The Solo disease?

[Eldaena]

Don't insult me in thinking that i don't know what an elitist is... By creating a derogatory label such as Elitist you only further the very problem you are attempting to label (which has no relevance). Ever hear of the saying "treat a person like a animal long enough and he will become an animal", that is the most basic way of describing labeling theory. You are part of the problem so stop flinging these stupid labels around!

I never said you didn't know what an elitist was...

And fine, I'll just simply say it as it is without a label. He is being stereotypical. He is assuming. He believes he is correct and everyone else is incorrect. Better now?

Edit: For the record I wasn't talking about anyone using the term 'soloist.' If anything I was just attempting to prevent negative association of that word with the characteristics he was using. Because soloist doesn't = bad. Elitist however does = the description I was attempting to use for the guy. Regardless if I say 'elitist' or if I say in detail what I felt the poster's thoughts were, it means the same thing. So biting my head off for my terminology doesn't change anything.

[Bled]

I never said you didn't know what an elitist was...

And fine, I'll just simply say it as it is without a label. He is being stereotypical. He is assuming. He believes he is correct and everyone else is incorrect. Better now?

retorting in elementary definitions of a term you know a person knows is text book insult but w/e.

And yeah that's better

[Silala]

In my opinion it completely ruins the game for one person to be able to kill the roughest, toughest monster in the game that the lore describes as being a badass to the ultimate degree. It's a task for a group, and should never be allowed to be done solo. If you reeeeally want a solo MMO, go play runescape. Unless they changed it in the last couple of years, there is no such thing as partying in that game and you do everything alone, aside from trading. It's just a social single-player game. It sucks... but yea. That's the sort of game you're describing.

Runescape introduced a skill last year to address that criticism called dungeoneering. The skill is soloable to some extent, but you gain allot more xp by grouping with others. The skill is pretty much like the standard raid, killing monsters in an instance with a boss at the end, but only lasts like 20-60 mins per dungeon depending on how well your group co-operates, so those with not much time will still benefit. Anything outside of that though is still solo friendly outside of mini-games like you said. There are bosses in the open world that require grouping if you're low in level, but most of them do become soloable by max level. This is pretty much info from when I stopped playing in October of 2010, so maybe new party-oriented things have been introduced since then.

[Jinko]

the one thing I never found to make any sense........ if you want to solo..... why in the heck are you playing an MMORPG....and dont give me that "single player RPGs dont hold up to MMORPGs) because I have a whole shelf full of games, spanning decades that will prove that wrong.

Some people like to play solo but still feel part of community and chat within the guild or LS.

Crafters play solo do they not ?, so why should a battle class not be able to ?

Personally I prefer to party but I can see it from the perspective that sometimes its just nice to go out and do your own thing.

[Griss]

Something some one said today actual kind of clicked with me and i think its kind of relevant to this discussion. Mind you it was not expressly about soloing, but it was more geared towards Difficulty.

I am paraphrasing greatly here so stick with me.

"Ya know, I don't really have a problem with a game developer adding in a easy mode for people who cant deal with normal or harder difficulty setting. In fact i think its a good thing, It helps them learn the ropes and to become better players. there is also the benefit of every body no mater the skill level getting to see the content. The problem i have is when they take content and make it exceedingly easy for every one for the sake of players who are not able to hack the normal setting"

he later went on to say that rewards for said easy mode certainly should not be as large as normal or hard. But there's nothing wrong with a the game giving a easy mode player a pat on the head and a shove of encouragement to rise to the challenge of the harder difficulty settings.

[Kilta_Firelotus]

TDJ
there is different forms of multiplayer in the aspect of different ganre(sp).
fps multiplayer isn't really about grouping but playing with other players. In the aspect of rpg though it is about grouping and working as a team.

Sure you can talk to ppl but still be anti-social in a game. Meaning you make friends but do not play with them. Which is a point to the mmo, make friends to play with. I have no issue with ppl who solo. So do not twist it. I just have an issue with people who joins linkshells and ONLY solos. they talk but do not take part in activities. It does make ppl appear snobby. Like if i'm talking to someone I want to do an activity with them. Like leveling or group crafting. (like some one makes arrow heads which i make into arrows etc) And if That person says "no i play solo" it can be taken as an insult. It is like why talk to me if you do not wish to play with me.

