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"Running" and it's effects on the game
Serling
Member Posts: 662
Just need a moment to vent my frustration about something happening to the game.
A few minutes ago, I travelled to Thirsty River with my ascended, infused level 20 minion master and broadcast that I was available to help with the mission. Almost immediately, I was bombarded with whispers and invites from level 4s and 5s asking if I could "solo" the mission, so they could get power-levelled through one of the tougher missions in the game.
I declined their invites and was told that I could make a lot of gold soloing for people (as though I don't have enough already). I then left the outpost because - as I told them - I was looking for players, not leeches.
With this in mind, the following may be harsh, but it's the way I feel about one of the more insidious practices of this game:
Runners are whores and the people who pay them are lazy morons who probably expect everything in life to be handed to them on a silver platter.
If anything ever causes me to leave this game, it will be because of this one thing. The "running economy" needs to end. When you have level 3s and 4s trying to leech on Ascension quests and taking spots from useful teammates, the people on the team serious about completing these quests are the ones who suffer. Yeah, I know. You could always try to find another team. Problem is, it's getting harder and harder to find teams made up of people who actually know how to play the game much less their builds, because many people are taking runners wherever they need to go. In short, they are "noobs" dressed up as level 20s who don't have a freaking clue as to how to do these missions or play the game.
Sorry, folks. Just needed to get that off my chest. Maybe the Arenanet devs can look at this issue now that Factions is about to be released. Something needs to be done.
Comments
Some people that completed the game more than a few time might not want to do it again. And they might know almost every aspects there is to the game. So by using Runner, they don't have waste time on useless quests or perhaps mission, and work on character improvements.
But I do agree that people shouldn't take the shortcut. I really don't want to see low lvl characters in a high lvl mission. And sometime I wouldn't even accept lvl 20 in mssion during my low lvl character at Ascalon's.
All I'm saying is: some people just don't have competitive skills.
well i used to get free runs to droks forge from my guildies. before da guild broke up. (especially for my lvl 12 necro) I didnt want to go so long just to get measly armour that does nothing later in lvls but helps in current one.........
Iron Mines of Moladune is another mission where calls for runners are always going out. Yeah, I know, you have to re-infuse for every new piece of armor you get, and that's a really stupid way to handle that (infusion should go to the character, not the armor).
However, I have been on teams there where all I have needed was infusion, but stayed on to help with the mission for players who needed to complete it, only to have others drop out of team because infusion was all they needed.
Worse yet, when trying to put a team together, if you weren't "running" the mission, people weren't interested in signing up for it, prefering to have one or two people "run" to the cut scene instead of
the whole team fighting its way to it (which, as it turns out, only takes a little longer than people running the mission).
And maybe this is just because I came from City of Heroes before playing Guild Wars, but I get tired of seeing people spam the local channel for offers to sell their services as a teammate, as in, "Will help you get through this mission for xxx gold." I had NEVER seen this kind of behavior in CoH, and it's one of the things that really sucks about GW. When I team with someone, I team for the enjoyment of playing with other people, not because I need gold. If I want gold, I grab a henchie team and go farm for it.
Well, that's enough venting for now. And oh yes, please keep offers to buy and sell on the dedicated trade channel, so people can use the local channel to organize teams.
watever man... its how the games worked scince forever...
ok it might not be a good thing that noobs just get express pass through but ill tell u 2 things!
1- this is like a job, people earn money this way, just like a taxi service irl, i also have made a bit of loose change in the past before knowing how to solo farm using this method of taxi.. theres nuthing wrong with this!
