Comments on: Grouping Is Where The Fun’s At

By: Gordon

Gordon — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:41:51 +0000

Meh, I think grouping is just as viable at any stage of the game. I mean the entire game should be fun right? Otherwise why don’t we just buy some level 80 characters from eBay?
I suppose for me the journey and leveling up aspect was always the most fun. At the level cap you just end up collecting loot and dressing your character like a Barbie doll only to have all of your achievments undermined as soon as the next expansion comes out

What’s the rush anyway?

By: Guybrush the Mighty

Guybrush the Mighty — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:41:06 +0000

Gordon, my friend - I think you should lvl your ass up to 80 and appreciate what groups really are worth at that stage. Sure, WoW could be better. I was playing a game called Dofus and if you were in a group it didnt matter whether you were in a dungeon - you’d still get 4x xp boost for playing with other people. Great. Big whoop.

Thing is, should you get yourself to 80, you will soon enough realise that groups are where its at. And its not just small 5-man groups - its 10 and 25 - opening up content you couldnt dream of conquering on your own.

In my opinion, being able to solo to 80 is a huge plus - its so fecking annoying to rely on a good group to come along. Cause although I agree the best experiences come from social play, lets face it - most people on your server are twats and it takes a while to find real “groupworthy” friends.

Love ya bro,
Brush

By: Gordon

Gordon — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:32:32 +0000

I don’t think WoW’s casual nature is a problem, they just need to get the balance right and make grouping more rewarding. In EQ, for instance, grouping was a necessity yet when it’s optional, there has to be sufficient carrot to get people to do it.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:31:18 +0000

Indeed and then suddenly you realise you have absolutely no idea how to tank/heal/dps because you’re just used to soloing all of the time!

By: Gordon

Gordon — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:30:43 +0000

EQ was the other extreme and offered no solo player whatsoever for the majority of classes. So far EQ2 had the best balance for me.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:30:09 +0000

Which is where WoW falls down, imo. Grouping should have more of an incentive in order to entice people into it… to me, it’s kinda the point of a MMO. I could do solo quests in Dragon Age if that’s all I wanted. Unfortunately though I, like everyone else, usually opt for the easy and lazy route and don’t bother putting a group together.

By: Mojeaux

Mojeaux — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:37:55 +0000

And that’s my biggest beef with WoW. They made it too easy for the people that didn’t want to or have time to group. And on the surface, I don’t have a problem with a game that caters to the casual gamer, but unfortunately it was such a success that companies now days can’t/won’t make the next “EQ” where grouping is rewarded and encouraged, because the WoW community is so vocal and condemning of other games that don’t adhere to the solo mentality that Wow espouses. I was so hopeful that Vanguard would be the next EQ, but it seems that they were bitten by that same corporate mentality that they needed to be “the next WoW” and had to change design in mid-stride. And we all saw how that ended.

By: Bronte

Bronte — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:45:02 +0000

I also hate how the game doesn’t expect you to group for your ride form 1-80, save for a few select moments/dungeons. And then at 80, if you want the good gear, you are expected to suddenly pull a 180 and be exceptional at forming and running good groups.

By: Ramon

Ramon — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:58:17 +0000

WoW just isn’t well-designed in terms of grouping. Games like Shards of Dalaya are, and that just takes the grouping formula from EverQuest and improves on it in ways that EQ itself didn’t.

Of course for EQ-like games that means it’s impossible to play at all without a group, but it makes grouped play so much more exciting and rewarding that it’s worth it. If someone were to do a modern game in this way, they’d just need to offer an alternative progress path (without resorting to soloing). That’d be fantastic.

By: Brian Inman

Brian Inman — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:29:49 +0000

Grouping is fun to one extent, but just like soloing it has many downsides also. I prefer to solo because it means more loot, more money, and more xp.

I have never felt that grouping was really a benefit except maybe killing a final quest boss that can’t be soloed.

With Warcraft you can easily bypass it all though because there is so many quests, or grinding is pretty easy compared to games like Aion.