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Is grouping that bad?
Teiman
Member Posts: 1,319
I have read that grouping in WoW is really bad. That most people want to play solo, and don't team much. So once the quest is complete, the team disband.
Is that true?
Comments
Pretty muc hdepending on the group and if oyu are questing together alot or not.
Ooo a generalisation about wow
thats new.
Grouping in wow is just like any other game, some people will group up for just a quest other might stay together for a while. Was playing today on lvl 26 hunter twink and grouped with 2 ppl for a group quest, when the quest was done we said goodbye and went our seperate ways.
Yes, every single one of the ten million WoW subscribers is a solo player and avoids grouping at all cost. Or maybe it's like every other community on the planet where everybody is different and likes different things.
Well, for the most cases, yes. I've found the WoW community much different than other MMOs I've played.
For example, say CoX. When players find groups, they usually stick with one another for more then one quest to level with eachother. This is how most MMOs function. In WoW, alot of people will, for the most part, level solo.... and in the rare occassions that you do group with someone, it is usually only for one or two quests and then you say your goodbyes. It isn't really a rumor, for the most part it is true.
This difference is not exactly a bad thing for WoW, just different and something I found odd at first being used to MMOs like CoX, EQ, and other group focused MMOs. There's a lot of factors as to why WoW is like this:
1.) A very good majority of players at this point play on their end-game characters and have at least one at max level, as, unlike alot of MMOs, WoW is greatly focused on end-game and has been out for a long time, giving people plenty of time to level already.
2.) The leveling pace can be either very quick if you know what you are doing or extremely slow if you are new to the game and dumbfounded by it's size. It can take anywhere from 3 days played time to 3 months played time (played time, not total time) so there are few people you can find around your level, at least that are stagnant to your own leveling pace for long.
3.) Leveling in WoW, unlike other MMOs, actually goes faster when you solo... the only exception to this is on low-level group dungeons, for the most part. But there are very little at low level.
4.) The world in WoW is the biggest gaming world created in the MMO industry (not sure if it's the biggest in all games around, but it could be extremely close). The majority of players leveling, although already few, are spread out because there are literally hundreds of paths you can take when questing to level, which is why the game's PvE is so admired.
Not that it is a bad thing to level with a group. The game is designed for players to choose to level solo or with a group of friends with ease. It's a great game to play with a friend. In my case, a friend and I have each of our own special teaming toons that we level only when both of us are online. By accepting and doing the same quests together our levels are equal constantly and it's great fun. Although the leveling is faster solo, it's much more fun to level with a friend... after all, it's a social game.
It is the same way for almost all games I played. You get in a group then it disbands soon for various reasons and people go on their way. Most you ask will have that I am busy so can't go or I am going to do something soon with friends. Groups always break up the same way though in all games and it is funny but true. The main breakup goes something like this,
The healer left so now you got 1 healer left and then you ask in LFG channel or asking friends which leads to no healers being found. Soon, generally 5min later the first DPS class leaves with an excuse like I got to go eat or something then another will say right after that or few minutes later they to need to go eat and have stuff to do. Soon the whole group is broken up and you spend the next couple hours looking for group again.
I think people do not want the headache and prefer being alone in MMO's just to concentrate on gaining for themselves and having that option to go AFK when they want.
Who let you in the VIP section?
WOW grouping isnt that bad if you have friends and a guild.. but if you talking about grouping with random people, than yes..
i never pug anymore (pick up groups) specially in instances.. and the reason is that theres always someone who don't know how to play there class, and the group suffers from it..
- a Tank who can't tank.
- a Healer that can't heal.
- a hunter that can't set traps.
and the list goes on.
Want to play: Lego Universe
Like one of the previous posters have mentioned: WoW grouping is just as bad/good as other games.
If your grouping has always been bad -- then you may have noticed the pattern: maybe it's because your presence in those groups ?...j/k
Grouping is one of the good reason reason why you may want to keep your Friend List (and/or possibly Ignore List) up to date. This is also a good reason to join a good guild: guildies are generally more helpful, and willing to stick around for a while to help you finish the quests.
Bad players can be easily identified by the following early signs:
- how mature they converse
- inspecting their build/spec (I love it when wowarmory was put up, and love it even more when I can inspect their build in-game). For further investigation, you can apply some sort of a test: "Excuse me, may I know why you're taking the talent xxxx ?"
lately I've had some bad luck with complete idiots, and all around annoying people. its one thing if someone doesn't know their class too well, its another thing when a different group member who isn't too great starts going off on them and telling them that they must suck at life if they mess up 1 thing in a group.
but I've had great groups too, so its mostly random.
the problem isn't with grouping, it's just with all around people. the community in WoW is pretty bad on most of the servers I play on (all but one). people throw around curses at every little thing because it makes them feel important, resort to name calling if people mention the slightest thing contrary to what they say... its all around worse than these forums.
because you can do 90% of non-instance content solo, when people really ARE forced into groups, they settle for anything and end up regretting it.
Everything creates huge amounts of negativity on the internet, that's what the internet is for: Negativity, porn and lolcats.
Yeah it was really, really bad. The game is not at all, not remotely, friendly to new players or slow levelers. I am a little shocked at how people are trying to justify it, or make the problem seem less than it is.
