Killing Mobs - what is acceptable when in group area?

CountEdmondDantes

I created a new character last night, and I took him to the Wailing Prison (starter dungeon). The place was pretty crowded even for that hour; I'd have to say at least a couple of dozen players there at all time. I was leveling to 4-5 and training up two weapons to level 4, so I wasn't there that long.

I've played MMO's before. I know each one has its own social personality. I felt like I paid attention to what as acceptable behavior by watching what others were doing. I'd also researched how experience is given for killing mobs and know that if a player gets a hit or two in, they get experience. So when I saw other players running around killing mobs, even if someone else was already fighting it, I did the same thing.

Then I get another player telling me: "Stop killing all the mobs!" It was funny because my playstyle is to kill the mobs if it's just me, but if someone approaches and also attacks the mob, and I already have a couple of hits on it, I'll just block and let them get exp, too - even if I have the aggro. I didn't think I was being rude or overly aggressive. I apologized and backed off, then left for the next area. I had most of what I wanted anyway.

I know, from zone chat, etc., there are a lot of players in the game right now, all going after the same thing. I don't want to be a jerk, but I'd like to play the game, too. So I'm interested in how others approach this issue.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

ADarklore

That's then entire point of an MMO, having interactions with others, I think the player who scolded you should go play a single player game instead, that way they wouldn't have to worry about sharing the world with others. Sure it gets frustrating at times, I have an area that I take alts to in order to grind XP to level skills and skill lines, and it gets frustrating when players pass through and destroy all the mobs... but then I just accept that, even though I was there in that area for quite some time, it isn't my right to tell others how they should play the game... they paid their money too. I just learned to make the most of it and accept that it is what it is.

CountEdmondDantes

Thanks to both of you. I suppose I apologized because I see this as a social game and I don't want my behavior to stop someone else from enjoying their game. And the only reason I was there is my daughter told me it's helpful to get to level 4 or 5 and level up a couple of skills while there.

@ADarklore: And I'm okay with that, too. I'm not uptight about this at all, rather I just want to be clear with what accepted behavior is and even to say, "Let's do this together," rather than get upset.

Thanks again.

heaven13

I think it was really awesome that you actually checked out etiquette and how XP is rewarded beforehand. This is my first MMO, so I was pretty unsure of all that when I started. Never had anyone scold me though!

I think that person was just being a jerk. Some are. A guildie of mine got scolded for killing mobs in someone's xp farm area despite it also being a quest area. Some people seem to think that have territorial claim on an area and are best ignored.

Hopefully you don't run into many and continue enjoying your experience!

STEVIL

I believe at one point there was an xp ding if more than two folks or groups damarged a target, reducing xp for all of them significantly. At that time i think folks grouped more to help deal with it.

Not sure if that perception is at play in your case. I alwsys got out of wailing asap.

davey1107

It's courteous if you to consider others. But honestly, it's the other player who needs to learn the game systems, not you. They could be new...not many experienced players stick around for that area. The xp isn't great and the loot stinks, lol.

If it helps, here's a short course on xp earning and sharing (example xp is in approximate vet level amounts...it scales as you level):


Solo play (not grouped, even if playing around other humans)

To earn xp on a kill, you need to do approx. 10% of the total damage to that monster. Xp is not divided...if a monster is worth 1,000 xp, everyone who gets hits gets the full xp.

Some xp comes from "clearing" and area. This is a large reward, and will turn a map marker from black to white. Notably for where you are right now this includes delve and dolmen clears. To get area clear xp, you need to get one hit in...any hit. So like you see a delve boss is about to go down and you hit him with a bow light attack for 50 damage, you might not get the 1,000 xp for him as a monster, but you will get the 8,000 xp for the area clear. At dolmens, each monster has xp won by doing 10%'of the damage, but to clear the dolmen and get the final xp reward you just need one hit.

Note: because of the xp system, area of effect attacks that hit multiple monsters are your friend as a low level toon. Find them and use them in busy areas to maximize your gain.


