I played in groups mostly in Cyrodill - I could not see any problems.

The only last beta problem was with grouping in PvE area while questing. If one person had quest completed then it is assigned different phase and can not play together.

In addition to what JPP said, you don't actually need to be grouped game mechanics-wise to work with other players. In fact, there's very little reason to do so for general questing, since you'll be working together merely by working toward the same objectives in the same area; queueing for a dungeon or similar event is about the only time the grouping mechanics actually matter.

Basically the PvE is a shared ride through a themepark that can feel like a single player game, but you are constantly reminded that it is an MMO by the horrible gameplay mechanics and all other players playing leapfrog.

PvP is basically a giant game of capture the flag. Maybe the actual release will give us a reason they are fighting so a character can have a reason to do it as well.

MMO=MMO=MMO ... what else is there to say?

This is elder scrolls 6, didn't you know?

Noone willing to tackle the chars question tho huh lol ?

I don't know if this is part of their phasing rework, but I had a really hard time even seeing my friends around unless we were in the exact same part of a quest while grouped.

Yes, they hope to fix their phasing mechanic, enabling group members to be more active in helping each other, even when everyone within that group is on the exact same stage of the story/mission.

Just doing that alone will go a long way to resolving a lot of the grouping frustrations.

Ignoring 'phasing issues' (which the devs are aware of) the first 4 are very much hallmarks of a modern MMO - most of the game is soloable. /shrug

AFAICT "Adventure zones" are supposed to be end-game grouping content, similar to raids but maybe less linear.

In terms of dungeon rewards - I suspect that's still being tuned, ymmv etc.

grouping is highly discouraged in this game especially if you are not at the same (quest)lvl.

to be more precise last beta WE me and two friends wanted to get some firsthand experience of cyrodiil - due to launcher problems one of my friends was unable to enter the game on friday thus we had 7 lvl advantage over him. he quickly progressed solo to lvl 6 (we became lvl 11) when he starts to run into quest problems due to buged quests. so we grouped up with him and did our quests wich completly destroys his exp gain. while we recieved ~1.5k per quest wich corresponds to ~10% of an xpbar he only gets 2-3% per quest. wich is extreamly rubbish as he is lvling slower than us and on top when he reaches the quest lvl on his own those quests are allready done so he has nothing to do when he reaches that lvl.

so atleast while lvling this game is a pure sologame as grinding has been anihilated lately which was an option in other games to bring back frinds in lvl range to quest with them.

Ive heard many people say many things in videos online. I would like to address afew. Ive heard that exploring punishes you by over-leveling for early quests, if surpassed for exploring. They say that if you explore then the early quests wont give enough reward once you've leveled. In reality if you explore and gain all your side quest experiance then continue with your low level quests then the reward you get is inconciquencial. If you do the low level quest first then do your exploring the turn out will be the same.

Another thing I've heard mentioned is a "funnel effect" on the starting islands. They compare this to Skyrim as where in Skyrim you leave the tutorial area and can explore everywhere. Whereas in the starting islands you get "funneled" to the main quest, while having your hand held. I believe its more like an "hourglass effect" where like in Skyrim you leave the tutorial area and EVENTUALLY get funneled to the main quest. In the starting islands you get funneled to a main quest, after that main quest that takes you to the other area you can again explore to your hearts content, slowly being funneled to a main quest once again.

Please keep in mind I have not played the beta, I'm merely saying Skyrim has a funnel effect as well. Whereas ESO seems to have more of an hourglass effect.

No ESO is all funnel - less hourglass.

You can opt to not do the main quest in skyrim or oblivion or morrowind even. In ESO that is what there is. All side quests are inconsequential and extremely short and local. Further each zone has just about all the possible exp rewards from questing to make you qualify for the next zone. So you'd have to do 90% at least of a zone in order to move on - that is unless you grind mobs for the much smaller exp payouts.

This is why, I think, many of us have said the game in on rails. There is generally no point in going back to a zone once the main parts of it are done. Unless you are a completest for no other reason to than to be complete with it all. Even the so called substantive side quests of FG or MG have it spaced out across the zones basically securing the notion that you'd be taking the sub stages at certain levels. In single player there are entire quest arcs that are not the main quest and don't even really require starting the main quests.

Since all drops are randomly generated there seems to be no unique drops that make going back for something necessary. Well there is the point about needing to complete quests to get set up for the next hub. Comparing the single player to the MMO is like apples and oranges. Single player games can do many things to make the quest happen and in numerous orders with various outcomes. In MMO land there is generally one outcome that usually is not allowed to do more than cause a cosmetic change in the world.

In order to do MMO much has to be sacrificed ... the very heart and soul of what makes single player TES games the best in my opinion. While an argument could be made that much of the PvE content is like a solo game - it isn't like a TES solo game.

Ugh you get paid hourly?! Ok eso needs to put a group search box for salary players only! I dont group with life gimps. Lol

What salary is better? How so? You get paid the same no matter how many hours you work = you will get worked more.

No no - I'll take hourly as an independent contractor. Do my own taxes be my own boss.

Please, I'd rather play with the working class.

"Questing phasing making it impossible to group up with someone".

I can only speak from my own experience, so far i have spent about 90% of my time in beta playing with friends in a group. The only issues I have encountered was the story mission witch is solo only, and one mission where I completed an objective inside a portal and exited the portal back to the normal world while he had a quick afk. The portal close behind me, and I could not go back to help him. This is the only time I experienced not being able to play together. I would like to hear some concrete examples of how the current phasing has hindered you from grouping with friends. I see a lot of players have mentioned this, yet i cant find anyone mentioning an example of how it has affected them.

"All Quest are balanced for solo players"/"Most open world is for solo"

I would also like to see harder content. during the beta me and my friend mostly ran quests 2-4 levels above our own level. I have yet to receive a quest reward that i don't need 2 more levels to equip.

"Public dungeons offer nothing. same loot worse exp than solo content"

This is where me and my friend finally found some challenge, and I had a lot of fun here. Not sure how underleveled we were. Compared to quests and random mobs we definitely had a higher drop rate of better loot in the public dungeons. I assume what might be confusing is that there is not a 100% chance of getting phat lewt. Your not guaranteed to get a blue item from a boss, but the chance is higher then in the normal solo content.

"4- Man dungeons same loot as solo content, more repairs, more cost, more risk less exp"

From what I have seen, the difference is in the 4 man dungeons you are guaranteed phat lewt from bosses. And there are more bosses per dungon.

I will be the first to admit im not an expert, but this is y experience. I had a great time grouping with 1 to 3 friends.

First off thx you for your input.

Good answers, thank you.

When I posted my last comment, I had only seen the starting area for the Aldmeri Dominion, and assumed that each one was set up about the same. Now that I have seen all the starting areas it does seem as if the Aldmeri Dominion was done far better than the other two. The Aldmeri Dominion starting area is much more free-roaming than the other two, and I don't understand the design choice there.