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Group-based MMOs
mrguy123
Member Posts: 69
I'm looking for a new MMO, but the few I've tried haven't delivered a key aspect of gaming that I need. I've played City of Heroes/Villains for roughly 3 years now, on and off. I think that CoH is the only game to deliver the best teaming experience available. Teaming is so simple and so well done. However, after playing for so long the game has become a bit tedious and I'm looking for a fresh start before Champions Online comes out( my planned next MMO).
Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions of an MMO that is focused on teaming? I played WoW for about 2-3 months with my friend and grouping up rarely happened. It with either my frend and I duoing or myself soloing. I've tried others, but the same problem arises. Is it just me or is grouping lacking in current MMOs?
Comments
Guild Wars if you like group PVP, DDO if you like group PVE, FF XI if you like group grind.
The only group based games are old games. Final Fantasy XI is highly group based and Everquest was orginally highly group based. I'm not certain if thats the case ore not anymore.
Grouping in MMOs is nothing like it is with teaming in FPSes. MMOs are more insular and so huge, to find a group you'll probably have to spam chat, and then still wait a lifetime before you/they arrive. They need guilds just so folks can find anyone in 2hrs, even.
Does that translate into "group play", no.
Grouping should be more if you're within a certain area, at range, you're automatically in the pack. It allows the shy and the bold to fight the dragon together (let alone the lower levels to get a taste of what is coming up -- not wait until they leveled to get "picked" [further wasting time trying to find a group]), and regardless of class/rank/status. Not this hurry up, wait, and begging that is going on now as "grouping". Then whatever loot that is dropped is dropped as need before greed (so the poor sod who never got their first piece of epic gear can actually get it, not the guy farming them) -- personally, I don't believe any epic gear should be dropped for grouping/guilding, it should be a personal achievement, you did it yourself without the hand holding.
This genre is a work in progress, with a long way to go to work out the kinks.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
QFT.
The question should be more like "what MMO ISNT group based" because last i checked everyone has the option to group up with people. Just because it isnt forced doesnt mean the option isnt there so if what youre asking is what games force you to group well then I cant tell you I dont play those games and by the looks of it most dont either.
hmmm only a very small handful(maybe even the literal 5 of that said hand) of people in wurmonline aren't perma-grouped in a town.
slightly shameless plug. but there is a point in there in the fact that even if your townies aren't on at the time you're still working with them.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
DDO is highly group based for PVE play. Has a very easy to use UI for LFG & LFM that is utilized by most all of the players.
Unfortunately you won't find another experience like CoH for grouping.
Almost everything else has a static, class role, forced grouping model. They think it encourages grouping and don't realize how much it actually ruins grouping.
There is grouping in say DDO but it of the forced grouping variety. The only difference between DDO and WoW as far as grouping in concerned is that DDO really punishes the soloers badly. Its not anywhere as fluid or easy as CoX and you get the same role BS too.
Sadly you are stuck with the forced grouping model. They all shoehorn the groups slots and balance everything around a particular size group with particular classes. The only question is whether they force the grouping by only giving you the good equipment if you run an instance designed for a group but otherwise have ok solo play or whether you simply can't jack outside of a group like DDO or old school EQ1.
I get tired of CoX quite often as it can get tedious. Unfortunately the grouping setup in other games is just confining and depressing. Its especially depressing when you consider that what they do actually hurts grouping but all the people who play the other games are convinced its the only way to have any grouping at all. All they do is look at WoW which uses a forced grouping model and point at how the solo play interferes. Of course WoW's model is whacky the damage is already done by the forced grouping model they borrowed from EQ1. The only reason to group in EQ1 or WoW is because they punish you if you don't. The only thing WoW did was to realize punishing people severly makes them sick of your game.
Basically you are SOL if you want a game that actually creates a positive reason to group other than CoX.
