Guild Wars 2

Iam constantly asking people to team with me when I’m levelin up in areas and doing hearts etc…. only like 1 in 10 people wants too… but why??

It is soo much faster and easier to level up when ur in team instead of going at it alone. Also much more fun imo. Why so many lone-players?

actually it doesn’t work out that well, did it with guildie, the process is longer because sometime he get the heart done faster than I can and vice versa, so it slow down progress.

Actually in games in general I have found that doing stuff solo is faster than in groups.

Technically playing in groups should be faster but because people often want to do different things to do and then one person is on the phone or the other has to get his cat off the keyboard, someone is chatting to guildies or whatever it may be….

Truth is, the social aspect is more time consuming than just cracking on with your quests, events or whatever.

ecad.9085:

Iam constantly asking people to team with me when I’m levelin up in areas and doing hearts etc…. only like 1 in 10 people wants too… but why??

It is soo much faster and easier to level up when ur in team instead of going at it alone. Also much more fun imo. Why so many lone-players?

I will often spend several silver on my toons to swoop in on waypoints when people call for help.

Sadly, I’m well away from my primary systems for the holidays, so I’ve been offline 1.5 weeks.

For world completion and leveling, I like figuring things out for myself, looking around and such.

I’ll join groups if asked when doing an event chain or hopping events in Orr, though I’ll likely bounce off and on, making me a poor party mate. Most everything else in my life takes priority over playing games, so it is hard to build extended relationships with other players.

In maps, people rarely follow my lead, thinking they know better than me, so I just go on my own.

And when they do follow me, they find out that I quickly find the fastest way to do everything in a map and end up following me all the time. Which I don’t like either.

I like to be with people, but sometmes you just want to stroll around, completing points and dailies while watching some series in the other laptop.

I prefer to be the kind of guy that comes out of nowhere, saves the day, and then disappears to do their own stuff you can only wonder about.
You know, like the power rangers with the special colors, like white or golden.

It’ll be nice if there was in-game voice chat.
The things I do the most with people is with my guildies with some VOIP program, but doing that with pugs is a hassle as they’ll need to set for a single protocol and client.

For general leveling there’s just no need. This is my own baggage here but personally I find it irritating having to consider someone else when I’m trying to level, for example wondering whether to say “just popping up to that waypoint!” or just going there and then wondering if they’ve noticed that I went up there and if they’re going to follow me or ask me why I’m up there, making me stop whatever it is I’m doing to type a response to them. Then I feel trapped and unable to leave the party. Do I have to say “ty for pt” before I leave it? Do I wait for a reply once I’ve said it, then leave? I usually say thanks and just leave it but it still feels awkward to me. What if I suddenly get bored of 100%ing the zone we’re in and want to do soemthing else? I hate to feel burdened with other people. The fact this random person that I don’t know can see my account name doesn’t sit too well with me, either.

Because I’m a mom that already has 3 males in my life who barely leave me enough “alone” time in a day to have a shower, iow’s, gaming is an escape for me.

That’s not to say I mind helping others out for DE’s, sp’s or whatever, but I really don’t want to socialize and find out what someone else is doing for dinner or even how their day went. I was under the impression that gaming was an escape from rl for most people…

people can see your account name just by adding to you friend list o_O

Back in the early days of MMOs, grouping was very social. There was all this downtime and lots of chatting and getting to know people. It’s not like that anymore. It’s just all this frantic running around, with total strangers who barely say anything, and I find it awkward and uncomfortable.

Since the pace of MMOs isn’t likely to slow down any time soon, I found that dynamic open grouping worked so much better with the modern pace.

I hate when they get to certain parts of the content, especially endgame, and try to go back to that oldstyle grouping. The way it works these days, just doesn’t work for me.

Asking is the key thing. I am not sure how this generation of kids work. But Nobody wants to group with you if you just spam invites on people. Whatever happened to asking first? If I get asked I will join any group.

