The Solo disease?

[Kilta_Firelotus]

I hate to be rude about this, but as much as I am for options. My question is why play mmorpg. I know several single player games with huge worlds Elder scrolls and fall out come to mind. Sure you have a r8ight to play mmorpg, but from my stance most solo-ist are rude. They come into mmorpg knowing the "point" is playing with others. The whine once they run into content that requires groups. I'm all for options, i'm all for allowing anyone to play. But a line should be drawn at some point. When you join community games your suppose to be apart of that community. Which is what even well seasoned mmorpg'er forgot.

One i'm mostly tired of, is when a solo-ist joins an LS and doesn't talk or contribute. They act snobby. Which is why solo-ers have a bad stigma.

Pretty much solo all you want but do not ruin the mmorpg for others due to you need to solo.

Sorry but I ran into too many rude solo'ers. And really do not feel they should play mmorpg and ruin it because their need to solo in a community game.

[Ayerc]

MMOs, again, are not designed for soloers and you have to get over it. Solo content is perfectly fine and they know they have to incorporate something to those players, but this isn't for the antisocial. If there is solo content it's directed to people who don't have all the time in the world and if they decided to play for an hour before sleeping and having to get up for a full day of work, they'll have the content there for them.

This type of content is not developed for people who just want to be antisocial. It's not the genre.

I don't think that's true at all. Solo does not equal antisocial. Soloers aren't antisocial, they just prefer their achievements to be earned on their own without help. Soloers don't all go off into their own little world and ignore all the other players around them. Many are just as, if not more, social than party players.

Solo content is just that, content meant to be soloed. All it adds is another way to enjoy a MMORPG, and any next-gen game would be making a huge misstep in not including it.

As Commat said, it's the persistent, ever-expanding world and sense of accomplishment that draws players into MMORPGs. If not, soloers would just play single players games, and party players would stick to smaller hosted games. MMORPGs are about a ton of players getting together to experience the same world in their own way. There's nothing inherently solo or party about them, we've just always seen the party structured content take precedence.

[Kilta_Firelotus]

Ran out of room to use as an example
" I just don't want to play with anyone. If I have to put up with an occasional group to play in such a world, its a price I am willing to pay."

is why most ppl do not like soloers. Comments like these are a slap in the face for alot of mmorp'ers since mmo are community game.

[Dubont]

I talk mostly of scalable content that can work perfectly for either side. Why would a company choose to make content for one or the other, when they can make it for both?


Why? Multiplayer doesn't mean that you have to form groups with these other players, just that they exist in the same persistent world as you. So Why are MMO's, by their nature, group games? "It just is." Is not an answer to anything.

Again, there will be content for both players, but you have to understand, if there is content that is challenging for groups (as in you NEED 8 people to do it) why should the soloists get that same content scaled down so that they can kill it? Difficulty should not be scaled down just because you don't want to play in a group. Yes, the content will be open for you and you can attempt it solo if you wish, but if you can't complete it solo, it shouldn't be scaled down just to suit your desires. FFXI (after like...4 years) had content for both types of players and even had group content that SOME (not all) solo players could do. This is acceptable. Having the game 100% soloable will not only turn players away but it will also make the rating on this game sink lower.

MMORPG stands for Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. When you solo, there is no actual multiplayer. Sure, you can interact with other players, but you aren't playing with them (technically you are..but you aren't) so there is no multiplayer. Take the COD franchise for example. It's multiplayer. How many players do you see ONLY doing 1v1 matches? Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is another example. It has multiplayer. How many people do you see ONLY doing 1v1 matches? Finally, Rift, the newest MMO. During the world raids (where there are waves of enemies that raid into a zone and the entire zone full of players is now in a party going at these guys) do you think that a solo only player should be able to destroy 100+ enemies, at the same time, by himself? Do you think that a r50, in FFXIV, should be able to solo 2 r70 mobs that are surrounded by 3 r60's without putting forth the necessary requirements? (This includes gear, stats, abilities, proper macros and proper mob behavior knowledge)

[BruceyBruceyBangBang]

Why? What you have stated is more or less true, but you didnt give any reasoning for the statement. Why should MMO's be group focused?

Your claims that soloists are anti-social is just the sort of backwater thinking that I am talking about. Does that mean that people who don't play MMO's at all are all anti-social? Anyone who plays offline RPGs, they must be anti-social too, because they are choosing to play a single player game over an online game.

If you can solo something that was designed for a group to do, you are exploiting a design flaw. So, before we go on about the "challenges" of soloing something not meant to be solo, we should establish that. Not to say that those instances cannot be challenging, it's just to answer your own question. MMORPGs first and foremost are designed for groups to come together, interact, and form strategies to complete an event or whatever the situation. That's the fun of the genre. If you are pulling against this, by MMO standards, yes... you are being antisocial. It's a virtual world designed around it's players to keep the society more interactive and for players who find the fun in that. Looking at how they real world works, is it every man for himself? Absolutely not and although, this is a video game and should not totally reflect the real world, this is what the genre is based upon.