What balance? What skill? When over 50% of anything of late is based mostly on armor. The only thing these devs did was give mobs extra health and damage, then scaled it so 24 players can spell them down (because even the weapons are there for show -- a beastie with 3000 health, and your sword can only take *at max* 88 health off him, with a "chance" hit of some critical damage [usually in the 1% to 5% probability]). To compensate is to get the armor, but to get the armor you need to group.
Prescription for disaster.
That guy at the Hellgate forum had it right about what is missing -- actual combat skills, not just stand there and cast spells.
In BF2142 in Titan mode, there's the "end game" of boarding the enemy Titan and the quest to blow it's core. Defenders (humans, not some AI lacking mob that just stands there looking dumb) throw everything at them, and it becomes a royal meat fest. But the invaders pod or heli drop back through the gunfire, and figure the defenses out, and charge to even take down fraggers who protect the corridor with an never ending supply of grenades (hehehe). Take them down in each corridor to get the console they're protecting. Then repeat it 3 more times in 4 corridors and charge into the reactor room -- the main defense -- then, if they survive before the shields go down [and if they go down too far, they don't have to worry about blowing the core, it'll meltdown without them -- as the other team is trying to do the same to YOUR Titan], RDX the core to Kingdom Come.
45 minutes on average that game is, and that's every round.
That fighting requires everyone to do their job, too. But there's no grouping -- there's teaming. And YOU pick your team and squad and what role you'll play (Recon/sniper/RDX | Assault or Medic | Engineer or Repair | Support or Supply Ammo). Not some group or guild leader cherry picking "to win". The beauty is you get a ragtag group of no one you know together, and each knows their roles enough, to take down the objective. And when you do, you feel you accomplished something, as you're not just standing there throwing spells at some tank to take whatever down. YOU ran the corridors; you blew a console or consoles (if you took the initiative to face the grenades and auto machineguns -- and get rewarded for it too with pins); and you and your Ammo guy, knocked the last defenders down, packed the core with RDX, detonate it, run and jump and parachute off the Titan before it blows (and get another pin for doing the impossible, if you're not shot dead before hitting the ground).
That's EVERY round, folks. Not grinding 79 rounds to get "the good stuff". And every pin, badge, stat I got, I earned it. The team and squad is the organization, but if I didn't do my job, there wouldn't be any pins badges and stats as you HAVE to do more than stand there and throw responsibility to someone else to finish the "end game". We all have the same weapons and abilities, but the human element is to THINK, and we use our brains ***not just reflexes*** to solve problems in the way, to take the objectives.
Then you wonder why MMOs just don't have enough players? I can get more action, accomplishment, "l00t", and awards in 40 minutes a round in a FPS than I can get out of a MMO (and I don't have to PAY TO GRIND). "End game" is ALL the time.
It's why I play MMOs for something else -- to garden or craft, for example. To be anything BUT a fighter. I get that already, and it takes more skills to do it too. But noooooooooo, I can't just garden and craft. Because the game requires me to get raws in a middle of mobs. And now, I have to group with weasels who I wouldn't even give the time of day with in RL, to even play.
Grouping in MMOs are people cherrypicking trying to "outsmart" a dumb-no-AI mob -- and that's IF they even bother to group (especially if there's even enough online to do so). Walking into a city in EQII is like walking on a BF2142 server with no one playing. You get your massive world, so massive that it LOSES people, and then you FORCE them to find SOMEONE in that expanse to do what you NEED to do. All wasting your time and life, while hoping to fill it with chatting with basement geeks and drag queens (as most of those skimpy clad women are boys with their fantasies). FPS? Check how many are playing on a server, login, pick your role and let's roll.
Make grouping within range, so when players get to sites that are being camped they're on the team (and getting access), with grouping as invites if need be, not trying to hunt down a group in a massive world. And make grouping with individual achievements, not just feeding a tank (too much power in one role, and too much competition to fill it, leaving many classes out of even raiding, and ALOT of groupless players).
It's that simple. Let folks play the roles they want to play, on their time, and make it rewarding to do so -- not just with money and trinkets 79 levels later.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.