Why is Argo so darn empty?

[sainy_matthew]

I seem to be having trouble finding a PUG at pretty much any level. I currently have 4 active characters (between level 4 & 10) & regardless of what time i'm on during the day, its taking minimum 30 minutes just to find a group to be a part of. Each one of my characters is in a guild, but even that doesn't seem to be an answer as the members are either not on, or power leveling with other high level characters in other guilds. Alot of them have members who haven't been active in 3 months, as the norm. Heck i've tried to start my own pugs, but even then all you get is the greenest of green horns who just run around & get killed a lot.

My time in DDO is restricted by bandwidth issues, so i can't afford to spend an hour running around waiting for real players to put up a PUG listing, or have reasonable players answer my PUG.

I know this has always been the case, but it seems to be getting systematically worse, first with F2P (not a slight to all F2P players, as i am currently F2P) & significantly worse since the Guild stuff came through. On top of that my RL location is Australia so the time difference is making it so much worse.

My question then is, where are the quality players? Is there another server is should perhaps be on, with people online at a reasonable time? Help!

-M

[DToNE]

It'd be a good idea to be completely self reliant until you hit the Gianthold or Vale levels. You'll also have to understand that QUALITY pugs are rare because they fly by so fast. You can quite literally go from level 15 to 16 in a single day (for the non-TR'd) in a quality group, thus the quality players are at higher levels more often than lower levels. Player quality STARTS improving post 12.

[toughguyjoe]

Heyo, I currently run several toons that are in the upper portion of your level range, so if you wanted just post your toon names here or send me a PM with the names and i'll take a look into getting some play time in with you.

I currently have a couple of elevens and a twelve, so plenty of room to work with your 8-10th level guys.

[sainy_matthew]

It'd be a good idea to be completely self reliant until you hit the Gianthold or Vale levels. You'll also have to understand that QUALITY pugs are rare because they fly by so fast. You can quite literally go from level 15 to 16 in a single day (for the non-TR'd) in a quality group, thus the quality players are at higher levels more often than lower levels. Player quality STARTS improving post 12.

Its a pretty bad business model for a online game, where people keep on saying "just solo things until level 11", which is what i keep on hearing.

I'm thinking it might be time to take some time off from DDO. I keep on trying to play, but i keep on finding my self getting frustrated at so many things, of which PUGging is the most common. It didn't used to be this hard to get into PUGs, but now its almost impossible to get into PUGs at all.

Yeah, i think it might be time to take a hiatus.

[transtemporal]

Umm... so what does the business model have to do with your not finding pug groups? I don't see the correlation.

[sainy_matthew]

Umm... so what does the business model have to do with your not finding pug groups? I don't see the correlation.

It might seem like a bit of a stretch, but the way the game is currently running is very differently from how it ran before F2P came into the equation & since then its been getting significantly harder to find a good pug. One may not be the cause of the other, but my magic 8 ball is saying all signs point to yes.

The entire paradigm seems to have shifted, and from my point of view, not for the better. So i'm going to take the rest of the month off from playing the game & see if i can come back with fresh eyes sometime next month & see if i can recapture the zest i originally had for the game (lots of friendly people, all willing to play the game rather then purchase stuff out of DDO store to do it for them, easy access to PUGs, not having to wait 40 minutes to see a posted PUG of your rough level). Because as it stands, i'm finding my self wanting to pull out my hair & smash the original disk into little pieces everytime that i play.

I'll see you all in a months time... hopefully.

-M

[melkor1702]

Argo isn't that empty and it's usally fairly easy to find a group in the evenings Australian time. Sure it's probably not as prolific as prime time US but there are still a number of LFMs up for most level ranges.

Good group? maybe thats a little harder, but if you bring pots to cover yourself you can usually make do.

I have to ask, you have 4 active characters, when I myddo you there are three and they are in three different guilds. Did you actually pick guilds for a reason or did you join the first one you were invited to?

It would seem you joined guilds that don't match your playstyle and are suffering accordingly.

I would suggest, find a guild that meets you playstyle that plays in your time zone. When you pug and find yourself running with a player that you enjoy playing with add them to your friends list. You'll soon end up with a network of people to play with and won't have to worry about it.

Also work on your reputation as a solid, reliable and fun player. If you do that you'll find yourself on other peoples friends lists and then groups will find you.

If you are taking a break good luck with what ever you play next.

