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Do People Hate Flashpoints?


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It seems that no one ever wants to join when I try to create a flashpoint group.

 

Do people prefer to do regular quests?

 

I find flashpoints to be faster levelling as well as social points and good loot.

 

The only downside is when you have a group member who is overly needy or stupid.

 

Why are flashpoint groups so hard to find?

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It's actually a bit slower for leveling than questing. Also, because there's no LFG tool, people don't like sitting around for 30 minutes as you try to get a group together. It's also difficult to find tank/heals, as the majority of people level up as DPS since it kills faster.

 

If there were an LFG tool and it gave a little more experience, I think a LOT more people would be doing them.

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I can only really speak for myself but I tend not to pug out my healing services. I really only runs flashpoints with my guildies. But that being said I love doing them and I can't wait for lost island :D
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I enjoy them and try to do them while leveling. But the lack of a good LFG tool along with mediocre rewards (XP) makes it tough to find groups.

 

If I'm in Fleet and see a group, I'll join. Sometimes I'll even start one or at least post in general I'm looking for a group.

 

But I won't spend the evening spamming general. If I can't find a group in a decent amount of time, I'll move on.

 

It is a shame though, because many of the flashpoints are very enjoyable and are good ways to break up the monotony of questing.

 

How Bioware thought not having an LFG tool at launch was a good idea we'll never know.

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There is no point in running them. Except for the two beginning ones, they are long and the loot and XP are no better than what can be obtained by questing. This holds double true for HM FP's. The content is cool and challenging but my time is better spent doing something else. Edited by qwinnet
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I'd be all for doing flashpoints. It is just hard for me to find a group (part my fault due to odd hours of play). I think difficultly with flashpoint grouping highlights the problem of getting any sort of group going with a random bunch (not guildies/friends).

 

Really they need to work on rewarding people more for grouping (maybe apply the XP boost from being in a rest area concept to social points, in essence the longer you are in a group the faster you build social points). The bar could start at full boost and then slowly decrease if no group conversations are engaged in X amount of time.

 

I know it is taking an idea from a completely different genre but take the Battlefield 2142 squad system of granting extra XP for following a squad leader's orders/helping squad members might also help as an added incentive to group (more XP if you kill an enemy/accomplish a quest objective for quests shared to the group and/or heal/guard/kill assist a group member).

 

 

Anyway I think if people felt there was a benefit to grouping shortly after logging on even if it isn't with guildies/friends flashpoints and everything else might work better. Sure a few groups will be formed that are terrible players but there would at least be more incentive to join a group of total strangers.

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I happen to enjoy Flashpoints, especially when lvling. But what holds me back from doing them are a few things:

first and foremost Time, whether its me being impatient and not wanting to wait 30mins for a group, or I dont have the time to do the flashpoint (some take 1hr + i hear).

Second is the fact that there all of 2 tanks per a realm, exaggeration ofc (forgive my awful spelling). But its true, when you form a grp you see all of 2 tanks on /who and they arent your lvl half the time. There are a bit more healers around than tanks, i assume because in pvp a healer is as useful as a dps.

Third, this may apply only to 50, it gets very repetitive doing the same three over and over. This my just be my realm but ALL thats ever pugged is HM Foundry, HM BT, and HM BP. I rarely see Fallen emporer, Battle of illum or Koan being pugged and when I do i dont have time to join. The point is you can only suffer through BT so many times before it annoys you too much to bother.

 

I find it hilarious though when i decide to form a Social run grp (aka run BT over and over on my 50) and dont get anyone wisping me, not even lower lvl people who would only benefit xD i mean i jump on those runs when i see them on an alt.

 

anyway I think its less people dont Want to do them its more they dont have the time or decide to pvp because its a HELL of alot faster.

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It seems that no one ever wants to join when I try to create a flashpoint group.

 

Do people prefer to do regular quests?

 

I find flashpoints to be faster levelling as well as social points and good loot.

 

The only downside is when you have a group member who is overly needy or stupid.

 

Why are flashpoint groups so hard to find?

A dead server without a LFG tool = bang you get no groups for Flashpoints. It's kinda annoying when leveling alts. It's also bad at lvl 50 too if your server is dead and people already have the good gear thus not going for HM Flashpoints. Edited by PalawaJoko
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Thanks everyone.

Lack of an LFG tool is definitely an important point. I could be questing and exping during the time that I would be yelling "LFG"

 

Several other MMOs including Rift (which only started a little over a year ago) began without an LFG tool, but added one later.

 

Hopefully, they will add one in time.

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This is a mix of a lot of things people have pointed out. The meta cause is bad design.

 

This is while leveling...

 

First up, the flashpoints are accessed from the Fleet, the players in that level range to do the flashpoint are on a planet somewhere doing quests. Where should you go to try and form the group? Planet hop? Sit on Fleet?

 

In most cases it ends up being the fleet. Who wants to sit in fleet for half an hour spamming /1 hoping the people you need to form a party wander by. That is not fun and in no ways enjoyable, esp if you have limited play time. Game needs some sort of LFG tool, they have one right now but as anyone who has tried to set an LFG comment knows, its bugged.

 

Another factor in getting your group together is the requirement for a specific role, Healer and a Tank. Lots of people play healing and tank capable ACs, lots of people would even like to heal or tank. But it is much faster and less tedious to level as a DPS spec. Add the ability to duel spec. You can stay DPS for solo leveling and then fill a tank/healer role in group content with out having to run back to fleet, respec, redo your bars and then run back to the group content.

 

For a game with a lot of group content, Heroic quests and flash points it fails utterly supporting that play style.

