I apologize in advanced for the wall of text. I have some downtime at work and trying to compile my thoughts into a useful place. When I first played EverQuest on live, I was a young teenager and I didn't really know what I was doing. (I probably still don't, ha) I had dabbled in Ultimate Online briefly and I didn't really understand EQ. I got into it because my RL friend showed me this amazingly awesome RPG and I was hooked. Tried a wizard, kept dying after level 8. Tried a rogue, got to about 12 before I met the same fate. I knew there were other people playing but I stupidly didn't know you could group. (I had a bad friend, haha). I confided to my friend and rather than remind me you could group, he told me, "Hey you should try a necromancer.." and I never looked back. I literally soloed from 1-60, and eventually went on to solo about 400+ AAs, too. Eventually, much, much later, I realized that you could group and of course felt like a complete idiot. Anyway, when I came to TAKP, I promised myself I would try and do it differently this time around... I would make it a POINT to group, I would go out of my way to group. I was delighted to find that Rimi played here, as I had shared a guild with him during my time on the Tribunal, and looked up to his crazy-solo-charming-ways. Unfortunately for me, when I first started on TAKP, I had a very young daughter and my playtime juggling with parenting made it really difficult to continue at any reasonable rate. What feels like years later, I returned to you all a few weeks ago and have been trying my best to stay focused and level...but I feel like I am having a bit of "leveling block" if that makes sense. I tend to have a pattern, and, I fully admit that I am extremely impatient (because I tend to log off and find something else to do since I have limited playtime): But I try to log in, get an idea of what everyone is up to, and then put one of my trio up for LFG. Or, I offer to use my trio and have someone else join with me. And, truthfully, I don't get a lot of responses. To those of you that have included me, I am eternally grateful and appreciative. Some of my guildies have taken pity on me and let me join them, and they're rockstars haha. I know that TAKP is top-heavy, and I understand that a lot of people are working on extremely high-brow stuff (camping VT shards, working on epics, trade skills, etc) and I certainly never ever expect anyone to offer a group. I got some tips from Rimi, but I am also extremely introverted and directly DMing people is super rough for me...so my question is, what is the best way to advertise that I'm looking for a group? I want to be polite and respectful and offer up my services... I'm not even really interested in loots or drops. At the end of the day, I'm really just interested in getting my guys to 60 and, eventually getting some AAs. I do realize that my trio doesn't lend itself well to solo dungeon crawling, but truth be told, I sort of prefer not boxing. I feel like I want to get my enchanter and druid to 60 just to help buff people and PL a rogue or bard so I can just play one of them as DPS and join into other people's trios. I don't know...maybe it's a question of motivation based on my poor trio choice? But at any rate, I feel like this is the best community to provide feedback. [Edits for typooos]
It's a bit tough at the moment due to very few people exping from what I can see. Grinding AAs is extremely unfavorable at the moment due to some recent experience mechanic changes. Lots of people are just either raiding, or tradeskilling. I can use a lot of AAs for my chars, but there is currently no sane reason to even attempt this until PoP comes out. If you were trying to exp a year ago it would have been a lot different. It used to be fun. Sorry.
My trio is Bard 40, Shaman 36, Mage 32. I've also got a Warrior 24, Cleric 26, Druid 34. Not sure what level your toons are, but I'm willing to play my bard solo, or have you join my trio anytime. I'm in PST timezone. Unfortunately I'm not on very often, which is why I'm still levelling slowly, but feel free to send me a tell. I'm usually on the bard. Names are all in the signature. Post in Alliance chat that you're LFG, and turn the LFG tag on is my only suggestions. Find people that play the same times you do, and as you build connections with those people, you'll ideally have people to group with anytime you play.
My "main" trio is level 51 Nec, 51 Dru, and 50 Enc. And my secondary trio is 35 SK, 35 Bard, and 35 Cle. Honestly, it would be really cool for me to sneak my bard into your trio with warrior and cleric or maybe focus on that rogue and get him around your level for some hot DPS. But yeah, I mean I post in Alliance, I turn the LFG on, I am super excited to build connections and make friends and that sort of thing - I am not a freeloader, I know how to play my classes (though I admit I am not very "swift" at boxing), but yeah it's just that initial push. Maybe Rimi is right... maybe it's just something that is going to suffer a bit until POP comes out, who knows.
You might try picking an interesting zone and an evening when you have several hours free, then posting a few days in advance on these forums. "ToFS crawl Friday at 8 PM EST, levels 35-45 welcome, 5 3 slots still available." That sort of thing.
When you log in, you could do some /who searches for the level range of the guys you're playing and see if it looks like anyone out there is exping. Then don't be afraid to send a tell and ask if they would like some company. If you were single or double boxing, you'd be improving their exp gain just by being present. Even if you join as another trio, their exp is going to be much faster assuming you are contributing to the group. Or if the idea of sending a direct tell seems imposing to you, you could instead travel to the zone and then OOC your message. For myself at least, I'm going to respond one way or another to either of those message. An Alliance chat LFG message will be seen by lots, but may not get many responses. Pithy's has a good idea for setting up groups in advance. If you're looking to set up a group on the spot when you log, it can help to pick zones that are convenient to access. For example your 50's combo can probably kite in Maiden's Eye, and that is an easy place for people to join in and leave as their time allows. Set up camp and advertise in Alliance that a kite group in ME is looking for more, anyone welcome. KC and Velks would also be good zones for the 50's group. For your 30's you could pick zones like OT, City of Mist, or Sol B entrance. If you get more people, you can drop 1 or 2 boxes as you like.
Those are really good suggestions, thanks Sverder. I'll try to get more comfortable sending tells to people. I really hate the idea that I might be bothering them or feel like I am asking for something. Asking in OOC is not a bad idea either. I mean, to be clear I can absolutely continue leveling on my own with my own 3-box. It's not hard to fear kite with a nec/dru/enc - especially if I have a charmed pet. It's just whether or not my desire to get 60 outweighs my desire to solo, hah. I wanted to try and make friends and set up some cool groups - maybe do some stuff I wasn't able to do before, you know? I also like Pithy's idea, too and honestly I think when I get at least my enchanter and druid to 60 I'll probably focus on getting my rogue/bard up in levels so I can swing into people's trios to contribute. KC and Velks does sound pretty good, though. Velks is super easy to get to, too.
