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I miss camping an area with a group
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Member UncommonPosts: 949
I'm sitting here after I recently canceled my latest subscription to WoW after Cataclysm came out trying to figure out if I'm really burnt out on MMOs or if it's something else. I've come to the conclusion what I really miss is something very specific. That's coming home from school (it would now be work), logging into a MMO, and getting into a group and then traveling to an area with mobs and simply pulling them. I actually miss the group dynamic of Everquest 1 and Dark Age of Camelot. I miss the social interaction it allowed for.
That doesn't mean I miss the forced grouping. I just would like the choice to do this again instead of all the pure questing progression. I'm running through the revamped quest in WoW and while very enjoyable I can't help but feel I rather be playing an offline game if this is all I'm going to do. It was all I could do really as well. There was no reason to group at all. Even if you partnered with someone unless you started at the same time you'd be at a different point in the quest compared to them. Some questlines lead to dungeons that required groups but even then finding those groups at that point in time wasn't happening at the lower and mid levels.
I used to dislike EQ1 when I first started playing. I originally got into the game on the suggestion of some friends. I was impatient when I started playing back in high school. I grew to like it when I made time in the evenings to actually group. Now that I'm older I want more then simple progression (which I find all to quick these days). The social interaction is key. I find the interaction in groups based around camps to be different then the interaction you find in guild channels or chat channels in cities.
I know some games have tried to get back to the old style but they still seemed to be using quest as the way to progress which totally misses what made the old style enjoyable. Perhaps I need a more grinding MMO. I know there are F2P games that focus on grinding but I would prefer something that has the polish that only a P2P game can provide.
Has anyone else had this feeling lately?
Comments
Yup, don't feel alone. There are a lot of us out there actually. I think a LOT of it has to do with how satisfied we were with EQ1 without really knowing it at the time. I will never forget the day I got my Jboots or Fungus Scaled Tunic. Training half a zone on a group to feign death so my group can have the spot... errr I mean.. I only did that a couple times, promise
It is those small times though, when you really feel rewarded for something (Jboots/FST/Epic weapons when they came out) that makes you miss that type of gameplay I believe.
well, you can try lineage 2.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Same. In EQ1 people actually talked to others people in the group instead of zerging mobs like clowns on acid.
Collector's editions are scams.
Are you sure its not just the socializing that you miss rather than the actual camping? There is amazingly little downtime to socialize anymore these days.
I've always wondered why no one creates features for more social content. Even a simple strategic minigame in a tavern would create the right environment. Some spectator events would be nice. Politics would be good. Some incentives to interact and create friends are needed.
Your not alone, I miss that a lot too myself and I even tried going back to daoc but its just not there anymore. I cant find an mmo that let you actually do it the way it was. I guess thats what the industrie meant when they started advirtising ''next gen-mmo'' say bye bye to grouping interaction
Finding a good spot to camp mobs is still my favorite style of gameplay. Unfortunately very few games support it.
One of my many complaints about WoW in the past was the lack of social interaction between players. Even in my own guild I noticed very little chatting happening in guild groups. We always encourage players to get on vent when doing guild dungeon runs since typing while trying to zerg a dungeon can be hectic. Very few people would get on vent each night other than raid time.
When Cata kicked off, everyone was hopping on vent due to the required coordination in dungeons. Each night we had more people logon to vent as they started relaxing and warming up to others. Now we have people on chatting throughout the day, all because the game content required people to work together more as a team.
Join the club OP.. I and others have been wanting the social glory days back.. Todays mmo have instead turn towards solo play because of the large market it is.. I guess it's easier to just do it yourself, then to do it as a group.. What equally amazes me is that so many of the anti grouping voice are fans of dungeons and raids.. Explain that to me.. lol However, I'm not sure you can turn back the clock anymore and grab those glory days.. Most of what made grouping great in EQ1 was the need of a variety of roles.. a puller, CC, tank, off tank, dps, snare, buff, debuffing, heals, "MANA" regen.. A variety of classes that allowed for pure roles, or hybrids that gave you a lil of multiple roles.. And IMO.. you have to open up the group limit to 6 or more..
Same with raids.. My nights of raiding with the guild was the most fun in raids EVER.. and we never had to worry abourt someone getting left out because of an artifical cap limit like 10 or 25.. If my memory serves me correct, people back in EQ1 didn't UBER gear any faster then WoW's raid structure, in fact I would say that EQ1 took longer on average.. ALL things being equal if ICC was released at the same time as the expansion.. Who went down faster.. The Lich King, or Sleepers Tomb? Tis a shame.. we cant' even go back to EQ1 because they changed the game so much to appease the whiners, it's not even the same anymore.. and the whiners still left anyways.. /shrug
< drifting off to dreamland> ahhh Crushbone, Blackburrow, Highkeep, Paludal Caverns, Kurn's Tower, Overthere (watch out for the goons) Karnor's Castle.. etc etc.. In fact up to the expansion of PoP, there wasn't one zone I didn't have great memories of..
I MISS KITING :-(
One word..
Vanguard..
Telon server-usa has a good population and all the things you are looking for.
The fact that you enjoyed the sit in one spot and kill the same mob repeatedly for 8+ hours disgusts me.
Jeremiah 8:21 I weep for the hurt of my people; I stand amazed, silent, dumb with grief.
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Not only was watching a good druid quad-kite amazing, but remember how AMAZING it was to have a good enchanter in U/L Guk (or heck, anywhere really).
