What are the crieria for actualy being able to group for a quest?

Tavore1138

My wife & I have been trying to group for questing since early access and have yet to be able to actually do so, our Rings of Mara have gone unused except for once or twice at a world boss?

Sharing quests does not seem to work even when grouped and in the same area.

Do we actually have to have done exactly the same quests in the same order and not in any way deviated from the exact same path to qualify?

The advertised feature of being able to play together was one of the thigs that lured us into our first MMO but it seems ZOS have not delivered.

Tankqull

jep you have literally go fom 0% to 100% simultanious in every zone otherwise the chance of not beeing able to help each other or participate in the same quest is 70%+
great for a mmo isnt it?

Tavore1138

I suspected that was the case - it's very frustrating for us both because we worh different schedules so we can't play together all the time but we'd like to be able to help each other out when one of us gets stuck in a quest.

Every time we are OK to meet each other in the location but we can't actually do the quest together. Really takes the shine off the game.

We managed to group in a group of 4 one time for the Alik'r group dungeon... eventually, it involved all 4 of us having to drop the quest, go in and out of the door several times in varying orders to reget the quest, dropping it again simultaneously and finally 3 of us getting it together and having to leave the poor 4th person behind. We didn't have to perform any satanic sacrificial rituals but we were getting close. I take my hat off to people who actually mange to get groups of 12 together.

Sometimes I feel like ZOS really want their own game to crash & burn.

Ashtaris

I guess I'm not sure what you are referring to? My wife and I easily group for quests. Sometimes our grouping gets dropped, usually after a patch, but we just re-group and keep playing. However, just realize, there are actually some disadvantages to grouping and wearing the Rings Of Mara. You get a XP boost for both the grouping and wearing the rings from what I understand. What we were finding for the two of us is that we were over-leveling too fast. For example, I was a a level 28 player when we left Grahtwood for Greenwood, which starts around level 25. At first it seemed very nice to get the extra XP and fast leveling, but then we found that we really had to track which quests to do first, that being the lowest. If not, you could easily find yourself 5 or more levels above the mobs in that area getting no loot drops whatsoever. We finally ended up taking our rings off and ungrouping to make sure we DON'T get the XP bumps. We still play and explore together, but whatever XP points we get is for our own actions, not a combination.

Tavore1138

To be honest the rings issue is secondary the real issue is that whenever we try to group for a quest we end up in different phases - simple as that.

We can group for world bosses but not for any other PvE content.

We're both well into VR areas and have never been able to quest together.

That's about as clear as I can be.

Falmer

ESO does pretty much require you to keep your characters sync'd. I have characters that I play with my friend and ONLY when we play together do we use those characters.

You need to have an alternate character for when you are solo, if you want to remain synced with a pair.

Syntse

I have been playing with my wife in sync from the start, works fine that way. Except of course for the fighters, mages and main quest. However that char is now just dedicated to play together. Then I have alts that I can play when our time schedules do not match for play together.

The issue @SuraklinPrime seemed to have with the group dungeon seems like instance issue which is usually easy to fix with the travel to player function or relogging while in group.

There are plenty of topics about the grouping issue with quests and also in the roads ahead they have stated they are looking into better system, however how long that will take we can only guess.

@Ashtaris true that with rings of mara you quite easily overlevel and I can see your issue on accidentally trying to skip in questline as your level is enough. Luckily at least the level tends to low down a bit when you are 5 levels above the mobs as you do not get exp from them anymore. Anyway my solution is to try to check from journal which quests to do based on always doing the lowest lvl quest next on the list.

Tavore1138

We were talking about starting new alts each to try this approach but I want to finish Cadwell's stuff and she is trying to level on an anomaly before maintenance tomorrow so probably not for a week or so, but thanks to those who confirmed the situation and suggested this approach.

Audigy

MMO´s always work like that, the reason is phasing.

Phasing is responsible for changes to the environment like NPC´s, cities or basic layouts.

Because of this MMO´s tend to be unfriendly to players that want to play together but cant progress at the same speed.

There is no fix to that from a Developers perspective, as you face these issue´s in any MMO with phasing and I played most of them.

What you can do is starting a char that you only play when you are both online. I do this with a friend and we have zero issue´s.

I know its not the optional way, but its how it is in MMO´s

CaffeinatedMayhem

Audigy wrote: »

What you can do is starting a char that you only play when you are both online. I do this with a friend and we have zero issue´s.

I know its not the optional way, but its how it is in MMO´s

Very true. My husband and I only play specific characters together. If one of you has more time to play, roll an alt. I have fun on my own during the day, and play grouped at night.

robynheraty_ESO

Same here. I have one character that only plays when my husband is also online. The rest of them either play solo or group up with whoever happens to be in the same area at the same time. It's really the only way to group successfully on an ongoing basis, otherwise we can't share quests that one of us has already completed.

traigusb14_ESO2

The trick is non-plot content. Every random delve and area has its own quest guy standing outside it. I have never had problems desynching with people (assuming neither of us had done that area before).

