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My newbie grouping experience in DDO...
So, firstly, I'm having a lot of fun and (so far) my opinion is that for a free to play game it is extremely difficult to do better. I expect I will play this game for quite some time.
Up until yesterday I played solo, being wary of PUGs in a f2p game, and trying to get a feel for the combat. I'd almost reached level 4 on my human rogue and Kobold Assault was nagging at me, so I thought what the heck and put out an LFG.
The response was strong and I almost instantly put together a party of 6. Without a word 4 of the group entered the instance and started fighting the Kobolds while I was waiting politely by the quest giver. That was rude but I jumped in and it was really quite fun running around killing loads of kobolds. But then, while I was killing still more kobolds ('cause I and another missed the start and were short of the 200), a fight started up in party chat. One player (level 4 melee class) had access to the kill counts for each player (no idea how you get that info) and after seeing they had the top kill count commented on a caster player being lazy with only 13 kills or something.
Insults flew, the profanity filter was tested and people left. Not a great first experience, really.
Second try... Irestone Inlet. This time just 3 of us plus hirelings. One player knew the quest well and so it was all very rushed and I got left behind a lot. But still, it was fun content and I recognised the quest design was clever even if I didn't have time to read the quest text. We were nearly done when one player has to answer his door. We only need to rescue two more crew members and for the 3rd player waiting more than 15 seconds was too much and he charged in. We died. No apology. We eventually complete the quest but by then I was fed up.
I went back to soloing.
It made me wonder about these people lamenting the solo emphasis coming through in MMOs. I guess these are the same people that either don't mind rude, impatient players or are rude and impatient themselves, or already have a set of like-minded friends to play with. The arguments about SW:ToR for example, that it is not even an MMO because it allows you to solo. Those people wanting to see more grouping in MMOs need to understand just how unpleasant grouping can be and come up with suggestions about how game design might change the culture and remind people to be decent to each other. When that happens, grouping might actually become popular.
If there was a way I could easily link up with like-minded people then I'd group up a lot more than I do.
Comments
The only thing that bothered me about the game was that EVERYONE I grouped with ran thru all the quest at warp speed. The dungeons and the quests look like they took alot of time making them so I would like to slow down and enjoy the sights.
I gotta say wen in games like FFXI where you alwas had to group, people were generally much nicer and cooperative than games like WoW (nothing against WoW, just an observation). I like it when games force you to group more as ePeen gets left behind by general plasant and cooperativeness. People who are jerks gt left out of groups fast and they learn that the world doesn't revolve around themselves. That is what I miss most in these streamlined solo MMOs, everything seems to be "Me, me, me!"
You can find like minded people, you just have to filter through general chat. There are a shit ton of power gamers that play DDO like it's Quake 4, but there are really great guilds in DDO that dosen't rush..some even RP. It took me about a month but I have found a couple really good groups of folks on Sarlona.
This sword here at my side dont act the way it should
Keeps calling me its master, but I feel like its slave
Hauling me faster and faster to an early, early grave
And it howls! it howls like hell!
The best part of this game is experiencing the dungeons for the first time with others who have not been through them. They are fantastic!
I joined up with my old guild when I played years ago and they made sure to let the newbs go first and explore etc. Great stuff. . maybe try to find a guild that is into role playing or something to have similar experience.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
Absolutely. I think the quest design in DDO is particularly good and soloing means I can appreciate it.
Maybe I need to start my own guild called something like Slow it Down Adventurers Club.
Do it. Actually I should check out the forums there and see if there are any guilds like that. . might get me playing again.
I know there are some perma-death guilds that if your character dies he is gone for good as in re-roll. That would be pretty interesting.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
DDO is such an outstanding game, sorry you had a negative experience. Personally I have not pugged in years.
Join a good guild with friendly people and you will never have these problems, you ( and everyone else over the age of 20 ) are always welcome with us
http://gunbad.com/
Sinister Savant MMORPG Community
Don't know if people actually read the grouping boxes or not but back on Kothos Island I used to scroll through them and would see the notes: Going slow, newbie experience, zerg for gear etc.... It's such a waste if players aren't looking at them since I think DDO has one of the best looking for group features around.
Check out the guilds or if you made a note of the names of those you played well with; contact them and set up a regular day to get together to just do a couple of dungeons slow.
Different game but I pugged one in LotRO. Bunch of us newbies running a barrow mission for Tom Bom.....? Since we were all waiting for the thing to start we knew we were all new so good there. Well we planned it out, me and another warden would pull and we'd take 'em in small chunks. Got inside and our Tank was off like a flash at the first group of NPC's. Could not rein him in at all, just like a Lab chasing squirrels! He finally aggro'd everything and it's brother 'bout half way through and we wiped. If we could have shot him ourselves we would have. :-)
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
This was often my experience as well. You want to slow down when you're experiencing the quest for the first time, and there's always that person that's on their 5th time that wants to zerg through everything, and spoil the surprises.
There's always that idiot that goes running down the halls setting off traps and robbing rogues of XP as well.
I think it mostly comes from the differences between DDO and most MMO mechanics. Players that haven't let go of the latter, live by the notion that that which doesn't kill you, will just make you stop for a minute until you're healed to 100%. This I think was a big reason why the game had to go F2P.
If you can find a group that knows DnD(and thus DDO) rules and the resource based focus, it's a blast to play. But when you can't, all you can do is wait while everyone else volunteers to be a meat shield and be ready to bolt when they've aggroed a dozen hill giants...
No different then other MMOs.
