The Daily Grind: How often do you party?

I'm a social gamer. I play games to play with other people. It's the main reason I'm as drawn to MMOs as I am.

Hence, I group whenever I get the opportunity. Admittedly, as far as WoW is concerned, if I see a quest with "group," in the tag, I pretty much skip it unless I can connive a guildmate into helping me out, because I know finding groups for individual quests is painful, and most people would rather just solo because they can and it's easier to do so.

I do love games that effectively force you to party. Now, I don't mean FFXI-style where it's, "spend five hours getting a party and fifteen minutes killing shit, and if you don't want to party then you're 100% boned." That's over the top. But Everquest-style where you don't really -have- to party, but it's so immensely beneficial to you that there's no reason not to, and parties therefore tend to be readily available.

The fact that I play a healer compounds this. I absolutely will not play a healer with a DPS spec. I hate that. I play with a heal spec, and as such, I rely largely on groups, because a healer with anything to heal is just a punching bag that can take a sustained beating.

This has been a really roundabout way of aying things, but I have fifteen minutes to kill before class, and this took a good five or so, at least. :3 But yes, I love grouping, and do so whenever possible. I enjoy game that heavily encourage, but don't exactly -force- you to group.

Of all the games I've played, the only game that I actively avoid grouping up with random people is WAR. I'm not sure why, but I seem to see more bossy and abrasive people in that game than in any other MMO I've played. Usually it was scenarios, but I bumped into one guy last night in a RvR group that was bad enough to get me to log off for the evening. Guy was just a complete douchbag, systematically insulting everyone in his group, and sadly, had no clue what he was talking about. So in WAR, if my friends aren't playing, usually I'll just log off.

WoW pugs are generally rather miserable experiences in and of themselves, but for a different reason. I'll take clueless over a-hole any day, if given the option.

I've always found myself grouping more in sandbox style MMO's than linear ones even though the latter usually forces you into groups. I've always had bad experiences in linear style MMO's, for some odd reason the typical player attitude is a lot more rude.

In a sandbox game when I group up I feel like I'm having fun with the group rather than competing with all of them for a piece of gear.

for me i approach mmo's form a diffrent social perspective,in that just like real life i dont wait(and i suspect most ppl dont)for a group of my friends to be available to go and do something,most of the time i go and do my thing(read"solo")weather its buying something,pumping gas going to work,etc and when i can,get together with friends to do things.So the question is,if its second nature to do most things on your own in real life why would it not be second nature to do so in am mmo? and why would mmos designers force you into going agianst that natural tendency?
you can(at least i can :))enjoy the sense of a community all around me in an mmo without nessessarly LFG every time out.

I think that the main advantage to playing MMOs versus traditional single player games is the interaction between players. Although I can appreciate the single player approach, the support of a group allows for players to go after some gameplay that is unreachable solo. In a game like EVE-Online, every player is forced into at least a loose grouping based around their corporation, NPC or otherwise. But its player-run corporations which make the game for me personally. Grouping up for PvP ops or 0.0 sec mining is essential if you don't wanna get popped immediately, and it can break the monotony of ratting or mining solo even if you are just chatting.

I really dislike grouping unless it's with friends or guildmates. I have a limited amount of time to play and I don't want to spend that being dictated to over what we should be doing in that time.

I'll socialise happily in towns, etc (hell, in SWG I had an Entertainer and it was great fun) but I HATE the concept of being forced to group to complete quests. It's a retrogressive step, especially now most MMOs have such fast recovery times, etc.

I enjoy grouping up, even with random strangers, for dungeon runs or PvP. I'm rather social so I get a kick out of running with a team.

That being said, I don't really like questing with a partner or a group. I have my own way of doing things and having to keep track of someone else has always unnerved me. I'm happy to team up with someone else to help them do their quests but I'll generally finish mine up when I'm by myself.

Overall, I definitely fall into the "avoid grouping at any cost" category ( excepting grouping with family & RL friends ).

I'm quite often keen on teaming when I start a game ( particularly if that game is launching since grouping is super-easy then ), but after a few negative experiences with time wasters or dictators I invariably end up back in my soloist comfort zone.

In fact - unless I'm starting a game as a joint venture with one of my brothers - I won't even stick with an MMO anymore if I don't have fun playing alone as the most solo friendly profession ( usually Tank, Minion Master or some rare melee hybrid ).

What I wouldn't give to have more MMOs introduce NPC party members ala Guild Wars... *sigh*

The only time I solo in City of Heroes is when I want to test out my build and see where I'm strong or weak, without buffs or getting lost in the team crowd. Otherwise, I always team. Either with friends or pick up groups. I have a couple social networks I tap for teams so I don't always need to play with strangers.

i have always loved grouping up with people. i have usually been a healer so it makes it easier, but i enjoy either taking on harder things or a lot of something at once with a group, rather than just running around by myself doing quests or grinding. after 5 years of mmo's there all turning into the same thing. ready for some good changes to design to happen

I group all the time. However, I stick to people from my guild or friends list. I very rarely PuG. I definitely enjoy "alone time" in the game sometimes, though. Sometimes I just don't want to be bothered with other people.

I love parting. I think it's the entire point of MMOs. There will always be solo classes and high lvl players that have figured out how to kill that one "uber" boss alone. But what's the point? Play a console game.

I have played Eve for about three years now. And there is nothing more fun than being in a massive fleet of Battleships, high speed attack frigates and godlike capital ships all doing a gang warp to the same place. Even if the goal could be handled by just 1-3 ships. You get a feeling of epicness and is very addicting

I personally love partying, although it is true that you can come across right the dicks from time to time. I only solo when I have to.

I've always liked a social atmosphere. Other people make a MMO world feel more real, since others are experiencing the same things you are. However...
I don't enjoy grouping with them... at all. I just like a living "presence" so everything I work on and accomplish gets acknowledged instead of sitting on my hard drive.

If I can achieve my goals solo, I do. I'll often tackle group quests solo just to see if its even possible before forcing myself to group. The feeling of accomplishment is far greater if I manage to complete the quest on my own. It tends to feel more like failure if I have to group, as if I wasn't good enough on my own and have to ask for help.

I don't mind chatting to people in my down time, in fact some topics brought up can be pretty interesting.
When it comes down to it though, I'd like to interact with people as an option when I feel like it, not a requirement to get anywhere in the game.
FFXI - Beastmaster class, and World of Warcraft in general tend to be my best options for the type of play-style I prefer. Even as flexable as they are though, there are still situations where I just hit a brick wall if I don't group. Oh well. *shrug*

I group every night with my friends. Without them it would be b-o-r-i-n-g

I have found myself increasingly disinterested in MMORPGS because of the mechanics WOW introduced. I remember playing AO/EQ/SB and going to various "camps" with a full party and clearing it out. I miss that so much, the whole quest log system with overpowered characters capable of soloing 90% of the content in the game is such a step backward in my opinion. Are there any current generation MMORPGS with clearly defined class roles that require you to group to level?