Can we rant about the idiots on public game servers?

Not to sound OCD or nuthin’, but cite?

Like I said, get on with a group. Don’t go recruiting people if you don’t want to pay the consequences.

Define it any way you want. I have my definition, you have yours.

In pickup games of football, people still define guidelines. There’s also still some understanding that because it is a pickup game, it’s casual. No one’s going to keep track of who runs or passes for the most yards or sacked the QB the most. It’s different with online games, specifically with tasks that have an objective, or require coordination to get past it. If someone’s goofing around, they detract from everyone’s ability to accomplish that objective. Which is the entire point of them being there, in that group, in that area.

You’re free to do this as long as everyone with you is on the same page. But like I said, you shouldn’t deliberately waste others’ time and effort if they’re trying to accomplish something. Either solo, or find like-minded people to goof off with.

Kind of a catch-22 though, isn’t it? Where are you going to acquire this group without getting out into open play for a chunk of time?

Just as important as **aruvgan **being a damage dealer is the fact that he has great instant cast ranged spells to pull with, making him a great puller because there’s no hassling with timing a fireball cast time to avoid the wandering mobs path. Warlocks are a class that is frequently assigned to pull, so he should be experienced.

Paladins have a VERY limited ranged ability, meaning they have to get right up to the mobs to pull them, which risks angering other nearby mobs.

Ok, hang on - with thanks to the fella that posted a translation, I’m still confused. I get pulling, tanking, etc… but “pet tanks?”

That’s one way to do it, but you’ve got the Internets. Hell, I can point you to two websites that I frequent if you want people to game with.

Meh… WoW is a different beast than when I was playing it.

I got in on the open beta and it was amazing. A pickup group would form and we’d hit those instanced dungeons and attack one all night long. We were the right levels, and everyone “knew” what they were doing, we just didn’t know all the quirks. So we died, a lot. No-one yelled at another player if he accidentally backed into a wandering mob. No-one yelled at someone if he made a mistake.

I played alliance for the first year. Dinged at 60, but even by than things were changing. The higher level instances were finally being “cracked” and guilds were exchanging the best way to do it. I re-rolled as horde looking for a fresh experience.

I didn’t get one. The game was old enough now that I was called a noob and an idiot for not knowing the proper way to efficiently run through instances. I can’t remember which one specifically, but there was a low level instance in the barrens where you have to make a jump that isn’t obvious. I fell in it. The group called me names and kicked me. Screw that. The last fun part of the game was another place to grind, and I promptly quit.

WoW players, ask yourselves if you have EVER played an instance that NO-ONE in your group has done before. I doubt you have. There probably was someone in your guild holding your hand, guiding you through it. How boring. Than you turn around and yell at some new player who isn’t “taking it seriously” because he didn’t read the latest guide on how to beat a dungeon in 20 minutes. How boring.

Stop ruining our pickup game.

I don’t even play World of Warcraft, but isn’t that a bit…you know…fucking presumptuous? It’s nobody’s pickup game. It’s a game. If it’s that big of a deal, play with your folks, and I’m sure the people that don’t want to die very often will have theirs.

Actually, there are both types of people … there are pick up gamers, and OCD pricks …

I am a casual gamer - though I have done my time in a hardcore raid guild where there was a mandatory raid schedule. That is how I got to be good at what I do … I no longer want to deal with that mentality, or such organization.

HOWEVER … because I am good at what I do, when I log in I get asked to group a lot. When I am taking a bunch of lower level people through a dungeon, I expect them to respect my experience. Wiping the party can potentially waste expensive potions, damage armor and equipment and this all costs in game resources.

There are definite strategies to accomplishing these campaigns, and if you just charge in you will wipe a party. try checking youtube for leeeroy jenkins. Be respectful and follow more experienced players directins and you will get that item to drop that you need/want. Act like a total prat and it costs me time and resources that I could be actually accomplishing something with. If all you want to do is act the pratt and die, then dont ask a more experienced player for help - we normally have stuff we could be doing for our own projects.

Warlocks can summon demons that are physically much tougher than the warlock himself, and use that demon to go hand-to-hand with monsters while the warlock stays back and drops spells on it.

