Is there any reason to focus on 'solo' players..?

EDIT: Okay, I didn't really know how to start this thread out, but it's basically here for me to brainstorm ways to improve the game's battle system. Someone pointed out some things to me that are kind of fairly obvious to any experienced MMO player, so I've decided to change my stance on the issue a little, but I'm leaving the original post under as is to preserve the integrity of the debate that took place. I'm now going to use this thread to list my ideas and suggestions for the current system.

So far what I've come up with is:

• More variety in enemy abilities; things like spells that induce statuses
• The introduction of a Market-wards like search function that allows you to create parties
• Advanced Class definition at higher levels
• More intuitive tutorial/instructions for things like how and where to buy new friggin' armor.
• More sub-bosses that are level reasonable-per the area they are found in.
• More variety in enemy stats - give some higher evasion, some higher defense, some higher attack... etc. etc.
• Make NPCs more helpful. Having someone that can tell you where shops are, where to get materials for crafting, little things like that.
• Make the story quests more intuitive. No "Look for NPC X" from one person and then checking your journal and finding out that you're actually looking for NPC Y.

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Just something I've been wondering about since I started playing... but I heard that this game was originally touted as being better for soloists, and indeed, the class customization as it is now is really good at letting you do that in certain instances.

However... even starting at rank 10, leve quests for your rank become too hard to do alone even on solo difficulty, what with some of the monsters coming in groups of 2 or 3 and for the same reason Behest is downright impossible. Not only that, but with such horrific limitations on guild leves, you have a spike of SP in one class and then your only other choice is grindgrindgrindgrind.

Whereas if you join a party, things become immediately better; you can increase quest difficulty for gil bonuses, you can leve link, you can do more leves, and behest spawns more monsters.

Now, I'm fairly new to the MMO scene, having started this game at the start of this month with my only experience being Runescape and the DOTA-spawned League of Legends, but this strikes me as counter-intuitive for a solo game.

Considering it's an MMO in the first place, why would you want to solo anyway? Personal glory? Aren't there offline games for that?

I'll admit, one of the reasons (if not the main and only one at this point) I play is just that. I'd like to max out every skill rank in the game myself, just for the awesome factor. But I'm thinking the classes in this game are the way they are is because they tried to focus explicitly on solo-players. And that result in the poorly defined class roles that people are complaining about.

Soo... anyone think they should stop focusing on the solo-aspects of this game if they still are? I know the development team has changed, so I'm not sure if that's a major focus of theirs, but if it is, I think it's eating the game quality away.

Instead, focus exclusively on group play.

Focus on making it easier to create parties, and for the love of god, make the Adventure guild NPCs stress the importance of joining one so casual noobs don't solo until they are rank 20 in some class or another without leaving the level 1 camp leves or their starting clothing breaks and all they have is underwear and whatever weapon they can buy from NPCs (Yes, I know someone who this has happened to... fortunately not me, I got help from PCs around rank 15)

I suggest an area in the Adventurer's guild with a search function like the one in the market wards, where you can announce a leve and people can sign up to join your party - first come, first serve. You can ideally optionally restrict the number of people, restrict it to members of your linkshell, or restrict it to those who have the same leve (so you can link it).

I'm also in agreement with the ideas that have been floating around about making classes more focused; as it is now Con and Thm are very red-magey. But give the player a choice to access new healing/buffs and increased effect, while retaining red-mage as someone with access to multiple spells but less effect... makes sense to me. Other classes could similarly be re-balanced and given new focus.

At the same time, make the monsters more challenging... something that requires a party to take down, and actually feels rewarding when you do. More elemental strengths/weaknesses/immunities, more variety and more overall strategy requirements will make this a really, really good game.

I would say that the areas in the level 1 camps are fine as they are; noobs need that nursery type deal to get into the game. But make it so that a player would really be testing themselves to wander around level 10 and beyond alone.

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Expecting people to always party in a game where 30~ thousand players are spread across 18 servers isnt exactly realistic expecially when not everyone is willing to party with people who dont speak their language. I solo a good bit and i duo with my wife a good bit BUT because I choose to play FFXIV in limsa and not uldah I dont have access to parties very often. So should I be forced to play only in the uldah area for the sake of partying?

Its not exactly "solo" its more like "anything anytime", they wanted it so you could just login, and straight away get on with things. The biggest complaint in XI was the fact that everything from the get-go needed people, straight away at 10 you needed 5 people to level. Take too long otherwise and people clung onto this and then wasted hours waiting around. so they said "okay instead of making it so you need x amount of people, we will make it work with 1 person, but add more makes it better".