Group play (you're officially grouped in the system)

This changes xp rewards slightly. You start to split xp, but the reward per kill goes up the more people there are in a group. If a monster is worth 1,000 for a solo player, in a group of two it's worth 1,800 that is split into 900 each. In a group of 20'its worth 5,000 split into 250 each. Generally, a group of 2-3 is a "sweet spot" where you move fast enough to earn way more than solo, but without it dropping off through splitting. So a lot of players...and especially low level toons...might offer to group in a grind zone, like a good public dungeon.


Xp Etiquette: because there is no xp sharing, it's common practice to play through and kill everything at whatever pace you want. If you encounter others in an area, it's acceptable to "tag along" and move through with them. 99% of the time people will appreciate this because they're earning the same xp, but faster with your help. Any public dungeon (stone arch map icon) is considered a "grind zone", and it's expected you can move through fast, follow along with experienced players, etc. People will be running loops in these all the time.

When I run delves and dungeons, I personally get a sense of whether there's people in the loop close to me. If I think there are, when I get to a boss I might wait a few seconds to allow anyone in the area to catch up. Some bosses spawn slowly, so I try not to kill one off when someone else is three seconds away.


Resources

Just a quick note on nodes around Tamriel and general etiquette. Resource nodes are fair game, but of course it's rude to run ahead of someone and grab a node they were going for. It's MEGA rude to encounter someone killing monsters for a node then Grabbing it...lol. And if you grab a node that has multiple items in it, take or leave them ALL. For example, clothing nodes can contain bugs for fishing. Don't take the cloth and leave the bugs...it permanently locks the node this way and people hate that. Take the bugs and sell/destroy them later somthe node can disappear and start its regeneration timer.

Chests and heavy sacks are shared, first come first serve, but be courteous. If you have trouble picking, people will generally back off and let you take as long as you need. Pots and containers in dungeons are generally not shared...grab away. Books...particularly the blue lore books...are just for you, grab away.


Welcome to the game! Sorry you ran into a newbie at first. I hope these tips help...see you at the next dolmen fight, lol.

Danikat

Considering it happened in the tutorial my guess is that other person was making a mistake.

A lot of MMOs don't work like this one - in those games only one person can get credit for each kill, or them and their group. In those games the unofficial rules are pretty strictly 'stay away from each other', if someone else is already fighting an enemy you leave them to it and find your own.

A lot of people switch games and either don't bother to find out how the new one works, assuming it's exactly like their last game in every single way and then getting frustrated or confused when it isn't, or they just find habits like that hard to break.

I knew someone who spent 2 months only taking 1/2 the drops from enemies, even though they knew for a fact that the drops were exclusive to them and no one else could take the stuff they left, because it felt wrong to them to take everything.

AcadianPaladin

This thread has been very enlightening and confirms much of what I suspected about XP. I don’t care about actually gaining XP. My healer is +CP160 so I don’t care how long it takes her to from her current 320 to 600. What I do like to do is practice her support role while adventuring solo. She will often tag along with random players and support from the rear with buff, debuffs, heals as long as the other players are doing okay. If they get into trouble or she sees she has to burst heal them to keep them alive, she starts adding in dps.

Most folks don’t seem to mind this and I consider it to be fairly unobtrusive. Not only does she want the practice, but I remember very well being ‘overwatched’ a couple times coming up by some awesome high level players that provided just the amount of help she needed at the time.

I do recall doing this for a pair of very aggressive (reckless even) players that were racing through a foe-enriched area. Because they seemed to be struggling, my elf did toss in shards a few times to help with dps and their stamina recovery. I got a comment from them on chat along the lines, ‘Can you stop helping us? You’re cutting the XP we’re trying to get.’ I apologized and backed away but this thread confirms my thinking that I was not robbing them of XP. That said, I can understand and respect if someone does not want help (though most folks don’t mind support help from healers).

Regarding nodes, my character has adequate resources in her ESO+ craftibag so she’s quick to yield to others. Many times she’s been running to a node and sees another player doing the same – her response is to do an emergency backpedal to make it clear she’s getting out of their way. In fact, how others act around resource nodes gives a rather perceptive peek into the nature of the player. . . .

