baker. Never use all caps. That's just emo, and emo players don't get groups, unless the group is emo too. Emo groups though, well, they never do anything, they just stand around Stormwind complaining about how they never do anything.

Just present yourself in a good light, and hope for the best really.

Next time, I will try and stay on the point, and talk about what to do when it all goes horribly, horribly wrong.

[Finney]

I tried a pickup group last night with Winfred. It had the potential in the beginning to go horribly wrong in the beginning, as I actually got severely brow-beaten by one of the members coincidentally named "Grissom".

I was in Tanaris as Winfred, and I saw that all five of our members were in Tanaris save for one, who was in Stormwind and hadn't picked up the Gadgetzan flight path. I said, in party chat, "Hmm... Well I think my brother's warlock is in Gadgetzan, I can switch to him to speed things up". Granted, I didn't say that I was going to summon, but thats what I meant. I figured the others would have gleaned that.

So I come back online as Luttli, and get a reinvite. I get back to this type of conversation:

Grissom: "WTF happened to that priest?!"

Druid: "He'll be back"

Grissom: "Then why the hell did u invite a 37 warlock?! How the f-word are we supposed to do this without a healer!"

Luttli: "Dude, I'm the priest. I'll switch back after I summon the warrior"

Grissom has left the group.




After that though, everything went relatively smoothly. The only complaint is that the leader was one of those "low ball" compliance types, saying that she wanted to do Ghaz'rilla and the boss with all the basilisks, to check for that rare sword that Eme was lucky enough to get. It wasn't too long before the extra requests started pouring in from the leader, commending us for doing so well and that we should keep moving because she actually does need something else.

Despite the fact that it took over 3 hours to get through the whole thing, it was still a pretty good group. I just don't like it when people keep asking you to stay up and stay up, especially when they just say at the end of it all, "OMG I didn't realize how late it was O.o I need to go to bed ><"

[Emizael]

That brings us to what you need to do when the pickup group goes horribly wrong.

All of us have been in groups that lasted about five minutes...but the unfortunate ones are the groups that actually make it inside the instance gates before the priest types in..." Uh, I'm not healing, I'm DPS! " ..or the tank, that says " I'm really not a tank...I just attack things at random."

Yes, sayings like these send shivers down your spine, and cause no end of heartache in general.

So, what does one do, when the pickup group goes horribly wrong? Well, I will tell you.

Step one...is salvage. If the group can be fixed by booting one player..then sadly, boot him. No explanation is needed, really. If a cat is so darn annoying that he threatens to ruin the experience for you, well, then..he's gotta go. Plus, you dun know him from nobody, so you can put him on the ignore list, and live happily with the notion that you will never hear from the toon again. This is kind of severe though, and generally should only be used in the event of and Emo person, somehow making it into a regular group.

Step two...is leave. If the group can't be salvaged, then get outta there! Usually, your best bet is to get outside the instance. Use your hearthstone, step outside, do whatever you have to do, but don't let yourself get turned into Dragon-chow while the rest of those butt-heads are arguing about whose fault it is you wiped nine times on the first pull.

Step three...relax. Unless you really got whacked hard-core, usually the only thing you have weighing you down is some lost time, and a repair bill. Stuff can be fixed, and of course, all your time is being wasted anyway on playing a video game, so you shouldn't worry about that kind of thing! Unless you're Emo and obsessive, and then...how did you get here anyways? Just relax, take a deep breath, smoke a smoke, drink something non-caffienated, and then...

Step four... Try again! Yes, I said try again. You are liable to go through three or four parties before you accomplish all of your objectives in the lower and mid-range instances...more, if you are doing the 60 and up joints. The sad thing is...most of the end-game stuff really requires a buttload of people with regular and intensive scheduling, so it's somewhat rare to see a pickup group for something like ..say, molten core...but, it does happen. The thing is...after you have unwound a bit, you can go back, find another pickup group, and oftentimes, pick right back up where you left off, with some wierd European Guy screaming at you because you stood in the wrong spot, even after he told you to stand there.

Now, those are just generalizations. You can expand on them, as your will and experience dictates, but, I generally just take it easy, and try to have fun. Which is really the point. If you aren't having fun, then..something is terribly wrong! This is a game, not a way of life, and..sometimes, we need to be reminded of this.

I will now open this forum to more postings of funny and interesting stories about pickup groups and experiences therein! Please feel free to tell everyone here about the things you have done, and enjoyed, liked or hated, about the whole pickup group experience. If we get enough good tales, heck, I might even give out a prize to the best one! Now, don't be shy people! We will never learn anything..if you don't share.

