Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

[Jei]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

I can't see how having search comments up justify being blind invites...

There are certain things every PT leaders will want to know. Mainly are the TNL, the zones they can go and the sub jobs they can use. Having search comments indicating these things gives me a very good first hand impression. He/she knows what I as a leader am looking for. Not only makes me feel good, it shows they know the mechanics of PT.

Same would go for sending tells before invites. When I seek, I expect tells. I have search comments up all the time and leaders that don't tell gives me very bad impression.

Of course good impression =/= good parties. But do you want to play with someone that makes you feel bad right away? They can form the best party in the world, I will still not join blind invites.

[Asir]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

My opinion is that if a person has a search comment up, then they are looking to be invited to a group so I send the invite. In all the time I've been playing, I've only had a blind invite declined once and that was by a person who realized they were on longer then they expected and thought it better not to join since they had to go in an hour.

I've never been one to judge a party based on the type of invite I get, I wait until we have had a few fights before I determine how well or poorly it is going to do. I've never understood how knowing the jobs in the party can determine if it will work out or not since it's the skill of the player not the job itself that determines if it will work.

For instance, the first time I leveled WHM through the dunes, I got an blind invite to a rather odd looking party. 5 level 15 THFs and me starring as the Subless Wonder. Just looking at that combination, I know people are probably thinking that was a horrible set up for a party. 3 of the THFs subbed WAR and the other 2 had MNK. The weapons were a fine mix of swords, daggers and H2H. It was curiousity that made me stay long enough to give them a chance, it was hiliarity and fast exp that made me stay with them until level 20. Nothing is funnier then watching a mob spin around in circles trying to hate someone with 5 organized THFs using SA on it one after the other.

Sorry about getting a tad chatty in my example of some interesting things that can come from blind invites. I get that way after a long day and little sleep.

Perhaps my relaxed attitude towards the minor things like blind invites and checking people comes from the fact I always keep in mind that we're all just here to have fun and we all have different views on how that should be done.

[Matera]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

Agreed with Jei, although I usually will join blind invite parties.

Although it the party isn't up to snuff, expect a blind disband as well.

I'd also like to add:

To the previous poster, people don't turn down blind invites because they are what they are, and that is an invite to a party. Nevertheless, it's still rude. Kinda like a strange man in a white van offering candy to a child.

"U wan teh candis?"
"haha rofl k guy"
"jackedlol"

The kid doesn't know the man. BAD IDEA, KID!

Now let's say it's his grandfather.

"Jimmy u wan teh candis?"
"haha rofl k gramp"
"candiedlol"

GET IT?

[Icemage]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

Jp only mainly due to my experience when searching for members, jp have more descriptive search comments that show how experienced they are, and they dont mind discussing a pt set-up and location before invite. Most random invites are summed with the tab key and consist of [party] [do you need it?] @ [ xxxxx ] =/

I find that people who flag JP only but do not speak the language at all to be extremely pretentious. If you don't sling the lingo, not only does it give you a bad reputation amongst Japanese players (who are going to assume you can understand them), but quite a lot of veteran players will downgrade their opinion of you as well (i.e. lies or otherwise misinforms other players to pursue goals).

Aside from that, I notice no difference in overall skill level now between English and Japanese players. Similar proportion of skilled vs. clueless (disregarding the current influx of Xbox360 players who are just getting into the game). There's quite a lot of good English speaking players out there now, and I really don't see the point in deliberately setting the wrong language flag.


Icemage

[Asir]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

To Matera: Yes, some are of the opinion it is rude and other's are not. If someone ever sent me a /tell that they found me blind inviting them rude, I would merely apologize that I offended them and move on. As I said in my first post in the thread, I do send a /tell if a person requests it in their Search Comment or if they don't have a Comment at all since I know some people have their flag up for other reasons. Still irks me that many people still don't use the other colored dots in the Search Comment list.

I find that people who flag JP only but do not speak the language at all to be extremely pretentious.

JP Only by English players irks me as well since I've never actually seen it on a Japanese player, and when they set their language as JE yet don't speak Japanese at all. I've often tried making parties when there's only one or two other E speaking players seeking and a ton of JE and J. When that happens, I like to invite the JE first to act as a translator when the AT won't do and then a couple of J members. Many times I've asked my soon to be translator how much Japanese they speak and they tell me none.