CountEdmondDantes

Wow, great posts.

@davey1107: Great post. I gave you an insightful because I learned a lot from it. Thanks. I gathered that resource nodes are solo instances when people did just as you described, racing around the zone, grabbing them before anyone else could get them.

Funny thing: a few moments ago I was in Bal Foyen, and I ran to help a guy who was fighting a mob. Just a bit of realism on my part; I mean, he could kill the mob himself but in a battle you would run to help, right? Of course, I saw the chest on the ground next to us, but had not intention of grabbing it.

Out of nowhere comes this third player who tags the mob once and then drops down and goes for the chest. The mob died seconds later and I left a "Sorry" for the original player.

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

This thread has been very enlightening and confirms much of what I suspected about XP. I don’t care about actually gaining XP. My healer is +CP160 so I don’t care how long it takes her to from her current 320 to 600.

This kind of how I play. I generally don't focus on experience at all (and for me the game levels way too fast) but just play as I would, doing quests, whatever my character encounters. If he sees a group in a heated fight, he'll pitch in. After all, there's a war on.

TheShadowScout

Once upon a time, it actually made snese to spend a bit of time in the wailing prison, farming the chests for a complete set of beginner gear and more importantly, the mobs so you get a heads up on your level and skills.

These days with everything scaled? Who cares?

Your beginner gear you might just as well craft, and the level matters squat - not like you are gonna run into a level 4 miniboss on your starter isle at level 2 like I did with my first character and have to come back after a few more levels to stand a chance...

And the levelling really does feel faster outside, not in the least because there are more XP sources - exploration, missions, treasure chests (which are a great source for more gear as well), and not just killing mobs.

But back to the original question...

It is a bit annoying when people spend time in quest areas doing a circuit to kill everything again and again, for the others who also want a bit of enjoyment in their questing. Worse when they do it the cheap grinder way - draw all the mobs to themselves, then burn them all down with AoE - at least those who fight them one-on-one can't fight ALL of them right away, leaving some for the rest... And much worse when the quest area is one of those "kill mobs until special item drops" sort - there the grinders are actually impeding other peoples progress by hogging all the mobs.
Thankfully most of them don't do that anymore - not like you can't get good mob killing sprees in dwelves or public dungeons (once you are good enough to solo those). And thanks to the daily missions, there are alternatives to mere mindless grinding (and you may get draugr motivs as bonus!).
Leaves the trophy hunters, and those poor guys and gals deserve our pity, not our scorn. Killing the same type of mob over and over and over again until that one in five hundred or whatever chance trophy drops? Poor schmucks I say! I myself never can bear it for long before I have to stop that sort of thing for fear my brain might liquefy out of sheer boredom and start dripping out my ears... at least that's how it feels after half an hour of that.

As for people fighting over chests and resources, common courtesy would be leaving them the spoils of their battle, but sadly, not everyone is courteous, and many will dash in, grab the loot, and run. Jerks. But no sense wasting more then a colorful curse mumbled beneath your breath at them. Forget it and move on, there will always be more resource nodes, treasure chests, thieve troves, whatever.

And of course, group fights like public dungeons, dolmen and world bosses are "all in" - anyone who gets there while the fight is still on, jump right in, get in your licks, contribute and if its enough, enjoy a share of the spoils.

zaria

davey1107 wrote: »

It's courteous if you to consider others. But honestly, it's the other player who needs to learn the game systems, not you. They could be new...not many experienced players stick around for that area. The xp isn't great and the loot stinks, lol.

If it helps, here's a short course on xp earning and sharing (example xp is in approximate vet level amounts...it scales as you level):

Solo play (not grouped, even if playing around other humans)

To earn xp on a kill, you need to do approx. 10% of the total damage to that monster. Xp is not divided...if a monster is worth 1,000 xp, everyone who gets hits gets the full xp.

