Do you pay attention to what your team is doing?

[Kaika]

Yes, in general, though in different whys depending on the team comp and what I'm playing.

 

If I'm on a tank, or I'm the beefiest person the the team I generally try to play just slightly a head of my team, moving to the next group just before they are done finishing with the last group. Usually when it's down to a boss or two the team doesn't really need someone to take hits so I find my time is better spent gathering up the next group and clearing out the fodder before the controller with itchy trigger finger on their AoE immob that's in every PUG can stop them. Even when I split off I usually keep a eye on where the team to see if they need me to come back, or to just avoid people who have play styles that don't jive well with me (basically anything that spreads enemies out >.<) most of my characters are built so they don't need support. When staying with the group, keeping a eye on your teammates can give you a lot of room to optimize, if you see blaster popping aim and build up, they are probably about to nuke the group and its best to focus your efforts on the bosses as attacking anything weaker will likely just result in overkill. If you have a kin it's best to keep track of them to maintain FS uptime. In just about any situation there is something to be gained by keeping a eye on what your teammates are doing if you are in the mood to exert the effort to do so.

Edited September 29 by Kaika

[KaizenSoze]

I keep a general eye on the team tab. Mostly watching out for HP drops, so I can go and grab the mob(s) attention.

 

Also, I see and listen to what powers players are using. Adjust my tactics sometimes.

[Forager]

21 hours ago, Erratic1 said:

I always pay some attention, but I pay more attention when playing a buff/heal AT.

 

I figured that probably makes a huge difference. I've not really played a support class, so I've always been pretty target focused... and I just keep the team's health bars in the corner of my eye.

[Sovera]

Just their HP bars. If it is going perilously low or even flatlining then I'm dropping everything to go to them. Most of the time they are not near me which is something I am fine with and even condone but I don't chase after my team. As the usual Tanker I expect them to follow me instead. Regardless I don't tell them what to do. ...except Controllers where I ask pretty please not to use mass immobilizes with varying degrees of success.

[Crysis]

Generally, yes.  If we have a straggler I offer to TP them.  If someone is always getting low on health, and I have a heal, I use it on them.  If I notice they are grabbing aggro, I cozy up to them, drop a patch and Fold Space on the aggro-er.  If they aren't doing much of anything, I'll call them out.  Or kick them if they just stand there doing nothing.  

 

Yes I monitor the team and their actions.  Otherwise, why not just solo?

 

 

[Gerswin]

Often my teammates are my family members in the same room as me. I pay attention to what they are doing in case they try to steal my chips.

[Forager]

9 hours ago, Andreah said:

I play a support kinetic defender. I watch my team like a hawk. I also keep my keypad macro'd to select party members by team window position so I can hot-key teleport to them.

 

Ooh... a true support player! That sounds like a completely different game than the one I play. It's like you're playing a RTS but using humans.

[OverkillEngine]

Map is always open, even if scrunched down in one corner like a minimap.

 

Team hp bars are always open/displayed, though buffs and such may be heavily filtered to cut down on visual chaff. I see someone drop into the orange or red zone, I start trying to figure out why, even if I am on a "pure" DPS, because I can still fix that using an application of superior firepower. Or a comment to adjust when and where we engage.

When joining or forming a team I usually do a  quick skim of AT's and powersets to build a rough mental model of how the team is likely to play and how to fit myself into that. For example, if I am on a blaster and see that I am about to receive a lot of resist or def buffs to enable it, then I will play far more aggressively than I would otherwise.

But I don't usually give a rat's ass if they are "hnnnnnnng" tier optimized or not. If Toggleman with every pool attack can manage to get kills and not constantly die and we are finishing the mission, I'm generally good. The outcome is more important than the minutiae to me. I don't care about your attack chain optimization as long as the job's done.

Now, if you are playing in a way that is counterproductive, I start looking for an excuse to leave. Like people that refuse to grasp that aggro caps exist and they need to adjust pulls/engagements for the team's ability to handle any aggro overflow. Or someone that otherwise refuses to adjust their chosen schtick when it's clear it's getting them faceplanted on the regular and forcing the rest of the team into bad positions to rescue them.