[Palom_FF]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

The way I see things, I actually really enjoy the EXP grind. I absolutely love seeing 15K/hour PTs and pushing myself to keep EXP chains going. This is the fun I have with the game.

Now, that being said, sub-par PTs are no fun at all for me and I want to avoid them at all costs. With pick-up EXP PTs, you are presenting yourself to other players. If the first thing I see from someone is "Soandso invites you to join his/her party," then my impression is that this person is too lazy to send a /tell and thus too lazy to play their job properly. So I will either ignore or decline. I'd rather err on the side of caution than sink myself into a bad party wanting to rip my hair out. If someone can't be bothered to send a decent /tell before inviting, for all I know they can't be bothered to farm up decent gear, either. And /anon PT leaders = automatic ignore.

I actually probably take it too far. I also ignore the majority of "{Party} {Do you need it?}" or "pt?" tells. First of all, I have 1) my flag up; and 2) a green search comment. Obviously I'm looking for a party, what kind of ridiculous question is that? Second, it is easily discernable from my search comment that I am English. There's no need to send /tells all in auto-trans. And lastly, as I said before, I want to EXP to have fun. I don't want to join any PT. For me, some EXP is not as good as no EXP if the PT is utter crap.

I solo every new job to at least 20, so I don't really deal with Valkurm anymore. However, when I am a PT leader (which is once in a fair blue moon), I will always send /tells regardless of what level I'm at. And even if everyone I've sent a /tell to has been AFK for the past two hours, I will still type out the full line to each person I do send a /tell to. If the person speaks English, I will simply send, "Hiya, would you like to join an EXP PT? We have NIN, WAR, BRD, RDM so far." If the person is Japanese or I'm unable to tell, I'll use the auto-trans with something like, "{Excuse me....} {Experience points}PT{interest}? 3EN+1JP {Ninja}{Warrior}{Bard}{Red Mage}" I also don't deal with replacements, so if a PT has been going for a couple hours and someone has to go, I will end it there without risking wasting someone else's time to get out if another person has to go shortly thereafter.

All in all, it boils down to courtesy. I want to have fun, and I want the rest of my PT to have a good time with me; not feel like some insignificant cog. I try to learn everything I can about all my jobs and play them to their very best, so I want to present myself to others in a way that conveys that.

[Balgas]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

Heh, If I am not LFP and I get a silet invite, they get a silent decline. If it happens a couple of times from the same person then they get put on the /blist. I just think it's rude to keep inviting someone who is not even LFP. Whenever I gave out invites, I always made sure to say hi and list the group members jobs and levels. It's only common courtesy.

[Davitron3000]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

/JP only and this shit never happens

Jp only mainly due to my experience when searching for members, jp have more descriptive search comments that show how experienced they are, and they dont mind discussing a pt set-up and location before invite. Most random invites are summed with the tab key and consist of [party] [do you need it?] @ [ xxxxx ] =/

I read this and it stunned me. I didn't realize that this even happened...
I suppose this could be a thread all of its own. Are you in a Japanese LS?

I find that people who flag JP only but do not speak the language at all to be extremely pretentious.

I couldn't agree more...

[Ellipses]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

JP Only by English players irks me as well since I've never actually seen it on a Japanese player, and when they set their language as JE yet don't speak Japanese at all. I've often tried making parties when there's only one or two other E speaking players seeking and a ton of JE and J. When that happens, I like to invite the JE first to act as a translator when the AT won't do and then a couple of J members. Many times I've asked my soon to be translator how much Japanese they speak and they tell me none.

I'm one of those dirty, rotten bastards who has it set to JE when I don't speak a lick of Japanese. In my experience, it's turning into more a designation of preference than anything about actually knowing the language. Granted, English-only players are a lot more likely to use it that way, but it seems to be crossing over a bit.

For the longest time, while I was mostly playing Bard, I had it set to E, with "{Japanese}/{English}{Party}O" and "{I don't speak any Japanese.}" in my search comments. Then I had a run of playing later at night on the weekends, sort of in between heavily-NA times and heavily-JP times, leveling mostly WHM, RDM, and BLM. I started switching it back and forth between E and JE, with the same search comments. I got a lot more invites on JE, even with having "{I don't speak any Japanese.}" in the search comments, and telling anyone who invited me the same thing, and none of them had a problem with it.

