Feedback:User/Hong/Rewards for grouping

As I write this, less than 2 weeks after the seven hero update, there are 25,000 minutes of /favor on the clock. Standing around in Kamadan, I get a stream of messages:


 * ________ has achieved the title Legendary Vanquisher. The gods have extended their blessings.
 * ________ has achieved the title Legendary Guardian. The gods have extended their blessings.
 * ________ has achieved the title Legendary Master of the North. The gods have extended their blessings.
 * ________ has achieved the title Legendary Vanquisher. The gods have extended their blessings.

Etcetera. That there are so many achievements flowing in straight after the update indicates how much of a change 7 heroes has wrought. A lot of those achievements are for Survivor or Drunkard, but plenty are for titles that actually involve going out and playing the game. The thing is, from all appearances people are mostly going out and playing the game solo, with a bunch of heroes to back them up.

I'm not complaining about the 7-hero update; far from it. I personally like soloing, and being able to bring my own team has been great fun (balance rants belong elsewhere). It's probably also had the effect of opening up hard mode to many players who otherwise might not have bothered; I don't have a problem with this. But it does seem like it's discouraged grouping even more, which I doubt was an intended consequence.

Assuming we want to encourage players to group with others, here is one way that it might be done: change the Zaishen Bounty rewards so that they depend on the number of human players. Maybe something like the following:


 * You get 100% of the current Zcoin reward if you go it alone
 * You get +25% if your group includes at least 2 people
 * You get +25% if your group includes at least 4 people (stacks with the above)

These are bonuses for grouping as opposed to penalties for soloing, because people generally respond better to rewards than punishments.

Obviously there's some details to be worked out, eg how to prevent people soloing the quest and then forming a group just to get the reward. Maybe you can track how many people are in the party at the time the quest is marked as completed. The exact numbers aren't set in stone either; tweak as necessary if you consider that they're too weak or too generous. In any case, the obstacles shouldn't be insurmountable.