Edit -- And on the topic of socializing, how could anyone forget the EC tunnel where everyone went to trade and watch nude-ogre-dance-trains. hahaha, oh my.
Vanguard has the same type of classes.
You want to kite again then make a bard or a Psionicist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVtQ68f7i4c&feature=related
http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/59430
ahh the days of the krayt graveyard in SWG and randomly bumping into people and banding together to find the blighters and take them down then having a sit around a campfire to heal ourelves up before heading off to find the next one (the days before uber buffs ruined grouping or trapping krayt on a harvestor)
I would consider Vanguard.. but didn't they announce they are closing shop 2011? or is that a premptive rumor?
rumour although they are officially down to 1 part time dev. Its still an awesome game that now is highly polished sadly the population just is not there anymore its one of those where you just wish SOE would give it a bit of marketing increase the numbers and it could go on for years, The way they have treat vanguard makes me get the tin foil hat and believe that SOE only grabbed it up to bury it so it didnt compete with EQ2.
I miss the good old camp grind myself. Unfortunately it is not PC anymore and if devs put in into a game it is demonized and called an "Asian-Grinder".
Most of us old-schoolers would agree that the camp grinds is what we remember the most, fondly.
It's never been announced by the devs,it's bull crap. Vanguard has a small population, that's the truth but it has improved with the merging of servers. The telon server(usa) has a med population on it and finding guilds/groups is easy.
Their is a rumour that it might go FTP this year.
Don't take my word for it though,you can be in game in 30mins..
http://vanguard.station.sony.com/isleofdawn/
This difference of opinion is why they new-school players tend to dismiss the old-school players so easily. To us camp-grind seems like the most stupid mechanic ever
Of course to the next generation of MMORPG players the current new-school will look pretty silly being so fond of the quest grind concept.
They never said any such thing. You should try it. And if you have a reasonably up to date computer then the game will look great.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Yeah, it's when they made grinding solo-friendly that is started the get a bad name. Camp grinding was fun but only in the context of severe exp penalties for deaths and the camps would generally be dangerous enough that if not careful you could be wiped. Also, it was the only place to really get your exp up. But that was when when we were OK with being level 21 for a few days rather than a few minutes.
The reason I dislike camp grinding so much is because it stifles my freedom in the game so much. It locks you into a repeated patetrn of killing the same thing over and over and a social obligation to your group locks you in even if you want to chew your own arm off to get away. It is pretty much the same concept as organized raiding in Vanilla WoW ended up as. A mostly meaningless grind where you hope that the social aspects will outweigh the boredom.
Also games where you had to call dibs on a camp and wait in line for a spot to open, just seemed way to communist for me.
Oz.. do you remember your first HELL level at 30? I do.. OMG.. Kunark wasn't even out yet, and I was in Highkeep raider room.. 30 seemed to last forever.. Which in hindsight was nothing compared to 59. OMFG.. I think I was 59 for a couple weeks.. lmaoo
As for the followed poster.. The ONLY time I ever had problem with camp claims was when a quest target was involved, such a epic mobs or drops.. True that causes issues, but it was a good part of the game from a certain point of view.. Could it have been tweaked better? YES.. There are classes in EQ that allowed soloing with no line to wait in or camp sites to fight over.. NO problem.. Where camping might seem meaningless, I fail to see how that is different then a dungeon grind.. over and over and over.. and that is far from social.. I have done so many LFD pugs it would be safe to say, that 90% never said a word to you other then "Hello".. and "Good bye"..
Ye lineage was always very good for groups. You could either pve with a group of healer/mana recharger or camp something like antharas lair entrance to cause huge clan wars which were really lulz xD
Having the same feeling here but with Anarchy Online on shadowland (2nd addon) , there was some spot around the zone with Hecklers (looks like a big rock with arms ahah
), where you needed to pull and camp for hours and hours to lvl up 
this was so fun! you had a friend looking for a group? well he have to wait near the camp until someone leaves to get his room.
I don't know if it's still like that (that was like 5 years ago or more
) but if you can give it a try , and if it's still like this , you will have so much fun 
At least , you 're not alone feeling this way!
Beta tested : Anarchy online , Lineage 2 , The saga of Ryzom , SWG ....
playing : Anarchy online , WOW
I would agree with socialzing. Many games now sort of forget about this part of an MMO. I understand people love to solo and I enjoy it also. But when it comes down to it, you play a MMO to play with other people.
I disagree with camping an area with a group though, because that just leads to compititon between players/groups for very limited spawns and of course, grinding mobs to level with.
Talking, getting to know people, grouping with them again are all fun things to do in an MMO that seems more and more outdated. It's gotten to the point where instead of helping someone out or joining up to beat something, you just keep going solo since it's quicker and easier. This leads to more and more game play functions made just for solo people. This leads to more and more problems when you group with those people who have no idea how to function in a group setting.
I fully agree that dungeon griding easily becomes just as boring as camp grinding. However, dungeons tend to be interesting for longer since there is usually a variety of challenges in each one. A camp grind will quickly become doing the same thing over and over while a dungeon will offer more varied challenges. Of course sooner or later that too will end and you will find yourself just running through the motions.
For me personally it also helps that I define 'content' by how I do something rather than where I do it. So I will happily kill the same boars over and over if each time the fight feels differnt and gives me new challenges.