Multiparty concern.

[Zinaida]

I'm going to get to the point. Is there any particular reason why people make parties for multiparty areas, then decide to make their party full of bots? Bots take up slots, and are an effective waste of space compared to other players. It's also pretty counterproductive.

Up until the blocks were changed, I had no issue going to a highly populated block to find multiparties, but it seems everywhere I go I can no longer find a proper multiparty group and just single parties full of bots, effectively making the maximum amount of real players nine or below.

[xBladeM6x]

It's what happens when everyone is locking, friends only, or anything along those lines, their parties. I can't tell how how much I have been unable to join parties on missions I want / need to do, only because they set a password on it, or change it to be friends only. It's like, why? I understand wanting to play with friends, but isn't more teammates better? It's becoming a hassle to play in parties when no one is on, to play with.


At that point, you say "forget this" and just make your own party with bots. :-x

[Kanore]

because MMOs suck

i'd rather play a massively singleplayer online rpg

[Blackheart521]

because MMOs suck

i'd rather play a massively singleplayer online rpg

I laughed pretty hard at this ^^

[Zero_Virus_X]

You should be able to make a room with some options like for example; Human only, full only (means only three 4/4 parties instead of adding smaller parties to get to 12 people) , Free only (no password/friend set).

[Hrith]

It's also incredibly annoying how MPAs can be full when the party is at 1/4 and no password/restriction.

MPAs ruin the fun of this game.

[Jakosifer]

It's more accurate to say that people who fill up slots with bots ruin the fun of this game. Sure they spawn more enemies if you're solo, but if you're in a hotspot mission with a big MP map, you won't need them for that. If you want boosted affection...do Forest 1 repeatedly.

[jooozek]

PUGs are horrible anyway so I don't care anymore about NPCs.

[Neith]

MPA's are brilliant, but they should work more like the emergency missions and not allow NPC characters to join. I do wish that missions were either entirely single party or entirely multi party though. Not a big fan of how a mission can change between the two and it overcomplicates the situation with NPCs.

[Rauten]

It's like, why? I understand wanting to play with friends, but isn't more teammates better?

No.

If I want to play with friends, then I want to play with friends, and no one else. I'll derive more enjoyment out of partying with exclusively friends than I will out of opening the remaining 1-2 slots for strangers just to clear the missions faster.
The stranger would be an annoyance, and since I'd be playing with IRL friends, all of which speak spanish, and we communicate using VoIP communication and coordination with the "extra" party member would be a slight pain in the ass.

So, no. Party locked, friends only.

[Coatl]

PUGs are horrible anyway so I don't care anymore about NPCs.

Just why.

[xBladeM6x]

No.

If I want to play with friends, then I want to play with friends, and no one else. I'll derive more enjoyment out of partying with exclusively friends than I will out of opening the remaining 1-2 slots for strangers just to clear the missions faster.
The stranger would be an annoyance, and since I'd be playing with IRL friends, all of which speak spanish, and we communicate using VoIP communication and coordination with the "extra" party member would be a slight pain in the ass.

So, no. Party locked, friends only.

I can understand that, as I typically engage in private parties when people are on, but everyone?I have to hop blocks for like 15 minutes until I find one open party doing the mission I want. By time I find a party that's open, I'm almost too frustrated to give a damn by that point.

It's more that it seems like it's stupidly hard to find one for no reason.

[Zorafim]

This has really frustrated me, too. It's gotten to a point where some parties I've been in were more than half bots. That really cuts down on the exp when the party's full. I can understand having one or two, but at least leave space for new people.

[Gardios]

I used to make full NPC parties when I just needed an S rank clear or something, but once I got to Lv 20 and never found parties with free slots I stopped doing so... I don't even care if my party is talk active or not (not that I mind if they are!), I just want to play with other humans!

[MoonlightMyau]

See this is why I think the client order/story missions and the open & multiparty missions should be completely separate. It's all a bit messy how it is at the moment.

[EJ]

i play with a full party of npc because finding ppl to play with or open games are like impossible to find anyone else to play with.

[Scarlet_Rain]

I really hope ppl who bring NPCs aren't intent on multipartying. As fort the ppl that join multiparties(especially with 3 NPCs) F$%K YOU!

[Hrith]

I don't even care if my party is talk active or notNPCs talk more than humans.

