T Decker, on 21 September 2014 - 01:29 AM, said:
Either everyone sits in one spot, trading potshots until they're rolled, or they rush in, guns blazing, and are picked apart one by one. There's no order or structure to PUGs. And half the time, PUGs are squaring off with at least ONE team on comms, that chose targets, and concentrate fire.
No, they're not squaring off against a team on comms. There are no groups in the pug queue. And of course there's no structure and order. It's random people. This doesn't mean they are bad, or that they don't want some order.
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The real problem is that PUGs (especially the actual Newbs) don't understand strategy on maps. Thy split up so much on Canyon, and start to group back up in the center (after 3 or 4 are killed), and then they are surrounded and overwhelmed. In Frozen City, they huddle behind one side of the downed dropship, trading potshots, while a few enemy lights use TAG to help their bigger teammates vaporize them with LRMs. On Caustic, they split up, and chase rabbits. Forest Colony is a clusterf*ck, no matter what they do. And River City is always a slit between "let's rush" and "I'm going to just sit in one spot, and go make some Hot Pockets... BRB."
This depends heavily on Elo range, and is also heavily dependant on a lack of communications.
I see so damn often, people saying things like the above on these forums, and I see those players in game. They never propose anything, they don't make a suggestion.
So, yeah, everyone goes everywhere. This is because there are more than one valid strategy per map, and because nobody is talking, nobody is suggesting a plan of attack, everyone is following
what they feel is the optimum strategy for that map. This, of course, results in everyone doing something different, because what they expect the other players to do isn't what they're doing. Then, of course, they assume everyone else is an idiot (while those other players are assuming the same).
It leads to this forum "All the PUG players suck, except me, I'm special" threads.
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...and if a Veteran makes a suggestion, it's in one ear,and out another.
This is extremely rare. If anyone suggests anything, the bulk of teams generally do that. It's long been my experience that folks saying things like the above
also say things like "I don't bother suggesting anything anymore because nobody listens." You don't get to say both.
What happens, though, is folks like El Bandito above?
(Note: Mr. Bandito, I don't mean to call you out here; I understand your point, I'm just using your posts as an example) A lot of those PUG players are him. They're hiding in the back, ensuring Someone Else is being fired at first. They're looking to get the best possible score they can, and they'll do that by getting more damage, more kills, and surviving longest. They do that by sacrificing others - those meat shields. They'll do that, often, assuming those "meat shields" are terribad players who are good for nothing else... But those meat shields are just as skilled. They're just willing to take one for the team to try to get a win. Of course, come the end of the match, those players who stayed back more will crow about their damage, and how the players who lead (and died first) where useless meatshields, bads. But if nobody does that, if nobody plays aggressively? Then you get tedious potshot trading matches, and it's a losing strategy if the opposing team pushes together.
Ever notice how the forums are
chock full of players deriding their PUG teammates for being stupid, useless, whatever? Almost everyone does that. But if almost everyone is a great player, how does this still happen?
Look, what I'm saying here is that what you need to understand is that the majority of the people on your teams, they're just like you. They do as roughly as well as you do, overall, or they wouldn't be in matches with you (unless you're pretty low-average, in which case you probably see lots of new players - new players are new players, not much can be done about that but teach them). But in PUG matches, each player has his own idea of what should be done, and when those ideas differ you get teams spreading all over the map. Average players are willing to listen to at least basic suggestions, because they understand that working together wins matches. Sure, you'll get the odd bad player, or antisocial git, and they'll do whatever... But those people will likely end up on both teams.
But when you're doing what others in this thread have suggested, using them as meat shields? Of course they end up looking worse than you, and your own passivity can hurt your team's chances of winning.
Edited by Wintersdark, 21 September 2014 - 10:55 AM.
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