First of all, I have had access to beta since first of August. I have mostly played wizard (currently level 16), but have lvl 4 and below in many other classes. I have really liked the game and see a REAL gem that just needs some refinement namely across UX. That being said I do want to provide some feedback about grouping.
I will say that I have found it harder than I hoped to find groups at times that work for me (5-7 pm CST) and even when taking the initiative to form a group, have really struggled putting a group together reliably (Especially the week I spent tradeskilling over in Faeweald). I expect this will change when open to the public.
When I DO have a group, I have had a good time generally. Grouping is fun, especially when you find a solid group of people who are chill and not super sweaty.... But there are two things about the current experience that have stood out to me: loot is particularly rough for ranged DPS and healers, and group culture is already succumbing to "It's rude to suck at WoW" vibes.
Looting:
I have yet to see someone ninja statted gear from a named mob without a roll. That doesn't seem be an issue with the community here. What does happen in every group I've been in is that melee players naturally absorb all the loot. I may get lucky and beat the 3 melee players to the loot if I happen to be meleeing to conserve mana, but often I end up waiting until the melee players' bags start filling up before I can start getting something..
I want the cloth scraps and tattered wool gloves too!
Before you say it, YES, I have brought it up in groups. Typically they let me loot a few monsters until they forget my request. Or I am just ignored.
My only levers to pull in this situation is nag or leave the group. But when I have waited 1.5 hours to find a group...Well, I'll suck it up and not think about all the opportunities for tailoring I am losing.
Solution: If there are n players, I get first loot on every nth kill. I just don't see a good reason not to add in a rotating loot system so folks don't have to rely on the considerations of others to get a fair share of loot from monsters they help kill.
Group Dynamics:
This is less actionable, but I wanted to mention it because it has been noticeable enough that I think it's worth the feedback... Grouping often already comes along with a "It's rude to suck at WoW" vibe.
You join a group and there is an expectation that you know:
- How to navigate to the camp.
- How to navigate the dungeon.
- What your class is "supposed" to be doing.
- What the expected strategy is.
When someone doesn't know one of those things, I've occasionally seen snarky comments or an attitude that they are a bad <class> or are wasting peoples time or something. Also common behavior at the end of groups- The group finishes, everyone drops group, gates away, and sometimes the remaining players are simply left to figure out how to get themselves out of the dungeon. And this is coming from a Wizard who can just gate out... like c'mon folks have some consideration.
This isn't every group I've been in. I've had plenty of good experiences, and I'm not trying to characterize the entire community this way. But it happens often enough that I notice it. It does seem like the dev's are providing more options now for invis type buffs across classes(In fact I just got shroud of magi, so I can help folks with this in some situations) But if this is the behavior of the established community on release, I think newbies will get a bad impression that this is just the way it is.
Again, loving the game, looking forward to EA in order to support the ambitious project. I want it to do well, and want to do my part as a beta tester. I should be posting more feedback about the MUD system/NPC interaction/questing and my take on "The trade skill fiasco" soon.