[gigawuts]

If I bring NPC's it's because if I leave my party open either nobody joins or only somebody who rants on about how useless hunters are and how only forces and rangers matter will join my game.

Also, it's pretty neat to be able to answer the phone in the field and have my NPC's defend me. Triple force for life, all dat resta.

[Chik'Tikka]

Something i found that works, (now that i know how to kick) is invite two bots (usually a force and a hunter/ranger, often Ferria and Eastwood) and when a person joins as a 4th, i kick a bot (Eastwood 1st) then when a second joins I remove the Ferria bot+^_^+

[velociti]

No.

If I want to play with friends, then I want to play with friends, and no one else. I'll derive more enjoyment out of partying with exclusively friends than I will out of opening the remaining 1-2 slots for strangers just to clear the missions faster.
The stranger would be an annoyance, and since I'd be playing with IRL friends, all of which speak spanish, and we communicate using VoIP communication and coordination with the "extra" party member would be a slight pain in the ass.

So, no. Party locked, friends only.

nobody is telling you to play with people and to not lock rooms, just be conceited and get on with the game. Oh voip you are so cool, just say ventrilo/mumble/teamspeak bro.

[Phantasma]

This has really frustrated me, too. It's gotten to a point where some parties I've been in were more than half bots. That really cuts down on the exp when the party's full. I can understand having one or two, but at least leave space for new people.
^ THIIIIIIIIIIS.

I usually go to like 6/12 MPAs with 2 bots on my team, then if someone joins my party, I go back to the ship and remove a bot, and again if someone else joins. However, it gets kinda annoying to manage when no one joins the party and just makes their own, then I don't know when to remove bots especially when people stick to area 1 of MPAs as I stick to area 2. I'm okay with running solo in a MPA, just NOT okay with the lack of people in MPAs i.e. day 1 Tundra.

[eharima]

Something i found that works, (now that i know how to kick) is invite two bots (usually a force and a hunter/ranger, often Ferria and Eastwood) and when a person joins as a 4th, i kick a bot (Eastwood 1st) then when a second joins I remove the Ferria bot+^_^+

You have no idea how multi party area works.

[gigawuts]

nobody is telling you to play with people and to not lock rooms, just be conceited and get on with the game. Oh voip you are so cool, just say ventrilo/mumble/teamspeak bro.

I wasn't aware VOIP was an elitist term. I thought it was just generic term for any VOIP program.

[terrell707]

You have no idea how multi party area works.

That bot he kicks frees up room in the MPA for another person to join the area or to join his party.

[Triple_S]

I wasn't aware VOIP was an elitist term. I thought it was just generic term for any VOIP program.

It isn't. That person is just overreacting.


I remember back in Closed Beta I'd find so many people in Multi-Party Areas. It was really nice; felt great just running into people and giving them a quick heal/buff and possibly tagging along.

I think the main issue is that more people realize that NPCs give powerful disks if you spam missions with them, but a lot of those people don't think to just spam the first quest over and over.

[DreXxiN]

Something i found that works, (now that i know how to kick) is invite two bots (usually a force and a hunter/ranger, often Ferria and Eastwood) and when a person joins as a 4th, i kick a bot (Eastwood 1st) then when a second joins I remove the Ferria bot+^_^+

That's what I do, but do note that I swear one my friends had one of his NPC's REPLACED by a player, so I wonder if that was a bug or if there's an option you can set in party creation to enable such a feature?


nobody is telling you to play with people and to not lock rooms, just be conceited and get on with the game. Oh voip you are so cool, just say ventrilo/mumble/teamspeak bro./

...So proper grammar/terminology/analogies are elitist now..? And who would want to play with you with that kind of attitude?

[gigawuts]

I did run an absolutely fantastic multiparty tundra free field last night. We must have fought twelve ragnes, and I got three rares - two of which being my first hunter rares (gunblades do not count). Sure, they were just zanbas, but they were MY zanbas.

I then proceeded to waste 120k and 34 grinders to get a lucky rise & another history zanba to +8 and will probably never turn a profit trying to sell it. I didn't quite think it through before I started grinding it...

But that's fine. I made easily 400k vendoring stuff, and sold 380k worth of 5 star items and disks overnight.

Multipartying is awesome when you can get it going, even if it sucks when you can't.

