After a long while of not playing i ran across something that reminded me that this game existed. So i thought, hey i should download that again! I did, and having preferred status because i actually bought the game off the shelf long before it went free to play, i made a bunch of different toons to get a feel for which one i liked. After a couple of days of playing and hopping between chars i decided, hey i should try to queue up for an instance (or whatever they are called in this mmo) because, at least to me, the most fun part of an MMO is the multiplayer.

 

Anyway, because the leveling is so incredibly fast now, i made level 30 in no time flat, higher than i had ever made it before. I got skills so quickly i didn't really have time to learn exactly what they all did or how they worked together. So here i am in this instance that i've never been in, just following along and doing the best i can with skills that i kinda knew, but not 100%. When i joined the queue it said this is "easy mode" or whatever, and any combination of classes should be able to complete it, so if i'm a little off, no big deal.

 

After following the other players weaving this wonky path avoiding 90% of the trash, we disable some do-dads, fight a guy with animals in cages, and finally ride an elevator up where we talk to a guy. At this point i'm glad for a short break. I've been concentrating on keeping up, not accidently aggroing adds, and frantically rearranging my quick bars. I'm learning which skills are going to be the most useful in a multiplayer setting as opposed to the story, where everything has been dying in one or two shots.

 

So as the guy starts talking, i lean back in my chair, crack my knuckles, and take a sip of my drink. Then red text shows up in my chat box. "You are not allowed to be here, 30 seconds til you leave" wait what? WHAT? "You have been voted out, reason given: PASS!!!" .....Pass? Pass what? Was there some loot that i didn't pass on that i was supposed to? I don't remember clicking on anything. Better check my chat log, hmmmm, no one said anything about anything. Before i could type out "*** does PASS mean???" I wasn't in the instance anymore.....

 

No. no no no. *** is this bullshiz? I whisper one of the people that were in my party, "Why did you kick me? *** does pass mean? Did i steal something? What did i do wrong?" As it turns out all 3 other people in my group voted to kick me, simply because i didn't skip the cutscene. Really, REALLY? Here i am, a "new" player, stressing a little bit about letting my group down, worrying about screwing up, pulling something i'm not supposed to pull etc etc... and i get fooking kicked without warning because i didn't skip the josh darn cutscene? REALLY?

 

It's not that they wanted me to skip the cutscene that bothered me. It's not even that one impatient person wanted me out. It's the fact that rather than sit through a whole 2 mins of dialog or taking 30 seconds to ask in chat, the entire rest of the party decided to, and were able to, kick a newer player, simply because I didnt already know some unwritten rule about always skipping cutscenes in instances.

 

Thanks a lot for letting me know that new players have no place and are not welcome in YOUR MMO. Really killed it for me.

I feel you, I was on the Legacy of the Rakata FP and my group went ahead, so I tried to catch up to them and I aggro'ed one of the weird blue creatures in the beginning, which I killed, but one of them proceeded to try and get me kicked and the reason was "Can't cure stupidity". Another time I was requeue'ing my group because someone left and someone proceeded to cuss me out because it was taking too long. As if it was my fault. The toxicity in this game astounds me sometimes.

That's one of the big problems with PUGs, regardless of the "difficulty" of the flashpoint or operation or whatever else. Most of them aren't interested in anything resembling "story" in the game; they just want to blow through stuff as fast as possible.

 

Usually, they will tell people "spacebar" the first time a cutscene comes up and it becomes clear that someone is actually watching the cutscene. (Because spamming the spacebar in a cutscene skips past the dialog and gets you directly to the "choice wheel" and/or to the end of it and back into killing whatever is next). A lot of times one or more folks in the group will even "remind" the rest of the group that they "need" to sapcebar through cutscenes, at the very start of the instance. (Most of them start with a short cutscene, so the "reminders" typically start right away).

 

Anyway, the best way to avoid this is to find yourself a guild with folks who are willing to help out "new" players, including letting them see cutscenes, helping them with learning their abilities and how to best use them, and so on. I've been playing continuously since the first day of Early Release over 5 years ago, and although I do spacebar through a lot of stuff that I've seen many, many times, I still like to watch the cutscenes in certain instances.

 

In short, don't let one bad experience with a few impatient, selfish jerks ruin the whole game for you. Yes, there are a lot fo folks who are like that, but there are plenty of others who are not.

