The Vent Tent - Poor PuGs and Other Terrible Tales

[Steel Wolf]

Last night was a WoD run with mah man Z-kitty because he asked and I offered. Super-clean ride all the way--even the idiotic "All DPS in the belly" strategy worked out well, though it didn't seem to improve kill speed but whatever...

 

Then we get to the Cloud.

 

Hoo man, the meteors during the last phase just were giving us HELL. I dunno man, something about that step just tries people. Actually, in general, the attitudes of folks I've had the displeasure of riding alongside in CT runs has been more and more vitriolic.

 

Next person who refers to a fun series of fights in a videogame as "a job" gets blacklisted. Throttle back if this is becoming work for you. Or better yet, log the hell off and walk away. No videogame is a job. Ever. And the rewards will be waiting for you.

 

Dumbass.

[Kellach Woods]

Meteor phase screws groups often because it's a phase that requires communication. I know personally that the meteors are coming at one point below 50% - I don't know exactly when, in what pattern and who's gonna actually cover them.

 

And the Dark Cloud/Storm meteor phase is the worst one because then either people ignore the meteors because they didn't see them (...guilty as charged) or they rush the meteors ignoring the clouds, wiping on the raid-wide damage.

 

WoD's fun, but that fight? I could do without (I could do without any fight I can't punch a boss in the ass personally).

[Miryn]

I just dislike the CoD fight because of all the running around I have to do as DRG. At least the music is boss. It soothes me even through multiple wipes.

 

There was a time when I got into Sunken Temple HM on PLD, asked "How much do you want me to pull?" and got "just f*cking go" in response. I'm damned if I don't ask and damned if I do ask. What am I supposed to do ; ; I am pretty thankful both dps were my FCmates, they kept my temper in check.

[Caspar]

if you're gonna fucking screw around when you have RL relationships that don't like you screwing around online or in a game (and it's not RP), don't fucking take it out on your free company and over 80 other fucking people when your wife finds out and you decide that 80 other fucking people are going to lose out on a Rank 8 FC with a medium plot and over 1 million fc points

Whaaat? You gotta be kidding me. That's crazy. o_o Is that what happened to you? I would be very upset if I lost my house and private room. I'm sorry to hear it.

[Warren Castille]

FoM saw me counting my PVP Roulette time last night. Ended up logging when I hit the 70 minute mark.

 

With all languages enabled.

 

WITH JOIN IN PROGRESS CHECKED.

 

SE needs to fix their god damned metrics for this stuff: I've sat in PVP queues for 30 minutes before to get a 7 minute elapsed fight pop up. It wasn't even someone dropping, I joined a 5 person team in 8v8v8 secure (that we ended up winning).

 

Please, please please abolish GC-based groupings. It's killing the game. I shouldn't have to wait more than an hour in queue to do an event that takes maybe 10 minutes.

[Gegenji]

Please, please please abolish FC-based groupings. It's killing the game. I shouldn't have to wait more than an hour in queue to do an event that takes maybe 10 minutes.

 

FC-based or GC-based?

 

Because if you're talking about a bunch of folks grouping up to PvP together, they'd just make a DF or LS or something else instead if they weren't allowed to be in an FC together. WoW had it all the time - a "static" group of PvPers that would roll on up and just demolish those folks just PuGin' it.

[Warren Castille]

Please, please please abolish FC-based groupings. It's killing the game. I shouldn't have to wait more than an hour in queue to do an event that takes maybe 10 minutes.

 

FC-based or GC-based?

 

Because if you're talking about a bunch of folks grouping up to PvP together, they'd just make a DF or LS or something else instead if they weren't allowed to be in an FC together. WoW had it all the time - a "static" group of PvPers that would roll on up and just demolish those folks just PuGin' it.

 

Whoops. In my defense, those letters ARE literally directly next to each other in a qwertyboard.

 

...that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

It's just frustrating to lose 1/3 of my night to waiting in an unending line.

[FreelanceWizard]

*tweets whistle, throws the flag*

 

Naming names in a post: removal of offending posts, 10 yard penalty, 5 points from Ravenclaw.

[Gegenji]

*tweets whistle, throws the flag*

 

Naming names in a post: removal of offending posts, 10 yard penalty, 5 points from Ravenclaw.

 

Ah jeez, broke my own rules, didn't I?

 

1.) First and foremost, do not name names. In fact, if you think posting your grievances will start a flame war with someone else on the forum, don't do it. Or, if some otherworldly force compels you to post it anyway, make it as vague as possible. Say "the healer" did this or "the tank" did that, or that "the DPS" screwed up royally.

