This is a topic i'm most interested in being a casual/soloer player for the most part. I have done my fair share of groups back in the day but this is primarily the reason I don't group much anymore.
At some point new or slow players will get behind more experienced and advanced players. I consider myself a slower player the older I get the less of a hurry i'm in. But I also I don't want to burden the group with my play style or speed.
This is easily remedied if you allow players to pre-define their own pace/play style or expectation for each instanced dungeon. That way only players of the same play style are grouped in advanced. So the expectations are known for all players in the group before it starts.
Examples:
Fast - Speed Run
Experienced - I can run this dungeon in my sleep.
Normal - I've seen the dungeon and am pretty familiar .
Novice - Still Learning but moving faster.
Slow - See the Sights
If the shared xp isn't worth it.
If quest items aren't shared.
If kill count numbers aren't shared.
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OrcLuckMember, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
edited August 2020
Drinking celebrating and other party things should be possible.
In deep rock galactic while waiting for people to join, you can choose between several different "fun" drinks and some truly cringe music to party around and vomit to.
I think there should be a "Partying" system similar to how fishing is its own system, with skills and checks.
Biggest deterence for me is the time it takes to form a group. If I only have 2-3 hours to play, I don't want to spend much of that trying to put an appropriate group together.
Also if rewards/loot are not worth the effort. Poor communication, bad players and afk-ers.
Honestly a big one is just not wanting to have to coordinate with other people after a long day of working or parenting. Kinda just want to be free to roam and fight at my leisure.
Have super long rant, tangent to various related but off topic topics... lets keep it concise.
Loot.
The main thing that stops me from group content, or playing with friends, or helping newbies, main thing is loot.
1:) Chance of relevant loot.
I have to be willing to purely donate my time if there is a zero chance of even somewhat relevant loot. If I have a 100% chance of relevant loot with my current content, and 5% chance by going back and helping a guildee or friend, I'm fine playing for 5%. Or fine playing for 5 ilvl weaker if there's a chance of "Ideal" stats.
2:) Shared loot.
I'm a fan of instanced loot.
3:) Efficiency of loot.
Next is all the aggrevating factors:
1:) Elitist gear score rush or qq quitters.
-Wrecks RP and immersion.
2:) Ease to join. Submit to queue and continue playing while waiting for members to join or to be put into a group.
Very complicated issues behind this, I come from multiple fields of view depending on my mood.
1. Player Skill/Attitude:
1.A. Speedrun vs Firstrun or RP.
- Efficiency is lost when cinematics have to be watched.
- Immersion is lost when elitists roll through content and force a carry run. Skipping dialogue and cutscenes.
-
2. Effort vs Reward
3.
Hey! Grouping in an MMO should always be rewarded with more exp per mob/task than doin it solo. You WANT ppl to play together, since its a better game experience and the base of every MMO.
I always thought its super stupid, that grouping in WoW kinda punish you for doing so.
Trying to find a group. If I have to dive deep into another web page trying to find a group, that's quite annoying. I like having a clear LFG option or spot in town where players can go and ask to group up for activities.
Another is the Try Hard's. The ones that will expect every inch of gear you own and deem you not worthy to join their elite group, or you must have 30+ clears before joining. I recognize that it's one thing to know the encounter, it's another thing to have unrealistic expectations that everything will go flawlessly. We should be having fun after all!
Many awesome posts in this thread! As for myself I enjoy group gameplay, and being in an even half decent guild would preclude many of players grouping issues, not all obviously. So I don't really have a hot list of deal breakers for group play. What I do see as a built-in problem is tedium. All of you should know what a herding cats prospect organizing dungeons, and raids can be, fine, that's the way is everywhere. So you've got your group/raid organized, and you're ready to enjoy group content. Wrong! Now it's time to play AoC's road jogging/mount riding simulator, for the next 1/2 hour, 1 hour, before you can even begin to engage the group content? How much free time do you think we have?
"Tedium does not equal immersion, or fun"
If you would copy and paste this quote into your company's mission statement I would be most pleased.
Biggest deterence for me is the time it takes to form a group. If I only have 2-3 hours to play, I don't want to spend much of that trying to put an appropriate group together.
Also if rewards/loot are not worth the effort. Poor communication, bad players and afk-ers.
Honestly a big one is just not wanting to have to coordinate with other people after a long day of working or parenting. Kinda just want to be free to roam and fight at my leisure.
No, no no.
