I guess that depends on your definition of 'great', and that seems rather personal to me (as I'm sure you are aware yourself :)). To me it's the friendly people who go out of their way to help someone, who take the time to explain things to a new player, who are kind in chat and not quick to judge someone else and/or their performance. Decent human beings. If they can play rather well that's a wonderful bonus of course but not a requirement.
Nanoushka said:I guess that depends on your definition of 'great', and that seems rather personal to me (as I'm sure you are aware yourself :)). To me it's the friendly people who go out of their way to help someone, who take the time to explain things to a new player, who are kind in chat and not quick to judge someone else and/or their performance. Decent human beings. If they can play rather well that's a wonderful bonus of course but not a requirement.
Agree 100%. The great players are the ones you look forward to talking to when login in in the morning or after work. The ones that are friendly and helpful. I can put up with someone who isn't that great at playing their class if they are nice and friendly but I absolutely hate people who are arseholes and never want to group with them. I play MMOs for fun and dealing with people who are unkind or not team players just ruins the fun for me. From what I have seen the Pantheon community should be pretty good as everyone seems pretty nice from the interactions I have had from the community so far.
You can teach someone how to play a game. You can't teach someone to be a nice and decent human being.
I would break it up into a few categories, individual, group and guild/raid areas.
However, in all of those areas it boils down to who makes gaming fun for those around them and keeping the constant learner mentality.
As the posters before have alluded to, those people who play hard, play for others as well as play for themselves without getting too exclusive of a mindset or locked in that thier heal/burn/casting rotation is infailbiy accurate and can't be contested by the likes of anyone!!
From a raid capacity.
I've never been a big fan of "white knuckled" raiding...you know..those moments where you are gonna get minus 50 DKP for medding at the wrong time or moving a mob 1 inch out of place or goading your ranger buddy who just came back from AFK into running in b/c they've been shouting for you to start the event while you were AFK OMG....
Keeping it fun without losing control of 54+ people is a tricky balance, but those who admit their mistakes try new tactics and take advice in stride by piecing together a great approach from multiple resources has very often resulted in a great sense of pride of your guild.. however, keeping your pride from turning into Elitest ego is tough :D
Decent social skills, integrity, and embodying some values: selfless, humble, tolerant, compassionate, patient. You find people that check off these boxes, and the rest just seems to take care of itself. You can still have a wide variety of personalities without feeling like you're in some sorta echo chamber. Also it just really seems like in an environment devoid of DBags, good people that are mediocre gamers actually become better gamers - allow a tactless punk in the mix and any skill mentoring will be temporary at best.
I remember my guild leader from my old EQ guild (Dragonflyers/Cascade Pont on Rodcet Nife), he is what I think as an shining example of that makes a great player. He went out of his way to help all members of the guild, setting up things, be it grouping, raiding or just meeting up somewhere to goof around. He was also a really good player, knowing his class very well (shaman). But most important of all he was just a really nice guy. But all in all, there were just really many great people in that guild who were friendly, helpful, nice people.
Players who ask for the best in those around them, who help others improve, but don't demand performance goals. All too often people ask what they could accomplish if everyone else I play with were just as good as I am. If people teach themselves to tone down the ego and work in the best interest of those around them, then everyone will enjoy themselves. These guidelines are something that I have frequently failed at in my time in MMOs, but I would like to be better.
Nanoushka said:I guess that depends on your definition of 'great', and that seems rather personal to me (as I'm sure you are aware yourself :)). To me it's the friendly people who go out of their way to help someone, who take the time to explain things to a new player, who are kind in chat and not quick to judge someone else and/or their performance. Decent human beings. If they can play rather well that's a wonderful bonus of course but not a requirement.
Haha exactly and you are correct, that is my point, this is a highly personal question and means different things to different people and I love hearing how the community interprets the word "great", everyone has an opinion on this, some think it is a high-end raider, something it is a helpful and selfless veteran, some think it is a skilled player who tops the damage, heals or aggro list, or who locks mobs down to save the day, others think it is someone who is simply not a douche lol, but either way it was a very open-ended question intentionally to get the most replies and engagement possible ;)
I like you answer too :)
Quite simply, great players enhance your enjoyment of the game.
They engage others with empathy and a helping hand ensuring the group moves forward in a positive manner. Great players have a high level of understanding in regards to class skills and encounter needs, proactively sharing that knowledge to the benefit of all. They are self-aware, balancing the needs of the guild with their own player progression.
Great MMO players are those who are having so much fun, they infect people around them and improve the quality of the game for everyone else. They are socially invested not just in their clicks, but in the population as a whole. They help break down barriers of entry for new players and remind veteran players how to enjoy the game through their actions and dialog.
It's all about improving the enjoyment of the game for others which makes people want to play more. Those are the greatest MMO players imo.
I've got to be honest here,
I've been playing MMO games ever since EQ1. I've seen it all as im sure most of you have. But i tend not to linger too much when i meet undesirable people.
From all these years, i can safely say, no matter which MMO, although it does help if its a fun MMO hehe, but i think the key importance of any MMO is the value a player brings to it. Which is why the world of MMO is a dangerous game to play if you are in finnance. They've been all sort of MMO that tried to make a buck but failed, and they failed because they had one vision in the end and that was the dollars they could quickly put into their pockets and get the hell out of the dodge.