[Xaeris]

This has been getting on my nerves lately as well. All these blocks chock filled the capacity, yet, bots, bots and more bots everywhere I go. It boggles the mind. I guess this is the type of thing you have a guild (team) for, I guess. I was really hoping to involve that scene in this game, though.

[Kanore]

No.

If I want to play with friends, then I want to play with friends, and no one else. I'll derive more enjoyment out of partying with exclusively friends than I will out of opening the remaining 1-2 slots for strangers just to clear the missions faster.
The stranger would be an annoyance, and since I'd be playing with IRL friends, all of which speak spanish, and we communicate using VoIP communication and coordination with the "extra" party member would be a slight pain in the ass.

So, no. Party locked, friends only.

yeah man the PSO series has traditionally been a series in which using voice chat is much much much more convenient than sitting down and typing because of all the crazy action

it's hard to formulate a proper strategy for a mindless hack and slash game, can't waste time typing to stupid foreign pubs that don't speak my language

[DreXxiN]

This has been getting on my nerves lately as well. All these blocks chock filled the capacity, yet, bots, bots and more bots everywhere I go. It boggles the mind. I guess this is the type of thing you have a guild (team) for, I guess. I was really hoping to involve that scene in this game, though.

-shamelessly offers you to join the team I'm with- :D.

But yeah, I realize bots give you benefits but as I believe someone said earlier you can just S rank the level 1 mission repeatedly for the rewards and be done with it. I don't think it's even possible to get a Cross Burst with bots because they just aren't efficient enough. o_O

[Seizure Bot]

If I bring NPC's it's because if I leave my party open either nobody joins or only somebody who rants on about how useless hunters are and how only forces and rangers matter will join my game.

Forgive my ignorance, but I've never heard 'hunters are useless' before. Granted, I am pretty air headed. Why do people believe that?


I think the main issue is that more people realize that NPCs give powerful disks if you spam missions with them, but a lot of those people don't think to just spam the first quest over and over.

This is what I do. It's the most efficient way, isn't it?

[gigawuts]

Forgive my ignorance, but I've never heard 'hunters are useless' before. Granted, I am pretty air headed. Why do people believe that?

Kids seem to think that since hunters won't get 7k damage on weak bulleted weak points every time they attack hunters are useless.

If that gets shot down with "alright but I don't care about big numbers and I consistently get high damage with quickly refilling PP from all the melee I do" they just proceed to say that hunter is useless.

I'm already hearing every force and ranger I know say their class gets really boring because all they have to do is S+M1 all the time, and they're interested in going hunter because it seems like it's actually fun. Which it is. I carefully chose this class, by which I mean I could already tell how freaking boring shooting things from outside their attack range gets after a couple days.

[BogusKun]

You can set up a multiplayer party between you and friends using the same password. That's the only way it will work. Helps my teams every time. You just need 12 people of 3 teams and connect your parties to the main one.

[jooozek]

Just why.

Shitty implementation of the system. You can't see other parties in the big are map, only on that awfully small zoomed-in minimap. People split, people skip single monsters. People go in some direction then suddenly take a turn. You never know if they are going into that direction or going for some loot. PUGs are awful. I can't imagine effective farming of PSE without some kind of external voice chat software but at that time its not a PUG anymore.

[GrieverXVII]

After reading this entire thread and posts...I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here.

Me and my brother (huge fans of PSO) signed up and started playing since last week, considering not one of us can read or understand japanese, it's not easy trying to figure everything out here. So we've been traveling together, leveling up together everything almost identical to stay on the same page. we usually make a room just for us and password it...we didn't even find out we can add NPC's to our party until level 19...

the point i'm getting at here is, most of the posts in this thread almost make it sound like people are doing these things on purpose...some of us aren't (like us), we're just trying to play through the game and understand how to play it as we progress, i had no idea all this was affecting other players, i thought it was just in our best interest and play style to create a party password and add 2 bots as we both like to play together, most of us just don't understand the game yet (JAPANESE!) and a lot of us don't even know what we're doing half the time right now, I'm just speaking from my point of view being new to all this. Guides are great, but it's one thing at a time here...