** note**

Please also feel free to add opinions and helpful advice on the pickup group topic, or bring pie to the meetings.
Thanks,

Hungry Emi with no pie.

[Val]

That was wonderful Emi, but now for the REAL guide on what to do if a pickup group goes horribly wrong.

Step one - Find a wooden (aluminum is alotted) baseball bat, once it is procured move on to step two.

Step two - Stand at least 2 paces away from your monitor, but enough that it is within swinging range.

Step three - Use said implement of destruction to destroy also said computer monitor. Usually 4 to 5 hard blows is enough to finish her off.

Step four - Give 4 hail marys and head to your nearest department store that stocks computer monitor.

If you follow these steps you will no longer be forced to struggle through a really bad Pickup group. You are more than allowed to go about finding new, exciting groups. But it is not recommended as the Good PuG to Bad PuG ratio is around 1:30 give or take. And as your costs increase as your are nearly always forced to destroy a monitor, you'll soon find that it is NOT better to group than to never have grouped at all.

Thank you.

Valand P.H.D.

[Arlon]

Well other then a deterent... what did the monitor do to you? lol

Everyone always smacks the monitor when something doesn't go right or they start pounding on the keyboard.. It just makes me laugh.

[Finney]

My favorite is when, in movies (usually older ones), someone erases some super-secret incriminating documents by shotgunning the computer monitor. I mean, if the data is displayed on the monitor, then it MUST mean the data is inside the monitor!

[Annalira Delshannon]

There is also one more strategy for dealing with a bad PUG (and I've had lots of them. other than that Uldaman run, Anna has done all the major instances up to Maraudon entirely in PUGs).

And that is the strange occurance of the simultaneous depression of one's Alt and F4 keys when the PUG is so irreversably bad that you think you'll get chased around by the morons if you tell them "no dice" and hearth.

Also works well if you stand still for about 10 seconds before hand. They'll think you lagged.

Perhaps a bit cowardly, but it gets rid of the problem (for the record, I've had to do this twice in a total of WAY too many bad PUGs to count)

[Emizael]

Yes, but what do you do, when, to your horror, one of the most terrible PuG's you have ever been in, asks you to join them again?!

These and other terrible questions, (( like, how much peanut butter is on my sandwich?!)) can haunt the gamer. Terrible groups are a dime a dozen! It's hard to find a good group, and all too often we find ourselves in situations where it might actually be preferable to shoot the monitor then actually play the game...

So, what do you do, when you have impressed those terrible other guys so darn much, that they start sending you /whispers at all odd times?

Firstly, it must be said, that of the quality and calibre of players here in the Defenders, allmost never have I heard of anyone being openly mean, or malicious, (( except where the story warrented such ills! )). And, of course, several of the players herein, are quite well-mannered! Even Valand at times suprises us all with his general decency and his ability to be liked, for however short that time is. So, naturally, we have all developed polite ways of telling someone to stuff it!

For example, some, like Celera, might say, " Sorry, I have to do something right now, but maybe I can help you with that later! " She may even be willing to help, of course, I cannot verify that at the moment, because I am not a mind reader. Fechak, on the other hand, might say something to the effect of .." @#@$((*&! No, you , @(*&$(*#&((**!!!!" and then, do something mean, like, stab you. I generally take Fech's approach, and tell players that I don't like very much, something witty and verbose..." Uhhh..no. " usually does the trick.

Sometimes, however, we become demogouges to younger, or less experienced players. One cannot explain how this happens. Sometimes the fatuation happens simply because of the skill, or the sheer value of items that the subject posesses. Think, how many times have you been in Ironforge, and someone has sent you a whisper begging to know where you got that particular sword, or that nifty cool hat from? Happens all the time. Then, they start stalking you..following you from town to town, sitting next to you on the tram, and trying to strike up conversations with you about what your next project is going to be, and if they can have some money. Somehow we turn into cult like figures of adoration to these hapless meeps, and there seems to be nothing we can do to shake them off!

