General Discussion

(Title paraphrased from someone else in another thread)

Bottom line...

In order to make a game solo-friendly, you have to make it easy. (Please don't insult us by claiming your 1337 game play is what allows you to solo ALL recently released MMO's... they are easy, stupidly easy, period.)

If it is easy, it is no challenge for a group. There is no need to play well, no need to coordinate, it gets very stale, very fast...

which leads people to solo. Why bother grouping.

In other words, if you *can* solo, you will. The social aspect of the MMO is severely diminished.

Thus, IMO, soloing is killing MMO's.

It should be *possible*, but only barely, with only limited options to do so.

I will agree up to a point with your observation. The most important thing is group dynamics. The problem with mmo's as of late and people wanting more solo content, i think rises from alot of folks getting right down frustrated with having to put up with all the bad aspects that some grouping can have.

Since the mmo genre is as huge as it's ever been since it's inception, the more selfish and outright beligerant some people have become. If a person is constantly having to wade through bad groups, and put up with a bunch of nonsense, just to be able to obtain and or finsh an obejective. They will start to ask for more solo friendly content.

There's also the problem with people that can't play at peak times. They shouldn't be penalized because of real life situations that hold a much more important role than being able to play an mmo when most people are online.

They shouldn't be excluded from being able to expeirance all that particular mmo has to offer. The funniest thing is that WOW the most carebearish mmo, has the most fanatical players when choosing who they will allow in their guild and groups.

I know for me persoanlly, that mmo made me want to group less, after putting up with those crazies, that ate, drank and slept WOW.

Grouping can be a blast, but that doesn't mean it's for everyone. All content in the game shouldn't be so hard as to need a group to do it. Some yes, but all no.

That's why WoW was able to bring in so many people.  Nobody wants to sit in the LFG channel for hours to find a party and go grind on monsters.  It just isn't fun to most people who have time commitments.

Originally posted by Aetherial

(Title paraphrased from someone else in another thread)

Bottom line...

In order to make a game solo-friendly, you have to make it easy. (Please don't insult us by claiming your 1337 game play is what allows you to solo ALL recently released MMO's... they are easy, stupidly easy, period.)

If it is easy, it is no challenge for a group. There is no need to play well, no need to coordinate, it gets very stale, very fast...

which leads people to solo. Why bother grouping.

In other words, if you *can* solo, you will. The social aspect of the MMO is severely diminished.

Thus, IMO, soloing is killing MMO's.

It should be *possible*, but only barely, with only limited options to do so.

I agree with your overall assertion, but not the way you framed it.

Yes, you have to make it easy for solo play, which means it won't be a challenge for a group, so that ruins hte grouping game.

However, it doesn't ruin the MMORPG, because many players like solo friendly MMORPGs. A solo  MMORPG is a good MMORPG, for solo players, just not for group players.

So, I wouldn't just bash a game and say it sucks because it's a solo MMORPG. Obviously, as a previous poster mentioned, WoW is  a solo game from 1-70 and it's very successful.

I would like to see more games that are fun for group play. I see no way to make a game fun, i.e. challenging for groups, and at the same time make solo players happy.

Developers should just decide to either make the game like WoW, so you can just solo to the level cap, OR design a niche game that's fun for group players.

Sure, the solo players group once in a while, but that doesn't make it a good grouping game.

I have to agree that TO much easy/solo content can and is ruining MMO's Community...Dont get me wrong theres times when I dont want to group and just do somethings on my own,but some of the funnest/memorable times was when I was in a group. Theres a reason there called Massive Multi-player Online Rpg...IMO its getting to the point you mite as well go play Morrowind or Diablo.

Originally posted by musicmann

They shouldn't be excluded from being able to expeirance all that particular mmo has to offer. The funniest thing is that WOW the most carebearish mmo, has the most fanatical players when choosing who they will allow in their guild and groups.

Okay, offhand LOTRO, CoH/CoV, Guild Wars, AoC, Tabula Rasa are all equally or more carebear. 

If you mean mainstream MMO, congrats, there's only four that show up on the radar if WoW is on it (Guild Wars, WoW, Lineage I/II). 

Originally posted by Gemma

That's why WoW was able to bring in so many people.  Nobody wants to sit in the LFG channel for hours to find a party and go grind on monsters.  It just isn't fun to most people who have time commitments.

Not true. You mean MOST players don't want to do that. Obviously the OP does, and I do to. I could care less if I'm not maknig progress in an MMORPG because I can't find a group. I don't like playing MMORPGs solo, because it's as boring as watching paint dry. Therefore, if I can't find a group,  and that means I can't make just as much progress solo, I"m not missing anything.

I don't want to grind on Mobs with stupid A.I. and do stupid Fed X quests solo anyway. If I'm not in a group, there's no reason to play an MMORPG for me.

I don't mind playing solo for the first 5-10 levels, just to learn how to play the game. I don't need to be in a group while I'm figuring out how to configure my GUI and stuff like that. But after that, just give me some mobs to wack on while I'm waiting for a group, and that's just fine.

No crap games is ruining the genre.

Nope, not runing at all.  As long as those people are paying, and encouraging more development, then they are helping MMOs.  What is happening, is a shift from the traditional MMO classes and more to a generalists perspective.  Nothing wrong with that.  With the general lack of people wanting to play a buffer, healer, or other support class, having games where that is not needed is great.

When I log in, I am logging in for the content, community, and gameplay.  I can get that soloing and not just in the traditional, 1 tank, 1 buffer, 1 healer, and x damage dealers party dynamic.  I prefer games where I can solo when I don't feel like dealing with other people.  I want my socialization to be on my schedule not the game's schedule.  Thankfully, many devs have recognized this and are catering to those needs.

So if you were to say, catering to solo players is changing MMOs, I would agree.  Ruining them?  Nope.  Look at the numbers for the solo friendly games and you can't say they are ruining the game.  Perhaps it's not to your liking, but MMOs as a whole are more healthy then they have ever been.