Edited September 30 by OverkillEngine

[Worm_Kalpa]

7 hours ago, KaizenSoze said:

I keep a general eye on the team tab. Mostly watching out for HP drops, so I can go and grab the mob(s) attention.

I do the same thing when teaming, even when I'm playing a stalker or blaster.  First, I'll use Rebirth or any other available support power if the teammate's HP is really dropping.  If it's one or two tough enemies, I then help the teammate in trouble defeat them.  If they're getting overwhelmed by a group, I'll use any CC and debuff powers like Caltrops to help before dealing damage. 

 

When things are going well, I look for any potentially annoying enemies hanging out in the back of the current mob that others likely don't have targeted.

[BlackSpectre]

I know you don't want to hear this, but I hardly notice my teammates at all. That said, I am aware of my environment and that includes teammates that happen to be next to me. I do that for threat assessment and battle tactics.... what resources do I have around me? Otherwise, teammates can be on the other side of the map and I couldn't care less. I have learned over many many years that players will do whatever they please regardless of what I want... and apparently that is as it should be. 

 

The word organized is just a hop away from the word controlled, and too many players have a neuroses about being bossed around or controlled by others. So much so that even suggesting a coordinated attack rubs them the wrong way. I've also learned never to suggest anything to them or inform them of better tactics or use of powers, or basically anything that could possibly be interpreted or spun as looking down on them because I know so much more. There's a lot of bruised egos out there, but I think they got bruised at birth! It would be better if they just looked at suggestions as the beginning of a conversation, a negotiation, or improvement, but nope. Of course, I'm talking about PUGs (Pick Up Groups).  PUGs do what PUGs do and there aint nothin' you can do about it.

 

Even if the team splits, I continue on playing as if I'm playing solo, and think of my teammates as NPCs. If I do a threat assessment of a room, and I conclude that the 2 heroes I have with me will not be enough to defeat the room and survive, I then look at the map and go join the other group. I never ask them to join me because that would be controlling, and would likely cause a tantrum. Yes, I know I'm the team leader, but that's in name only. Really, I'm just a team assembler. And even in that role I don't care who joins, not their archetype, character class, level, powers, nothing. Don't care. 

 

One player recently told me they can go get their tank if we need it, and I replied OK. Then apparently they sent me team chat about switching and I pretty much ignored it unintentionally. If they want to switch, then switch. They don't need my permission. Besides I already said OK. Anyway, they got mad because they died "too many times" and I never replied to them (I was constantly fighting for my life, so didn't have a lot of time to read chat), and they quit the mission literally one battle before it was completed, missing out on the mission bonus XP. I mean I died about 4 times in that mission, but that's nothing. I was playing a blaster. It's to be expected, especially since we were playing on +4X8 at level 37. We still blasted our way through it, were getting lots of XP, and the debt was burned off real fast.  So really... there was no real issue. I guess they were upset that I didn't say anything, which is the opposite of what people typically do... get upset at what I do say! LOL The kicker is that at the end of the mission two of the teammates remarked how utterly fun the mission was! Said it was a BLAST! And thanked me profusely. Really unusual, cuz I didn't do anything. Just invited people who wanted to join and I guess set the difficulty level. It's nice to be thanked I guess. That said, I enjoyed the mission too. I enjoy challenge. If there is not a struggle of some sort, it's a bit dull for me. I'll say this for that PUG team, when they were focused as a group on the imminent threat, they were a force to be reckoned with! We took down 30 +5s with a warshade as our only tank, all in one big battle. All of us left that battle unscathed. And my toon only had standard SOs for enhancements, no enhancement sets (which is usual for me).  Players were shocked that we made it through that battle. I wasn't. I knew we could do it if the team had the will. 

 

For trials and task forces, I do offer directions on what to do next and where to go, but my leadership ends there. Either players decide to follow or they don't. They do what they do and there's nothing I can do about it... assuming I want to keep things polite and pleasant that is.... which I do. I don't attempt to herd cats. I don't attempt to control others or make the playing experience as I think it should be. I go with the flow, and try to adapt to whatever situation I find myself in. 

 

Now, if another player happens to suggest a course of action, I listen and reply. We have a discussion, and most times that ends well. But if they don't initiate it, I stay silent. I guess you could say, I just do me as much as PUGs do PUGs. In the 20 years I've played this game, this is the morsel of wisdom that I have gained.

