How to PUG Trial - Request for Properly Done Group Finder/Activity Finder for Trials

drake88131 · April 2018

A little background on me so the community knows where I am coming from. I am a father of two and I work 50 - 70 hours a week. If I'm lucky I get to play the game for an hour a night and, on Friday and/or Saturday night I may get a few hours in. I really enjoy the game, but I've found it impossible to join/climb the social ladder in vet trials. I've made "core" in several trial groups and completed probably four of the vet trials. However, my "completions" consist mostly of me filling a spot last minute and doing a couple bosses before the group disbands and/or getting in on the last boss. It has been painful and only bit by bit process and I've pretty much given up on doing any of the new DLC Vet Trials as completely beyond my capabilities and/or reach.

That's when the idea hit me: what is wrong with doing vet trials boss by boss and bit by bit? It looks like the Group Finder/Activity Finder for trials is coming anyways, so why not implement it correctly? Many of us won't have time to battle through an entire Vet Trial due to work/family/life so why not set up the PUG vet trials by boss with set limits? For example, how cool would it be if in Vet Hel Ra you could PUG into the first boss and then, once the group gets through that boss, if it took too long, etc., you could just disconnect and then, when you are next online you could PUG into the next boss and so on until you are finished and that way you get to "complete" the game.

Of course there would need to be restrictions in place. First and foremost? Limit the PUG progression like in VMA when you disconnect or get kicked. You can only PUG into where you are in the trial by the quest and if you drop out then you are not entitled to any "score". You can only get the rewards after you complete the trial this way just like in VMA.

I think all the other things that people want could be worked out from there. For example - A. a bar like in the crafting stores that might let you set a Minimum CP range that you would want to PUG into (hey, it's your free time right? You should get to choose what sort of group you want to join right)? B. Create a mechanism that punishes people that attempt to PUG in as a healer or tank for vet content that clearly were a DPS (but that is fair to prevent trolling groups from punishing healers or tanks they just don't like). C. anything else that makes this not a stupid and pointless endeavor.

In many ways, ZOS already does this for solo trials (VMA) so why not consider it for Vet Trials?

Please keep in mind this is just a suggestion and whether it is a good idea or not it is just an idea. I'm also not a bad human being and don't post a lot so please...be gentle with me... LOL

What are the community's thoughts?

drake88131 · April 2018

drake88131 wrote: »

A little background on me so the community knows where I am coming from. I am a father of two and I work 50 - 70 hours a week. If I'm lucky I get to play the game for an hour a night and, on Friday and/or Saturday night I may get a few hours in. I really enjoy the game, but I've found it impossible to join/climb the social ladder in vet trials. I've made "core" in several trial groups and completed probably four of the vet trials. However, my "completions" consist mostly of me filling a spot last minute and doing a couple bosses before the group disbands and/or getting in on the last boss. It has been painful and only bit by bit process and I've pretty much given up on doing any of the new DLC Vet Trials as completely beyond my capabilities and/or reach.

That's when the idea hit me: what is wrong with doing vet trials boss by boss and bit by bit? It looks like the PUG trial is coming anyways, so why not implement it correctly? Many of us won't have time to battle through an entire Vet Trial due to work/family/life so why not set up the PUG vet trials by boss with set limits? For example, how cool would it be if in Vet Hel Ra you could PUG into the first boss and then, once the group gets through that boss, if it took too long, etc., you could just disconnect and then, when you are next online you could PUG into the next boss and so on until you are finished and that way you get to "complete" the game.

Of course there would need to be restrictions in place. First and foremost? Limit the PUG progression like in VMA when you disconnect or get kicked. You can only PUG into where you are in the trial by the quest and if you drop out then you are not entitled to any "score". You can only get the rewards after you complete the trial this way just like in VMA.

I think all the other things that people want could be worked out from there. For example - A. a bar like in the crafting stores that might let you set a Minimum CP range that you would want to PUG into (hey, it's your free time right? You should get to choose what sort of group you want to join right)? B. Create a mechanism that punishes people that attempt to PUG in as a healer or tank for vet content that clearly were a DPS (but that is fair to prevent trolling groups from punishing healers or tanks they just don't like). C. anything else that makes this not a stupid and pointless endeavor.

In many ways, ZOS already does this for solo trials (VMA) so why not consider it for Vet Trials?

Please keep in mind this is just a suggestion and whether it is a good idea or not it is just an idea. I'm also not a bad human being and don't post a lot so please...be gentle with me... LOL

What are the community's thoughts?

Also, to be clear, one of the reasons why I decided to post this today was because of a particularly unpleasant experience this weekend. I joined a Vet Hel Ra group as the tank. Some had never done it before so and it was a mish mosh group (PUG from zone) it was slow going, but, after about 1.5 hours we were at the last boss. There was a 720 CP DPS in the group that was engaging in rude behavior throughout (i.e. opening all chests and heavy sacks along the way and not waiting for people). He thought it would be "funny" to smash all the statutes and make the final boss hard mode. He didn't care that he just hosed a bunch of the CP 400s that had never beaten a vet trial before and you could tell they were upset. I was empathetic to them and felt it was just cruel that the group would now be completely unable to beat the trial at that point. If ZOS had a system like in VMA then they wouldn't have to worry as much and could come back in the next day. You can't get all the trolls out, but at least then the problem would be mitigated.

kylewwefan · April 2018

No way man. I’ve joined in a few thrown together vet trial at last boss...only to find out they had been in there for 3 to 4 hours and wiped many many times and couldn’t beat the last boss.

