Buddy System

As much as I do like the Buddy Sytem (I use it myself in mmo's) there is one thing that needs to be considered, even though right back here before the game launches it might seem trivial:

Synchronised Levelling.

Feel free to laugh at this if you like, but I've seen good friends fall out over this plenty of time (Myself also once too, I admit with a healthy dose of guilt!)

Essentially, something needs to be worked out to keep people at roughly the same level. If one of you (or one in a group) ends up getting too far ahead from the others, questing becomes difficult because what is a "challenge" for some of the group is essentially a "suicide run" for the other, lower level characters.

On the flip-side, its understandable that some people might feel they are forever waiting for people to "catch up" and end up playing other characters. This too, needs to be avoided.

I tend to be massively stringent on this myself, making sure that there is never more than 2 levels difference between characters, but I'm a bit over-the-top about this point and I freely admit that
People I play games with long term soon get used to it though.

I would recommend a slightly more relaxed attitude for our guild, maybe saying that people should try to not be more than 4 levels apart in difference.
If you are level 10 for example, and your levelling buddy is 6th (maybe the lower level player has been away on holiday or something), basically you need to help him level until he is 7th or 8th, that way you can then both do the same quests and everyone's happy.

If you force that lvl 6 character to help you take down 10th & 11th level mobs, he's toast.

I'm all for a buddy system, but I think I'd be quite hard to pair up with. I'm far too slow at leveling and I'd find it hard to keep up wth most. Guild members could get frustrated with me because of my low level and lack of leveling that I'd do. Leveling isn't that much of a big thing to me, it's the story and the adventuring/exploring that really interests me. I voted for yes, because of course it would be great if I was placed in a group of similar mined guildies.

(Yes, I'm still around. *waves at everyone*)

Good to see you again Nosyd

Sounds like a great idea.
Voted yes

I've just been reading this thread on the swtor.com forums and I was left a little bit confused about what a 'Levelling Brotherhood' can achieve in the long run. I was wondering what everyone elses thoughts were on this idea? Personally I prefer the idea of our 'Buddy System' where we have one group of mains that we level together and an alt to play at our will. I dunno, I just felt that the 'Levelling Brotherhood' sounded awfully restricted.

Anyway, thoughts people?

I like what they're suggesting and it might even work but I personally think its too regimented and for L335 gamers only. A casual guild would certainly not be able impliment even half the things they are suggesting and even a more structured guild like ours would have problems.

For my money the Buddy System is far more likely to succeed; although I do like the idea of a "level minimum" people have to reach on a semi-regular basis.

After watching the latest Dev Walkthough video, I got to thinking, the narrator mentions that 'flashpoints are designed for 4 players'.

If thats the case perhaps we could extend the buddy system to include "teams" as well, to ensure that all needed roles (tank, healer, dps, cc etc) are covered in advance)?

Of course we could just put a call out whenever we do an flashpoint run, but considering the fact no more than 4 can enter the (so far disclosed) flashpoints, it might be worth giving it some thought beforehand.

For example, you *could* do a flashpoint with 4 Imperial Agents, but as there are only 3 Advanced Classes for IA, you're gonna get some overlap; so it would make sense to get some of the other classes involved.

Great idea and I agree It'd be nice to see us grouped into teams.

While I'm not completely sure about it, I voted yes simply because I think it sounds really fun in theory.

Playing in a group and making good friends (both OoC and IC) is something I'd really like to do in this game, and I'm not very interested in power leveling (a game gets boring for me if I rush it) but would rather take my time and really experience the game in all its storytelling glory.

It might be hard to form a permanent team and making sure to stay at the same levels since everybody have different circumstances about when and how frequently they can play and also what they find most fun to do in-game, but if it works out and people actually have the patience to match their leveling with each other I think it could be great.

Teams of 4 sound good, but what happens when one is absent? I think this is where Freelancers could come into play actually, like "extras". It sounds about right too. If player A hasn't reached the level for a flashpoint yet, and a Freelancers happens to be on with the right level then bingo! Your team is up to full strength and can make the run.

As for RP, you'd be getting very tight knit groups, which I'm not complaining with. I know that if Sharho spent all his time with Creed then if Caryington came along there would be varying levels of trust flying around - which would be pretty interesting.

I'm for once against the idea of teams... Why? Good example is LW and I, we're never available at the same time because of our work schedule. We may want to assemble strike teams before going in for the flashpoints and not now >_<

Caryington wrote:

I'm for once against the idea of teams... Why? Good example is LW and I, we're never available at the same time because of our work schedule.

Then wouldn't you be put in a group which plays on the times that you're able to as well?

Harlequin2 wrote:

Caryington wrote:

I'm for once against the idea of teams... Why? Good example is LW and I, we're never available at the same time because of our work schedule.

Then wouldn't you be put in a group which plays on the times that you're able to as well?

Hehe! I was just thinking the same.

One thing I will say about grouping is that we'll probably have to select classes & advanced classes a bit more carefully to get a better balance. For example now that we know the BH, the IA, and the SI can all provide a healing role we should be on the safe side but still it's something we should take into consideration whilst selecting classes. As I said to L-Dubz last night I'm pretty flexible on advanced classes as long as I can provide a some form of a support role for the guild.

Well whats happening in Rift is roughly that everyones mains are advancing at an equalish pace, there are some wildcards in there as well but mostly we all sit in a nice level group, if you get a bit bored at this point then some make alts i know Lw does because were lvling together.

the problem with a buddy system is that if you try do too much together your gonna not lvl very fast at all, so maybe we should just try and get a group of people who will lvl to the same point and then can do instances together? or is that what we're suggesting ;P

Harlequin2 wrote:

Caryington wrote:

I'm for once against the idea of teams... Why? Good example is LW and I, we're never available at the same time because of our work schedule.

Then wouldn't you be put in a group which plays on the times that you're able to as well?

As I already said my main focus will be RP, PvE will come only if/when I'm needed but that won't be a priority for me.