[Andreah]

7 hours ago, Forager said:

 

Ooh... a true support player! That sounds like a completely different game than the one I play. It's like you're playing a RTS but using humans.

If your RTS units were willful, surly, and had a very bad AI.

[tidge]

On 9/28/2024 at 2:14 PM, Forager said:

How much of your teammates activity are you aware of? Does it depend on your character? Do you only notice when they mess something up or do you also notice when they do something well?

 

I would guess that the average player is not paying very much attention to what others are doing. 

 

The teams I'm on seem to be paying attention to each other, but it is impossible to know.

 

There are lots of different ways to "pay attention":

• Monitoring blue/green bars
• Monitoring icons for buffs/debuffs
• Keeping an eye on visual effects (for debuffs and buffs)
• Watching the map (or team zone indicator)
• Listening for powers (like Taunts)

If there is one area of the game that I'd wager only a minority of players pay attention to, I'd say it is when someone on the team gets a PBAoE debuff applied to them and folks end up clustering inside that AoE. The most obvious example is Clamor's Radiation Infection.

 

I freely admit that if I am paying attention and think the team can handle more spawns, I'll aggro other spawns to speed things up. I've been accused of not paying attention when I've done this, but it is almost always the complete opposite.

[Andreah]

I try not to "boss" the teams I lead. Few people enjoy being told what to do, especially in a game.  I am already picking the missions and setting the difficulty and pace, that's enough control.

 

However, I like to see organic teamwork emerge from the chaos, and chaos there is. I set difficulty at whatever level the team can handle with only occasional deaths. Sometimes that's +4, sometimes it's down to +0.  If we're handling groups, I herd them using teleport. I teleport forward to a group, fireball them, teleport back, hide behind something or around a corner to block line of sight to bring them in. While I am doing that, I watch my team. As a kin, I have tools to fix some mezz issues, do some close combat heals, replenish stamina, and keep speed boost and damage buffs topped off. I have support hybrid, and pick when I activate that to support the team while the herd arrives and I shed aggro onto our anchors. I watch the team carefully and either join the fight with my own dps or, if we're handling it easily, fetch another herd. That's a judgment call that requires knowing how the team is doing, so I monitor health/stamina bars and buff lists carefully, as well as need to keep situational awareness of the map we're on. I'll sometimes quickly recon forward to identify where future herds are. I also keep track of who is our main tank/anchor, or at least, solidly filling that role, and I will use fold space to tighten the kill cluster onto them.

 

If the team is good, they'll see and understand what I'm doing and work with it. In those cases it becomes a real joy.  The anchors finding great locations for us to establish our AOE kill zones at, with places for me to quickly break LoS, and with safe zones behind us when lowbies need a quick breather.  And if they don't, well, that's fun too in another way -- comedy.

 

But it all requires knowing and being aware of my teammates' abilities, status, and locations.

[SeraphimKensai]

Like others have said it kinda depends on what content/difficulty I'm running, if I'm the team/league lead, what toon I happen to be playing, and if the other team/league members actions are detrimental to the good of the team/league. I'm a big fan of the ABCO's (Always Be Completing Objectives) of CoH.

 

Examples:

• I don't want to carry someone on 4 star content, while I don't often mind carrying them on say 1-2 star especially if they are trying to learn the content and receptive to instructions.
• If I'm leading a pug TF, I'm usually running it at +0 so anyone that still needs incarnate xp gets some, otherwise it's off to the races. I do order DPS checkfires on the last mission of a TF until everyone is able to get in the mission so they get credit for the TF.
• If I'm playing a buffer I will keep everyone alive/buffed (8 years as a PvP Empathy, I'm used to being a Pingpong Ball, but if you die while I'm buffing/healing you've done something asinine).
• If I'm playing support with anchors I go where I view as the most efficient use of my powers, following the ABCOs.

That all said I pug most the time I play, and if someone shows or expresses a genuine interest in learning, I'm all about it as I like to moonlight as an adjunct professor/coach.

I don't actually have anyone on my ignore lists, but am not afraid to use the kick function if someone is detrimental to the purpose of the team.

[DougGraves]

On a tanker I only pay attention to the health on the team bar.  Otherwise I am pulling and herding the enemies.  If I see someone's health go down I grab aggro from them.

