Group Greatness - PUG Victories and Other Battle Stories

[Steel Wolf]

So, we have the Vent Tent, which I think is super-healthy to have a place to get stuff off your chest. But in the spirit of the Free Hugs thread, I'd like to suggest a space where people share the awesome stuff that happens in groups. Whether they be PUG's that surprised you with their efficacy or delight, or a challenge that your pre-formed surmounted, share your greatest group stories.

 

I'll start. :3

 

So it's day two of 3.2 patch release. Didn't really find any guides for it, so with a bit of trepidation I queued solo for Alex Midas NM floor 1.

 

The entire party I was with also where flying blind, so the whole thing was shaping up to be my personal nightmare of ragequits and other horribleness. What ended up happening was a learning group created itself. Time after time, we failed, but got closer to clearing. We talked it out, hashed strategies, figured out the mechanics.

 

We literally became a team.

 

Not only did we get the clear, but we all learned the fight, we became friends amongst each other and it all reminded me of why I love MMO's. It was easily one of the best grouping experiences I've had in this or any other game.

[GhostlyMaiden]

It was Copperbell Mines, i'm leveling my alt Kanako.

The healer wasn't that great and after asking him multiple times to stop using X move (pushed the enemies back), he went afk. So we kicked him. Fortunately, instead of everyone just leaving or being super salty about the entire thing, our SMN acted as out healer.

 

Not once did we have someone die and we made it to the end. Yeah it's Copperbell and it's not a big deal, but I still thought it was pretty great.

Pretty sure that cute lil lalafell got the commendations.

[ExAtomos]

Any time PUGs listen to advice and appreciate it. If they try, I comm them so hard... <3

 

My new FC assembled a group and cleared Midas 1 & 2 (normal). Considering we all went in blind and barely geared (plus they are new to me and I've had a lot of trouble coordinating stuff like this on my old server), I see this as a great achievement. We'll take on 3 & 4 soon.

[Klynzahr]

Several months ago, I landed copperbell on my roulette and noticed that the tank still had his little sproutling. Not only that but the poor guy was wearing mostly level 12 gear, with the helmet from Sastasha and right away it became clear that he couldn't hold aggro.

 

   He was trying his best and apologizing frequently, but he just didn't have the gear to pull off of a level 60 and two level 30s. Then without saying anything to eachother the DPS and I all stepped back and quietly stopped generating aggro. I could see the THM throwing juuuuust enough fireballs to keep his buff up, the SMN stuck his Egi on passive, and I just doodled around and healed the bare minimum (which is about one spell per pull).

 

   Even when we had to talk him through the goop fight, none of us lost our temper, or blasted ahead and tanked the thing for him. We sat back, typed out instructions, and watched while he learned that fight.

 

   At the end of the dungeon we pointed out where he could buy some cheap gear and got big thank-yous all around. It was pretty cool to know that we helped teach someone, who might one day help shorten our queue times.

[MBajihri]

Been working through Sephirot EX with PuG's to start, and made a few friends. Sticking together, we've been getting very close to clearing the fight and half the group are always randoms. \o/

[Gegenji]

My PUG victories likely go to my Day 1 groups for Sephirot and Alex 7 and 8. While I cleared everything that day, those three groups were the most enjoyable to be around and generally helped make the learning process fun. Though, Alex 8 had the added bonus of having AMAZING music that I haven't shut up about since. :lol:

[Nebbs]

I opened up the dungeons in PUG and all was fine. after that it has been with some others as I help the more nervous types get a clear and for Roulette I call out in LS for teams.

Not had any problems with them so far.

[Roen]

Sometimes my most enjoyable moments comes from PVP. To this day, my favorite win in WoW was me as a disc priest soloing two rogues. Now that I am in FFXIV, PVP highs don't happen very often, so when it does, I want to share!