So now I leave it as JE. I have yet to be invited by a single person who seems to think it means I actually speak both languages.

[Nakti]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

My opinion is that if a person has a search comment up, then they are looking to be invited to a group so I send the invite. In all the time I've been playing, I've only had a blind invite declined once and that was by a person who realized they were on longer then they expected and thought it better not to join since they had to go in an hour.

I've never been one to judge a party based on the type of invite I get, I wait until we have had a few fights before I determine how well or poorly it is going to do. I've never understood how knowing the jobs in the party can determine if it will work out or not since it's the skill of the player not the job itself that determines if it will work.

Please send /tells even to a person who has a search comment (and doesn't specify {/tell}{please}). Although you are a wonderful exception, I find that many leaders don't read my comments. The receiver of a blind invite doesn't know whether the invite is truly for the PT he requested. Based on your post, though, I will make sure to add {/tell}{please} to my comments from now on.

Personally, I don't turn down PTs based on job makeup. But I will pack different gear/food/medicine/etc depending on who/where/how long. I like to be prepared.

[Davitron3000]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

I'm one of those dirty, rotten bastards who has it set to JE when I don't speak a lick of Japanese. In my experience, it's turning into more a designation of preference than anything about actually knowing the language. Granted, English-only players are a lot more likely to use it that way, but it seems to be crossing over a bit.

For the longest time, while I was mostly playing Bard, I had it set to E, with "{Japanese}/{English}{Party}O" and "{I don't speak any Japanese.}" in my search comments. Then I had a run of playing later at night on the weekends, sort of in between heavily-NA times and heavily-JP times, leveling mostly WHM, RDM, and BLM. I started switching it back and forth between E and JE, with the same search comments. I got a lot more invites on JE, even with having "{I don't speak any Japanese.}" in the search comments, and telling anyone who invited me the same thing, and none of them had a problem with it.

So now I leave it as JE. I have yet to be invited by a single person who seems to think it means I actually speak both languages.

While using JE in your comment is somewhat misleading, I don't think this is in the same
league as putting "JP only" in your search comment if you don't speak any Japanese.

[Ellipses]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

While using JE in your comment is somewhat misleading, I don't think this is in the same
league as putting "JP only" in your search comment if you don't speak any Japanese.

Oh, absolutely, that is clearly only for miscreants and scallawags.

[Murphie]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

I've found myself playing a lot during JP prime time as opposed to NA prime time (or NA time at all, really). I might have to give that JE thing a try (provided I clearly indicate that I do not speak any Japanese).

[Jei]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

I'm personally fine with JE. It means the person is willing to communicate.
Some Japanese tho just straight on refuse to party with english speaking players no matter if they set to E or JE.

[Meth]

Re: Blind Invites: Why are they so bad?

Okay, I hate, hate, hate blind invites. Despise them. As a White Mage, half the time I LFG, I do so simply by entering XP search comments, and coming off anon (usually I do this if I still ahve to get food, etc., from the AH, or need something from MH, etc.).

Anyhow, In the time it takes me to run from one end of Jeuno to the Mog House, I can get upwards of three or four blind invites; none of them for XP parties. I have gotten requests to Power Level, Teleport (for free), D2 (sometimes newbs are refreshing), and one got a party invite from a level 21 something wanting to XP party (I was 67 at the time).

Going to blind invite me? GTFO. The people who blind invite me have only ever wanted to use me 'cause I'm White Mage.

even when i'm actively LFG blind invites have only ever been for things other than XP parties. Hell, one I even got after I Mea'd heading out to Bibiki bay and someone wanted a Tele-Holla; they blind invited I assumed it was my party only to see "I got a teleporter" in /p. They had the gal to be upset at me when I dropped party.

So you want to know why hate blind invites? There you have it. I play White Mage, and they have never been for XP parties.

Now my solution to Blind invites is the reply, "{No thanks.}"

That's the best case I've read yet. I would hate blind invites to if they were always for teles and never for partys.

/offtopic rant
Valis posted earlier about being declined by two Bards in C. Nest, and I found this disturbing. As a Bard, I know it's a lot easier to party with Ninjas vs. Paladins; but I hate lazy @$$ party snob Bards more then anything else in the game. Paladin partys are a great chance to really master spacing and I personally learned a lot from these partys.
/rant off