I was sold on the whole go out in the open world and play with other people without having to stop and form a team. I always hated stopping to form a team for many reasons, not least because I find it awkward. I was and am very annoyed that better loot is tied to teaming, at least in WvW and some areas in PVE. It’s like they advertised this great feature, then went back to the old, stupid way of doing it. I’ll never understand that.

I have a strong preference for playing with people who I know in real life. Since it’s tough to stay “in step” with our levels, we tend to play solo during the level up process. Once we’re at max level, that’s when the grouping begins since we’re not worried about being at different levels or trying to maintain equal levels.

As Corvindi said, there’s a lot of de facto grouping without actually making a group. This happens a lot with DEs. Because of the way that tagging and resource nodes work in this game, this sort of informal grouping works quite well.

Usually I’m partied up with my guildie, and we just run around that way. There’s not really any actual need to party with random people since anything you would normally need to be partied to do is so easy.

Think about it, in other mmo’s you need to be partied so the healer can heal you, the tanks can pull aggro, etc, etc. This game the process is much more streamlined. I don’t need to be partied with you to heal you, or help you kill that mob.

My advice is instead of trying to party up with random people, just get in the habit of striking up a conversation in /map chat. More often then not people will ask for help, or rush to come help you if you ask.
If what you’re wanting is a group of friends to run around with, my advice is to ask if anyone in map chat wants to group to clear the zone/etc.

Unless you’re playing with people using voice chat, it’s quicker to solo. I also don’t group because I don’t want to be obligated to them and I play at a much faster pace than others.

I don’t prefer to play alone. I prefer to play fast.

I am starting a new character, my main has 100% map completion so I have already seen all there is to see in this zone. You are possibly new, you possibly want to read dialogue, you possibly want to watch vista cut scenes, and you possibly may want to do group events requiring us to recruit more people. I do not want to do those things so I decline your invite.

I am not anti-social, I am anti-slow.

Once you hit 80 and are in one of the karma/loot farms you will have little problem teaming up with people, becuase you have more of a chance to get loot than when you’re solo.

If asked, I may or may not group up. I stay at home with the kids and that means random afks. If the person im grouping with is cool with that then good deal.

I also run duo with my wife on certain characters. And from what I have seen grouping does increase xp gain. When we duo, we both have the same afks, do the same hearts etc. When im playing solo the xp bar moves a tad slower. So I dont mind grouping, just dont want a lot of trash talk over me having to afk at a whim.

Seems when grouped mob kills will grant a +bonus xp. Haven’t seen this when solo, only when grouped. I could be wrong though, maybe it feels faster since I have more fun grouped up?

It is not that people want to play alone, in fact, most people want to play with others, that’s why they are playing an MMO. However, they want to play at their own pace, i.e. for total freedom, so you can pause or move in any direction you want, not being restricted by others. That’s why the DEs are so much important because it lets you play freely at your own pace, but also let you play with others.

But sadly, level 40+ PvE of this game hardly has any DE like in the starter zone and usually you find yourself alone while trying to do them, and frequently the unadjusted imbalance screws you up. And that cause you to be alone much more frequently because people avoiding these lonesome zones. It is a consequence of bad balance, not that we want it.

I think it’s been covered. Parties in this game just don’t serve a function in open world PvE besides giving you a little blue dot on the map to track people and a private chat channel.

Random invites without at least a “Hi, want to group up for ________” will be auto-declined. I don’t know you, I don’t know what you’re doing, or why you want to group with me. Heck, I don’t even know if you speak English (nothing against foreigners, just hard to be social when you can’t communicate with words).

Otherwise, if you ever see me in the open world and want to follow me around, go hard. I randomly afk on mountainsides, mass pull, and runs through large groups of mobs to get where I’m going faster sometimes. But you’re welcome to tag along.

If you need help with something just ask and I’ll help if it isn’t going to cost me 2+ silver just to get there. I’m going back to what I was doing when we’re done whatever though and I probably won’t join a party just for it because it’s unnecessary fiddling with UI stuff.

