yeah - I've been pretty annoyed lately with the game.  The lag is the absolute worst when it happens... haven't felt this type of pain since Demigod.  The joys of casting a spell with 5 enemies around you, not seeing the spell be cast, wandering around wondering what is happening, then realizing you are dead 8 seconds later is a hoot.  And their trading post.. also amazing.  I was happy I was able to use it one time successfully... a few times failed and most of the time "down for maintenance."  And that I queued of for WvWvW yesterday and did not get in after 1 hour and 45 minutes.  And that I cannot easily group with pals for reasons I don't understand.  And that one map is bugged so that you cannot complete it... and (whatever else I find to bitch about tonight). 

We'll start building our guild stash tomorrow.  Not sure how long it takes to get up and running, but I'd wager it will be live in the next 2-3 days. 

Here's what I want to organize.  1 guild night.  This will be a night where anyone that wants to group up shows up at a specific location on the map (eg SCOUT IT OUT in advance if you don't have a way point nearby).  This particular night will just be for knocking out an area with those boxes and gaining exp that way.  Should be worthwhile even for our higher level friends as they'll still get alot of xp, we'll all get karma xp, etc.  Anyway, the question is, where should we start and what area would we like to focus.  Maybe we spawn near an asura gate - then just go to an area that the majority of us have not cleared.  I suppose we could decide on what we want to do if we just agree on a starting location in adv. 

I can cover the "what time" angle.  It would be 7 or 8 PM EST some week day this week.  I'd like to come to a decision on this quick so I can put up a message of the day (don't overwrite it so we can get folks that don't follow the forums in on this). 

Sounds good to me - this is where you officer folks earn your keep.  Help me figure out a location that pretty much everyone will have or be able to find quickly.

Well, as our levels are slowly increasing, even with the constant restarts, we should aim for one of the 15-25 (or whatever) areas. I'm not sure how many plant folk we have in our guild, but I don't think there's many, so their territory should be one where we will get the most benefit. Unfortunately, I haven't been there enough to know the name of the area, but I can scout it out a bit on my next session, and provide a more exact location.

It's a little late to help now, but if you had to resort to that tactic, you might want to also use the healing skill that heals you every time you cast a spell. Double the healing!

I don't know how much fun this is going to be.  Heart quests are really easy to solo, so grouping them will just be a bit silly.  I personally find events really boring when there are lots of people too - they are actually pretty fun when you have 2-5 people, but above that, its just a spam fest.  Also, are high level people really going to get decent xp?  Unless they scale the heart quests to give about 10x the xp, its not going to be anything - chopping down 2 trees gives me as much xp as a low level heart quest.

I think that people should just get to 30 so that we can do the first dungeon.

yes.. it is easy to solo... but you get karma/guild points AND we actually play together.  #1 reason for being in a guild for pacov?  playing with folks.  % of time I do so?  3% tops (fair estimate).  Reason?  Folks choose not to do so.  For instance, I've been bitching about this for awhile.  Has anyone made any effort to slow down and help folks?  Not really (that I'm aware of).  I think the only thing you (karl) disliked about that one time we all played together and roamed was that we hit an area where you weren't strong enough for at the time.  Correct me if I'm wrong.  And if I am correct, then there's no reason that we shouldn't all get together for 1 freaking night and grind out some levels together.  We aren't doing it because its impossible to get challenges solo (I assumed that would be obvious, mr karl pants).  The goal is to get more and more of us PLAYING TOGETHER and closer together in level so we can do more of the same things.  If that means you have to take a single night break from trying to hit level 70, then OMG - you now have folks you usually play with closer to that goal because of your benevolence.  It's not that bad being good guy pacov or good guy karl for a single night. Think about it for 2 seconds.  If I was level 70 and so were you karl, don't you think we'd play together frequently?  I do.  So, my simple goal is to get as many of us up in level as possible and build some relationships along the way. 

I think we should help people get to 30 so we can all play together. My solution to this is to host OCCASIONAL guild nights were we just hang out and try to level in areas where folks have not all cleared.  The amount of EXP you get should be pretty damn comparable to what you get soloing a level 70 whatever.  Pretty sure they designed it that way.  Pretty sure if my statement is right... well... smeh on your head.  I'd love to play with folks - PERIOD.  If I don't soon, I'll likely just phase back to lol.  Its boring to just grind out levels alone.  Some people like that crap.  I'm not a fan.  So, the solution is to help folks  Eg - my simple solution is to get everyone together for a single night and grind out some levels and enjoy playing together. 

Consider the basic math - no real loss to you for a few hours and still gaining the same xp (side note - I've actually had Amazing item drops in level 1-15 areas as a level 29 - pretty sure that will happen for you as well... again they appear to have designed it this way).  You bring players that you know/like (at least some) up to your level more quickly.  You build a sense of community.  Or you can grind out and just play with folks that do the same without getting bored out of their minds.  I'll give you what I think is the clear and proper solution - help folks in your guild.  Especially help folks you know.  You benefit by keeping people playing a game you like.

Anyway, we need to build a real sense of community imo.  asap.  Make an effort pretty please. 

Yes, I'm also suggesting that we get together and play as a group.  It's just that I'm saying that if we go through the effort to schedule something, we could consider doing something other than simply grinding out more levels.

Grinding levels can be boring.  But the gameplay is even more boring if you do it as a group - everything is absurdly easy, so its shooting fish in a barrel.  This can be offset by having people around to play with, but its not ideal.

Basically, what I'm saying is that I'm all for getting together and playing.  I'd just rather not have our first get together be a "let's take a break from grinding levels alone so that we can grind levels together".  The dynamic scaling systems lets you do fun things as a larger group even if you aren't the same level.  Let's take advantage of that and do group content as a group (meaning dungeons if we have a high enough % at 30, WvW otherwise), and leave solo content for random guild pickup groups

If people disagree with me and really want to group up to grind some more, fine.  I'll help out.  But I'm just making an alternative suggestion.

It's not really important since I'm not that concerned with my xp/hour or getting 1337 drops, but as an FYI:

The system is designed so that you can go back and help friends and get some reward, but your xp and drops are way scaled back.  I'd say that xp gain is about half what it would normally be at level appropriate content.  You do sometimes get drops at your clevel instead of the mob level, but they are much rarer.

Once again, not a big deal, but as an FYI.

I queued up the guild stash before heading into work this am.  fyi

sweet

Pacov will probably post something in a minute, but I thought I'd throw my thoughts up as well.

Tonight we tried a dungeon. It went poorly.

Like, very poorly.

We started it with only 4 people, and going into it, I think we all had our grinding DPS builds going, which caused a party wipe on the very first enemy. And another one.

We did improve, with time, only being wiped when faced with multiple opponents, but I think we were too slow to adjust.

Unfortunately, it looks like the only XP you get is for completing the dungeon itself, which after 2 hours we had failed to do. I've heard it's fantastic XP if you do complete it. We just aren't there yet.

Wait til 40

do Caudecus Manor over and over and over

it rewards well and is ridiculously easy to complete

I can do a CM run in about 9 minutes if I have a good team, and 30 minutes if we spend too long on it. 20k Exp per run. Grinding to level 80 has never been easier. Of course you probably shouldn't abuse the Manor as the developers probably won't like that.

Current level: 74.85 hue

I agree. the Manor is much easier.

Its sad really that the first dungon they give you is stupidly hard. Hence my rant about dungons being lame with crappy rewards.

For a game that boast that you didnt need roles to complete stuff, its sure looking like you need those dedicated roles.