Remember guys this is an MMO. some tips on group play at launch.

[Deleted]

just a few things about grouping and interacting with other players. People have been complaining that it is a single player MMO, but from my experience, it is what you make it.

- you can group right from the start to get more exp, social points, group conversations on quest pickups and turn ins. If you didnt try in the beta, you will be invited into any eligible conversations and take part in them as a hologram. This means that you will get quests picked up by your team mates, and dont even have to walk back to turn them in

- You dont have to quest together, to group together. If you like a solo experience, being in a group will still give the benefits, with no real setbacks. If you dont want to join their conversations, you can decline in the pop up window, you will still get increased exp from quest turn ins.

- your class buff can be casted on other players, in group or not. Be nice and buff players of other classes as you walk past. It doesnt cost you anything.

- There is a lot of group content, from the get go. heroic areas, 2+ story areas, flashpoints, group quests. Some are soloable, some arent. Grouping is to your advantage here.

- Some people are shy and new to the game genre, and are learning to play. Be patient with players in the lowbie areas.

- I am not sure if this was working as intended, but from my experience if you had 3 people in a party, you could all use your companions in open world, but with 4 you couldnt. I was 2manning a heroic area with 1 player, we both had our companions, and the third player was off doing something else. I cant actually remember what happens if 3 people are close together. experiment with this at release, it may be that 2man parties are most efficient for solo levelling as you both have your companions.

- The lfg system in place is convoluted at best, and near unusable for new players at release. This means that shouting in trade/general is going to be the standard for forming groups at release. For those who want to know about the current LFG system, I will explain it as best I can below.

-in your social window there is a little button that says something like 'looking for group' or something. When you toggle in on, you will be able to write a comment in a little box, which is where you put what you are looking for, and what role you can play.
-To search for other players, open the /who window and type LFG into the search box at the top. This should show everyone currently looking for a group with a little pink icon next to their name. You then have to mouseover their name to read their comments. (its awful I know but I thought it might help people to understand how it works before they start playing).

if there is anything you would like to add please do

[Deleted]

I'd also suggest a little empathy for those of us who wish to group up but do not want to skip through dialogue. This is one of my biggest worries, since I suspect a fair few individuals may rush from point A to point B and whine at anyone trying to soak up the sights and sounds around them, which is never a bad thing to do in an MMORPG. Particularly one focused upon story and immersion.

[Ixator]

Good advice. An MMO all comes down to the ppl playing it and their willingness to be social. Sadly some have gotten too used to automated and anonymity endorsing multiplayer mechanics developed by another MMO (wont mention names!)... time to forget all about that and start being a part of a community again.

[Kouki]

Id like to add, that please for the love of everything wait to click start conversation until your party are all in range.

As for the LFG, Automatic Teleporty LFG's Kill mmo community, you end up in a group that never talks except if there are problems.
And you end up in groups with ppl who you cant interact with on your home server.

So i really hope Bioware does not add an LFG tool ever ever ever.

[Deleted]

Id like to add, that please for the love of everything wait to click start conversation until your party are all in range.

As for the LFG, Automatic Teleporty LFG's Kill mmo community, you end up in a group that never talks except if there are problems.
And you end up in groups with ppl who you cant interact with on your home server.

So i really hope Bioware does not add an LFG tool ever ever ever.

Well if you arent in range you will be shown as a hologram, which shouldnt be a problem.

I wont comment on a lfg tool, its a subject for a different thread. I just wanted to give people a little insight into how the current tool works.

[Valeron]

- I am not sure if this was working as intended, but from my experience if you had 3 people in a party, you could all use your companions in open world, but with 4 you couldnt. I was 2manning a heroic area with 1 player, we both had our companions, and the third player was off doing something else. I cant actually remember what happens if 3 people are close together. experiment with this at release, it may be that 2man parties are most efficient for solo levelling as you both have your companions.

2 of your companions would disappear. The group leader would still have theirs.

[Skippy88]

- I am not sure if this was working as intended, but from my experience if you had 3 people in a party, you could all use your companions in open world, but with 4 you couldnt. I was 2manning a heroic area with 1 player, we both had our companions, and the third player was off doing something else. I cant actually remember what happens if 3 people are close together. experiment with this at release, it may be that 2man parties are most efficient for solo levelling as you both have your companions.

Yes, once that 3rd person enters into close proximity to the other 2 people one of the companions will be dismissed. You can only have a maximum of 4 people/companions in one area at the same time. Just remember to resummon your companion if you get separated or you leave the group. Trust me it's not fun trying to take on 4 guys at the same time. lol

[philefluxx]

Very good advice. Im so tired of seeing this "single player" nonsense being spouted off by people who need a system to force them into being social. There are tons of social and group aspects to this game but what this game has that many games now lack is a real solo experience for those that only want that.

Best of both worlds here guys, seriously.

[Deleted]

Id like to add, that please for the love of everything wait to click start conversation until your party are all in range.

As for the LFG, Automatic Teleporty LFG's Kill mmo community, you end up in a group that never talks except if there are problems.
And you end up in groups with ppl who you cant interact with on your home server.

So i really hope Bioware does not add an LFG tool ever ever ever.

