I must admit that it is not my idea but a merger of your post with one I read last year on this forums. A second of unwanted lag at wrong moment can destroy all of the fun in game.
@zeb I see, was just wondering where the bodies went after truth deinterstined them ... carry on with the research, doctor!
*picks up Zeb's leftovers and teleports to "Bear's Burger" with the latest drop off, gets two "Big Bears" to go.*
Balance content for group play rather than making it all soloable, which is the main reason people solo their way to level cap in the first place.
This doesn't work in the new social-gamer accessible MMO paradigm.
Better to make certain types of content, maybe twenty percent of it such as story arc enders and optional dungeons, balanced around teams, with the majority of the content soloable, but faster and easier with a team.
I'm going to assume you mean casual gamer, as a social gamer would need no incentive to party up.
And it would work just fine, as it has done in the past, the real problem is that most companies choose to sacrifice community in favour of accessibility, getting as many people in the door as possible without considering how long they're going to stay so long as they spend some cash while they're there. They realise there are going to be die-hard fans who hang around whatever they do, the focus is now on making sure as many people play your game as possible. Some of them will buy something.
The sad fact is that a large portion of the MMO playerbase simply won't interact with anyone else unless it is absolutely required of them. Nothing bonds a group like adversity.
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marenorMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited October 2012
I personally hope that all the content is soloable. Not for level capping or really any in game reasons but just from prior experience. My work schedule tends to allow periods of fairly active gaming followed by long periods of inactivity. This is somewhat unpredictable for me as my work is project based. Understandably, guilds/alliances tend to frown upon members that disappear for three or six months. Also, some of my work comes with very short notices, as little as a few hours, which means I will be forced to break commitments to the guild/alliance with the same short notice. Which tends to leave me outside of regular groups and I refuse to PUG. I have not played any type of healer since I parked my Cleric in DDO, not even PnP, which was due to PUGs. I still wake up with cold sweats when I think about that experience. b:surrender b:shocked
Off topic but truth, here are some bear burgers for you and research items to pass on.
I understand the social aspect of MMO's and tbh most of my PUGs have been good experiences but the bad ones seem to be more memorable, unfortunately. I just happen to have an rl that tends to disrupt finding regular groups and for me at least the bad outweighs the good for PUGs. I am hoping to find a guild/alliance that will put up with my schedule but I understand why it has been problematic in the past. From reading through the forums I am more hopeful that I will be able to find groups that are willing to go through the quests at a pace that allows me the full enjoyment of the content but I believe that will require more than PUGs can offer.
The rewards for grouping tend to be inherent in grouping, the other groups members are able to bring attributes and skills that both add to the gaming experience and allow for completing the quest with greater ease. This was detailed in an ealier post as well. But, I am not against XP bonuses or other benefits as long as the benefits are balanced. I also understand that certain quests may require groups but I still have my hopes for the ability to solo all quests.
Comments
*picks up Zeb's leftovers and teleports to "Bear's Burger" with the latest drop off, gets two "Big Bears" to go.*
This doesn't work in the new social-gamer accessible MMO paradigm.
Better to make certain types of content, maybe twenty percent of it such as story arc enders and optional dungeons, balanced around teams, with the majority of the content soloable, but faster and easier with a team.
And it would work just fine, as it has done in the past, the real problem is that most companies choose to sacrifice community in favour of accessibility, getting as many people in the door as possible without considering how long they're going to stay so long as they spend some cash while they're there. They realise there are going to be die-hard fans who hang around whatever they do, the focus is now on making sure as many people play your game as possible. Some of them will buy something.
The sad fact is that a large portion of the MMO playerbase simply won't interact with anyone else unless it is absolutely required of them. Nothing bonds a group like adversity.
Off topic but truth, here are some bear burgers for you and research items to pass on.
I understand the social aspect of MMO's and tbh most of my PUGs have been good experiences but the bad ones seem to be more memorable, unfortunately. I just happen to have an rl that tends to disrupt finding regular groups and for me at least the bad outweighs the good for PUGs. I am hoping to find a guild/alliance that will put up with my schedule but I understand why it has been problematic in the past. From reading through the forums I am more hopeful that I will be able to find groups that are willing to go through the quests at a pace that allows me the full enjoyment of the content but I believe that will require more than PUGs can offer.
The rewards for grouping tend to be inherent in grouping, the other groups members are able to bring attributes and skills that both add to the gaming experience and allow for completing the quest with greater ease. This was detailed in an ealier post as well. But, I am not against XP bonuses or other benefits as long as the benefits are balanced. I also understand that certain quests may require groups but I still have my hopes for the ability to solo all quests.
This is just mho.