Why do level 55 players run level 50 FPs?

[SW_display_name]

If you really don't want any level 55's in your FP group why not find a nice bunch of level 50's of the correct classes and group up all the time.You can then do the random FP to get the dailies,weekly quests done.You will also not need to worry about how others perform and no need to worry about any bad rolls on gear.

I do the above sometimes for level 55 HM FP's and it's so relaxing and enjoyable which is what the game is about really.

Yeah, that's a fair solution, I guess. And I'm not trying to pretend like there's no alternatives here, just explaining why this change to how queueing works frustrates me a little. It also confused me at first, but thanks to all the replies here I understand it now.

 

But part of it is, I like the way Group Finder makes you constantly meet new people in a way that's more practical than spamming GenChats when you could be doing missions / class story, etc. You don't have to worry about what time of day you're hopping on for a second (with my classes / work schedule I end up playing at totally random times throughout the week), and there's sort-of a minigame of adapting yourself tactically to each totally random new group of people.

 

Sometimes that can be impossibly frustrating (if people are really clueless / terrible at their role), or disappointingly underwhelming (if people are way overleveled / overgeared / too good at their role), but most of the time while leveling you hit this sweet spot that's just about right each time Group Finder pops.

 

Honestly, it's not even that I don't want 55s in my group, I don't see a player and hate them because they're 55. It's just what it does to the content. I wish there was some way to have 55s get their stuff done, without making the content feel so rushed / trivial.

 

Someone a few pages back said "you still matter if you're healing or tanking!" but, idk, I don't really feel like I do. Yeah, I throw a few token heals/cleanses on bigger pulls but half the time I could AFK and people would still finish fights at maybe 40% health. I had one pop with me + three 55s and I don't think I did anything but Telekinetic Throw and Disturbance for quite nearly the entire run.

[CyberTronX]

When I started tanking, I'd brush up on FP navigation and boss mechanics doing normal, where I knew I'd be taking much less damage and not have to worry about that aspect as much and could focus on learning the FP before attempting it on HM.

 

Some of them are also fun to do on normal, sometimes I run with a lower level friend that needs the loot / xp, sometimes I simply feel like a more relaxing run, or have just gotten back into tanking and need to remember what stuff does without having to hold aggro over really geared players.

 

In any case, normal FP's can be fun, as well as reward comms and such for 55s, so are worth doing now and then.

Edited May 9, 2013 by CyberTronX

[Avorniel]

Honestly, it's not even that I don't want 55s in my group, I don't see a player and hate them because they're 55. It's just what it does to the content. I wish there was some way to have 55s get their stuff done, without making the content feel so rushed / trivial.

 

Someone a few pages back said "you still matter if you're healing or tanking!" but, idk, I don't really feel like I do. Yeah, I throw a few token heals/cleanses on bigger pulls but half the time I could AFK and people would still finish fights at maybe 40% health. I had one pop with me + three 55s and I don't think I did anything but Telekinetic Throw and Disturbance for quite nearly the entire run.

 

I hear what your saying but look at it this way your learning the zone ,how ever fast you may wizz through it ,it still learning,the boss fight's are the same even with level 55's in the group (none 55 HM fp's), it's just easier, faster so looking from a healer's view they can look see what buffs,de-buffs the bosses put on there party members and remeber as you have time to do this, unlike some boss fights your on your toes 120% so learning is hard and could lead to rage qqing from group mates,this leads to the next time you come across the same boss and all you have is level 50's you can instantly cure or heal before things go pear shaped ,so it prepares you in a sense and you can always try out new things with your skills and use level 55's as test subjects

 

Thing is it happens in all the FP's Via using GF. I ended up tanking most mobs with my sorcerer she was 43 and the Tank level 39 so was bound to happen ,did it bother me no,did the tank learn the zone yes he did but it was fun and that all that matters,the group had a 42 healer and 39 sniper as well so the tank still had to work to do ,but it just made things slightly easier and less stressful for the tank while learning the zone (The foundry).

 

Make the most of the easy groups while you can,once your 55 the fun can become a chore when you have off days and you feel battered and bruised lol,Like i did with my Main Gunslinger today doing level 55 HM Hammer Station and dieing 5 times on the first boss and 35 - 40k down due to repairs.Tank didn't know the fight asking what skills to use and healer was having energy issues trying to cure the laser stack,got better after that thank goodness.

 

Edited May 10, 2013 by Avorniel

[Ansalem]

how dare those level 55s queue up and carry you while enjoying the game they pay for! Absolutely ridiculous!

[CyberTronX]

how dare those level 55s queue up and carry you while enjoying the game they pay for! Absolutely ridiculous!

 

I think one of the problems with this is that a good majority of players dislike being carried, and would rather experience the content with a group of the level the FP was originally designed for.

 

I did a few FP's from 45-50 on a new sorc I've been working on, and occasionally I'd get a group of 3 55s. It was fun in the sense that I knew the run was going to be a success simply because of the ability to zerg things down at that level, but on the other hand, I felt slightly useless being the 45-50. Even when I got a group of really awesome people, the content just felt lackluster when we were bulldozing through it.

Edited May 10, 2013 by CyberTronX

[TrigPt]

Even before 2.0 the 50HM FPs were full of overgeared players speed running through them.

[wainot-keel]

/big snip

.

 

And how would you solve this problem using group finder for the 50 hms? A specific 50-50 bracket to find people ? That could be dead bracket tbh. If you have the expansion, you will hit 55 by doing the 50hms really fast. How many people who care about hard mode flashpoints and ops haven't bought the expansion ?

I guess you could ask for feature on gfinder to group you only with lvl 50 characters, but damn... queues might take a while..

[Yeochins]

• Some do it for the classic commendations since they don't have Black Hole gear when they hit 55 now
  
• Some do it for the basic commendations from the group finder
  
• Some do it for the money on the free daily
  
• Some do it for some casual face roll
  
• Some do it for achievements
  
• Some do it for vehicle quests
  

[SW_display_name]

And how would you solve this problem using group finder for the 50 hms? A specific 50-50 bracket to find people ? That could be dead bracket tbh. If you have the expansion, you will hit 55 by doing the 50hms really fast. How many people who care about hard mode flashpoints and ops haven't bought the expansion ?

I guess you could ask for feature on gfinder to group you only with lvl 50 characters, but damn... queues might take a while..

Yeah, kicking out the 55s isn't a good solution, that really just hurts everyone.

 

Well, I don't know. I mean you get kicked out of The Foundry when you hit 43? 44? But queues still pop. It could work if they split the 50s into "48-54" — that's about the 6-7 level range you see for most leveling FPs — and then disappeared them from Group Finder at 55.

 

The thing is, most 55s seem upset about losing their 50 GF Ops. So I don't think it's making things much better to then delete their 50 GF FPs too. I'd rather focus on un-trivializing the content, than on forcing people out of it who want to play it.

 

What if ...

• All 50 SM FPs become "leveling content". No 55s allowed, just like 50s can't do Red Reaper.
  
• All 50 HM FPs are converted to 55 HM FPs, increasing FP variety at max level by a lot
  
• For people without Makeb, 50s with appropriate gear can queue the HM FPs (which are all 55 in difficulty now) and will be Bolstered to 55 gear statwise
  

 

I guess the only hitch there is that the gear drops would either be useless for 55s (which 55s are already complaining about), or useless for 50s (because they can't wear it). Well, it almost worked.