Shields only activate when you're in tank stance, also. That makes them, overall, just a nerfed offhand.

Shields only activate when you're in tank stance, also. That makes them, overall, just a nerfed offhand.

 

actually, no. shields are in fact active, but 5% chances to shield 20% damage means that they are usless without tank stance, so 1% survival that comes from shield with no def mods in dps stance makes them less then usless.

Using a shield as a dps is just plain old bad. There is no creative thinking there.... It makes as much sense as a Sorc healer stacking Defense (and yes, I have seen that.)

 

ALL it does, is make you less effective at the job you are supposed to be doing.

This may sound a bit elitist but if the player isn't pulling their weight for the spec/class that they are playing I will kick them outright. I'll warn them first that they need to work on things and provide ample info/sites for them to better rotations/gear-sets. Usually though people don't take constructive criticism well, specially in a video game, but better for me, I guess.

This may sound a bit elitist but if the player isn't pulling their weight for the spec/class that they are playing I will kick them outright. I'll warn them first that they need to work on things and provide ample info/sites for them to better rotations/gear-sets. Usually though people don't take constructive criticism well, specially in a video game, but better for me, I guess.

 

If I queue for an at-level flashpoint while leveling.... I do not get too upset about people not pulling their weight. I understand that they might be still learning their class, or a very casual player who just enjoys the story content. So, I don't get too bent out of shape over subpar performers in story mode flashpoints at-level.

 

If I queue in the GF for a HM 55 FP..... I expect the other people queuing to be at least "average" players. I am not queuing in the GF to help carry some undergeared, underperforming stranger to help them get gear. (I may do that for fresh 55 guildies, but that is a different story).... I won't kick someone for playing badly, or stupidly in a HM 55 FP, but I can promise you, that after the second wipe on trash, because a player (or players) are either not pulling their weight, or are just BAD, I will quit the group. I queue as a tank..... I am walking away with a repair bill even if we are perfect and DON'T wipe. But when a team starts acting stupid, and I am dying unnecessarily? I'm not sticking around the for the 50k repair bill. I'll wait for my lockout to end, and get my insta-queue-pop and try again.

 

If I queue in the GF for TfB or S&V..... my tolerance for shenanigans is next to zero. It's STORY MODE. It's preschool easy. If 4 dps can't beat the 3rd shield at Dash'roode, or beat TItan 6's enrage timer? Something is VERY VERY VERY wrong. Either you queue'd into the GF for Ops you weren't geared enough for (which, is almost impossible.... when my guild hit 55 with enough people to run S&V, we were doing it in 61/63s and it was a non-issue, and we are NOT a progression guild.) so that pretty much leaves: "You don't know how to play your class."

 

Why is that an issue? Well...... if you are in the GF for say.... S&V... and your dps can't beat Dash'roode or Titan, I can promise you (I saw it happen THREE times last week on my tank and my healer) that when you get to Olok the Shadow, and you have you to clear the droids from the floor, you WILL fail because your dps will miss the 1min targets everytime.

 

So, my new personal rule in GF TfB/S&V ops, (especially on my tank or healer).... if the first 2 bosses go terribly, I am either GONE and looking for another group, or I am starting to look at who are the underperformers and thinking about vote-kicking.

In all instances it boils down to how badly they are affecting the group. Wrong spec can still fill their assigned role; Ninjas may not know the "rules;" I can take a lot of rude behavior; and I try to inform and instruct the weakest link. But if it is clear that a wrong specced or a weak link character is the cause of a group's problems succeeding, I will let them know that I am initiating a vote to kick and that I apologize for it, but it has become necessary. Typically, I forgive ninjas and rude people once, I warn them the second time they offend, and the third it's them or me - I initiate a vote to kick, if the kick does not pass I leave.

For my low level alts:

In the Hammer, Athiss, Mando, Cad flashpoints I had a trend when I was healing that every time I queued I'd find myself with a DPS that thought they could tank. I usually got lucky if I healed when I was at the bare minimum level and gear to get a good tank, but when I got these fake tanks I usually was geared well enough to scrape by if I wanted the challenge. That being said I'd try to strike up a conversation with the various tanks.

 

"Do you have your tank stance/cell?"

"I'm getting hit by these mobs a lot, could you guard me?"

"Could you please attack more then one mob?"

and lastly one of these

"Do you speak English" or "Do you read chat"

 

 

From personnel experience, you can tank FPs up to low level 30s in dps tree with tank stance on and a shield. Just yesterday, I was tanking boarding party on my sniper as our tank was a ninja so we kicked him. Of course I did not have a tank stance or a shield, but the tanking requirement is so low and geared dps can tank them. In low FPs, its always a question of do you know what you are doing versus gear.

 

Regarding kicking, if you refuse to play your role (dps queuing in as healer and refusing to heal) or you are a ninja, I will not hesitate to kick.