 

My second 50, didn't even run a single end game flashpoint, just unsubbed for a month. Picked it back up to level one more toon and hope GW2, PS2 or something else is around when I finish. No plan to sit around begging in /1 for group mates while being bored on the fleet.

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i find that i rarely have time to do more than one flashpoint in most sessions. I personally love to do them, but they are quite a time investment, and im not sure how well they compete with other activities in xp gain for the time invested.
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If Bioware wants people to do the flashpoints more, they will have to fix a lot of things in the game, to make it more like the PVP system. You queue up, know your time commitment, and have a fairly simple goal to accomplish as a team that doesn't necessarily require a fixed mix of classes. When its over, you are put back where you were and can go on your way. And most of all--everyone is working towards a goal of progression and gear that made it worth everyone's time even if you failed, but even more worth it if you win. They already have "heroics" in the game, but the travel time/communication issues kind of make it hard for people to get together.

 

Once people are grouping in PVE more regularly for the "heroics", it becomes easier to get to know other players for trying the more traditional, longer style flashpoints they already have in the game. But it feels to me that unless you were lucky enough to roll on a populated server or were levelling with a rush of other players, you're off by yourself and no one trusts each other to even try half the content that is out there. People re-rolling aren't always as motivated to repeat every flashpoint as well, so Bioware may have overestimated the degree to which different storylines and classes encourage replay of group content in PVE.

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I don't run FP's because I'm not in a guild nor do I want to be preferring to play the game at my own pace going where I like when I like. That said, if someone wanted my help--I'm not at all a very good player so I don't know how much of a help I would actually be--I certainly would not refuse

 

It seems that no one ever wants to join when I try to create a flashpoint group.

 

Do people prefer to do regular quests?

 

I find flashpoints to be faster levelling as well as social points and good loot.

 

The only downside is when you have a group member who is overly needy or stupid.

 

Why are flashpoint groups so hard to find?

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Leveling they take too long to assemble and complete, I don't even bother with the heroics most of the time due to being poor returns for my time.

 

At 50 they're about the worst way to pick up gear, on HM most will take an hour or so to do plus finding the group and ONE of you get a Columi piece.

 

One good evening of ops (EV, KP, and first 4 bosses of HM EV got me 2 rakata, 5 columi, and a piece or two of exotech + comms) will gear you as much as days on end of HM FP's.

 

Regular FP's are a total waste as they rarely give you anything notably better than the lvl 50 purple mods in orange gear that anyone can farm with dailies and buy off of GTN.

 

I can see them being fun for people that are just playing for fun, but if you're trying to get the gear to go on to HM FP's, ops, HM ops, and so on they are almost pointless outside of doing the daily/weekly HM quests to get some extra comms.

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I love flashpoints. They are definitely one of my favorite parts of the game. I've never had to wait very long to get a group together. I usually stop by the fleet to do some crafting and whatnot and while I'm there I'll pop out a LFG and usually within 10 min at the most I have a group together.

 

I definitely agree though that a LFG tool would probably make it easier for some people to get groups. My system works nice for me, but I know not everyone has the same play style as others.

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As many others have said, its basically poor design.

 

 

I actually don't want an LFG tool, but, at the moment virtually all flashpoints are launched from fleet. That means that whilst leveling, you aren't on fleet and thus shouting out for groups doesn't actually hit your target audience.

 

If they, instead, put the instance at the start of each planet that would be much better. For example, picking up Tarel V flashpoint quest at the start of balmorra, it means for the next 5 hours of so of leveling through balmorra you can be shouting for groups / joining groups much more easily because you are still on the correct planet. Up the rewards a bit if needed, but whilst leveling its basically an accessibility issue.

 

 

 

At endgame, its all about rewards. Bioware messed up bigtime by not adding rare loot to the game. So, you basically run a flashpoint a few times, get your columi piece, then never have to return. This is exacerbated by the fact that you get gear easier / quicker from normal mode ops. There basically isn't any reason to run HM FPs beyond fun, which after a few runs, the fun fades.

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But I won't spend the evening spamming general. If I can't find a group in a decent amount of time, I'll move on.

 

This is what I do. I spend maybe ten to fifteen minutes looking for a group while I train, buy items, or whatever. If I can't find one in that time, then I just move on. It's not worth sitting around doing nothing.

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I don't do FP's or Heroics anymore because my server is pretty much dead even though it supposedly has a "standard" population. 10 on a planet during what should be crowded hours is not enough to find a group for a H4.

I don't even accept the H4 quests anymore, only H2+ cause I might get lucky and find 1 person or be able to solo it.

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1) quote in system would be nice as well as direct beam in would be a big help.

2) same gose to mission quest that need a team players.

3) tick box on how you play tank healer etc.. and classes. for what you need wish in 30 min window and hard luck if you don't if the one you're looking for the next in line gets in .

4) skill tree bouns only one for each misson the first time around Flash points only.

5) lots of cash 2 people x2 ,3x3 ,4x4 Flashpoints only.

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I really do not care for Flashpoints , ops, hero, because i never can seem to pull a group together and when i have, it taken 30 minutes or longer and im sorry thats just a joke to beg basically to get a group together. Then what groups i have pulled together or have joined i never get social points only my lvl 50 Mara, has lvl 1 SP and thats it, it seems i can not receive any more points with my lvl 50 and my alt char, cant seem to get any points so.

 

That is the main reason why i do not care for them...

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I enjoy FP alot but I only run them with my guild/players I know.I'm not going to do a FP with the chance somebody will try ninja gear I need and they can't use,but its 'for their companion' after the first few times that happened I gave up on pugs...
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