PI pugs can be fun if they are bad enough

[DougGraves]

I respec'd my dark/sonic defender and added a second build.  One is support with darkest night 3 slotted for ToHitDebuff and the other is for damage with Howl and tar patch.  I wanted to try them out and a PI team was advertising.

 

They took a council mission, of course.  It was the big outdoor map with the ramps going up a tower in the middle.

 

We went around the outside of the map and just blew through each spawn.  The council would just melt as we hit them.

 

Then we went into the inner area where there are council all around.  And we aggro'd the council all around.  Including above us.  And we had multiple controllers/dominators so the council would be immediately mobilized in place widely scattered.

 

I've never had to use howling twilight to rez people twice in the same fight.  That happened multiple times as we cleared the map.  The players would just run in random directions and aggro whatever they saw.  We would be fighting 4 or 5 spawns until enough players had been defeated they couldn't aggro any more.  Then we would slowly whittle down the council and rez the players.

 

It was pure chaos but fun once I abandoned my self to the idiocy (like watching Legends of Tomorrow).

[Snarky]

I got on to a Sharkhead SF last night that was a crapshow.  The first mission we were 27 fighting 32 Longbow to get Barracuda.  Then we were 27 going to Agincourt where the LB are 30+.  And only two of us could find Agincourt.  I left….

[Spaghetti Betty]

11 minutes ago, Snarky said:

I left….

[Spaghetti Betty]

On the rare occasion I do join a PI radio team, it's usually on a Tank. If I can manage to sneak away from the rest of the group, I'll start pulling mobs from the back towards the front. This makes things 10x more interesting for me. How long can I keep the team stalled at the entrance? It's like facerolling backwards.

 

Assrolling?

[lemming]

PI Radios are great for testing out tactics.

[ZemX]

PI Council Radios are farms for people who claim they don't farm, I think.

 

I even sometimes see people advertise "PI Council Radios, no Caves!".  Don't get me wrong.  I hate cave maps as much as the next person, but it's like squeezing the last possible variety out of tings without actually throwing your hands up and just door-sitting in a fire farm.

[DrunkFlux]

I actually made my arachnos widow with carrying bad pugs in mind.  There was one moment where the main tank(a brute) died and 2 other people went down.  Well, my widow has vengeance and also had rebirth, I fired vengeance off on the tanks body and then immedietly rebirthed, and the team went from being slaughtered to an unstoppable force.  In fact, my widow operates that way in general, bad teams become unstoppable with her.

I generally enjoy PI radios even on non-50s since its a lot funner than fire farms.  Fire farms your often forced into door sitting as everyone else does just that, door sit, except the fire farmer.  It's often impossible to make any kind of contribution at all in any form.  But PI's often let me get a feel for my attack chains/improvisations and how the character will feel once I hit 50, it's like running with a parachute strapped to my back, and hitting 50 the strings get detached and 50+1 the parachute is removed entirely.  Then it's extremely satisfying to see how my damage had doubled, my hit-rolls are succeeding way, way more and enemies drop like flies :D.  That never happens with a fire farm except on very, very few builds.

Granted, sub-50 teams fighting +4 is dangeorus without lots of leadership stacking.  And I actually find +3 to be more enjoyable at times since then it's just like fighting at 50 on a 54, it gives me a more accurate feel of how the character will perform later.

[biostem]

There are a few maps that seem to always cause trouble for PUGs.  Two that come to mind are the office map where there is that area almost straight ahead of the entrance, where you go down some stairs into a medium sized room, and there are about 2-3 groups, with one being just off to the left of where you enter said room, and always catches people off guard.  Another is where you kind of make a sharp 90 degree left turn, and there's a door on the outer right wall of that corner, with another group waiting just inside that small room.  It's like people don't even bother checking what's in front of them.  I mean, I know this isn't VR or anything, but do people really have such severe tunnel vision?

[ZemX]

14 minutes ago, biostem said:

Two that come to mind are the office map where there is that area almost straight ahead of the entrance, where you go down some stairs into a medium sized room, and there are about 2-3 groups, with one being just off to the left of where you enter said room

 

It's possible to engage that group without aggroing the other on the far right or the one sitting in the alcove straight ahead if everyone in the PuG keeps it tight.  Watches their distance.  Controls pets.  Takes care with targettti..... AHAHAHAAHAHAAHAAAHAHA!!..   Whooooo!  Sorry!  I didn't make it through that whole paragraph, did I?  🤪

[cranebump]

1 hour ago, biostem said:

 Another is where you kind of make a sharp 90 degree left turn, and there's a door on the outer right wall of that corner, with another group waiting just inside that small room. 

