"I sit LFG for hours" You're wrong, here's why.

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by Vetis, May 11, 2020.

  1. Vetis Elder

    Stay awhile and listen.. (did you read this in Deckard Cain's voice? haha)

    So, I saw a post from a guy asking for peoples input on solo players who don't box on tlps. I played most of the TLP's with one character. I've played Bard, Necro and even a Ranger (yes a real live single player ranger with no box).

    I play pretty casually, I would log in make a group, get some levels, log out. Eventually I would hit max level and do raids on my guilds scheduled times, I even missed quite a few due to work I had about a 70% raid attendance.

    Before Kunark came out I was very nearly best in slot. (Ranger was named Virus on Agnarr).

    The Reason You're Here:

    If I were to guestimate I would be pretty safe in saying the majority of players do this: /lfg on.

    Then they sit around waiting for tells.... and wait... and wait.. Now if you're a highly sought out class this is fine. (Ench/Clr/Magician/Shaman) you'll get a tell eventually most of the time. (not always)

    But for those of you who wish to play something a little less... desired. (Rogue/Paladin/Ranger)

    (Now, I know there will be nay sayers, people always choose to argue with me on this but from experience on several several several occasions, I know for a fact I'm right and the nay sayers are wrong.)

    It is fine to put /lfg on. But, I highly recommend putting in /lfg, setting the level parameters in the LFG tool you're looking for hitting search and then SENDING TELLS. Build your own group... seriously. If you build your own group (even as a paladin/rogue!) You will have a group ready to go in a couple of minutes.

    Think about it. 9 times out of 10 when you receive a tell asking if you'd like a spot in a group you say what? yes!!

    This is true for the majority of players. If you send them a tell, they will say yes. The hard truth is people just don't want to make a group, idk if it's because of anxiety or they're intimidated by doing it or what but they just don't like to do it. But they love to get a tell asking them to join one!!

    tldr; Make a group for instant groups instead of sitting around with lfg on.
    Iyacc and Skuz like this.
  2. Pawtato Augur

    Sure, you can tell people to be proactive but they won’t do it. I used to be one of these people that would do /w all class <level> and send random tells. It’s honestly a lot more effort than I want to put into the game most of the time, which led me to start adding boxes. I enjoy adding in guildies, but I’ve long tired of PUGs.
    Kalipto, HoodenShuklak and Skuz like this.
  3. sumnayin Augur

    Takes less than a minute to /who all <level range> and send a few tells. Also isn't hard to group with people as you level and friend them, or ask them if they want to keep grouping in the future.
    Vetis likes this.
  4. Vetis Elder


    You're not wrong, I do love the pointer on the "/who all magician 40 50" pointer as well. I meant to mention that but forgot and it got a bit wordy anyways.. I hear where you're coming from, but to your point, if you are a rogue and you're also not willing to make your own groups and you're a lone wolf new to the server with no friends. You're gonna have a bad time.

    If you play a class that isn't one of the big desired classes and you're playing solo and you're new. Better be ready to send tells. =)
  5. Vetis Elder


    I thought this as well when he said "more effort than i'm willing to put in" fact is... it's way more effort to box then to spend a couple seconds sending tells. /shrug
  6. Kanuvan Elder

    also nothing wrong with 4 person groups, dont need to think like the average player who wants to make a full 6 person group or nothing at all, duo's are kinda boring and not my cup of tea but 4+ isent hard to do, usually just saying "LFM" in a popular area is enough to get tells
  7. Pawtato Augur

    You’re right, it doesn’t take long to send tells. It does take awhile to herd the cats to the zone though. It’s what I refer to as the hassle.

    I won’t argue against your point of building a network, because that’s important. It’s why we all join guilds, right?

    I will argue that people just aren’t interested in being social and leaders. The game never really found a solution to that behavior pattern. The LFG window is mostly dead, and LDoN was a decent attempt.
  8. TLP Addict Augur

    4 person groups?

    [IMG]
  9. Mrjon3s Augur

    I start groups with what I can find and The worst is the people who would rather sit with lfg on then start a sub optimal group. Not every group is gonna have an enchanted and cleric. Sometimes you gotta just roll with a druid 2 pallies a ranger and a rogue. Some of the most fun I have had playing are with these types of groups.
    Vetis, Pawtato and TLP Addict like this.
  10. Protagonist Tank

    I'll side-add to the above advice - have an actual location to group at before you send tells building a group. People who put together a group then say "Let's just pick around and see what camp we can find" go to the special hell.
    Chatoyan, Wyndar, Skuz and 1 other person like this.
  11. Hinastorm86 Augur

    This is basically what op is suggesting, and it's not going to work very often. Especially not early on.

    Even if you have a location in mind, it's probably camped. Even if you're sitting in the location, unless you get your self made group there quickly, another group is going to take it.

    This was less of a concern on something like selo launch, where we had tons of viable options right away.
    Chatoyan likes this.
  12. Protagonist Tank

    Eh, finding non-camped spots is pretty easy pre-40 or so. In the 40-50 stretch, everyone is forced into the same path as the gimpp train and the "it'll already be camped" argument holds more true.
  13. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    Back in the early days EQ was very much more open to PUGs, but it was mostly out of necessity.
    The longer people have been playing the more averse they have become to them.

