What is the purpose of "Gather" quest mechanic?

[draven1]

When someone in group can go afk without any notice?

[PsychoBlonde]

It's to limit the viability of multi-boxing and otherwise limit piking as far as I can tell. You can make up your own mind as to whether it serves this purpose more than it annoys everyone when somebody goes AFK for an indefinite amount of time.

[Enoach]

Something different
It is only used in a few quests
The idea that a party is actually a team - even if only temporary


Sure people have to go AFK for a many reasons, some planned and some not planned. When this happens others need to be a bit more patient as well as the person that goes AFK needs to be as considerate as possible (depending on the reason or reasons an AFK is needed)

But again we are talking about a few quests, I think there is more but off the top of my head Snitch, Partycrashers (End Fight) and one part of DoJ Raid are the only ones that come to mind.

[LeoLionxxx]

The quest "Diplomatic Impunity" has both a good example and a bad example of the gather mechanic:

When we need to gather at Ulivian, it's good because after that talk monsters spawn everywhere and no one wants to be caught in the middle of the path and attract all that unnecessary attention.

The part where we break the root wall, however, is a bad use of it as OP describes; at the boss fight, which sort of locks you out, however, could be considered a good place to put one of these.

[Hobgoblin]

But again we are talking about a few quests, I think there is more but off the top of my head Snitch, Partycrashers (End Fight) and one part of DoJ Raid are the only ones that come to mind.

diplo immunity - misery's peak are 2 more - maybe annivery quest?

[bartharok]

The quest "Diplomatic Impunity" has both a good example and a bad example of the gather mechanic:

When we need to gather at Ulivian, it's good because after that talk monsters spawn everywhere and no one wants to be caught in the middle of the path and attract all that unnecessary attention.

The part where we break the root wall, however, is a bad use of it as OP describes; at the boss fight, which sort of locks you out, however, could be considered a good place to put one of these.

Since getting to the boss makes the mobs go inactive, i can understand the gather at the root wall as well, they could have doe it another way as well, but i think theh chose gather because it was simpler.

[01000010]

Imo it's primary purpose is to lower the xp/min that vets who can survive splitting easily and know quest well can get compared to an average group staying together.

Not a fan personally, bad quest design in most cases.

[FuzzyDuck81]

It can also be used to cover for certain changes to terrain, mob spawns, etc. that don't look particularly elegant by making sure you aren't there to see them, in the same way as the big explosions of the boat in Irestone Inlet & the marketplace tent in Chronoscope white-out the screen :)

[Gauthaag]

It can also be used to cover for certain changes to terrain, mob spawns, etc. that don't look particularly elegant by making sure you aren't there to see them, in the same way as the big explosions of the boat in Irestone Inlet & the marketplace tent in Chronoscope white-out the screen :)

Yeah, i believe its more case of keeping quest flow in Diplomatic impunity than anything else. What would be the point of having mechanism to lower xp/min in one quest (diplo impunity) while not having it in another (like wiz king)? Especially if Diplo impunity takes like 6-8 min to finish.

[LightBear]

House of the Rusted Blades - Gather around the Courtyard Bell.Kinda pointless as the quest can be done in under a couple of mins anyway.

[Saekee]

There is a gather mechanic for
one of the Delirium ones when you go into the beholder's gut. I know this because I was in a PUG that slogged all the way to that point only to have a player go afk. After 5 painful minutes we all quit.

[Nyata]

I think in some content a gather mechanic could actually be helpfull... thinking about Under the Big Top for example, where people that are in a different map section tend to get disconnected... or Beyond the Rift, where people often struggle with lag issues when one person is still in a seperate section or ran ahead. Maybe even would help in shadow dragon, but then you'd have to find work arounds the lockout points and dropping down to gather people who are lost... Unfortunately all those don't have gather mechanics though.

[sk3l3t0r]

Surprised nobody mentioned "The Snitch" in the Carnival chain... House P

[Gauthaag]

Surprised nobody mentioned "The Snitch" in the Carnival chain... House P

in snitch its imho not to have characters in spots where summoned mobs will appear.

[Cantor]

Yeah, i believe its more case of keeping quest flow in Diplomatic impunity than anything else. What would be the point of having mechanism to lower xp/min in one quest (diplo impunity) while not having it in another (like wiz king)? Especially if Diplo impunity takes like 6-8 min to finish.

I could see this. Could easily have made the two miniboss maintain a seal on the wiz kings door. Logical and would accomplish that. But again, it wouldn't hurt a group splitting to do all much anyway, just someone soloing who doesn't care about optionals.
I also agree that sometimes it's just part of the story there's no "hey lets put a roadblock here" idea. They could have done the one in diplo better maybe... Henritta gives you a poison to weaken the root wall or something after you return to her.

[scipiojedi]

Uh the "gather" mechanic is to help immersion in the game

[Ykt]

Surprised nobody mentioned "The Snitch" in the Carnival chain... House P

They mentioned it.

[01000010]

Uh the "gather" mechanic is to help immersion in the game

Immersion? A root wall or door wont open until everyone in party is near it just makes no sense, absolute opposite of immersion, for immersion you need realism.

Or an endboss that basically ignores you until whole group is there? what if guy missing is a rog sneaking in the distance? how the boss know the entire group isnt there? Why would he ignore even if they werent, wouldnt it make more sense to seize the oppurtunity and attack the smaller group?

I still say its to slow down quests, Just because other quests are more zergable and allow splitting doesnt mean turbine didnt choose to try to add controls to others, look at some of the quests that were xp nerfed while others gave more xp/min.

[scipiojedi]

I meant immersion in the sense that triggers in the game make the story progress rather than everything just be kill kill to the end with nothing inside that makes a quest story different from any other quest.

[Eth]

Fashion madness also has that mechanic.

[Lonnbeimnech]

It's to encourage soloing.

[Svartelric]

GoP

[Livmo]

Shadow of a Doubt as well.

[Draksel]

Come Out and Slay (Sharn Syndicate) has two gather spots. One to initiate the fighting after gathering near the crime boss, and a second at the exit of the quest. The quest will not complete until everyone gathers at the end. Worst example I have ever found of this mechanic. Diplo quest is second in my opinion.