SOLO vs MassiveMultiplayer

When you enter a world of MMORPG there's this inner statement that at some point you have to interact with other human beings through your avatar in some way, to clear a dungeon,maybe a quest specifically ask to party with others, there's this rare spawn that's simply to much for one man to handle, but I think the SOLO experience has so much to offer , like the crafting, the exploration, the jobs, etc etc. What do you prefer? Should the team at Intrepid should focus more in one of the two? Should this be treated like the guild system where you can access certain quirks when you're fewer o something like that?

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Damokles

Im gonna go and search for a steady provider of ore and maybe a good merchant to sell my gems to

After I reach max level i am most likely searching for a guild or try to make my own with people that i met while dungeon diving (thats how i did it in WoW after all and that worked pretty well!) ^^

Varkun

Honestly one of the main reasons I play MMO's is the people I get to play with, my guildmates and all the others who will make up the community of the server I land on. To me, its part of what makes MMO's so much fun and honestly there needs to be a reason for people to work together, have common goals, common enemies a sense of community.

So yes I think there should be more of a focus on group content but that is not to say that solo content is not important too. There need to be goals that you can achieve on your own things to strive for and accomplish. No MMO should swing too far one way or the other IMO though I can not help but feel MMO's of recent times have been somewhat solo focused.

Devorandom

What is the point of an MMO if not to be put in a world where you must interact with others to achieve things? This doesn't mean everything must be done by a group, but most of the important stuff should.

All the stuff you listed for the solo experience is done better in crafting/survival games if those are the only things you are looking for.

Intrepid should focus on what makes MMOs different from other genres or what is the point of making an MMO in the first place?

noemad

For me it's a bit of both. With MMOs the other players can be one of the best things in the game. You can meet some really good people who , sometimes, can end up being friends for years. Other players can also be one of the worst things in the game and leave you in a foaming-at-the-mouth rage. It's kind of like real life that way.

Teyloune

If people want to play Solo then MMORPGs are the wrong type of game for them.

cotuk

There is a good video from Extra Credits on this topic on YT. (Don't remember the title, sorry).
I personally, think that since we as people have different social experiences/ skills, game of this genre should give us tools that would suit everyone.
I will give an example from new mmorpg that I playen half a year ago. Maple Story 2.
I enjoy doing solo stuff in mmorpg and do stuff with others when It doesn't hurt my own enjoyment of the game (egoistic approach). In MS 2, when I wanted to get specific piece of gear from one dungeon, my guild mates were going to another dungeone that I didn't need to do at all, and I would either get nothing or something uselles from their dungeon, which would be an actual PUNISHMENT for me to join my guildmates. On the other hand, people that were super pro-social, joined any dungeon party in our guild- their gear was absolute trash, which was negatively affecting guild as a whole, cuz guild masters wanted to do end game raids, again PUNISHMENT.
Only people that were dong fine- people who played in the same stack all the time.
What I wanted to show by giving this example is game design that kills social interactions at endgame, if you play alone and you are not super social.
This problem can be avoided in ashes tho, and I think Steven taken good direction with dungeon drops, and resources as a whole. If you go to any dungeon, you will get something that you at least can sell. And if you can't get to specific dungeon, your clanmates can get resources for you.

Azathoth

I look forward to long slow Solo play days. I also look forward to fast paced group play days. Although my time will probably 60/40 with a majority in Solo play.

beya

teyloune wrote: »

If people want to play Solo then MMORPGs are the wrong type of game for them.

I disagree, sometimes I am just having a rough day and want to play solo. Do my own thing for a while. Get the stank off meh! Sometimes I just don't want to deal with the humans.

Azryil

teyloune wrote: »

If people want to play Solo then MMORPGs are the wrong type of game for them.

I don't agree with this. I think MMOs should have a variety of content, Some content should require groups of varying sizes but other content should be accessible to someone playing alone. I see content in MMOs broadly categorized into three types: Solo content, Content that can be completed solo but is simplified in a small group, and Group content that a solo player has no chance of completing.

Damokles

Beya wrote: »

teyloune wrote: »

If people want to play Solo then MMORPGs are the wrong type of game for them.

I disagree, sometimes I am just having a rough day and want to play solo. Do my own thing for a while. Get the stank off meh! Sometimes I just don't want to deal with the humans.

