Loot frequency and game style

[Daguin]

I benefited from group dungeon runs a lot from mid to high levels, especially in terms of gear. Labs->GK was an obvious progression. Now that my guild (and general) population has started to decline a bit I have gotten more interested in crafting. This means quite a bit of solo grinding as no one rightly wants to group up to farm consumables. I don't think either option is better, but I did find the cooperative play immediately rewarding. In the end I hope that active players will naturally group up into guilds, or just in-game friends to help each other, and that includes both receiving and giving assistance even when it is not 100% necessary. The grind could be alleviated--especially in quieter times--with more resource pooling, but I don't think mucking with loot mechanics in reaction to population is the answer.

[Vril]

While I enjoy grouping, there are a few reasons why I find it difficult in PG to do so.

1. My game play is often subject to frequent interruption, and as such I make a poor grouper much of the time. The devs could fix this by sending me a check for $5 mil USD so I wouldn't have other RL obligations.

2. With the current UI, grouping kind of feels like 'soloing in packs.' Targeting others isn't terribly easy, and agro management is challenging--in a group that runs a lot together this might be less of an issue.

3. I dislike group looting. Elites are great--I like that everyone gets a shot at some loots. But normal mobs are just a PITA; your normal group of 4ish will pull 6-8 and AoE them down, and then your left hunting for purple speckles trying to figure out which are yours. If you are a skinner/butcher then you are competing for with your own party. Perhaps a loot system that randomly or systematically distributed the loot would be better, I dunno.

For the above reasons, I solo a lot. I find that my xp/hour and loot/hour tends to be better soloing than with a group, and honestly, it's often just easier. That said, I would like to group more, especially when fighting elites.

$.02

(First post! Love this game, so good now, can't wait to see where it goes.)

[Feral]

While I enjoy grouping, there are a few reasons why I find it difficult in PG to do so.

1. My game play is often subject to frequent interruption, and as such I make a poor grouper much of the time. The devs could fix this by sending me a check for $5 mil USD so I wouldn't have other RL obligations.

2. With the current UI, grouping kind of feels like 'soloing in packs.' Targeting others isn't terribly easy, and agro management is challenging--in a group that runs a lot together this might be less of an issue.

3. I dislike group looting. Elites are great--I like that everyone gets a shot at some loots. But normal mobs are just a PITA; your normal group of 4ish will pull 6-8 and AoE them down, and then your left hunting for purple speckles trying to figure out which are yours. If you are a skinner/butcher then you are competing for with your own party. Perhaps a loot system that randomly or systematically distributed the loot would be better, I dunno.

For the above reasons, I solo a lot. I find that my xp/hour and loot/hour tends to be better soloing than with a group, and honestly, it's often just easier. That said, I would like to group more, especially when fighting elites.

$.02

(First post! Love this game, so good now, can't wait to see where it goes.)

Yay for first posts - today is my first day posting too. And I agree that in a group scrambling to skin and get gear is a competition I really don't like and it can create unnecessary conflict and bad feelings -- like standing by and watching someone continually botch skinning when you really need those skins AND can do it without botching=( I feel like there may be loot options already in game to change the style of looting, but I don't know.

[Esoteric]

I always see people running in and around dungeons/caves. Oftentimes, we'll all group up, sometimes, they're soloing.

[Daguin]

I feel like there may be loot options already in game to change the style of looting, but I don't know.

/loot free Everyone in your group will be able to loot every corpse.
/loot turns Your group will take turns getting permission to loot non-Elites.

Using the turns feature you can prevent some of the botching. It does get a little annoying in dense mob corpses though.

[drivendawn]

I am sure some one mentioned it but the game is in alpha with most people that come in trying it out and leaving wanting to come back when its finished. There is really only a dedicated 80 or so that have stuck around to play and test things and many of them love to solo. When the game launches we should have a few hundred on or more at prime time and more chances to group. Until then though just have fun in the random groups you can get together I suppose.

[Celedor]

I solo but would be interested in grouping. I did quite a bit in Everquest and Everquest2, and most grouping spots were easily reached (at least most of the ones I did) and I could find a replacement pretty easily if I had to leave. Then I tried WoW. The only need to group was for dungeons, and these were deep enough that I felt I could not be easily replaced midway through if needed. Perhaps I am misremembering WoW, but I am reluctant to group in any MMO now because I cannot guarantee I will be online for 4 hours.

Am I being unrealistic? How easy is to be in a group and be replaced if needed? Are dungeon crawls short enough that I don't need to commit 4 hours?

[Leodane]

I'm not experienced by any stretch, but the dungeons i have played so far have been bite sized. Crypt, mushrooms, and underhand are half an hour, tops, and that was soloing for me. Looking at some of the maps on the wiki, I can't imagine any of the dungeons taking too long with a group interested in moving instead of camping. Correct me if I'm wrong. To be clear, this is praise, not criticism...my days of 4-hour play sessions are sadly over.

[drivendawn]

I'm not experienced by any stretch, but the dungeons i have played so far have been bite sized. Crypt, mushrooms, and underhand are half an hour, tops, and that was soloing for me. Looking at some of the maps on the wiki, I can't imagine any of the dungeons taking too long with a group interested in moving instead of camping. Correct me if I'm wrong. To be clear, this is praise, not criticism...my days of 4-hour play sessions are sadly over.

Well, the group dungeons such as the Lab and Gazluk keep take more like an hour and a half or so. Also if I remember correctly Gazluk will have more lvls put in so who knows what future group dungeons will be like going forward.

[Crissa]

Sure, half an hour, if you don't loot anything.