Some xp comes from "clearing" and area. This is a large reward, and will turn a map marker from black to white. Notably for where you are right now this includes delve and dolmen clears. To get area clear xp, you need to get one hit in...any hit. So like you see a delve boss is about to go down and you hit him with a bow light attack for 50 damage, you might not get the 1,000 xp for him as a monster, but you will get the 8,000 xp for the area clear. At dolmens, each monster has xp won by doing 10%'of the damage, but to clear the dolmen and get the final xp reward you just need one hit.

Note: because of the xp system, area of effect attacks that hit multiple monsters are your friend as a low level toon. Find them and use them in busy areas to maximize your gain.


Group play (you're officially grouped in the system)

This changes xp rewards slightly. You start to split xp, but the reward per kill goes up the more people there are in a group. If a monster is worth 1,000 for a solo player, in a group of two it's worth 1,800 that is split into 900 each. In a group of 20'its worth 5,000 split into 250 each. Generally, a group of 2-3 is a "sweet spot" where you move fast enough to earn way more than solo, but without it dropping off through splitting. So a lot of players...and especially low level toons...might offer to group in a grind zone, like a good public dungeon.


Xp Etiquette: because there is no xp sharing, it's common practice to play through and kill everything at whatever pace you want. If you encounter others in an area, it's acceptable to "tag along" and move through with them. 99% of the time people will appreciate this because they're earning the same xp, but faster with your help. Any public dungeon (stone arch map icon) is considered a "grind zone", and it's expected you can move through fast, follow along with experienced players, etc. People will be running loops in these all the time.

When I run delves and dungeons, I personally get a sense of whether there's people in the loop close to me. If I think there are, when I get to a boss I might wait a few seconds to allow anyone in the area to catch up. Some bosses spawn slowly, so I try not to kill one off when someone else is three seconds away.


Resources

Just a quick note on nodes around Tamriel and general etiquette. Resource nodes are fair game, but of course it's rude to run ahead of someone and grab a node they were going for. It's MEGA rude to encounter someone killing monsters for a node then Grabbing it...lol. And if you grab a node that has multiple items in it, take or leave them ALL. For example, clothing nodes can contain bugs for fishing. Don't take the cloth and leave the bugs...it permanently locks the node this way and people hate that. Take the bugs and sell/destroy them later somthe node can disappear and start its regeneration timer.

Chests and heavy sacks are shared, first come first serve, but be courteous. If you have trouble picking, people will generally back off and let you take as long as you need. Pots and containers in dungeons are generally not shared...grab away. Books...particularly the blue lore books...are just for you, grab away.


Welcome to the game! Sorry you ran into a newbie at first. I hope these tips help...see you at the next dolmen fight, lol.

One note here, if you fight an dvelve boss or quest boss and another player come running up its very nice to stop fighting the boss or at least slack off so the other player get in an hit, then he don't have to wait for the boss respawning who can take many minutes.
Bonus for you is that you get another player who help you on the way out.

I always help others in fights and has only had one complain, it was an guy who was training skill rotation on mammoths

Finally leaving stuff in nodes does not prevent respawn, however its common cutesy to take all its also faster.
You can always sell stuff to npc merchants.

Wrecking_Blow_Spam

davey1107 wrote: »

To earn xp on a kill, you need to do approx. 10% of the total damage to that monster. Xp is not divided...if a monster is worth 1,000 xp, everyone who gets hits gets the full xp.

Might be wrong here but I'm 90% sure that's not how it works. Hence ppl get all annoyed when a Zerg starts grinding because everyone gets less and less exp.

Also not to sound bad: but if you go farming raw mats, you don't have to take the crawlers or worms.
You're free to do whatever you want, ppl will moan etiquette etc but it's your choice.
I don't, I'm not subbed and unnecessary inventory space on that stuff is valuable.

davey1107

@Wrecking_Blow_Spam

You bring up a good point about the xp splitting. There is a cap in the system somewhere that will kick in if an ungrouped Zerg forms. I didn't mention it because it's rare, and a wonky system. I've run many Rkindaleft grinds, and run ungrouped with 5-8 and not noticed diminished returns. When the Zerg grows to about 12-15 the system seems to start capping xp, but it's a weird and unpredictable phenomenon. Sometimes just be stepping a few feet away the xp returns to normal. Regardless, this rarely, rarely occurs in the game and for a beginner it's not important to understand advanced mechanics for rare situations.