Me and my bro have always just liked playing a game either splitscreen/online together just the two of us as a team, I don't mind playing with other people, but not understanding the language makes things very difficult at times. Yesterday i made a non-password room, had someone join us, hardly helped and ran ahead as we were trying to complete side quests...then after the mission and return to lobby, they just stayed in the party even though we had other side quests planned, but i couldn't communicate that because i don't speak japanese.

also this thread's directed to people like me just because i am doing exactly what is being hated upon in here, I'm not doing it intentionally...i just don't understand what everything means yet.
like what is PSE burst? what is cross burst? what is red emergency codes? how do you guys know that farming quest 1 with NPC's gives better disc drops? what benefits does multi party area's do for people, there's so many questions i have unanswered so far that i'm sure a lot of other people like me are in the same boat...so sorry we're upsetting you and your gaming experience...but as said, most of us just don't know how this game is played still.

[Zarode]

Who would've known such a first post would be such a great post.

Welcome to PSO-World, mind all the weeaboos who get butthurt over the slightest of things.

[GrieverXVII]

Who would've known such a first post would be such a great post.

Welcome to PSO-World, mind all the weeaboos who get butthurt over the slightest of things.

hah thanks. I actually remember using this website a looooooong time ago to build my mag during the PSO on dreamcast days, I've just never bothered to sign up or use the forum as...i don't even think i knew what a forum was at that time i was so young :\

[Silvermember]

snip

I totally agree with the things you said, but my reason was because i did not know about the English community on ship 10, I played with bots to avoid a Japanese player joining my group. The reason being I feel bad not being able to communicate with them, so I Just play by myself.

edit: I played gw1 on and on for 6 years, so i don't mind using henchies (NPC) either.

[Phantasma]

i am doing exactly what is being hated upon in here

No you're not, since you didn't figure out that bots could be brought with you until recently lol.

I think this thread is picking at that one guy that brings 3 bots in his party to fill up slots in the 12-man multiparty in free fields that, hopefully, is meant for grinding/farming. This stops other real people from joining and reaping the benefits. If you're doing only quests, then you're not part of the problem as once you start a new quest, you leave whatever multiparty you were in and join a new one provided you don't limit participation from other parties.

tl;dr you're fine.

[HectorSirdam]

I create parties full of Partner NPCs and farm multiparty areas regularly for crap all the time, hell some of my friend's Partner NPCs are better to bring along than some actual players I've grouped with. Waiting for people to appear (who might never do so) to help fill out the ranks while I kill things at a slower rate by myself for missions such as the Level Cap increase isn't going to cut it.

Things aren't always going to go your way or as initially planned, so you adjust and play accordingly with or without other players. That being said, I love Multiparty areas. Whenever I see damage on my screen that is not my own, I follow it to the source and stick with the other group until one of us leaves usually making a few friends in the process. PSO2 has removed so much of the dumb shit that'd occur from doing such things (e.g. Kill Stealing, loot worries) that it's a no brainer now.

[Phantasma]

I create parties full of Partner NPCs and farm multiparty areas regularly for crap all the time, hell some of my friend's Partner NPCs are better to bring along than some actual players I've grouped with.

In that case, you've been playng with REEAAAAAALLY bad people and I am sorry for your loss.

[HectorSirdam]

In that case, you've been playng with REEAAAAAALLY bad people and I am sorry for your loss.

Hahaha it's only been a few instances, about 90% of my experiences have been positive. One guy though. ..that guy :-?. I do agree with the idea that players should be able to take the spot of an NPC if the party isn't locked, that way everyone wins.

[gigawuts]

NPC's CAN be great if you're not looking for a multiparty and either passing through or casually doing a client order (I think that's their entire point). They don't get impatient, they heal you with resta, they defend you, and they never run off in random directions and whine that nobody's helping tem. Not to mention the whole self-resing thing.

But I'm pretty sure they don't count when the game determines how difficult spawns should be, so the drops and experience are worse than if you have players. I believe that's the real reason multipartiers dislike them, but I could be mistaken.

[GrieverXVII]

NPC's CAN be great if you're not looking for a multiparty and either passing through or casually doing a client order (I think that's their entire point). They don't get impatient, they heal you with resta, they defend you, and they never run off in random directions and whine that nobody's helping tem. Not to mention the whole self-resing thing.

But I'm pretty sure they don't count when the game determines how difficult spawns should be, so the drops and experience are worse than if you have players. I believe that's the real reason multipartiers dislike them, but I could be mistaken.

