So I have been having a blast with TSW, despite the detractors but have mainly been playing it as a solo game, with occasional team ups for world quests, in which I have found random people to be very friendly and almost always willing to help.

The chat channels, have also been atypically friendly. Requests for help, generally met with positive responses.

Now I do have plans to get into groups, and try PVP, but first i was toying around farming AP and trying the first rings of different weapons to get an idea of what I wanted to stick with.

SO the point of this, I was going to look for some group action , when I noticed that LFG was being spammed with people looking for SPEED GROUPS 6/6 Experienced & geared only , must know fights inside and out ..etc..

This made me step back,  this was the kind of annoying crap that I remembered from the end of my WoW days. People so elitist they wouldnt even group with you unless you totally out-geared the instance already. And had shit-fits for any misstep, and usually even blamed thier own mistakes on other people.

Now I am using AR healing builds and want to try the healing role, but I would like to group for fun and learn the ropes a bit since I have no experience healing in TSW,  but none of the groups seemed friendly enough for me to want to try.

So,  so far my experience with the community has been good, but this kinda put me off a bit, so I am curious, what have your group experiences in TSW been like ?

Thanks !

When you make the content about grinding the content for gear/points - people are going to want to get through it as fast as possible.

Hence why every WoW expansion the dungeon runs got shorter and shorter and easier and easier.

And when they tried to modify that a bit with Cata, go back to more of the "old school" flare, people QQ'd that they took too long and were too difficult...

Bad design = bad design.

Bad design brings out the worst in players.

You're going to find those types in every game available.  They are going to play they way they want to play, which is their right.  Best not to judge on a small sample size or single event.

So far, I've had no problem getting into groups, and all (so far) have been very accomodating and helpful my first time in.  Haven't seen a lot of fingerpointing either, even in groups experiencing multiple wipes.

Of course, getting into a bad group, or one with a bad player, is going to happen at some point.  It happens in all of them.  Such is the nature of internet gaming.

What I think you need to understand that just like society in RL that inside a game it is going to be very diverse. A large majority of the population that plays games want quick fast runs, we are taught to use time wisely (at least make it efficient). Just like RL society though you have others with different mind sets. Normally what guilds are for, finding like minded people, not everyone wants to do things the way you want and maybe even you are the minority but there will still be others with the same goals.

As a side note you should probably not start out healing high end content, try healing regular runs even if they are lower level then you. People running them for the first time will probably be grateful to have someone in high QL gear giving them a hand. Also I have no idea what QL gear your using for healing to give any more advice but if your not elitest don't play with that type of people find some like minded soul's and not worry about how others want to spend thier time.

Yes, I've noticed it becoming more common OP, therefore I'm not likely to group much in TSW, same as most other MMO's.

I never know the fights backwards and fowards, I bumble my way through them looking for a few laughs, which isn't what that sort of player wants.

Even in my own Cabal where the people tend to be a bit more forgiving I listen to their opinions of the random folks that join their groups and their banter makes me wither. 

They're checking their gear, mocking if they make a mistake or don't seem to know the fight, all reasons why I never run dungeon content anymore.

Like was mentioned, chalk it up to unforgiving design which encourages and rewards this sort of conduct.

Join the many groups that don't look for that. Ignore the ones that do.

That was easy.

I've also noticed the elitist group postings. Even worse, I keep reading how great the community is but in fact, I've probably put more people on ignore in this game than the total in all other games I've played in the last two years. I don't know why it is but there are a lot of very anti social scumbags playing.

       Yeah we call this the WoW effect......

not every group invite in the LFG channel is this way, it's just that they spam a lot in the channel.

I would never join a party with some of these folks, I usually ask in the guild and then I complete the party asking for players in the LFG channel.

my advise for you is that: you should be the party leader, there is far more people that hate elitism than people who is elitist, if you ask for menbers in a friendly way, you will get a lot of requests.

Originally posted by Rohn

You're going to find those types in every game available.  They are going to play they way they want to play, which is their right.  Best not to judge on a small sample size or single event.

/This. Try not to take it personally. They do not want to waste their in-game time same as you.

Originally posted by Kyleran

Yes, I've noticed it becoming more common OP, therefore I'm not likely to group much in TSW, same as most other MMO's.

I never know the fights backwards and fowards, I bumble my way through them looking for a few laughs, which isn't what that sort of player wants.

Even in my own Cabal where the people tend to be a bit more forgiving I listen to their opinions of the random folks that join their groups and their banter makes me wither. 

