Players that took their shields/buff powers, but don't use them

[Naraka]

5 hours ago, Gulbasaur said:

Not a bubbler, but a lot of other AoE buffs work the same way. I've given up trying to gather people, either fire them off in combat when we're together or just let people miss them. If people don't want buffs, that's their choice. 

 

I've noticed this is more prevalent in some archetypes than others, due to different playstyle preferences. Alas. 

I'm not really talking about "hug me" buffs, but rather the quick recharging, normally-doesn't-stack--from-same-caster-but-if-you-exit-an-instance-it-does kind of buffs.  How many people in the low/mid levels actively tries to get your team double-stacked shields?

 

2 hours ago, Force Redux said:

As someone who often plays bubblers, and other support types, I'm of the same mind. I announce "hug me for buffs" once at the mission start (I have a simple macro), and then I just buff the murder ball periodically. Seems to work. As you said, those who wander off either don't need them, or will quickly learn they do, and stick closer.

If you're playing a bubbler, you just cast the buff on whoever doesn't have it.  There's no reason to announce the buff since they recharge so fast, don't cost that much endurance and anyone who already has it just gets a refreshed duration.

[Darkir]

On my fire/kin I try to keep sb and id up, but I'm also taking alpha strikes, keeping everyone fulcrum shifted, and nuking. It can be difficult to reliably keep those buffs up when I'm often surrounded by mobs. I could take a more backseat approach to the team and focus on supporting them, but that would come at the cost of overall kill speed.

[Greycat]

14 hours ago, Ukase said:

I have a cold/ice defender; I recall clearly being told to leave the trial and visit the tailor and select minimal fx because I was obscuring their costume. I told them I would never visit a tailor to do such a thing. I loathe seeing the tailor; not sure why. Just seems like a waste of time.

I'd be telling them to do something else all together. That's exceptionally rude. They can right click and cancel the buff.

 

8 hours ago, Heraclea said:

f.  If a character has an AoE buff, I typically fire it if it is up when several players are gathered, rather than announce its availability.

This is pretty much how I run mine. I combat buff, especially on things like Empathy. Most of the group is together fighting something? Get in the middle, fire off auras, go back to doing my thing. I did that even before IO-powered steamrolling was a thing.

[Riverdusk]

18 hours ago, Strawberry said:

 I checked his info and he definitely took both of them, but only kept his large toggle shield (Sonic Dispersion) and the toggle -res (Disruption Field) active.

I find that a little funny as if anything I tend to forget to keep the -res disruption field toggle going, but I definitely try as it is such a good power.  Mostly is an issue on maps with any kind of elevators because annoyingly the toggle turns off almost every time when the team has to use one.  It triggers the "target is too far away so toggle is turned off" thing that disruption field has unless you hit the elevator at almost exactly the same moment. 

 

I'm constantly casting the shields, but I'm also a MM.  MM's probably actually make the most consistent buffers because we want to keep our pets alive.  We just happen to hit the rest of the team in the process. 😄

Edited June 6, 2020 by Riverdusk

[LiquidBandage]

10 hours ago, Strawberry said:

In the instance that happened most recently concerning the lvl 45 Sonic Defender, our team was actually struggling. We had a few deaths multiple times and even suffered a complete team wipe in the last mission before I called it quits and took a break after we finished. The shields would 100% have been a welcome addition in this case.

I didn't say anything about the lack of shields because I don't like to call out players and agree there are different skill levels or different ways people play, but that still doesn't lessen my confusion.

I'm admittedly somewhat surprised to come back to this thread and see so many people trying to come up with ways to defend players who don't use their buffs/shields, but I'm sorry, I can't figure out any kind of defense, for a Defender specifically, to not be using their primary that revolves around team shields in a team that is having trouble and dying in their missions. Ymmv

In the OP you were musing about the problem in general. Now you are talking about specifics then complaining that people aren't taking your side. Now that you have provided more detail, it looks like the problem is that you didn't say anything to correct the issue after identifying a possible solution. Another solution could be to lower the difficulty (scale back down from whatever the setting, +4x8 or whatever). Another solution would be to swap to an alt that could fill the gap that was causing the failures. 

 

You seem to want others to play the game the way you want it to be played. Maybe you can act as an example and make the change (speak up with a solution), or you can just suffer in silence. Maybe the player with the buffs/shields doesn't understand the how or why of the team's failures. If no one steps up into a mentor role, they will not learn how to assess the situation. Those players have probably been cruising on +4x8 teams that blaze through everything and they "learned" that their buffs were superfluous. 

[Strawberry]

6 hours ago, LiquidBandage said:

In the OP you were musing about the problem in general. Now you are talking about specifics then complaining that people aren't taking your side. Now that you have provided more detail, it looks like the problem is that you didn't say anything to correct the issue after identifying a possible solution. Another solution could be to lower the difficulty (scale back down from whatever the setting, +4x8 or whatever). Another solution would be to swap to an alt that could fill the gap that was causing the failures. 

 

You seem to want others to play the game the way you want it to be played. Maybe you can act as an example and make the change (speak up with a solution), or you can just suffer in silence. Maybe the player with the buffs/shields doesn't understand the how or why of the team's failures. If no one steps up into a mentor role, they will not learn how to assess the situation. Those players have probably been cruising on +4x8 teams that blaze through everything and they "learned" that their buffs were superfluous. 

You're right that I was musing in general to begin with, but if you look back you'll see that most of the responses I received were theoreticals and what/if responses that also seemed to take on assumptions about my experiences, so I provided more detail about my most recent experience.

 

I was not team leader. I had no control over the difficulty setting.

 

No, I'm not going to swap to an alt to fill a gap that could be made easier if a player just used their abilities from the primary powerset that they took. That's absurd.

Edited June 7, 2020 by Strawberry

[Naraka]

7 hours ago, LiquidBandage said:

...or you can just suffer in silence. 

I'd hardly call anything in this game "suffering".  As mentioned by others, it's not that tough of a game and even when death happens, everyone is literally equipped to rez everyone else.

 

All in all, though, I go by the mantra of "go with the flow".  It's easier than strictly regulating things and it leaves open space for others to use tactics to get around sticky situations.  Going with the flow also incorporates other aspects like "kicking people because they're door sitting" or swapping to an alt when things aren't going just right.  The only time I'd vote to kick a door sitter is if they don't exit the mission when the mission is over.  The only way I'm swapping to an alt is if I'm bored of the character I'm playing.  It's not suffering because that is exactly what makes the game interesting: getting into situations that you have to try and adjust to. 

 

8 hours ago, LiquidBandage said:

Maybe the player with the buffs/shields doesn't understand the how or why of the team's failures. If no one steps up into a mentor role, they will not learn how to assess the situation. Those players have probably been cruising on +4x8 teams that blaze through everything and they "learned" that their buffs were superfluous. 

And that is their own failing.  If they don't understand how to play, they can put up the "Help Me!" flag or just ask.  Otherwise, they will just continue to get carried.  Likely, they will get bored with that character and try something more deliberate like a melee type.  I'm personally not going to force mentorship onto someone lol.  

[arcane]

Just wanted to jump in here and +1 any posts pointing out that some people take powers as IO set mules and don’t even keep said powers in their tray. Don’t pick on such people 🙂. This is ofc predominantly applicable to any power that can slot def/res/heal/endmod sets.

Edited June 7, 2020 by arcaneholocaust