Thoughts on Making Things Better

Halonic

Member
I just wanted to put my thoughts down for others to look at. Hopefully we will find out other opinions on how to make SoE better. These thoughts are strictly my own opinions.

My main hope when I joined this guild was that I would be able to team up with other Christians regularly and enjoy the benefit of playing without having to listen to the bad language. I have not been dissapointed on the language end of it and am thankful for that. My perceived shortcoming is the teaming up part.

I find myself more and more playing with henchies or PUGs when some of my most memorable moments in the game have been with you guys. I have two possible explanations. One is language (not the ugly kind....you will see) and the other is timimg. Perhaps the second one is the most critical.

First: language. I wonder how many we have offended by calling Thursday nights "Noob Night". I never have liked teaming with folks that called me a noob even if I was one. I have taken 5 (yes 5, I deleted one) characters to level 20. After the first one, even if I was level 9 I WAS NO LONGER A NOOB. Noob is a derogatory term in this game and we shoud refrain from EVER referring to SoE and even others as noobs.

Second: again language. We always ask others if they need help. Our sentiments are in the right place but again the language does not always reflect the need that others have. Asking for help is an admission of weakness. We as people don't like to do this because of pride. I'll admit that I HAVE had folks ask for help and I was glad to give it. I think that most folks are not looking for HELP but COMPANIONSHIP. Perhaps we should ask if anyone would like to "team up" or "party up".

Third: timing. I think this one is most critical. I wish I had a nickel for every time someone has said " anyone wanna do Galraith" (insert any quest or mission name here...not just Galraith). The majority of the time I was in the midst of something and didn't reply.....EVEN THOUGH I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO.

Those asking for teaming up should be sensitive to the time issue. Rarely does anyone stand around in town waiting for a guildie to ask for "teaming up". If there are 10 guildies on line, the odds are that 8 of them are farming,questing, or missioning at that very moment and would have to abandon their team to join you.

Events have been scheduled through this forum with some success. My suggestion would be that the next time you are In-Game and decide to ask for "teaming up" on the spur of the moment......do it in this manner: "I will be doing Galraith in about 20 minutes if anyone would like to join me." Or, "would anyone be interested in teaming up for Galrath in 15 minutes or so?" You get the point. Others are more interested in teaming up or helping out than you would think. Give them time to close out what they are doing.

Hope this was helpful or generates comments from others.
 
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heh, ur prolly right on the n00b night thing. the only reason i ever used it was becuase it rhymed. and i agree with the team up thing. however i think it would be helpful if when someone (useme for example) say: Who wants to do bloodstone fen mission with me? and noone responds.... thats really ghetto.... people when their busy shouold respond and maybe even say: give me 15 min and i'll be there. or : busy sorry. that way we know people arent AFK or just ignoring u.
 
Halonic, you're absolutely right about "n00b" night. I even spoke out about it in one topic, then let it go. I'll take responsibility for letting it get this far. No one should ever use that term in regards to another guild member, or to any player, from here on out.

As far as grouping, again, great suggestion. As of late, I am typically farming, and can be available to either chat or quest within 10-15 minutes, so the idea is duly noted. I would encourage everyone to follow this policy as much as possible.
 
Thank you for your comments Halonic. I have a feeling that many of us have similar feelings about the game and guild. I know I would often like to group with guild members as well. The social aspect of the on-line game is what makes them more fun, yet I find myself completing missions, bonuses and quests with henchies so often. I know I am guilty of the "anyone want to do" with the implied "right now" tell in guild chat.

I also want to ask if there has been much participation in the "low level" Thursdays (we should come up with a better official name to avoid the n00b or newb misnomer). I know that all three of my PvE characters are past Lion's Arch, so I could offer help, but don't need it per the proposed intent of the weekly event. Even if I did, though, I wouldn't necessarily want a group of Lvl 20's coming in and dominating through Nolani Academy just to catch me up. Having some challange is what makes it fun.

As for solutions to better pull people together, I'm not sure what to recommend. I will try to take Halonic's advice about suggesting a mission/quest with a start time delay (do mission in 15min). Using the forums far enough in advance is nice, but not always possible. Please post any more suggestions you come up with.

Also, I'd like to push to reinstate PvP Fridays. Having a set day to play together should help spark some discussion and maybe help set up other minor events with group members. I believe our problem before was just getting enough people. I would recommend that we start with Tombs until we are getting 8 on a regular basis.

Too bad we can't summon the Mad King at the guild hall to kill time with a perpetual game of "Mad King Says" while we wait to pull a group together :).
 
I agree I hate being called a noob (ATown!!! lol just kidding lol I think when you say it it is funny) and I been trying to not use anyone need help? but trying to use anyone like Company? Also if we have PvP Fridays I am not on till 12pm EST I think Sat Evening better night for me , or even a Sunday evening. Also I have another Idea how about Sometime During Christmas or Christmas Eve or before get together and go Caroling through all the Districts of Lions Arch?
 
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Hey guys,
Good communication, thanks for bringing it up. Although I am sure that no one even meant anything negative by "noob night" I do see how it might be discouraging and we should definitely change that right away. I think there is also a huge difference between a Newbie and Noob, but since many might not understand the difference, we should refrain from both.