They're checking their gear, mocking if they make a mistake or don't seem to know the fight, all reasons why I never run dungeon content anymore.

Like was mentioned, chalk it up to unforgiving design which encourages and rewards this sort of conduct.

 

Yeah I feel pretty much the same way.

Originally posted by reaperuk

I've also noticed the elitist group postings. Even worse, I keep reading how great the community is but in fact, I've probably put more people on ignore in this game than the total in all other games I've played in the last two years. I don't know why it is but there are a lot of very anti social scumbags playing.

Wierd, I have not a single person on my ignore list. Only thing I have seen outside of the regular troll has been a really helpful group of people. Of course regular human behavior wont make it on my ignore lists, takes something a little more than a general troll to hurt mah feelers.

Only individuals are the normal complainers you see in general chats (personally that is one thing I think should go that came in newer mmo's). One of those things where you see a lot of people go X old school game had an awesome community actually mention a game that had no global/general/lfg chats. The community they remember was the guild/clan/allegience chat channels.

Here's the way I see it in TSW.

Funcom made the dungeon runs to focus on lots of challenging boss fights, and very little monotonous trash clearing.  Good idea, this makes farming said dungeons multiple times in succession ideal.  This also leads to groups seeking the "speed run" compositions you have observed, because it might possibly add 50% longer to the run having to stop and explain 8 boss fights to a first-timer only to have that person leave after 1 run (and since it was their first time in the dungeon they likely rolled on a majority of the loot).

Now you have 4 players standing around for another 10 minutes trying to find one competent soul to fufill their gear/AP-grinding "speed runs" team.  Had they just found a prepared and like-minded experienced dungeon grinder they would already be on their 3rd run-through instead of replacing the "teach-me" guy.

Talking about Nightmare modes is a whole other problem.

In an effort to extend the time it takes to max out in the TSW end-game gear grinder, Funcom opted for artificial lock-outs for each player after they step foot inside the instance.  Sounds reasonable, its certainly not the first gear-treadmill to enforce such limits on the players.  What happens when one of your team members crashes/ gets disconnected/ gets frustrated repeatedly dying trying to learn difficult progression fights?  Well now you are essentially fucked because no one can leave the instance to find a replacement due to the genious lock-out mechanic.  The Funcom devs are fueling the eliteism.  Why would you not seek someone who will increase your odds of success during your 1-shot at that dungeon?  Why risk your lock-out by taking a chance?

From what I have seen it does seem to be a minority posting requirements like this, and then only for nightmare mode dungeons. Is it elite/nightmare your trying to get into as a healer, without any healing experience, or normal mode dungeons? Personally I havent had any problems getting in groups yet but thats as dps where people are more forgiving, I am about to try a tanking build but intend to only do this with friends/cabal members.

What do you expect from an end game raiding mmo. The worst people i have come across in mmo's have all been in raids. It truy makes for a horrible community.

Originally posted by rpgalon

not every group invite in the LFG channel is this way, it's just that they spam a lot in the channel.

I would never join a party with some of these folks, I usually ask in the guild and then I complete the party asking for players in the LFG channel.

my advise for you is that: you should be the party leader, there is far more people that hate elitism than people who is elitist, if you ask for menbers in a friendly way, you will get a lot of requests.

You know what, I'm going to try this over the weekend.

I'm going to send out a LFG message along these lines.

"Virgin tank looking for group members willing to bumble their way through Polaris and have fun while doing so.  I may not know the fights but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express ™  Elitists need not apply. "

I'll let you know how it goes. 

Originally posted by Kyleran

Originally posted by rpgalon

 

You know what, I'm going to try this over the weekend.

I'm going to send out a LFG message along these lines.

"Virgin tank looking for group members willing to bumble their way through Polaris and have fun while doing so.  I may not know the fights but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express ™  Elitists need not apply. "

I'll let you know how it goes. 

LOL my first Polaris run exatly. i was LFG as dps and had couple rejects, then i wrote something similar and got invite more or less instantly. 

Elitism is a chronic disease of a hardcore mmo player. 

Originally posted by Kyleran

You know what, I'm going to try this over the weekend.

I'm going to send out a LFG message along these lines.

"Virgin tank looking for group members willing to bumble their way through Polaris and have fun while doing so.  I may not know the fights but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express ™  Elitists need not apply. "

I'll let you know how it goes. 

I'm betting you get bombarded with responses. If I'm online, I'll be one of them. The elitism is turning me off this game a bit too.

Yea i've experienced a few elitist groups already in this game. its sad people take games so seriously as if they are jobs.