Edited April 6, 2017 by Adric_the_Red

I'm sorry that happened for you, OP. Unfortunately, it's a common occurrence. There's a whole thread in the Heroics/Flashpoints/Operations section of the forums dedicated solely to the weird people you meet in groupfinder...titled, "The Weird People You Meet In Groupfinder."

 

It does seem to be a mindset among some of the "veteran" players in this game: newbies not allowed. First time going on a raid? You must have the highest rated gear possible (even if said gear is only available through said raid), you must know every mechanic inside, outside, backwards, in reverse, upside-down, and imploded through a time-space warp, you must have achievements reaching to the stars to even be eligible to be selected to go on said raid, etc. etc.

...even if the raid's been available for less than a week. :/ And that attitude bleeds over into flashpoints, too. OBVIOUSLY everyone there is an elite veteran player, so therefore you must be, too--what the heck, you're NEW??? Ewwwwwwwww! Get away, you filthy little newbie! Bleck bleck ew bleck uuugh my hands are dirty now that I've stared at the same screen as a NEWBIE, EWWWWW.

 

...WHAT is WITH people and that attitude? How on earth are newbies supposed to learn if they're not given a chance?? >_< It's one of the things that bugs me to no end - and yet there's also no end to that sort of elitism and condescending jerk...rear-end-ery.

 

In any case - don't let this one experience ruin the whole game for you. It will happen, and the best you can do is to put those people on ignore, queue up again, and roll with the punches. Report them, if they're being enough of an obnoxious jerk (if they're actively harassing you in whispers or group chat, for one thing). And don't let it get you down. It hurts, it's annoyng and obnoxious to deal with, but it's just a few people in this massive game. Don't let them ruin it all for you.

On another note, what server are you on? Some servers are, as a whole, much more friendly than others.

I think i'm on Harbinger, its just the server they put me on i guess after they collapsed the server count. My favorite thing to do in MMOs is to get to the min level requirement for the first instance, then just queue over and over, meet new people, and keep going till level cap. Just doesn't seem something that's viable in this game, not to mention at the rate i was gaining levels i'd hit the cap in about 5 instances anyways lol.

I think i'm on Harbinger, its just the server they put me on i guess after they collapsed the server count. My favorite thing to do in MMOs is to get to the min level requirement for the first instance, then just queue over and over, meet new people, and keep going till level cap. Just doesn't seem something that's viable in this game, not to mention at the rate i was gaining levels i'd hit the cap in about 5 instances anyways lol.

 

Being on Harbinger would explain it. :/ Harbinger's...known for being extremely toxic. Extremely toxic. There are other servers that are much more friendly, like Ebon Hawk (which is slightly less in population, but still bustling, and very welcoming. I've been there since last fall and quite enjoy it).

 

Doing as you described - leveling by queuing in flashpoints/warzones - is definitely viable here. You just have to be prepared to face a lot of jerks and trolls. Might want to do yourself a favor and transfer to a server like Ebon Hawk or Begeren Colony (again, less populated than the former two servers, but still much more friendly than Harbinger).

i had no idea that choice of server could make that much of a difference. Thank you guys, guess i'll give it another try... on another server, lol.

i had no idea that choice of server could make that much of a difference. Thank you guys, guess i'll give it another try... on another server, lol.

 

Glad to hear you're sticking with the game for now. I hope your experiences, from here on out, are considerably better than they have been. Welcome back to SWTOR!

Hey, also, in case you're interested, here's that thread I mentioned in my earlier post: The Weird People You Meet in Groupfinder. It's good for a laugh, a confused head-tilt, a jaw-scrape-floor moment, eye roll, possible nightmares...and knowing that you're definitely not alone in dealing with the trolls.

for sure, i've dealt with trolls, i'm no newb to mmos. WoW, Rift, Warhammer, Tera, Hellgate London, Startrek Online, Guild Wars 2, etc etc... i've even been known to kick a few people out for gross incompetence, excessive racism/sexism, even for being way way to undergeared- like so undergeared they constantly get two shot... but never in my years and years of playing mmos have i or have i been voted out for something as trivial as not skipping a cutscene. I couldnt believe it. After i figured out what happened i just kinda stared at my monitor for a few mins, dumbstruck. I just had to say something. I was worried the games player base had shrunk too much, and all that remained were the bunghole kids and jaded grey beard veterans.

