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The Daily Grind: How long do you wait before kicking an AFK group mate?
Yesterday whilst playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, I queued for a pickup group flashpoint to try and nudge my Sniper past level 40. Being a DPS class, it literally took an hour to get a group to pop, and then one of my three teammates decided to go AFK shortly after we entered the instance. After about six minutes -- yes, I timed it -- the group leader initiated a vote kick, which passed and sent our AFK mate packing. Right before the system removed him from the group, though, we saw his 'hi guys, I'm finally back' text in the group chat. The moral of today's story is that there is no moral. There is a Daily Grind question, though, and it is this: How long do you wait before kicking an AFK group mate? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: Singing the PUG blues
Recently I've been having a hard time finding a decent pickup group in Age of Conan. I'm excited to run some of the Khitai 6-man instances as well as the old-world dungeons that I've yet to experience like The Iron Tower, Onyx Chambers, and Atzel's Fortress. That said, whether it's due to being under-geared and one of the thousands of DPS-types crowding the server, or the fact that the high-level game is very cliquish and/or guild-focused, I can't seem to make it work. If it's gear that's holding me back, then it's the classic chicken-or-egg dilemma (how can I get geared if I can't get a dungeon group?). If the answer is a guild, well I've got one, but I'm one of the very few high-level players; the rest are still slogging their way through the middle levels. Whatever the reason, PUGs (or actually the lack of them) are becoming something of an annoyance. What about you, Massively readers? Are you constantly on the outside looking in or can you get a group whenever you want? Does your game of choice feature a plethora of endgame PUGs or is it mostly premade guild groups?
Massively's Community Detective, Issue #5: Vanguard - Saga of Heroes
Much has been written around the MMO blogosphere regarding SOE's Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. From its troubled beginnings as a not-quite-ready-for-launch title, to fledgling Sigil Games Online's financial difficulties, to lead designer Brad McQuaid's well-publicized struggles with management and personal issues, the spiritual successor to EverQuest has always had a bit of a dark cloud hovering over its head. Happily, a fun game remains despite all the problems, and the title's snake-bit tendencies don't seem to have affected either its community or its customer service. Fly past the cut (on your rented pegasus) for more.
Drama Mamas: Spoilsport speed demons
Dodge the drama and become that player everyone wants in their group with the Drama Mamas. Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. We're taking your questions at DramaMamas (at) WoW (dot) com. What happens when the Dungeon Finder matches up a group of players with the right mix of roles but the wrong mix of goals? Who "wins" when veteran players want to speed-run a lower-level instance, while the new players want to savor every surprise and puzzle over every trick? Lisa and Robin are on different sides of the fence this week. No matter which philosophy rings true for you, it's something worth agreeing on with the rest of the group at the beginning of the run. Dear Drama Mamas: Having played a mage for the last 18 months, I decided to level my first alt, a priest. I ran into unexpected drama problems running my priest in the entry level instances using the random Dungeon Finder. You've offered excellent commentary on issues arising in endgame instances. I am soliciting your insight on conflict unique to the low-end random instances. In contrast to endgame instances, where gear issues arise, random entry-level instances are mixing highly experienced players with people who are new to World of Warcraft. The principal conflict that arises is the first group wants to get geared and leveled as quickly as possible. The new players are there to experience what the instance offers. The first wants to run the instance quickly, the second need time. Regards, Anonymous
WoW Rookie: PUGging without the bad apples
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic, and be sure to visit WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide for links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's.PUGs (PickUp Groups), which are groups of players that come together on the fly to run instance groups or raids, are a fact of life for most WoW players. Especially in today's WoW, when instances fly by more quickly than ever before (a quick TotC before dinnertime, anyone?), PUGs help you accomplish your quest, gear and achievement goals when you can't run them with a regular group or guild. And now that most players are concentrated in endgame content, PUGs are likely to be the only way you'll get a shot at running earlier instances as intended, with a group of the appropriate level.Sounds like a winner ... So why do PUGs get such a bad rap? Mostly, it's the bad apple theory – but as Donny Osmond warbled so winningly above, "one bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch, girl." In a Massively Multiplayer Online RPG like WoW, you shouldn't be afraid to get involved with other players. Let's see how you can dig into PUGs without biting into (or being) the worm.
Zarkmark tries to help you rate PuG players
There have been a number of sites lately, especially with the recent rise in endgame pickup groups, designed to help you find and examine potential PuGgers quickly. But none of them have made it quite as easy as Zarkmark, a site that allows you to quickly rate anybody you come across ingame by "zarking" (rating them up) or "marking" (rating them down) them. Then, they offer a quick search, which will not only give you a one-click link to the Armory, but an easy-to-read screen of how many people have rated the player you're looking at. Theoretically, ninjas will never find a group again.Of course, theory is theory, and right now, the Zarkmark directory is pretty empty, so odds are that for any given player you look up, you won't really get much feedback. But you never know -- if players jump in and populate the site (and it wouldn't help to have a little help from them -- instead of just an Armory link, it would be nice to see a player's gear and achievements right there on the page), we might eventually get a pretty accurate picture of what someone's reputation looks like.In fact, I'm a little surprised that Blizzard hasn't ever considered a reputation system in-game. Xbox Live carries one off pretty well -- even though I've never actually used it to consider who I do and don't play against, I have rated players and I know it's very easy to see scores if I wanted to. Given the rising numbers of VoA ninjas and PuGing in general, it might be worth it for them to give each player a socially-created rating in the LFG interface.
Ask WoW Insider: How to PuG Heroics
I've just rejoined an endgame guild (my Hunter just recently hit 70), and while I used to run Heroics pretty often on my Shaman with my old guild, my new guild is much smaller -- while I like them a lot, they aren't as much into running instances as I am, so endgame instance runs are few and far between with them.So I'm left to PuG Heroics on my own, and I'm having the same problem deviate_delight is: getting into PuG Heroic groups isn't proving to be easy. I'm a good player, and my gear is pretty good (OK, to be truthful, it's probably a little low, and I just need to keep running non-Heroic stuff a little more until I get luckier with loot drops), but for some reason, I'm having a tough time making my way into Heroic groups.So let's put the question out to you readers: any advice for players like me and d_d on how to start Heroic dungeons without guildies to run with? Anyone have a strategy for getting a good, regular Heroic group together, or how to make it so that Heroic runners seek you out when they need a DPS (or tank or healer or whatever you are)? Heroics are great places, full of good loot and badges and all kinds of things that can help immensely with the endgame, but with the wrong people, they can really ruin your day. How can we get a group that works?Previously on Ask WoW Insider...
