Team Battles encouraged?

[paxx]

Etra, that is almost the same as just having random loot among the party.

The trick in most cases is allowing the people who get the most out what drops, but if creature X usually drops things for warrior centric groups?should the mages be there just out of good will and never get anything?

So, we go back to random exchange?one group member loots and it distributes randomly to all?

I?m sure we will try a few different things.


The pi?ata is just to illustrate the different way to deal with a major creature that requires many people to kill dyeing.

[Harwen]

I\'m sorry Paxx I did not mean to offend. I really do enjoy your input on the subject. They are reasonable and make sense.

[Kuiper7986]

hey Paxx how is someone going to join a party? I believe there should be a command that you first select a player then ask the player you selected, \"Do you want to join this party?\" So if someone needs help he can allow the player to join, if he doesn\'t need help he\'ll reject it.

With acceptance:
Bob is fighting monster and Bob knows he can\'t last very long. So a player named Gary comes up to Bob, then targets Bob and sends the join message. On Bob\'s screens it will say, \"Do you want Gary to join the fight?\" Then Bob will select the allow button that will allow Gary to join the fight.

Without acceptance:
Bob is fighting a monster and he knows he can win. So a player named Larry comes up to Bob, then targets Bob and sends the join message. On Bob\'s screen it will say, \"Do you want Larry to join the fight?\" Then Bob will select the refuse button that will not allow Larry to join the fight.

It\'s simple and effective. I\'m strongly pro for this.

[derwoodly]

The large group size game mechanics is a great idea. I am glad the development team is working on that.  Grouping in mass can be alot of fun.  feels like a online party.  However the time it takes to organize such large groups make smaller groups better for everyday playing.

I would like to see a game that encourages teams of 3 to 10 players.  When larger groups are used it is hard to tell who is contributing to the goals of the group and who is eating a ham sandwich at the keyboard.00000000000000000000000

oops, sandwich just droped and my head hit the keyboard as I wresled it from the cat.

[paxx]

Ok, some clearing up.

Harwen-
I took absolutely no offence to what you said, I thought you took it in the same joking fashion I thought I conveyed?I keep forgetting the happy faces though?my bad.

Kuiper7986-
Joining a group is the same in most MMORPGs unless we find a better way.
Person invites (while not in battle) person accepts and they get a group shat bar and view a few of the others stats in minibar format.

To join or help a guy in a combat you do it out of the kindness of your heart?so you just do it, no joining in any way.

I?m not sure how to better describe it because it has been pretty standard in MMORPGS for a while now?hell even in D&D video games it is almost the same, but you have no control over the other members of your group.

 Derwoodly-
 One thing we will have to work out in game is how we deal with organizational tasks.
Do we want the leader of a group to be the only one to be able to invite or allow him to delegate, should the leader get exp just for organizing, even if he is not involved in the fight (not in our plans currently) but will probably be in some way, as it could also get exploited with leaders who are always in the center of the fray and not organizing.

The key is how we subdivide large groups and if we can have some way of showing ?sub-group status? as opposed to just show everyone in one large group.

[zinder]

I dont know how many players you want to allow in a sub-group. But to give ideas i want to describe a way another MMORPG is using for its parties. Their parties have up to 11 members (you plus 10 others).
They use a small window only with livebar and name for each member. The window is placed above the head if you can see him. If not, it is placed at the edge of the screen. Position of the window indicates the direction the other is. For example top center is in front of you, but out of sight, left center is on your left side, down center is behind you, etc. Those windows have a range(too far away and they dont show up, if windows dont show up the others out of range for group boni also)
They also have an optional window with a list of party members and their status.

I find that system good, cause you can easiely find your members and see their status. There are only some problems when some of the small windows are at the same place: you cant see the info on the lower ones.

[Xalthar]

Originally posted by paxx
To join or help a guy in a combat you do it out of the kindness of your heart?so you just do it, no joining in any way.

and get \"killstealer!!\" thrown my way?? no way... I\'d rather watch the poor suckers die...

[zinder]

Originally posted by Xalthar

and get \"killstealer!!\" thrown my way?? no way... I\'d rather watch the poor suckers die...

That depends on how xou get expierience and loot. you had not to implement it in killer-gets-all. You can also work damage-based, time-based, hit-based. i prefer damage-based, for me seems the fairest for expierience, at least.

[Kuiper7986]

ya Paxx I agree with you. Pic

Is this what you mean?
On the bottom right hand corner there\'s a list of the people in your party plus HP and MP.

[shadowmancer]

I saw a reference to Diablo II...
I can only hope that PS will never become like that insult to multiplayer gaming.

[Harwen]

Ah, yes, let us not even think of such things. I was thinking a total of your party\'s hp and mp could be shown as another bar on the screen...so you would at least know when someone was hit, and the general status of your party. Which would lead you to give out commands depending on their situation.

Hm....I already see a flaw in this. But I think I have countered it.

The bar works by dividing the bar into sections representing individual players. A name perhaps next to their respective sections. As the individual bars decrease, the whole gets smaller. of course, you have the option to turn of the names on the bar, as well as hiding the bar altogether.

[derwoodly]

Nice Pic Kuiper!

I don\'t know what language it is in, but that is the general idea of what I had in mind.  It looks like with that format 6 players is maximum.  Any more and it would cover too much of the screen.

Thanks for the Info Paxx!

[Sarios]

I agree with all of this to the fullest!  And I forgot to quote who ever said people will have problems with getting fallen items from items but just give it to your guild member and then roll dice to see who gets it or something!   SORRY IF I\'M TOO OFF SUBJECT!  

Team battles RULE!

[Waylander]

BTW sarios only likes this idea because he knows he will be fighting with the amazing WAYLANDER

[Sarios]

OFCOURSE!!!! : )