User:Swordofcerberus/Rantings/HA Groups

Though its rare for me to actually try to go to HA, I noticed alot of people complain about the groups around there. When I have gone there, I do on occasion well when I get a team, but getting a team can be a real bitch. It is dominated by pre-requisites that you must have. There are a couple examples for this. Sometimes too, even if you do have a microphone, if you can't speak English/whatever language they speak as well as the rest of the group (perhaps you are from France or Mexico or Germany), you get axed.
 * If you want to get a group, people are often rating you on your Gladiator ranking. Often I see a minimum or R2/R3 and higher sometimes. Some people don't PvP alot, and when they try, they can't get a group. Its biased here about the rank. All it means is that you basically farmed PvP for awhile just to get a few points. Regardless if you have skill or not (such as RA), if your team can make up for your lacking, you still get the points. So as long as you have these points for the ranks, you can group. So even if you are a skilled PvE-er, and can do decent in PvP, you're shit outta luck.
 * Build specific setups force people to play overused and sometimes overrated builds. So even if you have a great idea that could go well there, they won't let you in because you don't want to use their 'must' builds. Things that are meta are played until some group decides, 'Hey lets try a NEW idea and see if it works or not' and beat the meta. Then people start to think, hey, it has potential and try it themselves. Then adjust and voila! Too many people though stick with the 'tried-and-true' builds (W/E Shock Axe, R/D Escape Scythe for example) everything stays the same. Try being innovative you dummies. It makes things funner for everyone.
 * Often enough, it has to be a guild-specific group. They don't let any other new guy in. You could have 50 people in your guild and noone wants to play, so you try to get a group and guilds are basically shunning others unless they absolutely are desperate for a new teammate. You are forced to go PUG in HA and even then, you can't find a group because of the other reasons I listed.
 * Ventrilo/Teamspeak is often a must for people. If you don't have a microphone, you get fucked over from teams. Its nice to know that for people who are unable to use a mic (either not owning one, or you can't due to people around), you get screwed over out of a group. Its called typing people. We do it all the time, just type when you need to.

It is true that you can try to form a PUG with a bunch of guys who don't have ranking, and sometimes it can prove to be a decent thing, but things don't seem to go well for them in all honesty. A guy might quit for no reason or maybe you get back luck with idiot teammates, so you get ousted fast. It is all about having certain requirements here sadly enough.