It takes two to duo content
by Mike Schramm 
Jul 25th 2009 at 12:00PM
Spinksville has a great post up about the great benefits and joy of duoing in MMOs, or playing alongside one other person as you level your way up. I haven't been able to duo in a while, but I have done one character with a good friend -- he played a Priest and I tanked on my Warrior, and we shot up through to max level (even before the leveling changes) just because not only did our characters compliment each other, but we knew each others' play styles and were able to take on lots of big mobs and quests without a problem. I agree with Spinks: playing the game alongside someone you know well is the perfect mix of a singleplayer and MMO game.There are certainly issues -- if one of you plays more than the other and pulls ahead or falls behind, it's not quite as fun for either of you. But especially if you're both playing alts and you've got good, regular amounts of time to play together, it can be really fun. In fact, it's kind of surprising that Blizzard and other MMO companies haven't gone in for more of the very-small group play -- singleplayer instances got a pass, but then again, phasing has changed things since then, and the LFG system has improved, so maybe it's time for Blizzard to put some two-player content in the mix.
It would definitely be great to see some official support for two-player content -- not everyone has a partner to play with all the time, but I think you'll find way more two-player groups in the game than you will find full raids of 25 people, and that group certainly gets their share of things to do. Spinks makes some great suggestions about duo content, and it's definitely a realm of gameplay that a lot of MMOs haven't yet officially explored.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Instances, Quests, Raiding, Bosses
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Belkar Jul 25th 2009 12:07PM
There's not a single piece of world content (save world raid bosses) that cannot be duoed with tank/healer combo. Most instances can be duoed with tank/healer if you wait until you're on the far side of the level range (ie: 60-61 with some OL gear for Scholo/Strath). Duoing has been one of my great joys in wow lately.
strikersully Jul 25th 2009 2:16PM
My Rogue friend and I, a resto/boomkin Druid, have been duoing old world content like mad, gathering achievements and enjoying the content we never experienced, both having joined the game during TBC. It's been a fun experience for us, and we've actually become even closer friends in real life due to the in-game time we've spent together.
Besides just old world content, we've been able to clear most, if not all, of the Northrend group quests, including the five-mans with higher level raid gear to support ourselves. It's been a really great experience so far.
Kojin Jul 25th 2009 12:12PM
The thing is Mike, what would prevent people from one-manning two-man content? I know personally that several of the two and sometimes three-man quests in Wrath I simply did by my lonesome, and I wasn't even exceptionally geared.
I see no reason for Blizzard to put in new content geared towards two players specifically. It would probably be tuned low enough for an average WoW player to get through it with little dificulty. Besides, It does not take away from the two co-op experience to simply group up to do single-man content together.
I believe MMOs haven't explored 'duo content' simply because it's not necessary.
Daniel Jul 25th 2009 12:33PM
I came here to say this, almost word for word. GJ. You are exactly right.
Anrax Jul 25th 2009 2:27PM
yeah, this doesnt just apply to 2 and 3 man quests, even 5 man content my level i have done. my lock at 35 soloed large amounts of sm gy, and my 40 mage soloed a fair distance into ulda.
2 man content would just be ajoke
Eisengel Jul 26th 2009 6:36AM
Who would prevent people from one-manning two-man content?
Blizz could.
Either allowing/denying entry or scaling instances based on the number of people in your party is possible. The only problem is what to do if someone in your party is 'out of range' (leaves, hearths, etc), but Blizz apparently already can determine how many people are in your party (based on the Naxx achievements).
martosubs Jul 28th 2009 8:26AM
This ^^.
Blizz should scale all dungeons. Even things like Deadmines and Stockade...
That wy even high level toons would come back to do them. Lvl 83+ Van Cleef would be awesome.
I can see no reason for not doing it and tonnes of reasone for, not only to egt high toons to come back to old world content but for players who missed out on it on the rush to level cap.
Agerath Jul 25th 2009 12:24PM
It takes two to duo content?
I'd never have guessed.
sccorp.sc Jul 25th 2009 12:26PM
I would love duo-instances to death--especially while leveling. Old world instances are almost completely unused now a days, and it'd be much easier to get 'a' partner for an instance than an entire group.
Not to say I dislike 5, 10, and 25-man content. Ulduar ftw!
Faldrath Jul 25th 2009 12:30PM
One "easy" way to make duo'ing more appealing is to make quest drops party-wide all the time. I'm leveling an alt with a friend and it's a lot of fun, but one thing that annoys me is that whenever we get a "get X items from mobs" quest it becomes "get 2X items from mobs" since we both need it, and depending on the drop rate it can make the quest take a long time.