Imo its simple.

1) Today its not about fun but about farming and being the best. Therefore most people don’t care about mates in group, only about equip. And solo was always faster in (I think) every MMO. Because as some said, if you are in a group someone is going take a dog for a walk, having phone call etc.

2) WoW players trying every new MMO. And WoW PvE is strong solo focused (in my opinion) so they don’t really care about other people till they are 80. As in WoW, everyone was leveling as fast as possible (NOT that powerleveling is not in other MMOs too). Except EvE, where it doesn’t work that way. These players usualy played wow for a long time and they are used to certain things. Like yesterday we had in our guild chat a discusion where one former wow guy was sayin that stealth here is broken. What we found out later was, its not the same as in WoW so he finds it broken, but its not. Maybe some bugs, don’t know, but it seems fine to me – his concerns were not breaking combat after stealth on.

3) I don’t think its that truth that much about ppl not being social. Of course there are some who don’t care about other people, its not as social as some other games I’ve played, but hey, I was hunting karkas and people always group kinda around when they see someone else hunting. And not like in other MMOs, you don’t mind, because you get drop and experience, they do also. Same with dungeons. I did fractals lvl “whatever” and these people wanted to do another level. People are social, but sometimes they don’t want because they are so focused on farming. Maybe try to be more social yourself, usualy if you are, you find other social people.

People solo because they don’t need to group up. Personally I prefer forced grouping like the way FFXI had it.

It created bonding, it cleaned out the players that wanted to be ers-ats and thought they could get away with it. It created a better community overall.

Problem with games becoming to casual is that they attract a larger audience which doesn’t mean its a better game, its just more accessible.

Totally agree OP.

I like doing things at my own pace. Ad hoc groups are the best, so I enjoy dynamic events and wvw much more than any dungeon or tpvp. I definitely support other players a lot (I don’t even have to try on my guardian), but once we complete our task then bon voyage.

Unspecified has pretty much summed up my thoughts on the matter.

What’s with the fixation with grouping in Orr by the way? Seems I can’t event-grind for ten minutes without getting a ninja-invite (which gets automatically declined … a man likes to be wooed you know) even though it strikes me as particularly unnecessary.

Waypoint cost, that’s why I generally play alone.

I prefer an ad hoc approach to grouping, if I see someone doing something I help, stick around a bit and if nothing else happens I go my separate way. Probably my lone wolf personality. I do particularly hate people but I prefer running across people, indirectly interacting and going my own way to either meet new people or perhaps run into them again. The moment I’m in a group a lose a sense of freedom, the group goal becomes my own and I feel like I’m being dragged along.

I like playing with people but I can see why guild wars 2 players prefer to be alone in this game. This game doesn’t have much purpose to group up. Well, the game has added fractal content to “force” people to group up now.. but you cannot force people. I feel that the game must understand and study in-depth human natures in mmo. They should do case research studies on experienced traditional mmo first, and make their own idea that touch the topic of human nature in mmorpg. It can help them improve on gw2.

Grouping is suppose to be encouraged, not forced or ignored. For example. Guilds. They are like fb chatroom. >_< Secondly, structure of dynamic events where you only meet one-time stanger and ninja away after it ended. Thirdly, players have different objective and found it meaningless to go to their friend’s map. Who want to waste waypoint money and come back? I know of several mmorpgs where waypts are near to free. There are good and vital reasons for it.

ecad.9085:

It is soo much faster and easier to level up when ur in team instead of going at it alone.

I’m in no rush. Often I want to explore alone, at my own pace, doing what I want to do when I want to do it.

Also, it’s not necessarily faster being on a team. Depends on the team.

The social experience for me is chatting with friends while we’re all doing our own thing, and then teaming up for specific activities.

MithranArkanere.8957:

In maps, people rarely follow my lead, thinking they know better than me, so I just go on my own.

And when they do follow me, they find out that I quickly find the fastest way to do everything in a map and end up following me all the time. Which I don’t like either.