She=)

Pulling is a very complex skill. The mobs [mobile objects] have a distinct area around them that if it intersects with a similar area around a player will cause the mob to ‘notice’ the player. There are items and spells to decrease this area of influence, but you need to know how much space is there to be worked with. Sort of like 2 city guards, one moves out of range of the other, you can get them alone, and make an easier kill of that poor mob. If he is close enough to the other guard, then you get both. You can have someone cast a spell to chain the guard in place, or turn it into a sheep, or even have a succubus ‘seduce’ him to keep him occupied while you kill the other … it is something that tends to take a lot of dying to learn, but you eventually get to where you can anylize a situation and determine the best way to get the fight started with the minimal risk to the group. THe people who take the time to learn the skill can make or break a run.

There are people who enjoy upsetting other players in online games by playing contrary to the way the game is “meant” to be played. They’re known as “griefers”, and love to get reactions like that of the OP. They’re the ones trying to kill people with a crowbar, or emptying clips into their teammates, or dragging mob trains back to you. Getting upset and yelling at them is exactly the reaction they’re trying to provoke. Don’t let it bother you, just leave and try to find another game/group. Better yet, find a group you enjoy playing with (like our SDMB steam group fer instance) and stick to that when you can.

I believe “pet tanks” refers to a situation where you are playing a pet class (a class that can summon minions that fight with you), and you let the pet suck up the majority of the damage. This is usually done by limiting your attacks so your summoned minion does more damage than you do, as most monsters will focus their attacks on whoever/whatever is hurting them the most.

Hence “I pull the right hand guy, pet tanks, I nuke he dies” would mean “I cause the monster to come after me, my pet keeps it occupied and off my back while I unleash a major attack and kill it”.

OK, tanks are people who can take a lot of damage, by benefit of wearing armor, having magic items and potions to allow more dammage to be avoided, or taken. I play a warlock, I wear cloth. I think my entire gear has the same amount of armor as the average tanks left boot. I avoid damage whenever I can because I like to live.

As a warlock, I can summon an array of demons, ranging from a cute little imp to a succubus, to a funny 4 legged magic eating beast, to a spiffy demon that is a warrior class, a tank. I make the pet demon wade in and fight the mob, keeping it away from me and allowing me to cast magic that will do a lot of damage to the mob we are fighting.

Another class gets a pet also, hunters. They have better armor than I do, but they still are more distance oriented fighters, using guns, bows or crossbows. Enchanters get an elemental pet, and again they are a distance spell casting fighter.

Learning to work with a computer generated assistant is interesting, and it can be a blast being in a group with several pet classes because they can be a great help in fighting.

With the OP’s Left 4 Dead example, the pick-up game analogy would be more like someone dropping the football and proceeding to play soccer. Or intentionally throwing the football at people’s feet.

Even in a pick-up game, that guy’s a dick.

Hero’s argument boils down to the claim that 99% of video game players don’t like playing competitively. This is obviously false. Competition is often what makes a game fun for people. People like to keep score.

But the glory of online gaming is that one can almost always have it the way one wants. There are usually dozens and dozens of servers/clans/groups to choose from. Choose one where everyone goofs around, if that’s your thing. But don’t jump into a group trying to play competitively and complain when people get mad at you for not trying.

I don’t expect flawless play and perfect execution. I do, however, expect you to know what you’re doing. Good execution will follow knowing what you’re doing.

I think you’re right that WoW was different back when you were playing in the sense that people didn’t run instances or raids in order to accomplish anything, at least not to the extent it is done today. I don’t ever raid, but people seemed to do it to see if they could beat the end boss, to see if they could get certain drops. There were a couple quests in the instance, but once they were one, they were done.

Instances/raids these days have greater purpose. Maybe if you clear them all, you’ll get reputation points with a certain faction, and if you get so many points you’ll get the most awesome epic ever. Or if you kill the boss, you’ll get the Achievement and a fancy title or drake mount. Or if you do this repeatable quest every day for a week, you can work towad something else. Back a few patches ago, it was necessary to clear a series of heroic-level instances to advance to a higher level of end-game play. Consequently, people have started taking it all a lot more seriously and less tolerant of inexperience, ignorance, and incompetence.

Personally, end-game isn’t my thing, but I do like anything that raises the skill bar in this game.

There is a difference between briefing and making mistakes. I was in one of the guilds trying to figure out how to beat molten core for the first time. We weren’t the first to beat it , and as soon as someone else cracked it the mystery was over. We copied their technique and the grind began…

Haha. What if I don’t get my jollies from some meaningless loot?