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Sadly, I see storm clouds on the horizon. A faint stench of Vanguard is in the air.-Kien
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/12/13/
My grouping experience in WoW was the same as my grouping experience in EQ2. Some groups are good, some are bad. Although i will say, groups were much more essential to the leveling process in EQ2 then they were in WoW, but i haven't played EQ2 in years. I also was a cleric...pure healer...so soloing was hard.
Most players dont group together for normal quest because the exp you earn will be share by the whole group, thus you earn lesser xp. We only group when there's a quest that's hard, like instance, or the escort quest, and disband after finishing it.
Thus the setup of this game is mainly for solo till you hit the max level, than its better that you group with your own guildies for Raid or PvP...
RIP Orc Choppa
That's exactly it. Most people that have played for a while understand that it's actually slower to group. And, that groups are only useful for instances or a handful of hard quests. It seems the only players that are looking to group at other times are either brand new (and there's nothing wrong with that), or they don't understand the game mechanics very well (and you sure as heck don't want to be grouping with them). However, at this point, since the game has been around for a while, the chances are much higher that the person wanting to group with you is clueless as opposed to simply a new player.
I had more problems with finding realy crappy groups than not finding people to group with. If you just use the lfg tool, it's hit and miss, but if you apply yourself even a bit, there is no doubt you will find a group for at least one instance around your lvl range.
If you want to group and quest, best thing for that is having a real life friend or two.
Generally, grouping is just like in any other MMO. Depending on how I feel, I sometimes look for a group or play alone. I recently decided to do a little experiment and try something new and it really resurrected my interest in playing wow. The game feels like it felt in the beginning, and like the previous games feel like.
I had an established guild which I led for a while, spanning over several years and multiple games. It is a very good group of people and many of them I met and spent time with in RL, however I got totaly bored of WOW. I decided to start fresh.
I created a new char, on a different server and start with a blank page. I decided not to join any guilds untill it becomes a neccesity and group with random people as the game goes - you know what I discovered?
- Most of the random PUGs are decent people. Idiots are few and far between and you can easily get rid of them. If you end up in a group full of idiots, leaving is just a click away.
- Random PUGs don't have the efficiency of a guild group used to play with each other, but that is just another obstacle to overcome, which makes everything more interesting. Basicaly playing with my old guild, I had more fun chatting while playing then actually playing, because everyone knew exactly what everyone else is going to do at any given moment we were so used to each others playstyles, so the actuall gameplay ends up feeling boring, except in the ghigh end challenges. Random groups on the other hand, give you a level of unpredictability and need to quickly adapt.
All I can say, PUGs have some bad sides, if you let them, however most of the people end up being decent if you yourself are not a stuckup elitist prick. Most people are open to suggestions and advices if approached right. I met alot of new people, that I end up being in the same groups every now and then. I met some bad apples which I wont play again with, but they are few and far between. All in all it was a pleasant and fun expirience so far.
To get back to the original topic, grouping in wow is nothing special - people who want to group group, and people who want to solo, solo. Sometimes the same group stays together for the entire day, sometimes just for one instance run and sometimes just for one quest - there is really no rule. If you are a nice person fun to play with, and met other similar people, big chance you will end up staying together, with changing some members every now and then. If you are impatient dickhead that listens to no one and jumps arround like mad, big chance is people will bail as soon as they finish what they wanted.
Yes....everything you read is true.
Solo in WOW has always been the norm. It seems like the entire game was designed to make it group-unfriendly from day one.
While that makes it easier to level solo (or duo), it also means that the vast majority of players have very little - if any - group experience.
That is a big departure from the "original" mmo's such as EQ1 and AC1, was grouping to a large extent was forced for many encounters.
Other games, such as EQ2 that have gotten more "solo friendly" still have quite a few incentives to group, such as group xp multipliers so you don't lose xp in groups. There is almost no incentive at all in WOW to group, in fact there are mostly disincentives.
Yes, every single one of the ten million WoW subscribers is a solo player and avoids grouping at all cost. Or maybe it's like every other community on the planet where everybody is different and likes different things.
Reading comprehension is a very funny thing, right?
To the OP: That's always been my experience, yes. Seems like people are reluctant to group unless there's a quest or they need help in an area. Or they bug you for a run through Deadmines.
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A human and an Elf get captured by Skaven. The rat-men are getting ready to shoot the first hostage with Dwarf-made guns when he yells, "Earthquake!" The naturally nervous Skaven run and hide from the imaginary threat. He escapes. The Skaven regroup and bring out the Elf. Being very smart, the Elf has figured out what to do. When the Skaven get ready to shoot, the Elf, in order to scare them, yells, "Fire!"
Order of the White Border.
Playing endgame WoW has spoilt low level grouping for me.
I'm so used to playing to the best of my abilities and being surrounded by other competent players. When I'm in a low level group I can't help seeing so many flaws - aggro management is wrong - spell interrupts not being made - pulling wasn't done right, whatever.
Anyway - I used to enjoy running instances at low level. We wiped every now and again, but it was fun and we all just went back and continued. Now, when we wipe, I can see exactly why we wiped, the mistake that X made, Y's failure to react to it - it just get's frustrating playing at this level.
Hence I've decided to solo my next character to 70. It's just less stressful.
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