Also, if someone goes around "doing what they want" by picking up nodes and leaving garbage, and considers everyone else's courteous requests to be "moaning," that's what we call self-entitled rudeness, and this is precisely why we have etiquette in a civil society. Or...you know...don't, but I kind of have to wonder about people who can't make friends even in an animated fantasy world with endless resources, no death and nightly hot Nord on lizard burlesque shows.

Tabbycat

I'm just going to point out that they don't own any of the monsters down there regardless what they think.

However, if you plan to remain down there, it would probably do you some good to get in on their groupings.

The only reason to group is to be able to collect more stuff from monsters killed by other members of your group.

Tommy_The_Gun

The only way it is getting close to even be incapable (I hardly doubt it ever will be) is when you farm Rubedo leather scraps, killing wolfs in Crow's Wood...

Duiwel

OP honestly if he gets mad at you for killing mobs in the Wailing Prison you should just tell him to leave and he will have an endless supply of mobs outside.

No idea why people stay there these days it's not as fun as it was back in 2014.

Tabbycat

Duiwel wrote: »

OP honestly if he gets mad at you for killing mobs in the Wailing Prison you should just tell him to leave and he will have an endless supply of mobs outside.

No idea why people stay there these days it's not as fun as it was back in 2014.

I have to agree with this.It was much better when there were storm atronachs all over the place and all kinds of twisting and turning paths, places to explore, hidden treasure chests to find in weird places.

They simplified the wailing prison far too much. Maybe to discourage players from staying down there?

I also wish we had the old intro movie with Mannimarco stealing your soul. That was better than watching a CGI movie that has nothing to do with your own experience in ESO.

heaven13

Tabbycat wrote: »

Duiwel wrote: »

OP honestly if he gets mad at you for killing mobs in the Wailing Prison you should just tell him to leave and he will have an endless supply of mobs outside.

No idea why people stay there these days it's not as fun as it was back in 2014.

I have to agree with this.It was much better when there were storm atronachs all over the place and all kinds of twisting and turning paths, places to explore, hidden treasure chests to find in weird places.

They simplified the wailing prison far too much. Maybe to discourage players from staying down there?

I also wish we had the old intro movie with Mannimarco stealing your soul. That was better than watching a CGI movie that has nothing to do with your own experience in ESO.

Oh, man! I was wondering about this. I played beta and then when I bought the game, I used the old characters still on my account. I created a new one this year and was very confused when Wailing Prison was a lot shorter and more straightforward than I remembered. I was blaming my faulty memory and the amount of time it had been. Didn't realize they changed it.

Did realize that they changed Doshia in FG quite a bit though.

Azurulia

I just kill mobs if I feel like it and attack mobs engaged on others if I feel like it. (or they look like they need a hand.)

I don't think anything of it if other players are attacking stuff or attacking my mobs. The mechanics of the game trivilizes the concept of "kill stealing."

If you kill mobs faster than they do, that's not your problem. in fact, the wise thing for them to do would then be to follow you and hit your mobs for faster exp then if they fought their own alone.

More exp for them. More dps for you.

It's pretty win/win if you use your head a bit.

Moorcrofts

Well, it makes some sense to simplify it if the purpose is not to linger but to teach and move on. It does seem to do a better job of teaching certain things than I remember it doing in the summer of 2014, but it still doesn't get the point across that the purpose is to learn and gtfo. I wonder how it would be received if a message popped up saying something like, "You learned how to block, interrupt, spend points, and pick a lock. Get out (because there's better stuff to farm in the next zone)."

zaria

heaven13 wrote: »

Tabbycat wrote: »

Duiwel wrote: »

OP honestly if he gets mad at you for killing mobs in the Wailing Prison you should just tell him to leave and he will have an endless supply of mobs outside.

No idea why people stay there these days it's not as fun as it was back in 2014.

I have to agree with this.It was much better when there were storm atronachs all over the place and all kinds of twisting and turning paths, places to explore, hidden treasure chests to find in weird places.

