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 it’s easier to kill enemies while in a group so you should get less XP per enemy killed. Sound logical, but it’s 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, it’s 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 don’t exclude two friends from grouping just because of a level difference. Grind XP is pretty important to questing, so we shouldn’t 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.
Let’s say you’re 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 won’t 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 it’s not handing them the quest on a silver platter. This makes grouping advantageous but doesn’t simplify the process.
Problem: There is NO REASON to group before 80 outside of instances.
My solution: Elite quests need to return in Cataclysm.
Don’t get ready to lynch me yet. I’m 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 don’t make them a requirement to get through a zone and everyone can be happy.
Incentives
Your average player isn’t going to go and group up just because they think they should. Instead, they’re going to take the path of least resistance. This breeds a generation of players who reach level 80 and don’t 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 don’t 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 can’t tank then you’re not going to be doing much random dungeoning anyway.
Let’s give players incentives. Let’s keep the solo way of doing things but let’s make grouping attractive. Let’s make it faster. A lot of us are tired of leveling. If it was faster to group up then we wouldn’t 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 he’s going to one shot everything but you’re not going to get a bit of grind XP. Let’s 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 can’t join a group because you have no score and the game is unfair (I’m talking in quest blues vs. actually running some dungeons and heroics). I’m tired of the people who get to 80 and have no social grace about them. I’m tired of the people who get to 80 and don’t even know what the other classes are!
So with Cataclysm, since we’re getting a fresh start, can we please have more group incentives? It’d help everyone in the game from the level 5 newbie to the level 80s. It’s 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.
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