I've only pugged when I was looking for people to hopefully notice me and pick me up for a team..overall it's not that enjoyable. Not everyone takes it as seriously as I'd like them to and at times it feels like I'm playing in a tf2center more than a pug. I'm lft again, though, so I'll likely be playing pugs again..I'm not a good player or anything but when I don't have a team to scrim with I'd really like to play some serious pugs to improve/get noticed.

I mean of course tf2mix. I'd never get picked in pugna. fatkidded for days.

I used to do a fair bit of mix.nahl's about a year ago. The pugs weren't terrible when they started and it was generally good practice.

My main issue with hl pugs, at least from my experience in mix, are that people only pick their friends or who is popular. Skill wouldn't get you picked. No matter how well you've played in the pugs, if you weren't already in the "in-crowd", you have to just hope you get picked, and probably only do end up getting picked 25% of the time.

Also, idk if this happens in 6s pugs, but its annoying when people add on their joke off-classes and then get picked over all the people who added on their main for that class, play terribly, and no one cares.

When I got on a team that time last year, I realized how much infinitely better it was to pugging.

I pug with friends, and occasionally I run pugs. I only invite people that give a fuck and won't throw. I usually only invite people that play/know six's so when they are stuck on a class, their team doesn't get completely rolled. IMO these pugs I play/run are infinitely better than tf2center which seems to have people who lack even the most basic sixes skills or the will to try.

pug.na is full of giant circle jerks so a non invite/main/known IM player will probably never get picked (with the exception of great community members like truk truk or something similar)

tf2.mix is horrible from what I remember playing those things a year ago. Almost the definition of cancer sometimes.

tf2.pug.nahl is ok when I use to play those 4 or 5 months ago but from what I understand they're even more dead now?

idk anything about tf2.mix.nahl but I think it's dead so all the steel/silver players that will never get picked in pug.nahl are forced to play tf2center if they want to warmup before scrims if they don't want to mge/dm so that sucks for them

I only ever like pugging when people invite me to inhouse with them, and it's with people that know how to have fun because its just a pug (shout out to rayspugs). Otherwise playing on a team + dm/mge make you a much better player than pugs ever will unless you main medic.

truktruk is at least an IM level scout...

I've recently played one mix where the other team had a full time sniper, and proceeded to shit talk anyone who killed him.
Anything but Inhouse pugs are kinda terrible.

http://i.imgur.com/VlcEjoq.png

idk but somehow I joined and was kicked when I didn't even know about it. Please rays I'm sorry.

But he gets picked in pug.nas all the time just for being an awesome person. I have no doubt in my mind that he's an IM scout or maybe even higher if he cared enough but just being a known commentator/surfer/streamer you'll probably get picked in the mass circle jerks of pug.na if enough people know you're good at those things.

Especially if when you do get picked you prove to everyone that you can actually play at the level pug.na is at. And he does that every time he gets to play.

I play in house all the time, and it is a ton of fun. We mix up classes and teams, and I get to play with people I enjoy playing with and improve greatly at the same time. Unfortunately it takes forever to organize one, and we usually only get in 2-3 games a night on Friday or Saturday. I used to try to play Mix, but it is usually dead when I play, and I end up spending more time waiting than I have to play. If I am able to play one, though, they usually turn out good and I have some fun.

I would love to play a highlander pug, but never gotten one together because organizing that many people is hard.

I don't know what you're talking about, maybe you have never gone to the site after the new pickup bot and site was launched but just last month alone there were 524 6v6 pickups, not counting HL, ultiduo and bball pickups. 19 6v6 pickups in the last 2 days alone. I think thats pretty much active, unless you only join in at like 1 am on a work day which is guaranteed to not have any pickup running.

Also tf2pickup.net might or might not be coming to NA in the future, let's wait and see how it goes, but we're having a huge success in EU I would say.

i only pug new maps 6s

I used to inhouse a lot, but haven't seen the ones I know running as much lately. They're good when they're good, problems tend to come when the throwing starts.

I've done mix a few times, but it can be a long queue, TF2center is clearly a worse option but I can usually get into a game within a few minutes and be done before a mix might even start.

used to pug, but it got to the point where it wasn't worth my time to even try. I'd sit around waiting to be picked, asking for a captain to pick me, and get fatkidded. On the few times I would get picked, my team would treat me like I was an idiot because I didn't feel comfortable calling things in a group of complete strangers. There was also the issue of higher level players going into the kind of pugs that I played in just to stomp/mess around and give a very poor learning experience all around.

I read most of the responses and this thread is a bit depressing.

my only issue is captains doing dick things like picking the only demo left on something else he also added on STRICTLY to try and fuck over the other team. its like people try to actively avoid actual good games.

i got fat kidded 7 times in a row one night
i know im bad but still wtf

i miss LL pugs

i love to pug, but i always end up rarely getting picked because i'm never on an active team

all the in-house groups i'm a part of usually joke around and that's not really fun for me since i take pugs seriously (since it's the only competitive mode i have time for)

i like both 6v6 and 9v9 pugs, but i prefer 6v6 pugging since it feels way worse when there's a bad 9v9 pug than a 6v6 since it usually takes incredibly long to start

i only use irc and have never been a fan of lobbys (i think i've played in 3 or 4 total throughout its lifespan) and haven't tried tf2center, although i heard they're alright

tf2center (if mumble is mandatory, because once i didnt notice like till middle of the match, that im the only one in my teams mumble channel and I was calling dmg to nobody. Quite embarrassing) and tf2pickup are okay, but in general prefer doublemixes or mixes.

Just started my own in houses yesterday. Was fun.

problem with a bunch of the inhouse pug groups is that shit starts after scrims end and shit man, I gotta wake up early in the morning.