I agree, you've got a spaceship, you can just fly to the place :P

[Duncano]

During Beta people were crazed up about leveling so much that 8 out of 10 refused party invites.

[Deleted]

During Beta people were crazed up about leveling so much that 8 out of 10 refused party invites.

I think people just dont know about the increased exp for being in a group, and getting social points are nice too I think when more people know about this they will level up in pairs for the bonus. this was my reason for making the post really, so people are aware.

[Dorfadin]

Gonna get plenty social points when you hit 50 via raiding pve or ilum pvp raids

[Voidism]

Lets build this community right!
I was buffing people in wow too so I'll just keep on doing that.

[Eggoman]

I'd also suggest a little empathy for those of us who wish to group up but do not want to skip through dialogue. This is one of my biggest worries, since I suspect a fair few individuals may rush from point A to point B and whine at anyone trying to soak up the sights and sounds around them, which is never a bad thing to do in an MMORPG. Particularly one focused upon story and immersion.

So if you partner with someone and you skip through the dialogue it only gets skipped on your end. I was playing with my friend and I skipped through the dialogue to see if it would mess anything up. It basically put me at a "waiting for player" and I kinda just sat there. So the people that want to skip dialogues probably don't want to group so I think you might be ok.

[Deleted]

There are no actual clear-cut benefits to grouping up. Since the majority of quests in a given zone are multi-stage quests, you will likely only be able to group up for one particular heroic quest, or two maybe, then leave the group. There is no method to port people to you, or group travel in general, so you will have to spend time running back and forth and waiting for the other player/s.

The XP increase is nice as a concept but it only balances the inherent slower rate of leveling when you wander around aimlessly. When you either grind, or stay together for an extended period of time while being as efficient as you can, it's better than solo, but don't feel like you have to group up at all -- chances are you will level faster outside of one.

Social points are completely irrelevant and you will get enough of them doing flashpoints at max level.

[indahra]

There are no actual clear-cut benefits to grouping up. Since the majority of quests in a given zone are multi-stage quests, you will likely only be able to group up for one particular heroic quest, or two maybe, then leave the group. There is no method to port people to you, or group travel in general, so you will have to spend time running back and forth and waiting for the other player/s.

The XP increase is nice as a concept but it only balances the inherent slower rate of leveling when you wander around aimlessly. When you either grind, or stay together for an extended period of time while being as efficient as you can, it's better than solo, but don't feel like you have to group up at all -- chances are you will level faster outside of one.

Social points are completely irrelevant and you will get enough of them doing flashpoints at max level.

This is very innacurate info. I leveled up with my husband in beta to lvl 25. Grouping at level 10 was the best thing we could have done for ourselves.

1.) Social points you accumulate very quickly, even just by being in a group and doing a cut scene together. You can buy some decent gear with them.

2.) We worried about how all the cut scenes would work out, if you happen to be in separate areas. Turns out you can do a hologram call if you aren't next to your partner. You both get to share in all the cut scenes and you roll for who gets to answer questions. At the end, I always chose light side, he always chose dark and we still both got the points we wanted.

3.) Class quests are a non issue. He was a SI and I was a BH but most of them sent us to the exact same areas, just to do different tasks. You can also go into class restricted areas as long as your partner turns on permission under preferences. In this way, you actually get to see your partner's class storyline progress just like you would your own.

4.) I also leveled a solo IA Operative. The xp on my BH partnered with my husband's SI was much greater than the xp I got on my IA. BH + SI in particular bring a heal and tank companion.... so you already have a premade group. There wasn't anything we couldn't kill... The xp was not gimped like it is in WoW when you partner. Also there are no freaking collect quests that you have to get 2x of everything just because you are in a group. Much better than WoW group leveling. MUCH MUCH better.

[Vecsus]

I agree..groups can add a lot of fun to the mix. However, if you invite someone to a group and they decline - inviting them 3 or 4 more times without so much as a word means you are a complete arsehole. respect the fact that not everyone wants to group for random trash mobs.

[Vrumpt]

I had the opportunity to play almost all of dromund kaas grouped up and coruscant entirely solo other than heroic quests; i enjoyed dromund kaas so much more. Grouping and playing together is the way to go, its so much fun. Even if its 1 other person find somebody to group up with or join a guild and level with them. To me it feels like an entirely different game.

[Azcatryo]

I played three characters this past weekend.

My SI and SW were played solo. (Level 10 and 17 respectively.)

My JC was entirely played in a group with my friend. She and I had a blast playing together. I played the JC both of the previous times I was in beta, the second time my Shadow was cast all the way to level 29.

This time I was pleasantly surprised when a few NPCs would recognize that there was more than one player in the conversation and the dialogue would change a little as a result. The small details like that really impress me. (Keep in mind that this happened for only a couple quest givers.)

We only made it to level 12 or so on those toons, but that's because of the limited time we had to play together. We both are Star Wars lore nerds so we really enjoyed pointing things out to one another which tied into some obscure reference here or there.

This game is great solo...but it is at a much higher level when you can play with a friend. ^_^

[Marxman]

Does anyone know the specific amount of XP bonus you get for being grouped? Is it only for quests, or do kills give increased XP as well?