Comments on: Two’s Company: Duoing in MMOs

By: A holiday, a holiday, the first one of the year! Best of 2009. « Welcome to Spinksville!

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:07:18 +0000

[...] Two’s Company: Duoing in MMOs [...]

By: Twan

Twan — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:49:18 +0000

Great post, thank you!

By: Beej

Beej — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:27:17 +0000

I thought duoing in Warhammer Online was fantastic. I had one buddy I played with, and we were able to take on lost of public quests alone until we got to Tier 3 and 4. When we needed help, we would often have an open group set up or join an open group, and it was a great way to meet other people.

I know that’s a limited system since it’s not in other MMOs, but it worked SO well in WAR that I hope future games take the open group system and expand it. It might be my favorite part of that game, and since duoing is my favorite way to group, it really helps the confining feeling that can often come with a questing BFF.

By: /AFK – July 26 « Bio Break

/AFK – July 26 « Bio Break — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:09:08 +0000

[...] Two heads are better than one, especially when gaming a MMO, Spinks thinks. [...]

By: Brian 'Psychochild' Green

Brian 'Psychochild' Green — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 01:29:38 +0000

I’ve been playing LotRO with my better half, and we’ve run into a lot of these issues. The social aspect is the biggest for us. We actually game in the same room, so we talk instead of typing chat. That tends to put some other people off, I think. They don’t realize if I’m typing I’m not referring to my better half.

This has bit us on the ass lately as we’ve come to some of our higher level quests that absolutely require a group. Since we formed a small guild for us and our alt characters, we’re not in a larger guild that we can call upon to help. We’re considering joining another guild, but it feels a bit cheap to just go join them mostly so we can get help on larger quests. I’m also not sure if she’ll enjoy raiding, especially with the radiance gear requirements currently in the game and the grind that entails.

I’m playing LotRO right now instead of WoW because my GF is playing LotRO. She got sucked into that game, and I have a blast playing it with her. I agree: I wish there were more options for playing with smaller groups, even if it’s not the better half.

By: He’s gone from bad to… « standing at the back in my sissy robe

He’s gone from bad to… « standing at the back in my sissy robe — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:15:03 +0000

[...] in the week, Spinks was thinking about the anti-social consequences of adventuring in pairs and new possible directions for duo-themed content in MMOs, which led to a fascinating post over at [...]

By: Saylah

Saylah — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:01:31 +0000

@Wildgrowth – I completely agree. I think many players forget that some people play MMOs to escape for a bit and aren’t interested in direct socialization with others at all times. I find it extremely relaxing to go off in a corner of a game and grind sometimes – release my frustration by obliterating pixel enemies.
Other times you want to be in large boisterous groups – 40 man raids. Or very small personal groups like duo play with a partner, sibling, friend or child. I’d love to see the day when all of these group compositions can be satisfied within the same game and has scaled content so players can choose the group size for instanced content.

By: Grim

Grim — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:11:09 +0000

I duoed to 80 w/ my RL wife (Human Warlock / Shadowpriest duo). We’re now leveling up a Warrior / Druid duo, currently in their low 50s. We duo a couple of levels and then powerlevel a level in an instance for the gear.

Grim

By: Vicki

Vicki — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:09:01 +0000

I duoed with my boyfriend (holy pally and tank druid) from 70-80 which was great fun And with a tank and a healer you very seldom seem to have problems filling an instance group

And it’s not only for people who live in the same house (although it is often)… he duoed an alt with his brother who lives interstate as a way to keep in touch and hang out

By: Rohan

Rohan — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:33:46 +0000

One important thing about duoing that’s not often considered is that it has a large impact on system requirements.

A couple or family rarely has two top-of-the-line computers. They might have one edge computer, but the other computer will be a few years older. Then the oldest computer gets an upgrade, and the other person lags behind.

So it’s important that your game be playable on the *second* household computer. I think that is where WoW has a marked advantage. A lot of newer MMOs are definitely playable on the first system, but won’t run on the second system in the household, and so the couple cannot play together.