(I said "easy" because the concept is easy, but I have no idea how much actual programming work it would take)
Emophia Jul 25th 2009 12:30PM
When leveling as Holy in my Paladin me and my friend warlok would duo Battlegrounds all the time and absolutely rape, even though he was always one of the lowest levels there.
Sean Jul 25th 2009 12:40PM
My wife and I duo-ed from 1 to 70 the first time we played through with a Rogue/Warlock combo. To this day it stands as the most fun I have ever had with the game.
Robert Jul 25th 2009 12:45PM
I can see the logic in some of your guys comments, and I think it actually makes perfect sence. I agree it would be hard to do and may not even be needed. With that said though I still agree with whoever wrote the blog. The thing is I played wow awhile back but ended up quitting. I came back about a year ago and at that time I got my girl (we live together) into the game as well..
I cannot tell you how MUCH MORE fun it was to level and play this game with her right beside me in the same room and us questing, instancing, and eventually raiding together.
The blogger is correct, try to level an alt now days and its virtually impossible to get a full group for an old world dungeon. True you level so fast now the gear you get from those dungeons are kinda pointless in that you'll move past its effectiveness fairly quick, but that still does not take away from how fun it is to run the dungeons in the first place.
If something could be done to make it possible for two players to run those old dungeons with a challenge it would be great!
Again though, I do see what some of you are saying. It would be easy for a good wow player to solo those dungeons then. So I agree it probably wouldn't be a simple fix. However if Blizzard was willing to look into it somehow I can't say I'd be upset :)
Gigantor1960 Jul 25th 2009 12:53PM
My wife and I leveled together on our initial characters, (my Priest, her Warrior), which we started 3 plus years ago. We picked them at random having no idea that it was a perfect match to do most anything. We each currently have mutiple 80's but still talk about how much fun that was. LOL...I remember getting yelled at for running away from mobs I aggroed and she was trying to pick up.
Having duo content instances would be a blast for our alts as well as our level 80 characters as there is really nothing to do outside of the same quest which we both have done a jillion times. I also have several RL friends I'd love to play with but can't as there is no real content in game. You can always find one person but getting five is a problem it seems.
shockologist Jul 25th 2009 12:55PM
Group Quests= Duo Content. We have Enough.
Now how about solo achievements instead for us antisocialites please.
paragorillabear Jul 25th 2009 12:56PM
"because not only did our characters compliment each other"
complement*
Sorry, it's one of my pet peeves.
Unless of course you mean that instead of matching each other well, you and your friend sat around and just heaped glowing praise on each other: "Oooo, that new cloak matches your shoulders fabulously!"
Sleutel Jul 25th 2009 2:23PM
I wish I could vote you up more than once.
Jorges Jul 25th 2009 1:11PM
Right now I'm duoing with my GF, helping her to level her 1st wow character, a BM hunter. From level 1 to level 60 I helped with a prot pally I made just for this. We did many instances, just the two of us, with me tanking 3-4 elites while she dps them to death. We even got my epic mount by questing it, and a little disconnect trick, so I could bring my main and dps the boss while my pally was still in its aggro table. It was amazingly fun to try and pull that off until it worked. In normal quests I just take up 5-6 mobs. 1 to 60 was a breeze. Then at 60 I started using my old forgotten warlock. I went demo and we can literally raze a quest hub the same day we start it, elites are joke (ok, most outlands is now). We could even do instances, but it would take a LOT of time, so we're skipping them.
2 manning the low level content is really fun, and maybe the high level content too, but we're not there yet (lvl 65 right now)
Ken Jul 25th 2009 1:24PM
Duo-instances is a blast. You'd think the way to go is with a tank/healer, and that's the way we always did it. In the past we we've done Pally/Priest and Warrior/Priest, and its been a blast. This past go around, we went Hunter/Lock, and it was 10 times easier. We did every dungeon in the game up to Ramparts before mend pet and health funnel just didn't cut it anymore. That was at 68, I'm sure if we had come back a few levels later it would have been fine, but we pushed on quickly through Outland to get to Northrend.
Edmon Jul 25th 2009 1:59PM
My fiance and I are also currently trying the hunter / lock combo, with great success. We are currently raking a break @ lvl 39 to build up some pvp marks and wait for the patch. We have duo'ed every instance up to and including Uldaman, RFD, and SM very, very, easily. My lock spec'd Demo (for the purple tank) and her hunter spec'd marksman. She had a few aggro problems but, after she got feign death it wasn't a problem anymore.