If this is not appealing to you, you're not in the right place. Either deal with it, or... not. There is really no other option for you.

[Ayerc]

I hate to be rude about this, but as much as I am for options. My question is why play mmorpg. I know several single player games with huge worlds Elder scrolls and fall out come to mind.

Check Commat's response on page 2 for your answer.

As far as soloists being rude, they're not exclusive and a small minority. There are plenty of players, many who never solo, that are just as rude. There's plenty more who are even more rude because they don't have proper respect for others, yet play with them.

There's no need to generalize sololists as all being rude players. I think most soloists get branded with negative stigma because far too many people just assume something negative about them, "why else would they be soloing?" It's that kind of mindless labelling that TheDevilsJester is addressing here.

[thedevilsjester]

I have total respect on your ideals, and I'm the first one who thinks that someone has to play a game like that someone wants.

I'm always by the opinion that Party Playing is great, because you actually have the chance to fight alongside with other players and make fighting a game of strategy and plans. Not counting the bullcrap we often do in parties that make us lose with style and in a funny way =D

Thank you. However do you think that soloists don't do strategy? In fact I have found that you have to strategize more as a soloist because you don't have, say, a tank, and a healer, and all these other roles. You have to be creative and survive as a single entity, which requires a lot of strategy.

I respect your soloist choice anyway. BUT! I only respect you guys if you actually tried to play with a Party and realized that that's not your playstyle. If you didn't, I can't tolerate that and I'll obligue you to play in a party ASAP!

I hesitate to draw a parallel (because I do not want this topic to degenerate), but I do not have to "try" homosexuality, to know that I like heterosexuality better. One does not have to try both sides of a coin, to be fairly certain which side they like best, its a flawed logic. That being said I have partied in MMORPG's for years, whenever I have to, which in FFXI was very often, and I find it to be dull, and with rare exceptions (and I do love the exceptions), full of idiots (who are rude) and children (who don't know any better).

Anyway, an MMORPG is also meant to be played solo-style. It's just that with a group is even funnier! That's one reason on why's it called Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, because playing with others is funnier than playing alone. That's the concept that I've got from those games.

Multi-player is not a synonym for Groups. I can play in a world with many people (which is one of the things I LOVE about MMORPG's) without wanting to actually "team up" with any of them.

[Anty]

an mmo who wants to please both soloers and group orientated people has to do double the work imo. Solo content need to be very different and there has to be endgame for soloers as well as for groups, perhaps different views of the story...

The "soloproblem" i see in a lot of mmos where you can solo (and have content solo) 99% of the time to the max cap then everyone is forced to do 20people + raids... which causes all the soloers or even group-oriented players to quit the game since you are used to do most of the stuff solo all the way to the cap then BOOm you cant do shit solo anymore in endgame...

there has to be a balance and i think tha tonly works good if you have stories for soloers and for groups. But that is a lot of work and needs a shit load of resources.
If you dont do both you fail at both. VERY HARD!

FFxiv is very disappointing for me, since i do like the group contents/group accomplishments. And main mission/job missions etc. is ALL strictly solo, not even an option... only the mindless (also easy) grinding is faster in group...

I enjoy rpgs very much, since the good story and the changing world is what makes me play solo rpgs besides the mmos.
But if im playing an mmo and theres no need for any grouping at all, not even need of friends helping... thats just lame and
misses the point of an mmo imo.

[Kilta_Firelotus]

Thedevilsjester

mmorpg are about grouping. And final fantasy in itself is a group based game. Your character isn't the only hero. Who had a large number of "friends" with in the game. the ff trademark has always been about working as a team. But more importently. MMorog are going based on co-op rpg. Much like co-op mode in halo. Before fps's came out. Most games has a multiplayer mode that you played together as a team. Much like mario i forget the title but you can pick between mario lugi princess toadstool (renamed peach) and toad. Then you got donky kong with the grouping od diddy kong for multiplay. Pretty much in an rpg style multiplayer does infact mean grouping.

Pretty much if you have to ask why people dislike soloer, look at 1/2 your replies. They sound self centered, whiny and bratty. Most people in mmo over all only solo leveling. That way they know their job/class/character. But 99% of mmorpg content will be group based. the 1 perscent being leveling and solo questing.

[AdaraaKatsumi]

To the OP, I commend you for going solo. That is a great feat that most players in MMOs do not do and I respect that in you. I for one cannot do it, but we all are different in playing styles. I say enjoy the game how you want to enjoy it and just take the negative rants from the haters here with a grain of salt. The haters on the boards here are campers on the forums and should be camping the Battle Warden instead.