Honestly, one of the things that really broke down the pug.na system is that new players refuse to pay their dues and play medic. No one knows who your are -that's both how good you are at the game and how tolerable you are to play with in mumble- so why would I pick you over a name I recognize regardless if they're my buddy or not because I know that he is going to at least not make the game suck? If you have nothing to distinguish yourself, you have to get your foot in the door and hoping that someone picks you over a name they recognize and knows isn't a complete shitlord isn't the way. One of the great things about inhouse pugs is that almost everyone plays medic multiple times a week. People don't care how good your are they don't know who the fuck you are. Like I've been fatkidded in tf2mix before during a period I regularly get picked in tf2.pug.na because I've never played with either of the captains and they didn't know who I was.

I've only ever done 1 6's pug back in my first or second year of 6's. The general consensus was that I would meet good competition. The result was me top fragging (or at least doing well) with some other person while some 12-15 year old and some 20 year old or something bitched at each other. Never did them again after that. (Not stating that this is the general pug, just saying that it was a reason to add unto the fact that I was busy with HL.)

As for 9v9, pugs pulled a full 180. Back when I first pug'd, before Mix was a thing, the quality in terms of skill was pretty low. As a fresh Silver player, I would top frag, so they were pretty lackluster, but most people tried at least. Nowadays it's almost the complete opposite. No one works together, the majority of the time I'm sitting on the flank by myself while the Scout and Soldier try for dumb plays to try and look good. Pretty much no one takes them seriously. Don't get me started on Pay Load pugs, either, I stopped doing those a long time ago. There is no reason to PUG as an Engineer or Medic unless you are trying to make a name for yourself. They are not fun or productive, simply a waste of time.

HL Mix (and apparently 6's mix) seem to be counterproductive. I've never done 6's mix because of the stories I hear and the experience I've had over in HL mix. There is no effort in HL Mix. None. No one is looking to get better (the whole point of it existing is to get better so you can do real pugs), it's just a bunch of people looking to goof off with some Gold/Plat/Invite players looking to off class because instead of sticking to normal pugs, they'd rather off class. In turn, mix not only encourages bad behavior, but kills the normal pugs.

In-house pugs (HL) have not been successful, either, people still do dumb shit.

I tried TF2Center as well, but those are even worse. Half the people don't enter mumble, no one talks, people bitching at each other in Team chat etc.

People need to tryhard without being a shithead about it. If people aren't trying, then there is no reason for PUG to exist, but at the same time, being tryhard to the point where you are bitching to someone an entire PUG is counter-productive. I don't know what's so hard about grasping this concept with this community. If you don't want to get better or try, don't add up. I'd personally rather have PUGs dead then waste my time.

Hello,

I'm more than happy to invite people to my pug group; if you're interested just shoot me a PM on here, leave a comment on my steam profile, or come bug me when I'm streaming at some point.

If you were kicked from the group and you're a little confused as to what happened, let me explain what happened:

When I first made my group it was private up until a point, but eventually enough people convinced me that I should just make it public, so I did. However, the more people/names I didn't recognize that joined the group, the more the quality of the pugs went down (full-time off-classes, abrasive mumble atmosphere, etc.), so in an effort to alleviate that I remade the group, this time private (to where only people in it could invite friends), however a few months ago someone got in and decided it would be a good idea to invite his entire friends' list to the group (200+ people). Not wanting a repeat performance, I tried my best to skim over the group of people and remove names that were aliased/I didn't recognize.

It's nothing against you and I'd happily invite anyone back. The only requirements that I really have for my pugs are that when you off-class you do it in moderation, you're a chill person and understand that you can't always win every single pug, so there's no sense in getting angry/yelling at your team over it, and you have at least a decent understanding of how 6s should be played. (When to off-class, basic knowledge of map locations, how to roll-out, etc.)

Skill level varies from pug to pug in my group depending on who's there, but I'd say on average they're about a high open/low im level, if you're curious as to what level the pugs are.

:3

I don't pug because I'm stuck between "Pub allstar" and "actually good" and its incredibly frustrating. On top of that, I don't really have to many people on my friends list who pug regularly, so I have to do it with a bunch of randoms, and playing HL engie with randoms is a nightmare.

As sad as it is, pubbing is easier. I know not to rely on people in pubs, where as in pugs I HAVE to, and it usually doesn't work out and becomes incredibly unfun.

I used to do mix.nahl quite a bit but it grew pretty cancerous. My last handful of mixs were basically a bunch of friends in mumble who would laugh off comms, fuck around and troll, any attempt to comm in-game was met with a "Shut up nerd" or the like. Pretty much a huge waste of time. I haven't been to the IRC in awhile.

you can still play in mix even if ur shitty im like the worst person to touch mix ever but i still play

I've played in tf2mix a handful of times. I can't help but feel too nervous that people are going to shit talk me in mumble for being female. Even if you say it won't happen, it's a fear of mine so it causes me to hold back from joining pug's. Just not comfortable enough with playing with people I don't already know. Not secure enough in my ability to click on people and I don't want people thinking I'm a total shitlord. So I've just stayed away from playing pug's. It sucks because sometimes you can have opportunities to play with or against some really great players and I can't help but feel like that would be beneficial. Anyway, that's my reason(s) about this thread topic. Cheers.

Pugs are very community-centered, based off of people knowing eachother and everyone's abilities. I really never felt that community in IRC-based pugs, and I personally think that is why pug.na kinda died off. In-house pugs can be fun, but you have to be around the right people. If they're not in your skill-level, they get upset, and vice-versa. You also have to make sure that everyone agrees on a certain level of seriousness, otherwise it's just no fun.