Only this didnt go to plan and has ruined a massive amount of joy. They went to the extreme with trying to make it work from 6people pt down to 1, when people wanted something in the middle.

They are now just realising this (seriously pathetic imo) and will be basing the game upon 4-8 people content, so you only need 3 others to do most things. Which isnt all to bad.

but it is very annoying that a lot of the good content is solo. all class quests are solo, story is solo till about 40, its very frustrating.

The problem they have is a extremely strong hardcore base but also know that many of the XI players left due to being to casual in a non casual game and XIV was supposed to fix this but had to cator for hardcore and these are 2 different worlds.

hardcore want long leveling grinds and lots of endgame content because they have the time and want to work for it, casual on the other hand would rather get enjoyment right away and be able to progress far within a very small amount, hence why WoW is probably very popular because of the easy-levelling curve.

Its now getting to the point where its almost balanced, though there is absolutely nothing to do so all enjoyment is pre 40, then its dead after.

There's always 1 good reason to do just that.

1 is to see how good, how far you can go as solo, learn from the
experience & become the best of your own abilities.

But take it too serious and you wont perform well in parties.

New Edit:
I have to agree with Viion above, FFXIV is way too easy now...
so i find it ridiculous that ppl complain about low sp gain as it is right now.
It's fine as it is & gives a fair amount of time to level up.

And im not saying this only cuz i have a r50 class, hell i have loads of low level classes still below 20, and that's because i chose to, im saving a few to level up with until they add some more content etc, but after you more or less hit 40+ on 1 class u know where to go, what to grind level up with, what you can solo & what not.

The problem here is that almost 90% of the leves are soloble even at 2-3 star at certain ranks.
But if running around in crap gear / Weapons & sub-abilities well... then no wonder your in trouble.

I want more tactical gameplay, harder mobs.
(Intelligent mobs, unlike the coblyns exploding head, even though its funny as hell.)

I mean crazy / insane hard mobs... idc if we get Dynamis 2.0 / Sky type of mobs,
just as it keeps us busy & wanting for more.

I don't understand why people, including you, keep consistently thinking that "solo" equates to "I only ever want to play alone and never group with with other people, forever" and that it's one and the same as playing single player, off line games.

The largest slice of the MMO customer pie is people who don't like having to rely on other people, but will occasionally group up with the LS/guild/friends. They like persistent worlds, they like being able to compare themselves to others, and they enjoy the social aspect of the game when it's not forced on them.

I hope for the sake of the game that they do not return to the early FFXI model of zero solo options. Something like that is going to ensure that it never recovers.

There is plenty of reasons to continue to focus on solo content...every solo player out there...

Leves do get more difficult, but I was soloing R40 leves on PUG @42 easy. It's all about your cross-class skills. The reason I did them solo? My LS had already done theirs and were doing other things, and there were very few players at that rank at the time. I loved that I could at least spend my time productively, even if it was at a slower pace.

Besides, the main reason I left XI was because of the requirement of parties. Not that I'm a solo player at heart, but when I only had a couple hours to play and that time got eaten by LFG or trying to form a party...it was frustrating. Imagine that in XIV now, with it's already low player base.

One of the main reasons I decided to play XIV was because of the soloability factor being in place when it suited my play schedule. Take that away and the world would be a lot lonelier for you.

The classes are screwed up because they made them too flexible. In the end, there's no class distinction. You can still have class distinction and play solo, these factors are mutually exclusive. The trick is in balancing the situational usage of skills against particular monster types, so all classes can solo effectively, just against different targets.

I think the Armoury System was made mainly to cater for solo so that you could make a balance, if you were DD you could add cure's and buff's to keep yourself alive and so on. This is where they went wrong, I believe they should have utilised the "Companion" more so we could have had set classes and if you were on your own you just call your companion to fight along side you. With this they would not have needed to cater for solo play as much and then group play could have been more of a focus.

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Just something I've been wondering about since I started playing... but I heard that this game was originally touted as being better for soloists, and indeed, the class customization as it is now is really good at letting you do that in certain instances.

However... even starting at rank 10, leve quests for your rank become too hard to do alone even on solo difficulty, what with some of the monsters coming in groups of 2 or 3 and for the same reason Behest is downright impossible. Not only that, but with such horrific limitations on guild leves, you have a spike of SP in one class and then your only other choice is grindgrindgrindgrind. Whereas if you join a party, things become immediately better; you can increase quest difficulty for gil bonuses, you can leve link, you can do more leves, and behest spawns more monsters.

