Realisation - eFriends Are Key

Frwends!

At this moment in time I have not one, not two, but three MMO accounts currently open. These are Warhammer Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Dark Age of Camelot.

The predicament I find myself in is that my Warhammer guild up-rooted and moved to SW:ToR when it released as it was quite obvious that BioWare had decided to cut WAR loose and let it fester in the abyss until it either dies or the electric bill for the server room becomes more than the active subs. Seeing as my guild moved on I followed , however I have realised that blasters and Jedi aren't really my cup-o-tea and I much prefer the sword, shield and sorcery MMORPG.

This has fueled my re-enlistment in my second favourite MMO (DAoC) and the once-hoped successor Warhammer Online, to try and re-ignite the enjoyment I used to have in those games before they became hindered by either lack of players and/or lack of developer direction. I have found however, that it's one thing to jump back into a game and find PUGs to run with or go it solo, but the fundamental requirement to having a good experience in an MMO in my opinion has to be friends, be them e-friends or otherwise.

My experience after jumping back into DAoC was OK, notably as I did not venture out into the level 50 open RvR lakes, instead I stuck to the lower level Thidranki Battleground. I found it relatively easy to find a group and when that group included half-savvy players we tended to kill more than we were killed.

Warhammer was more of a mixed bag. In tier 4 I spend a good 30 minutes each night asking in regional chat if any groups required a RR80 Choppa, but it seems that I was either too low for the elitist swines, or no-one understood my English on a European server.... I'm not sure, /meh. On the flip side when I dropped down a few tiers to T2 I managed to jump into an already open warband or could put together a group in no time at all and there were plenty of fights to be had, which makes me want to log into the lower tiers much more often.

In all of these games if I have my e-friends with me I have had no issues forming groups, getting help with quests or running premade groups, all of which takes the hassle out of LFG'ing and adds a huge amount to the enjoyment of PvP as you can stomp more people if you know who you're grouped with, their ability and are on comms ;).

What I'm trying to say is don't bother retuning to an MMO's unless you have pals that will come with you or if you're certain to be able to easily find a group/set of new friends.

Ish