What happened there is all the good players have left. And you go in there as a decent player surrounded by baddies.

Questioning your own build and skills. Still have very little hope of completing it.

Now, Look to your left and right during the fight.

See how many of these players are wrecking blow spamming, Or dancing around moving all over the place like stepping on hot coals while they fight. Anyone have them very distinguished looking Maelstrom weapons?

You will then know why they’re stuck.

Politely show yourself out.

Or perhaps, all they needed was a decent tank or a healer not out to lunch and you finish up in 5 minutes walk away with some sweet loot.

Also, for this to happen, what they need is a group finder for trials. That we don’t currently have.

One last thing is when pugging a trial vet or normal, you should get all chests as you go IMO. Most players just drop group after last boss. And all chests are in centralized locations now.

drake88131 · April 2018

kylewwefan wrote: »

No way man. I’ve joined in a few thrown together vet trial at last boss...only to find out they had been in there for 3 to 4 hours and wiped many many times and couldn’t beat the last boss.

What happened there is all the good players have left. And you go in there as a decent player surrounded by baddies.

Questioning your own build and skills. Still have very little hope of completing it.

Now, Look to your left and right during the fight.

See how many of these players are wrecking blow spamming, Or dancing around moving all over the place like stepping on hot coals while they fight. Anyone have them very distinguished looking Maelstrom weapons?

You will then know why they’re stuck.

Politely show yourself out.

Or perhaps, all they needed was a decent tank or a healer not out to lunch and you finish up in 5 minutes walk away with some sweet loot.

Also, for this to happen, what they need is a group finder for trials. That we don’t currently have.

One last thing is when pugging a trial vet or normal, you should get all chests as you go IMO. Most players just drop group after last boss. And all chests are in centralized locations now.

I'm suggesting a group finder for trials. I mis-stated. I will revise to make it clear what I was saying. Sorry for any confusion.

kylewwefan · April 2018

Ah. For normal sure. Fine. It would be great.

Vet versions of anything in this game treat casual players pretty lousy In my experiences.

drake88131 · April 2018

kylewwefan wrote: »

Ah. For normal sure. Fine. It would be great.

Vet versions of anything in this game treat casual players pretty lousy In my experiences.

The internet and online gaming usually treats everyone pretty lousy all the time in my experience. I think there's even a NYT article on the problem with the culture in gaming that was recently published on it. Remember the smart AI that you could send social media messages to/tweet to that became a crazy racist?

usmcjdking · April 2018

PUG trials is something this game is missing badly.

Anyone who played NWO when Temple of Tiamat was released will say the same thing - that mini trial was a whole bunch of RNG, frustration and amazing. It was primarily amazing because no matter what you tried to do, you were never guaranteed to get into the same instance as your friends or group mates which made the trial a massive RNG fest.

It was fast, brutal and highly unforgiving. Sometimes you didn't have the damage, sometimes you had 2-3 heavy hitters who carried super hard. Sometimes you had 2-3 heavy hitters that just ignored mechanics and you lost.

It connects the subperformers with the top performers and creates more opportunity for the playerbase to interact with people outside of their guild and friends list.

ESO's main hurdle to this is that the three roles with maybe the exception of healer are not explained to any meaningful degree through in-game tutorials or in-game information. ZOS has probably the worst product when it comes to teaching people how to play their game and they rely way too heavily on the playerbase to do the heavy lifting for them when it comes to teaching roles. It is borderline inexcusable that a 720 CP player cannot find the tools and information to hit the 20k DPS mark within the game, or learn the concept of buff/debuffing, or mob control for that matter.

As much as I would like a true PUG trial, the tools for ZOS to implement one are simply not there. The skill advisor is the primary culprit - while this should be the primary tool it's full of *** RP fluff that is useless.

drake88131 · April 2018

usmcjdking wrote: »

PUG trials is something this game is missing badly.

Anyone who played NWO when Temple of Tiamat was released will say the same thing - that mini trial was a whole bunch of RNG, frustration and amazing. It was primarily amazing because no matter what you tried to do, you were never guaranteed to get into the same instance as your friends or group mates which made the trial a massive RNG fest.

It was fast, brutal and highly unforgiving. Sometimes you didn't have the damage, sometimes you had 2-3 heavy hitters who carried super hard. Sometimes you had 2-3 heavy hitters that just ignored mechanics and you lost.

It connects the subperformers with the top performers and creates more opportunity for the playerbase to interact with people outside of their guild and friends list.

ESO's main hurdle to this is that the three roles with maybe the exception of healer are not explained to any meaningful degree through in-game tutorials or in-game information. ZOS has probably the worst product when it comes to teaching people how to play their game and they rely way too heavily on the playerbase to do the heavy lifting for them when it comes to teaching roles. It is borderline inexcusable that a 720 CP player cannot find the tools and information to hit the 20k DPS mark within the game, or learn the concept of buff/debuffing, or mob control for that matter.

As much as I would like a true PUG trial, the tools for ZOS to implement one are simply not there. The skill advisor is the primary culprit - while this should be the primary tool it's full of *** RP fluff that is useless.

Interesting.