Surprising.
Surprising for several reasons, actually.
Had a mixed bag of Threatening PUGs this weekend (in addition to matches with friends), some went smooth as silk and others were awful, flopping fish-dying-on-a-riverbank affairs. That was not surprising.
What was surprising was the last PUG I fell into last night. First off, two people were actually using mics! This is surprising because even though PS4 literally comes with a mic, most people are as silent as the PC crowd - I heard much more public talking on PS3 in ME3MP lobbies, where you actually had to purchase a mic. So, odd that we've moved to silence when given a free mic, but eh. I've gotten used to not using my headset unless with friends because of that (don't want to be that annoying PUG that narrates to the lobby by themselves). Hearing those two using mics prompted me to throw my headset on.
It was two guys, one who's played a while (but I don't believe was a BSNer) trying to help his buddy, who was new to the game. He was giving some solid Legionnaire build advice, which I seconded. Then he complained a bit about not figuring out any good Archer builds, so I gave him some ideas on that.
Things went relatively okay until Zone 5. The two talkers got taken down repeatedly and ended up in the Fade. The non-talker 4th and myself ended up clutching it, which was pleasantly surprising because I'm not a very good clutcher on DAMP yet. Sorta sad because I was a great clutcher on ME3MP. I did not enjoy solos and I was not very fast about them, but if a wave went to pot (or, sometimes, wave after wave), it was almost a guarantee I could get us there in the end, slow and steady. On DAMP, not so much.
So, even a duo clutch made me feel really good. At the same time, I gave them some advice on boss tells and how to prioritize and general Zone 5 strategy.
After the match, Talker # 1 blurted out, "I'm adding this chick to my friends list right now!" as a friend request popped up. Found that amusing. Haven't been added to a PUG's friends list due to good play/knowledge in a while (again, not since ME3MP), so that also made me feel good. Also because I was added due to clutching/knowledge rather than just because I was a chick with a mic (yeah, those instant friend requests because I spoke are... possibly well-intended, but come off as a little creepy). That made me feel good, too.
Ended up having to clutch Zone 5 again the next match with help from a new silent 4th PUG, but they were getting better about it. We then tried a Perilous, which I warned would end badly... and it did. On Zone 1. LMAO
But that was a nice change of pace from the silent speedruns or the silent rooms of fail I've been getting lately. 