The death corner. I sometimes want to announce it when it comes up, but why spoil the surprise?:-)

 

The big rooms in new warehouse maps can sometimes cause issues, as well, esp with large spawns all waiting to be target-tabbed by the overzealous (have I ever done that? Nooooooooo):-)

Edited February 22, 2023 by cranebump

[biostem]

1 hour ago, ZemX said:

I didn't make it through that whole paragraph, did I?  🤪

Looking around corners before you overconfidently charge into a room is a novel concept, didn't ya know!?

[biostem]

Just now, cranebump said:

The big rooms in new warehouse maps can sometimes cause issues

Frankly, it's the small confined places people can't seem to handle.  I mean, those little areas in some sewer maps, where there are the 2 doors offset to each side, (right then left), poses an insurmountable obstacle to some folks!

[InvaderStych]

3 hours ago, biostem said:

Looking around corners before you overconfidently charge into a room is a novel concept, didn't ya know!?

 

[Sir Myshkin]

PI Groups are definitely "Farms for Non-Farmers" and I unabashedly enjoy running in them from time to time to just cut back and let loose without concern. In fact I was on one last night with only two Blasters being 50 and it was a tad chaotic because several of the other players were new and inexperienced to the game and one flat out admitted they had no idea what was going on because things just kept going left, right, and center. No one died though, everyone stayed upright and the missions kept running.

[Andreah]

I love PI Radios. Yes, they're farms for people who don't farm. I actually lose money playing them, but that's because I use consumables in them for fun and I can afford to. 

 

There's a little variety, but not too much. There's some challenge for mixed level PUGs, but not too much. There's opportunities to practice new powers and tactics, and you play with people and know and meet new people. It's a win all around as I see it.

[0th Power]

I PuG most of the time, and I never see these mythical terrible PuGs. 

[ZemX]

20 minutes ago, 0th Power said:

I PuG most of the time, and I never see these mythical terrible PuGs. 

 

Oh they're not terrible.   It's the chaos that makes them interesting, in my opinion.  Still, it's a little funny to be thinking to myself, "Oh... THIS room.  We'll be in trouble here if the team.... well, yeah.  If they do THAT."

[Crossie]

I am RARELY on a terrible PUG team.  I actually quite enjoy seeing how I can actually make a noticeable difference in a PUG group VS a well equipped team because everything is insta-steam rolled. 

[brasilgringo]

13 hours ago, InvaderStych said:

 

Doors and corners....

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by brasilgringo

[DougGraves]

1 hour ago, ZemX said:

Still, it's a little funny to be thinking to myself, "Oh... THIS room.  We'll be in trouble here if the team.... well, yeah.  If they do THAT."

 

Yes, there are definitely rooms where I stand back and prepare to deal with the adds or the deaths because I know it will go badly.

[srmalloy]

2 hours ago, 0th Power said:

I PuG most of the time, and I never see these mythical terrible PuGs. 

I see them from time to time. Usually on a Synapse, where the spawns are big enough that you can grab aggro on multiple spawns at once and start running out of End, with tanks and brutes forgetting that they don't have their full set of defensive powers.

[Chi]

I was on a bunch of High Roller Synapse , Where half the team would leave and last three mission leader asked if we should quit . Me ahhhhhhhh No, ( i'm on debuffer ) thinking you can quit if you want Sentinel is coming with me .. 🙂

[Doc_Scorpion]

20 hours ago, biostem said:

There are a few maps that seem to always cause trouble for PUGs.  Two that come to mind are the office map where there is that area almost straight ahead of the entrance, where you go down some stairs into a medium sized room, and there are about 2-3 groups, with one being just off to the left of where you enter said room, and always catches people off guard.  Another is where you kind of make a sharp 90 degree left turn, and there's a door on the outer right wall of that corner, with another group waiting just inside that small room.  It's like people don't even bother checking what's in front of them.  I mean, I know this isn't VR or anything, but do people really have such severe tunnel vision?

Oh, there's a number of maps where (depending on the group and difficulty setting) I slow down (or stop outright) at certain spots...  Because I just know the group is gonna run smack dab into trouble.  I am not above letting the rest of the team hit the hospital while I freshen my drink.