 

2.) Don't poke the bearbehemoth. Conversation over the events posted are fine, but if people start taking it personally or getting heated? Drop it and move on.

 

3.) This thread isn't for getting on your soapbox. Just venting. Talk about that one time the Ninja thought this was FFXI and tried to tank. Do not talk about how all Ninjas are dumb and SE made a mistake by implementing them.

 

:blush:

 

Back to generic ranting!

 

I continue to have... interesting runs in WoD and its two sister-instances that make up the weekly. We've already heavily covered tank fights and people standing in stuff and the like...

 

What about impatient folks? I had an ST run where one of the NIN apparently thought we weren't pulling soon enough for them so they'd run out and throw knives at the mobs and bosses. When it got brought up and I pointed out who was doing it (I was healer, so I could stand back and see who all the mobs where chasing in the initial chaos)... they called me "retarded for treating ST like T13."

 

They had the title for clearing Coil too, if I recognize my titles correctly. Apparently 2pro4ST. Still, you'd figure someone who had cleared Coil would understand that early pulls and the like just cause more problems than help.

[Warren Castille]

*tweets whistle, throws the flag*

 

Naming names in a post: removal of offending posts, 10 yard penalty, 5 points from Ravenclaw.

 

Objection, your Honor. Could a sterilized version of the post be submitted instead? The personal reasoning can go, but that IS a fairly reasonable thing to be warned about if an FC now has a reputation of screwing people out of their 300k for the room and mass-wiping everyone from the group. I know I'd appreciate it if someone gave me a head's up about that sort of reputation.

 

Shaming for "This drg is dum he died to aoe he suks" isn't the same as "This person intentionally booted people and effectively stole from them."

[Unnamed Mercenary]

*tweets whistle, throws the flag*

 

Naming names in a post: removal of offending posts, 10 yard penalty, 5 points from Ravenclaw.

 

Objection, your Honor. Could a sterilized version of the post be submitted instead? The personal reasoning can go, but that IS a fairly reasonable thing to be warned about if an FC now has a reputation of screwing people out of their 300k for the room and mass-wiping everyone from the group. I know I'd appreciate it if someone gave me a head's up about that sort of reputation.

 

Shaming for "This drg is dum he died to aoe he suks" isn't the same as "This person intentionally booted people and effectively stole from them."

 

I think the rule is "not as a public PSA". PMs and other methods of communication? Sure. 

 

RPc shouldn't be a place where anyone is publicly badmouthed. And I'd hope the people on the site would follow the same elsewhere.

[FreelanceWizard]

Objection, your Honor. Could a sterilized version of the post be submitted instead? The personal reasoning can go, but that IS a fairly reasonable thing to be warned about if an FC now has a reputation of screwing people out of their 300k for the room and mass-wiping everyone from the group. I know I'd appreciate it if someone gave me a head's up about that sort of reputation.

 

Shaming for "This drg is dum he died to aoe he suks" isn't the same as "This person intentionally booted people and effectively stole from them."

 

I know not everyone agrees, but our policy is that "name and shame" isn't permitted on the RPC -- even if the person or group really deserves it. The reason why is two-fold. One, it's generally not good for the community, I think, for people to go back and forth telling their sides of a story, trying to defend an accusation or actions taken, etc. Those threads pretty much always end up in nasty flame wars. Two, if I said, "well, only really justified namings are okay," people would be able to legitimately question what constitutes something being justified in that regard.

 

So, to prevent the ugliness that follows in their wake and the potential perception of bias (which I know I can't entirely eliminate), we don't allow any form of "call-outs" or "name and shames" in forum posts or on the wiki, regardless of the circumstances. PMs are fine, but public posts are not. This thread works because everything is sanitized and generic -- "some FC or some dolt" did it, rather than "FC X and their leader did it, or a DRG on Balmung by the name of Y did it."

 

#magicAdminHat

[Kage]

Yup I shouldn't have named the FC. But yep. Don't be a cheating asshole who lives on your wife's dime and go behind her back to do some serious cheating on Skype and in-game to have an eternal bond ceremony. Then have a toddler temper tantrum that causes 80+ members some serious grief (several of us lost several millions of gil Yay)

 

Because then they all join the other endgame raiding FCs or just plain large FCs and people talk. 80+ of them. And the large FCs talk too amongst each other because we have linkshells. And everyone knows how crappy a person you are along with your personal issues. Because people are bitter when you fuck them over.

