You know since the existense of EQ a group has consisted of a 6 person group right? So much talk about class balance had me look at how many classes we have now since the game came out and with the new berserker class we now have 16 different classes!

Makes you wonder why some classes are less desired now than before.

Ever think having it possible to have a group expanded to seven? No penalty if only 6 in a group, experience could be the same with seven?

Yes you might think it's a silly idea but I've seen worse ideas :rolleyes:

Personally, I would love to see the group size expanded to 8. It would be a boon to my tiny guild, and reduce the 'desired class' issue for grouping a bit. However, it would also require rebalancing of 'experience' mobs I think, so I don't expect to see it happen.

Well not for helping guilds, was thinking of more "friendly" groups. Eight would be a bit powerful as seven probably would be too. Six has and is the way it has always been done. Guess it would blow chances at instanced zones though. :p

Yes 8 seems a more practical number now with the stacking of healers, Debuffs and off tanking. A group of 6 is viable but 8 would allow for more DPS as a group and more Healing/mitigation on raid senarios. Of course a group of 8 druids would just be sick...

Now that we have 16 classes, and a large part of the new content coming out seems to be limited to a single group (/boggle, wtf sony...) I think we're definitely overdue to a group size increase to 8.

I haven o problem with content being limited to single groups. It's a helluva lot less stressful putting together a small guild of friends for single group stuff than it is trying to corral a herd of cats hither and yon, night after night. Not to mention the usual crappy guild politics.

Yay for Aly's anti-raiding comment. Just couldn't let it pass without making a snide remark, huh :P

And good luck with this particular single group content. With Time gear, Ikkinz is kicking our ass more often then not.

Yes, groups need a bump up badly. Would love to be allowed larger groups, though it would make organizing them a bit more difficult, and they'll tune content around 8 players, so most will want to fill the group.

Amen Aly, that's what I got so frickin sick of, the either do jack crap exp or suck azz and/or play 24/7 in order to do anything meaningful. They tried getting close to that with LDoN and failed miserably. It's like bigger is better in EQ neh? Maybe if they made drops worth a crap from lesser mobs and made it require more than the usual zerg fest.

They tried getting close to that with LDoN and failed miserably.

LDON has it flaws but Ive met great people through LDON and the goal they had with this is to put 100% emphasis on groups. I would hardley call it a failure, let alone a miserable one. Now if they would just stop swinging the stealth-nerf bat....

Kalest MoonGlade
65th Stormwarden of Tunare
Fennin Ro

With Time gear, Ikkinz is kicking our ass more often then not.

Oh darn. Don't wait for me to cry a river for you since you're actually having to work at doing something rather than plowing through it. I'd love to see a lot more strategic single group content in EQ that requires innovation, strategy and knowing what the hell you're doing, rather than simply requiring you and sixty other goobers and a completely wasted amount of time.

Up the group size to eight and forget about raiding. Abolish it altogether. Instanced zones with limits of two groups maximum. Go back to small, tight-knit guilds where everyone is a friend of each other. Triggered events instead of rare spawn/insane spawn timers. Bring back the positive aspects of EQ's community instead of continuing to reinforce the negative aspects like cockblocking, leapfrogging, and such.

One of these days, as the population in EQ eventually starts shrinking, they're going to have to change group/guild dynamics drastically, or else as server populations diminish, entire guilds are going to be able to dictate who gets loot, mobs, and such with 100% effectiveness. If you don't kiss the guild leaderships arse, you lose. May as well quit. That's what EQ's gonna end up being someday.

They should start changing things now to stave off the atrophy.

Aly, I want a group size of 8 for my guild, because on any given night we have 6 to 8 people on, only one of whom is a healer. If we had two healers we could break into groups of 4, but with only one the choices are /raid mode (which is a painful hit to experience, and leaves out LDoN) or 2 people get to go LFG. We're obviously not an uber guild. 8 people IS a small group of friends -- most of us know each other in real life.

Sounds like a great guild. I doubt they will up the group size anytime soon however. It'll be another year or two, if EQ lasts that long. It would be nice though.

