APQ is one of my favorite content in the game why is why I find it sad to see how toxic it has become. I feel like it can be improved on such that people may be more willing to join. Here is a stage by stage list of changes I feel can improve APQ. Stage 1: This stage is fairly well put but I feel that bride/groom status would be better suited to be visible on someone's character card that asking for a br/gr check. Of course it would be prudent to ask for a br/gr check anyway but there was one time where someone told me they were a br and they were in fact a gr, at which point one person had to solo the br side. There are also people who forget whether they are a gr/br on that character, thought I'll admit that is less common. I recall reading this in forums somewhere and thought it was a really good idea, sadly I don't remember where so I can't reference it, but someone suggested a blue heart for grooms and pink for brides in the character card. At the very least listing bride/groom somehow on the ring equipment itself may solve the second issue. Stage 2: This stage makes or breaks APQ, if someone DCs in here or the first stage the whole run fails. Unfortunately when recruiting a public run, the risks of someone DCing are higher than they should be. I have had people try to join one of my runs and before even entering they lag for 20 seconds and dc, at which point I replaced them rather than risk ruining the runs for the whole party. And had one person dc in the first stage two times, ruining two runs. These people who have spotty connections in my opinion should be kind enough not to risk others' runs, but I understand not everyone may think that way. It is kind of hard to think of a solution for this, as the mechanics behind the rope test requires 5 people on ropes and there is no getting around that. My only suggestion is if someone DCs we could enable the leader to get on a rope and continue that way, of course the NPC is too far away to click at that point but maybe it would be possible to enable NPC chat hotkey in that map to reach. Stage 3: Love this stage, no comments<3 Stage 4: This stage is pretty straightforward as well, no comments<3 Stage 5: This stage, as an APQ leader I dislike how people afk left instead of walking with the group. I feel that if someone is willing to commit to 4 runs APQ they should be willing to commit to the entire APQ and not try to AFK mid pq unless there is some sort of emergency. Another reason I find this mechanic troubling is because this is the stage where I experience the most party members DC'ing in at which point 4 people end up on the right side of the map and the person who stayed left walks right from start, holding the run up by two minutes (assuming they aren't completely afk). I suggest that instead of setting the limit to 5 people on the platform before the clear message is enabled, it should be all party members present in the map. This would be a successful deterrent in preventing others from AFKing mid-PQ. p.s. I also have noticed that often times people will just walk right into an unopened gate and not even attempt to hit the gate for several seconds until others come and open it for them. This tells me that they are using a key weight which is against the ToS. Stage 6: I'm sure a lot of people might find this boss annoying, as do I. While I like the boss itself, it is troublesome how it nonstop teleports giving itself iframes. There are ways around this but unfortunately I have found it hard to convince other players in boss stage to follow orders. i.e. stop chasing the balrog. I feel like it may be worth setting a limit to the amount of teleports the geist balrog can perform in a given time as this may solve the problem. Bonus: This is obviously the stage with the most conflict. Bad spawns, people stealing apples, attacking others' boxes, and not spreading out are major conflicts that come to mind. To address the bad spawns problem, there are 6 spawn points in APQ bonus but many times I see three people spawn at the same point. I can't help but wonder if it is possible to set one person per each spawn point. This also ties into people not spreading out in the bonus stage. In my humble opinion i believe that if mages or gnat lords spawn near others they should be the ones to move rather that the classes without movement skills. Of course this is just venting and there is no way to enforce this point. Also venting but there has been many other cases where I even spawn alone (mainly near the top left or top right) and mages or gnat lords come from the top middle and work their way to the sides, effectively cornering me such that I can only get a few boxes before time runs out. Many times I start attacking a box and others attack my same box after me. I understand their may be a server delay depending on connection so there is not much that can be done about this point as well and this is just me venting. Apple stealing! I understand that sometimes apples are taken by accident from one's pet. This is actually the most common case and more often than not that person doesn't even realize their pet stole the apple but still refuses to give it up when explained to them. I would suggest disabling pet loot in bonus for apples, or for boxes that were hit by persons other than the owner of the pet. I personally don't like using pet loot in bonus for this same reason and I don't see why if I can get by without pet loot others cant as well. Not much we can do about the intentional apple stealers though other than report them on the community blacklist (for whatever good that does). p.s. I am writing this right after having an apple stolen in bonus by someone's pet and being unable to get it back. So this may sound like venting, but these are actually very serious points that I feel would improve APQ. I would appreciate any feedback though<3
Do pubs and when you find people in that party are nice to apq with, add them to buddy and only recruit apq in buddy/guild to ensure you dont get such bad experience again. Works for me, but once in a while I do join pubs and such situations do arise. Just give the "looter" the apple because its just 8-10m, not worth the effort/time/frustration. Hope you enjoy apqing and hope to apq with you someday.
Pets are often big apple savers in the last second, and they also increase your efficiency in hitting boxes when you have 3 pets around, so you do not have to walk to your apples, pick them up, then get back to hitting. I think it is better to set personal loot on the apples from boxes. Similar to the mob drops, you cannot immediately pick up the apples if you are not the one hitting the boxes the most. But I suppose it is too hard to separate this system from the existing party loot. Maybe they can implement the personal loot while automatically disbanding the party when everyone is teleported into the bonus stage. Or you can only see drops from your own boxes.
