A revamp of the LFG/LFP tool is in order. I like the DDO way they do it. A revamp of the camp fire or a new camp fire to get players at your camp faster. Put a V2 timer for 1 or 2 hours so you can port to another camp fire right after. Or a way to add someone to your fellowship across zones.
I started a new little necro a few months ago. Can count on one hand the number of times i was in a group up to level 75. Can count on one finger the number of times that group was actually more than one other person double or triple boxing their own little group. And not from a lack of trying. Even the majority of players still here who decry the virtues of social game play spend most of their time solo. At 75 i parked it and started another toon. The pet can no longer tank anything my level without tracking down a mage for pet toys. Dungons were out after level 60 when the pet could no longer tank more than one blue mob at a time. The number of places where you can single pull and have room to kite are very very few now. And the mobs have so many hitpoints i feel like i am sawing a piece of wood with a hand saw. It is simply not fun anymore. My little necro got weaker and weaker compared to the monsters with every new level after 50. I did manage to get the epic 1.0 and 1.5 only to find the defiant weapon, any of them, at that level has significantly better stats. Was alot of work and begging for assistance for some parts for so very little reward. Accomplishment? Feel more like i should have parked it at 65 and skipped the epic quests/ So i have resolved to making new charecters and leveling them to 60 untill i run out of new places to play. The game is still fun up untill that point. Well, mostly. I am here instead of playing right now because some high level player working on his "slayer" achievement was killing the entire zone of mistmore i was playing in with my new little ranger. solo i might add. SOE made a grouping game and did their best to make it very un solo friendly. It worked, they chased most of the solo players away. nice job. They missed some fool in mistmore though......
If the devs decide to implement some sort of LFD-style tool for EQ, they can be certain that it is something I will never, ever use. I've tried WoW's feeble attempt at its implementation. LFD (and especially LFR) sound all great in theory, however I am a pragmatist not an ideologue and here's how it ends up working out in reality: All you get is a group consisting of schizoid and/or anti-social players (a.k.a. random @$$#@+$) who care nothing about you, the other members of the group, or their own reputation, and play their characters accordingly in any way they see fit to aggravate and annoy until a win or a vote-kick, whichever occurs first. I'll admit not all of them are like this (sometimes you get lucky and get a group that (1) cares and (2) speaks English) but enough of them are that I am completely uninterested regardless of what reward you're offering for doing them. I can fully support the idea someone mentioned earlier in this thread if they were to implement some sort of LFD-style function: allow players to drag up to 5 mercs with them to complete the objective. If players are going to treat their fellow groupmates like they were NPCs for the whole of the encounter, then why beat around the bush? Just give them NPCs to troll or AFK in front of. Since I've been back with FTP, my wife & I box our own little crews and are able to recapture the fun we used to have in EQ before we took a break. In the rare instances when someone else was in the same area and asked for an invite, not once since hitting "Accept" did they say anything more than "hi". Maybe we'd get a "thx gota go" after their lesson burn, but it's rare. If these are the same players who are going on and on about how dead the group game is and are wondering why people like us box, well the answer is right there, you're just not listening. To put it in game terms, think of it as faction work. You don't ever get the reward you want right away, it takes a bit of time and effort. Try talking to the "NPCs", you may get some interesting dialogue. At any rate, the devs can implement whatever awesome-sounding idea or mechanic in this game in order to encourage grouping, however the crux of the responsibility rests with the players.
The LFG tool in DDO is kinda nice. Group leader can just click a button to accept anyone with in 5 levels I think. This is default. They can spend a min and set up a filter so only specific classes can see they are in need of players. Player looking for a group clicks a button and they can show all or just the ones that they meet the criteria set by the group leader. Player then double clicks the group leader icon and a message gets sent to leader, Player X requested to join your group. The Tool in EQ is similar but needs work and improvement or just a total revamp altogether. I look at pugs as either a way to learn or a way to teach. But them again Im boxing and let them know the role they will be playing and what not to do. In most cases it turns out well and I have a new friend.