Players are what makes a game. Players are the ones the decides where to put their money and who to support. But the bigger the game is the more chances are you will meet all sorts of characters. It will be up to you on who you want to spend your evenings and weekends with. You do have a choice and i hope Pantheon will encourage these choices.
Its funny i see this post as last night i was playing another game and we were raiding, i was playing my worst tank of the list of tanks i got and it could still do the job. But this raid required 2 tanks, well guess what the other tank wanted to do all the job himself... and was a real pain about it... aggressive, condesending, complaining... i was there with a few other of my friends and they were the only reason why i stayed, of course they didn't hear what he was saying on TS... and luckly they didn't but that is beside the point. The point is this, it made me appreciate the friends i have online knowing they would not act this childish or be the awsomness posers like the others do, because they are awsome just who they are, they are down to earth have humility. They will own up to mistakes when really it wasnt a mistake as i keep telling them its part of the game we've seen it happen before and it will happen again, yet they show me compasion towards our friends and to each other.
These are the types of people i will be playing with in Pantheon.
Thanks
B
Other than general social skills, the most important quality imo is the desire to improve. Nobody can just pick up an mmo and play a class well. You will always need to put effort into understanding your class and then compare results with other players in order to reach an optimal level of play.
In my opinion what makes the best player(s) is one that has clarity of mind in the sustainability and long term viability of the game, as this is beneficial for all players and to continue have players. This person can then focus on the incremental needs of current state of being, i.e. the possibilities may include: be new player advocate/mentor, setting up end game community gatherings, answering questions, role playing, advocating game norms, etc... The long term vision with focus on curtailing or improving community experience is what separates out this person from those whom might be on the receiving end of the equation.
TLDR:
Align with the vision of the game, take an inventory of the current state of the game, then aligns oneself to promote/advocate the necessary to course correct and improve overall game experience for all. Rinse-and-repeat
Someone who engaged and engaging. Engaged to the point of being aware in the game, and playing to the best of their abilities, and the most important, engaging. Lets face it mostly all of us have to work or do something other than game 24/7, and when we play we want that experience enjoyable and transforming. Hell you have your boss who is up your a$$ all day long why would you want to play a game with someone who yells at you for not getting a heal in time and what have you. I want someone in the group who make playing the game fun and memorable, helping transform that time playing into your personal escape, even if just for that brief time, from that ever day grind we call life.
Great players? If this was a job I'd talk about ability to do it well and endless hours spent working, But this is a game. So no high end raiders for me unless they meet the other criteria.
People that take it seriously not the hahaha I screwed up and we all died but who cares it is a game haha types. We have all seen these. But not so seriously that they are nasty or unpleasant to others (without good reason). Nice, and patient to those that are trying to learn without necessarily being patient towards those that simply don't care.
A good sandbox mmo is just an abstraction of the real world and generally functions in a pretty similar way.
Having a high IQ / good social skills is what will seperate people out. The smarter you are the more likely you'll be able to push the envelope, thus be defined as great.
Oh and you also need a decent chunk of spare time to give to the game, but that almost goes without saying.
In MMOs today, everyone is the same. The only way that someone has a wide spread reputation is because they have the best gear and are ahead of the rest of the player base. It is like playing a game such as League of Legends or World of Tanks, players who are good and play ALOT have the highest rating and therefore are looked at in high esteem from the rest....
You want to look at what gave real legendary status in MMOs; look at what Starwars Galaxies had. Unlocking Jedi was truly EPIC. Only a handfull of people were lucky enough and put in the extremely hard work to do it and they were justly rewarded with a near godlike character that put fear into the heart of their enemies. I was one of those Jedi on Gorath. I would have people lined up in Theed wanting to test their pvp builds in duels; rebels would scatter just seeing my name, I could solo ToOW instances and even bring down Sher Kar all by myself - which would bring in a great amount of cash by selling loot runs. There was another, even more legendary Dark Side Master Jedi named -blackwidow on my server whom I saw take down 12 rebel players all by herself. Feats of greatness and uniqueness are brought from mechanics like that.
Of course players being able to craft the BEST gear and weapons in the game also brought renown; there were only certain crafters I would buy from because they crafted the best items and I would send people to them for gear or custom orders.
SWG had the best social interaction in any mmo since or after; player cities, private housing, cantinas. (where everyone would gather for guild events or player ran events such as pvp tournaments and even weddings)
Each city even had a mayor election system, the person who would run the city. It is something that was lost and playing on the Emu servers are just not the same. Every server has their own spins on the game and kind of ruin the experience.
I know Pantheon wont be like that but it is going to bring back what made MMOs great in the first place.
Nanoushka said:I guess that depends on your definition of 'great', and that seems rather personal to me (as I'm sure you are aware yourself :)). To me it's the friendly people who go out of their way to help someone, who take the time to explain things to a new player, who are kind in chat and not quick to judge someone else and/or their performance. Decent human beings. If they can play rather well that's a wonderful bonus of course but not a requirement.
Pretty much this, someone who helps you out and when you get up to his level or become as experienced as he was when you were new you tried to be just like him, obviously different in some way but for the most part you went around and helped others, maybe even with the same exact thing you were stuck on when you were new. in moments like this it all about paying it forward.