They simplified the wailing prison far too much. Maybe to discourage players from staying down there?

I also wish we had the old intro movie with Mannimarco stealing your soul. That was better than watching a CGI movie that has nothing to do with your own experience in ESO.

Oh, man! I was wondering about this. I played beta and then when I bought the game, I used the old characters still on my account. I created a new one this year and was very confused when Wailing Prison was a lot shorter and more straightforward than I remembered. I was blaming my faulty memory and the amount of time it had been. Didn't realize they changed it.

Did realize that they changed Doshia in FG quite a bit though.

Just made an new character to see this. Also so he can start feeding his horse.
Miss the weapon selection, kind of like the new main area smaller but feel more depressing.

Magdalina

Wrecking_Blow_Spam wrote: »

davey1107 wrote: »

To earn xp on a kill, you need to do approx. 10% of the total damage to that monster. Xp is not divided...if a monster is worth 1,000 xp, everyone who gets hits gets the full xp.

Might be wrong here but I'm 90% sure that's not how it works. Hence ppl get all annoyed when a Zerg starts grinding because everyone gets less and less exp.

Also not to sound bad: but if you go farming raw mats, you don't have to take the crawlers or worms.
You're free to do whatever you want, ppl will moan etiquette etc but it's your choice.
I don't, I'm not subbed and unnecessary inventory space on that stuff is valuable.

You're actually screwing yourself by not picking worms etc up, as well as other players. A node picked fully will respawm soon enough, a node with a worm/crawler is gonna stay there forever until someone takes the worm/crawler. If no one comes around, it might as well be you on you second farming loop;P It takes 3 seconds to destroy the worm once you pick it up.

Also I know there at the very least used to be pretty big diminishing returns on xp when >1 person was involved, grouped or not(which is why grinding was most popular in 2-3), so unless I missed a change(possible, haven't been paying attention to xp for a while) there yes, helping a grinding person will take some of their xp away. Single mob xp isn't really high enough for anyone to care but if it's going on for a while it will be a hindrance. It doesn't mean you should never help anyone of course, but if it's obvious people are grinding - or they explicitly told you they are - they likely don't want to be helped there;)

That said, yes grinding in a quest area is annoying. To both sides really.

Ivehn

I will stall attacking when I'm fighting a mob if I see another player approaching, so that they can get a hit in, especially if they are a low level player. It's not always feasible because low health mobs die pretty quickly, but if I can, I just try to kite them or light attack, until the player gets there. It's courteous, not only for the experience gain, but also in instances inside public dungeons where people kill the mobs because they are farming for specific gear. For example, I was grinding the Orc's Finger bosses on a loop a while ago, and there were a couple of other players doing the same. We were not grouped up, nor did we talk in chat, but as if we had an unspoken aggreement, when one of us reached a boss faster than the others, we'd wait for them to catch up to kill the boss, which I thought was nice. I feel bad though for low level players who are questing and just want to get a completion in public dungeons in zones with sought-after gear, because usually they are filled with high CP players burning their way through mobs and bosses (me inluded ), but at least the respawn time is not very long... But yeah, I think it's cool when people share their, er, kills so that others can get the xp tick as well

Amayna

CountEdmondDantes wrote: »

I created a new character last night, and I took him to the Wailing Prison (starter dungeon). The place was pretty crowded even for that hour; I'd have to say at least a couple of dozen players there at all time. I was leveling to 4-5 and training up two weapons to level 4, so I wasn't there that long.

I've played MMO's before. I know each one has its own social personality. I felt like I paid attention to what as acceptable behavior by watching what others were doing. I'd also researched how experience is given for killing mobs and know that if a player gets a hit or two in, they get experience. So when I saw other players running around killing mobs, even if someone else was already fighting it, I did the same thing.

Then I get another player telling me: "Stop killing all the mobs!" It was funny because my playstyle is to kill the mobs if it's just me, but if someone approaches and also attacks the mob, and I already have a couple of hits on it, I'll just block and let them get exp, too - even if I have the aggro. I didn't think I was being rude or overly aggressive. I apologized and backed off, then left for the next area. I had most of what I wanted anyway.