Hopefully they will give you a nice friendly Hi Welcome when you join them.

[MrWizard]

summer
back to school
some say argo has more minors on it
update 5 ran a lot off for a long break



itll get busy again

[learst]

Go on Khyber, there are lots more Aussie folks there. That's why I started a new toon in Khyber after my Argo one was capped.

[sainy_matthew]

Go on Khyber, there are lots more Aussie folks there. That's why I started a new toon in Khyber after my Argo one was capped.

Yeah, i've got a couple of PM's from people saying i should try Khyber because of its Aussie members & one saying i should try Sarlona because it has less children on. One i come back at the end of the month, i may consider building some new characters on other servers.

[Yaga_Nub]

Mostly I just think it's the time of the year. There's a lot of people off on vacation or just going outside instead of playing video games. Also there is a ton of TRing going on and most of the people that I know that TR multiple times only like to run with people they know because they can count on those people to help maximize XP.

[Do'Urden]

Argo isn't empty but it sure isn't as active as a few months ago. There are typically lots of LFMs but the ones I've randomly joined have been filled with really, really poor and/or annoying players. As a matter of recording, I've pugged with exactly 1 decent player that I didn't already know in the past 2 weeks. The players that were memorable for the wrong reasons are too many to count.

Like others, I mostly solo-TR even up through GH with / without a hireling. Because of scaling, it's significantly faster (usually) NOT to pull in a random or unknown player. Even the channels seem less active at the moment.

Part of me wants to say it's just a lull in the late summer in between major updates. That could be.

Another part of me wants to say it started a long time ago and accelerated with the release of Update 5. The veteran community is undeniably in decline. Lots of people taking 'breaks' from the game and I find myself playing far less than half the hours I did not that long ago. I even watched some (gasp) TV the other night

I acknowledge that you might expect decline in the veteran community over time, but Turbine doesn't seem to be doing much to retain the people interested in end game. We're clearly not their bread and butter anymore. The game and target audience has fundamentally changed and I'm feeling less and less of an attachment to it. Not the end of the world, but a little sad for me...

Anyway....carry-on. Hopefully, a few days / weeks / months away will renew your interest. If not, I'm sure you'll find something else to do.

[rest]

If the situation is similar to Sarlona, the good players don't pug. It may look empty, but you're just not in with the groups of people who don't suck.

[Spoonwelder]

Don't discount the new focus on guilds and renown. That has definitely reduced the amount if lugging as guilds are now even more prone to only froup together to maximize renown. I know with my guild that that is happening even more now than it was before. Especially for midlevel content ie pre raid level. What does that mean to you? Find a new guild that works better for you.0

[YakoSpiritFist]

Yeah argo has gotten pretty lame. Very few groups, and most of the groups you might find all do the same handfull of quests because people have figured out where the best loot is and what gives the most xp. Even trying to start your own can lead to more standing around and less playing. Sure I try to make sure my characters can solo, but I don't play MMOs to solo. I'm wondering if all of the servers are like this. I would switch but the idea of starting from scratch again isn't very appealing. Especially since I have vet status on argo.

Does anybody play for fun anymore or is it all about numbers?

[Spisey]

Don't discount the new focus on guilds and renown. That has definitely reduced the amount if lugging as guilds are now even more prone to only froup together to maximize renown. I know with my guild that that is happening even more now than it was before. Especially for midlevel content ie pre raid level. What does that mean to you? Find a new guild that works better for you.0

It stopped being about guilds when channels became available. Unless you're in one of the top renown guilds who are driving specifically for high and fast renown, most elite or epic groups and tr's still highly revolve around channel support.

[user110000]

i play same time as you probably if your an evening player in aus so look me up, all my toons start with aral and I think im a good player.
Currently have an active 9 wizard and a 6 fighter.
I have found no joy whatsoever in any guild and pugging is awful.
Took me four days to complete threnal on normal.

[user110000]

btw i play permadeath with mortal voyage guild alot also and all players there seem excellent to me. but the rules may not suit.

[Solmage]

Why is argo empty? I think the entire population was banned for 'welcoming' noobs to the forums

[AZgreentea]

Go on Khyber, there are lots more Aussie folks there. That's why I started a new toon in Khyber after my Argo one was capped.

Thats true, for some reason. I always see "Hello Mate" instead of just Hello when I log in for a quick morning slayer/rare/explorer. That and French/German since the whole Euro thing went down.