I like to be with people, but sometmes you just want to stroll around, completing points and dailies while watching some series in the other laptop.

I prefer to be the kind of guy that comes out of nowhere, saves the day, and then disappears to do their own stuff you can only wonder about.
You know, like the power rangers with the special colors, like white or golden.

It’ll be nice if there was in-game voice chat.
The things I do the most with people is with my guildies with some VOIP program, but doing that with pugs is a hassle as they’ll need to set for a single protocol and client.

this is pretty much why i don’t join up. i like to take my time and enjoy the game. i can’t stand being forced to run through everything like there’s some kind of race going on.

I rarely team up with others because there’s no need to, you are still helping whoever is around you, it’s like everyone is already in a group with you anyway.

Because people have different playstyles.
-Some like to skip all mobs, while others like to kill everything on their path.
-Some like to skip events, while others go out of their way to do them.
-Some like to skip vistas, while others watch the whole thing every time.
-Some don’t bother gathering materials, while others harvest everything they see on the map.
Chances are you won’t team up with someone with a similar style to zone completion as you do, thus you feel chained and slowed down by the other. Or in case of the one who likes to see and do everything you will feel like you’re wasting the time of the other.

Also communicating in this game isn’t that easy, because you’re constantly on the move or fighting stuff. It isn’t comfortable to have long and decent conversations while exploring, unless you really want to take your time doing so. But then you run the risk of the other having to log off in the middle of a zone, and you’ll be left waiting to finish.

Two days ago I got a random party invite from a lower level while I was exploring a mid level zone on my level 80. We never talked, but we played together through the zone. Sometimes he went another way to do some event, while I farmed ores and logs, and we’d meet up again at the next waypoint. That was a quite nice way of playing together actually, unfortunately that’s just a 1 in a million occurrence.

Well I have 2 80’s, and have seen most of the zones.

If I’m farming for a drop or something (crafting mats, for example – I’ve got 6 crafts done and getting mats for the last 2), I don’t really plan on moving, or plan on moving to very specific places., and anyone who invites me probably will have something else in mind.

If I’m doing world completion on my 71% complete character, I’m going to do it methodically and as fast as possible. Being in a group (especially random people) involves discussion that slows me down.

If I’m in WvW, I’ll always group up.

In Orr I don’t care either way. Being in the zerg is just like being grouped, so I don’t really see the point of the grouping up.

My favorite all time MMO is FFXI, which required you to group just to level up (I hear it’s different now – haven’t played in a couple years), so it’s an issue with grouping itself.

But if I’m in a group, and I (or some random stranger) needs to afk, that may (or may not) force the other person to wait. If I’m solo I can pause whenever I want.

And I can always chat in guild chat or guild mumble, so just because I’m running around a zone alone doesn’t mean I’m “alone”. It just means the people I’m talking to are in another zone (or even another game).

I’m sure if there was a point or need to group in the open world, people would do it more.

I always feel stressed when I play with someone else. I can’t relax and take things at my own pace. I have to worry about accommodating them, hurrying through content so they don’t get bored or frustrated. I can’t play organically.

Arshay Duskbrow.1306:

I always feel stressed when I play with someone else. I can’t relax and take things at my own pace. I have to worry about accommodating them, hurrying through content so they don’t get bored or frustrated. I can’t play organically.

exactly here. Also, if you’re rushing through stuff (like 100% or doing hearts or getting from point A to point, every second spent typing or reading is a second “wasted”. It all depends on the intention of the player when playing at that particular time. Sometimes I can slack off and just walk around willy-nilly, and then, it’s ok to chat with someone or even go out of my own way to join them up on a quest or skill or w/e. Sometimes, I feel a bit of pressure for the need to finish some stuff, and I’d much rather do it solo so I can do it faster.

I tend to play alone because i find it faster. Im kind of Selfish when i game because i want to do things i want to do, i dont really want to have to do what group members want. for example, I would rather go in a straight line than go in a wavy line(if you can picture it in your head). If group members just followed me and helped me kill things than it might be a different story. but they always end up not having this heart or that skill point or whatever.

