Does anyone (Besides Me) actually play this game because it is group focused?

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by Midnitewolf, Oct 4, 2019.

  1. Chuuk Augur

    The "grouping" aspect of the game was cool and necessary when there was actual risk: corpse runs, no maps, unknown dangers, and unknown rewards.

    Since everything about the game is known, and just about every exploit is used to make the game easier, there is no risk. No corpse runs. Maps galore. Hundreds and thousands of websites and pages that document every. single. thing.

    Grouping was desirable when there was adventure to be had...not "very well chartered courses" to mindlessly follow without any real challenge. We're all just going thru the motions...pull a frog, kill a frog, repeat ad nauseum. Being in a group just means doing the same thing with added drama.

    But what can one expect from a 20 year old game?
  2. Spayce Augur

    Some people like to solo. Some people like to box. Some people like to group with friends. Some people like to group with all different people. Some people like to raid. Some people like to box while raiding.

    And some people like to complain about what others enjoy, so they make threads like these.
    Febb, Oakenblade and code-zero like this.
  3. Midnitewolf Augur


    I don't think I am dictating how people should play. I just don't understand why people only want to solo in a game that was specifically designed around group play mechanics. There are tons and tons of solo play games out there, even ones that allow you to control entire groups of characters, that were specifically designed for that so it doesn't compute to me why you would come to EQ for that experience.

    And if anything is dictating how a person should play the game, it is those players who box and play only solo that end up dictating the current game environment in EQ which virtually comes down to box and solo if you want to progress instead of playing the game as it was designed, as a cooperative experience.

    At the end of the day, I don't have a problem if people want to group or not. If my gameplay experience becomes frustrating, I will play another game, simple as that. That still doesn't change the fact that I don't understand why, in general, people playing EQ wouldn't always choose to be in a group over solo. I was kind of shocked to see 5 players that night in DSP, all pretty much playing solo and not a single one willing to say, "Come on over and join me" in a game that was designed specifically for groups.
    andross77 likes this.
  4. Midnitewolf Augur


    And I am not sure why people take every comment as a complaint. I asked if anyone actually came back to EQ for the cooperative experience because I was shocked at how very few players actually seem to want to group, even when grouping was obviously the faster way to progress mostly because the game was designed that way. That isn't a complaint, that is an observation.

    People can solo if they want to, I am not stopping them or trying to stop them though it doesn't make sense to play EQ if that is your mindset. Hell virtually all my current characters were chosen with at least some consideration to their ability to solo because even back in the day when EQ was popular and active, it could be difficult to find a group at times so soloing is fine. However that doesn't mean I ONLY want to solo because if that was the case, I wouldn't be back playing a game that is about 15 years out of date where it is a struggle to solo. I am also shocked the lengths people go to be able to solo in this game. I mean going to the length of trying to automate 3,4,5,6 toons and play each on simultaneously seems crazy. Even playing 2 characters beyond the 2nd being an out of group box parked in the corner to provide a few buffs every 5-10 minutes seems strange.

    So sorry to break it to you, it wasn't a complaint as much as it was a discussion.
    andross77 likes this.
  5. WaitingforMoreEQ WaitingforTBC

    Because of the second M in MMO.
  6. Smokezz The Bane Crew

    Uh huh... still doesn't mean you get to tell everyone else how to play every aspect of the game.
  7. WaitingforMoreEQ WaitingforTBC

    Nobody is here it telling you want class you have to play, what zones you have to level in ect ect. Nobody is telling you how to play "every aspect of the game"

    People are saying the game is better without this one thing you're doing that negatively impacts one of the most important parts of the genre.
    andross77 likes this.
  8. Smokezz The Bane Crew

    Some are saying that. And some are loudly disagreeing with you.
    Oakenblade likes this.
  9. WaitingforMoreEQ WaitingforTBC

    Okay and? What does that have to do with your original argument/question?
  10. Dracoko New Member

    There are lots of people grouping on Mangler. Just have to make friends! Pretty awesome server IMO.
  11. Spayce Augur

    Whether it seems strange to you or not is completely irrelevant. Whether or not you can wrap your head around how much fun it is to play 6 toons at a time and then complete raid content with a few other people who are also playing multiple toons is a limitation of your ability to think outside your “I can only understand 1 character at a time” mindset.
  12. Machen New Member


    It's pretty simple, really. Because they enjoy it.
  13. Accipiter Old Timer


    I like how you removed the "RPG" from the end. That way you don't have to explain why everyone isn't roleplaying.

