Few to no groups past 10...

[TheBroken_JPK]

Ok, so after I reached level 11 on my cleric to find out that it takes literally hours to get a group past level 10 I thought I would make a more solo friendly toon. I get this toon to 10, and I'm just bored of soloing. I know you people out there are grouping, because I see a ton of TR toons. What gives? How and where are you grouping? I never see groups for Sands, GH, or Atraxia. I see the occasional VoN flagging and VoN raid, and Tempest Spine.

I can't make a group myself, because I don't know anything about the game beyond level 10. Every time I do start a group I get people as clueless as I am, and that, my friends, is disastrous.

I love this game like no other, but I NEED to group to advance. Please give a brother some advice.

[Gremmlynn]

You do realize that when they were first added every quest was run by players clueless of that quest. It just means the group has to slow down and learn it as they go. It's only disastrous if players don't acknowledge this.

[Durion]

Its actually fun to have a group in a quest and be clueless. I remember when VON 3 first came out, I think thats the longest quest I've ever run, I got alot of poo from my wife as we were in there so long. We did beat it though, and it was pretty fun.

In other words, make that group. Slow down, smell the flowers. If you wipe, see why, fix it, and move on.

[Angelus_dead]

I can't make a group myself, because I don't know anything about the game beyond level 10. Every time I do start a group I get people as clueless as I am, and that, my friends, is disastrous.
Why is a bunch of inexperienced people "disastrous"? What's the worst that can happen: you go into a quest, get killed, and pop up in a tavern? That's hardly something to be worried about.

The recent introduction of ultra-easy "Casual" mode makes it even easier to explore for yourself without needing a guide.

Now, I will mention there is something fairly disastrous that can happen: mixing clueless and experienced players in one group without first defining what the objectives are. Is your goal to do the quest, or to get it done? Although many people fail to notice this, those can actually be very contrary goals. That's why I advise newbie players to avoid trying to fill up groups; there's no reason to wait around for more than 1-2 other people, and the more you invite means the less percentage of the quest you get to do.

[CE2JRH123]

Get to level 11. Soloing will suddenly become awesome again.

[wamjratl1]

First: see this thread (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=229555).

I know you're tired of soloing but some xp is better than no xp.

As far as filling groups with clueless folks: Have fun! don't get too frustrated with mistakes (as long as folks are cool and try to play cooperatively). It's fun to figure out new quests. It may take longer but grouping with all new folks can help you all learn some good tactics (sending a scout ahead, managing aggro, crowd control, selective pulling of mobs, using terrain / traps to your advantage).

Don't be afraid to start a group, let folks know you are new, and that you would like to play smartly as a group. It's a good way to meet people and eventually you'll run with some really good players and maybe get into / start a guild. The more folks you group with and the longer your friends list becomes, the easier it becomes to get a group going.

[cluedout]

Sorry man, all you have to do is get into those guild runs that have a few pug spots left and make a good impression, with the influx of new players, it is simply better to shortman a quest with people that you trust to be good then to stick an lfm up to get more players that will increase the dungeon scaling for a questionable player.

you must play better and better until you get into such a guild, or make your own friends and learn their play-style and get good enough to do the quests with your party, at that point. if another guild of group of good players sees that you are worth your salt, ask for access to their channel for a near unending supply of good players.

make sure that when you do try to make your good impression that you have a solid character to back it up. i might be elitist (i have said it before and it seems my guild is notorious for it) but we do screen people on myddo to see how close our HP guesses are to the truth. for example, there was a wiz in a shroud run that i ran recently and the wiz kept getting to aroung 5-10% health left and i could toss a heal scroll on him and get him to 100%. so that means he had less than ~140 HP. low and behold when i looked him up on myddo he had 132 HP and 0% fort. guess who is not getting into another of my runs?

another example is a WF wis that was in an epic run of von1 keep in mind that the person who i was with was a guildy and i could have duoed it with him given some time, however we wanted to rush it so we put up fer any other guildies and checked out channels and filled all but one spot. that last spot we pugged out and a wiz joined. funny thing was is that after he was done buffing, half his mana was gone and he quaffed a pot. that quest is exceedingly easy until the waves of mephits and ogre shamans and all so we stuck him (self healing wiz) to kite things around and the melee would drag them off 1-2 at a time. however, even with healing help in the form of a reco from me and heals from the clr, he died. after the run i looked him up. 1 piece of rait loot from titan. ~1500 sp no shroud items, 50% fort and 220 HP. this is epic we are talking about, you bring your best to epic, not some half made gimpling, so this person too will not get into another run.

all of us vets have had way too much negative experience with pugs, so for the most part, we have stopped doing it altogether

bottom line. make a good impression. get access to guild friendly relation channels. get into a good guild that has your interests and your problems are over.

plain and simple. the vets are not putting up lfm's until the guild and their channel is exhausted.

[Irinis]

Start a group, ask for a guide, and hope for a friendly veteran player to see your lfm. (Some of those do actually exist!)

If you don't get a quest leader even through the lfm, then take leadership of the group, explain that since nobody knows the quest it's going to be a slow run and anyone who has a problem with that can leave, NOW.

Way too many people are too shy to start the lfm. When most people are sitting back waiting for an lfm guess what? No lfms. That said, sometimes I just don't feel like starting one.

[Matuse]

Unless the quest is just stupidly complicated, like Titan1, or the Abbott raid, the best time is when you have no idea what to expect. Of course, it helps to have people who aren't zergmonsters, and who don't toss a clot and quit group over a wipe or two.

You think running waterworks for the 300th time is at all fun?

[Talon_Moonshadow]

Myddo.com says I have fifty chars...and that doesn't count my second account!

But close to half of them are stuck between 10-17 and can never find groups. Nor can I find groups for my lvl 20. But that's cause I'm not interested in doing many quests with him. He's done everything below lvl 16 on elite. And the higher ones everyone is scared of I guess.

Anyway, I just log on to another char or another serve until I find something I want to do.

But what you should do is put up your own LFM.
You can make a comment about never having done it before if you feel the need for a disclaimer.

[Corebreach]

I can't make a group myself, because I don't know anything about the game beyond level 10. Every time I do start a group I get people as clueless as I am, and that, my friends, is disastrous.
Why is a bunch of inexperienced people "disastrous"? What's the worst that can happen: you go into a quest, get killed, and pop up in a tavern? That's hardly something to be worried about.
The team's leader is responsible for the team's success. Among other things, it means he must be familiar with the quest: its layout, what tactics work best, what tactics his particular team will find feasible, and whether he even invited competent people into his team in the first place (plus having the brains and assertiveness to remove them if they prove they're not). You have no authority to ruin five other players' evenings while exploiting them as personal training wheels.

Team members join parties expecting successful runs. One failure and they bail. Repeated failures and they blacklist you and badmouth you to their guilds. Expecting "Oh, we all died, haha, no biggie" every time is going to burn you.

[ddaedelus]

The team's leader is responsible for the team's success. Among other things, it means he must be familiar with the quest: its layout, what tactics work best, what tactics his particular team will find feasible, and whether he even invited competent people into his team in the first place (plus having the brains and assertiveness to remove them if they prove they're not). You have no authority to ruin five other players' evenings while exploiting them as personal training wheels.

Team members join parties expecting successful runs. One failure and they bail. Repeated failures and they blacklist you and badmouth you to their guilds. Expecting "Oh, we all died, haha, no biggie" every time is going to burn you.

Sadly, you're right at least in this regard: many people will not create their own groups precisely out of fear of exactly what you describe.

A simple "I don't know this quest" or "need guide" solves that problem (if indeed it ever was a problem).

Also, even if you were to run into someone who shares your expectations, "Repeated failures and they blacklist you and badmouth you to their guilds," is not nearly the terrible fate you make it out to be.

Besides, we're talking about entire groups who don't know the quest, not people who pretend to know the quest, but really don't.

[Potvin]

Ok, so after I reached level 11 on my cleric to find out that it takes literally hours to get a group past level 10 I thought I would make a more solo friendly toon. I get this toon to 10, and I'm just bored of soloing. I know you people out there are grouping, because I see a ton of TR toons. What gives? How and where are you grouping? I never see groups for Sands, GH, or Atraxia. I see the occasional VoN flagging and VoN raid, and Tempest Spine.

I can't make a group myself, because I don't know anything about the game beyond level 10. Every time I do start a group I get people as clueless as I am, and that, my friends, is disastrous.

I love this game like no other, but I NEED to group to advance. Please give a brother some advice.

Actually, no. You apparently don't need to group to advance.

When I last played, over 3 years ago, you actually DID need groups to advance.
If you can solo, you can advance. It's not ideal granted, but don't sit here and say "I can't advance without a group".

People like me quit this game in the past because it was actually true. You have it easy nowadays.