Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

Does This Enhance Your Experience?

    • 3237 posts
    June 23, 2017 8:35 AM PDT

    striderida1 said:

    I keep referencing with long explanations EQOA in posts like this but i won't bother doing it again. Please ask the people at VR who played EQOA to just replicate everything done in that game (especially the social/grouping aspect) and we will all benefit. 

    Thankfully there are several of them with experience playing that game!  I do have to agree though ... EQOA was absolutely awesome and anything replicated from that game will get a thumbs up from me.

    • 801 posts
    June 23, 2017 9:56 AM PDT

    Sometimes i am anti social, and like to solo, box and enjoy some of my time at a slower, faster pace killing mobs. I can or used to handle 6 accounts and it fullfilled my experiences. Not all the time i like to group up with a constant push forward game play like some of the other gens like doing.

     

    Random encounters? not really.


    This post was edited by Crazzie at June 23, 2017 9:56 AM PDT
    • 441 posts
    June 26, 2017 7:50 AM PDT

    I need both. I think people need to be rewarded for teaming be it friends or PUGs. 

    • 42 posts
    June 26, 2017 3:07 PM PDT

    Interaction with strangers is not only enhancing my game experience but I consider it necessary .

    I do not know what is the %tage of players who play with family (I am sure there must be a study about it) but based on my experience it is a small minority . Perhaps 20 % .

    So interacting with strangers starts to be necessary for the majority as soon as one needs a group and in an MMO one always needs a group .

     

    Besides if somebody in my family played MMOs what they don't, I would still prefer interacting with strangers because I have already the family in RL and know them by heart . So nothing new/challenging/surprising/unexpected if I played with them in a game .

    • 33 posts
    July 3, 2017 6:15 AM PDT

    I prefer both. Early on, I like the random interactions to make new friends and develop a solid consistent playing group. After that, I like the stability of a group of regulars, but during those times when they aren't all available, it is nice to be able to pick up a new group member and potentially expand the "regulars".

     

    But, then... sometimes I like some mindless solo grinding downtime as well.

    • 453 posts
    July 3, 2017 6:20 AM PDT

    Bazgrim said:

    Depends on the strangers lol. Needless to say, there are some strangers that can ruin your fun very quickly. But I think that causes some people to be too afraid of PUGs. Because there are also some strangers that go on to become lifelong friends. Those friendships are really special and enhance my gaming experience immensely. Overally, family is more stable and reliable. I have played with my family since I was a child. But it can also be interesting to meet new people - you can learn a lot from that :) That's really what MMO's are all about I think. I can play a multiplayer offline game with my family and friends. But MMO's allow you to meet people from all across the world!

     

    ^^^ This...

    • 16 posts
    July 3, 2017 6:44 AM PDT

    In EQ-esque games, some strangers become close friends, and some become rivals (e.g. contesting a camp/rare spawn), both of which make the game better.  It's driven by meaningful content and group interaction/reliance.

    In WoW-esque games, strangers generally stay strangers because you don't need each other and you aren't competing for resources.

    • 16 posts
    July 3, 2017 6:46 AM PDT

    Also, I second the plea for taking anything possible from EQOA.  I still remember the names and personalities of many randomly encountered players from EQOA because the community was so robust.

    • 363 posts
    July 3, 2017 7:08 AM PDT

    sunstalkr said:

    I used to love playing a druid in EQ. I would run by ppl I never knew or would never meet again and cast spells to heal/sow/etc. Sometimes they would realize what had happened and thank me and I would just wish them well and sometimes we would have longer talks and become friends. I like meeting new ppl as you never know which ones will become your next group of friends or even guildmates.

    This. If I can't buff/heal other players out of group (like much of EQ2) then Pantheon will not be as much fun for me. In EQ2 you can heal out of group, but it was limited (at least, it was that way last time I played). In EQ1 there were countless times I would be making my way across Norrath and stumble upon an individual or group that was struggling somehow. I'd help and either a) move on to where I was going, or b)found a new group to hang out with for awhile. Made a few longtime friends that way, too. So, please allow us to be able to fully buff and heal without having to be grouped.

    • 125 posts
    July 4, 2017 8:43 AM PDT

    I really  dont have any friends in real life who enjoy this type of gaming, Most are unwilling to put in the time they feel is needed no matter how much I tell them you do not have to play 4 hours a day 7 days a week even though some do. Because of this I have always looked for new friends in these types of games with the exception being my move from EQ to WoW. Ive have actually become really fond of seeking out a new community of friends to play with in each MMORPG as it allows me to join a community which best suites my playstyle for that particular game. Case in point would be Pantheon. As it stands now this will be my first time playing a race outside of an Elf or "good race". Although I RP minimally I do enjoy building a unique personality for my character in my own mind to merge with the lore of the game. Finding like-minded people to play with is important for me.

    • 134 posts
    July 5, 2017 1:03 PM PDT

    Other people ALWAYS enhance or dehance the experience.

    With that in mind a positive person can easily make your experience better. A negative person could also make it better if they play it right.

    • 151 posts
    July 7, 2017 9:00 AM PDT
    I just hate pugs. No one even talks. Group, run, kill, disband.
    • 422 posts
    July 7, 2017 9:36 AM PDT

    Hyperium said: I just hate pugs. No one even talks. Group, run, kill, disband.

