Or how to encourage group participation while harvesting barnacles. If these ideas have already been posted, sorry....gee there is a lot to read out there.
There's been so much talk about not harvesting barnacles as a solo player. Maybe by making it easier for players to join groups for this activity, the problem would go away by itself. I'd like to see barnacle scraping evolve a bit so that it is more beneficial for each participant when you do it with a group. Some ideas are:
1. Rewards could incrementally increase based on the number of harvesters. The increases might max out at 3 but groups could be as large as 6. Then when a 7th wants to join some could choose to leave group one to help the 2nd group form.
2. When you hover over the barnacle an option is given to join the group.
3. An individual entering an empty area and wanting to harvest could activate a signal to invite others to join them for harvesting making them show red on the map for instance (or for an existing group to show in red). This could make joining with friends (or potential friends) much easier, thus creating another avenue for building a great community.
4. Maybe the barnacle dust could be a higher quality when harvested in a group thus yielding more powder.
5. A new skill or quest tied to teaching/mentoring someone in group harvesting.
These ideas could be just as effective in the peat bogs.