 

I was in Seal Rock with Kas yesterday in an 8v8v8 (I like those as a healer, I am not so easily killed) and I happened to cap one node while the rest of the group went off to cap another node. A pug ninja came to join me guard the one I was at. Well soon Maelstrom group came down upon just the two of us, and all I got off was "incoming" on voice to Kas. My faerie and I were keeping the ninja alive as we were furiously trying to keep them from taking our node and also to stay alive, but soon they wised up and started to focus me, and JUST as I ran out of aether stacks and was down to 10% health or so, I got a "I got you" as Kas threw a cover on me. Then my whole group was there, we wiped the floor with Maeltrom bodies and went on to win the match. The pug lala ninja also did not die and was staying close to me for the rest of the match.

 

Good times.

[Valence]

I just appreciate a lot the very few players that actually use their support skills like MP and TP regen when it's needed or just between fights.

[Warren Castille]

I had a Steel Vigil HM the other day that featured the best machinist I've ever played anything with. During runs down the hallways between pulls, she'd deploy her drone down the hall and immediately Promote it. We'd run through the nourishing TP regain on the way to the next pull.

 

Semi-related, I adore any group that just goes in buzzsaws first and clears something in under twenty minutes.

[Aedan Marceaux]

Any group at all that is able to do the second boss of the Vault even remotely competently gets my vote here.

 

Namely: stacking the damned void ball things... or at the very least... keeping them to one half of the "arena" rather than all over the damned place.

 

Sadly, I've only had maybe three runs (with PUGs) that understand the concept behind that boss....

[MBajihri]

Just about every Expert roulette I do these days has been incredible. Additionally, some Ravana & Thordan Bird farm parties are also fun to take part in. Not sure if I have good luck or if the pool of knowledgeable players is rising by the day!

[AmeKusakari]

I really wish I could remember the person's name, but recently I started on an Astrologen.   I have never healed in this game before as I played a black mage until I was into heavensward content.

While pugging a roulette I was still trying to figure out ways to rotate through the group members for my card buffs and flip back to the tank quickly enough to heal mid fight (especially cause I sometimes lag so clicking with the mouse is delayed during some big fights when it's most important to be fast).  I was struggling, and one of the dps took me aside while we had a drink break for the tank and explained to me his entire rotation on his Astro, what worked best for him and his key binding set up.  It really helped, and he coached me through the rest of the instance via tells so I could focus on learning the heal and managing my keys without stressing out.

 

It was super appreciated because I was worried I'd be yelled at by the group for being a little slower/unsure of my skills.  Now I enjoy healing and I've yet to come across someone super rude.

[Kilieit]

That first boss of Qarn...

 

I've literally never had a smooth run of it, even in friend groups. So when I'm rouletting and it pops up, I always strap myself in for a bit of a ride. This particular group, I was in as SCH. We got through the first doom + wasps without incident. Unfortunately, the second instance of both popped at the same time - and through no fault of their own, both DPS were so busy removing their doom debuffs that they didn't notice the wasps until it was too late.

 

Wasp #1 takes out the tank, and #2 takes the monk. I take a deep breath. I do not have Swiftcast yet at the time of this story, but I know if I don't get the tank back up, we are going to wipe. So I quietly thank Hydaelyn for Selene, shove Adloq on the bard, pop Surecast given I half expect said bard to also bite the dust, and dig my heels in for the 8 seconds it takes to resurrect someone without it.

 

This is the bit that made me happy - the bard does not bite the dust. The bard waits for Adloq to drop off, then pops every defensive cooldown they have, all while kiting the boss away from me so I can complete my cast without being hit by that frontal AoE. Then, presumably knowing that a res takes like half my mana and I wasn't exactly on full to start with, they even find time to put their mana regen song on. I am in love with this bard.

 

It was my own failing that I didn't manage to get the monk back up too - I was so busy trying to keep the bard up while the tank regained aggro, keeping the tank alive with their weakness debuff, and doing the boss mechanics that I didn't get the opportunity for another 8-second cast before the boss was dead. I feel like if I had the practice I do now, back then, I might have been able to get the monk back up too.

 

But everyone was gracious about it, and the fact that everyone knew what to do when things went pearshaped (that the tank and bard both noticed I was going for a long-cast res, that everyone knew when and how to use their cooldowns) and the fact that we all understood what was needed from each other without having to say anything left me feeling the most secure I've felt in a dungeon outside a friend group in a long time.

 

(Just why is that first boss so fiendishly all-or-nothing compared to all the bosses at similar levels, anyway? Jeez.)