Take WoW with the dungeon finder now for example. People use dungeon finder because it's a fast way to level and results in decent gear. Several people always know the dungeon well and as such push forward fast. There's almost always one guy who isn't a tank who can't wait 3 extra seconds and charges in to agro the whole place = group wipe. Then he quits. There's the guy who joins hoping it will tkae 15 minutes when it's a 30-40 minute dungeon minimum and asks "How much longer?" then quits when he gets the answer.
A lot of people are playing just to level up fast so they want the xp as fast as they can. I've seen it in WoW, I've seen it in DDO, I've seen it in other games too. It's annoying when it happens, and it can be uneventful if you've never played that dungeon before, since now you don't get to experience it.
But occasionally in all cases you get the awesome group who clicks well and you have a blast with. Unfortunatly in WoW, since the dungeon finder is cross server, all you can do is repeat the same exact dungeon again with the group. You can't keep the group to do other dungeons. Fortunatly in DDO when you find that group they're on your server so you can run off and do a bunch of other quests with them or even join their guild.
Actually you can Queue up for other dungeons with the same group that you are with at that moment. But yes once you break group thats it. The LFD system in WoW is a blessing and a curse. Only play DDO in limited spurts so never really got to team with others unfornately.
While that's true, DDO has much bigger immediate consequences, IMO. Since you don't heal or gain mana automatically, a couple badly fragged encounters will generally leave your HP and Mana depleted. Fortunately, you can reuse shrines now, but I think there's a 15 minute cooloff period. Of course, you can also leave, but then your XP gets cut significantly.
Other MMO's, if you survive the encounters, you can wait a couple minutes while your health/mana is restored, rebuff where necessary, and go.
I pug alot in DDO and Im actually amazed of how often I get in really great groups with nice people. But I understand if the early levels are pretty bad for pugging.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
If you are doing a quest for the first time ALWAYS make that known before you start. Make sure the group knows and decides ahead if they are going to sniff the flowers or not. I rarely pug low level stuff so I can avoid ruining other peoples experience. When I PUG I generally avoid groups that make it known they want to go slow. Joining groups that say going slow and then zerging ahead is poor form. Joining a zerg and complaining you want to go slow is also poor form though.
How does setting off traps rob a rogue of EXP? A rogue can still locate and disable the trap box, and the entire groups shares that EXP. The rogue gets no bonus himself.
Most of us ran through traps for years because Turbine failed to make them deadly enough and for a long time rogues were in short supply. It had nothing to do with mechanics of other games and everything to do with DDO itself. Now the traps hurt and rogues are slightly more plentiful.
I fail to see how knowing D&D rules will help you aggro less in DDO.
Hey Strap, you may want to check out some of the Permadeath guilds in DDO. PD isn't for everybody but you get a chance to really enjoy the quests with strategy and tactics and new players are always welcome. Most of the time when a group finds out it's your first time in the dungeon they will follow your lead (unless it's likely to wipe the group
). If you are not sure what permadeath is, it's basically a set of rules some guilds play by (on the honor system) to put the emphasis back on teamwork and strategy and if we die we delete the character and start over.
You can find a guild on your server with the link in my signature.
EDIT: also, press X inside the quest to see how much xp will be earned on completion and the kill count (which just counts who got the killing blow, usless to anybody not obsessed with the size of their e-peen).
--
DDO Permadeath guilds
Well, I did make it clear, both times I grouped. It didn't seem to make a sniff of difference.
Thanks to all the replies everyone... I agree finding the right guild is the solution and I've been actively searching. Server is Thelanis and there seem to be a few options. I also looked into the LFG feature in the game which seems more useful than I thought at first glance.
Maybe I'll update the thread with my next grouping experience... if it makes a good story that is.
If you are the only one who is new in the group, most of the time the group will not play to your wants. I suggest you drop at that point to avoid having your first time ruined. I also suggest leaving Thelanis and moving to Cannith or Orien. Both are newer servers and more likely to have players looking to run at your speed. By seeing general chat in the Harbor I can promise you tons of new players to enjoy first times with. Telling people it is your first time is the FIRST step, getting agreement is the next. You need both.
Perma Death(not a fan myself) also could be the answer for you, they tend to go slow and think out everything to avoid dying. You may find this to be your style.
I have had the odd pug group that were terrible as well. Yesterday in fact I had a group do the "The Pit". A long and very frus... "challenging" quest. I was the sole healer in the group. Right at the end before the final chest was opened the party wiped because of some... well rather dumb "tactics" called running off without the healer and tank and getting agro and killing yourselves and then teh healer... good job... What made it worse is that one person stayed in to hold the instance open so we could loot the famous "Muckdoom" weapon. Well that was all nice, but they did not bother to wait for the Cleric and teh Tank to get back before they got their loot and left us high and dry. Pugs can suck at times.
But they can be amazing fun as well. I have joined pug groups and found new guild members through them. I have had MANY wonderful experiences in a pug group, but of course there are always those few that ruin it. But I feel I have many more good expeiences than bad in pugs.
Start your own group. Make the comment in teh box STATE CLEARLY that you are going slow and not zerging. Say something liek Tactical Slow Game Play Only Please, or some such, and your experience will improve dramatically.
The game is great. the Dungeons are wonderful. Three Barrel Cove is the best quest area I have ever done in any MMO. (my opinion) and I have played in LOTS of games... I get bored easily so I'm always trying out new gaes, yet I keep coming back to DDO. I beta tested the game, and I still play it. Of course I have taken breaks... often, but hey... if you stay in one game and never try anything new you cannot critique anything else either because you have no knowledge in what makes other games fun.