Doubt they going to change the group size, it would means alot of bugs, balancing, fixing, adjusting and stuff. Ikkinz trials are kinda , how do I say it, too off balance? I mean a post time group have anywhere from 20 to 50% of suceed a trial unless they have one of the top wars and clerics, and other classes. Even with that , they stil have 50% of the chance to fail it. A war its required cause no other class will be able to tank well in the trials without constantly wiping. :(

Well, perhaps one of the new games coming out will have a more flexible way to make groups of various sizes, which will suddenly inspire SOE to revisit groups in EQ. ;)

I don't expect anything on a silver platter. I've raided a ton, been there, done that, check my gear, STFU thanks! I just believe it could be more than a time-sink and finally voted with my feet.

Oh darn. Don't wait for me to cry a river for you since you're actually having to work at doing something rather than plowing through it. I'd love to see a lot more strategic single group content in EQ that requires innovation, strategy and knowing what the hell you're doing, rather than simply requiring you and sixty other goobers and a completely wasted amount of time.

Beat Time and then come talk to me about strategy. You sound more ignorant everytime you come out of the woodwork, Aly, I think it's a gift.

The problem with you is you don't even know what you don't know. You just start spewing whatever drivle comes to mind and assume you are right.

Oh I know.. that's right.. you've raided before.. ToV wasn't it? Must be the same thing.

Think whatever you want Stormlin, but guilds that have beat Time and are plowing through GoD now do not have my respect. The only thing they have that I don't have, is excess time and the ability to mindlessly repeat repetitive content, over and over. EQ is not a hard game to play. The only thing that might even earn a shred of respect from me, is the fact that quite a few people in goober guilds know how to listen and take orders. Like lemmings.

So don't ever expect any sympathy from me because you're crying that Ikkinz is too hard for you. Take your beatings and deaths and get on with it. Learn from your mistakes and move on. I'd like to see the next expansion designed just for single group content of all levels with expedition-like instanced zones where you can invite new people into the zone.

When I design dungeons/adventures in NWN, I try to make them flow from encounter to encounter and to facilitate crawling and furious battle, instead of the boring crap in EQ. Pacify, pacify, pacify, pull one, kill it. Mobs should die in 15-20 seconds and there should be four to eight mobs or more in camp on every pull. They should have varied abilities and AI routines. Real mob archers that stand back and fire arrows while other mobs melee.

I've got a script a friend wrote that will send all creatures of a faction within a certain raidus of an alarm to battle stations so to speak and it spawns several patrols that begin roving the corridors and caverns. It's triggered by certain creatures that are scripted to set off the alarm. Alert PC's would be able to take measures to prevent this. Even a silence spell is an option if they're fast enough and can think quickly.

I'd love to see dungeons like that in EQ. Fast and furious battles where you have to stay riveted to your computer most of the time and it's fun to play for a couple hours every now and then. Not the boring, monotonous xp grind/raid crap. I get so bored playing my cleric that I bought a GameBoy to have something to do when the group is being a bunch of sissies and doing safe, single pulls and won't let me pull/tank.

If the group size was upped to eight (maybe in a new expansion and only for those new zones?), they could really design some fun battles with six to ten mobs arrayed against the party. Four mob.tanks, four mob.dps, and two healers. Mix it up from encounter to encounter and add some mob triggered traps/events to hinder/hurt the party like a keg of gunpowder or a poison gas trap. Can't be that hard to add it to the game if I can script similar events in an afternoon in NWN.

The only problem with building/scripting stuff NWN myself, is I already know what's going to happen... so I often run DM'd games and just watch how others react to the events.

Another benefit from eight person groups, is people might even accept necro's without any regrets. Personally, I think people that don't use necro's in groups are stupid. They offer a lot to the group that too many people don't understand or know about. I've started goofing around with a necromancer and she's only 23rd level, but I'm already seeing how unwanted necro's are unless there's just no one else to fill a last spot. Good thing I don't mind starting groups.

The only thing they have that I don't have, is excess time and the ability to mindlessly repeat repetitive content, over and over.

That's true, but it's not the ONLY thing. There's a *lot* of skill required from many people in order to do Time and GoD properly. The fact that you refuse to believe it when you're told this, for whatever reason, speaks poorly of you.

Regardless, lets keep the angst and anger out of this thread. We're in the General forum, and it's a good topic, which doesnt need to be derailed into yet another ubergoober vs casual debate.

I think an 8 person group is one of the best ideas I've heard. Instanced zones based on an 8 person group would not require retinkering of all the existing stuff. I know it'd be great for my Guild.