I have to echo what's been said about servers. When I came back to the game, I decided to start fresh. There are other reasons for that as well, but I won't get into that. My point is that I initially started on Harbinger, and even though I'd built up a few characters there, I got sick and tired of just the toxic nature of the chat alone. I moved to Ebon Hawk, and I've enjoyed it a great deal. It's DEFINITELY worth getting away from the sewage that Harbinger has largely become.

i have rolled up a new toon on Ebon Hawk, already done a couple of instances and no problems what so ever. Perhaps the sewer servers need a disclaimer saying its full of turds before you connect. lol

i have rolled up a new toon on Ebon Hawk, already done a couple of instances and no problems what so ever. Perhaps the sewer servers need a disclaimer saying its full of turds before you connect. lol

Glad something's working! After reading your original post, I would highly recommend playing the story a little bit and that way get a little bit of practice in using your abilities, learning what's what and what each ability does etc. The story is pve and so are flashpoints so they're very similar in what you want to do(unless you're a healer), so playing the story and learning each abilities effects would help quite a bit.

 

Also look for a guild that's willing to recruit and help out new players, and play some fp's with them.

I have to agree with everyone else who has spoken up about Ebon Hawk-- I love it here, everyone I've come in contact with has been pretty much universally awesome. Glad you switched over, and if you're looking for a good guild, or need any help feel free to poke me (my main's name is Jixara).

On a slightly off topic, whats up with all the trash dodging? I mean 3/4 of most of the flashpoints i've done so far has just been following people skirting walls, jumping on rocks, zig zaging all over the place. And every so often someone screws up and pulls a group and then someone leaves the party. One time i was in a party and someone kept accidently pulling and we tried like 4 times to zig zag our way through. Then someone left so i said in chat lets just fight the ones that are harder to avoid, and it took all of like 15 seconds for the three of us to kill them off. If we had just done that in the first place it would have saved way more time. If its so "easy" to avoid, why is it there in the first place? Why did they design the levels in such a way that 3/4 of the map can just be avoided? This is the only MMO i've played thats had anywhere near this amount of avoidable trash. It's kinda crazy.

On a slightly off topic, whats up with all the trash dodging? I mean 3/4 of most of the flashpoints i've done so far has just been following people skirting walls, jumping on rocks, zig zaging all over the place. And every so often someone screws up and pulls a group and then someone leaves the party. One time i was in a party and someone kept accidently pulling and we tried like 4 times to zig zag our way through. Then someone left so i said in chat lets just fight the ones that are harder to avoid, and it took all of like 15 seconds for the three of us to kill them off. If we had just done that in the first place it would have saved way more time. If its so "easy" to avoid, why is it there in the first place? Why did they design the levels in such a way that 3/4 of the map can just be avoided? This is the only MMO i've played thats had anywhere near this amount of avoidable trash. It's kinda crazy.

 

Seems to be a popular way of thinking nowadays. "Everyone" has played the same flashpoints over and over, so "everyone" wants to skip what can be skipped and will often go to extremely convoluted methods to do so.

Heck, I was once nearly kicked from a group because I accidentally pulled a very small trash mob that the others in the group had already skipped. (Thankfully, two other people in the group stood up for me and asked the guy who wanted to kick me "What the heck are you doing? It's one small mob, get over yourself, boohoo.")

 

As for designing the levels that way, I've got no clue. I don't think it was intentional, but when people find a shortcut, they'll use it and heap abuse on anyone who doesn't, either because they don't know the shortcut or they accidentally pull the trash mob. I mean, heaven forbid someone's actually NEW and doesn't KNOW the ALMIGHTY SHORTCUT!! Or worse, make a MISTAKE. *dramatic gasp*

...in other words, people are odd.

At least you got a group...

 

I noticed the same thing, and its frustrating because I want to catch the story so I understand the situation - otherwise its just a high tech whackomole.

 

Something else frustrating the hell out of me is the command point system. You have to time your command ranks for when your side controls the Galaxy, meaning you can't do jack shat if you close to gaining a rank. What kind of tom foolery came up with that system? Annoyed because I've lost over half my potential points because while working on "controlling" the galaxy, I ding and thus if we do, I don't get squat because I didn't level a CR after.

Something else frustrating the hell out of me is the command point system. You have to time your command ranks for when your side controls the Galaxy, meaning you can't do jack shat if you close to gaining a rank. What kind of tom foolery came up with that system? Annoyed because I've lost over half my potential points because while working on "controlling" the galaxy, I ding and thus if we do, I don't get squat because I didn't level a CR after.