This was very insightful, thank you. Good reasonings for both sides. Im trying to scavenge through the 144 paves of that question thread to find out how pse burst and cross bursts work along with some other things. It was mentioned here but what was the benefit of doing quest 1 with bots over and over again for?

[Malevolent215]

Hey look I'm one of those players that purposely do MPA runs with 3 NPCs. My friend and I both do it, together.

I'm not sure if all of you know this but you can "connect" to another party in a free field. We do it all the time, I create a party with 3 NPCs, then he does the same and connects to mine. You can do this by selecting a free field, the select a part to join but pick the second option. Then you create your own party an you will be in the same field as the party you selected.

Now, why do we do this? Well there's three reasons

1. We tested it and having 2 separate groups with 6 NPCs does create more spawns and events then if we are in the same party.

2. I'm sorry, but most players are unsocial or afk... I ask all the time in the lobbies if anyone wants to join our MPA group and I literally never get a response unless it is city, and that is still far from a guarantee.

3. Well... No matter what I put as the title or description, people rarely join our parties. When they do; they either wonder way off away from the group, or they don't read the party description and want to go to the boss.

I would pick real players over NPCs any day, but the truth is that NPCs are "reliable"... Players are not.

[Zinaida]

No you're not, since you didn't figure out that bots could be brought with you until recently lol.

I think this thread is picking at that one guy that brings 3 bots in his party to fill up slots in the 12-man multiparty in free fields that, hopefully, is meant for grinding/farming. This stops other real people from joining and reaping the benefits. If you're doing only quests, then you're not part of the problem as once you start a new quest, you leave whatever multiparty you were in and join a new one provided you don't limit participation from other parties.

tl;dr you're fine.

This, pretty much. I made this thread talking about people with party names/descriptions saying "Multi-party area/grind!" then I see their entire party is full of bots. Sometimes people join multiparty areas automatically when they're just running through an area, you can't really hold that against them if they never planned to do multi-party and are just running through anyway.


I create parties full of Partner NPCs and farm multiparty areas regularly for crap all the time, hell some of my friend's Partner NPCs are better to bring along than some actual players I've grouped with. Waiting for people to appear (who might never do so) to help fill out the ranks while I kill things at a slower rate by myself for missions such as the Level Cap increase isn't going to cut it.

It's not a matter of waiting for people to appear, and instead just leaving bots in the party. If you're with another group, especially two full (human) parties, it'd be nice for other players and maybe even yourself to boot the bots from your party. I usually just solo until people join my party, but booting bots sounds pretty logical once you meet up with other players. It'd create more room, you have the other party watching your back, and if people see your multiparty area is 9/12 they will most likely join your party if they're looking for multiparties.

I really just posted to see other people's thoughts on this, and also because my experiences with multiparties lacking NPCs have been worlds better than ones with NPCs. NPCs, just like in PSU, just feel like good meatshields.

@Malevolent215

This might sound rude, but it's less that players are "unreliable" and more that you're unwilling to look hard. I just finished my PSO2 "day" after spending six hours in multiparties, either joining a multiparty group (and having others join my party) or making my own. We never lacked members, generally everyone stuck around and/or together, and I received about three rares.

Honestly, on a daily basis I run about 3-5~ hours of multiparty (or more, if I have more time) per day. Swapping blocks, being willing to solo in a 11/12 multiparty area or just being patient goes a long way. Honestly, I find it hard to believe how 'difficult' people keep exaggerating finding parties/multiparties is. I have the easiest time with it and I'm not doing anything special, and usually get a party the instant I look at the particular mission I want to do, unless it's an unpopular mission or everyone is dancing in the lobby.

Also, yes, NPCs do increase the spawn, but it doesn't change the fact you're still killing them slower than you would with other players.

[lilibat]

PSO was mostly a single player game for me. Especially back in the day one could walk through walls I would go online just to have more of a challenge. I occasionally played with people from Gamefaqs or IRL friends but for the most part I just loved running things alone.

Yeah I am kind of anti-social & either solo, duo with my husband, or play with a small group of IRL friends in MMOs in general.

I played beta but now I am waiting for English so I can enjoy the story. I pass/friend protected all my runs MPA or not. I hate PUGs in all games because 8 out of 10 are horrid. I think I did 3 PUGs ever in the original PSO, 1 was fine the other 2 were disasters.

