Let's talk: what would make YOU want to group?

[anarchypark]

ppl get too serious when they premade.
they can't accept failure.
like there are some kind of fame/pride to protect. like K/D ratio? name value?
or just don't like death.
it gives motivation to hone your skills but sometimes it's too much.
slight mistake and ppl leave.

idk exact word but there are no middle class. poor gets poorer, rich gets richer.
only pug( bottom class ) and elite remains.
it's normal in old society i think.

I've tried to form casual grp to fill the gap.
after few wipes and losing i guess i'm on noob list. It was getting harder to make casual grp.
It leaves no choice but elite grp which my language and ping couldn't support.
so no elite, no casual, only pug for me.

[HissiCNesS]

Kinda what TenTon and Anarchy said. I miss chilled out ppl, that I can grp up with, that don't mind dying and failing. I don't like being pressured having to proof myself in front of 5 other elitist pro-gamers that know every single class and mechanic. (which I don't and also have no time for) It's kinda like in RL that you also wanna spend your time with ppl you like, friends but after playing quite a few months I hardly made any, its still so freakin anonymus and if you got ppl on your list they sadly don't appear online anymore. I dunno... I guess what would make me grp up would be to have 5 friends that I like hanging out with that are chilled out and just wanna have fun w/o putting pressure on each other. What would you label it? Casual-Middle Class-Hardcore? Dunno...

PS: if someone is interested in this kinda grp for SCs/RvR, pls feel free to add my below chars on your friendlist as I frequently play all 8 classes and send me a tell ingame as soon as I am online.

Cheers!

[merkin]

Personal opinion only. Persuasion is futile.

Cons of grouping for me:

1) Time to organize: you must prepare exact schedule for RL time when you group can play. You cannot be sure that all people will appear to join the group. We all became older and more responsible, many of former WAR players are no longer students, they have RL responsibilities, families, hobbies etc. No children play the game now.

2) Time losses due to sudden "Need to AFK", "BRB", "Baby cries", "Wife needs meet to fulfil my husband's obligations". I have played in very good premade for 2 weeks everday, counting time invested I admit that 50 % of the time we were waiting for someone to return back. Combining this with schedule from point 1 and obligations of everyone, it soon becomes stressful.

3) Hobby becomes job: you no longer play what you want and when you want, because the group needs you in special build, with special gear and special tactics. I know some players who hide from their guilds on alts because they do not want to play in the group/warband during that particular moment. Sad, but true.

4) No feel of heroism. You know that your group can easily vanquish pug groups and totally crush poor people who queue non-pug scenario. I saw 3-men group of destro defeating 2 warbands of Order in Thunder Mountain one day. They were 2 SH and 1 DoK. I feel much more heroic fighting alone or in very small numbers, where every pressed button matters.

5) No feel of victory when playing premade vs. premade. If one group is better gear/skill-wise, they easily win. If both groups are similar, they spend lots of time trying to kill each other. After many minutes they bow to each other or another group comes to help.

6) Voice comms are tiring ears. I work with people and I am very tired of sounds. Some people play the game while being intoxicated, some people want to make funny jokes, some people want to speak about their feelings. It is all very important to me, but I prefer to play in silence or with pleasant people.

7) Lack of new friends and new enemies. Playing in group makes you known as "premade player", many people consider you as "part of a certain group", no longer seeing you as an individual player. You are "one of them".

Remember that WAR was the game that brought the concept of open groups/warbands and public quests to MMO genre, therefore opening MMOs to casuals. Now many games do not ask for forced grouping, nor should it be so.

Personal opinion only. Persuasion is futile.

This is mostly me.

[Jildaz]

ppl get too serious when they premade.
they can't accept failure.
like there are some kind of fame/pride to protect. like K/D ratio? name value?
or just don't like death.
it gives motivation to hone your skills but sometimes it's too much.
slight mistake and ppl leave.

idk exact word but there are no middle class. poor gets poorer, rich gets richer.
only pug( bottom class ) and elite remains.
it's normal in old society i think.

I've tried to form casual grp to fill the gap.
after few wipes and losing i guess i'm on noob list. It was getting harder to make casual grp.
It leaves no choice but elite grp which my language and ping couldn't support.
so no elite, no casual, only pug for me.

For most premades in small scale guilds, exaclty my feeling.
Can be stressful to join a party in a guild premade, why ? because you are the pug, and no matter what happened when you loose, its gonna be the pug's fault. Ofc people won't blame their own guildies.
So last time i tried : we were playing, winning, all goes well, and suddenly we wipe and loose SC. dps ask what happened ? why i died ? answer was too obvious " because we have sucky tanks".

And this is exactly why i rather play alone or with my guildmates.

