Does GuildWars require forced grouping? - Guild Wars Forums

Murdok · Apr 26, 2005, 10:35 PM // 22:35

For instance in WoW you don't have to group in order get anywhere in the game. In some parts it is necessary to group if you want to finish the quest, but it isn't a must to even do the quest at all. However, in some other MMORPG's you must group almost all of the time. Which way is GuildWars?

Grumpy Old Man · Apr 26, 2005, 10:38 PM // 22:38

Yes you shouldn't roam the world or missions alone, but you can choose to take henchmen instead of warm bodies. Keep in mind though, Man still remains > Machine.

Murdok · Apr 26, 2005, 10:47 PM // 22:47

I haven't even played beta so that is very confusing to me. I guess I will find out when my preorder copy comes, but I hope that I'm not forced to group with people all the time, I hate that.

Jaythen Tyradel · Apr 26, 2005, 10:52 PM // 22:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murdok

I haven't even played beta so that is very confusing to me. I guess I will find out when my preorder copy comes, but I hope that I'm not forced to group with people all the time, I hate that.

The only "forced" group is the short PVP mission in the Academy or when you join to PVP in the areans.
Besides that, you can choose to play with other people or NPC henchmen.

Freyas · Apr 26, 2005, 11:00 PM // 23:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murdok

I haven't even played beta so that is very confusing to me. I guess I will find out when my preorder copy comes, but I hope that I'm not forced to group with people all the time, I hate that.

In GW, once you get past the first area which is easily soloable, you have the choice to group with other players, or you can take some NPC's called henchmen to fight with you. Once you go through the academy, the difficulty gets much harder. I have managed a couple of the early areas completely solo, but after the first area or two, you will need help. If you don't want to group with other players, you always have the option to bring henchmen to help you out- you can get through most all of the game just using henchmen. The henchmen basically replace other players in your party, and fight for you, follow you around, etc. They're pretty easy to figure out once you start playing.

As others have said, however, henchmen just don't have the intelligence that other humans do, and you can't really use too much in the way of tactics when using henchmen instead of players. Whereas with a group of human players, if you have a particularly hard-hitting group of enemies, you can can send a warrior on ahead to get them all to attack him, and then have your fragile casters come up and nuke them with spells. If you're using henchmen, there's no way to tell the warrior henchmen to go up and piss off the group of enemies, and you can't tell them to hold back while you pull the enemy group- once you're attacked, they'll all rush in to help you out.

Granamyr · Apr 26, 2005, 11:02 PM // 23:02

In order to get the rez signet for free, you have to group with one other person. (Oh the horror!!) Usually you'll find many a kind soul that will take less than a minute of their time to help you get it though and then you can leave. Then again, you're probably not in the market for a rez signet if you have no intention of playing in a group.

Murdok · Apr 26, 2005, 11:09 PM // 23:09

I'm not saying that. In WoW I grouped with people all the time for instances, but if I wanted to go around solo I could do that too. In forced grouping games you tend to have to sit around picking your ass while you plead for someone to group with you ha. Also, in WoW you would have to deal with retarded people who would go Gung Ho into a battle without preperation and get the whole group killed. However, if someone did this you could kick them and still manage to beat most instances with just 4 players.

If you start out using henchman, can you just add and remove people from your group at will anytime in the game? I'm sure the answer to that is yes, but just thought i would ask.

Jaythen Tyradel · Apr 26, 2005, 11:12 PM // 23:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murdok

I'm not saying that. In WoW I grouped with people all the time for instances, but if I wanted to go around solo I could do that too. In forced grouping games you tend to have to sit around picking your ass while you plead for someone to group with you ha. Also, in WoW you would have to deal with retarded people who would go Gung Ho into a battle without preperation and get the whole group killed. However, if someone did this you could kick them and still manage to beat most instances with just 4 players.

If you start out using henchman, can you just add and remove people from your group at will anytime in the game? I'm sure the answer to that is yes, but just thought i would ask.

Im not exactly certain about while out in the world, but in town, you can kick or add people as you like.

Loviatar · Apr 26, 2005, 11:13 PM // 23:13

every time you explore an area do a mission you start fresh having the choice of henchmen people or a mix even

Murdok · Apr 26, 2005, 11:19 PM // 23:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loviatar

every time you explore an area do a mission you start fresh having the choice of henchmen people or a mix even

Nice, sounds good to me. I guess I have to see it to fully understand. I'm so out of the know since being addicted to World of Warcraft. I just found out about the game yesterday and preordered it after reading alot about the game and watching some movies. Apparently I preordered it the day before it shipped out since my copy shipped today from GoGamer.com.

Greentongue · Apr 26, 2005, 11:48 PM // 23:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murdok

In WoW I grouped with people all the time for instances, but if I wanted to go around solo I could do that too. In forced grouping games you tend to have to sit around picking your ass while you plead for someone to group with you ha.