You guys that are complaining about not having good multi groups really need to get together & make plans. It's so much a case of light a candle or curse the darkness. Others shouldn't have to play to suit your playstyle & you don't have to conform to theirs if you just find like minded players & make plans to play with them.

Also thanks for the tip about joining groups. My husband & I think each of us having a bot group could be fun. Don't like that? tphphpbbbbbbbt :-P

[velociti]

yea I understand, I just think an average pso player wouldn't know what a voip is.
Anyway, I forgot to mention about that guy who said "No", this thread was to talk about multiparty bots taking up space, which is not what you were talking about in the first place. You were talking about being cool, on whatever voip you use, locking rooms, turning multimode off (because you said you don't want to play with anyone besides your friends). So, you are basically not even interfering with their multiparty at all, so why did you even post that? He's talking about bots making the multiparty full, 12/12.

[sugarFO]

I dunno. If you really can't find an MPA join the JP ones always going on. To avoid the language barrier I just make my own party and join in. Haven't had a bad reaction so far.

[gigawuts]

yea I understand, I just think an average pso player wouldn't know what a voip is.
Anyway, I forgot to mention about that guy who said "No", this thread was to talk about multiparty bots taking up space, which is not what you were talking about in the first place. You were talking about being cool, on whatever voip you use, locking rooms, turning multimode off (because you said you don't want to play with anyone besides your friends). So, you are basically not even interfering with their multiparty at all, so why did you even post that? He's talking about bots making the multiparty full, 12/12.

But...he raises a point. Pubs can suck. Strangers can suck. At the end of a long day when all you want to do is relax and play a game, maybe you really just don't want new players coming into your room.

I've run into more than my fair share of irritating people who tell me I suck because I'm not playing their favorite class. And I'm not the one that said any of that, so direct your distaste elsewhere (or nowhere) please.

Oh, and, if a party takes a quest that has a multiparty area, yes, they do indeed take up space in a multiparty area until they finish or cancel the quest. So do their bots, even if they're not in the area merely having the quest still reserves the spots. Unless there's a way around that that I don't know about, that is.

[velociti]

What are you talking about, lol? Ofcourse I know how a multiparty works, and that bots get in the way, that's what I was saying. What's your point?

My point was that the dude who posted saying he plays with his friends and doesn't even multiparty - THEN DON'T POST.

There's an option to not multiparty link your room. He does that. So he isn't, as I am saying again, interfere with anyone's multiparty. So.................. basically his post was pointless. He just wanted to say "look I play the game, but you guys will never see me, I play with my spaniards."

[gigawuts]

Well that's not the vibe I got, but alright.

How do you drop yourself out of multiparty stuff? I haven't seen a translation of the party menu, and I've experimented, but I can't for the life of me figure it out.

[mhjc]

I don't mind people solo'ing with bots, but I'd prefer it if they keep themselves isolated instead of taking up room in other MPAs. Both Japanese and foreign players seem to do it. If they really do like to not play with others, then I'd like it if they just lock out their multiparty and make another instance.

Sometime I have groups of 3 and just need 1 more spot but then there's 2 players with bots and then that MPA is pretty bleh.

In most cases where I see tons of MPAs full of bots, I just make my own instance and then hope people join, but it can take half an hour sometimes because there are gaps in those other MPAs and they seem to get priority for more players when it is mostly bots.



Well that's not the vibe I got, but alright.

How do you drop yourself out of multiparty stuff? I haven't seen a translation of the party menu, and I've experimented, but I can't for the life of me figure it out.

Where you enter your password, click the bottom option in the checkbox, the top one opts you into multiparties.

[velociti]

Heh, someone told me it was one of the things you can check off, when you are creating your party.
edit: ah, already answered

[NoiseHERO]

Know what's more annoying?

People joining your party directly, without even greeting you, and when the mission starts they always run ahead and like solo on the other side of the map till they die...

I deal with it by making fun of them with my other party members in team chat.

[GrieverXVII]

I've been following this blog for most of my PSO2 needs http://bumped.org/psublog/phantasy-star-online-2-pre-open-beta-registration-guide/
whoever keeps that updated is purely awesome and a great help. but I just found out going to ship 02/ block 20 has like sooo many english players, it was like being on a NA server :O this whole time i was floating on block 11 -_-

this just gets better and better! now i can actually seek out english players who are on the same page as I. awesome!