So, what do ya do? In the case of pickup groups, the situation I personally experienced was something of a novelty. I like Zul'Farrak. I like the instance alot. I go there tons, with a variety of characters, just to go do that battle on top of the ziggurat. I don't need the loot, although coins are my best friends... But, I love that instance. So, there I am leading a group of relatively unexperienced players into the maw of madness. Rogue Emi was on fire this night, it seemed that his procs were hitting every few seconds, I was critting like mad...I felt like a ...a...well, like a Flintheart/Finney playing his AoE obsessed mage with two priests in his party. (( yes, it was that good. )) All of a sudden, things start to go bad. We pull a patrol of 2 trolls and a basilisk, and suddenly, the healing stops. Totally dead. The mage gets turned into lizard food, the palading is ripped open like cheap wrapping paper at christmahanzakwanika, and I barely get my vanish off before I too, end up reamed. Just at this time, our faithful hunter decides to send her tremendously large owl out to aggro a trio of casters near that fancy troll fountain, the one right before Gahzrilla. Next thing I know, every one is complaining about the deaths, and the priest says.." Hey, sorry guys, (( insert lame excuse here.)) The palading, the party leader, promptly boots said priest, and says..." No problem, I am a better healer then that holy specced priest anyways. " Now, on this last bit, I am sure he was joking, considering this cat cast NOTHING the entire instance so far, not even a dang nabit seal!! So, I axe him, " Hey, are you actually using that mana you have for anything?" He replies, " Well, I don't really like to cast, I am a tank! " I nearly gave myself a concussion at this point, from slamming my head into the desktop, but, I digress.

Moments after this exchange, the booted priest comes back to the party. He apologizes for his mistake of negligence, and the palaDING pretty much chastises him for the better part of twenty minutes. The party goes on. The mage decides to shake things up at this point, by declaring in all caps format..."LEEEROY!" and..aggroing half the instance including some fancy named mobs, to come and stomp our heads in. (( Bonus points if you can guess who survived this encounter. The answer is ..nobody.)) So, now the palaDING is berating the mage. For some reason, we continue. We started to get a bit silly at this point, and somehow got to gahzrilla, who promptly ate the hunter, his pet, and the priest. Which is sad, because in all the many times I have fought Gahz, he never really gets to kill anyone. (( Did I mention that the paladin still hadn't figured out what all those pretty buttons were for? No aura even, after the second wipe. ))

But, again, I digress, what with the memories of this most unhappy occaision causing me to want to strangle someone. What happened next cause me to sputter obscenities until I was sure that I had either spontaneously developed Tourette's Syndrome, or saw Valand in a dress again.

We picked up the peices, and the pace abit, and managed to complete a few more objectives and it was time to go home. There was the usual round of " Good Job gusy! KK thnxbais, and I hearthed out. Then, I start getting sent whispers. All of em. ALL FOUR OF THEM SCALY, SCURLY BASTICHES, wanting to converse on how we did so awesome, and we are so cool, and we should do this again, and what am I doing next, and where did I get my swords from...gah. And, they keep talking to me. Lots. Everytime I sign on Emi Rogue, they send me whispers. They won't stop...Gods above please make them stop.

So, we're going back to Zul'Farrak on Thursday. I hope they don't make it, so I can just go in and get myself killed, and save myself some typing.

I pose to you now, the opening question of this article, What do * YOU* do, when something like this occurs?

[Fechak]

I leave the group after roughly .0000000001 nanoseconds of bad play. Their second chance was that .0000000001 nanosecond.

[Finney]

*sighs* Yeah... that Flintheart bit was fun... so many murlocs making a loud popping sound. I can't wait to have him AoE the Zig in Zul Farrak.

If a bad group asks me for a round two (which never happened with Finney, but ALWAYS happens with Winfred ) I usually respond with sarcasm that might... might, be misinterpreted as seriousness.

If they say, "We need a healer for ZF lol, can u come?"

I say, "Gee whiz! That would be super fantastic, you know how much I like working with you guys! But I just can't! I have to go eat dinner! Super unlucky I know >.<! T.T! ....... €.€?"

Not to say that everytime I appear enthusiastic, that it means I'm being sarcastic...

[Annalira Delshannon]

surprisingly, Anna has this happen very rarely. An, on the other hand, runs into this on occasion. Her recent stints into raiding have made her some "friends" with people that the raids pick up that turn out to be total noobs, but then invite her to go with them to somewhere. Usually UBRS.

I usually respond with something about being busy. Or something about how I'm totally inept at kiting Drakk (i'm not, but I tend to be unlucky in my feign death attempts, which can make for some interesting kiting...).

Annoying nooblets that continue to bug me though? I've yet to have that problem. *knock on wood*

Pala-dingbats I've experienced though. Also, ironically, in ZF. Also in SM, but the most memorable was in ZF. He touted how amazing of a tank he was (level 43?) and that he could be our offtank. We said sure. I asked for blessing of wisdom. Never got it. Anna is a priest - BoW is good stuff. Asked again. Got told that he was a tank not a buffbot. I let it go.

He proceeded to not heal anything (including himself) the entire run. Causing several wipes with priest at full mana, since Anna can't compete against 8 basilisks. Never tried to pull them off either. Maybe it's ZF?