Its not that LFG is broken, its that no one uses it. The game is no longer about random pick up groups, especially on live (as always, tlp is probably an exception). Everyone either boxes or has a static. Heck, even back in "the day", lfg and pick up groups were TERRIBLE. Soo many people spent hours unable to play because they couldn't get a group (lack of tanks/clerics/slowers). And when you got one, you found out the wizard had more ac than the tank did... Progression kinda enforces this too. No one wants to work on progression they've completed (zero benefit), and cannot work on progression they aren't ready for.
Thats how I feel about LS. Got wizards more AC than tanks, can't do T1 nameds. Can go ahead and tell me how easy everything is. But fact is casual can't do LS. Duo. Tank merc and healer merc can't survive against nameds. It's a constant struggle. Constantly hoping the named does not get lucky.
So you are basiclly saying that anyone that can get 3 chars together should be able to afk killing nameds in LS just using a merc tank+healer+dps? While i like an easier expansion, i dont see a huge gain for everyone just to afk farm their gear.. gaining exp is allready an afk fest due to HF Partisan #2 and the only challenge i found aside from HF Mission is PalLomen. And if you are able to get from 110 to 120 without getting at least a full set of ToV T1 armor.. then why play/pay this game at all?
LS tier 1 is well tuned for casual players, as tier 1 should be. As a semi-casual warrior I duo ok with an alt rogue and 2 healer mercs. It's a bit slow, with mobs having so much hp, and I should swap a healer out for a dps merc but it's very comfortable with 2 healers so I just chill and chip away. I have not tried tier 2 yet, but I have a concern it won't be so casual friendly.
If the wizard has more AC then a player tank, then the player tank has some serious problems. Besides getting to level 120 to begin with. A 125 wizard with T2 LS gear and no augments has like 5500 ac if we are generous. And i would bet that with that amount of ac the tank would even struggle in FM with more then 2 mobs.
Not at all. Noone should be afk killing anything. But it's nice to not be REQUIRED to have a maxed out tank, healer and dps in order to do anything.
So, hate to break it to you, but ALL zones should be group friendly. Thats why you get raids. Thats where your raid gear matters. There already is the dramatic problem of too much raid content vs group content. Zones are for everyone to level in. Missions are for groups (2), raids are for raiders (8)
The last time I tried picking people up from LFG they were AFK, it is far quicker these days to ask for players in general channel. Though most of them are AFK and you still get tells half an hour later asking for a group. With harder missions this time round, I've seen more players grouping than boxing. The only good thing about the current 2 missions.
I didn't say group friendly, I said casual friendly. I believe tier 1 should be accessible to casuals and tier 2 should be accessible to groupers with tier 2 / tier 3 equivalent group gear and a mostly full group of real people. My concern was a purely personal one, speaking from the point of a warrior/rogue box duo.
So how many generalizations can you put together and not get anything? "All zones should be group friendly". Sure, including groups with raid gear players too. How many zones are 'friendly' but not snooze-fest for raid gear players? Because raid geared players make up a large portion of the player base and they too should have some zones which are friendly to them when in a group. Oh.. but that's not what you meant. Ok, how about this... "Zones are for everyone to level in." Are raiders not part of this 'everyone' which you speak of? "There already is the dramatic problem of too much raid content vs group content." Well, as UberKingKong has even mentioned, his characters only have 6 of 98 heroic AAs. But he doesn't feel like going back to older content to get more. That's a WHOLE lot of casual friendly content that's available to him, but he has chosen to let it rot because it is not new for this expansion. **Although, ironically, getting those achievements would be new to him. "Missions are for groups (2), raids are for raiders (8)" Ok, but with those numbers, be sure to include 6 hours lockout from the time to request vs 3days and 12hours?? from loot reward on raid lockouts. Would casuals prefer an equal number of missions to raids which grant the same lockout timers? Or do you think that would open up a whole new can of hate because 5 of the 8 may be deemed 'too hard' by casual players on the forums to beat with 3 mercs?
It should be obvious, the devs don't care if EVERY ZONE is a snooze fest for raiders. Because you are in raid gear. It trivializes all content that isn't a raid. Every zone SHOULD be a snooze fest for you in raid gear. That means the game is designed correctly. As for "generalities", words like "group" and casual" are very lose. There are "casuals" that play 40 hours a week. Thats not very "casual". The only significant dividing line between players is those in raid gear and those without it.
Who are these people running around with zero raid gear? The only ones I know of are someones way down the list alt, box or AP. As everyone has access to raid weapons in LS from group weapons. Currently has or had access to a raid level earring, cloak and now neck. And rare chase drops are abound everywhere. I play very casually and very slowly and despite that have had 1 chase item drop every expansion but one. Which I can either use or sell or trade for yet another raid item. Also believe at this stage just about every server runs a pick up raid now and then or for periods of time each year. Zero commitment other then a little class know how and willing to play for a couple hours when ones schedule allows.
Umm.. an awful lot more than you think. Most people on these boards are raiders, however its well known that most people don't use the boards.
At this stage you basically have to want to not have some raid gear to not have it. There are multiple ways to have 1 to a few pieces on just about any toon you play unless you're purposely staying lower level or free to play on a live server. Regardless LS isn't content for someone running around in level 110 gear or with AA for a level 100 toon. There is being accessible and then there is being beyond silly easy.
You could also like, pay with money. 15 per month or whatever it is, is SO hard. I mean I have permanent gold accounts so I might be out of touch.
Multiple ways I know of (fee free to add): Join raid guild attend open raids purchase Kronos and buy the item from sellers in /gen buy raid chests from illustrious raid farmers I'm not a fan of supporting option 2 and option 3.
I never said I was free to play, did I? Being a gold account does not automatically grant raid gear. Maybe try to follow the conversation before replying.
