|
Welcome
to The
Overpull, Ten Ton Hammer's weekly newsletter that discusses all things
WoW. Want to get it in your inbox each week? Click here to subscribe.
The difference between the Recruit-A-Friend Rocket and the pony is it actually has a use.
Gnomes and their Technologically Superior Role in Cataclysm
The War of Three Hammers is a little known war in World of Warcraft history. It's notable because it explains why Ironforge is ran the way it is, why there are multiple clans of Dwarfs around, what the base story was for the original pre-expansion WoW was, and a lot more (including Ragnaros). Ever wondered about these things? Check out our Loremaster's Corner this week and find out.
Last week we took a bit of a break from the serious business and this week were going to dodge the main topic of the week, the raid changes, because we have plenty of other coverage on it. Click to read what the changes are about then click to see my opinions on it.
This week Id like to talk about something I think World of Warcraft has lacked since the day it launched over five years ago. I think we need more grouping in the early levels. Games like Final Fantasy XI, EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, and even Guild Wars offer heavy bonuses for those that are willing to join sword and staff together to face enemies no matter the level. Yet, in WoW, youre actually punished if you group up before you hit the maximum level.
This lack of low level grouping makes all of us at the maximum level suffer because it breeds a new kind of introverted adventurer who has spent the majority of the game by themselves. These are the kind of players who whine that they cant get groups (without even trying), complain that gear is too hard to get (without even trying), and beg for everything to be handed to them because the entire game did that up until they hit level eighty.
Im not going to serve you up a giant brick of text on what all of the problems are. Instead Ill submit the problems I see with grouping at lower levels along with what my solutions are.
Problems and Solutions
Problem: Experience isnt worthwhile.
The way WoW works is that it divides the XP earned (which is based on some mystery combination of levels in the party) between all of the party members and then adds a bonus for being in a group. The mentality of this is that its easier to kill enemies while in a group so you should get less XP per enemy killed. Sound logical, but its really prohibitive if someone else in the group is a bit higher than you. The XP then tanks, especially if the enemies are green or gray to them, and it almost makes grouping up worthless.
My solution: Increase the XP and allow players to match the level of their groupmates.
Seriously, its a simple enough solution. Give us an incentive for being social and allow people with higher levels to match the lowbies level (ala City of Heroes) so you dont exclude two friends from grouping just because of a level difference. Grind XP is pretty important to questing, so we shouldnt see decreased grind XP just because someone in the group is 10 levels higher or, titans forbid, at the level cap.
Problem: Quests that drop items are impossible in a group.
Lets say youre farming for bear butts. You need a total of 20 bear butts in order to get the next quest to get 30 wolf ears for bear butt and wolf ear stew. Well, if you group up with a friend then you need 40 bear butts and 60 wolf ears. Yet you wont be killing enemies twice with two people because you have to move to each other in order to loot the corpses.
My solution: Whenever an enemy dies it should have a chance to drop multiple quest items for everyone on that quest in the group.
Say you kill a bear then it should have a chance to drop 1 or 2 bear butts (or simply put: a chance to drop the item for both players, not just the player that got assigned loot). Then both players have a chance to finish faster than someone who is doing the quest solo but its not handing them the quest on a silver platter. This makes grouping advantageous but doesnt simplify the process.
Problem: There is NO REASON to group before 80 outside of instances.
My solution: Elite quests need to return in Cataclysm.
Dont get ready to lynch me yet. Im serious, elite quests were a lot of fun and gave some great rewards. We should see them return. I know why they were removed. There was no one around to help with those quests. So what? Even if there are three people questing in a zone then there should be something to make those three people join up together and do their quests as one single group.
Just dont make them a requirement to get through a zone and everyone can be happy.
Incentives
Your average player isnt going to go and group up just because they think they should. Instead, theyre going to take the path of least resistance. This breeds a generation of players who reach level 80 and dont know how to group, how to get groups, and want everything handed to them. The dungeon finder gave them a bit of incentive to group but most players dont even bother with the long queues for lower leveled players. Even right after it came out I found myself waiting FOREVER to heal for 70-80 instances. If you cant tank then youre not going to be doing much random dungeoning anyway.
Lets give players incentives. Lets keep the solo way of doing things but lets make grouping attractive. Lets make it faster. A lot of us are tired of leveling. If it was faster to group up then we wouldnt mind taking on random new player X on a few quests with our alts (teaching them along the way). Instead, we all solo straight to 80. What fun is that?
Additionally, we need a new way of handling high level players and low level players within the same group. If your friend helps you quest then hes going to one shot everything but youre not going to get a bit of grind XP. Lets let friends match levels, capping their damage/healing to that level bracket (to avoid the gear issue), and enjoy the benefits of finally being able to play with your girlfriend who keeps running off cliffs or smashing her head into every enemy she sees.
I want to see the game turn into more than solo to 80 then whine about how your GearScore is sooooo low and how you cant join a group because you have no score and the game is unfair (Im talking in quest blues vs. actually running some dungeons and heroics). Im tired of the people who get to 80 and have no social grace about them. Im tired of the people who get to 80 and dont even know what the other classes are!
So with Cataclysm, since were getting a fresh start, can we please have more group incentives? Itd help everyone in the game from the level 5 newbie to the level 80s. Its something the game desperately needs. Sure, keep the solo game the same as it is, but let us group up even if it makes the game a bit quicker.
There are a lot of things Blizzard can do to make the game a lot more fun. Bombing runs, vehicles, and interactive quests all help. Yet, a single human companion trumps anything the game can throw at us for fun. Unless, of course, that companion is Leroy Jenkins.
So what are your thoughts? Should grouping be abolished until level 80 or should we promote more social interactions with players? Sound off on the Ten Ton Hammer forums.
-David "Xerin" Piner
|