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Levequests to hard? I seem to have no issues with any of my jobs at any rank doing leve quests at my appropriate level with the exception of an odd 1 here and there.

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Now, I'm fairly new to the MMO scene, having started this game at the start of this month with my only experience being Runescape and the DOTA-spawned League of Legends, but this strikes me as counter-intuitive for a solo game.

Considering it's an MMO in the first place, why would you want to solo anyway? Personal glory? Aren't there offline games for that?

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Why should a solo player not have content designed for them if they are willing to pay the money? MMO developers need all the money they can get and supporting solo play is a smart for many reasons. The original generation of MMOers are getting older now, many have kids and more responsibilities nowadays and only can get in short play sessions. MMOs nowadays that do not support a wide range of play styles are destined for failure. Most people have lives and there needs to be quick in and out content as well as content to be done solo. There is nothing wrong with supporting solo content. The issue here is SE rushed this game out the window and rightfully is learning the hard-way that was a big mistake. SOLO play has nothing to do with it it.

Solo does not equate to "I never want to group". It's there because sometimes you don't have the time to commit to a party, believe me the vast majority of the population still playing would go find another game if you couldn't have content to solo when you were in need of it.

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I'll admit, one of the reasons (if not the main and only one at this point) I play is just that. I'd like to max out every skill rank in the game myself, just for the awesome factor. But I'm thinking the classes in this game are the way they are is because they tried to focus explicitly on solo-players. And that result in the poorly defined class roles that people are complaining about.

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Classes are the way they are because the system was designed so you could build your own customer Job. You are expected to level multiple "classes" which you then use abilities from many to make your own custom "Job". Its a great idea, the system just needs some tweaking. When it gets tweaked more it will be much better than the vanilla classes you play in every other fantasy MMO out there.

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Soo... anyone think they should stop focusing on the solo-aspects of this game if they still are? I know the development team has changed, so I'm not sure if that's a major focus of theirs, but if it is, I think it's eating the game quality away.

Instead, focus exclusively on group play.

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No its not eating away at the game quality. Once again, rushing a game out the door before it was ready is what ate away at the quality. Solo Play, Group Play, Raid/NM, an MMO needs all these to survice in more than a small hardcore niche.

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Focus on making it easier to create parties, and for the love of god, make the Adventure guild NPCs stress the importance of joining one so casual noobs don't solo until they are rank 20 in some class or another without leaving the level 1 camp leves or their starting clothing breaks and all they have is underwear and whatever weapon they can buy from NPCs (Yes, I know someone who this has happened to... fortunately not me, I got help from PCs around rank 15)

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Yes forming parties needs to be easier and the tools more fluid and expanded. Let people play the game how they want to, they paid for it, eventually they will pay their sub cost. If someone wants to Rank to 20 without moving on thats their decision. Their time, their money, not yours. Maybe they are having fun? Some people play for fun and not the 'awesome factor'.

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I suggest an area in the Adventurer's guild with a search function like the one in the market wards, where you can announce a leve and people can sign up to join your party - first come, first serve. You can ideally optionally restrict the number of people, restrict it to members of your linkshell, or restrict it to those who have the same leve (so you can link it).

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The base for this is already in place, the range needs to be expanded and some additional options added. Restricting it just to the adventures guild doesn't make sense.

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I'm also in agreement with the ideas that have been floating around about making classes more focused; as it is now Con and Thm are very red-magey. But give the player a choice to access new healing/buffs and increased effect, while retaining red-mage as someone with access to multiple spells but less effect... makes sense to me. Other classes could similarly be re-balanced and given new focus.

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This sort of thing will be in later, more than likely in the form of advanced classes. The basic classes are doing exactly what they should be doing.

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At the same time, make the monsters more challenging... something that requires a party to take down, and actually feels rewarding when you do. More elemental strengths/weaknesses/immunities, more variety and more overall strategy requirements will make this a really, really good game.

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Are you sure you play this game? Have you heard of Notorious Monsters?...

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I would say that the areas in the level 1 camps are fine as they are; noobs need that nursery type deal to get into the game. But make it so that a player would really be testing themselves to wander around level 10 and beyond alone.

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Why can we not punch people through the internet yet? Someone get on that technology please.