Edited June 26, 2013 by Ottoattack

Other day I get a whisper from a gunslinger guild mate that he was stuck in a group doing Lost Island on the final boss and the healer quit the group after 10 wipes. I said fine, it has been nerfed, my healer is level 55 and almost full 72, figure no matter how bad the group is, I can just out heal the instances in HM LI. Ask him if it is a group finder group, was shocked when he said no. So I switch toons to my sawbones and head for Gav.

 

While on my way I get an invite. Look at every ones HP and level, all 2 were 55, one was 52, figure this should be really easy HMFP. They start questioning me. Have you done SM LI before….I reply no, I have not done Story Mode Lost Island ever. One comments on my HP… Which causes the leader to look and see that I was around 33K, which is 7k to 8k higher than the next person, so he questioned, “what spec are you? Why is your HP so high?” This caused the smart *** in me to come out and I replied, “Scoundrel Tank Tree.” “We already have a tank,” was the shocking reply I got. Leader initiated a kick, but other two did not go along with it. So I reply “I am a sawbones in 72 gear, I am nowhere near BIS, but I have done HM LI 3 times a week on three different toons for around 6 months and that does not even count how many more times I have done it on my healer to help guild members get their weekly. I have cleared all content up to and including HM S&V. I am betting I could solo the final boss in SM LI. I guarantee even if you all stand in the AOE the entire time, we will one shot this. I also guarantee that I will pass on all gear.” Leader simply replied “we will see.” Fight was simple, dps was a little low, so I mainly was dpsing between heals and cleanses. Only three comments during the fight were the leader/tank, “Heal stop dpsing”, me “Tank don’t type,” and the other dps that I did not know, “He cleansed me…a healer cleansed.”

 

We kill it, no problems…I typed “thank you” both dps reply “thanks.” I whisper tank after he wrote nothing, “glad you didn’t kick me?” No reply.

Edited June 26, 2013 by mikebevo

“Tank don’t type”

 

^ you win this thread.

Wrongly specced

 

I used to go in teams of three into the group finder when I played with couple of my friends. I've met a lot of people who've been flagged as one role and they clearly are the other, we usually had a tank and healer so we got people who we're obviously spec'd one way but acted the other way or such, usually we just giggled in TS when they went to do something ingenious, as usually people who weren't at the top of their game weren't, well, top of the teamplaying game. Usually going off the beaten path to get destroyed by the mobs they aggro'd or rushing to the next room of enemies before checking. I think we never actually kicked anybody as we could just clear the daily flashpoints with the three of us so we didn't bother with it.

 

Ninja's

Ninjas... I don't really have any other painful experience on my part, but I've seen some others get ninja'd out of their loot. I've of course had some random F2P low level come out of the woodworks to grab my long awaited chestpiece but I really don't get angry at them, as it's while leveling and they probably don't speak english and have no clue of what's even going on. But when someone ninjas something from one of the other groupmates, then I instigate vote kick, because I want the one who's gear got taken to have the choice to throw him out.

 

Rude Behavior

Being rude to other people in the party makes me want to kick them instantly, I'm not the nicest of people when it comes to dealing with idiots and I vote kick them if they aren't the only healer/tank of the whole night, I got a recent experience with such with the healer getting very pissy on the tank, who was running some tweak gear at level 40 when we were doing Colicoid War Games about him not having enough gear to do CWG, as he got almost killed in the first real fight as the Scoundrel healer nor the Sentinel weren't stunning the droids and stopping the simulation modes, we killed the bots after a while of waiting for the simulation modes to drop and after that the healer just started to hit the tank with abuse on his gear, the tank had over 4k more HP than the healer but still, not letting go, after me and the tank bickered with the healer a little bit they realized their mistake and let it go after a while, at situations like that it's very annoying if someone simply doesn't want to let go of a random non-existing point, I sensed some sense in them so I stuck around a little bit but usually in a situation like that I would've just left if the healer started to vote kick the tank.

 

The Weakest Link

This is a thing I never really want to debate but I'll put my opinion out there just for the hell of it.

There is a obvious distinction between someone who can't actually play, ignore that fact and push on ignoring all in their way, and someone who just haven't really got into it yet but clearly can. The latter is someone I will tolerate, because they aren't doing anything bad, and neither is the first one but even if you are the nicest guy around, you can't somehow avoid the issue of that that person simply can't play the game! You can do everything in your power to help them, but the resistance of the truth is futile as they won't get better, they won't hatch out to become gods of gaming. And even if suddenly they get touched by the hand of god and become ones, they simply won't.

In the end, I avoid people like that, I like to help people to start the game and everything, but I won't go around helping people who don't speak english, refuse to do anything but click, refuse all help in general or simply are not all there. Even in the farther end, I don't kick those people if I ain't in a party I know, I will just leave because there will be problems.

 

P.S. Excuse me if the text was a little inconsistent, lots of edits.