Exactly! As an introvert working in a highschool as a teacher, i sometimes just need some me time. Slay some adds, craft some trinkets, etc. I know a ton of people who just want to turn of their brain and do something simple for a time. xD

cyanideinsanity

teyloune wrote: »

If people want to play Solo then MMORPGs are the wrong type of game for them.

I'd argue story related content is better suited for solo play than with a party. I wasn't much of a dungeon diver in gw2 but every time I was doing the first, story mode, run, someone was always complaining to just skip it or watch it on youtube. Its also not fun to want to experience the story and dungeon together and have the entire party progress through multiple objectives while watching a cutscene(end of ffxiv arr).

BlackBrony

The game should have solo activities, sometimes we just want to do stuff on our own. The game shouldn't reward you for playing solo like someone playing with groups.
What I mean is, the game should have barricades that can only be passed if playing with players. Want exotic materials? Maybe you need a group.
If anything is achievable through solo gameplay, why join with others many will say.

Varkun

Beya wrote: »

teyloune wrote: »

If people want to play Solo then MMORPGs are the wrong type of game for them.

I disagree, sometimes I am just having a rough day and want to play solo. Do my own thing for a while. Get the stank off meh! Sometimes I just don't want to deal with the humans.

There needs to be solo content, there are times I want nothing more than to head off and do things by myself for a while. My problem is that many MMO's of recent times have swung too far towards solo play and it is IMO to the detriment of the community. The most fun I have had playing MMO's has been with a group of guildmates taking down a raid boss or fighting and winning outnumbered in a PVP.

There needs to be a balance to cater for both group and solo, the more people play AOC the better.

Nagash

I think the best MMOs these days have to have a mix of both otherwise you will lose interest

sivanna

There has to be both. I always solo as dps. It’s easier to gather and defend myself. But my FAVORITE thing to do is heal in any scenario. (Structured pvp, open world pvp, world bosses, raids, you name it!) Sometimes though I want to do something with less commitment. I want to be able to afk or quit whenever I feel I’ve done enough.

I think the big question is how to balance rewards for group vs solo to make them both desirable.

BeerBuddy

I liked the speculation I heard about maybe requiring an artisan crafter/gatherer to extract rare materials at the end of a raid or dungeon. This gets the introvert to play with a group and the raiders a need to include not so BiS fighting types in order to reap the benefits of the win. There's something kind of endearing about a team having to protect the hapless scholar PC (not NPC) through the dungeon who is the only one that can read the scroll found at the end.

Damokles

BeerBuddy wrote: »

I liked the speculation I heard about maybe requiring an artisan crafter/gatherer to extract rare materials at the end of a raid or dungeon. This gets the introvert to play with a group and the raiders a need to include not so BiS fighting types in order to reap the benefits of the win. There's something kind of endearing about a team having to protect the hapless scholar PC (not NPC) through the dungeon who is the only one that can read the scroll found at the end.

"If you want to be able to get those mats from the boss, they're just not going to drop for anybody. They will only drop for a master gatherer who is capable of extracting those resources from the creature itself... The reason why we say there's a lot of interdependencies between the crafters of the world and the raiders of the world and our PvPers of the world is because we don't want to house the capability to attain these things all within the adventuring class. We want there to be an influence necessary from the craftsmen's guild to come in to either come and participate and spoil the boss and gather the goods or something along those lines. – Steven Sharif"

Volgaire

Neither type of content should be forced and both should be encouraged, some solo quests where you might get trapped somewhere would be one kind of solo content that groups might ruin but things like hunting down an entire nest of monsters would make more sense to be doe in a group. Most mmo's push for group content and simply allow solo content to exist which is still restricted in the end.

Demonhunter1

I'm more traditional, meaning questing should be done solo or having an option to group up. But solo questing should be in itself challenging and if you group up it should level scale so that the quest doesn't feel too easy. So, for me group content should be left for raids only. But I have a feeling that AOC is going to cater both for solo and for people who like grouping up since there will be activities that will cater both.

r41d3nz

I play MMOs for the social interactions and PvP. For this reason I avoid the MMOs that are mainly solo content with the option to group considering no one ever groups or they do a dungeon without ever talking.

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