Its design changes for the most part I think. My first MMORPG was Lineage 1, and group was 'very' optional, (i.e. the rewards were not better for grouping) so therefor, no one did much of it.
Then I joined DAOC and this was a game designed for grouping. There were some quests, but other than a few epic quests, most could be handled by a solo player, or perhaps with help of one other person (or your bot...and most of us dual boxed, buff botted)
But leveling for the most part involved finding a camp of appropriate level monsters (say 5 levels or so above you) and then having your group of 5-8 players smack them down.... respawn, rinse and repeat. The play style was pretty forgiving, so having an idiot usually didn't hurt too much (unless they were a bad at healing , crowd control or pulling) and it was so easy to just drop one player and pick up another.
Also, in addition to getting good experience from killing higher level mobs, you got exp/reward bonuses for being in a group, for pulling a camp, and several other factors.
The only flaw was some classes were less desirable than others, and many a Scout or Infiltrator will tell you about the long hours looking for a group...and few people really wanting them to join. (even in PVP it was hard to group for some classes.
Now days games are full of solo quest content....so of course grouping has gone down except for certain instance dungeons or encounters.
Like someone else mentioned, you want more grouping, encourage it by making it much more rewarding (no, not by adding content that only groups can do, that pisses off the solo crowd)
All dev's need to do make the game's npc's difficulty/reward to scale to the group size. For instance.... take a camp of level 10 mobs.... a level 10 player comes along and starts pulling 1 mob at a time... he gets 100 exp points and 50 coppers
Now a group of two level 10 players comes along, and pulls same level 10 mob, which now fights like a level 13 mob... and they get 125 exp points and 75 coppers...each. Finally, a group of 5 level 10 players come, attack the same camp, and the NPC's now fight with the fury of a level 16 character, and if our hereoes prevail, they are rewarded with 200 exp points and 1 silver each.
Of course, it would take much more effort to code a game along these lines....but it would provide content for both solo'er and gorup players.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Comments
Its design changes for the most part I think. My first MMORPG was Lineage 1, and group was 'very' optional, (i.e. the rewards were not better for grouping) so therefor, no one did much of it.
Then I joined DAOC and this was a game designed for grouping. There were some quests, but other than a few epic quests, most could be handled by a solo player, or perhaps with help of one other person (or your bot...and most of us dual boxed, buff botted)
But leveling for the most part involved finding a camp of appropriate level monsters (say 5 levels or so above you) and then having your group of 5-8 players smack them down.... respawn, rinse and repeat. The play style was pretty forgiving, so having an idiot usually didn't hurt too much (unless they were a bad at healing , crowd control or pulling) and it was so easy to just drop one player and pick up another.
Also, in addition to getting good experience from killing higher level mobs, you got exp/reward bonuses for being in a group, for pulling a camp, and several other factors.
The only flaw was some classes were less desirable than others, and many a Scout or Infiltrator will tell you about the long hours looking for a group...and few people really wanting them to join. (even in PVP it was hard to group for some classes.
Now days games are full of solo quest content....so of course grouping has gone down except for certain instance dungeons or encounters.
Like someone else mentioned, you want more grouping, encourage it by making it much more rewarding (no, not by adding content that only groups can do, that pisses off the solo crowd)
All dev's need to do make the game's npc's difficulty/reward to scale to the group size. For instance.... take a camp of level 10 mobs.... a level 10 player comes along and starts pulling 1 mob at a time... he gets 100 exp points and 50 coppers
Now a group of two level 10 players comes along, and pulls same level 10 mob, which now fights like a level 13 mob... and they get 125 exp points and 75 coppers...each. Finally, a group of 5 level 10 players come, attack the same camp, and the NPC's now fight with the fury of a level 16 character, and if our hereoes prevail, they are rewarded with 200 exp points and 1 silver each.
Of course, it would take much more effort to code a game along these lines....but it would provide content for both solo'er and gorup players.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon