Still having fun with the game, but..

[janave]

..i set myself very specific goals for the character/s i play, and i am just stuck, no players to group with for these goals to progress towards. It is about getting the last raid completions before a TR.

I have been logged in from morning to evening, to try other time zones, for the last 3 days.
I can really enjoy ddo, just cant enjoy a state of being stuck.

That raid is ~50% of our current end game.

As a last addition, i am generally successful at drawing in people to play any content, even dated stuff, even when population is lowish. Maybe i am a special breed but i run raids even after i had my loot from there, i arrived to the conclusion that most of the players would want more/different incentives than just top gear.

Thanks if you read it.

[Sehenry03]

[QUOTE=janave;5533428Maybe i am a special breed but i run raids even after i had my loot from there, i arrived to the conclusion that most of the players would want more/different incentives than just top gear.

Thanks if you read it.[/QUOTE]

I would argue this. People run raids/quests til they get the gear they want then they stop. People don't run titan anymore because it doesn't give anything helpful now. People run Abbott to get some good hard to find stuff as well as ADQ. They don't keep running Thunderholme raids after they have all the upgrades they need. Simply put Everyone I know runs specific raid for specific gear so IMHO most people WANT gear as an incentive to run a raid. I certainly do.

[Blackheartox]

I would argue this. People run raids/quests til they get the gear they want then they stop. People don't run titan anymore because it doesn't give anything helpful now. People run Abbott to get some good hard to find stuff as well as ADQ. They don't keep running Thunderholme raids after they have all the upgrades they need. Simply put Everyone I know runs specific raid for specific gear so IMHO most people WANT gear as an incentive to run a raid. I certainly do.

Or xp like von is.
Jana, i anticipated this state last year and made a mess on forums.
Sadly nothing has been done yet.
Your best bet is to do what i did.
Give yourself a ddo break and come back during updates on hope they establish a proper playground for players like us.

[Nuclear_Elvis]

Try playing at Wayfinder. Start over. Start small. Enjoy the game again.

[Sehenry03]

Or xp like von is.
Jana, i anticipated this state last year and made a mess on forums.
Sadly nothing has been done yet.
Your best bet is to do what i did.
Give yourself a ddo break and come back during updates on hope they establish a proper playground for players like us.

Yeah raids like VoN5 are ran for xp but once you hit 28 and your done with your ED grind...do you still run VoN5 JUST for fun all the time? You would run it so you could do VoN6 and maybe get a SoS Shard maybe but odds are once you are xp capped in both epic and ED xp you most likely will not run any raid unless its for gear unless you are helping your guild/friends.

This is the issue with end game. Its gonna be SUPER hard to make an end game where once you have everything you want to keep playing. That's why WoW has done so well over the years. Constant updates/expansions with very high end gear that's hard to get. People have shown they will grind for months upon months to get that 1 piece of gear that they really want. The flip side I know to many people that left as soon as they got it simply because they have nothing left to do. TRing helps a lot IMHO but true "end game" is gonna be very tough to achieve without "Uber Gear" to keep our attention.

[Connman]

... even dated stuff..

I don't suppose you mean like TOD for example do you?

[FrancisP.Fancypants]

I would argue this. People run raids/quests til they get the gear they want then they stop. People don't run titan anymore because it doesn't give anything helpful now. People run Abbott to get some good hard to find stuff as well as ADQ. They don't keep running Thunderholme raids after they have all the upgrades they need. Simply put Everyone I know runs specific raid for specific gear so IMHO most people WANT gear as an incentive to run a raid. I certainly do.

Not necessarily. Most players are after loot, but plenty of people still run regardless. TR favor, alts, testing a build in a particular situation, and occasionally even the sheer enjoyment of running a raid- for some players, this is mind-boggling and something you should look into. Abbot is still run plenty on Argo (YMMV), but the reasons some have dropped off are a little more complex.

1. The XP is negligible for the level- with the flaggers or the raid itself either too low or at a level range with a glut of other quests.
2. The raid requires coordination/following directions/specific player actions, and the players who know them either quit the game, stopped bothering to run it, or only run it with other players who know it/Non-PUGs. IE the necessary knowledge and experience isn't being transferred.
3. The pack or area is unpopular.

Titan, for example, hits all three of those in addition to- well, loot value is another discussion entirely, but it's not great, and certainly not anything that someone couldn't live without. Plus the mechanics of actually getting 12 people to the pre-raid are a mess.. My point is there are things that could be examined and addressed besides just loot, as far as raiding goes.

[Sehenry03]

Not necessarily. Most players are after loot, but plenty of people still run regardless. TR favor, alts, testing a build in a particular situation, and occasionally even the sheer enjoyment of running a raid- for some players, this is mind-boggling and something you should look into. Abbot is still run plenty on Argo (YMMV), but the reasons some have dropped off are a little more complex.

1. The XP is negligible for the level- with the flaggers or the raid itself either too low or at a level range with a glut of other quests.
2. The raid requires coordination/following directions/specific player actions, and the players who know them either quit the game, stopped bothering to run it, or only run it with other players who know it/Non-PUGs. IE the necessary knowledge and experience isn't being transferred.
3. The pack or area is unpopular.

Titan, for example, hits all three of those in addition to- well, loot value is another discussion entirely, but it's not great, and certainly not anything that someone couldn't live without. Plus the mechanics of actually getting 12 people to the pre-raid are a mess.. My point is there are things that could be examined and addressed besides just loot, as far as raiding goes.

Which is why I emphasized "most" in my quote. I know its different for some people I simply said MOST people are after something if they raid and it is usually gear or xp.

[janave]

I don't suppose you mean like TOD for example do you?

I can occasionally fill in the Tower of Despair with 4-6 people,
ToD for me is soloable, so it would not halt my desired progressing. (while i greatly appreciate doing it with people instead, even more so at-level)

I did not want to sound mysterious, but my experience is more general with high level content. Currently the temple of deathwyrm is the one i just cant seem to get groups for.

[Wh070aa]

I can occasionally fill in the Tower of Despair with 4-6 people,
ToD for me is soloable, so it would not halt my desired progressing. (while i greatly appreciate doing it with people instead, even more so at-level)

I did not want to sound mysterious, but my experience is more general with high level content. Currently the temple of deathwyrm is the one i just cant seem to get groups for.

That's because in deathwyrm you lag, die, and probably get stuck in loading screen.

Also the 40+minute fill time for raid parties doesn't help. I just don't have the time to wait an hour for raid to fill up, then hour to run it, and then 2 hours to wait for GM ticket, because boss is stuck in the wall.

I haven't completed a raid in like 2 months. They are kinda pointless to try to run.

[Chai]

Much of this is a symptom of timer bypass. Everyone who knew how to run this in the beginning already has what they want from it and no longer needs to run the content. Those who might still run it for fun are turned off by the lagfest and zone freezes.