I've seen a few posts lately about some good groups and nights. These
are cool and tell things to look for when I'm in a group (my bard
basically plays in all pickup groups right now, I play very
erractically, though this weekend was great, made almost 2 lvls!).

Now the ugly question. What should I look for to help me identify a bad
group. Not having gate, its helpful to make pretty quick judments on a
group since its hard to get out sometimes (in dungeons).

For example Monday I was with two others (enchanter and shaman) who I
had done great with the night before. We picked up three tanks (A
uber-twinkie warrior, exec axe/crafted at lvl 17, monk and a ranger).
Playing it safe ( I thought) we were turbo pulling on orc highway (if
you dont know they are lvl 12-16ish with an occasional "a orc warrior"
which are like lvl 20 I think, red to me at 15).

Fifteen minutes in (the enchant, shaman and I had been together for an
hour Monday, but a lvl 15 bard is a flimsy tank against DW caimians and
crocs). We heard a "xxxx yells for help". All but the monk (out
pulling) get up, and see the usual. A soloist mistakingly pulled on of
the "a orc"s. We pile on, as the shaman warns the puller we have a big
fight (these are pretty rough even with a full group). We have it
beaten down, both casters OOM, but health is fine, when I look up from
key mashing and see mine dropping. Ugh, DB skel decided he didnt like
my music. Three /g's of "Help the bard" from our shaman (he's good!
noticed my health before I did), and I am still solo on the DB down to
1.5 bubs. Eventually the enchanter's pet manages to get the DB off
me(lucky I guess). At which point the ranger says "Anthem!". (I assume
he finally noticed all the nifty flashing icons were off his screen, as
I was getting the crap stunned out of me). Shaman reminds the tank that
their fair haired bard is the lowest lvl in the group and not much good
at absorbing damage. (I tend to not say anything, so he has taken on
the role for me)

Life goes on... ABout half hour later, I decide to experiment with
kabonging. With all this muscle (even the shaman out damages me with
his big hammer), I felt my damage wasn't mattering much and we might be
better served if I just use the old mandolin. So I weave Hymm and
Chordx2 in battle (I only triple in a big fight as it gives me a
headache), with my mandolin in hand. After a big pull (2 priests and
warriors), I am pretty well smushed (below 1 bub), so I'm sitting with
Hymm going. I watch the ranger top himself off with heals (the other
tanks were down around 2 bubs), then cast the damage shield on himself.
I tell the enchanter and shaman, "Time to Jettison this trash?"

In any case what are some good things to look for so I know when to bail
out? The group I met on Sunday was great (we played about 6 hours with
0 deaths in a low-risk zone, closest call was me being saved by a rune
spell, 2 hp left!), but I think they will out level me too quickly
(which is usually my problem, any good players I meet out level me
quickly, guess I should figure out where I stand)
--
We now return to the non-stop rock.

Matt DeBarger