What is "playing together" for you?

Once you finally convince that one friend to try out the game, and they're ready to start the long slow trek up from level 1, maybe they're even interested in branching out and trying All The Things, where do you fit in with the "playing together"?

Crafting some gear to keep them rolling is handy.. but isn't a lot of "together."
Leves don't offer much reason to lend a hand.
Who even does guildhests? They don't last very long besides..
Best you get is dungeons, but even then they're just as likely to instantly hop in with Duty Support instead (and is even much fun just carrying them through?). [although synced BLU could keep things interesting..]

What is "playing together" in such a solo-friendly game?

I just made an alternate character to trek the story with him.

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Originally Posted by Hasrat

Once you finally convince that one friend to try out the game, and they're ready to start the long slow trek up from level 1, maybe they're even interested in branching out and trying All The Things, where do you fit in with the "playing together"?

Crafting some gear to keep them rolling is handy.. but isn't a lot of "together."
Leves don't offer much reason to lend a hand.
Who even does guildhests? They don't last very long besides..
Best you get is dungeons, but even then they're just as likely to instantly hop in with Duty Support instead (and is even much fun just carrying them through?). [although synced BLU could keep things interesting..]

What is "playing together" in such a solo-friendly game?

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You can get a 2 seater mount and be his taxi driver.

I play together on things I've already done by using New Game+ with my hubby. I also have an alt I keep to play with him if we're not doing things with my main.

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Originally Posted by Hasrat

Once you finally convince that one friend to try out the game, and they're ready to start the long slow trek up from level 1, maybe they're even interested in branching out and trying All The Things, where do you fit in with the "playing together"?

Crafting some gear to keep them rolling is handy.. but isn't a lot of "together."
Leves don't offer much reason to lend a hand.
Who even does guildhests? They don't last very long besides..
Best you get is dungeons, but even then they're just as likely to instantly hop in with Duty Support instead (and is even much fun just carrying them through?). [although synced BLU could keep things interesting..]

What is "playing together" in such a solo-friendly game?

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I think the best way is talking to you friend since the beginning (using Discord chat) until he reaches lv15 and become able to travel. Invite him to pay attention to the story, the slow paced combat, explain things about areas, how some basic things works (like inventory management, character stats, changing jobs, job quests, etc). When he reaches the first dungeon, you can run it with him doing a full clear (going to every room for achievment) and telling about role behavior in fights. After lv15, do everything along him in the moments you combine to play together.

If not possible, at least, run things with him, like raids, trials (hard and extreme modes) and talk about lore, mechanics and telling jokes.

You can, also, create a new char in the same starting city as him just to play "together" and do all cutscenes really together (the same at the same time and choosing the same answer option). I found a streamer called Brit and she did that with 4 friends. Each one read the non voiced dialogues in the same cutscene and the result is really fun xD.

To answer your question, to "play together" is to have fun together sharing all emotions possible this game can provide. This is always the best way to play MMOs. :)

I did NG+. So every quest and dungeon we did together, at least all the parts that NG+ allows. Multiseat mount. And then for sidequests/bluequests and so on, well, just hanging around and chatting, or solo as might be preferred on occasion.

I can't really say it wasn't enough.

Now, what does kill me on 'playing together' is the PVP side of the game. Where you just aren't allowed to have friends, at all.

joining glam farm groups in DF helping them get their glams
or doing roulettes with FC members

I like guildhests. They don't have to last as long as trials or raid bosses. The weird unique mechanics and short duration is what makes them stand out from the other instanced content.
Levequests were originally designed to incentivize party play. But Yoshida seems to hate encouraging group play outside of duties so they got nerfed to the ground in terms of challenge since the transition to A Realm Reborn. They attempted to make a bigger deal out of the Large Scale leves in Ishgard, but those weren't challenging enough, and 10 allowances is an exorbitant price for little return. This feature could very well be improved, but they won't bother. (And yet they expect you to spend over 7 years with full dedication to not letting your allowances hit the cap to unlock those ludicrous levequest achievements)

Playing together exists in this game but it's mostly relegated to the instanced duties and exploratory zones, or the few major boss FATEs. Ever since I played Bozja I've seen that style of overworld as what the regular overworld map SHOULD be like for people who aren't focused/are done with the story and want a break from dungeon grind. Even how strong non-MSQ monster encounters in the wild could work... If they re-learn how to place enemies in the maps like they used to in ARR, which was a lot more organic instead of the haphazard enemy placement with no rhyme or reason that looks completely disconnected from the map design they have had since Heavensward.

It's usually been power-leveling, unlocking content, and then EX and Savage when helping friends new to the game. Unfortunately the nature of MMO's today doesn't really take into account cooperate across level gaps, so until everyone is at end game you're kind of limited in what you can do.

Eureka still doesn't have a level sync for parties. That is the major reason some of my FC m8s don't bother with that. It's a shame too since I would love to go back to the older zones and help them level. I know about the healer trick to power level them but that seems more like a workaround over an issue that shouldn't be there, lol.

Well with my family members who have now come to the game. They roll their characters and I help as much or as little as they choose. SO for one of them I enter duty finder with them when MSQ calls for a dungeon as she has real post WoW PTSD about group content and she is trying hard to get past it. For all of them I fly them place that would normally be a royal pain to get to on level (hello quest for the bard regalia at 45). I show them where things are and answer questions as they come up. I make them gear as needed.

Now that one of them is approaching 50 we do some maps and other such things together.

TO be fair we have all gamed together since 2001 in one game or another so we have something of an established understanding of how we interact. :)

I just hang out with them and use a low level alt or job (which I still have a couple of on my main) to go through the msq, side quests, fates or whatever they want to try.

My husband and I started the game together and we find things to do when we're both able to play at the same time: current msq if there is any, Hildebrand, variant dungeons, and beast tribe dailies. We also spend a lot of time in the Gold Saucer and sometimes work on potd but that one can get tedious and I need breaks. Then our "breaks" turn into six months or so when one of us is randomly reminded, "Hey, weren't we working on potd?" But we're busy at the time, so another few months go by.....and so on.

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Originally Posted by Risvertasashi

Now, what does kill me on 'playing together' is the PVP side of the game. Where you just aren't allowed to have friends, at all.

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You can still queue frontlines in a group. CC isn't the only form of PVP.

If they are the "do all the things" type you may be best just making an alt as they may do sidequests you can't repeat. New game+ is also a solid option as well if you can keep them on the MSQ only road.

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Originally Posted by Myrany

Now that one of them is approaching 50 we do some maps and other such things together.

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Kinda suspect this may be biggest key. There's simply more available to do once you start hitting those thresholds, more options for hanging around and helping out. Early game early levels, it's kinda mostly just a lot of nudging to continue through all the quests until they make it to that new (to them) content.

It's almost sad that this has to be a thread.

Playing with a friend or the one my character is married to.

I play the game with my wife. Roulettes, trials, raids. Eureka/Bozja. Deep Dungeons. Housing decoration. Relic weapon farming. PvP. There's plenty to do together.