 

Or just quickly switch to the other side when you're right about to gain a level, then switch right back. You gain back any points you may have lost very, VERY easily.

I'm sorry that happened for you, OP. Unfortunately, it's a common occurrence. There's a whole thread in the Heroics/Flashpoints/Operations section of the forums dedicated solely to the weird people you meet in groupfinder...titled, "The Weird People You Meet In Groupfinder."

 

It does seem to be a mindset among some of the "veteran" players in this game: newbies not allowed. First time going on a raid? You must have the highest rated gear possible (even if said gear is only available through said raid), you must know every mechanic inside, outside, backwards, in reverse, upside-down, and imploded through a time-space warp, you must have achievements reaching to the stars to even be eligible to be selected to go on said raid, etc. etc.

...even if the raid's been available for less than a week. :/ And that attitude bleeds over into flashpoints, too. OBVIOUSLY everyone there is an elite veteran player, so therefore you must be, too--what the heck, you're NEW??? Ewwwwwwwww! Get away, you filthy little newbie! Bleck bleck ew bleck uuugh my hands are dirty now that I've stared at the same screen as a NEWBIE, EWWWWW.

 

...WHAT is WITH people and that attitude? How on earth are newbies supposed to learn if they're not given a chance?? >_< It's one of the things that bugs me to no end - and yet there's also no end to that sort of elitism and condescending jerk...rear-end-ery.

 

In any case - don't let this one experience ruin the whole game for you. It will happen, and the best you can do is to put those people on ignore, queue up again, and roll with the punches. Report them, if they're being enough of an obnoxious jerk (if they're actively harassing you in whispers or group chat, for one thing). And don't let it get you down. It hurts, it's annoyng and obnoxious to deal with, but it's just a few people in this massive game. Don't let them ruin it all for you.

On another note, what server are you on? Some servers are, as a whole, much more friendly than others.

 

Most "real" veterans are actually pretty patient. They remember the game when it was really hard (or at the very least much harder), at most of them remember being a newbie and having someone show them the rope. Its the "wannabe" vet that came in roughly around 3.0 or later when most things were toned down and who thinks they are pros who seem to be the problem. Those who stuck around mostly have learned while being carried by the "real" vets, altough maybe not explained (I remember a tactical (now vet flashpoint) I did on my sorc, where I had 3 very either new or not very good people with me. I did most of the dps, self-healed myself (4.0 madness was pretty good at that) and patiently carried the group through the fp. I didnt kick anyone or throw a fuss (and they were darn useless, and it was manaan, which isnt the funniest around to be carrying people through).

 

I'm pleased to say Jedi Covenant seems so far to be a lot less toxic than what I'm hearing from Harbinger.

 

@ OP - I'd avise you to maybe look for a guild, and while a small casual guild might be tempting, they can be sometimes pretty inactive, and you might not learn much. Some bigger friendly ones with players of all levels might be a better idea. I know the guild I'm in takes in new active players from all level, some are Hard Mode operations raider, and tackle (or attempt to!) the hardest PvE content in the game, others like doing Warzones, some are very good at them, others pretty average but enjoy it all the same. What is important is that there are knowledgeable people who will agree to go with you, give you tips on your class and the actual flashpoint you are in.

 

Alternatively, feel free to head to your class's subforum and ask about their abilities, offensive and defensive, and best tactics with them. Its sad you've encountered douchebags like this when trying your best, as we say, it happens, but don't let it drag you down. you'll also encounter some pretty nice people in those.

 

 

One thing that might help in the future tough, is doing what we call "spacebarring" cinematics and dialogs in some flashpoint that are also availaible in story mode. Those are also often the ones with the most cinematics and dialog, as they are typically tied to a story arc you'll encounter. In story mode, the flashpoint is made much easier, and you are provided with a "bot" to help you, which I call a bit jokingly "Jesus Bot" because its a tank/heal/dps rolled in one undying package. The droid can pretty much solo the combat encounters while you come along for the ride and enjoy the story. If you do a "Master Mode" flashpoing in endgame, it might be a lot more important to do so, as I do consider at this point "enjoying" the story isn't the goal of the flashpoint, and delaying 3 other people is rude. But I wouldnt give beef to a new player for not knowing it. Not doing so, tough, while its going to make most people annoyed does not warrant a kick with no explanation.