Presumably in the future people will be able to join difficulties above their completed level in order to more easily fill groups and make life easier.
Which sounds good at first, except at high difficulties we’re looking at needing to gear check people (for agony resist, mainly). and dealing with people lying about it to get in groups, linking from databases or whatever tricks they can, just an all around bad situation.
Right now gear checking isn’t particularly necessary. I figure if someone completed the last difficulty to make it to this one, they can complete this one too. Hasn’t really been a problem. Sometimes someone’s dying alot from agony but it’s not a widespread problem and my PUGs still wrap things up well enough.
But if we’re talking about situations where just any person can join a group that’s LFM for a lev 30 daily or something, without having completed 1-29, this would be a case where I really would want people to link ascended. Which I really don’t want to have to do.
I think an overwhelming amount of threads and concerns on this topic in particular have been seen by the dev.s and they are looking for a solution. I can’t exactly say how they will adjust to fix the issue, but I’m sure they are at least formulating a plan (I hope).
What is the problem that ANET is trying to solve by relaxing difficulty restrictions ?
My first thought is that they are trying to make it easier to find a group.
What alternative solutions exist ?
A dungeon finder is a common suggestion. GW2lfg finds me groups very quickly, a built in dungeon finder would be even better because:
– GW2lfg requires people to manually keep refreshing it. A built in dungeon finder requires no user input after the player starts searching.
– GW2lfg only gets the portion of the userbase that knows about it. A built in tool would get everyone.
– GW2lfg has the problem of people leaving their listings up after they have found a group. A built in tool can automatically remove them.
So I think a dungeon finder, which would also help with unpopular story modes of other dungeons, would be a much more effective fix.
I really don’t see why level 1’s are going to want to join level 30 fractals. With the update they’ll have plenty of people in their own level range. I already have 20 AR on an alt who isn’t even tier 2 yet, so I’ll be able join a range all the way to 30 or so. Although there’s no way I’m putting myself through tier 30 pugs fractals for anything less than tier 26.
There is a simple enough solution to this problem.
Only allow ppl who are between FOTM lvl1-10 to be able to join up.
Only allow ppl who are between FOTM lvl10-20 to be able to join up…
and so on.
This way whole groups of players will eventually lvl up continuously instead of this sporadic system which is in place now.
There is of course a further simple solution:
Join a guild that has enough ppl to form a number of guild teams, this is an MMO after all where group play is supposed to be encouraged – pugging issues should not be a driving factor to bring serious change to how an MMO works. Instead, ANet should probably be encouraging individuals to join/create guilds that will help these players to come together to be able to progress.
I suppose in a manner, FOTM’s is that encouragement…?
…from elsewhere…
“I am not a complete idiot, there are some components missing still!” …
There is a simple enough solution to this problem.
Only allow ppl who are between FOTM lvl1-10 to be able to join up.
Only allow ppl who are between FOTM lvl10-20 to be able to join up…
and so on.
This way whole groups of players will eventually lvl up continuously instead of this sporadic system which is in place now.
There is of course a further simple solution:
Join a guild that has enough ppl to form a number of guild teams, this is an MMO after all where group play is supposed to be encouraged – pugging issues should not be a driving factor to bring serious change to how an MMO works. Instead, ANet should probably be encouraging individuals to join/create guilds that will help these players to come together to be able to progress.
I suppose in a manner, FOTM’s is that encouragement…?
This is what I was figuring. It’s no problem letting someone that’s on fractal 4 join your fractal 7 group, or someone on fractal 22 join your fractal 26 group etc. People wouldn’t feel as though they have to gear check everyone which is good, while the intent which is of course to make it easier to form groups…is still achieved.
My point is, people are not going to want to do fractals far above their tier. Why would I want to put myself through a level 30 fractal just to get from tier 5 to tier 6? People keep thinking that all these tier 1’s ‘noobz’ are suddenly going to be wanting in their tier 30-40 groups. I just don’t see that happening. When I start putting my alt into fractals I’ll be looking for the quickest and easiest route to gaining levels.
