Can't we do anything solo and improve?

[C-croft]

Lol... this thread just reminded me of being tractored by a blm just to get accross jugner forest to get to jeuno at level 10.... And then the other time when My sneak wore off at the wrong time in Khazam's jungle and I trained half the jungle to the khazam entrance and people were dieing try to exit khazam for hours...

I remember watching my first mob train in the dunes... The most epic thing to watch so many people stand there in awe, just to be eaten alive when the mobs went back.

[scaredchimp]

I would like to point something out to all people who are saying "your playing the wrong genre" "go play single player" "it's MMO for a reason".

AAA Publishers are trying to make every game a "MMO" its the best way that they control content, you buy the game then rent it and they can pull the plug at any moment, only indie and smaller companies make true single player games now, most need internet connections and have features linked with "having" to play on multiplayer.

[mbncd]

I don't really get where all the "go play a single player game" comments are coming from either.

NO ONE has said anything about wanting to solo everything. The OP could want to do party play stuff for 99.999999% of the time. But for 30 minutes waiting for DF to pop, they might want to do a boss fight that'll net them 5 tomes or something. Heck, they may have even just had a long day and not want to deal with other people but want to feel like they're taking one step towards something they want before passing out for the night. That isn't some great sin or slight against anyone's ability to play in a group. Just because you think the genre should encourage group play doesn't mean it should force it constantly after you reach cap (which, let's face it, is when the game actually starts for most people).

I'm primarily a crafter, secondly a gatherer, only a combatant when it's really needed to see the story line or unlock something. I don't like dungeons and primal battles and all of that sort of thing. I prefer single player games in concept most of the time. However, sometimes I like to be "in the same room" as my non Aussie friends, working towards something together, laughing together at things we're all able to see/do, getting beaten up by a monster twice our level because we're just in a kamakaze mood that day, whatever. By your reasoning, should the fact that every now and again I prefer an MMORPG experience over a single player experience mean I'm no longer entitled to play single player games? Of course not, but it's the exact same thing.

The thing many people forget is that if you're interacting with lots of other people (as people are saying you must at all times in an MMO unless you want to stand still and craft/gather/market which currently have little to no meaning in this game by most people's standards), those people aren't clones of yourself or NPC's. They have their own preferences, ideas, plans, goals, techniques, play styles, driving reasons, etc. They're also in different circumstances to you and get something different compared to you from every experience, simply because they are not you. So many people let other people tell them what they should work towards, how they should get there, what they should wear, where they should stand, what ability they should use, when they should use it, what macro to make... Honestly, you'd think they all want to be cookie cut from identical moulds. Someone who learns and adapts for themselves is often outcast because they don't match this "ideal", even if that ability to adapt (rather than following someone else's script without understanding the rhyme or reason behind half of what they're doing) might make them a better player in some circumstances.

But that's going off topic and into a completely separate range of issues.

My point is that not everyone wants to do everything with other people at all times just to take even a small step in the right direction. There are all sorts playing for all sorts of reasons and all sorts of goals and their right to play the game should not be decided by someone unwilling to even acknowledge the other side of the coin. Wanting to do something occassionally is not saying that they want everything to be like that, simply that they don't want everything to always be the same and that they want to do something different but still productive for a few minutes out of every few weeks.

I support the ability to progress as a solo player. No reason the game can't still encourage group play by making progression both faster and easier in a group (with efficiency being a major driving force for the vast number of players who count experience/tomes/gil/whatever per hour as the value of content) while still allowing reduced (but not stand still) rates of progression for those who want to play solo for a little while here and there.

[Rufalus]

There are plenty of reasons to play an mmo type game besides the multiplayer battling. Because you like a huge game world to explore. Because you like a game with a large amount of content and frequent content updates for years to come. Because you like the social aspects. Just because you prefer to train your character solo and pursue content at your own pace rather than waiting to find groups that align with your current goals at every turn doesn't mean anyone should tell you to play something else. To me mmorpg is about flexibility to play the way you desire. If people are happy to pay a subscription and primarily solo content instead of playing offline games then so be it.

[Doo]

Solo content hurts group content. With that said there's Fates that can be solo so you can build your character up that way or crafting/gathering.