2- once they reach the desert areas, do u think any ones gonna want them in there group? most people by the time they reach the desert are level 18-20 and the missions u gotta do arnt a walk in the park (for me they are though lol) do u think there gonna accept a level 10? i dont think so.. these guys that get run are nubs who pay us to there doom
once they reach the desert and no one wants them they usually go back and do the missions they missed! once they are 18-20 then they can go along and do the 3 desert missions to ascend 
so for the taxi service= its a very good thing
for the people paying them= ur a nub ur gonna go back to where u were before
TIP: if ur gonna do a taxi service:
A. be a good runner with xp and u know u will make it
B. dont ask for money up front or at the end, up front will result in people not trusting u and and spamming u as a scammer, and at the end people wont pay u! Once u go through a portal (usually known as half way) make them pay then and advertise (running people "insert place here" pay half way) if u get half way and they dont pay, dont give up! either leave and make the people who payed leave with u and do it again without the person(s) who didnt pay half way!
if ur gonna pay a taxi:
dont pay them up front either afterwoulds or half way
im leet k
lol i forgot bits about the game but i remember most of it :P
Yes, I agree the whole system is pointless... It bothered me more when it first started... mostly friends running a completely new player to the end game. But, since there aren't many new players anymore, it doesn't really bother me.
The developers are actually pleased that running has developed from their game.
I can see why people find this annoying, and personally I've only been run once by one of my officers and we didn't even really ask for it (we just wanted to fight our way through and thought he'd be good company
).
A friend of mine was run to Droknar and Desert once, he wanted to power level there (we did for a little bit) and that was only because he wanted to create a specific build and test it quickly.
Otherwise he's one of the most skilled players I know and I think when he creates a PvE character he just does the missions real fast and maybe some quests and finishes the game in no time
But people are lazy, why would you want to be run somewhere when you haven't been there or done it before, it kinda destroys the point in any game...
Running when youve already got to end game though is pretty valid. Its no fun doing the missions youve already done over and over again.
I disagree, well, I agree that after you've finished it it becomes valid (somewhat anyway).
But I disagree about the missions part, I still love doing most of them (certain ones are no so much fun, but most are).
Doing missions a 2nd time plus, is only dull because the people that make up the community are dull/annoying and it's not fun to do them alone.
looks like the problem is sovled get rid of the nooblets.
If you dont think running is valid try completeing the game multiple times. Thats the fastest way to unlock skills for your pvp char. Having droks armor is extremely useful I usually wait till beacons then get a run down . Thats a big help. Or getting the desert ran for me saves so much time, I'm still lvl 20 I still Pwn and get frustrated in Thuderhead by noobs.
Everyone hates lv 4s and 5s outside pre. I was in the Ice Caves the other day with >20 and I couldnt figure out why the were even there just go do the desert and do those missions, why these.
And Rememer its a video game lots of kids who just wanna "Kill stuff" play, with a minimal amount of thinking. No offense but most of this type of behavior, begging included, happens when school is out. I play at various hours throughout the week and the best times are when school is in session.
I love the henchies BTW I can do more with them than most groups, cause they FOLLOW TARGETS.
An IQ test should be required to play and if you fail it uninstalls itself, prints out your stupid sign, and then fdisks your hard drive.
But, yeah, I generally don't care about runners, but I seriously hate Mission Runners. Those are the ones that are ruining the game. Make the twerps actually use thier characters so they know what the heck they're doing by the time they get to the desert. Everyone I know hates Elona Reach for no better reason than the people you end up stuck with that don't even know how to play the game, let alone use their uber l33t W/Mo with Drok's armor and a Firey Dragon Sword.
Only thing worse are the E-Bayers.
--~~--
Play Guild Wars? Go here - http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Main_Page
And go here for the new official Guild Wars Wiki! http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
No one's forcing them to.
Find that kinda' hard to believe unless they've played every profession through the entire game. There are so many possible profession and skill combos available, I can't believe someone knows exactly how each build will work against every foe in every situation.
Hmmm...considering that playing your character IS the best way to improve it, I hardly see this as an argument in favor of running.
And here's another gripe: beggars spamming the local channel for handouts of gold and crafting items in Drok's, because they've paid to be run there and now can't afford the armor and are too low to go farm for it. So they beg for it.
