1.18 Bittersweet.

[options]

You ppl do realize that solo has always been an option in mmos. Your defenition of multi player is sooo wrong. Even in multiplayer FPS games you can run around by yourself and kill people by yourself. Multiplayer just means that the other ppl running around are actually ppl and not some AI.

[Seif]

4player group requirement isn't that bad. Monster Hunter 3 can always be played within minutes without any LFP systems or player search. They just need to guide people willing to play the same content in certain areas where it's easy to find players with same goals.

XI pt search system works why in the sweet mary josef's name can't they add the same to XIV? just WHY!?!?

[Galadrios]

Wow people really are able to complain about everything. For once I logged to the forum to see priases and appreciation for the new patch and there are still complains...

This patch is made of win. It has brought a lot of balance back to the game. Even if they added that enmity indicator, tanking is incredibly harder. You need COORDINATION while before it was a zerg fest and you still could hold aggro. You learn that kind of skill with party play, not soloing. The dungeon does not seem a pushover, they are giving us a reason to actually improve our gameplay. I like the direction this is taking.

As many others said before me if people wanna play mostly solo they should play an offline game with a multiplayer online option...

[Darkoon]

Conjurer here, I can still solo fine, in fact, I leveled from Rank 33 to Rank 34.

[Gramul]

And the hardcore group doesn't understand that they're backwards rationale is illogical and deconstructive in the current day and age.

Explain why an opinion in that where a person who enjoys hard work to rewards is backwards or irrational.
Explain to me how "in the current day and age", the process of setting up and achieving distant goals is invalidated and you're not supposed to enjoy it.

[chaotic_zero]

i'm pumped about being forced to group.. sorry this isn't a single player game! I logged off many times because I had to solo everything and there was no option for group play..

I agree!!

MMO means Massive Multilayer Online!!! If you want a Single-Player game, go play FFXIII

[Chocobits]

With the (somewhat baffling?) forced wait time between Behests now, I certainly hope something like low level grouping becomes popular. 1-25~ could be done easily in a few hours via solo grind at low levels, Behest/Levelink and duo grind from 10+. Leves and Behest reward so much less SP now though, and with the forced wait, it honestly looks like pre 30~ people are gonna be boned for ranking up in a timely manner without grouping up.

Also, there's a point I'm confused on: wasn't the POINT of fatigue to appeal to people who couldn't play often, by giving them an opportunity to earn loads of SP in a short time frame? We removed the fatigue because people didn't want to be dictated by a broken leveling system that penalized them.. but simultaneously eroded solo/casual play by increasing MP costs. recast timers, lowering SP rewards from leves/behest.. So now that casual player that can only play 1 hour a day max can log in and accomplish.. as little as the rest of us.

[kukurumei]

You ppl do realize that solo has always been an option in mmos. Your defenition of multi player is sooo wrong. Even in multiplayer FPS games you can run around by yourself and kill people by yourself. Multiplayer just means that the other ppl running around are actually ppl and not some AI.

No Solo meant you had to truck through days of killing and grinding to level up, while parties do it in a faction of the time, thus it was beneficial to form them.

So are you a WoW boy or not? the invent of wham bam, quest time level baby, is a little bizarre in the greater scheme of things.

Right now Solo is at a decent pace, but people are somehow expecting 4->11 quests is the WoW level up, more quest route...and I'm afraid there's 100 different games that can do that for you.

[Demacia]

Explain why an opinion in that where a person who enjoys hard work to rewards is backwards or irrational.
Explain to me how "in the current day and age", the process of setting up and achieving distant goals is invalidated and you're not supposed to enjoy it.

Gramul don't listen to that dude. He's been spammin up the forums with crazy talk since XIVcore.

[Eisah]

Besides the dramatic increase in the recast timer on a few of my moves, I haven't done enough to make too much judgment calls yet. I'm just surprised at how hostile people are towards solo players. What's wrong with playing solo? MMO just means lots of people are around, not that I have to play with them.

Yes, I like my LS mates. I know a few of them irl. I get along with people ingame and I do chat with people and form groups. I don't necessarily want to do that EVERY time I play. My main job is much higher than almost everyone else in my LS, so sometimes I want to go solo in an area none of them can really go yet. Sometimes they need an item and I'm getting it for them. Sometimes I want to go somewhere for a specific reason and no one I know can help me out.

They work and I help out with kids a lot. We aren't always on at the same time, and I have to be on call constantly in case the kids need something. I loved that I could do that without a problem in this game. I could play on my own and walk away anytime without messing up an entire group by ditching them. I'm not the only player I know who has to deal with kids and work and other things. We're not all anti-social; that's just how life works. Other things in life are more important and when I play I want to be able to do my own stuff without depending on other people I don't know being willing to help me.
I mean, did you guys ever try to start playing FFXI a few years into it and do some of those first missions? I saw plenty of poor new people who couldn't get anyone to help them just get past those first missions because everyone else was doing their endgame stuff. I don't mind grouping and such, but the game should definitely also be playable without grouping. Wanting to solo sometimes doesn't mean I shouldn't be allowed to play a MMO. I didn't come here to spend hours LFG again.

That said, again, I haven't done enough during this new patch to make a complete judgment on the changes. I just don't see why some people seem to think solo playing doesn't need to be a viable option. There are a lot of reasons people choose to play solo and it has nothing to do with them hating groups/people/humans/all life on earth/puppies or something.