Actually, WoW has the best set up with their instanced dungons. It automatically puts the group together, teleports you to the dungon, and sends you back to where you were after completing it. The instanced dungons guarentee you will only spend 30 to 45 minutes in that group. I think having a finite finishing point goes a long way towards ending the drudgery of not knowing how long you will be sitting on some wall killing the same mobs over and over. An above poster also mentioned allowing players to create a group of their own mercs. A great idea. It would open up the entire game to almost everyone. senthimesic above is typical of the reason there is so little grouping in the game. Why deal with diverse personalities if you do not have to. So they dont. And they will block an entire camp with their little solo group...because they can. In all fairness, they are like most gamers. I want to do what i want to do the way i want to do it and i do not want to deal with you. Which goes back to what i said earlier. There may be a hoste of reasons but the end result is, GROUPING IS NOT VERY POPULAR. Well back to my new level 20 ranger and hoping the Senthimesic who was their last night working on their slayer achievement is not their today so i can get some experience in the zone i WANT to fight in. Grouping was dead before it started. Blizzard figured it out quickly enough and cashed in on it. SOE is just a little slow in recognizing the obvious. The mercs and defiant armor did a great job of opening up the game up to level 60 anyway. The EQ world is by far the best in the gaming industry, it is just to bad the game itself has the most undesirable game mechanics. Come on SOE, open up the rest of the game, let us have more than one merc up at a time. No one is grouping in the game anyway, so it discourages grouping, something not very many people like to begin with. Why let the huge amount of content in the game go mostly ignored? Here is to hoping the figure it out with EQ next. Love the world, hate the game play after 60.
Enter LDON Revamp. Rough suggestion. Select adventure type from the follow. Find object (100 percent) Raise (Kill 90 percent of mobs, kill all to get bonus) Clear to get boss to spawn and kill. Select difficulty. Easy (Molo, box friendly but lowest return maybe 5 to 8 to equal 1 normal) Normal (Box and Mercs will be a challenge but not difficult, maybe 4 to 5 normal equal 1 hard) Hard (Mercs and boxes will not play well) Raid (Yah) As with old LDON and DON, you gain points to spend. Again, it’s a rough idea and its been suggested before but should appeal to most of the player base if implemented right.
WoW is the worst implementation ever for providing a quality grouping experience. It's essentially a solo game up to max level anyways, and it certainly shows in the attitudes of those who play it. The benefits of using the LFD tool such as being instantly ported to-from the instance are nice at first, until the players start complaining on the boards about how nobody knows how to find their way back to the ZI anymore when they die, or how the game world has suddenly become "smaller" with the zones deserted and everyone hanging out in SW, in a very similar vein to the complaints about the PoK stones. Then there is the whole being tossed into a pack of random @$$#@+$ thing. If you love a gaming experience that resembles a scene from "Lord of the Flies", be my guest. I don't. I'm old (40) and set in my ways. I want some relaxing entertainment. If it happens to involve other people with a spirit of mutual respect then so be it, and I do occasionally group with some very nice folks who have put themselves out there to get to know me instead of hating on me from a distance because I box. Unless there is a time constraint, I will always prefer good company over a box. It's not like I sit there and /yell GEE TEE EFF OH! to anyone who comes near me at my camp. Most players are just looking for a place to grind and have some fun (like me) and either ask to join up (rarely) or simply move on to another spot (typically). When I want to deal with "diverse personalities" (is this PC-speak for a-holes?) outside of the actual content of the game, I know where in town to go looking for them and it's free. I'll assume I'm like most adults who avoid these situations like the plague. I'm guessing this is what you're really on about, which has nothing to do with encouraging grouping. Either way, if you are sincere about wanting to group with other people why not address other people directly instead of asking the devs to bend over backwards and code up some magic imposed solution? It's so reminiscent of a child asking an authority figure (be it a parent, coach, or w/e) to force inclusion into a social event. It usually ends up with resentment towards the person, and naturally they are clueless as to the reasons why because they never look introspectively. Then there are those who lobby the government... Again, I am a pragmatist, not an ideologue. There are many things in this world that sound nice in theory but are absolutely horrible in their implementation. That old proverb about the road to hell being paved with good intentions. By the way, making false accusations against others is damaging to your credibility, regardless of whatever point you are trying to make. Truth speaks louder than drama. Since I was in PoK AFK all night, I'm not sure what camp you think I was blocking with my "little solo group". Nevermind the fact that I don't even own RoF.
7th Group Spot. "Merc Only" that doesn't take XP would be nice. This would allow non-traditional groups that NEED a Tank Merc or Healer Merc to invite any random 6th to group and still function. Not to mention, it might make it easier to get Real Clerics/Healers if they know they can get up and AFK when they need by switching say the DPS Merc to a Cleric Merc. As someone who plays a priest, I hate group with nonbots because I know RL calls me away from my computer = group wipe. Where if a DPS has to afk for a sec, they can.
