What's the point of the 4/8 person party buffs?

[Shiyo]

I mentioned this in the other thread. Feel free to add to the speculation.

Ok that's...weird? Really weird.

[Black_Rose]

depending on the balances and battle fixes this game will undergo, those buffs might be welcome by alot of group players.
especially those trying to fight hard nms with smaller sized groups.

can't say that i hate them right now, since i don't know how the group system and monster strength balance has changed since the servers are still offline =P

[solracht]

Why is it weird? Most MMORPGs keep a tight control over group numbers. By adding a buff like this, simply missing one person in a 8man group not only means losing the contribution of an extra member... it means losing 5% accuracy and survivality from the remaining 7 on top of it.

In the end it's about the content being designed with these systems in mind. Old NMs weren't.

It's pointless to go back and make sure all of our current content feels "right" when so many rehauls are coming. I'm willing to bet all the old content will be even easier after the battle, attribute and job system rehauls.

This is purely speculation on my part, but depending on how attributes work after the changes, the extra 5% accuracy could simply be needed in order to be able to defeat the 8man NMs (as they could be ridiculously higher level than the 4-7man NMs). A group attempting the 8man NM with less than 8 people would be lacking the stats to be able to kill it before the enrage.

Once again, it's all about how content is designed with these systems in mind.

[derekx]

Probably to encourage players to party more?

Most likely.

The whole buff thing struck me as odd too when I saw it.

[Betelgeuzah]

especially those trying to fight hard nms with smaller sized groups.

If those NM's are designed to be killed with 8 people, its not going to be an easier fight with 4-7 people just because there is a buff, it's the opposite.. since the 10% buff is already taken into account in the NM's design, so you're at a disadvantage with only a 5% buff.

A part of why FFXI's exping system worked as "well" as it did, is because SE had control over the group size and set-up.

[Griever]

Why is it weird? Most MMORPGs keep a tight control over group numbers. By adding a buff like this, simply missing one person in a 8man group not only means losing the contribution of an extra member... it means losing 5% accuracy and survivality from the remaining 7 on top of it.

In the end it's about the content being designed with these systems in mind. Old NMs weren't.

It's pointless to go back and make sure all of our current content feels "right" when so many rehauls are coming. I'm willing to bet all the old content will be even easier after the battle and job system rehauls.

Agreed, but survivability is kinda questionable when NMs were doable with 5 to 8 man long ago. And now they're even nerfing NMs, right?

The game should be good to both casuals and hardcore..but this is a little to much carebear mode IMHO.

[Kurokikaze]

Yeah I assumed it was going to make the 5 man parties give a bigger buff than the 8 man parties, but the 8 man parties buff is bigger? o_O; I don't get it at all. And how does this encourage you to group more? The game is already easy enough, now it's even easier? @_@; I'm really confused at this change.

Probably in place before they... *GASP*

...add challenging content.

[Arcell]

Agreed, but survivability is kinda questionable when NMs were doable with 5 to 8 man long ago. And now they're even nerfing NMs, right?

The game should be good to both casuals and hardcore..but this is a little to much carebear mode IMHO.

They never said Nerf. Adjusting can just as easily mean tailoring the fight to be challenging with 8 players.

[Griever]

They never said Nerf. Adjusting can just as easily mean tailoring the fight to be challenging with 8 players.

I hope you're right, cuz that'd be the only challenging thing we'd have atm...

[Poipori]

tbh, I am not a fan of this group buff, I think that it is unnecessary to buff the group up just because there is a certain number of people in group.

A group with more members is already stronger than one with less member, I don't think such a way of encouraging group play is right.

People should want to add a member to the group because that member will contribute to the group not because adding them will give a special buff, it just doesn't seem right to me :/