Btw im not really like this in RL, just something about gaming makes me kind of selfish in that aspect.

People don’t make much sense… can’t tell you how many times I’ve been trying out melee damage when someone will just use a knockback attack making me have to run down a mob again.

They also can’t decide half the time whether they want to go ahead and do something or kill the stuff between here and there – we’ll fight a mob then run past two and then they beeline for the next mob which wasn’t even in the way of the objective we’re trying to reach?

And for all the consistency I wish people would exhibit, I’m not a 100% player myself, I look for things that are fun to do (usually the DE) because a lot of the hearts and nearly none of the vistas ever impress me. Don’t get me wrong feeding cows is a great alternative – all the ones where I have to be a rabbit or whatever are just bleh.

So I find that when I’m doing DE farming I tend to get into parties for a bit, aside that I don’t bother.

Arshay Duskbrow.1306:

I always feel stressed when I play with someone else. I can’t relax and take things at my own pace. I have to worry about accommodating them, hurrying through content so they don’t get bored or frustrated. I can’t play organically.

I was going to type up a long screed, but this summed up the main points that were going to be in mine nicely.

Keywords being: stressed, relax, pace, accommodating, hurrying, organically.

:)

I’ve been trying to think of ways to encourage people to socialise without forcing them, or making things more inconvenient for people who don’t want to talk/group.

I haven’t really been able to, though. I think ultimately players just don’t really want to socialise unless they are forced to. And I disagree with forcing people.

Some ideas:
- In game Guild finder: You can list and search all guilds in the game. The game provides a graph on how active the guild is, how often people represent, and at what times. The guild can put up messages on what their objectives are and other information. You can apply to join the guild via the interface, and a message will be left for any of the guild’s officers to get in touch with you.

—> This should help people congregate together into guilds that suit their play goals and times. It also makes it easier to apply and look up guild information.

- Ad hoc groups: Whilst running in the field, I press a button, and the 5 nearest players to me are added to my UI. It’s as if they are in my party, I can see their health bars, and see dots on the map. But it’s completely one-sided, and they don’t get notified or need to accept. If anyone waypoints or leaves the map, they are removed from my UI.

—> This is a convenient way of grouping when you’re out in a field and you meet some people and decide to follow them around for a while. The dots help you keep track of their location, and being able to see their healthbars allows you to support them if you want.

So anyways, I’m trying to think of features that make it as convenient and easy as possible to find people to play with.

To me playing solo is not a preference, it’s practically inevitable due to the design of the game (though most other mmorpgs are even worse in that respect).

Generally there often just aren’t many or even any players in the vicinity that are doing the same content that you are doing. Checking for that via local chat or map chat is a lot of hassle.

It can become a problem in high level areas where there’s more content that can not be soloed.
But for the most part much of the content can be soloed, and i agree it’s more fun to play in a team, but the game design is such that it’s usually easier to just go and play, even if that means playing solo in an massively multiplayer game.

If you play with someone, you are not as free to do as you please, and – to a certain extend – feel pressured into doing things you might not be doing if going solo (like sticking around in an area you’d rather leave, or having to discuss where to go and what to do next). It’s a psychological thing I suppose, and it’s silly, really, but most of the time, I’d rather group up with people I know – I know how they play, we all know we’ll probably just stick together for a couple of events or so and then go our seperate ways unless someone is asking for help.
Edit: This doesn’t mean I always want to push on as quickly as possible – often the xact opposite. But I’d feel bad for it if grouped up with people who just want to finish things quickly, and that would kind of ruin the experience for me…

Instead of really grouping up with random people, I prefer to just stick around as long as I feel like it, chat a little, and excuse myself (or just leave) when I want to. I don’t have that much time to play, and I just don’t like to feel pressured into anything ^^° If I really want to do group content, I’ll just arrange something with my guildmates.