I quit reading when you said that levequests at rank 10 were too hard...Honestly, this game is almost completely soloable. Nms are a different story. This game needs to be more party oriented. What's the point of a MMO if you only ever talk to the same 4-5 people that are on your friend list? Why not make the game so that a party isn't REQUIRED, but running solo on anything is far less than beneficial. Also, take out levequests. Grind parties should be the norm, not the minority.

"Solo" players are generally "Casual" players, and casual players make up the majority of MMO gamers today.

This wasn't quite as true when FFXI came out. But it sure as hell is now, lol.

The trick is to make a game that allows for soloing but promotes group play on many fronts.

Like I said, I'm entirely new to the MMO scene. Don't rage at me because I'm unfamiliar with your mysterious statistics from who-knows-where.

Okay. So sure, there's reasons for them to have solo-play as an option. But from what I can tell, all the customization and poorly defined class roles stemmed from seeming to focus exclusively on solo play. Meanwhile, Party play has been reduced to A) Some mook hitting them and B) Some mook healing/buffing the guys in A and occasionally attracting tons of hate for doing so and getting killed in one shot.

That gets old really, really fast.

The two games I mentioned, being my only MMO experience: Runescape is, as far as free quests are concerned, entirely a solo game (I wouldn't know anything beyond that) and League of Legends/DOTA exactly the opposite. This game needs a balance of both. But it's hard to cater to both, as their attempts have shown us. So my suggestion is increase party-based contentand make it easier to do so.

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If someone wants to Rank to 20 without moving on thats their decision. Their time, their money, not yours. Maybe they are having fun? Some people play for fun and not the 'awesome factor'.

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The person I'm talking about was getting two-shotted, sometimes one-shotted by monsters under her rank because she had noarmor. She was frustrated and kept apologizing about how bad she was at the game and how she had no idea what she was doing. One of my LS members got a friend to give her free stuff and we offered to help out whenever we could.

It's not that it was her decision, it's that this game happens to lack any real kind of instruction that you don't have to search high and low for.

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At the same time, make the monsters more challenging... something that requires a party to take down, and actually feels rewarding when you do. More elemental strengths/weaknesses/immunities, more variety and more overall strategy requirements will make this a really, really good game.

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Are you sure you play this game? Have you heard of Notorious Monsters?...

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Notorious Monsters are sub-bosses IMO. I mean the monsters in general. All they do is spam attack. Random fights rarely have any element of strategy to them. Bombs and Djigga are the closest examples of what I'm saying this game needs more of. But, something that can inflict classic status ailments would be a nice change. Give me a reason to have a Usable battle inventory other than eating.

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I would say that the areas in the level 1 camps are fine as they are; noobs need that nursery type deal to get into the game. But make it so that a player would really be testing themselves to wander around level 10 and beyond alone.

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Why can we not punch people through the internet yet? Someone get on that technology please.

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I'm sorry, but if, as I asked for above, monsters are throwing around statuses like stone, confusion, or beserk, you're kidding yourself by going around alone. That's all they really need.

The same goes for monsters which have high Physical Defense and low Magic Defense or vice versa, given you can't change classes once a battle has started. Though that's mitigated a bit by mixing and matching your abilities, it'd still be far more challenging.

As it is now, we have A) Monsters you can kill and B) Monsters that can oneshot you.

And, for the record, Notorious Monsters need to be more level appropriate per the areas they're in.

EDIT: I can see where you're coming from, though. To make the game more challenging for both types of play, they could change how encounters work. Let's say that, while solo, you're fighting the monster you see as per normal, but if you're in a party, then, perhaps, according to your level, nearby monsters join in, or more of the same kind you're facing will spawn and attack you as well?

And if you're the type who likes testing their skills, like I said earlier, crank up some kind of difficulty setting to make it so it reacts as though you're in a party when you're alone.

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I quit reading when you said that levequests at rank 10 were too hard.

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Dude, at rank 12 Gladiator, before I had any source of income that wasn't quests and didn't even know about behest, it was literally impossible to do the Emerald Moss levequest with the sand yarzons. They were packing like 90 HP a hit and would always attack in teams of three - meanwhile I had my trusty weathered gladius that did maybe 50 dmg an attack. It was literally impossible.

Sure, once you've got your multi-class powers quests are totally soloable at the appropriate level, but for a completely new player, no way.

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Originally Posted by ARoy

As it is now, we have A) Monsters you can kill and B) Monsters that can oneshot you.