    This statement is a prime example of old school versus new MMOs. PUGs in games like EQ, DAoC, Vanguard, etc did not work like this. They did not have instanced repeatable dungeons. There was no "group, run, disband" happening because that wasn't a thing. PUGs in these early games, and hopefully in Pantheon, would be much more social. You don't join a group expecting to blast through a dungeon in 10 minutes and disband, never to see them again. That PUG group would last for HOURS. You'd join up with complete random strangers, find a camp to dig into, and kill for very long periods of time. All the while chatting. Those random PUGs will build into lasting relationships with people. 

    Having a predefined group of friends and family in game with you so that you are always in a group does enhance the experience, but not having that in a game like Pantheon is still going to be a richer, more fulfilling game experience simply because you WILL get that social interaction in PUGs. That interaction isn't limited to friends and family, it extends to the entire community. Taking the genre from a single player game with minor multiplayer raids and dungeons back to its roots where the entire game REQUIRES team work and cooperation. You almost can't be unsocial in a game such as this.

    That's exactly why we are all so looking forward to this release. Hyperium, I predict your opinion and experience of PUGs might change after you see how an MMO should really be done.

    Heres hoping anyway.

    • 3237 posts
    July 7, 2017 9:37 AM PDT

    Depends on the game. I spent plenty of time chatting back in FFXI ... and that was while using a language translator! Dungeon finder is what killed communication. In FFXI, you had to plan your route, xp chains, skill chains, etc. Communication was necessary ... Even moreso for pugs!


    This post was edited by oneADseven at July 7, 2017 10:04 AM PDT
    • 454 posts
    July 7, 2017 11:37 AM PDT

    I am hoping to meet people who enjoy the game and are social.  EQ was like that for me.  I got into a pick up group one time, great people, after some days playing together joined their guild, we were friends for years.  PUG can be awesome, I've learned new things playing with new people.  New strategies, new mobs.  I grouped with a guy from Egypt once, it was a blast.

    • 151 posts
    July 7, 2017 2:45 PM PDT
    Oh I agree Kell, and hope, that pugs go back to grouping in panth. Us old folks have seen the mmo morphed like some evil wizard spell. Anyone that's been playing for more than a decade knows the difference between grouping and a pug. So yes, a pug is a dog.
    • 125 posts
    July 7, 2017 3:42 PM PDT

    One of my best game experiences ever in an MMO originated through a PUG. At that point I was still a powergamer and had made it to level 40 before most soloing for the most part as a druid. One day I was exploring when I seen 2 players engaged and the tank going down fast... it was a tank, cleric combo... so I helped out. They invited me to join them to break some content and I agreed..... to make a long story short 3 hours later and having filled the group they asked if I would be on the next day and of course I was... I found out later that they were part of a raiding guild and their main tank had leveled way ahead of the guild. I became their main healer until their core caught up at level 50. 2 months after that and multiple groups later I joined their guild after repeated requests by them and I enjoyed the following 2 years in that guild until I quit the game. We had multiple server firsts and seconds and I loved my time with them

    I really see my progression as far as joining a group/guild being somewhat similar in Pantheon. I dont have real life friends who play MMOs and rely heavily on those I meet in game which for me occurs by joining random groups and hopefully creating friendships. This is also my preferred way of finding guilds who best fit my personality and playstyle for that particular MMO.

    Mind you my story above was years ago. As mentioned in another forum I hate how the world grouping mechanics in certain MMOs, as they evolved, turned into a no-minded robotic gameplay with absolutely no interactions... not even a hello and then just a /quit after the run was done. I have high hopes that from the outset our community will be more mature than this.


    This post was edited by Aatu at July 7, 2017 3:45 PM PDT
    • 19 posts
    July 20, 2017 2:15 AM PDT

    I made a lot of great friends in EQ1 that I still keep in touch with.  I'm glad I didn't bring in many of my real life friends because then we would have been more insular and I wouldn't have made many new friends.  That tends to be what happens these days -- I'll go in with a friend or three and we don't really get to know other people there.  Things like matchmaking also allow players to get by without making friends, so whether it's WoW's party-finder, StarCraft 2 or Dota 2's matchmaking, I don't actually make friends via games anymore.

    There's something powerful about making a new character and not having pre-existing friendships with people in the game world.  Obviously that's partly down to how the player approaches the game, but I do think that some games have automation tools that turn group-finding into a Tinder-like, throwaway experience where you join up for a bit, play an instance or a match, and then disperse.  Nobody bothers to befriend anyone because they'll just be using the auto-group tool again next time.  These games' automated systems create a culture in which players see others as bodies that will fill the slots needed to play.


    This post was edited by vylo at July 20, 2017 2:15 AM PDT
    • 521 posts
    July 20, 2017 3:57 AM PDT

    I prefer the guild environment. Random strangers while sometimes rewarding, usually in my experience are challenges to my Patience. I’ve run into to many players who have poor Mic awareness,(mouth breathing, Flatulence, TV and other sultry background noises)  bad group etiquette, and other more nefarious issues.