That doesn’t mean I won’t group up with someone asking for help – I really love to help people with their personal story, for instance. But I don’t like being invited into a group without any prompting beforehand – you know, actually communicating instead of pressing buttons.

I prefer to play in groups, but only if people are willing to wait for the slowest player, whether it’s me or someone else on the team.

Seems like every time I play with someone, they finish a heart and then go to the next one, meanwhile leaving one party member behind. So by the time they finish the first heart, the other person already has the next one half done.

Being vocal about what is going on is important too. If you see something halfway across the map you want to go grab, don’t just go there. Say something first so that your party either knows where you’re going, or can follow along. It gets tiresome when you have that one party member who wanders far away, then gets downed, then everyone panics trying to find him.

I think the game is a lot more fun in a group, especially when you’re doing something challenging. Sometimes people at heart quests will send you party requests, and I usually accept them. It can be more stressful sometimes, or take more time, but the fun usually outweighs the bad parts.

Pretty much every one I met in this game runs through this content like they are on a frikken timer.
And thus miss all the cool scripted story elements.

I find myself in a middle of a Zerg and suddenly alone to be the only one watching the often hilarious story(scripts) to start of the next leg of the event.

Meh. Single player GW2 with random PC swarms it is for me.

Other players can be annoying. They rush from one thing to another expecting you to keep up and if you look behind one rock they’re 2 miles away. I’ve had it with people’s drama. I’ve had it with saying ‘brb’ for the millionth time. I’ve had it with being away for something and feeling like I have to rush back. I’ve played with others and it isn’t always good. It can be a lot of fun but it can also be a big drama-fest. It’s so peaceful and stress free to play alone compared to the drama I had to put up with in previous games, especially in the first Guild Wars. I don’t want to ever be on a schedule again that’s for kitten sure.

That being said. I don’t mind grouping up with random folk and doing things like taking out a champion or doing a jumping puzzle or running in some zerg. If I see somebody who needs help, I’m there. If I see a downed player I try to get to them if I can.

There have been times that I played with a friend or with my brother(s) or with a random person and it’s been fun, so I do like doing that at times. Still, playing solo is the kind of freedom I prefer.

Rieselle.5079:

I’ve been trying to think of ways to encourage people to socialise without forcing them, or making things more inconvenient for people who don’t want to talk/group.

I haven’t really been able to, though. I think ultimately players just don’t really want to socialise unless they are forced to. And I disagree with forcing people.

Some ideas:
- In game Guild finder: You can list and search all guilds in the game. The game provides a graph on how active the guild is, how often people represent, and at what times. The guild can put up messages on what their objectives are and other information. You can apply to join the guild via the interface, and a message will be left for any of the guild’s officers to get in touch with you.

—> This should help people congregate together into guilds that suit their play goals and times. It also makes it easier to apply and look up guild information.

- Ad hoc groups: Whilst running in the field, I press a button, and the 5 nearest players to me are added to my UI. It’s as if they are in my party, I can see their health bars, and see dots on the map. But it’s completely one-sided, and they don’t get notified or need to accept. If anyone waypoints or leaves the map, they are removed from my UI.

—> This is a convenient way of grouping when you’re out in a field and you meet some people and decide to follow them around for a while. The dots help you keep track of their location, and being able to see their healthbars allows you to support them if you want.

---

So anyways, I’m trying to think of features that make it as convenient and easy as possible to find people to play with.

I try to socialize a lot. Part of the problem is some of us are getting older and the newer generation have come in and are also getting older. The newer generation do ‘not’ type. They just don’t. They use Jonny Rocket Commander Helmets and VoIP services. I personally don’t care for that, unless with real friends, because I don’t really want to ‘hear’ you folks. Talk about breaking immersion. Does that make WvW harder, or dungeons? I suppose so. However, I’ve never had a problem doing a boss encounter in a dungeon the first time (the few times I’ve ever gone to a dungeon) when they are articulated to me via the written word.

