Rzyman wrote on Aug 28
th, 2018 at 7:28pm:
And this game about having fun. If you are having fun while helping people, why not? If you see pugs struggling lower skulls or just farming somethings, or your less-farmed bro just need some help, why dont jump in lower skull group and help? Besides, consider to how many players still running it, and how many of them constantly TRing, it'll take forever to gather group of your division.
Total devil's advocate response here, because I sure as hell can't (and don't) disagree with most of what you said.
But first, let's separate playing from grinding. Grinding is grinding and playing is playing. If someone has a 'help me pull X from X quest' post up, 90% of the time I'm going to jump in for a quick run to open the end chest up for them and give them that shot at something I probably a lot of time trying to get myself at one point.
And if they're running at a low setting (EN or EH) in epics or anything below reaper in heroics, I'm going to get them to raise it to my level for better drop rates. But that's grinding and grinding sucks.
But while on the subject of grinding - hypothetically, you're running slavers or RL on reaper (let's say R2 through R5). What's your spread? Do you only let characters levels 27/28-30 in to speed up the runs? Or do you open it up all the way for everyone in epics?
Most people will keep the lower level cap at 27/28 because more power=faster runs.
I put mine at 25-30 because I expect to carry the group and any help will speed things up slightly.
A handful (and I do mean a handful) will put their slavers/RL runs at 20-30 because they are so good that even a level 20 toon can just follow safely in their wake of destruction.
Levels matter in this game.
Power matters in this game.
Reaper points matter in this game. I'll argue that when you're hitting over 50 reaper points, you're getting as much, if not more, of a boost that you'd get from just a handful of levels.
Now let's talk about playing -
Your level 20 running the initial sagas in epics, what's your spread? Do you open your group up 20-30 so a capped toon with RL gear can come in for speed runs? Or do you keep your level tight (20-22 or 20-24) because it's still going to be a speed run with an even half way decent group?
Personally (and this could just be me) I keep it tight as hell because one, the regular and reaper xp is going to be better with a tighter group, but mostly - because it's boring as fuck having someone with that much power in the run. Some challenge becomes absolutely no challenge at all the wider your spread.
And finally, more extreme example.
You're doing a heroic life. There are a ton of new players in the game now and we're seeing a wider range of difficulty settings than we did a year or two ago.
So let me ask you -
Would you ever, ever, ever jump in someone's elite group in heroics? Ever? Because personally, my builds and gear are tight enough that I don't belong in an elite group. I've been soloing elite for almost a decade now. Would you ever even bother with a heroic elite group? Even if the XP was the same as reaper?
Let alone someone's hard or normal group in heroics? Do you even belong in there? Because players are picking settings they're comfortable with - "I think I can pull it off at this setting". They're doing what's fun for them. Part of the fun of this game is the challenge, the feeling of accomplishment and yeah, absolutely learning how to play and improve your game.
If a new player wants to jump in my reaper group and try their best to help out, rock on. But I would never, ever, ever jump into their heroic norm group because I'm so overpowered I'd just be shitting all over their fun by literally walking through the dungeon with everything dying around me without even pushing a button.
This game is all about power. You absolutely have to take risks to get it, but I think it is important to know when you're helping out vs. when you're just kind of showboating.