Well, I've been gone the last 5 days... in the Windy City... or I should say.. in the "OMG WE LOVE ST. PATRICK'S DAY" City... Chicago, where they drink and drink and drink and then drink some more!! Running around in freezing temperature's dye'd in green .
Well, I when I got back to home, I hopped into EQ to see what I had missed in the last week. I thought, well, I'd try to find a LFG group and see what was up. I spent a few hours with my LFG flag on before I decides to actively pursue a group.
I was amazed at how hard it can be to find a pick up group. Even on Maelin Starpyre, which is what I call a healthy server! Eventually, I thought to myself, well if I can't find a normal group at my level, maybe I can whore myself out a bit....
So what I did, was go to PoK and advertise, 75 Berserker will kill anything you want, charging 10k a kill.... and BAM! I get about 10 requests for various mobs around the world. TONS of people are needing to get stuff done... but they did once ask me to come help before I started advertising... Why?
I thought to myself, why wouldn't people ask for help on stuff without a charge, but when I started asking for a charge, I suddenly was able to find a group looking for help... I was baffled...
To me, this says the LFG system and the Party reward system has gotten out of whack. People are no long inclined to explore for new friend and LFG people... the vast difference in power at lvl 75 has caused the LFG system to fail. Why join a group without knowing if the people in your group are anywhere near you in terms of power? But, when a big beefy berserker says, "hey, I'll kill stuff for you, for cheap..." players start to think, hey I can get something I want done without the worry of a real group!
I think another issue in the Social aspect of EQ is the fact that everything is treated like a favor... rarely do you find a group that is all working towards the same goal. Why? Because there are 4 billion different goals in EQ... What happens in reality is player A asks player B to do event X... player B says, sure, but can you help me with event Y afterwards? Player A does not want to do event Y for player B... and so player A thinks "fuck it, I hate event Y"... and logs off to player some WoW....
And here is a reason why we see EQ in decline... players have no incentive to group and help each other... beside the vague fantasy hope that good deeds will be returned!
It is a vicious cycle, but since it has been working like this for so long, it's almost accepted as a law.
"If you want help, you must give help!"
Now, when I advertsized "Will work for peanuts" then the player A realizes I don't have an event Y... instead I just want plat up front... and that is why players were eager to ask me to help them... I made the deal simple... give me plat, you get your goal.... half the time required (without considering where that plat came from).
So, I plan on taking this theory further... since no one will use the LFG tool, I'll just offer my services to people on Maeling... if I'm not raiding, just ask me for help! I'm cheap... peanuts will do!
In other news... seems that no one has beaten any new Solteris event...
I'm gonna post about why the 7th vetern's nerf was a good thing too...
I'm also going to post some coverage on the Anniversary and Fabled mob stuff!!
Ok. Sorry for that big gap in news! More posts this week! BACK TO THE GRIND
-Swampfunk
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4 comments:
Usually if I cant get a guild group, i might as well log off. lately I Cant get anything from LFG tag other than a lowly spitpaw group now and then.
For the first time in 20 some odd levels I was asked to join a group while having LFG up. I was asked to join an MPG group that helped me grind for 3 hours. Prexus has a healthy population but also a stingy (sp) population. When I cannot get a guild group and have spent hours LFG, I log an alt, get buffed, and go soloing. Looking to do my ASP fight soon so that I can put "1.5 equipped" in my comments when LFG. maybe it will help /shrug
wru more updates!
Soon says,
LFG tool needs more info on the player lfg. Listing AA points would be an easy fix. Maybe guild tag would be cool also for those peeps who are annon and in lfg tool. Being a cleric I have an easy time getting grps. Anguish aug runs are usually the best. Know your tank, healer, slower, and get w/e dps you can.
WTB more Swampfunk philosophy~!
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