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So true. There's just nothing in-between.

A large group of level 10s should be able to kill something that a level 20 can. The game is missing proper damage caps.

NMs don't need to be level appropriate for their area. They weren't in 11 or..really any game...why should they be in 14? Shit...I remember Tiamat used to spawn in a level15-20 area, yet you would be 1 shotted at that level lol From the sound of it, you want the game to be easier, when it's already one of the easiest games on the market. I dare say that even WoW is harder than FFXIV in it's current state..

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Originally Posted by Dubont

NMs don't need to be level appropriate for their area. They weren't in 11 or..really any game...why should they be in 14? Shit...I remember Tiamat used to spawn in a level15-20 area, yet you would be 1 shotted at that level lol From the sound of it, you want the game to be easier, when it's already one of the easiest games on the market. I dare say that even WoW is harder than FFXIV in it's current state..

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If you're not going to make them more level appropriate, then make them harder to accidentally run by and get killed without realizing that you were in its territory. Second, it's not like they can't make both level appropriate sub-bosses and the kind whose areas you want to avoid until rank 50 and you've got a crew of cold-blooded murderers backing you. Antling-Diggers for instance, I don't think are as strong as infernal drake. I've seen two of them in an area at once, so it's probably not a Notorious Monster like you're saying. But it's definitely not something to be taken on alone, either.

Solo'ing is an option, but partying gives bonus exp / leve linking / faster kills. This game is changing so much, initially it started out as a very solo oriented system but SE seems to be taking this game in the party / group play direction. I'm glad they are. I understand some people can't afford the time to look for parties and what not, but it sure makes it funner for those of us who can.

This game is not solo friendly, maybe to run a quest or what not but to grind. Yes you can run a leve quest solo but the SP in no way compairs to a fully linked 3 star vs. 1 star leve. And now they have killed coblyn grinding which was the best way to solo grind.

I never agree on solo grinding support... even though I do solo sometime but if everyone can solo at anytime, any rank, the game will die soon

especially if you can earn more exp from soloing than partying like what happen since the November patch, the game start dying because no one form any party, everyone just kill doblyns in their own world

players usually do not allow to solo if they're higher than r25 or if we can solo, it should be slower than grinding with party

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Originally Posted by ARoy

If you're not going to make them more level appropriate, then make them harder to accidentally run by and get killed without realizing that you were in its territory. Second, it's not like they can't make both level appropriate sub-bosses and the kind whose areas you want to avoid until rank 50 and you've got a crew of cold-blooded murderers backing you. Antling-Diggers for instance, I don't think are as strong as infernal drake. I've seen two of them in an area at once, so it's probably not a Notorious Monster like you're saying. But it's definitely not something to be taken on alone, either.

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Antling Diggers have never been NMs and neither have Infernal Drakes...so idk where you got that from. It's very easy to avoid being bashed by a NM. Don't walk next to it. Use the color cons to determine if a mob could possibly kill you if you attack it. Honestly, from the way it sounds, you just don't know how to play the game. No, you wouldn't want to attack a Digger at r10, but in FFXI, you wouldn't want to attack JeJ at level 3 >.> I think that the current mob levels give a small amount of challenge to the game and I like that. I don't want it set up to where area A has r 1-10 mobs and area B has r11-20 mobs. For example, near limsa, you can solo from 1-10 on just about anything, but some Dodos can wipe the floor with you. Solution? Don't attack the dodo until you're a higher level. Problem solved.

tl;dr: You don't seem to know much about the game and many of your posts just scream "lack of experience."

"Solo" gaming is defined as "Having something to do when the party isn't available, that is substantial."

If you see it another way, that's a you problem.

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Originally Posted by Alexis_Arteme

"Solo" gaming is defined as "Having something to do when the party isn't available, that is substantial."

If you see it another way, that's a you problem.

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Getting a party at any of the camps in the limsa or gridania area is usually a problem being that a huge percent of the games population chooses to play in uldah area. So should i as a person who enjoys limsa area not be able to play the game in a maner I enjoy? Should I be forced to travel to Uldah and do the same 3 leves(purposely failing them) over and over and over just so I can get a party?

I wouldnt mind partying but until SE makes partying more than doing dunesfolks and the other 2 leves over and over and over I will stick to solo/duo play

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Originally Posted by TonyMontana

Getting a party at any of the camps in the limsa or gridania area is usually a problem being that a huge percent of the games population chooses to play in uldah area. So should i as a person who enjoys limsa area not be able to play the game in a maner I enjoy? Should I be forced to travel to Uldah and do the same 3 leves(purposely failing them) over and over and over just so I can get a party?