[Warren Castille]

There's a couple of ways to work on the Doom part of that fight. First, the boss is stunnable. A clever tank or a DPS with good reflexes can stop Mortal Ray if they're on top of things. Second, the cleanse tiles are just on timers; If he's prepping Mortal Ray just run to the next tile in the sequence and 99% of the time you'll either be cleansed instantly or after a second or five of waiting.

 

The biggest issue with that fight is that things can get hectic fast due to the mechanics involved. OH NO, MORTAL RAY IS DEATH. OH, ALSO BEES GIB TANKS WITH STING. OH GOD, THE CLEAVES. No part of those is particularly challenging on its own, but put it all together and it's orchestrated chaos.

[GhostlyMaiden]

This happened a while back but I remember when running through Ravana as a 53/54 AST and one of our healers falling off the edge halfway through.

 

I had to solo heal the rest of the fight and even though we likely had more deaths, everyone was patient and would often make sure they stayed close to me so it would be easier to heal (when they could. They obviously spread out during mechanics that required it).

 

I even had SMN helping me raise people. Although it was stressful and I was mashing buttons the entire time, it gave a boost of confidence knowing I could do that. The communication of the people in PT helped.

[Aaron]

Was in a Feast match yesterday and boy oh boy,

 

It used to be I'd be safe from getting mobbed if I didn't grab the offensive buff as a ninja, but I've killed frequent players so many times time they see I'm on the other party they tell everyone "keep killing the melee"

 

So typical standard is healer kite tank while the rest attack the other healer or ranged at once to kill em first.

 

/no/

 

Literally two seconds in THE ENTIRE ENEMY PARTY (even the healer) straight up mobbed me. Literally only attacked me. I dropped to like 10 hp several times.

 

Luckily I had a good ass team I love so much. The healer stopped and immediately marked me #1 so they could heal me rapidly, the WAR just stopped everything and started fell cleaving the shit out if the enemy healer and the machines just stunned everyone giving me time to breathe and we all just mobbed them back one by one and won.

 

Before we left I had the WAR say "Damn Aaron they holding grudges against you lol."

 

Advice is don't kill anyone in PvP, odds are you'll see them again and they'll hold a grudge.

[Kurt S.]

Never thought I'd actually see the day where I find a group patient enough to three man/no tank Amderp City Hard.

 

We managed to head to the last boss. Just the three of us. Methodical slow, small pulls. 

 

A giraffe ninja (me), A lizard summoner, and a knee high whm. 

 

Hell I was just about ready to derp out of that duty too but then though about the horrid queue times so I stayed. God it felt good to just dps tank swap everything after a titan egg dies. Like this was one of the times where I used everything in the NIN arsenal to scrape by. Even shit like hide just so we can have that vuln stack up on the lone dragon while the SMN rains down almighty dots death. 

 

I wish I could comm those two because our replacement tank was a little...off.

[S'imba]

Was in a Ravana ex got him down to one percent, entire party wipes leaving me standing alone. I was hell bent on going down in a blaze of glory. I drop grit and pop living dead. Then pop every cool down I got and throw myself at the damn predicon. I somehow managed to do just enough dps in that amount of time to hit the killing blow right as the timer for walking dead expired. Ravana dies and immediately afterwards I fell to the floor in some sort of cliché berserker movie plot.

[Dat Oni]

Decided to do a level 60 roulette today as PLD. Little did I know this would be the day of my triumph over the forces of evil (and lag).

 

We had a healer who d/c'd every single boss battle, not 1/4 of the way in. Most people would proceed to wipe because WAR is generally associated with manmoding its way through instances, not PLD.

 

But I am not most people. 

 

Each time it happened, through spamming Clemency and restoring my mp with carefully timed Sheltron use and Riot-Goring Blade combos, I kept myself topped off through the fight, for all three bosses of Saint Mocianne's Arboretum. We never kicked our d/cing healer, rather, I carried her lifeless corpse on my shoulders as I brought glory to my party.

 

I am the crusader of justice. 

 

I am the will of the Sultana.

 

I am...A LALADIN.

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AND I ONLY GOT ONE COMMEND FOR DOING THIS.