There is usually little problem finding other players to join with for the Missions. If you play a Monk you will be busy turning down join requests.

On the other hand, it never hurts to join a Guild of like minded people. Not all Guilds are a pain to be a member of.

Ivniciix · Apr 27, 2005, 01:35 AM // 01:35

If you haven't played any of the BWE's for GW, here's a little preview of what to expect.

Firstly, the mission PvE part of the game breaks down into three different "chapters"-Pre-Searing Ascalon, Post-Searing and Kryta. There are also some new areas no one has seen in beta and I don't know if they create seperate chapters or are just add-on areas to the existing ones.

Pre-searing will be familiar to most everyone as each zone has mobs and missions to complete. The mobs don't respawn once your in the zone however so sticking around just to kill everything in the zone is possible but not neccesarily the most efficient way to gather useful loot. Do a couple missions at a time then enter a safe zone so things respawn. Pre-Searing, this won't reset your mission goals or cause you to fail a mission...usually.

Post-searing and Kryta "safe" areas, however, usually have multiple exits...some lead to highly structured "Cooperative" missions with specific goals and rewards while other exits go into "exploration" zones.

You can hunt the exploration zones anyway you like-alone, with henchmen or with other players. Technically, you can do the same in the cooperative missions BUT they are way, way harder! Practically impossible, I would think, to solo. I suppose if you find a way to "out-level" the early cooperative ones by hunting exploration zones, you might be able to go back and solo them but it's likely to really slow your advancement down.

So...does GW "force" grouping? In my opinion, it does. Not absolutely but clearly most of the PvE content is geared towards diverse player groups. Henchmen are basically too stupid and unpredictable to be reliable for your only support in the cooperative missions. Running with all henchmen in the later missions is excruciatingly lame and tedious.

Fortunately for me, I like to team but in GW it's both the most fun and rewarding and most annoying aspect of the game. Why? It's annoying because people all too often drop out of the group mid-mission. Sometimes its because of a disconnect. The game has no way to deal with this as of yet. They won't reappear in the group or mission zone if they reconnect.

Much more often it's simply because they left for some reason. Got killed and ticked off, ran out of play time, mommy told them to do their chores, went afk for dinner...the list is endless and it gets very frustrating at times. The only solution I've found for this, and it still doesn't always work, is to talk to everyone when your forming a team and ask then a bunch of questions...Did you join for the same reason I did-to complete mission X? How long do you have to play/will you be logging off soon? Often this is enough of a screening process to make you realize you might want to find different teammates.

My suggestion is to immediately say "Don't Start Yet!!!" when you accept an anonymous mission invitation. The game is way more fun and you'll be more successful in the missions if you take a bit of time to talk to people, find out their skills, intelligence and behavior before starting a mission with them.

On the other hand, GW is an absolute joy when you get into a good team. I can't over emphasize this enough. The missions can be hard and when you complete them with a good team, it really feels great. Perhaps the fact that you've failed it already 3-4 times due to flakey teammates elevates this sense of accomplishment...I'm not sure.

I gotta say, I love this game and it's only gotten deeper and more fun as the BWE's have progressed. It's truly remarkable to me that this game can be so complete, so trouble-free, so bug-free, lag-free and exploit-free when virtuall yevery other MMORPG has been released too early and incomplete.
I can't imagine how they could screw it up now...I hope they don't try!

Murdok · Apr 27, 2005, 01:59 AM // 01:59

Ha, I'm sure they can screw it up. Blizzard is known for making great games but even so, they still manage to destroy all of their games somehow after release. In Warcraft III they screwed up the ladder system, in Diablo II they banned everyone for using maphack (which in that game was important and didn't hurt the game at all), and in World of Warcraft they introduced the awful Honor System. However, I have never played a game from NCSoft (i.e. Lineage and City of Heroes) so I don't know if they have a track record of destroying great games.

From what I can tell though, this MMORPG seems to have a vastly different grouping system than all the others I have played. I'm excited to play! Weee!

Apr 26, 2005, 10:35 PM // 22:35	#1
Murdok Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Kentucky	Does GuildWars require forced grouping? For instance in WoW you don't have to group in order get anywhere in the game. In some parts it is necessary to group if you want to finish the quest, but it isn't a must to even do the quest at all. However, in some other MMORPG's you must group almost all of the time. Which way is GuildWars?

Apr 26, 2005, 10:38 PM // 22:38	#2
Grumpy Old Man Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Apr 2005	yes and no Yes you shouldn't roam the world or missions alone, but you can choose to take henchmen instead of warm bodies. Keep in mind though, Man still remains > Machine.

Apr 26, 2005, 10:47 PM // 22:47	#3
Murdok Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Kentucky	I haven't even played beta so that is very confusing to me. I guess I will find out when my preorder copy comes, but I hope that I'm not forced to group with people all the time, I hate that.

