This week’s Shared Topic over at Blog Azeroth was suggested to us by Martha over at Perish Twice. But, I actually picked it up because I have Spellbound on my Google eReader.
Do you think I need to check out this “Blog Azeroth” thing?
Anyway, the question is:
While there are some quests that specifically call for grouping, most don’t… but do you group anyway? How many of you pick up a friend or guildie to quest with and how many grind the lonely roads alone?
Hunters are Never Alone!
I’ve done the vast majority of my leveling via questing, and the vast majority of my questing alone.
Part of this stems from the games that I played before. While I started with the PnP D&D game so many years ago, I began playing D&D computer games back in high school. These were all solo games, well before MMOs got my attention.
FYI – This year will be my high school graduating class’ 20th anniversary! Yes, that makes me feel old.
But, back on topic. I come from the solo-questing environment.
Now, my first MMO was actually a self-hosted NeverWinterNights server. I think I played that for a couple of years, but even then I soloed almost everything. It was a small population server, geared to RP, so leveling up a character was a secondary priority for everyone on the server. Also of note, my favorite class was the old style, D&D Ranger. So, I was never really alone, as I always had my trusty animal companion around.
So, enter into 2006, and I roll my first baby hunter on WoW. Hunters have always been leveling/questing machines, so I had no need to play any differently than I had before. I knew nothing of WoW, I knew nothing of “grouping,” and I’m sure I died a horrible death on my first “group” quest!
However, I did figure out one thing early on…and that was how to “friend” someone. There were three of us running around the starter zone together, and we “friended” each other. We often talked in the /w, and I eventually learned how to group because of those people. It wasn’t until much later that I learned about guilds, and even had the beginning idea of leveling “with” another person.
One last thing that keeps me leveling alone, and I do that a lot since I tend to be an altaholic, is my weird play schedule. While I tend to be online almost every night, that is only for a couple of hours. I can play some in the morning, but I’m usually the only one from the guild on at that time. I’ve since learned to put a shout out in general chat for others if I find myself in need of two or three for a group quest. I’ve found that I can usually find someone who has the same quest I need to get done.
My lack of group experience limited my gameplay as well. WoW really has an emphasis on group play, and for those that don’t experience it, they are missing a phenomenal part of the game! It was well into the Burning Crusade expansion before I learned the value of grouping while questing (not including instances). It wasn’t that I needed help in the questing.
To be honest, questing has always been notoriously easy in my opinion.
But, that was when I began grouping with guildies and non-guildie friends for the fellowship aspect of the game. We could have conversations in /p that were more personal, and the more slapstick conversations in /gchat. I’ve come to find great value in grouping with other people for a variety of reasons. It has also taken me right under six years of gameplay to figure this out!
I’m a slow learner.
So, yes I am willing to group while questing, but I still tend to quest solo. What do you do?