[Chidori]

I had a fair few of saving the day with a healer limit break (and bard when that was a raise).

 

The one I remember best was only a part PUG. Rog was with me as a tank and man...do I love him as a tank

 

We were doing Snowcloak and the healer just couldn't stay up. I was on BLM for whatever reason (class I rarely play.) Between him doing is awesome tank thing and what not and me healing we were able to clear it.

 

I tend to run with Rog and Flynt for most things so I don't get too many PUG stories

 

Oh! Not one of mine but amusing just the same. Back when I was on Gilga I was in this group called RoF. They were heavy end gamers. I was still a little new to that aspect, too scared to really try. Levi EX was the current thing people were farming. It was like 2am and one of the guys was making a group cause this other dude wanted to farm it. They talked me into going. The tank from our FC kept calling off and saying weird things because he was drunk. So this other tank - tanked both the head and tail. It was pretty awesome. I didn't fall off so I was happy about that

 

We tried again after that..and that tank switched class and one of our others from the FC tanked. Drunk tank fell off, our other tank couldn't handle both. Disbanded after that.

[Valence]

Recently I got into a Sephirot (standard) in a trial roulette... And you know how PUGs are for this one. It's a bit like titan, Sephirot is the big bad bogeyman that for some reason causes a lot of issues to a lot of players.

 

Well, everyone kept dying, and the other WhM was either having connection troubles or doing nothing.

 

Since I have rarely run that fight (I barely stumble on it usually), I'm not super aware of the mechanics and stuff, but whatever, it's not really hard. There is maybe one lethal thing to keep in mind and that's it. Well, we wiped 3 times at least, either through DPS not killing all the adds before the lethal mechanic triggering up, or just all the DPS dying for whatever reason...

 

I healed that alone, which isn't super hard actually. I probably have raised people more than 15-20 times (the other heal probably half of those raises). I think only one tank and myself were really paying attention and being actually decent at it. 

 

Anyway, we finished it after lots of blood and tears the 4th time and I got 6 comms. But what I actually like, and maybe you will find it funny, but as a heal, I like when stuff like that happens. I enjoyed it a lot.  A bit like the first week Midas was released, on A7 and A8 where I stopped counting the number of times I had to pop healer LB3 (only time in my life I had the occasion to do that...).

[Eses Fafa]

I was on a Sastasha group as a Dark Knight. The healer and I were pretty chummy despite having just met.

We had an Archer and a Lancer at our side, and being a Dragoon main, am going to judge fellow spear men for their betterment, to avoid letting them join the ranks of those who give our class a poor name. (Bee tee dubs, Black Mages are the floortanks. Not DRGs)

I tried to keep ahead of the group, as the tank would lead, but the Archer and the Lancer consistently charged ahead and attacked the mobs first. It was obviously no trouble to keep a hold, even if they did get the first hit. We were in Sastasha!

But, I felt this was a good enough point in time to teach a valuable lesson before they learn it later down the line. The healer and I knew what was up, and warned them not to pull first, but they did regardless.

 

We sat back.

 

We giggled and watched as Drowned murdered our two DPS before we merrily swept up.

These DPS didn't seem one for communication, but when we stood there and watched them, they didn't run ahead this time. They let the tank lead, and it was good times from then on!

[S'imba]

The night ravens had lady luck on our side last night...made it through the entire aquapolis.

[Tex]

I had two bouts of good luck today.

 

First, I did the worst guildhest this afternoon: the one where each of the enemies has to die roughly simultaneously. In the past, I've sat there as groups try it for 20, 30, 40 minutes. Just, on and on forever, no hope in sight. I got a PUG and they know what to do. We do it one shot, no enemies come back up.

 

Tonight, I ran the Svara FATE series. We don't have a big party; we manage to get the first two down, but then we all collectively realize we don't have a tank. I stare at it for a second, then I rush Svara... as a ninja. And I tank her, as ninja, dodging the breath and (after someone helpfully suggested it) drag her across the bridge, and the makeshift raid kills her while a heroic Scholar or Astrologian (honestly, not sure which) keeps me alive.

 

The best part: it's the first time I've ever tanked in FFXIV.