[Steel Wolf]

Had two WoD runs last night that were enjoyable, smooth and genuine fun. Even when things were getting hairy everyone pulled together...though we nearly wiped at the Scylla trash step. But hey. Everyone stuck it out.

 

I'm just gonna whine here because I didn't get any Demon Fending stuff. Not a unique whine, but considering my stupendously good fortune up to this point, it still sucks. :c

 

Ah well..the streak had to end at some point or another.

[Warren Castille]

Speaking of streaks, my inability to play the game continues. After 75 minutes of waiting in the PVP roulette I just went and played Diablo all night. Did you know that when I push the button saying "I want to do Greater Rift" that is doesn't take me a fucking hour to start playing the game?! I know, it's insane!

[Kellach Woods]

I was about to say "wait how does it take you 75 minutes to play I barely scratch 5 minutes when logging in" but now realize you were talking about PvP which is an aspect of the game I never bothered with.

 

I did like... one match of Wolves Den, realized my chosen class could do jack and shit to a caster, then never touched it again, not wanting to deal with the whole gap closer debate.

[Warren Castille]

I'm reading corroborating reports on other forums about the queues being messed up. Like, exiting a match and reflagging results in an instant-queue nearly half of the time, but being in line when that match ends doesn't accomplish jack shit. Whatever sorting algorithm they've got to put people in is completely fucked right now.

 

And now, to make you all as stressed out as I am, I'm going to wager they'll be using this same sort of bug-fucked method to pair Chocobo Racing. Please look forward to it!

[Steel Wolf]

I hadn't queued up for any PvP yet, despite your great advice to do so for the Poetics Tomes...and I'm sorry to admit that I'm glad I haven't, considering your reports.

 

You don't think that perhaps queueing up together will somehow improve things? I mean, I'm an absolute noobiscuit to PvP things, but if you think it'll help your queue times, I'm more than up for it...

[Kellach Woods]

And now, to make you all as stressed out as I am, I'm going to wager they'll be using this same sort of bug-fucked method to pair Chocobo Racing. Please look forward to it!

 

I'd hope they would disable join in progress for Chocobo Racing.

 

Curiosity : what GC are you in?

[Warren Castille]

Curiosity : what GC are you in?

 

The correct one, the Immortal Flames.

[Kellach Woods]

Welp fuck I can't even help you get those queues to pop up since I'm also Immortal Flames until I get the chocobo chick.

 

Once I make the move to Serpents I'll try to queue up more often so I can get shieldspanked.

[Warren Castille]

Welp fuck I can't even help you get those queues to pop up since I'm also Immortal Flames until I get the chocobo chick.

 

Once I make the move to Serpents I'll try to queue up more often so I can get shieldspanked.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with opponents being flagged, though I can see why that doesn't make any sense at first.

 

People are guessing that it's the picking/sorting methods used by the queue itself. PVP's got fucked up priorities: It will always try to make 24v24v24. So if you wind up with 24 Flames, 24 Adders and 22 Maelstrom, we think that rather than splitting people into an 8v8v8, another 8v8v8, and then looking for one Mael to do a third 8v8v8, it holds EVERYBODY to fill that 24man.

 

If, say, then 5 more Adders flag and a party of 2 Maelstrom friends flag and 19 more Flames flag all at the same moment, the game will not move one solo guy from the initial 71/72 bracket and throw in that party of 2. It'll instead make a second 72 bracket with 19/5/2 and wait to fill those slots.

 

So now we have two games, both not full, and the game will not sort people into 8v8v8 unless it seems to have less than 8 people for each faction "in reserve."

 

tl;dr: Matchmaking is broken.

[Kellach Woods]

You know what's weird? In most games that have these kind of lobbies you'll have a hard time populating a full one unless there's a ton of people connecting because if like... 5 people connect at the same time you've got a good chance of seeing a 3 person lobby and a 2 people one.

 

So that they went with "must fill 24/24/24" is mind boggling to me.

[Warren Castille]

That's all just guessing. I can't even call it a "theory" because it's so hard to prove otherwise.

 

My only "evidence" is that the only times I've ever been in 8v8v8, I've always been grouped with less-than-8 to start and then had others join after the fight commenced. It's never been 8 from the door, it's always filled afterwards via JiP.

[Kellach Woods]

I've an inkling because I work in vidja game QA so it's something I've seen before (obviously can't say where when and how).

 

* * *

 

anyhoo, DPS queues are annoying amirite?