I don't like solo'ing to cap but with the reduced population and lack of players I may have no choice. Has there been any talk of mercenaries or being able to hire "robot" NPCs to help form fake groups? I would like to see some of these dungeons before the game shuts down but fear it may be I possible due to lack of players.
As far as I know there are no plans for adding mercenaries. However, you can multibox your heart out in VG. Yeah lower levels are tough to get groups for. The best thing to do, if you really want to see those dungeons is to post in the game play discussion with a date and time that you would like to form a group for said dungeon. You may be surprised at the response.
There are temporary contracts available through diplomacy that will grant, for 15 minutes, the aid of a summon "pet". If you are interested in giving them a try, please message me in game and I will send some over to you so that you can try the various types. Additionally, joining the LFG channel might lend a good bit of help in finding others with whom to group. Lastly, looking into a guild might also give you a chance to do and see more of the game that you would like to do with the added benefit of company and assistance rather that be in questions or what not. If you would like to speak with someone directly in game about your questions, please feel free to give me a shout. (all of my characters are listed in my signature line, but I am always in /tavern, /craft, /dip, /help and /diplomacy - so asking if Aasha is online in any of them will work. If I am online, I will see it.) All the best!
Not impossible at all. Bear in mind you do not need six players. A duo works fine for a lot of things, needing more for harder things, timers, etc. The fast xp hurts it though. If I have someone along and two days later they are six levels higher, that's one less candidate.
There are some posts on the forums (recently) for static groups. You can check in to those. Morty has started one on Saturday nights. Another player posted on that same thread that they are available most evenings. Make a post of your and see what feedback you get. Sometimes I'll be on another character and see someone post in chat or lfg channel needing more for a low level dungeon. I'll log in on an alt and join them. Aasha post is right on the money with her feedback. What areas are you questing in or what dungeons are you looking run at this time? As far as VG possibly shutting down, anything is possible but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. Most of the core vets here went through 1-2 years of virtually no dev support and two server mergers (some vets been through 3 mergers). At that time I thought the game was going under, yet it's still here. So I continue to play when I can and get my VG fix.
I just would like to echo Enkur here for anyone who might be reading this thread as a returning or new player. I have been here since open beta. We have seen a great deal of times when it seemed, at least by some, that the ship was sinking...but we rats remained! And there are still a good number of us who still greatly enjoy the game and enjoy being a part of this community. It may seem, especially as of late in reading some of the posts in Game Discussion, that the greater portion of the VG populous is ready to call it a day, but that is merely the venting of folks who genuinely do care about the game and keeping it around. There is a great deal in Vanguard to enjoy. It is my opinion that VG offers a gamer more than the vast majority of other games and as a role-players, it's a haven among many game worlds where the richness of the lore and the community of said game does not substantiate that kind of game play. Please do not get disheartened, there are many of us here who would love to help our community get the most out of this beautiful game that we love. And we are just a message or a /tell away!
Thanks Enkur for the plug! LOL I agree with both Enkur and Aasha. There is stuff going on, but one of the biggest wins for you and everyone in the community is to get involved in the forums, read, post, and find out what's happening. Also joining a guild is very key. There are active and good guilds out there no matter what your play time looks like. Once in a guild you will have more people to talk with, group with and schedule fun things with. On a side note, I would group with you if possible. I have cut my play times down to Friday, Saturday and Sunday night from about 9:30pm to 2am PST, so I am not around all the time, but if you see someone with the name Morty at the front ... it just might be me. Send me a tell.
The group that formed over at Project Norrath has room for one (possibly 2) around level ~16. We're bro-hooded up, play Thursdays from 6 Pacific until 8-9.
If you formed the brotherhood any time in the last month or so, you're not brotherhooded and your xp is going into a black hole. Just FYI.
We formed back in Dec, and had no problems last Thurs. My Sun group had small problems on their first run, but when we ran on the 5th we were able to form without any problems.
You think there weren't any problems Specifically: Once any member of the brotherhood logs out, it doesn't see everybody in the brotherhood. Once that happens, it will distribute xp only to the people it sees in the brotherhood but it will split it based on how many are actually in the brotherhood. That split is not how many you think are in there, since if anyone leaves and gets reinvited the brotherhood doesnt always see the leave. That means you can have 6 people in it when you think there's only 2. You then get way less xp than you thought. The only reliable way to use brotherhoods at the moment is to completely recreate them every time you login and/or if any of the toons in it log out. There is a bit more to it than what I described above, I think. You have to watch your xp values on EVERY toon in the brotherhood to make sure they are all getting the same split correctly. I lost about 2 hours of xp before I realised that 2 toons stood next to each other in the same brotherhood were getting different amounts of xp and one was only getting one toon's worth of xp instead of both toon's xp. So, in summary, if you think brotherhoods are working, they almost certainly aren't and you're getting yourself screwed. The only brotherhoods that work are ones that were formed before and have remained unchanged since the patch in dec that broke them.
I'll do a double check. I doubt it'll be a serious issue, AFAIK, neither group is in the Bro-Hood for the in game exp points, but for the experience of seeing Telon's deepest dungeons without having to do a PUG LFG.
I don't understand how this game has a dead low level game... I found a full 6 person group to run Khegor's End VERY quickly and we cleared the whole place out over the course of four hours or so. Every zone I've been in on Thestra has at least 10 people in it. Look harder maybe? Also don't be such a pessimist.
I think some of it has to do with when you play. I am late nighter and I see less people, but I usually can always find one or two people to run around with if I try. VG has a GREAT search which you can really see who is around at your level.
I'm also a late nighter with a very unpredictable schedule. As a matter of personal choice I do solo most often (and not in any guild on any toon) but I've almost never gone more than an hour or two without someone sending me a /tell to invite for a group run. Helps to roll a healer or a tank I suppose . Folks here seem a bit more friendly than in most other MMOs.
