From what I have seen in the dozens of gameplay and walkthrough videos, I personally think the 4man system will work just fine for this game. Of course we won't know for sure until we all get to try it out.

Originally posted by JarodD

The big downside is the relative number of tanks and healers needed. Most people tend to lean toward damage dealers, so reducing the relative need for damage dealers could be problematic. I'm hoping that the companion system will encourage more people to run tanks and healers as they will be at less of a disadvantage for solo leveling than is typical in some MMORPGs.

I think this is the biggest point only.

I understand the 4 classes and that makes sense.  I don't think 4 is small or wrong or makes it a "soloplayer game with extra people" like some call it.  But There are a low number of tanks/healers in any game.  Plain and simple.  Even classes in other games that COULD tank or COULD heal generally do not and run as dps.  So instead of 3 dps going with the lower amount of tanks/healers, you only have two.  This creates a bigger shortage then ever.

But as someone else pointed out, thank god this is just a soloplayer game....right?!

To the OP: it sounds like a "Preference difference" for you. Honestly I don't mind 4 people groups, that gives me a 25% chance at getting loot rather than a 5%

I don't think 4 player groups are going to hurt anything.  If anything, it will increase each player's responsibility, adding additional challenge.  I'm not a SWTOR fan, per se, but I don't believe this will ultimately be an issue.

I think a 4 player system is fine tbh

Any game that doesn't require you to sell your soul to a group of 30+ players for months to get that one piece of gear you want.

but more to the point.. i think smaller groups provide for more meaningful gameplay

and it's not like they can't add all those stupid uber raids later for people... but let them get you hooked first with a great gameplay experience ;p

not suprised since this game is solo mmo.

Four players is great. Should make it easier to get a group together. Plus you can flesh out holes in the PVE group content with companions if you need to.

Originally posted by hyllstarter

not suprised since this game is solo mmo.

ehh.. thats a bit short sighted..

I think its possible to have meaningful "hardcore" content that doesn't require a "horde" of people to accomplish...

I just have little faith ToR can accomplish that... but I do wish they can so here's to hoping xD

It doesn seem a rather odd choice. I feel for the people who only play dps with such a low number. However. like others said it is probably almsot all soloable anyways. I miss AC's groups they went up to 8 or maybe it was 9 not sure anymore, but u met lots of nice people that way.

4 man seems a bit small but it should be ok as long as the content is balanced around the 4 man party.

too me 4 man is fine. for people that think 4 man isnt enough and its going to leave people out of groups, think of how much easier it will be to form a group. if u fill one group up it should be pretty easy to fill another. whereas if u need lotsa people to fill one group  u may be able to get one going but the second may be missing out on a person or 2. u can slice it either way u want but imo its always easier to get a group going the fewer players req'd. anyone remember 40 man raids?

Originally posted by jado818

Originally posted by hyllstarter

not suprised since this game is solo mmo.

ehh.. thats a bit short sighted..

 

I think its possible to have meaningful "hardcore" content that doesn't require a "horde" of people to accomplish...

 

I just have little faith ToR can accomplish that... but I do wish they can so here's to hoping xD

I think he is talking about the lack of group content that it makes it look like.

I'm pretty ignorant on all the content there is available, but surely I hope there is something for bigger groups to do, even if it is just some chaotic light vs dark PvP (like the epic Star Wars battles).

Can't say my lone wolf side isn't happy though, as it seems PvE content will be pretty much small groups only.

Can't make everyone happy.

Originally posted by ignore_me

[quote][i]Originally posted by artemisentr4[/i] [b]It will be intersting to see how this plays out for the entire game. Flashpoints is the place where the 4 will matter the most. Those are dungeon instances that can take hours and should require teamwork. And there are not that many yet. Only 5 per side for sure. The rest of the content is a combo of open world and short or small story instances. Not a lot of teamwork realy, except for the group story chains.   From what we have seen so far. Questing in the open world requires you to go to an open area and kill x as a bonus quest. Then find the opening to your story area and enter solo or with your group. So if you have to, you could have two groups going to the same area, But each group would enter the final stage of the story quest in their own instance. Complete that part and then exit back out to the open world with everyone.   It is not the same as larger groups. But it at least will allow you to play with your friends for most of the quest. Just not the story part. Also, there are heroic areas, but two groups in that area may cause problems with who gets credit for kills. Maybe they will allow raids to all get credit for heroic areas?   With the many different types of quests, we will have to see it work before we can judge. There are the class quests, open world quests, open world group story quests, heroic areas and flashpoints. The group size of 4 will make it easier on many, but more difficult if you have a large group of firends. At least you will be on vent and can BS even if you aren't in the same area. [/b][/quote]

So can you create a raid group for the content I highlighted?

 That is still to be determined. It anything, I would imagine that open world bonus quests and or heroic areas may allow for raids to get credit. But I have no clue.

It may end up that multiple groups will just have to kill different mobs in the same area to get credit. So you can quest in the same area, but not as a raid.

Wow that's pretty small !! Anyone remember the groups in Dark age of Camelot 8 players man it was epic!! Long live the MMO community bahah

Creating a group with four players is much easier I would imagine. I can understand why people may be concerned, but when you have a 4 player group from the start...it won't be something that affects anything. The game is designed around 4 players. I think this is just one of those things you will have to see to fully grasp.

You know what else is small?

Originally posted by EricDanie

Originally posted by jado818

Originally posted by hyllstarter

not suprised since this game is solo mmo.

ehh.. thats a bit short sighted..

 

I think its possible to have meaningful "hardcore" content that doesn't require a "horde" of people to accomplish...

 

I just have little faith ToR can accomplish that... but I do wish they can so here's to hoping xD

I think he is talking about the lack of group content that it makes it look like.

I'm pretty ignorant on all the content there is available, but surely I hope there is something for bigger groups to do, even if it is just some chaotic light vs dark PvP (like the epic Star Wars battles).

Can't say my lone wolf side isn't happy though, as it seems PvE content will be pretty much small groups only.

So far we know theres open area lakes (to be defined what are in them beyond that you simply can PvP) there are world bosses which are designed for groups bigger then 4, right now for bigger then 4 thats about all i think that is required, you can however do heroics, group quests with multigroups just expect them to be easier then if you did them with just one group. Really anything beyond the personal story and the flashpoints can be done with more then 1 group.

But for right now content that is designed for mutli groups are, raids, world bosses and Open world PvP (and no i don't mean the PvP server :) )

Limiting the group size to four allows maximum flexibility and minimum hassle. The smaller the group, the less acute the dps/tank/healer population imbalance becomes and the easier it is for dps to find groups. Furthermore, in SWTOR you can bring your companion into a flashpoint with you. So if it's just you and a buddy, hypothetically you could still run the instance. That's a pretty powerful form of flexibility, because what it really means is that there is a sliding difficulty scale and a sliding party size: 2, 3 or 4 players. Furthermore, the 4-person group size combined with the 4-class paradigm means less contention over loot that drops in the instance.

All in all, from where I'm sitting, the combination of these systems plus the group size is a win.

Has you worried? C'mon man.

If anything, I love smaller groups. I think 4 fits the game well. Remember, raids and such won't be this small ,so why the fuss?