I want to explore a dungeon, learn the tricks and traps. I want to fail, because when I succeed than I have accomplished something. It isn’t fun when there is someone barking orders at you, telling you how to do it the “right” way.

I’m responding to the OP, and certainly not the one being a “prat.” He intentionally crippled a game because some dude forgot to pick up a health pack. He sat back and pouted because the other players in the game weren’t taking it seriously and rolled with the new circumstances.

Oh right. You’re grinding for that loot. You read game manuals and online strategies so you can blow through dungeons in a way other people found to be the best. You get some shiny sword so you can do it again. Read another guide, have someone else show you the dungeon. You get another big sword than call the people trying to play the game for fun “noobs.” Enjoy your important projects.

Me? I’m gonna goof around. The OP can stress himself out playing a game with idiots. I’m gonna have fun with the idiots. We might not have the biggest ePeens, but thankfully our wives don’t mind.

Wow, are you and the OP ever talking about different things! Yelling at someone because they don’t already know every in-and-out of a dungeon, or haven’t mastered a class while still at a low level, is a dick move. The OP isn’t complaining about inexperience, he’s complaining about incompetence. Here’s an example I had in WoW just recently:

I’m playing a 66th level rogue, in a party of similarly high level characters. We’re in a high level dungeon. I think it was Mana Tombs - not sure, it was the first time I’d been there, and I only joined because I got a random invite and thought, “What the hell, why not?” Anyway, we get the group together, go into the dungeon, and get in our first fight. After we kill the bad guys, one guy says his sword’s broken, and does anyone have one he can borrow. Now, going into an instance without making sure your gear is repaired is annoying, but no one’s getting on the guy’s case for it, because we’ve all been there before. But asking if he can borrow a sword? At 65th level? Who’s going to have a spare sword they can just hand out at that level?*

So, the guy’s playing a Death Knight, which is mostly a melee class, so he’s not really that helpful without a weapon. He could run back to the camp just outside the dungeon. It’d take him maybe five minutes, and he’d be right back with us, hacking up baddies. We keep pulling the random mobs, expecting him to go and do this, but he doesn’t. He could at least have summoned a pet and had the pet do some melee while he cast buff/debuffs (or whatever the hell DKs do… I haven’t played one yet, and don’t really have a handle on what the class can and can’t do yet), but he doesn’t do that, either. He’s just… standing around. We know he’s at his computer, because he’s started asking people to quit the group (specifically formed so we can tackle this dungeon) so they can go and do a different dungeon with him. If he didn’t want to do the dungeon we were in, why did he join the group in the first place? Finally, the jackass just leaves, presumably to solo the higher-level dungeon with a broken sword and no pet. We find a replacement player, and clear the dungeon out in about ninety minutes.

At one point, one of the other players who hadn’t done the dungeon before, triggers an escort quest before everyone in the group has qualified for it, thereby preventing half the group from being able to do the quest. He apologizes for screwing up, nobody makes a big deal about it, and those of us who did get the quest drop it, so the other half of the party doesn’t have to follow us around until we can finish it.

What this thread is about is people like the first guy in my party, who was an idiot who had no idea what he was doing. Complaining about the second guy in my party, who just made a one time mistake, is an entirely different kettle of fish.

*For those following along at home: at that level, any items a player is carrying around is going to be a magic item, and probably a pretty valuable one, at that. The way magic items work in WoW is that, once you equip an item, it’s “bound” to you, and you can’t give it to another player. The only way anyone would have a spare sword is if they’re found one as treasure, and are intending to sell it later. You couldn’t “lend” this sword, though, because as soon as the player you lent it to equipped it, it would be bound to him, and he couldn’t give it back.

I just don’t see how you’re supposed to get any good at all that multiplayer stuff - you have to learn somewhere, and evidently if you fuck up people get mad at you. I’ve never played WOW, but my understanding is that the failures you’re talking about are skills you need to learn to play with others - how are you supposed to learn if everybody expects you to know what you’re doing right off the bat? I got the Orange Box for Portal, to be honest, but I’m sure I’ll never get to play Team Fortress because I don’t know how and I don’t need some 13 year old with a hell of a lot more free time on his hands than I do telling me what a dumb bitch I am.

He might have been trying to get the “Beat a level using only pistols” and “Beat a level without being healed” achievements. Still, if he was going for those, he should have said something up front.