Discussion: Grouping

[Auriel]

I have organized, somewhat, last Saturday's Town Hall and will bring subjects here for further discussion. As the players Saturday learned, the devs want to know our thoughts and wishes. So please feel free to contribute!

GROUPING

Admin LOCAL yeah I would love to get more grouping going on. but really need more people to make it happen I think

Dreadz LOCAL yes there are no large group raids

Auriel LOCAL I have some questions about the grouping.

nimor LOCAL well for me allot of times i log in and have 0 ppl in to talk too and once u finsh all the grindes it kind of talk and nathing else

Auriel LOCAL thats what I mean. not classes, but roles to pull out of various classes

nimor LOCAL housing made the most cash

Aviticus LOCAL Yea, I think as you balance things more, you can start making required classes.

Aviticus LOCAL Skills*

Aviticus LOCAL Some dungeons where players need dedicated healers, crowd controllers, etc.

 

[Pcuvush]

Predefined roles are important, I totally agree with that.

A healer needs to be able to target group members quick and reliable. Right now there is a very noticeable lag when clicking a group member in the social window before I am able to heal and the heal visibly is in effect.
For CC there has to be a way to target enemies just as quick and reliable. Also, having the camera to be zoomed in as soon as there is an obstacle behind me (another player, a monster, one of my pets approaching) seriously reduces the view, which makes CC hard. And in Gorgon Crowd Control also means Rage Control. That adds to the requirements, or creates a separate role.
I think the requirements of how to deal damage or how to tank are already reflected by the design of the skills.

Grouping right now is kind of hard to test, since the skill levels might vary drastically. Finding enough people to try and test a dungeon is one challenge, the other is to have them in comparable skill levels and those fitting the area to visit. Even if I have a skill in the proper level range I might lack the equipment to make that skill useful, since I mainly carry gear that fits my main skill.

 

[Auriel]

I am trying to wrap my head about the healer role. I *think* I have all the heals possible, but I do not have any group heal. Mentalism allows for a heal over time, as does the sigils. My issue is going to be timing and timers. I am going to try some different key command combinations over the next couple weeks. However, without some quick timed group heals, one person would be hard pressed to keep 4 people healed. Perhaps there could be some additional heals and armor heals available when using Mentalism and Psychology together.

A couple other things I feel is important in having a dedicated healer, is to have an actual leader calling the shots. The healer then strives to keep up with the leader, and if someone wanders off, its on them.

Secondly, I suggest utilizing some form of voice chat, built in or otherwise.

Also, I figured out today in the new dungeon that if someone indeed has wandered off, and I click on thier name, click a heal, I will seamlessly path all the way to them. This may or may not be desired however.

And I find it hard to remember who the last name I have clicked on because it does not stay blue.

 

[Claudel GFX]

well when it comes to mmos in testing phases and spesh Alpha, you cannot really complain about grouping, because you will find all bunch of crowds, one day you see someone, and yet again the next day you wont, some like me, the game testers in genre, will come back for more, but the average will play till they either get bored, either quit whining becase there are soooo many bugs.. and so many glitches... the obv "cool" gamer, that thinks any new or stone age game is a WoW clone, and those that just found the game, they like it, they wanna taste a lot more but... have a life, a wife, a job and a toddler to feed or dog to walk....

so dunno how many alpha mmos did you test till now, but when it comes to alpha meaning.. very low playerbase, if you wanna go raiding, you gotta have to "create-your-own-little-event" via means of forum/facebook/etc, do it like a set date, lets say sunday at 8 raiding party @ x/ boss, we need xx levels, we got tank and healer/we need dps, higher or lower levels in hordes if required, thats kinda the only and proper way to have a full or decent party to test bosses during the first testing phases... when the player base is low, very low or non existing...
now as to why i am suggesting this...i dunno if the devs/mods/cms or anyone else that prob is hidding deep down in the coding lair has time to just come on the forums or go ingame to create such an event for you, because ya noe developing a game aint a piece of cake and takes a lot of time and resources, thats why self-made events during alpha is like masturbation ))))))) thats prob the only way to gather people during testing phases, otherwise you, a level 30, will have to party with a level 2 still lurking somewhere in a cave learning the basics, a level 10 doing some griding for gear or level 8 quester, and all of you might just be DPS and theres no tank nor healer )0


PS: at least one or two AoE healing spell should be up for grabs at a certain level... as in HpS or once in a while large chunk of mass healing with high cooldown, or if you got the time to do it, either add a flag-type of skill, like you drop a flag in the center of the room and heals everyone 10hp/s at 360*, or a phunnier one, the healer spawns a minion that heals the same at 360* wide-circle, BUT ... and here its tricky, it only follows the "tank" ))) that way all the party is always kept on their toes ) j/k

 

[Pcuvush]

I am trying to wrap my head about the healer role. I *think* I have all the heals possible, but I do not have any group heal. Mentalism allows for a heal over time, as does the sigils...

As far as I know Battle Chem has a group heal.
The Mentalism wave spells can be enhanced by items so that they instantly heal the group for a fixed amount. The shared long-time timer prohibits regular usage as a group, as it is, of course. I would rather stack the HoT effects of the wave is most likely not available when needed. The HoT is really strong though, when properly boosted by items.

PS: The psychology ability 'Inspire Confidence' is a group heal.