I wouldnt mind partying but until SE makes partying more than doing dunesfolks and the other 2 leves over and over and over I will stick to solo/duo play

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The same happened in FFXI...between 10-12, everyone went to the dunes. Hardly anyone went to the area on the windy side. Is that SE's fault? No, it's the players. Should you be forced to go to Uldah to get a party? No, and you aren't being forced to do so. Just don't expect parties in the "lesser" places. IDK why Uldah is THE city, but it is so we either have to adapt or quit. The same happened in FFXI with ninja. It was designed as a DD/puller....players made it a tank. Did I like it? No, but if I wanted to play Ninja, I had to adapt to what the PLAYERS (not SE) wanted.

tl;dr Don't blame SE...blame the players.

ARoy first of all, ...your sig is sweet and i want it... if you could show me a link ill be yer best friend..

more importantly, yeah they could do alot to help out party playing. Every area should have a solo side and a party side. Like soloable quest and mobs outside and an instance to go to with a group that gives you something you CANT get soloing. Otherwise why join a party?

I think they should have instance bosses drop better looking armor. or class specific armor. Either way there should be a place for a group to explore in each area that completes that areas story line, the group has to fight through and that has a Challenging Boss(es) who has unique battle strategies that force people to use skills and battle regimens.

Also they should have a tutorial quest or 5 in the for few lvls where you group up with NPCs to learn and practice battle regimens. If everyone learns how to use them independently they will use them in group natrually.

Some may call this hand holding, but the more educated your peers are about the a game, the more fun you have.

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Originally Posted by TonyMontana

Getting a party at any of the camps in the limsa or gridania area is usually a problem being that a huge percent of the games population chooses to play in uldah area....

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Exactly, put some instance in with bosses that drop unique gear and youll have people traveling all over to group and grab it.

omg guys...this game isn't that hard. There doesn't need to be a tutorial for ANYTHING. You really want a tutorial for BRs? What next...a tutorial on how to interact with NPCs? I mean...you already get a tut that tells you how to spam "1."

This game is easy and needs more challenge, not LESS challenge. If it's too hard for you, find an easier game...which at this point, this IS the easiest game..

There are very much reasons to focus on solo players (aside from the fact they said they would). They have been outlined in the posts by Yoshi-P most recently. Some people don't have the time others do. If you can't handle solo play, you already have 11 setup for party play only please go back there and let this new game actually be something different. I see nothing wrong with an online FF that you can invite friends if want or not and still get to play it. Especially if we have to pay for it. If there are 16* storylines in the end on this game and I "befriend" 18* pt's of npcs I could care less, it would be more FF than what we have now if you don't have the time to meet ppl or the motivation to.

*- said sacrcasitcally if you respond to these figures I just gotta say jeez.

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Originally Posted by Dubont

omg guys...this game isn't that hard. There doesn't need to be a tutorial for ANYTHING. You really want a tutorial for BRs? What next...a tutorial on how to interact with NPCs? I mean...you already get a tut that tells you how to spam "1."

This game is easy and needs more challenge, not LESS challenge. If it's too hard for you, find an easier game...which at this point, this IS the easiest game..

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And this is an opinion of yours which has no bearing on the outcome of the game. I see ppl whine in 11 and players just say if game is to hard go play something else. I say the same to you if it's too easy then you know what to do. Atm game isn't finished and shouldn't be judged on level of hardness since main boss isn't even in the game yet, classes aren't finished and so forth. we are still beta testing whether we like it or not.

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Originally Posted by Dubont

omg guys...this game isn't that hard. There doesn't need to be a tutorial for ANYTHING. You really want a tutorial for BRs? What next...a tutorial on how to interact with NPCs? I mean...you already get a tut that tells you how to spam "1."

This game is easy and needs more challenge, not LESS challenge. If it's too hard for you, find an easier game...which at this point, this IS the easiest game..

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I didnt say it was hard, nor did i say it was difficult which is what i am sure you meant. Battle regimens are not used now, by getting people used to them they would mostly likey be used more often. This would improve on enjoyment of grouping. Everyone knows this game is not difficult.

Do you have anything constructive to add?

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Originally Posted by Celtodeno

Exactly, put some instance in with bosses that drop unique gear and youll have people traveling all over to group and grab it.