Plot quest areas and dungeons, and "feature delves" with reoccurring characters, like Stibbons etc. seem to often have branches in them, that can de-synch you. many of them are playable as long as you both "kill the orc," or "only rescue the tall guy and not the other one" kinda thing. They also seem to randomly end with solo bosses (many do not, but I have hit a few.

Group dungeons (when grouping works right), and public dungeons are good for playing with friends. CAn hang around even after doing the quest and group challenge. Most have rareish (especially if other people are killing them) nameds you gotta kill for achievements, so you can grind out loots looking for them (I got 4 purples offa random trash last night doing this.

Westcoast14_ESO

SuraklinPrime wrote: »

Do we actually have to have done exactly the same quests in the same order and not in any way deviated from the exact same path to qualify?

Things are awkward but not quite that bad. In an area with phases, you have to be on the same phase. Not all quests change phase. The ones that do seem to offer red choices or change the area as a sign of quest progression (ex. the changes to the area after you have repelled/defeated a set of invaders).

You'll also resync once you leave the phased area.

So rule of thumb is, if the area changes as the result of a quest in a way that would require phasing, then you have to be on the same quest path and same quest stage.

Spoiler Alert

As an example, I grouped with someone where I had completed the Arenthia quest line (an invasion quest line) and they had not done the Arenthia quests. The change in Arenthia require the area to progress from pre invasion where invading NPC's control the area, to NPC's battling for control of the area, to post-invasion where friendly NPC's control the area. So they were invisible as long as we were in the phased area in and around Arenthia. When we went to the Vampire shrine in the same zone, where neither of us had quested (it's also possible that lacks phasing) we were both visible to each other.

Another example is Shattered Grove where the residents go from petrified to not petrified. I'm not sure if the change in animal aggro characteristics and appearance in the area around shattered grove results in a phase. My guess is it doesn't since post quest I get no aggro from the animals, and I can see players and group with players that still get aggro from the animals.

poodlemasterb16_ESO

I group with my son to do various things, not very often, but it works every time. We are wildly different in levels. He has one VR1 Vampire NB. He is in the AD and my char, one among seven, 3 in the AD, that I send, is a level 26 Vampire witch.

Boy we have fun. Dungeons mostly and we do 4 mans together, just the two of us, in first person even. We both come from shooters.

I'm sure it would be more difficult in the world though.

Cody

I myself only group for dolmens, public dungeons(and public dungs I still try to solo:/) world bosses, and group/veteran dungeons. even then, I immediately leave the group after those activities are done(even something as short as a dolmen or world boss). grouping in the game is very frustrating, I once had to wait 2 hours just to get a group of 4 to do a dungeon. and one dungeon me and this group had to re-enter several times to get the dang thing to work. idk about having to have both done the exact same things throughout the entire zone, but I do know, you cant do a quest with a friend if you already did it, which is a huge problem. Best to wait till ZOS fixes it, or move on to another game:(

Robocles

Audigy wrote: »

MMO´s always work like that, the reason is phasing.

Phasing is responsible for changes to the environment like NPC´s, cities or basic layouts.

Because of this MMO´s tend to be unfriendly to players that want to play together but cant progress at the same speed.

There is no fix to that from a Developers perspective, as you face these issue´s in any MMO with phasing and I played most of them.

What you can do is starting a char that you only play when you are both online. I do this with a friend and we have zero issue´s.

I know its not the optional way, but its how it is in MMO´s

This is the first MMO that doesn't let me help someone on a quest if I am not exactly synced with them.

Which MMO did you see phasing issues like you see here?

GeeYouWhy

First you are going to need 1 live chicken per player ...

MKLS

I've played in a group with my husband almost every day since the game came out and have no issue with grouping at all.

Re syncing quests we do not generally play as a group on the main story quest for the area (the ones that give you red choices) as we like to have the opportunity to make our own choices anyway and we each play some of the time alone.

Everything else we sync with and don't get stressed about it for example if one of us is slightly in front we just help the other one get to the same stage and then carry on from there. As we sit next to each other its hardly difficult to say "I need to kill x of these or get to XYZ can you help me down the mobs" as even if the other player doesn't need those particular mobs or item for a quest they will still get the kill xp.

Edit:

After reading this to my husband he has queried whether you are aware of the /jumptogroupmember FredBlogs feature which puts you in the same instance.

If not that should solve your problem.

Robocles

The travel to group member doesn't help the phasing at all... you just end up at the nearest wayshrine... still out of sync.

If you complete a portion of a quest that phases an area, and your group member hasn't, they cannot see you... period. There is no fix for it.

This was an intentional design decision by ZOS... supposedly to improve "immersion". That is great for an RPG...but this is supposed to be an MMO... and not being able to group with friends unless they happen to be on the exact part of a phased quest just makes no sense at all.

As an aside: If you aren't playing as a group on the main story for the area, you aren't seeing a good part of the phasing issue.