Whats the consensus on joining in with strangers?

[crasher]

I'm trudging down the road, (I walk/run a lot... you see a lot of stuff that way),
1.) And there's a guy or two engaged in a fistfight with a mob.
or -
2.) There's one or two people in a fight off to the side with bugs.

Do I jump in and help?
Does that spoil their mission?
Should I just stand around waiting to see if they need somebody to drag them to the sidelines for milk-n-cookies?

Chat isn't used most of the time, and I'm not fast enough or smart enough to figure out text in those situations....

I go cruising into one of the areas like the smelters, or the docks, and there's people in there in a firefight.
I want to help.
Am I just pissing people off by butting in?
Do I mess up their mission?

A little guidance, please.
I want to be a good Doo-Bee.

And I hate not knowing who to thank for help, or rez's, they blow out of there quickly when I get help.

I hate completing a mission with some stranger and having no viable way to say 'Thanks, lets go grab a beer...' before it's awkward just standing there looking at each other....

[pyrolm]

I personally like when people jump in. I occasionally help people if it doesn't take away from what I am working on at that time. I hope most people don't mind, but I am sure there are plenty that would rather be left alone. I usually just ride in, help, and ride out before they can say anything lol.

[6Strummer]

I personally like when people jump in. I occasionally help people if it doesn't take away from what I am working on at that time. I hope most people don't mind, but I am sure there are plenty that would rather be left alone. I usually just ride in, help, and ride out before they can say anything lol.

My thoughts exactly. I think most people like it. I usually get invited to a group when I do that.

[CaptainRaj]

Personally, I like it when people join in. I did one of the docks yesterday with 5 other strangers (I think a few of them were in a clan togethef) and it was loads of fun.

[Cutlass Jack]

On PC side at least, people are pretty used to dropping in and helping whenever the mood hits them. Sometimes we'll exchange a brief pleasantry afterwards via area text chat.

I believe the areas like the Smelters and such are soft instances and you're only in them with others who are on roughtly the same point of the area mission. So no harm at all in helping them there. The game is built around that sort of 'jump in' gameplay, much like Rift.

That sort of gameplay did take a small kick recently with the change involving having to hit a mob to get credit on it. So while its possible someone might complain on that basis, I haven't seen it happen yet. That change really needs to be adjusted and/or removed. Since it pushes people towards more antisocialness. (plenty of threads on that)

[Blade of Souls]

Well, you have my permission to jump into any fight that I may be in. But to each his own, we're all arkhunters with our own personalities.

[Sull]

I like when people join in. I do the same if I'm not in a hurry to go somewhere.

[Elgand]

I almost always like the assistance. The only time that I get upset because someone else showed up is when I want some quality alone time with a certain Hulker and my BMG. Even then I understand people want to complete their mission and normally just help them kill the hulker, then leave and reset the area.

[LadyChaos]

I try not to run over their mobs if I can't hang and help out, but I like to strop drop and roll into a emergency quickie with peeps on the run myself. If I happen across a larger multi-step quest I feel weird leaving before they finish their quest lol... I've had a few nice little chats afterwards and made a couple friends this way.

[Dantronos223]

My mommy says i'm not supposed to talk to strangers.