[Shirana]

Since it seems safe to post here without being screamed at by people of the opposing side I'll post >_>;

I personally think solo play would be very nice. People have said it would hurt the game but I say it would not. Solo content gives much more immersion imo too! But I'm a solo player so I guess that would be more immersive for me just as group content is more immersive for those who like group content xD For me hearing/reading the games story as it unfolds only to see the camera see my party behind me makes a contradiction that ruins the immersion for me. I'm not saying I am against or dislike group content. It's still much more epic to have a whole party of people all casting skills and fighting rather than just yourself. But as a person that loves story and lore more, I'd prefer to do story content alone and group content later and I think this can be easily done without ruining any part of group play.

Another game I use to play and love before I left it for other games like this one accomplished this very easily. Dungeons/instances had a one man option (personally I think it would be better for only story content to be one-manned here in FFXIV rather than everything due to reasons I will point out). In exchange for it being easy for ANY class to solo it (but still challenging enough to be fun and epic!) it gave no money or drops or even exp. It was purely for personal story/solo experience and the no-drop/exp policy ensured that dungeons remained filled through the fact you cannot progress gear in one-man mode. Also, FFXIV has a lot more end game raid based content than the one I am talking about, so personally things like hard mode dungeons and non story dungeons wouldn't really have any point to be finished as 1-manned. Hence only story instances would have one manned options for people who want the solo play~ Would prolly make people using duty roulette happy to, as people could see the cutscenes in one man mode and spam it later in parties when he or she does duty roulette for tomes (if the player chooses too I mean). I think this would be a great idea for solo players without ruining party content (because of the no drop/gil/exp policy). It worked really well in the other game, and you could always still find a party for any dungeon because running it in a party was still more rewarding~

Again, I am not against party content. I love doing the primals and it is far more fun in a party :3
I just have prefer story based things like Castrum and Praetorium for example for people who like to solo for the story experience 8D Honestly I have done both multiple times and still wish I could see the cutscenes every time because I LIKE them. But I either skip them and play, or watch them and get locked out of every boss fight lol. I find the immersion more interesting doing story based content by myself too. But this is all my opinion ofc o;
(Done, no more edits to add stoof!)

[Artemiz]

None of which improved your character once you were lacking nothing but raid gear. You can literally solo up until raid quality gear.

I wouldn't agree with that, there where so many gear sets/swaps needed that I could always find something to do to improve my character, even if it was just farming MN's for elemental resist or the Parade Gorget for my PLD. The best gear did mainly come from end game group content but that's how it should be anyway. Remember that in FF11 gil had more use because a lot of good gear came from the AH, I remember farming away for hours saving up for my Hauby +1.

When did you start playing FFXI? Up till ToAU, soloing was not a viable solution with the exception of a couple very limited class combinations.

I started playing just after ToAU was released and stopped just before Aby came out and took a couple of years off then came back at the 99 cap.

Solo isn't the only way to have fun though, low manning stuff with friends was great fun and beating Charybdis with my PLD in a trio at the 75 cap is my fondest memory in FF11. Mainly because the weapon was a game changer for PLD, I'd wanted it for ages and I did the fight with my 2 closest ingame friends. Not only that but everyone at the time said PLD couldn't low man it, I wanted to prove them wrong and did.

There was loads of rewarding content do do in FF11 that didn't include instances, something fun and rewarding to do when I'm not in the mood to deal with CT drama or whatever sounds good to me.

[Yukiko]

People have to understand, that groupplay is just one sort of interaction but not the solely one!
Indeed MMO is ment to focus on interaction between players, but that doesnt mean forced groupplay because interaction is much much more!

[Fayto]

Please before arguing, at least read wikipedia for basic informations...

Viewed Wikipedia, research obtained.

Oh look, Wikipedia.
"Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) mixes the genres of role-playing video games and massively multiplayer online games, possibly in the form of web browser-based games, in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual world."
"(MMORPG) mixes the genres of" "role-playing video games" "massively multiplayer online games"

I'll just leave that here.

[Lumiin]

If you are looking for great solo experience, what made you pick an MMO?

Uh there's TONS of mmos that will let you duo/solo all sorts of content if you're geared/skilled enough.

Since like 99% of the population is this game sucks horribly I wish we could solo/duo/trio more content. :<