Poll: Minimum time for groupFollow

none, as much free time as you choose, nothing more.

I second Dot's comment. At least stick around for an hour; if anyone is getting close to a goal (AA, level, mob spawn, etc) then at least finish that.

as long as it's functional, at least an hour, or one instance run.

I'm a bit of a hypocrit about this; if friends log on and want to go do something, I occasionally ditch a pickup group before that point.

What's worse is when guy joins grp, talks everyone into moving camp to higher lvl spot, then says he's off to play another alt. Suddenly grp realizes can't fight their way to safety without him.


Edited, Jul 28th 2006 at 10:46pm EDT by Ominious

I kinda misunderstood and said 1 hour or less, I thought they meant the time to actually form a PU group.

But, the answer really depends on what your trying to get the PU group to do..

For a nest: 1 hour or less.

For a DoDh mission: 2 to 3 hours.

Farming anything: 2+ hours, but usually the person should try and get a rep if they have to leave.

I'd never vote to say a person have to put a minimin of over 2 hours to a PU group, unless it was a specific mission that could easily run longer than that.

Well I've been on the recieving end of this and done it a few times myself. Sure it would be easy to say an hour... or two..... or 12... but... for example.

Your LFG and someone sends you a tell. So you go there as fast as you can, only to get in the zone and have to wait. Some cleric won't leave PoK untill she finds a Infusion of Spirit. Some warrior won't leave untill he finds a port (Even though he could have easily run in the time he spent looking). Some beastlord is on his way but has to make a stop on the way to pick up spells. The enchanter goes into the guild hall and then ninja afks for what ends up bieng 30 minutes. And these are just the most recent things I've seen. So I'd say if your going to make a poll about commitments to a pickup group... that time should include the amount of time you spending waiting on the other morons to get thier thumb out and get to the camp. If you had an hour to play, and spend 45 minutes of it waiting for the rest of the noobs to figure out how to make it to wherever... means you have 15 minutes to buff, pull one, and make your apologies.

Another thing is when you show up for a group and there is incompetence in play that you feel will only lead to your repeated death making the group a negative experience gain rather then a positive experience gain. Say on that first pull the cleric (who wasn't afk) doesn't heal the puller once the mob gets back to camp. Or maybe the warrior refuses to use his incite combat abilities because he thinks his weapons are enough and if you don't like it, tough. Maybe the necro (and only snarer) can't figure out how thier own spell works enough to cast the damn thing. Maybe the shaman will insist on dotting adds that the enchanter is trying to mez. These are all things that happen all the time in pickup groups, and are all... IMHO.... valid reasons for a hasty departure.

the poll needs another category:

I don't do pickup groups, ever.

From the minute I accept an invitation I expect everyone in the group to be at the
grind location or be heading there. If I wait an hour for a group to get to the grind spot or mission I'll disband without a second thought.

But if we are all grinding within a few minutes I'll put at least an hour in to it before I disband or find another player to replace me.

Anything less than a solid hour is a waste of other people's time. DO everyone a favor if you have a raid in 20 minutes: don't join a group.

An hour seems like a good minumum time, especially since sometimes it takes that long to get the group going in the 1st place. 1-2 got my vote here.



Amen to that, I will always stay, as long as it's safe with what's there, to help someone ding or ping if it's relatively close to happening. Cause hey, I need the exp too after all :-)

I know everyone has their own time constraints and interests, but if a toon is on the /lfg list with a specific zone/task listed that I am looking for toons, I would expect them to stay for at least a half hour. It frustrates me when I build a group, have it full, and after 15 minutes of getting everyone to the zone the last person to join says "sorry gang, going to group with guildies" even before the first pull...LOL, and don't get me started on the toons on the lfg list that are afk or toons that play 20 questions. Nothing more satisfying than saying "sorry, full".

Yes but 20 questions is one of the few ways to find out before hand if the group is going to be a waste of your time. I ask several questions before I agree to join a pickup group.

What zone/camp?

What classes?

Do the classes present have the buffs I'll want or do I need to get them on my own?

If the tank is a warrior, will they use thier incite discs?

And depending on what the camp is or where the camp is I might ask for the tanks ac/hp (whether I'm playing a healer or not).

It's just common sense. No sense running out to wherever only to find out you have to get buffs somewhere else because they don't have all thier spells, or the tanks incompetent, or the tank doesn't have enough stats to tank the mobs. Now it's true that alot of times this pisses people off, but frankly I don't care. If I'm looking for a pickup group I have between 3 and 5 hours to play and I'd prefer a long term group to a come and go one. And the first thing to look for in a long duration group is that that the necessary requirements are filled. I used to just assume that by the time people got to 70 they would know what the h@ll they where doing but I'm afraid that just isn't true. Thus the 20 questions you refer to is only prudent before accepting a pickup group with a bunch of strangers.

PUGs, what a fitting name for the group abomination SoE has created.
Short, stupid, ugly experiences with people that attempt to form groups in the safety of PoK, instead of heading out to the zone and filling in spots there, thus proving they should be in the zone (arriving there safely shows initiative/ability/knowledge of zone).

I do not do PoK PUGs!
Thats the recipe for disaster!


If I do a PUG, I owe these people as much time as it takes me to figure out if they are worth investing XP grind time in.
If your Crowd Controller is always afk? NO
If your puller cannot come back with out half the zone? (depends on zone) NO
Your Healer is afk, whether announced or not? NO


I do not mind when pick up groups suggest other hunting spots once you let them in group. I am all for everyone hunting where they want. I let them go. If I wanted to hunt there, I would be there when I invited them to group.

I always give PUG's at least 2 death's, For I have found that how fast you die tells alot about the quality of most pug's.