I have stopped using the phrase "help" for a while now. Like Dredd, I have been asking if anyone wants company. I have been grouping a lot lately with guildies. In fact almost every time I have logged in recently I have been with a guildie. The sad thing is that in the past month I have heard the comment "Wow this is the 1st time I have grouped with a guildmate!" many times.

Well, that will change as ppl pay attention to the communication given here. Make sure to ask for groups with a 10 min window or so, and also respond with availability in 10 mins or so. Use the Forum to schedule anything you like. Most of important is to ask for company! Don't use henchies when there are guildmates on. Ask a few times and get some conversations going about the quest/thing you are about to embark on. Text scrolls by to fast when in battle to only ask once.

Pastori and I have been talking about bringing on some new officers and one of my main requests was a PvP officer. So please know that we hear your pleas and we will have PvP organized and running in a short while. I think that the other officer will be the Operations Officer, so he/she will be taking all your ideas on Christmas Caroling, Outreach events, and the like.

Again, thanks for the great posts. We will grow stronger when we are not afraid to bring up the issues that might be holding us back.

I am excited to be a part of your lives! May God bless your day.
 
"The sad thing is that in the past month I have heard the comment "Wow this is the 1st time I have grouped with a guildmate!" many times."

i know my gut sank when i first heard that and thats why i volunteered to work with low level night


ummmm.... am i allowed to say "midget" to non-guildies to help advertise my videos? (just a side note)
 
Even if I did, though, I wouldn't necessarily want a group of Lvl 20's coming in and dominating through Nolani Academy just to catch me up. Having some challange is what makes it fun.

For me, that's kind of why I both like and dislike the "beginner night" - grouping with a level 20 just isn't much fun 'cuz they do all the work, and easily too. It's not their fault, and honestly, having the company/fellowship is good, but when I've grouped with other guildies - almost always level 20's so far it seems - it feels too much like a cake walk.

So i've been mixing it up, doing some groupings with guildies and grouping with PUGs who are near the same level and are all working towards the same goal. I enjoy the guildie grouping for the fellowship, the PUGs for the challenge/meeting new people.

And I think that's a problem - the level disparity - that you're never going to fix; people just play the game at different speeds.

At any rate, I still think the Thursday night things are good, even if it does make things easier, because it's good to meet and play with other guildies in the game. So I say carry on.

PS - I didn't have a problem with being referred to as a "Noob", but there might be others who felt that way, so renaming it is probably a good idea.
 
well one thing ive tried to do is keep my warrior/mesm a decently low level, and my pre-sears too, im bout to sear one of them though to help with more of the GNW and fort ranik stuff
 
I wonder if there's a way to "handicap" higher level players. Like, keep a low-level weapon handy, or only stock up with 6 or 7 skills instead of a full compliment of 8...
 
Just wondering if you have a lvl 20 Healing Monk that only heals the lower lvls is that still too much help? If not I have a Monk willing to help :)
 
I know that I am all about teaming and having fun. Sometimes it is hard to actually get a guild team though on every game I play I have a wide range of levels to play with. I think one of the best options to do with the certain quest at certain time thing might be to think ahead and maybe use the calendar feature or set up a free calendar for the guild. Yes sometimes people pull out, but that happens even with the next 15-20 minutes thing also. The calendar would give a good warning aswell as a general place to look not just searching through every post on the forum to find when the times were. Also was thinking about it and maybe an actual webpage made just for the GW section with a event ticker for the day might be pretty sweet and informative for some of us that cannot look at the forum all day and get home and just want to play. I can look at webpages but forums are a no no :-P Just a thought and I would be happy to help anyway that i can.
 
I wonder if there's a way to "handicap" higher level players. Like, keep a low-level weapon handy, or only stock up with 6 or 7 skills instead of a full compliment of 8...

I just had a thought about this. If a level 20 were to unassign a few attribute points and play with the lower attribute levels representative of a level appropriate player, the skills would then function just like a lower level, in effect "handicapping" them. It could be a way to keep some of the difficulty. This would not, however, bring health and energy bars or armor down to match. The higher level character could also make a choice not to equip an elite skill as well. Another possibility would be to play without gloves to reduce armor and total energy.

I'd be willing to try a few of these to play with other guild members.
 
That gave me a funny thought. Wade through the Charr with nothing but your cape on...lol. Oohh....another thought, don't take a weapon. I wonder if Warriors would beat on them with their fists.
 
I think these ideas are funny and we should try some of them. Of course you can all do what I did and get a 2nd account so you can have more low levels to play with. muahahahah
 
Hmmm... I don't have a spare $50 on hand. You?

no, but you can get account keys for 20-30 bucks if you check places like craigslist.org and eBay. I have bought and sold many accounts now and nvr payed more then $30.
 
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A couple of us tried the lowering of skills last night and I think it went pretty well. Maybe to well as we almost lost all 4 of us on the way to borlis. It was a blast though and thanks for the group last night that was awesome! Now The Unfetered One is all the way to frost cave at level 10! My goal is to get to LA!
 
Ephesian, how are you pulling that off? My Mo/Mes is level 12 and I'm still finishing up quests in Ascalon/Piken/Frontier Gate. Or are you just pushing your way through to see how far you can get and how fast?
 
dependso n what teams u have and how many runners u do. dont worry bout it man, ur lucky ur 12 and at ascalon, when i did those with my first character it was level 5............ so hard to do stuff
 
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