My point is, people are not going to want to do fractals far above their tier. Why would I want to put myself through a level 30 fractal just to get from tier 5 to tier 6? People keep thinking that all these tier 1’s ‘noobz’ are suddenly going to be wanting in their tier 30-40 groups. I just don’t see that happening. When I start putting my alt into fractals I’ll be looking for the quickest and easiest route to gaining levels.
For better drops.
@OP
I think the developers have considered this since it’s been heavily discussed since the announcement.
Also on a slightly related note: this will make odd numbered fractals (1/3/5/7/9) completely pointless as no one will run them.
Also on a slightly related note: this will make odd numbered fractals (1/3/5/7/9) completely pointless as no one will run them.
Good ridance then.
Also, the drops are individual, it’s very easy for the game to give level 1 drops for a level 1 player in a level 30 fractal run.
Did you code this game? If not then you have no idea of how “easy” it is for a level 30 fractal monster to give level 1 drops to a level 1 player, while still giving level 30 drops to the level 30 player.
Did you code this game? If not then you have no idea of how “easy” it is for a level 30 fractal monster to give level 1 drops to a level 1 player, while still giving level 30 drops to the level 30 player.
No but it is easy for them. It’s called common sense why I say that. But if you insist, let me remind you the game already has all monsters use very specific loot tables for each player :
- loot quality is decided by the individual player Magic Find value
- loot level is decided by the individual player level
Remember you can party up a level 2 and a level 80 and go in dungeons like Tixx and get loots that are level 2 for the level 2 and level 80 for the level 80.
Also on a slightly related note: this will make odd numbered fractals (1/3/5/7/9) completely pointless as no one will run them.
Good ridance then.
Also, the drops are individual, it’s very easy for the game to give level 1 drops for a level 1 player in a level 30 fractal run.
Did you code this game? If not then you have no idea of how “easy” it is for a level 30 fractal monster to give level 1 drops to a level 1 player, while still giving level 30 drops to the level 30 player.
Lol, he doesn’t have code the game to either know simple basics or realize that this system is already in place…
My point is, people are not going to want to do fractals far above their tier. Why would I want to put myself through a level 30 fractal just to get from tier 5 to tier 6? People keep thinking that all these tier 1’s ‘noobz’ are suddenly going to be wanting in their tier 30-40 groups. I just don’t see that happening. When I start putting my alt into fractals I’ll be looking for the quickest and easiest route to gaining levels.
Rewards from the fractal will be based on players’ personal reward level as long as the reward level is equal to or lower than the chosen fractal level.
But even though the loot won’t be better*, there will still be a perception of the rewards being better. That perception is enough to get a few people trying fractals far outside their capability. Which means PUGs will look for a way to keep those idiots out.
*How long till we see threads of people calling for the rewards to match the difficulty level ?
Also on a slightly related note: this will make odd numbered fractals (1/3/5/7/9) completely pointless as no one will run them.
Another problem that ANETs solution has that a dungeon finder wouldn’t have.
Did you code this game? If not then you have no idea of how “easy” it is for a level 30 fractal monster to give level 1 drops to a level 1 player, while still giving level 30 drops to the level 30 player.
No one but the devs can say for sure, but unless the loot system has an insanely bad/inflexible architecture, it’s very unlikely that this would be difficult to implement.
Grinding odds for levels will be faster as you can skip Jade Maw.
But it does give you less tokens per time spent. Jade Maw is easy and rather quick and gives more tokens for completion.
your assuming people actually want fractal relics. anyone who is a serious gamer pushing fractals has likely already made their backs and once you have the infused back what else do you need fractal relics for? 20slot bags? skill points? hoard them encase they add something good?
25gold (about the cost of a back currently) vs 1850 fractal relics for back is an easy choice for most people, 25gold is easy to make and alot faster than 1850 relics. And, lets be honest, if your grinding fractals to level fast, you want the fast path to the back, not the slow fractal relic path