 

On a defender I watch other people's health and follow whoever is running point

 

On a controller I watch other people's health and mostly look for lt's I can mezz.

[Ironblade]

On 9/28/2024 at 2:14 PM, Forager said:

How much of your teammates activity are you aware of? Does it depend on your character?

 

It depends on both my character and my role.

If I formed the team, or if I am the lead (or only) tank or if I am playing a support character - I will be watching my teammates very closely.  If I'm playing a squishy, I'll be paying attention to a tank or support characters for my own safety.  If it's a 'master' run or hard-mode content, I'll pay very close attention to the leader and their instructions - other players, not so much.

 

If I'm on a scrapper, secondary tank, stalker, etc - eh, I'll notice what they're up to generally, but I might wander off on my own sometimes.

[Spaghetti Betty]

It's a little tough for me to answer this question, because I hardly PuG nowadays. When I do, I'm definitely paying attention to what everyone else is doing, mostly because it gives me ammo for talking trash to my friends!

[ZemX]

3 hours ago, DougGraves said:

On a tanker I only pay attention to the health on the team bar.  Otherwise I am pulling and herding the enemies.  If I see someone's health go down I grab aggro from them.

 

This.  Mostly if I know what the enemies are doing, everybody else should be fine, but I keep half an eye on those health bars if the fight gets messy (double pull, spread spawn, knockback artists plying their trade, etc.)

 

Generally, I prefer to keep an eye on enemies more than I do on my own team, which is probably why I've never played a buff/heal support or an MM,  My ideal PuG toon if I'm in a mood to just do my own thing though is a Stalker.  Nobody expects anything of a Stalker.  I am not protecting anyone.  I'm not buffing or healing anyone.  No one even notices that bosses are dying faster.  *placates*  "I was never here!"  *poof*

[Yomo Kimyata]

I'm on a team?!?

 

If I'm on a team I started and recruited for, I'll ask a few questions to see if people are familiar with the task at hand.  I'll establish what kind of a run it will be and ask people to stick with that plan.  I'll also take a quick look at each team member and set the first mission at a difficulty level that seems appropriate but on the easy side, and after the first mission ask if everyone is ok if we raise the level to whatever (if appropriate).

 

If I'm on someone else's team, I'll read the leader's chat and follow their wishes.  If there is a tank on the mission, I'll follow them; if there isn't I'll usually volunteer to be point.  Sometimes I'll go off tangent a bit, but not majorly, and I often won't bother to notify everyone.  Example:  I was on a sub-50 ITF that was very pet heavy.  When we got to the final Rommy fight, his health wasn't budging, because there were a dozen pets running all over the place whacking away at whatever was in front of them.  Rather than post in team chat or send tells to the leader to get them to concentrate aggro on Rommy, I just ran around and cleaned out all the enemies the pets were targeting.  It just wasn't worth my time to type it all out, and who am I to tell the leader how to control their pets?

[Luminara]

I'm not here to pay attention, I'm here to get paid.

 

[Forager]

On 9/28/2024 at 6:04 PM, Snarky said:

I keep a map up 99% time.  I casually track team.  I usually am on a Blaster and looking to be near the front of the group for best AoE placement.  Sometimes I am way ahead if I have classified the team as "casuals" and there are obvious goals of juicy targets.

 

When I game with Justice Superteamers twice a week it is different.  They run nearly everything at +2 to +4 kill alls.  We stay together to buff/maximize dps/be efficient.  

 

This is super interesting... I only play in pick up groups and also play my blaster waaaaay out front so I can mess things up before the team can mess things up.

 

If I was playing on a team with actual synergy, maybe I would stick around... but is that fun?

[Snarky]

1 minute ago, Forager said:

 

This is super interesting... I only play in pick up groups and also play my blaster waaaaay out front so I can mess things up before the team can mess things up.

 

If I was playing on a team with actual synergy, maybe I would stick around... but is that fun?

o yes.  but of course we are using discord during the game.  just game wise the leaders are great at judging should it be +2, or +4 and the challenge is always there.  i requested a Bonk and these folks were like +4 LGTF under conditions we need to research.  sure! and Bonk was had.  (me on a Fire Blaster....)