Why encourage grouping? People who want to group, group. People who don't want to group, box / solo / molo. It's ever been that way. Group exp bonus just makes people box. Understand that a lot of people prefer to do things on their own, and take advantage of the social features of a MMO in other ways. A lot of people don't want the headache of having to deal with people - besides friends - after a tiring day's work. Just the pressure of having to keep up a high pace of pulls in a player made group is enough to make me not want to log in. Grouping doesn't need to be encouraged. What needs to be encouraged is social community. WoW has forced grouping at the max level, but it has limited social community because nobody cares who you are, they just want to get through the instance asap.
roscoe, if you really want to play your necro, I would suggest kiting in katta. The elementals there have low hp, easily single pulls and all the room in the world to kite. Stay at 75, and rack up the AA, when get enough AA, you can easily keep 3-4 elementals or shissar kited and dying at a time. Or you can go to loping plains, and kite animals and orcs there, easily. I 100% agree with a few points... You pretty much must get to within 10 levels of max level to get any kind of PUG. I also have the opinion that if you are likable, have a good attitude, and can play your character well, AND WILLING TO LEAD a group, do a tiny bit of work, ask people to join you and get a group together to go after a specific task, mission, whatever then you will soon get a reputation for doing so, and people will be sending YOU tells asking to join YOU. I know a toon in my guild that logs in... says "monk LFG" in guild chat... waits 5 minutes and if don't get an invite to an already formed group... says "ok then, see ya later" and logs off... If you're that kind of person, well... no wonder you never find groups... MAKE your own groups. State your specified goal whether in /gu, /ooc, /gen, or whatever, and people will join you. Once in the group, talk to people, engage them, and just be personable, and if you play well and demonstrate you know what you are doing, you will soon find any number of people to group with, do missions and tasks with, whatever. Seriously, if you are having difficulty finding a group, you are probably doing something wrong. The most common thing I have found lately is people LFG that have no business in that zone. IE level 93 monk with 1500 AA LFG in Chapterhouse.... yeah, right...
This. However at 75 it's damn near impossible to form your own group. Also, you do not need to make an ideal group anymore. SoE has done a great job bastardizing the classes so that you can get away xping with just about any combo if you are smart about it.
It's not hard to encourage grouping, just look at the LDoN/DoN or WoW Grouping models and the principles behind them. It's not rocket science that groups at static camps doesn't encourage grouping, but that type of content is so engrained into the EQ playstyle that it probably won't be going anywhere anytime soon.
Reasons I dont group with people often 1) i am camping a named for loot and dont want to lose out to loot to another player. Solution increase named spawn rates which are abysmal this expansion. 2) if i am doing partisan tasks in most cases the person i want to invite has to be upto the same point as me or they cant request.Solution make partisan tasks doable in any orde
I miss LDoN SOOOOOOO much. Definetly one of my favorites. I really like how there were meeting points, it had everyone hanging out in a few places so when people were lfg they were a keyword away instead of having to tell them how to get to you and then drag their dead body when they mess up =). Then complete a 30-60 min mission. Only have to commit an hour or so of my time and can progress every time i do one vs just rolling dice on a named spawn. Feels like earning a reward instead of winning the lottery, personally I prefer earning it. Exactly. Point 1 doesn't really ever concern me but it's a valid point. The second one is the one that really bugs me every expansion. Someone jumps in at the second/third task... well either the entire group goes and redoes the first one or that person is just SOL. I really like the group tasks as you can join in the group vs having to start from the beginning. By no means do I think you should be able to just jump to the end and get credit for everything, but you should be able to join in wherever your friends are and then do the first ones after. With that also, quests that take longer to do with a larger group are bad as well. Evantill second partisan I think it is requires you to kill cocoons to pop worms which drop a piece you need. You have to do this until everyone in the group gets it. You can finish one person in like 15 mins, but if you have a full group of real players multiply that by 6 and you're looking at an hour and a half. It's messed up. These 3 things I think are the biggest anti group mechanics in the game. Personally I want to see it where if it's designed to be done with a group it's a group task, if it's meant to be soloed or maybe a longer quest designed to take days then it can be the normal task system. That would kill 2 of the issues. The loot... well that's not really fixable without like auto granting players rewards upon named kills, which I'm not sure if it's even possible.
Unfortunately grouping did not survive the long history of EQ. It's not going to be resurrected either, because boxers make up the majority of the player base. SWTOR has done a nice job as far as grouping goes, there is no boxing and their group finder actually works. Sure you meet plenty of jerks but I meet more of the other kind.