So I try, usually just emoting and typing silly things and jokes in ‘say’ before/after/during DEs and people that happen to be near me at Hearts. Maybe I’ll send someone a tell or two. And that’s enough for me.

I don’t really want to be in a ‘mechanical’ party.

Now, your idea for a ‘soft’ party where someone can be a stalker? That’s not horrible. If someone tagged me while I was running around and just decided to follow me wherever I went, that’d be kinda fun. Probably prompt me to say some stupid things in say, which would or would not prompt a response. Because of the wonderful open mechanics, it doesn’t impact my play.

The only problem I see is in the case of the person that pointed out sometimes other players’ moves frustrate melee types. Though, that is an opportunity for some socializing as well, no? You would (sadly) probably need to add the ability for people to ‘not’ be soft-parties, from a privacy stand point. You could pick up some stalker types that are kinda creepy. :|

But at least you offered some ideas. More than I did.

Team up with complete strangers, help them out and get them what they want, watch them disappear and only ask for help weeks later when they’re stuck on something somewhere because you were a nice person and offered help so they added you to their friends list ? Funny that was weeks ago and you were who again ?

I do group and socialize but with people I consider real friends and many of us have been gaming together far longer then the life of GW 1 and GW 2 combined. That isn’t to say I don’t help the occasional stranger but 99% of those do end like the example I gave you above so why bother ? I have many friends at this point so do I really need others or only calm sunny weather friends ? Worse yet ….. Do I really need to baby sit another person’s kid or worse than that listen to adults that sound worse then my kids ? I’ll think I’ll pass and stick to what I know and just be nice when and if it tickles my fancy.

I think most people don’t play MMOs for the social aspect anymore. At least not to group up with strangers.

I play an MMO because I want to be able to fight against other players and because I want to play with RL friends. I don’t like to group with strangers, because, sadly, more often than not the experience has been less than pleasant.

It’s also hampering that you have to consider another person if you group. If I want to stand around for ten minutes browsing the trading point or go afk for a couple of minutes to get some coffee or whatever, I don’t want to apologise to somebody for doing so. When I’m playing with my wife, which is about 100% of my pve time, I’m ok with considering her needs, but I don’t want to have to wait for any random person I’ve never met before.

That’s not to say I’m somewhat antisocial or anything like that. If someone asks for help to down a mob he can’t do alone, I’m always willing to help. But the good side of GW2 is that even for that you don’t need a group. And afterwards I just say “bye” and go wherever I want to go.

Only speaking for myself… but I’ve been playing MMOs for ~8 years now. Always participating on forums. And in the early years, I’d group up with anyone at anytime for anything. It was fun and interesting meeting new people. But my experiences have been mostly ‘meh’. Sure I’ve met some really nice and great people, but either I or they end up stop playing the game a couple months later and so there goes that. Or, as it is in real life, most people I bump into tend to be jerks or morons or completely juvenile, usually a combination of those to differing degrees. It just isn’t worth my time anymore to group with people and take a chance “maybe they’re not a kitten”.

I’m not saying everyone out there is a moron, or that even most people are. For me personally, I’ve had enough grouping experience in my near-decade of MMO playing. I’d rather play games with people I already know, or on my own. My time is rarely ever wasted that way. :x

To keep it short: I like to do what I want, when I want it, in any way I want to, in my own pace.

ecad.9085:

Iam constantly asking people to team with me when I’m levelin up in areas and doing hearts etc…. only like 1 in 10 people wants too… but why??

It is soo much faster and easier to level up when ur in team instead of going at it alone. Also much more fun imo. Why so many lone-players?

You know, I deal with people at work all day in meetings, on the phone. etc..etc.. A regular workday. But when I get home, the last thing I want to do is deal with another group of people. I’ll group with Guildies if they need help or my wife…cause, well..its her

But most of the time I’m just happy to not have to deal with other people. The DE’s allow you to use the advantages of a group, then happily go your own way afterwards. Perfect system for my play style.