Apr 26, 2005, 11:02 PM // 23:02	#6
Granamyr Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: Mar 2005 Profession: Mo/	In order to get the rez signet for free, you have to group with one other person. (Oh the horror!!) Usually you'll find many a kind soul that will take less than a minute of their time to help you get it though and then you can leave. Then again, you're probably not in the market for a rez signet if you have no intention of playing in a group.

Apr 26, 2005, 11:09 PM // 23:09	#7
Murdok Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Kentucky	I'm not saying that. In WoW I grouped with people all the time for instances, but if I wanted to go around solo I could do that too. In forced grouping games you tend to have to sit around picking your ass while you plead for someone to group with you ha. Also, in WoW you would have to deal with retarded people who would go Gung Ho into a battle without preperation and get the whole group killed. However, if someone did this you could kick them and still manage to beat most instances with just 4 players. If you start out using henchman, can you just add and remove people from your group at will anytime in the game? I'm sure the answer to that is yes, but just thought i would ask.

Apr 26, 2005, 11:13 PM // 23:13	#9
Loviatar Underworld Spelunker Join Date: Feb 2005	every time you explore an area do a mission you start fresh having the choice of henchmen people or a mix even

Apr 27, 2005, 01:35 AM // 01:35	#12
Ivniciix Pre-Searing Cadet Join Date: Apr 2005	If you haven't played any of the BWE's for GW, here's a little preview of what to expect. Firstly, the mission PvE part of the game breaks down into three different "chapters"-Pre-Searing Ascalon, Post-Searing and Kryta. There are also some new areas no one has seen in beta and I don't know if they create seperate chapters or are just add-on areas to the existing ones. Pre-searing will be familiar to most everyone as each zone has mobs and missions to complete. The mobs don't respawn once your in the zone however so sticking around just to kill everything in the zone is possible but not neccesarily the most efficient way to gather useful loot. Do a couple missions at a time then enter a safe zone so things respawn. Pre-Searing, this won't reset your mission goals or cause you to fail a mission...usually. Post-searing and Kryta "safe" areas, however, usually have multiple exits...some lead to highly structured "Cooperative" missions with specific goals and rewards while other exits go into "exploration" zones. You can hunt the exploration zones anyway you like-alone, with henchmen or with other players. Technically, you can do the same in the cooperative missions BUT they are way, way harder! Practically impossible, I would think, to solo. I suppose if you find a way to "out-level" the early cooperative ones by hunting exploration zones, you might be able to go back and solo them but it's likely to really slow your advancement down. So...does GW "force" grouping? In my opinion, it does. Not absolutely but clearly most of the PvE content is geared towards diverse player groups. Henchmen are basically too stupid and unpredictable to be reliable for your only support in the cooperative missions. Running with all henchmen in the later missions is excruciatingly lame and tedious. Fortunately for me, I like to team but in GW it's both the most fun and rewarding and most annoying aspect of the game. Why? It's annoying because people all too often drop out of the group mid-mission. Sometimes its because of a disconnect. The game has no way to deal with this as of yet. They won't reappear in the group or mission zone if they reconnect. Much more often it's simply because they left for some reason. Got killed and ticked off, ran out of play time, mommy told them to do their chores, went afk for dinner...the list is endless and it gets very frustrating at times. The only solution I've found for this, and it still doesn't always work, is to talk to everyone when your forming a team and ask then a bunch of questions...Did you join for the same reason I did-to complete mission X? How long do you have to play/will you be logging off soon? Often this is enough of a screening process to make you realize you might want to find different teammates. My suggestion is to immediately say "Don't Start Yet!!!" when you accept an anonymous mission invitation. The game is way more fun and you'll be more successful in the missions if you take a bit of time to talk to people, find out their skills, intelligence and behavior before starting a mission with them. On the other hand, GW is an absolute joy when you get into a good team. I can't over emphasize this enough. The missions can be hard and when you complete them with a good team, it really feels great. Perhaps the fact that you've failed it already 3-4 times due to flakey teammates elevates this sense of accomplishment...I'm not sure. I gotta say, I love this game and it's only gotten deeper and more fun as the BWE's have progressed. It's truly remarkable to me that this game can be so complete, so trouble-free, so bug-free, lag-free and exploit-free when virtuall yevery other MMORPG has been released too early and incomplete. I can't imagine how they could screw it up now...I hope they don't try!

Apr 27, 2005, 01:59 AM // 01:59	#13
Murdok Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Kentucky	Ha, I'm sure they can screw it up. Blizzard is known for making great games but even so, they still manage to destroy all of their games somehow after release. In Warcraft III they screwed up the ladder system, in Diablo II they banned everyone for using maphack (which in that game was important and didn't hurt the game at all), and in World of Warcraft they introduced the awful Honor System. However, I have never played a game from NCSoft (i.e. Lineage and City of Heroes) so I don't know if they have a track record of destroying great games. From what I can tell though, this MMORPG seems to have a vastly different grouping system than all the others I have played. I'm excited to play! Weee!