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Agreed but why not make it soloable/able to bring npc buddy or buddies?

Not reading all the posts. But ima put my 2 cents in

Personally I hate mmo today with the solo focus. One thing that I get bored is playing by myself which I feel is counter productive to an mmo. More so if there is a certain community level requirement to join the guilds. Like WoW was mostly 10+ where Aion was 25+. I don't mind a few options for solo'ers, but a good majority of the game should be group even if its 2-5 more players. I Say this because how do you build a server community if everyone plays by themsellves unless forced to? You don't personally. There are alot of large scale rpg. Like elder scrolls 3 and 4. Plus skyrim coming out. Then you got 2 worlds 2. Fall out 3 and 4. And these games have addons that increased the already huge world. Not much different from mmo.

If you focus on too much solo. It can get boring for those who like grouping as no one will want to group up. I like being able to socialize and group up with ppl to level and quest. And ya sometimes I do like to go solo.

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Originally Posted by Celtodeno

I didnt say it was hard, nor did i say it was difficult which is what i am sure you meant. Battle regimens are not used now, by getting people used to them they would mostly likey be used more often. This would improve on enjoyment of grouping. Everyone knows this game is not difficult.

Do you have anything constructive to add?

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BRs aren't used? LOL! Excuse me sir. I forgot that you're still a very low level and have almost no experience with the game. *clears throat* BRs are used a great deal, especially on NMs and higher level leves (no..not a r10 leve that you put on 5 star...try a r40 leve on 5 star)

@ janglo: If you want a solo game, there are plenty of single player games out there. MMOs are GROUP games. Why play a GROUP game if you don't want to play in a GROUP. Also, FF games have NEVER been solo games, why should start now? If you don't believe me, name 3 FF games that you played solo. By solo, I mean 1 person, 1 character. My "opinion" is that this game is extremely easy as it is. Jobs should not be able to use just about any skill from any other job at any time. Jobs should also not be able to wear any armor from any other job at any time and at any level. This game, again, is too easy and needs to be "fixed" in terms of difficulty.

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Originally Posted by Dubont

BRs aren't used? LOL! Excuse me sir. I forgot that you're still a very low level and have almost no experience with the game. *clears throat* BRs are used a great deal, especially on NMs and higher level leves (no..not a r10 leve that you put on 5 star...try a r40 leve on 5 star)

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Sorry bud, but you more or less proved my point. That BR's are used only at a very high lvl on one very limited aspect of the game.

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Originally Posted by Dubont

BRs aren't used? LOL! Excuse me sir. I forgot that you're still a very low level and have almost no experience with the game. *clears throat* BRs are used a great deal, especially on NMs and higher level leves (no..not a r10 leve that you put on 5 star...try a r40 leve on 5 star)

@ janglo: If you want a solo game, there are plenty of single player games out there. MMOs are GROUP games. Why play a GROUP game if you don't want to play in a GROUP. Also, FF games have NEVER been solo games, why should start now? If you don't believe me, name 3 FF games that you played solo. By solo, I mean 1 person, 1 character. My "opinion" is that this game is extremely easy as it is. Jobs should not be able to use just about any skill from any other job at any time. Jobs should also not be able to wear any armor from any other job at any time and at any level. This game, again, is too easy and needs to be "fixed" in terms of difficulty.

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@ dubont this is a solo/party game if you have problem with that go play another game you seem to know them all. also this my second character if that low level crack at me, been here since beta lol just as long as you possibly could have.

@ Janglo: This is a FF game and there have been no FF games that were solo games. The old team were obviously ignorant. This game will increase in difficulty. If you don't like that, go play My Little Pony

@ Celtodeno: I said "especially" on the NMs and such. You can still use them a great deal earlier. Your point was that no one used them because no one knows how. Actually! Not very many people use them before this point because there is no need for it. Up until Mid to late 30's, everything can be killed by just bumrushing the mobs with "spam 1!" and a few cures. It's not a lack of knowledge that keeps BRs away, it's the lack of need. Once you start getting to mobs that are actually worth a little time, you'll see how much BRs are used, but only if the people you play with actually know how to play =)

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Originally Posted by Dubont

@ Janglo: This is a FF game and there have been no FF games that were solo games. The old team were obviously ignorant. This game will increase in difficulty. If you don't like that, go play My Little Pony

@ Celtodeno: I said "especially" on the NMs and such. You can still use them a great deal earlier. Your point was that no one used them because no one knows how. Actually! Not very many people use them before this point because there is no need for it. Up until Mid to late 30's, everything can be killed by just bumrushing the mobs with "spam 1!" and a few cures. It's not a lack of knowledge that keeps BRs away, it's the lack of need. Once you start getting to mobs that are actually worth a little time, you'll see how much BRs are used, but only if the people you play with actually know how to play =)

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@dubont please respond to what I said. I have not commented on caring about the difficulty just that it should be soloable. If you have problem with that take it up with new devs and yoshi-p lol. Also EVERY FF was solo up to 11 LOL you are wrong bub. O and if you played My Little Pony i would have to ask how it was sounds awful.