[Arika]

Well. since I always play with JP, I think it is like...

lv 1-29 players = most JP people who started since OB, and still not reach 30 yet are kind of casual side. Usually casual JP do not read forum (unlike english community), and they do not know the benefit of emergency events when more people are on the map. When you tell them about it, they usually kick A.I. for you.

lv 30+ players = JP players at this level range currently are those with some in-game knowledge. and they usually start new multiple party with full 3x A.I. to fill party slot quickly and make people see 4/12 or 8/12 instead of 1/12 or 2/12 (to trap players to join). After the party become full 12/12, if they realized it, they will kick the A.I. by themselves. Sometimes they do not realized it tho. So you have to tell them and they will kick A.I. for you.

[NoiseHERO]

I've been following this blog for most of my PSO2 needs http://bumped.org/psublog/phantasy-star-online-2-pre-open-beta-registration-guide/
whoever keeps that updated is purely awesome and a great help. but I just found out going to ship 02/ block 20 has like sooo many english players, it was like being on a NA server :O this whole time i was floating on block 11 -_-

this just gets better and better! now i can actually seek out english players who are on the same page as I. awesome!

That's Ricardo Santilli!

God of the english playerbase.

Master of BARAs..

[JeyKama]

What the heck is a pub?

I don't have a team and mostly play on my own since my friends playing are on Japan time, but I've never had a problem finding a multiparty. I'm not inhibited by not knowing Japanese though, a simple "よろしく" at the start and "PTありがとう" at the end suffices for JP multiparty groups.

Multiparties with bots can't really be avoided, but you don't get as many spawns with a 3-bot party as you do with 4 real people, or as many events. Most roaming multiparty rooms are made passworded with the password in the description, so that people running with bots for whatever reason don't auto-join.

[gigawuts]

A pub or pug (actually, I never did find out if they were synonymous, I've just always assumed) is a public player who joins a random game. The stereotype is that they tend to be uncoordinated, irritating, immature, and demanding.

Or, in other words, twelve years old.

[Geistritter]

I never play with random people; I play with friends and only friends, and there's absolutely nothing that can be done in this game that can't be done by myself if necessary, as well.

If you don't like that, you're going to have to cope.

[Reyva]

Eh, if there is anyone to blame, you should blame good ol "Segac" for adding this into PSO2. They didn't have to do it lol. You see other games do fine without it. However, adding such a system has its pros and cons and the major con is that majority of people will use the npcs (friend/whoever or ingame npc). Its "there," why can't people use it? Not like you can stop them anyways.

Anyways, I remember a while back like when the level cap was bumped and I was doing that 90 quest item thing to unlock up to lvl 40, I did a forest run with my npcs. Guy in the multi-party area didn't like that and ended up black listing me in hopes that they wouldn't talk anymore lol. Kinda amusing.

Anyways, how I feel about the whole thing is that I don't really care. Its something you cannot control. Its something Sega can control, overall, however. So you can sit here all day, complaining left and right along with complaining with every person that has npcs in a MPA, but not a whole lot can be done. Just get rid of the "system" itself.

Eh the whole special city mission with no npcs is a good thing except I can solo the city if I wanted lol. So whenever I can't get into a city party or no one joins mine, I just solo the thing.

Eh and like others who posted before me, unlike PSU where I would only play with mostly random people and friends mostly and not my npcs, half the time I don't feel like partying with peeps for whatever reasons. I say whatever reasons because I doubt you'd want to hear them all which makes a incredibly long post, but the only one I will say is that having these random peeps in your party doesn't always mean greatness.

At the same time, PSO2 hasn't shown me the "difficulty" PSU or PSO had yet where I needed to be in a party. Lmao, anyone remember Hive from PSU? You try soloing the hardest difficulty with your NPCs and it be the longest run you've had.

In PSO, you had Seabed and the other areas. Try soloing those starting off. I know I had a horrible time.

Just sayin, right now, on my force and hunter, I can solo with or without my NPCs or anyone else. Only time I have difficulty is in a MPA where you have multiple emergency duel missions (Lmao 2 vol dragons and a spider is not fun to solo).

