This is not an mmo...

[Yoko_Kurama]

The mechanics of the game content 1-50 are highly anti social. Anyone who doesn't agree hasn't played a game that was a true mmo. Currently the mechanics are in a way that you have to go out of your way to find people and make a party if you wanted to grind exp for levels and it isn't even necessary when you can just do fates which are scattered everywhere, by the way does anyone actually have friendly conversations with those they do fates with? If i'm level 30 and i need to go kill 30 whatever i can not only do that on my own, i can do it just as fast or faster by myself than taking the time to get a party. If the mechanics were such that getting from 1-50 with a group of friends or players was X amount of weeks, and the time to get 1-50 by yourself solo was 3-4x amount weeks because solo should always be more inconvenient than group play, then THAT would be a real mmo.

Instead it's flipped backwards and you can get through the content in a week or two alone occasionally using duty finder and the solo quests themselves can't even be done as a group...the mass amount of content is completely solo until end game. I agree with the OP, this isn't an mmo it's like SWTOR but at least swtor the solo quests were super entertaining...

[Vansair]

The mechanics of the game content 1-50 are highly anti social. Anyone who doesn't agree hasn't played a game that was a true mmo. Currently the mechanics are in a way that you have to go out of your way to find people and make a party if you wanted to grind exp for levels and it isn't even necessary when you can just do fates which are scattered everywhere, by the way does anyone actually have friendly conversations with those they do fates with? If i'm level 30 and i need to go kill 30 whatever i can not only do that on my own, i can do it jays be more inconvenient than group play, then THAT would be a real mmo.
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This has nothing to do with the post at hand but your Signature Gif is awesome SAO love it XD

[EmiliM]

The mechanics of the game content 1-50 are highly anti social. Anyone who doesn't agree hasn't played a game that was a true mmo.

I must respectfully disagree. And I would imagine that anyone who remembers what it was like sitting in Jeuno waiting for hours on end to get in a party in FFXI would disagree too. An MMO is a game where people come together and play in a persistent online world. And if by your definition a true mmo means forcing people to "socialize" then I'm glad this is not it. I play a game to have fun and I don't care what the game is labeled as, I should not be forced to socialize with others if I'm not in the mood.

Just look at CM and you'll see a perfect example of what happens when you force people to play together. If you want a truly entertaining social experience with people you like, you have to go look for it yourself. Don't expect the game to make friends for you.

[Freakiie]

snip

He has a point though. What content (when you're in the progress of lvling) actually benefits from socialising? Nothing.

Quests? You don't need a party for 3-5 mobs.
Duties? Yeah those things that force you to solo them, highly social those.
Fates? I've easily gotten gold on 99% of the fates solo. So no need here either.
Dungeons/Trials? Just DF them.

There's a very big difference between being forced into socialising (like having to join a FC to progress the story as an example) or socialising being beneficial, like when quests actually require some effort, so partying up would speed up the process. As it is now everyone is just out there doing their own thing and trying to find people to party with generally just wastes your time since everything is so damn easy you get it done in less than 60 seconds.

[ErBear]

He has a point though. What content (when you're in the progress of lvling) actually benefits from socialising? Nothing.

Quests? You don't need a party for 3-5 mobs.
Duties? Yeah those things that force you to solo them, highly social those.
Fates? I've easily gotten gold on 99% of the fates solo. So no need here either.
Dungeons/Trials? Just DF them.

There's a very big difference between being forced into socialising (like having to join a FC to progress the story as an example) or socialising being beneficial, like when quests actually require some effort, so partying up would speed up the process. As it is now everyone is just out there doing their own thing and trying to find people to party with generally just wastes your time since everything is so damn easy you get it done in less than 60 seconds.

This is exactly where I'm coming from.

[EmiliM]

He has a point though. What content (when you're in the progress of lvling) actually benefits from socialising? Nothing.

Yes, that is a valid point. But I'm looking at this from the other direction. Why must people feel that they deserve some kind of payment (as in benefits) before they are willing to talk to each other? In my experience, socializing only works when all parties involved actually want to do it, rather than because they have to so they can get some random reward/benefit/progression (again, see CM for example). The game provides plenty of opportunities to socialize, it just doesn't force people to do it. If people don't choose to talk because it's faster/more efficient, that's their choice. The most the devs can do is prod people a long a bit through the planned MVP system, but they can't force people to become friends.

IMO, socializing and making friends in games like these is in itself a reward, and to expect the game to somehow reward or punish you for having or not having friends is silly.

And Pallas complaint is already addressed by the devs. They are looking into allowing people to keep their parties when engaged in story instances.

[PallasLloyd]

The mechanics of the game content 1-50 are highly anti social.

This so much.

It drives me absolutely crazy playing through the storyline in this game. I tend to be in a party pretty often when I play. We're most of the time not actually "playing" together, since the game stupidly forces you to "unlock" access to everything through ONLY the storyline (I would love to run dungeons with my friends who are father ahead of me, but can't) but just using /p to chat and hang out while I'm trying to catch up. Then I'll get to an instanced storyline battle, be FORCED to drop party (WHY?) and THEN get stuck with a retarded NPC ally. This makes NO SENSE. I don't see how anyone couldn't realize that this kind of ass-backwards design is COMPLETELY missing the mark of what playing an MMO should be like. WHY NOT let me do this fight with an actual friend or another player if you designed it around having an NPC ANYWAY? You SUPPOSEDLY have scaling algorithm in place for FATEs, why not have the bright idea to implement this into instanced fights too? I am honestly TRYING to play this "MMO" with my friends and the game is literally not letting me. It's incredible how clueless and / or incompetent you'd have to be to design an MMO this way.