    Just having a go: I don't generally call it MMORPG, either.
  14. oldkracow 9999 Is the Krono Account Limit

    It's almost always the character getting PL'ed is doing nothing and leeching experience.

    Just think of it like this includes the group bonus exp.
    • 1 person 100% of split experience
    • 2 people 60% of split each
    • 3 people 46% of split each
    • 4 people 40% of split each
    • 5 people 36% of split each
    • 6 people 36% of split each (this is where your free person comes in)
    While the overall experience to the group grows and for a regular group that can kill faster this makes sense, but if you are getting PL'd the biggest factor is running out of targets and extra help isn't going to allow anyone to pull more targets if they are all dead.

    That being said I usually toss buffs during the low levels 1 to 16 to anyone around to help them. After that it's all AoE style power levels and every additional person just slows it down.
  15. Oakenblade Former ForumQuest Champion


    If you really (and ever so innocently) just wanted to understand the discussion, you could have easily searched the countless existing threads (which all eventually become dumpster fires) regarding boxing vs soling vs moloing vs whatever other methods of play people engage in.

    Instead you felt the need to make a new one and stir the pot. Others have eloquently explained it, and with very few words. They box because they want to.

    P.S. The game wasn't "designed around grouping." If it was, certain classes wouldn't have been designed to solo as well as they do.

    P.P.S. The extra "M" in "MMO" isn't a green light to start crap all over how other people choose to enjoy the game, and I have no idea why any rational person would interpret it that way.
  16. WaitingforMoreEQ WaitingforTBC

    Brad would disagree with you
  17. Oakenblade Former ForumQuest Champion


    Brad wasn't the only person that developed EQ. He worked with a team. We're lucky that was the case, because Brad, while he did a number of great and revolutionary things for the MMO world, is an extremist. Just like a lot of people on these forums (see anti-boxers). The fact that EQ had solo components made the game better, more robust, and palatable for more people.
  18. HoodenShuklak Augur

    Brad... b rad... rad... drab?



    Pantheon.
  19. code-zero Augur

    It's even more complicated than boxing/soloing v grouping. I recall a past guild where quite a few players hated the concept of ADPS, necros who didn't like it that their DPS increased with a bard in group. Shaman who were prickly about their synergy with bards. Melee classes who didn't comprehend how haste and overhaste works.

    That's just a few of the things I encountered as a bard main before I started boxing. At the end of the day I found that I preferred having a druid in group because they didn't complain for the most part and were happy to have mana regen.
  20. Midnitewolf Augur


    No I was honestly perplexed. I sincerely don't understand why people play EQ if all they want to do is solo. I haven't played EQ for a very long time and was honestly expecting one of the prime motivating factors, at least for those choosing to play on a TLP, was because those players were looking for the classic EQ experience, i.e. a game based on players acting in a cooperative manner in order to accomplish a common goal or to put it simply, grouping.

    Am I frustrated by the lack of grouping in a game founded and designed for cooperative game play, honestly, yes. That is why I came back after nearly a 20 year absence. I got tired of every MMO, leaving out the first "M" as you put it and decided to come back to get that type of game play. Of course I am frustrated but when you find things are not as you expected, I think it is natural to want to ask why or maybe find out if your perception is wrong and other people are having different experiences. The answer, which I got from the majority of responses to this thread by the way, is that if your looking for a cooperative game, go somewhere else cause it no longer exists in EQ even on the TLP's that are supposed to provide that Classic experience.

    What followed is not "Dictating" how people should play, it was discussing the situation. I never once said, "You are required to play this way" I just said, it didn't make sense because from my perspective, I ALWAYS progress faster in the game with a group. There is not now nor has their ever been a time where having another player in my party has resulted in slower progression and it didn't matter how efficient the class I was playing could solo. Group ALWAYS equaled faster progression.

    So honestly, I am not sure how this stirs up trouble, unless someone wants to turn the discussion into an argument which I guess is what has happened in this case.
    andross77 and MasterMagnus like this.