Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
Why is this the case in a “multiplayer” game? It’s simple; if your content requires a player to find other players who:
1) Are on when you are
2) Want to do the same thing you’re doing
3) Have the right classes/builds to complement yours
4) Aren’t a chore to team up with
Just to do anything? Sorry that would be a pain in the ass. So even an MMO doesn’t work like that for the majority of play. People want a game they can log into and do what they want when they want most of the time.
The idea that an MMO should never support any solo play sounds like an assumption coming from a person who has never played one before.
If I spend 10 hours leveling a character to max level, which takes me through a vast world and I kill a lot of different monsters, but 500 hours maxing out my gear in endgame dungeons that REQUIRE a team to complete, then which one is considered the bulk of my play? The time spent maxing out my gear with my team in endgame dungeons, or the vast desert that i ran through that just had stuff thrown into it to level me up?
BTW I am bringing this example from Tera and Neverwinter, because they both do this. Neverwinter is slightly different since they have the soloable areas for most of the boons.
The biggest exception was probably EverQuest because once you got past the very low levels, the difficulty scaled such that you couldn’t solo anything that was strong enough to give any loot or XP (you could only solo things that would “con” grey in difficulty and basically didn’t count). So before long you had to group up even trying to level. But I can’t think of another game since that absolutely required a group to do anything.
Destiny is a multiplayer FPS, with RPG elements. Fallout 76 is like an MMORPG but not “massively” multiplayer (you join small servers) and it’s more of a hybrid action/RPG. You are correct that they aren’t technically MMORPGs.
A wide variety of fun ways to interact with other players in MMORPGs that does not involve using combat abilities.
Solo play in MMORPGs really just means not formally joining a party while adventuring. Which is perfectly fine.
If people want to play a single-player RPG, they will go play a single-player RPG. Refusing to rely on other players during combat is not at all the same thing as playing an MMORPG as if it's a single-player RPG.
People have different play styles. Some love to be in a party. Some like to solo. Most people do both.
Just because it is a MMO does not mean to always have to group up with other people. It just means others are in the same world as you.
You live in a massive populated world right now. Ever feel like spending a day away from others?
Nice rule of thumb: You play the way you like and let others play the way they like. The more options people have in a game, the better the game in most cases.
I hope one of these will exist to ease non healing class adventurers with discovering the map.
Just take Cleric as your secondary class if you want to heal yourself easily.
And again, it's MMO; not Grouping Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game.
There is more to interacting with other players in MMORPGs than just grouping.
Everyone wants to be the hero of their own story but then ignores every book or movie they have ever read where the lone hero often nearly dies after a serious grim battle and is forced to seek out companions at some point.
You should be able to explore, but not everywhere and exploration alone will not necessarily be rewarding.
The problem is the word "farm." Farms provided sustenance not engaging game play. If you want to slaughter pigs for meat that is one thing; if you want to live an epic adventure you have to modify your expectations and plan on playing smarter.
Do I think you should still be able to pull off single pulls; stealth kills and tactical engagements in that orc camp; yes. However, I think discovery by a patrol or an enemy escaping to alert the garrison, should result in a flight from death or an epic demise. I think a handful of engagements and injuries should result in recovery time; not an endless stream of battle.
I despise the facile nature of games today. There are no repercussions for crappy decision making. "Oh time to ghost walk back to my body" Hell, Fallout 76 you don't even lose your equipment if you bite off more than you can chew and attack another player; just your scrap.
The lack of reliance on the community is what has created the toxicity that plagues so many games since my early days EQ and UO.
People can be complete butt munches in instances or dungeons and hey.. just use the dungeon finder to find the next one. Server reputation for skill or fair play used to have meaning. Now it's dumbed down so lil Johnny can "farm."
Perhaps I'm jaded. However, WoW brought the RTS, FPS, CRPG communities into MMOs due to Blizzard's name recognition. Sure they brought this massive player base which funded new game development; but they also brought in the "lobby until next match" impatience and mentality.
It's like the difference you see in tabletop RPGs between "rollplayers" and "roleplayers."
MMOs used to be the domain of the roleplayers. It was an extension of the tabletop and was more focused on the adventure, the story and those characters we meet in game. Now, many games seem to be about rollplaying; the purple loot, dps meters and the self. Wah..!!! I want to see it all or the game is broken.
I'm sorry but Smaug ate alot of solo critters before Thorin's company earned his gold.
Necromancers for instance soloed to max level often.
Yes meaningful leveling you sought out groups; hell levels especially, however you did not log off in frustration being "unable to level" due to lack of finding parties. Now if you go back to the game after it's height then you might; since the player base spread amongst competing and more modern games that streamlined and dumbed down gameplay for the masses. (BIG ARROW POINTS TO QUEST)
Your mythic weapon, for instance, was interspersed with both soloable and group required content; having been one of the early dozen on Firiona Vie who got his Water Sprinkler of Nem Ankh.
Listen, at the end of the day. I want my MMOs to resemble great works of fiction.
Even some of my favorite heroes are loners.
Heroes do not wade in to the bandit camp at low levels and (farm) for hours; that's anything but heroic; you should have to spend a reasonable amount of time pick and choosing your fights. I do think there should be soloable content; picking off scouts; hit and run raids against caravans; or even stealth runs against installations or encampments by timing guard movements. However, they should be fraught with more risk because you are choosing to play alone; vice the game catering to playing alone.
There is a reason sentient races band together for strength; it's not so a lone neophyte can walk into the base and own them; if that's the community expectation for me that is indicative of a problem.
However, I see too many people who want to do all of the content the same way as a group does. I should be able to DPS,tank and heal myself during battle.. basically every munchkin you ever met at the local hobby store on game day.
Class strength and weaknesses give them character. When you give every class some form of heal; some aoe; some direct damage... then you you simply have the same class wearing a different skirt which I'm trying to avoid.
If you also wants some dps, see if you can find a racial or social augment for that or perhaps weapon abilities that allow you to dps in addition to tanking and healing.
I don't think a Paladin is going to play exactly like an Apostle.
I especially don't think a Pyrian Paladin is going to play exactly like a Ren'Kai Apostle nor will the Paladin wielding a potion-launcher play exactly like the Apostle wielding a battle-axe.
They won't be the same just because they can both tank and heal.
Again...it’s a perfectly logical assumption but an assumption none the less. We are not sure if anyone can tank and heal.
The Lazy Peon: So, if I chose the Tank main role and the Cleric secondary role, I could heal myself as a Tank?
Steven: So, you would have some augments that could heal yourself... that could sustain yourself in combat, for sure. That would be our Paladin class. So, the Tank with a Cleric secondary would be a Paladin. And the Paladin wouldn't be able to heal the party, necessarily, but he would have some some self-sustaining abilities through these augments on his primary skills.
That is the current game design.
I suppose you could argue that the devs won't be able to fulfill the objectives of their game design.
But, we can really only meaningfully discuss the game design at this point - not whether the devs will be able to fulfill their vision.
Should be able to tank/heal at least a bit and give melee support to main tanks in groups, while being able to survive alone in the wilds through good armor and buffs.
My kill speed will be suboptimal and i may take an hour to kill an add but i will wear it down with unending resolve and my tenacious spirit!