Ugly PUG, part 2

Everyone has horror stories, I'm sure. My latest was in LOTRO last week. By the way, I was on vacation last week, but still able to play games. That's why I didn't post much though. Battling snow and relatives meant less attention to gaming and posting. And when there's a conflict, gaming wins over posting.

Anyway, I was in Angmar, just north of Aughaire. (I love that name, sounds like something from a hirsute Neanderthal.) Anyway, I get a ninja invitation. But what the heck, it's Christmas. I'll give it a try. The inviter did not communicate much, but led us around. He was a lore-master, like me. For those of you not up on LOTRO, that means we both are cloth wearing weenies. I got ambushed by an orange signature named -- the equivalent of an orange non-heroic named. I died quickly, but my partner managed to beat it, mostly by kiting it, using a slow to very good effect. I was impressed. Maybe this guy knows what he's doing.

Then, bizarrely, he posted into group chat what appeared to be a cut and paste description of the quest he wanted to do. I don't mind doing stuff I don't have as long as I get experience. So we train to the spot he wants on horseback. That worries me a bit, since we got dehorsed (the mount takes damage, not you, but if it takes enough, you drop off it). But we got there. Then we get a kind of bad pull and a couple adds. But we are both lore-masters, we have mez! And pets! This should be no problem, right?

Wrong.

He proceeded to try to kite all the monsters, I think there was some mezzing mixed in there, but the kiting attracted lots of adds. He said "run" in chat at just about the moment I died.

Those two chat tells were close to all the communication I had from him. I'm thinking maybe he wasn't much of an English speaker.

I revived and logged out, begging off on account of RL issues. It was mostly true, too.

So, this gives me cause to renew my policy of not accepting ninja group invitations. If they can't be bothered to communicate with me what they will be doing and where, then that's a very bad sign.

It's easy to see why people avoid PUGs like the plague. There are bad communicators, Leroy Jenkins', afk parasites, and people who like to engage in offensive chat and behavior, such as running around faking copulation with every character in the group. (Ha ha, you're cracking me up. Really. I mean that.)

I will, however, continue to do pickup groups. Some of my longest-lasting friends in gaming came from a pickup group. And I have had some good experiences lately too. I grouped with a couple of guys from Australia in LOTRO recently. We got in, out, did what we needed and didn't die, while having some nice conversation on voice chat.

So, I'm going to keep doing this, and you, my lucky readers, get to read all about the most special case.