Between the beggars spamming the local channel for freebies, and the "salespeople" spamming the local channel selling items, it's almost impossible to keep any decent discourse going or to try to organize a team. The messages go by so fast, it gets hard to read them.
BTW, there is a downside to level 4s & 5s getting Drok's armor: these are the same people that then go back to Ascalon City and fight in the random arena to build their faction points. And unless you have Drok's armor, too, it's virtually impossible to compete with these people. Hell, some of them even have guildies taking them on high level missions just so they can cap elites and bring them back to the arena. On the rare occasions I have stuck my head into PvP in Ascalon with my lowbies, you could easily tell which people were playing with Drok's armor and elite skills. (They were the lowbies that were virtually impossible to kill!)
Are these "exploits"? No. No one is exploiting the game mechanics for an unfair advantage. But is it a form of cheating? Yeah, I'd say so.
I think this is due - in large part - to the highly competitive nature of the game. After all, if the point of the game is to get to be the biggest bada$$ PvPer in the game, you're only going to do those things that get you to that point more quickly than anyone else, and screw everyone else on the way.
I noted a perfect illustration of this mentality when describing what happens in the Iron Mines of Moladune (infusion) mission, where people leave teams after they've gotten the only thing from the mission for which they had joined the team, and - often - leave without even saying a word, causing people who have to complete the mission to start it all over again with a new team.
One of the features I'd like to see ported from CoH is the ability for a team leader to "kick" badly behaving team members (or even those team members who may not be there to see the mission through). I mean if people can quit a mission in progress, then the team leader should have the ability to kick them if they're not pulling their weight or if they're behaving in a manner detrimental to the team. As it stands now, people can behave as badly as they want without fear of reprecussions or repraisal.
There have been times (Abaddon's Mouth mission, for example) when a focused team of three players and two henchmen was able to complete that mission after three other "less motivated" players left the team (I was on one such team).
Put another way, a small, focused, motivated team can accomplish more than a buch of screw-ups. I would love the ability to kick screw-ups mid-mission rather than to have to start whole missions over from scratch.
For that fact, I would love to have the ability to invite players to the team after a mission starts, so that if someone does leave or is kicked, another person can be added to finish out the mission. Again, CoH offers this ability on all but Task Forces.
But I digress (I'm hijacking my own thread!
) I'll be playing the Factions preview myself, and am really looking forward to it.
----ITS A TRAP!!!----
See my first post on the issue. If that doesn't answer your question, I simply don't know what else to write.
Running is vaild if you've already completed the game at least once through. Then sometimes i don't want to waste my time in some spots and I have the money so why not. I think it's different than someone looking for someone to lvl them up of course but running itself I don't see a problem.
It was a lot of fun though when the game first came out. There were no runners at all and we were all in it together making it from missions to mission and questing. I kinda miss the days of when the game first came out.
natuxatu, it's getting a run through a mission that seems to be wrong. You can tell who didn't spend much time with their build or their character by the time you get up to THK or the Ring of Fire. While they may be very talented individuals, and they may have already beaten the game, they have no clue how to play thier character. They add very little beyond knowledge to the group, thier damage is either very low or sporadic, and many times they use the wrong skills for the area. In my experience, these are also the same people that pitch a fit when everyone doesn't skip cut scenes.
Honestly, if you've played through the game once, and you want to have another character that's beaten the game, but you don't want to spend the time doing it, then what's the point? Sure, you'll have a character that's beaten the game, but it'll be basically worthless. Or a cookie cutter build farmer.
Seriously, spend some time with your character, it'll make you much better on all fronts in the long run.
--~~--
Play Guild Wars? Go here - http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Main_Page
And go here for the new official Guild Wars Wiki! http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page
I did read the whole post and i still dont see the problem. Dont wanna run people? Then Dont. Dont wanna deal with lvl 4s in your group make your own and dont let in anyone who isnt of appropriate level.
The majority of these guys getting run through missions are on their 2nd and 3rd characters anyway so i dont see why yer calling them all noobs and leeches.
----ITS A TRAP!!!----