I know, from zone chat, etc., there are a lot of players in the game right now, all going after the same thing. I don't want to be a jerk, but I'd like to play the game, too. So I'm interested in how others approach this issue.

Your first mistake was looking at "chat" while in a n0ob zone! and since you did, don't take anything you read, heard or saw to heart while in the n0ob zone ... keep killing, looting and doing anything else you want, if they can't tag a mob then this might not be the game for them and if so you are doing them a favor!

AcadianPaladin

Lots of mobs and players is kind of self-correcting for my healer. Few other players around means she has to do more dps. More players around means she can do more of what she's made for - buff, debuff, heal. Happily, she can heal fighters and still get xp and loot from the kills.

Regarding leaving worms in nodes for non-subs. If you autoloot you save time picking everything up. Then you can use that saved time to quickly destroy all the junk you don't want whenever you fill up. Seems about the same effort only much more courteous.

CountEdmondDantes

TheShadowScout wrote: »

... It is a bit annoying when people spend time in quest areas doing a circuit to kill everything again and again, for the others who also want a bit of enjoyment in their questing. Worse when they do it the cheap grinder way - draw all the mobs to themselves, then burn them all down with AoE - at least those who fight them one-on-one can't fight ALL of them right away, leaving some for the rest... And much worse when the quest area is one of those "kill mobs until special item drops" sort - there the grinders are actually impeding other peoples progress by hogging all the mobs.

Thanks for the insight. I really enjoyed your post. I doubt that I'll do the Wailing Prison again; as others have said, it's not much fun and the only thing I'm getting is experience and leveling (and if it's faster to do that in-game, then that's where I should be).

I dislike farming in games. My kids can do it - put on music or talk on the phone while killing mobs endlessly. My daughter even watches movies while farming. After a short while, I start thinking of all the things I could be doing that are more fun than playing a video game.

That said, there's this strange quality to MMOs that you don't always get a sense of when your finished with an area. For example, in the Pact starter island, there's an invasion by the Covenant. The immersive side of me wants that to seem like a legitimate battle, so that I'm not just rushing through, completing the quest to knock an item off my bucket list. So I might linger in that area, killing some of the invaders, so that I'll be left with the feeling that my character has actually been in a battle (Bal Foyen docks is another example).

But in some cases, you can finish the quest, kill the mobs, and move on, but when you come back the mobs are still there and hostile (example: the irrigation area of Bal Foyen). Whenever I pass such as area, there's a temptation to stop and kill a few of the hostiles, just so it doesn't seem so silly in my mind - if any of that makes sense.

Yes, I know this is an MMO and that's how MMOs are made. It's just my strange way of playing.

Amayna wrote: »

CountEdmondDantes wrote: »

I created a new character last night, and I took him to the Wailing Prison (starter dungeon). The place was pretty crowded even for that hour; I'd have to say at least a couple of dozen players there at all time. I was leveling to 4-5 and training up two weapons to level 4, so I wasn't there that long.

I've played MMO's before. I know each one has its own social personality. I felt like I paid attention to what as acceptable behavior by watching what others were doing. I'd also researched how experience is given for killing mobs and know that if a player gets a hit or two in, they get experience. So when I saw other players running around killing mobs, even if someone else was already fighting it, I did the same thing.

Then I get another player telling me: "Stop killing all the mobs!" It was funny because my playstyle is to kill the mobs if it's just me, but if someone approaches and also attacks the mob, and I already have a couple of hits on it, I'll just block and let them get exp, too - even if I have the aggro. I didn't think I was being rude or overly aggressive. I apologized and backed off, then left for the next area. I had most of what I wanted anyway.

I know, from zone chat, etc., there are a lot of players in the game right now, all going after the same thing. I don't want to be a jerk, but I'd like to play the game, too. So I'm interested in how others approach this issue.