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Originally Posted by Janglo

@dubont please respond to what I said. I have not commented on caring about the difficulty just that it should be soloable. If you have problem with that take it up with new devs and yoshi-p lol. Also EVERY FF was solo up to 11 LOL you are wrong bub.

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The entire game should not be soloable >.> NMs should not be soloable. Leveling should not be soloable after a certain point without it being severely worse than if you were to party up (like in 11). If you have a problem with the game being too difficult, take that up with your lack of common sense and rationality.

i'ma have to agree with kilta, i hate this focus on solo and casual. it will ruin ffxiv completly anyone that played ffxi and enjoyed and played it from begining to the end will run for the hills cause of this casual bit. everything in the game needs to be turned to a party play focus, they should of just made it very easy to jump in but instead they made it worse then ffxi to get a party going. we had campaign battles in ffxi near the end those could of easily been the base for exp'ing in ffxiv, but instead they give is leves witch are a useless wow questing model and it sucks, and behest i dunno what that is.

the very first launch of the game had it right 15man parties that forced players to pay attention and couldn't leach a dang second or they got no sp. it had lots of issues that needed fixing but it was in the right direction and they 360'd for the lazy,botting,leeching,duel boxing,solo'ist, and casuals instead and gave us a shitty model of ffxi.

i understand some people enjoy the solo'ing but they could add solo content or make the content solo but with way more advantage party, it's not there right now, most don't do more then 2-4people in party and 8 for leve sharing, 8 was cool, but boring boring boring. i am not asking for a zerg mind you, i'm looking for a fun game with lots of players interacting.ffxi was perfect, 6man grinds, lots of missions and quests that took party play,campaign battles, and all endgame was 6-64man. i can solo off liners and in all reality all games are adding online play to them of 2-4people, why the hell are we playing this online multi player for any way then. (it's not for a Colosseum that fights 2npc's cause we know that was empty)

lol k i'ma stop there i can go on forever on how i hate solo play and why i won't even think twice leaving the second i'm hundred percent sure this game is going way more casual then i want it to be. tic. tic. tic.

Actually this SE never said this will be a solo friendly mmo. A casual less time consuming one yes. Solo... no. And dub is right no ff game or SE game really was "solo" you played groups have 3-4 characters. Or controled one but had npc with you. Even crystal chronicals it was much better to play with other instead of solo. Unless you like that dust ball moogle :3 i loved it.

I feel mmo are loosing their point in trying to please the solo crowd too much. Point is look how they treat the community. Calling anyone who play longer then they do fat men who life with mom. And think the typical mmo player was the fat guy from Make love not warcraft. Which is irritating.

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Originally Posted by Grit

"Solo" players are generally "Casual" players, and casual players make up the majority of MMO gamers today.

This wasn't quite as true when FFXI came out. But it sure as hell is now, lol.

The trick is to make a game that allows for soloing but promotes group play on many fronts.

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Bingo! I dont have 5 hours a day to throw at this game but I still wanna cooperate with other people around the world to accomplish something challenging and rewarding.

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Originally Posted by Dubont

The entire game should not be soloable >.> NMs should not be soloable. Leveling should not be soloable after a certain point without it being severely worse than if you were to party up (like in 11). If you have a problem with the game being too difficult, take that up with your lack of common sense and rationality.

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That is all your opinion and the game isn't called dubont fantasy XIV lol. And again i didnt say anything about the difficulty.

what we have is 2 groups that want to take away the option for the other to enjoy the game. we have the solo players want more solo content for them and a group that enjoys to party so more stuff for them. i play both solo and parties, but quite frankly, parties are not always available. there has to be stuff for both groups or you lose one group or the other. if you only want things that suit your needs and say screw the other side you are not looking for future success of the game. it will take people from all play styles to make this game a success.