Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Grouping?
jizu
Member Posts: 10
Are there camps in this game for groups to grind out for hours on end or is it a dungeon fest / run and kill game? I really miss the old style games were you grabbed a camp with some friends, killed mobs for hours on end while chatting and having fun. The 2.5 second cool down sounds like the right pace to make this type of thing happen.
Comments
You won't see much of that anymore. Group grinding is mostly done by grinding instances now.
Nothing is stopping people from doing it in the world, it's just not the most efficient way of leveling.
edit: People seem to be thinking I'm saying that no there isn't ANY form of group grinding. There is but not in the form of XI style grinding. You don't just sit in one place for hours pulling mobs to your party. You have to do other things like other people have said.
I was in one last weekend. And, there many that I ran across. There are a decent amount of FFXI players and this what they know so it's what they do :P.
Not to burst your bubble, but the game is actually built around open world farming. Grouping helps making the farming quicker. Between, Chain bonus,Fates,hunting log, and the massive amount of classes you can level on one account, there will be plenty of time to do open world farming. Some of the best EXP you can get is Fate+chain farming in a group. After your second class, you'll be hard pressed to find any alternative to open world farming, unless you sit in dungeons all day, but they are spaced out enough that it really isn't the fastest way to level your alternate classes.
~ ~
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
I never said it didn't exist at all and claiming the game is built around that style of leveling is debatable.
But he was asking more about XI style grinding, in one spot, for hours, which there really isn't because like you stated above you have to do other things and move around. Also once the population starts to spread out and there are less and less FATES in a zone, the efficiency of that will plummet.
I can't say that I miss camp and grind. I miss grouping more, but I think there's room to improve on that archaic model.
I would like to see SOME MMORPG provide solid amounts of group content during the leveling process that would be suitable for grouping. Well, I'd prefer a return to solo being horrifically inefficient and grouping being the only way to make noticeable progress for leveling, but one thing at a time.
I think you could do something more compelling than camp and grind but with a similar vibe by mixing and matching bits and pieces of existing (or developing games). Ie, it could be done easily without major innovation because the components exist.
So for ex, it would be nice if there was always elite style outdoor content around with mobs that are impossible or near impossible to solo but that are setup to work for groups of various sizes. Either large chunks of zones or entire zones or both or a mix. Think crushbone or any EQ classic "dungeon zone" - areas where you could solo and pick off easier mobs at great risk of being massacred with the slightest misstep and where grouping was a far better idea.
The first wrinkle would be DAoC style pulling - in DAoC you could tag a group of mobs and the size of the pull would vary depending on how big YOUR group was (DAoC had 8-man groups for normal grouping). It was a dynamic way to be challenged without always needing a full group. Remarkable. And from a game that's very old now. I've never seen a similar setup in any other MMORPG. DAoC had a lot of camp & grind but with this system you didn't HAVE to have a full group always (although a full group with max-sized pulls was usually most efficient).
Wildstar isn't going to have Kill X quests as pure kill X. You still have kill...but you get a progress bar somewhat similar to heart quests in GW2, and you gain progress on that bar based on the strength of mob you're killing, your contribution (if multiples are tagging, and this system doesn't reward light tagging, you need to contribute and not just poach), and if you're grouped you get shared credit but have to kill more stuff (because you're in a group and stronger). Since groups share xp support and heal type characters get equal credit. It's a very flexible sound system (only revealed recent but it sounds slick) that makes the whole kill quest thing a lot more dynamic and suitable for players of diverse ability levels or group sizes - IF the content is also similarly dynamic (ie, no point if there aren't a variety of mobs of different strengths and group sizes that are linked, etc, to offer diverse challenge).
FFXIV has the levemete thing where NPCs give out dynamic quests. I wouldn't do it exactly that way, but the main thing is that instead of having fixed quests, having dynamic and repeatable quests that aren't linked in to story or even particular levels, allows players to do content when they want, as long as they want, and to more readily group because you don't need everybody synched to a certain level or storyline stop. This is something sorely lacking in most "outdoor elite" content that's designed for certain sized groups of a particular level with static quests that often tie in to other quests - making it much more difficult to find groups for the content.
(as a side note one thing I like in FFIX, or GW2, is that if you're high level and go to lower level areas you get down scaled, so you can't destroy content or babysit scrubs - every good MMORPG should have this kind of thing)
So, mix elite style content that is group-oriented but flexible for duo and up. Blend in DAoC style pulling so you get pulls that are reasonable and challenging for your group size. Blend in dynamic quests that finish based on action/participation instead of just by the number so that groups of all sizes get similar treatment. Blend in dynamic questing that gives players more options (having quests for content is more compelling than just grinding for the sake of grinding and gives a bit more purpose to the grinding, even if it's a simple "lower the goblin population" that equates to kill the equivalent of 25 eiltes). You wouldn't even need to give out piles of xp for the questing either, the rewards could be rep, tokens towards gear (ala Aion coins and many other similar systems), a little bit of extra coin, a goodie box that's similar to the lockboxes you find in F2Ps except in sub-based games you don't have to buy keys to indulge, you just INDULGE and enjoy the whole game, etc).
And you could have entire zones or big slices of zones with this kind of content all thru the game and leveling process such that you could easily group up at nearly any level and do something somewhat grindy yet not exactly camp and grind, and that's a little more meaningful since you can blend in some questing, but not just the static elite area questing that's often nearly impossible to do except during the initial rush of release when there's tons of players around.
There's a lot of flexibility on top of a system like this on top of the system itself being very flexible. For ex, if EQN is even remotely group-oriented you could put a system like this on top of procedurally generated content and have endless random mobs and terrain too - it'd be MMORPG heaven (if there was actually role based, real grouping, and not just zergs of invulnerable soloists, which is more likely to be what happens in EQN).
As an MMORPG player I like to group and mowing down solo ez-mode content even as just a duo isn't very compelling. It's actually even more boring than soloing it. As a gamer in general, I like options.
You could provide this kind of content along with more typical story, hub, whatever questing and give players more options, but most importantly, give players a way to easily do some grouping while leveling that isn't just the static instance very X levels or marginally interesting and often hard to do (due to logistics, not difficulty) outdoor elite content.
Anyways.
Premium MMORPGs do not feature built-in cheating via cash for gold pay 2 win. PLAY to win or don't play.
You sir, have no idea what you're talking about.
Yes! There are areas you can grind with your friends, or group mates, and you'll recieve additional exp for doing, grouping up I mean. And more fun, cos lets be honest, groups are more fun than alone.
They're called Fates, which you can easily move between with your group, you might consider this sort of instanced zones? but they're in the open world.
Also, you have exp chain mobs, if you kill one within a certain time you get boosted exp, this increases if you then kill another exp chain mob within an allotted time. Which is fun too.
Or just grind high level mobs with your group?
FFXI players will group with you in the open world to do these activities, and so will none FFXI players, if you ask.
Again there is no XI style grinding. Again when the population spread outs and there aren't as many FATES in a zone it won't be as efficient. You have to do other things, and move around, which wasn't what he was asking.
People seem to be thinking I'm saying that no there isn't ANY form of group grinding. There is but not in the form of XI style grinding. You don't just sit in one place for hours pulling mobs to your party. You have to do other things like other people have said.
i think they need to put this back in for people who like doing it.. i use to think putting in quest for level would be better then grinding..
but the quest are as boring as the grind and is pointless half the time and you dont care what the npc had to say.. make the mobs fun to kill and it will be better then these quest hubs..