I went to the Tamriel foundry and joined a few groups. http://tamrielfoundry.com/groups/

Having never played an MMO I don't know if this is of value at all. I imagine I will just play the game and come across a few people and stick with them for a dungeon and then shed a few tears and part.

I'd rather just skip merrily around and where ever I feel the 'need' to go.

For those who've played MMOs before, how does this group dynamic work?

All of the serious business in a game gets done in a group. It's rare that an MMO will let you play just by yourself - although ESO seems to give you more leeway here than most. Playing in a group can be great. Relying on each other, doing your roles well, sharing victories and losses...it's the heart of any online game. Sometimes a group svcks. People don't act in the interest of the group, or don't know their roles, or make a nuisance of themselves. Pick up groups (PUGs) are what most people use. You find some strangers, explore a dungeon together, and then go your separate ways. Sometimes you get along with someone well and make friends. Grouping with friends and guildmates is the best, although it can be difficult to get a regular set of people who can get together during the same hours. When you group with a steady group of people, you get to know each other and your playstyles pretty well and can get in sync.

Note that you won't feel the need to group until around level 10. At that point, you'll need more people with you to take on boss enemies and clear dungeons.

people will quest solo and group for dungeons/end game/pvp. the questing is a major disappointment for me as i enjoy leveling with my wife but now we either only play together and never do anything alone or we will be on different phases

This is a disappointment for the wife and me aswell. I think we will prolly start off with 2 chars. One to play together and one for playing apart. Of course crafting when not running together will also work.

Well so far zenimax sa8d they have planned the dungeons so you make them once for the crystal shard and then you move on (were talking about the none lvl cap ones )

So well. Make your assumption s .

I have already found my first guild only 4 more to go:)

This is a major issue for many of us, and i hope the DEVs are aware.

Maybe we should start a riot or something

I am honestly thinking they hired a recluse to design the social aspects of ESO

riot sounds good! they have a lot of explaining to do , not only when it comes to grouping , but a lot of other trade related stuff as well.

thats our plan also. we have both planned 2 characters. 1 together and 1 normal

LOL

Grouping...Its an MMO right?

I group because I want to play together with other people. When I'm picking up my herbs for my alchemy, its nice to know theres a stealthy out there who has my back just in case some bandits are getting some nasty ideas. I want to be able to step in and absorb a blow for my cleric who's been looking out for everyone but himself. Don't forget laying on hands on the warrior just so she can get a critical hit on that god ugly gnoll that got the better of our mage. I can't wait to stand there bashing and stunning up some over built construct so the assasin in group can polish it off. I would think nothing of laying down some crowd control so my party can escape even it means I'm gonna go down. Those are the magic moments; the ones you take back to the tavern with you and recount over flagon of ale. Then theres just the friendship you develop just because you let someone get first pick on the loot, or lent them some bait so they can get that big one. Especially if its the one you couldnt get.

I grouped up in the last beta plenty. I had one pairing with a guy who had never played an mmo before. It was fun going through the newbie steps and wonder...for me. Thats just me. I also had a pairing with a DK who was going light armour but wanted to try the heavy just for giggles. We stopped at a crafting station (Orc side) and I banged him out a full suit. I even threw in a couple of enchanted weapons. The guy was so happy youd think he'd won the lottery.

And that's just the elves and swords version. I played City of Heroes from beta to close. OMG they had aireal combat. I will never forget flying over Paragon City and peeling off in our formation to get the drop on a pack of sky raiders. 360 camera views were amazing and immersion was just crazy. One of the few times in all my years gaming I was screaming for my wife to come see! I still get chills just thinking about it!

And this game has that synergy thing going... thats just awesome.

A million reasons to group. Those are just a few off the cuff. Yea, there's a lot of bad out there, but that's life.

Just look for the good and the good will follow you.

I wouldn't reccomend going solo in cyrodil pvp, aside from a group of players you also have a chance of encountering a group of enemy faction npc. Either one or the other or both.

My wife and I were severely disappointed with the group questing model and I'm not sure how we're going to handle it at release. The example I point to is the DC quest to distract a guard so that he walks away from a lockbox so that you can then open the lockbox and steal the plans inside. Everyone in the group has to do the quest individually and doesn't see what is happening with other group members while it is being completed by the active member (they are in different "phases"). So group member 1 distracts the guard and watches while he slowly walks away from the lockbox. Meanwhile, group members 2-5 see the guard still standing at the lockbox, nothing has changed. Once group member 1 has opened the lockbox and stolen the plans, then group member 2 gets to start from the beginning and distract the guard and watch him slowly walk away, and so on, and again, members 1, 3, 4 and 5 see the guard standing there doing nothing. This goes on until all 5 members of the group have gone through the full cycle. This is how many of the group quests work.

It is not fun and it severely limits the appeal of grouping. Sure, there are a million reasons to group, and there are probably a million reasons to sit for hours and watch jewelry sales on the Home Shopping Network, too, if that's what you like to do. Rather than sit back and "let the good follow", I think it would be better to give the company thoughtful input and feedback that this game mechanic for a SOCIAL game is not fun when playing with others. Maybe they will change it. That's the kind of good that I would like to see follow.

Will play cooperatively with my wife. We'll be a group of two.

If you do join a group keep in mind one thing: Joining a good group will have you love the game to no end, but joining a bad one can definitely kill your enjoyment of the game. So whatever you do, choose your group wisely.

Basically you group to kill more content quicker which earns you more money and levels at a faster rate.

There is the social aspect but you don't necessarily need to group to have that.

ESO seems to make it so you very rarely need to group at all if you don't want to.

In the older MMO's you were required to group just to progress because the content was that hard but the kids nowadays want everything handed to them so I doubt if it will be required for much.