BA Shared Topic: One vs Many? (Solo vs Party Questing)

The topic this week at Blog Azeroth was suggested by Martha of  Perish Twice: One vs Many? (Solo vs Party Questing)

While there are some quests that specifically call for grouping, most don't... but do you group anyway? How many of you pick up a friend or guildie to quest with and how many grind the lonely roads alone?

I before I could post an entry that really didn't add much to what others already said, I concentrated my few thoughts that weren't distracted by the upcoming holiday weekend and had a thought that I hadn't seen others consider.

Yes, yes. Questing and leveling has been changed so much that the old Group Quests can all be soloed and the LFD and PVP tools have conditioned folks to quickly level to get somewhere else. It's easy to understand a hesitancy to inviting an unknown character to complete some quests together.
I've tried raising a character with my son, questing together, but it was too easy for one of us to play one session without the other and suddenly the level difference made things too difficult to continue. The current levelling speed only makes this worse!

Leveling has become a solo experience while things like Raids are not. A 5-man dungeon is obviously a group, yet many pugs are accomplished without any social interaction. Where is there room in today's WoW for a real party experience?

I think the answer Blizzard gives us is in Guilds. At least in my guild, folks don't group up to do quests, but we have been know to form a group with a specific goal. One particularly memorable event was when someone wanted to hunt a Whale Shark and excitedly convinced a bunch of us to try.
It strongly reminded me of a fight versus Stitches in Darkshire in the old days, complete with squeals of terror. Granted the reward was only an Achievement, not a loot drop or token towards completing a legendary, but it was something special.

Another Guild activity was when one of us wanted to solo Black Fathoms Deep for the achievement and asked if anybody else wanted to join. There was no requirement for others as they were perfectly capable of soloing the old content, but it was an excuse to do something together. A really neat part was how it gave me fodder for subsequent Role Play.

These activities obviously don't fit the old "Group Quest" paradigm nor questing at all, really, but they did give an old fashioned feel that reminded me of how we'd group for a dungeon in the "old days" and one veteran would help others ensure they were picking up the right quests before joining together at the gathering stone.

Now THAT image in my brain has prompted some real nostalgic thinking.

Day Eightteen - 21 August 2010

I've been worrying I'd level out of being able to LFD either BFD or Stockades, but I had remembered their level ranges wrong. I queued up and managed both.

I won no greed rolls in BFD. I managed to share some quests and found the dead quest giver. None of the bosses were difficult. It only got hairy because of runners attracting a few more adds, but never too many. So Blackfathom Deeps has been added to my achievements. After teleporting from the end to Darnassus, I turned in some quests and one gave me Arctic Buckler as a nice reward. It's my new shield, after having carried that ugly turtle shell since Wailing Caverns.

I next queued for Stocks, The prior instance made me aware that we didn't have much for crowd control, especially since so many prisoners want to run. We'd just turned the corner for the East Hallway and Kam Deepfury when the runners and adds got to be too much. The healer stopped paying attention to me and then dropped the group. We wiped and started the long run from the graveyard outside Stormwind. The new party members wanted XP, so while we didn't do the West Hallway, we did make sure to gather anyone we saw. We continued a bit after Stormwind Stockade popped up.

I managed to ding level 28, but two dungeons was enough for one night.

With my new Buckler

Day Seventeen - 16 August 2010

I want to overcome my worries over logging on for a couple hours on a week night. Too many lowbie dungeons take too much time that I'm afraid to push the Random Dungeon button without knowing I've a few hours of uninterrupted time.

After queuing for BFD for several minutes without seeing anyone else in the queue, I did it anyway, switching to random. Razorfen Kraul popped right away.

The healer was another Paladin that didn't talk or bless. I did all the initial buffs. We had a Drainei shaman, a gnome warrior and a warlock. The first encounter didn't go well. Instead of just two, runners gathered more and soon there were ten dead bodies, one of which was Kallixta. I don't think I received a single heal except for the health potion I drank. I whispered to the paladin, trying not to make a big deal of it. He still said nothing and didn't even rez me. It took the shaman to do that.

We continued to struggle with runners that wanted to gather more adds, but no fight got quite as hairy as the first one. And the healing paladin would only select need, so we kicked him after the first boss. We were doing fine with only four (and the shaman healing), and the new healer showed up sometime during the second boss! Welcome to the party.

We were enjoying ourselves after that, despite the difficulty in runners. If I tried to keep something back to hit runners, I'd lose aggro to the shaman! I passed on most stuff. I won a chest on a /roll, lost the Corpsemaker - Two-Hand Axe to the warrior, and maybe the shield Heart of Agamaggan, too. All I got was cloth, gray junk, my satchel and level 27. Oh, and An achievement

The satchel yielded Earthbound Handgrips of the Soldier

With a bit of time after the instance, I grabbed the Iron Ore Aldonza had picked up and leveled Mining to 154. One skillup short of Smelting Gold!

With the new Iron Bars and some plans picked up cheap, I produced 7 Green Iron items that might show some return. My Blacksmithing is now 163.

I really need to do BFD before it rolls off.

Day Sixteen - 14 Aug 2010

This was a 'Tying Up Loose Ends' day

Starting in Ironforge made it easy to do the Incendicite Quest and level my Mining to 137 while killing enough spiders to ding 26. This also gave me stacks of spider parts and silk. That should yield a few gold from the Auction House. The gooey legs helped level my cooking, too.

I managed to learn my new level 26 spells. I forget that step too often.

I knew I might not get to Black Fathom Deeps today.

I wanted to finish the level 20 Paladin quest. I already had the wood from Deadmines and the hammer from Shadow Fang Keep. Careful reading told me I didn't go inside an instance for the other two parts. I journeyed across Loch Modan (twice) to visit the Ogres of Mo'grosh Stronghold and found the ore. The final piece required a boat ride to Darkshore and a ride to just outside the instance. I noticed just how much there is after the swim and before the actual instance gate. While the gem dropped quickly, I also managed to gather the brain stems. Turning those quests in gave a nice XP hit. I now have a new 2 Handed weapon.


Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick


With my Mining improved, I also spent a bit of time leveling my Blacksmithing. I think the Golden Rods and stuff I made my actually give a profit! That won't happen again for a while.

Notes on 20 Something Dungeons

Deadmines: Kallixta has already done this once and has the blues she want. The quest for VC's head will yield another blue: Legs.

SFK: There are blue 2-Hand weapon drops and only the Paladin quest.

BFD:
There is a 2-step "Corruption" chain quest, starting in Stormwind in the Park
Kallixta should be sure to get the two quests in the Craftsman Terrace.
There are plenty of blue mail and weapons in this instance.