Your first mistake was looking at "chat" while in a n0ob zone! and since you did, don't take anything you read, heard or saw to heart while in the n0ob zone ... keep killing, looting and doing anything else you want, if they can't tag a mob then this might not be the game for them and if so you are doing them a favor!

Actually, my zone chat was closed. It took about two hours of zone chat with my daughter teaching me the basics for that little window to go away. After someone started chatting about their bowel movements (this is a fact), I shut that down fast. I generally run my chat with just guild chat running, IF I run it at all. I prefer to keep it closed most of the time because I find it distracting.

But if someone whispers or "tells" you, it opens. At least it does on mine. And I want that functionality because if one of my kids drops into the game, and chats with me, I want to see it.

zaria

CountEdmondDantes wrote: »

TheShadowScout wrote: »

... It is a bit annoying when people spend time in quest areas doing a circuit to kill everything again and again, for the others who also want a bit of enjoyment in their questing. Worse when they do it the cheap grinder way - draw all the mobs to themselves, then burn them all down with AoE - at least those who fight them one-on-one can't fight ALL of them right away, leaving some for the rest... And much worse when the quest area is one of those "kill mobs until special item drops" sort - there the grinders are actually impeding other peoples progress by hogging all the mobs.

Thanks for the insight. I really enjoyed your post. I doubt that I'll do the Wailing Prison again; as others have said, it's not much fun and the only thing I'm getting is experience and leveling (and if it's faster to do that in-game, then that's where I should be).

I dislike farming in games. My kids can do it - put on music or talk on the phone while killing mobs endlessly. My daughter even watches movies while farming. After a short while, I start thinking of all the things I could be doing that are more fun than playing a video game.

That said, there's this strange quality to MMOs that you don't always get a sense of when your finished with an area. For example, in the Pact starter island, there's an invasion by the Covenant. The immersive side of me wants that to seem like a legitimate battle, so that I'm not just rushing through, completing the quest to knock an item off my bucket list. So I might linger in that area, killing some of the invaders, so that I'll be left with the feeling that my character has actually been in a battle (Bal Foyen docks is another example).

But in some cases, you can finish the quest, kill the mobs, and move on, but when you come back the mobs are still there and hostile (example: the irrigation area of Bal Foyen). Whenever I pass such as area, there's a temptation to stop and kill a few of the hostiles, just so it doesn't seem so silly in my mind - if any of that makes sense.

Yes, I know this is an MMO and that's how MMOs are made. It's just my strange way of playing.

You are in luck many areas changes after doing the quest who is pretty cool.
This is a bit confusing however as others who have not done the quest will not see this and yes towns do this too.
Thinking here if you group with your kids and you are at different quest levels or cleared areas.

Ep1kMalware

CountEdmondDantes wrote: »

I created a new character last night, and I took him to the Wailing Prison (starter dungeon). The place was pretty crowded even for that hour; I'd have to say at least a couple of dozen players there at all time. I was leveling to 4-5 and training up two weapons to level 4, so I wasn't there that long.

I've played MMO's before. I know each one has its own social personality. I felt like I paid attention to what as acceptable behavior by watching what others were doing. I'd also researched how experience is given for killing mobs and know that if a player gets a hit or two in, they get experience. So when I saw other players running around killing mobs, even if someone else was already fighting it, I did the same thing.

Then I get another player telling me: "Stop killing all the mobs!" It was funny because my playstyle is to kill the mobs if it's just me, but if someone approaches and also attacks the mob, and I already have a couple of hits on it, I'll just block and let them get exp, too - even if I have the aggro. I didn't think I was being rude or overly aggressive. I apologized and backed off, then left for the next area. I had most of what I wanted anyway.

I know, from zone chat, etc., there are a lot of players in the game right now, all going after the same thing. I don't want to be a jerk, but I'd like to play the game, too. So I'm interested in how others approach this issue.

Eso is generally full of the same aspie addled *** stains that play(ed) runescape. Most of the playerbase will prove incapable of basic social functions or any degree of thought.

If you sacrifice your playing exerience for other people, you will leave this game with a migrain and never pick it up again. My advice is to do whatever the hell you please until you find some people you enjoy running around with.