[RyanMakara]

As somebody who has had the pleasure of playing in 6v6 with OP since T3, I can only say there's both benefit and downsides to group play. It was always a blast running together with competent players whose individual strengths were accentuated by having a full group together to fight against other groups/warbands, but when it came to fighting other well-known groups the competitive drive sort of went into overdrive. This game has no competitive ladder system and thus all Scenario queues, be they 6v6 or 12v12 are based on a certain degree of luck, both in your own group setting and that of the enemy. Especially in 12v12 scenarios, the pug group you have with you can either make or break an entire match. In 6v6 there were either super easy fights, hard-core 15 minute dances of death or complete, humiliating roflstomps.

It makes sense wanting to be the best when you notice how immensely powerful your battlefield presence can be in a good group with fun people. However, the better you become, the less failure seems to be tolerated. Not only from the group but also yourself as a player. I think what scares off most people from being in a premade group is their lack of individual skill combined with the partial reliability there is from the team. It's a double-edged sword that definitely cuts into the enjoyability of the game depending on how serious stuff gets. I went from being a casual roleplayer to a semi-dedicated group member, and eventually I couldn't stand the simplest of deaths solely because I expected to be kept alive 24/7. It's the name of the game to live, die and live again because that's how fragile all players are on the battlefield, but eventually you expect a degree of immortality by which your day can be ruined after just a few deaths that could've been explained by bad luck or overwhelming numbers.

It's also hard trying to run solo again after you're used to having 5 others backing you up. At the same time, a lot of players are simply not used to dedicated combat support in a group of 6 people, let alone joining or forming their own group. There's a certain degree of fear associated with being 'social' in a group when you're just one person trying to enjoy the game for what it is.

[NoRKaLKiLLa]

The answer to OP is incentives. If the next gear set or appearance equipment, special mounts or must have QOL item were to only be achievable through coordinated and dedicated 6 friend play, everyone would want to group if they wanted the reward.

[Dabbart]

I think it’s important to group with different sorts of players. I group with people that don’t use coms all the time. As stated, you don’t need to be super hardcore to have fun and/or win. And having players not in coms, means you can listen to music, or just talk to 1-2 friends on coms. It works out quite well.

But I do find that when I am grouping with “elites”, my win drive kicks in. And I get far more annoyed than I would in any other setting, mostly with myself for letting a teammate die, or a miss timed punt. But being a “try-hard” can be fun as well. You learn some amazing tricks, and it definitely makes you a better player. But it can be exhausting after a hard days work. If I’m not in the mood for it, I group with Zaxxond or some other Bad and just goof around. This games lack of ranking or tier system is a benefit as well. You can just goof or try some ridiculous spec and not worry about any stats.

Oh, and there is nothing wrong with running a group with less than six. 3-4man gaming can be some of the most fun you’ll have. The key, is to play to each other’s strengths, and learn to anticipate what your team is going to do next.

TLDR: don’t just have a set group. It’ll make you jaded. Group with randoms some time. And play how you find you enjoy the game. Put in a little effort to meet people, and try to be funny with your **** talking.

[Haojin]

well. there are millions of games around for solo/casual playing muuuch better than warhammer online. warhammer online is one of the worst options for solo play imho, according the high population in EU.

warhammer online is a rvr game, it's not a competitive instance based pvp game. server's playerbase pattern is like %90 pug/casuals, %10 premades atm, maybe less. the last rvr/sc changes are super good for casuals tho. just remember the times keep lord 2 shotting people, it was impossible to take a keep without guild warbands. now, pug zerg can execute whole rvr without any problem. same way for scenarios, just q for pug scenario, open spotify and chill while pewpewing and getting rewards.

there should be some positive advantages for being in a group or being in a guild while not destroying pugs/casuals. getting typcal rewards for being in a group argument simply not enough, you can see how many premade players left the game already because of the boredom/lack of endgame.

-%10 of server population means nothing for managers for server, it's noted and accepted.

[Telen]

The answer to OP is incentives. If the next gear set or appearance equipment, special mounts or must have QOL item were to only be achievable through coordinated and dedicated 6 friend play, everyone would want to group if they wanted the reward.

I just wouldnt play

[peterthepan3]

The answer to OP is incentives. If the next gear set or appearance equipment, special mounts or must have QOL item were to only be achievable through coordinated and dedicated 6 friend play, everyone would want to group if they wanted the reward.

I just wouldnt play

No disrespect intended, but if it meant that more people were forming groups and playing together, I think the loss of a few people who insist on playing alone in a group-based game wouldn't be too catastrophic.

I echo a lot of what has been said thus far: people feeling the need to be on their A-game, feeling that premades may shout at them if they do something wrong, and the feeling that a few incentives are needed.