I feel constricted with dungeons being party and level sync only

[Cederva]

Is it just me, but does anyone else seem like they're being held back by wires when playing, and more specifically doing dungeons?

I guess I should reword this.
It's like how the game is almost entirely solo play leveling up the job, doing quests, killing monsters, FATEs, but then you're introduced to dungeons, which is all party play, and if you wanted to explore a dungeon, you'd have to join up, level sync to a party, beat it, and /wave goodbye as everyone leaves, just so you can run around a bit.

I wouldn't mind a method of entering dungeons like entering a new area. Perhaps this could be implemented in a patch much later down the road, perhaps when the level cap increases. Add the area as an actual zone, with normally spawning high level mobs and (preferably low) drop rates for their own items. This isn't to say get rid of the dungeon itself, but perhaps move the 'entrance' light to the left or right and connect that location to a fresh natural zone.

Doing this, in my opinion would get rid of this unnatural 'wire' feel to the world where as we have the outside leveling world, and the inside dungeon world.

I'd like as much feedback as possible, as well as suggestions!

[Zaft]

The idea is that you're exploring the dungeon as you're completing it. They're made to be a party effort, not something you can just walk through. Now, this doesn't always happen, considering many of us have done dungeon "x" 500 times and just want to get done and get our crap, but that's the idea.

[ChickensEvil]

Actually, I love the level sync on ALL the content. It forces you to not be completely bad at the game. In "other" games you could simply go get amazing gear and power your way through content ignoring mechanics. In this way, whether you are doing your class quests or running a dungeon your level and gear are forced down to whatever level the content was intended for.

The unfortunate side effect of this is that you cannot solo easy content to make it harder (that was a pretty big thing and fun to do in, for example, WoW), but the benefit of forcing bad players to be less bad at the game is well worth the trade off. I am sorry you can't "play around" in the instance, but honestly I feel this is better for the game health overall.

[raelgun]

i actually would like that after the first completion, you arent restricted to go in, i would love that i can go in solo at max lvl and just plow the earlier instances if i wanted to, you may ask whats the point, well the advantage of this is, is getting gear for other classes, especially if its green type gear, makes the lvling process a bit nicer, the option just be nice, nothing more then that really, other mmos do it, cant see why not here.

its good to party up, when you are at the actual relevant level and wish to be put through it, i enjoy it, and its fun with friends as well if they got the game later, but in my own time, and if its something i want to do, then it shouldnt be restricted to do it if other mmos can do it

[ChickensEvil]

It has to do with how they decided to implement cross server queuing in this game. For example, in WoW, the game wasn't BUILT with cross server in mind initially, it was an after thought. Because of this, when they implemented it, people are basically joining the "host" server for content (think about the same way that games like COD and Halo work). In this game, however it is different. They have separate servers specifically for instances... call it... a design feature, while also having a flaw.

Because of this, that is why there are timers attached to the instances, and that is why they are very specific on what you join up for and such, because each instance is segregated to their own sections on the servers.

As such, it isn't an "easy" process to have you just randomly run into an instance, because they have to reserve a full instance space on that server just for you. If 50 people decided they wanted to "solo" a dungeon, you are potentially keeping 150 people from being able to run content. Don't believe me on this one, get to 50 and then queue for Amdapor Keep. Takes 5 minutes (even as a DPS) to find a party, but then another 30minutes or MORE to reserve and instance.

The flaw here, is that you will likely never get your request fulfilled because of the way the system was designed from the start. It was a calculated business decision. With having level sync, you still have the option to enjoy the content no matter what your level is, you are just going to have to enjoy the content the way THEY want you to enjoy it. I'm sorry.

And I am not against you here on this. I enjoyed trying to do group content solo when I played those other games... so it would be a nice "feature"... but overall I feel this is better for the game, since it prevents content from no longer being enjoyed as it was INTENDED. 5 years from now, if you want to go back and do BCoB (the current raid), you will be able to do it at roughly the same difficulty that it will be today. Oh how I wish I could go into wow today, get together 40 people and run Molten Core, or Naxx, or the Back Temple, with the same difficulty level and enjoyment that they were designed at 6 years ago. Instead, I could solo Molten Core at 80... different type of fun... but still completely NOT the same.