Eh and lastly, people have their own views about this. I got a friend who plays with only friends thus it would always be me, him, and two bots or his two friends. If he was by himself, he'd play with either friends or the bots.

Likewise, I am the guy that will play with whoever and then 100% of the time on some days, by himself. Some people who play with only friends and friends only seem to put "random people" down like they are some disease when they aren't. Thats how I met all the great people I met in most MMOs.

Anyways, all in all, I really don't care. It doesn't bother me. What bothers me is people in MPAs where I end up taking all the heat on a boss because of my damage/dps as a force and no tank lol. What bothers me are the npc versions of people I've met or friends who run their mouth. What bothers me are people who don't know where they are going and end up following me all the time.

Lmao that all grinds my gears, but still, I really don't care because its just "little things." So in the end, whenever I want to play with peeps, I'll play with peeps. When I want to play with NPCS, I'll play with them, regardless of what others may say.

Don't like it? Tell Segac to remove it because tbh, thats one of the best ways of improving the situation besides going back to PSU rules where if the NPC dies, it lowers your overall rank for the mission lol.

P.S I've had very long PSE bursts and cross bursts with my party of NPCs lol. And the other people in the area also had NPCs.

[DreXxiN]

A pub or pug (actually, I never did find out if they were synonymous, I've just always assumed) is a public player who joins a random game. The stereotype is that they tend to be uncoordinated, irritating, immature, and demanding.

Or, in other words, twelve years old.

PUG = Pick Up Group
PUB = usually referring to a single player

[BIG OLAF]

I never play with random people; I play with friends and only friends, and there's absolutely nothing that can be done in this game that can't be done by myself if necessary, as well.

If you don't like that, you're going to have to cope.

With an attitude like that, I think we're all better off. So, a thank you is in order.

[Zyrusticae]

With an attitude like that, I think we're all better off. So, a thank you is in order.
I second this.

Frankly, I don't really understand the folks who absolutely refuse to play with randoms. It's the only way you can meet new friends within the game, right? But I guess, if you're not interested in that, then... :-?

[mhjc]

I never play with random people; I play with friends and only friends, and there's absolutely nothing that can be done in this game that can't be done by myself if necessary, as well.

If you don't like that, you're going to have to cope.

I don't see how this relates to the thread. This thread is about multiparties and people taking up multiparty space, when they don't need it. If you prefer your friends, and only friends, more power to you; I hope you lock your room instead of taking up the MPA spaces.

[texhnolyze]

i play a lot with my friends, we have a full party most of the time
when i go solo or my friends are offline, i only bring 1 npc, which is a healer
i never lock my party, yet i rarely met another player join my party
is that good enough? :/

[Geistritter]

With an attitude like that, I think we're all better off. So, a thank you is in order.

Oh, brother.


I second this.

Frankly, I don't really understand the folks who absolutely refuse to play with randoms. It's the only way you can meet new friends within the game, right? But I guess, if you're not interested in that, then...

I'm not a sociable person, and don't have much interest in meeting new people. I also tend not to get along with most people, and don't really feel like correcting that. So, I keep to myself, or people I know well, and everyone's better off as a result.

Anyway, it would be even sillier than the indignation I'm getting if I didn't lock the room, wouldn't it?

I didn't mention back there that I sometimes invite NPCs (usually just my friends' clones for the day's FUN) when alone, because I'm a forgetful idiot, but I never claimed not to be one of those, I suppose.

[SaiKo]

Eh. Due to the way the content is set up in this game, I'm pretty set on playing solo, so I suppose I was a bit of an offender in this respect as I always haul around Maru, Echo, and Lisa with me... Though thus far, I've stuck mainly to questing anyway, so I hopefully haven't been too huge a burden.

Never really thought about any impact it would have on MPAs however, though I have found myself for the most part wishing the quests wouldn't even incorporate them. Guess I'll just use the second password option from now on. Thanks to those that mentioned that.

[Geistritter]

...You're seriously not hurting anything one way or the other by not doing so. This is just idle nitpicking and nothing more. Your consideration speaks well of you, but sometimes it's best not to humor the easily offended.

[Demon-]

Yeah it is very annoying when you join a multiparty area and there are a bunch of bots taking up slots. The only times I use bots is for getting client orders done or there aren't many people online. But even then I don't hang around multi areas long.

As for people that must only play with friends and lock parties. Take it to another block.