What you are writing here simply doesn't follow the core mmmorpg principle this game is striving for. EVERYTHING needs to take time, so does making a group and coordinating. The game shouldn't cater to people because ''they don't have much time to play'' or because they a busy IRL day.
Maybe this isn't the game for you then. I'm saying that so that you:
1. do not get disappointed
2. don't poison this game, forcing devs to introduce various ''casual'' mechanics such as LFG etc. In case you aren't aware features such as LFG and flying mounts destroyed WoW.
You had a long day ? You don't have much time to play ? Well guess what, you're gonna have to work on making a group, and moving throughout the map is gonna take time !
1. The same loot/rewards as I can get playing solo.
In Lineage2 we had group spots (Cruma tower/Toi etc etc) with loot that have less chance to drop in solo spot.
for example (Armor parts/Weapon parts/Crafting materials/Crafting Recipes/more money etc)
Comments
This is easily remedied if you allow players to pre-define their own pace/play style or expectation for each instanced dungeon. That way only players of the same play style are grouped in advanced. So the expectations are known for all players in the group before it starts.
Examples:
Fast - Speed Run
Experienced - I can run this dungeon in my sleep.
Normal - I've seen the dungeon and am pretty familiar .
Novice - Still Learning but moving faster.
Slow - See the Sights
If quest items aren't shared.
If kill count numbers aren't shared.
In deep rock galactic while waiting for people to join, you can choose between several different "fun" drinks and some truly cringe music to party around and vomit to.
I think there should be a "Partying" system similar to how fishing is its own system, with skills and checks.
Dodge ball, but its vomit. Think about it.
If running around in a group of 8 yields less exp then going solo then it sucks.
I know you get an exp modifier so keep tweeking that.
Better a really strong modifier then a weak modifier.
That pretty much.
I hate it when you have to kill mob X but everyone has to do the kill alone.
Also if rewards/loot are not worth the effort. Poor communication, bad players and afk-ers.
Honestly a big one is just not wanting to have to coordinate with other people after a long day of working or parenting. Kinda just want to be free to roam and fight at my leisure.
Have super long rant, tangent to various related but off topic topics... lets keep it concise.
Loot.
The main thing that stops me from group content, or playing with friends, or helping newbies, main thing is loot.
1:) Chance of relevant loot.
I have to be willing to purely donate my time if there is a zero chance of even somewhat relevant loot. If I have a 100% chance of relevant loot with my current content, and 5% chance by going back and helping a guildee or friend, I'm fine playing for 5%. Or fine playing for 5 ilvl weaker if there's a chance of "Ideal" stats.
2:) Shared loot.
I'm a fan of instanced loot.
3:) Efficiency of loot.
Next is all the aggrevating factors:
1:) Elitist gear score rush or qq quitters.
-Wrecks RP and immersion.
2:) Ease to join. Submit to queue and continue playing while waiting for members to join or to be put into a group.
Very complicated issues behind this, I come from multiple fields of view depending on my mood.
1. Player Skill/Attitude:
1.A. Speedrun vs Firstrun or RP.
- Efficiency is lost when cinematics have to be watched.
- Immersion is lost when elitists roll through content and force a carry run. Skipping dialogue and cutscenes.
-
2. Effort vs Reward
3.
I always thought its super stupid, that grouping in WoW kinda punish you for doing so.
Another is the Try Hard's. The ones that will expect every inch of gear you own and deem you not worthy to join their elite group, or you must have 30+ clears before joining. I recognize that it's one thing to know the encounter, it's another thing to have unrealistic expectations that everything will go flawlessly. We should be having fun after all!
"Tedium does not equal immersion, or fun"
If you would copy and paste this quote into your company's mission statement I would be most pleased.
No, no no.
What you are writing here simply doesn't follow the core mmmorpg principle this game is striving for. EVERYTHING needs to take time, so does making a group and coordinating. The game shouldn't cater to people because ''they don't have much time to play'' or because they a busy IRL day.
Maybe this isn't the game for you then. I'm saying that so that you:
1. do not get disappointed
2. don't poison this game, forcing devs to introduce various ''casual'' mechanics such as LFG etc. In case you aren't aware features such as LFG and flying mounts destroyed WoW.
You had a long day ? You don't have much time to play ? Well guess what, you're gonna have to work on making a group, and moving throughout the map is gonna take time !
In Lineage2 we had group spots (Cruma tower/Toi etc etc) with loot that have less chance to drop in solo spot.
for example (Armor parts/Weapon parts/Crafting materials/Crafting Recipes/more money etc)