But more importently. You gotta understand the background of certain mmo before playing them.

[Jinko]

Something some one said today actual kind of clicked with me and i think its kind of relevant to this discussion. Mind you it was not expressly about soloing, but it was more geared towards Difficulty.

I am paraphrasing greatly here so stick with me.

"Ya know, I don't really have a problem with a game developer adding in a easy mode for people who cant deal with normal or harder difficulty setting. In fact i think its a good thing, It helps them learn the ropes and to become better players. there is also the benefit of every body no mater the skill level getting to see the content. The problem i have is when they take content and make it exceedingly easy for every one for the sake of players who are not able to hack the normal setting"

he later went on to say that rewards for said easy mode certainly should not be as large as normal or hard. But there's nothing wrong with a the game giving a easy mode player a pat on the head and a shove of encouragement to rise to the challenge of the harder difficulty settings.

Agreed.

WoW makes raid content easy so everyone can try it out and then adds the Heroic version for more capable players.

I'm sure if SE tried that here though half the community would implode saying it was wow cloning.

[Junpei]

"Ya know, I don't really have a problem with a game developer adding in a easy mode for people who cant deal with normal or harder difficulty setting. In fact i think its a good thing, It helps them learn the ropes and to become better players. there is also the benefit of every body no mater the skill level getting to see the content. The problem i have is when they take content and make it exceedingly easy for every one for the sake of players who are not able to hack the normal setting"

he later went on to say that rewards for said easy mode certainly should not be as large as normal or hard. But there's nothing wrong with a the game giving a easy mode player a pat on the head and a shove of encouragement to rise to the challenge of the harder difficulty settings.

This. I was reading through this thread thinking this, and here I am on page 13 seeing it!

I am totally OK with a solo player going through a dungeon and beating a boss on his own. BUT ONLY IF. he ticks the "im solo" box and gets reduced rewards. And i dont mean less rewards, i mean weaker rewards.

If the drop for a group of 8 is a Shiny helmet with 60 defense and a 16% chance to drop
The drop for a solo player should maybe only be 40 with a drop of 2%

Now, All solo content should be balanced to the fact the play may only have done previous dungeons solo, so he wont be at a disadvantage for not having done the group content previously. But it also means you cant solo your way up to max level and jump right into group play after taking the easy route, it will be tough.

The lower percentage drop is because of time taken. if a dungeon takes 1 hour and an 8 man party takes the group one, thats 8 player hours to get 1 item, they would need to do this a lot to get it for everyone. whereas the solo would only take 1 player hour. the game still needs to take the same time for everyone. cant give solo-ers an easy ride!

This way, the game is almost seperate for the solo players. but joined at the same time.
They spend the same grind as groupers. they get their own challenge, and they part of the same world.
And if they want to join in with groupers, they have to understand, the would is a little tougher, but rewarding for those that co-operate!

[darkstarpoet1]

I'm sorry that my term caused you to feel that you must post in retort, but when one person believes that the way they do things in a game, or how they feel about others in a game, is the right way and the only way, that feels pretty elitist to me.

He is saying that solo players are almost always bad at playing in groups.

How does he know this?

Has he played with most solo players in this game? Seriously doubtful considering they do not want to party with him or seemingly anyone. He is assuming.

maybe not most solo players are, but i will say most solo only players that decided to group up with me for high level nm's and stuff with were.

[Jinko]

I don't agree that solo player should take 8 times more hours than a full party.

That's some weird logic.

At the end of the day those 8 people only play for 1 hour each and that should be the same for a solo player, I do agree that the reward should be significantly lower in quality though.

Time is not a measure of difficultly and tbh it would probably be much harder for someone to solo a dungeon than an 8 man party due to nobody there to back you up.

Each situation would need to be balanced to the player/s as would the reward.