    Having the ability to box does also factor into that need to find others, when someone doesn't actually need the help of other people they are usually far less inclined to put in the effort to do so.

    When I played on live I would go out of my way to create & join PUGs as a recruitment strategy, spot a class we wanted that was LFG & behind in levels get them in group & go smash out some XP, crack jokes, get to know them a bit, throw in the recruitment pitch & see how they react. Worked well enough to rebuild the guild a few times over after multiple exoduses, much much harder on TLP though.

    But if you want a group you can't sit on your backside hoping for one, you get out what you put in, building groups is a case of making it work.

    Best PUG I ever did?
    Phinigel, Double-XP weekend during early Omens of War - had just gotten my 2.0, Lair of the Splitpaw.
    I lived there for three days sleeping only 8 hours over 3 days, group was almost constantly killing.
    I was tanking, pulling, out of group box healing/slowing/buffing, everyone who joined had fun & got lots of AA & I cycled so many different players through the group over that time I lost count, but it had to have been dozens, would start each day as all guild members then by late evening got more & more PUG.
    By the end of the first day I didn't even need to look that hard for replacements, word of mouth was doing the group-filling for me, people who got in the group were asking if a friend/guild-member could join once we had a spot so I just rotated them in as I could & people were leaving very reluctantly when they did.
    At times managing the queue to get in the group kept me as busy as pulling & killing the mobs did.
    I gained just over 1,000 AA on that 3-day weekend which for that era was a huge amount to gain that fast (booked the Friday & Monday off work) and while the friends I had in guild who knew me from the old days were not surprised, many of the newer folks swore I wasn't human - good times.
  14. TLP Addict Augur

    The "do you have a camp?" crowd is a big part of the reason why it can be hard to make your own group.
    Crabman likes this.
  15. Protagonist Tank


    Because the "We'll just look around and find a camp" attitude is one of the biggest time wastes and compounding failure piles in Classic, sending everyone running to a zone and waiting for them all to arrive before even checking if a camp is available - inevitably discovering "No" is the answer, then sending everyone zerging off to another zone where no camps will be available.

    Tip: That question isn't hard to answer if you have a camp and aren't just wasting people's time. You can "look around and find a camp" before sending any tells.
    Chatoyan likes this.
  16. Barton The Mischievous

    Is that the one also reserved for people who talk in theaters?
    Vetis likes this.
  17. Silver-Crow Augur

    I would agree that making your own group is the best way to level up, especially if you're not max level. Max level people typically will never ask someone that needs a couple of levels to a group, unless they know them, even if they're more than capable of handling things... there's definite snobbery there.

    Having a camp is a difficult one as you won't really know till you get to a zone. Best thing i've found is to have a definite Plan A... which zone you're going to hit, and then work out which exact camp spot you're heading to once people are there. With pick zones there's usually something open. It doesn't hurt to have a Plan B, but it's best not to mention it unless you have to. The great thing about forming a group is you get to pick where to go and what to do. Don't ever ask 'where do you want to go' as you'll get 5 different answers. You're the group lead, so make the most of it :D
  18. besbin Journeyman

    I don’t know why Pallys are being grouped in with rogues and rangers as potentially having a hard time finding a group.
    Having mained a paladin on two TLPs I can say I rarely struggled to find a group. They make much better group tanks than warriors in classic and groups always need a tank. Struggled way more to find groups on my wizard.
    Kanuvan likes this.
  19. Leifer Augur

    Starting your own groups can be fairly easy depending on your own role in said group. Many LFG'ers are LFG simply because its easier to do than creating your own. You end up recruiting a group half full of rather lazy individuals. Playing a Paladin in most groups, I invariably end up pulling and tanking. I can't tell you how many times the bard, monk or ranger has no idea how to pull at most camps.

    The leader is also often in charge of loot (even though I beg for someone else to do it). Also, the leader is usually in charge of finding replacements for those leaving (even though I beg for people to find their own replacements). On top of all that, the leader has to hear tells from everyone else about everyone else not holding up to their responsibility in the group. All this can be a big workload for certain classes to also be the group leader/organizer. Along with group members going AFK for breaks, drinks, smokes, kids, you end up actually XP grinding, maybe half the time you sit at camp.

    It can often be much more time saving just LFG for an hour to be a replacement in an already working group. I work a full time job and have a family, but I love EQ. I don't want to make EQ another job by having to stress over leading a group for a few hours in order to XP for maybe an hour. Most nights I'd rather just take my chances LFG and log off if unsuccessful. Better yet, I would like to box some of my own toons and get right into playing at night and fill in some spots of capable individuals who can pull and someone who volunteers to lead the group after I assemble it.
    HoodenShuklak likes this.
  20. Vetis Elder


    Yo this is a great point, I'm glad you brought this up. I have grouped with what was available and ended up with a group like this multiple times and you're absolutely right it was a blast. While you're not a well oiled killing machine as the "meta" group build you still get mobs dead at an acceptable pace and you get to do it in a different way.

    #KillAllTheThings