After playing FFXI for a few weeks, cant wait for Trusts!

[TroySoFab]

I actually have social anxiety. I did not read Aryalandi's comment as if they were making light of mental illness in any way. In fact, they said something I could've said myself.

A mental illness in the most basic terms is a person's behavior that inhibits them from doing necessary activities in their life (simplified for the sake of not derailing the topic too much). An example would be a person not leaving one room ever for fear of other people outside. Not wanting to play video games with other people isn't necessary to live, so using mental illness to support your point is making light of a real problem that people struggle with.

And yeah, people have said to me before I shouldn't play MMOs because of social anxiety (and also photosensitive epilepsy* which I have!), but those people don't know jack. When you have a condition like this, you have to meet it face-to-face, and confront the hell out of it. Even if it's one inch at a time. Even if some days you fall right back down. You keep at it and keep at it and keep at it. It may never fully go away, but those moments in game when you do actually achieve something you didn't think possible before or gave you a hard time, those moments are all the sweeter for it.

Again, my point is made for me. Grouped content is helping you with your anxiety, and that's great! MMOs have given you a way to fight back and have packed it all into a fun game. Why then, would anyone want to take that aspect out of the game? Also if my previous response and this came off as accusing you and the other person of not really having a mental illness, that is not my intention. I wish you the best of luck in fighting it and who knows, maybe I'll bump into you in DF one day

[Aramina]

Why then, would anyone want to take that aspect out of the game?

No one is advocating for that. You can have some solo-oriented content without that meaning any group-oriented content has to suddenly disappear.

[Ceridwenae]

Grouped content is helping you with your anxiety, and that's great! I wish you the best of luck in fighting it and who knows, maybe I'll bump into you in DF one day

Correction: *sometimes* grouped content helps. Other times it really doesn't and leaves me despairing for humanity's future. I welcome trusts so that I can continue to place blind faith that somehow we're not all screwed. Let me have my dream. I generally object to having to run with random people but I try to get over it, but I have explained this before. Randoms are the not fun element. It should all be fun really. I'm not someone who is sociable with people I am unfamiliar with, I don't enjoy lots of people in any great way, and I do not currently receive worthwhile social interactions with randoms in dungeons - apart from being polite, hi, goodbye, tactics where necessary. Point of fact, I've given up on dungeons right now - I'll run if my daughter asks to, and that's about it. Aside from a few weeks back when I literally had to ask the tank to focus on actually tanking (so shut up spamming chat bar with your asinine observations and at least try to hold some aggro), I have not come across people using dungeons as a place to meet others and chat about the weather, so what does it really matter if some dungeons we do not run with real people should we choose not to? It does not matter. It does not take away social aspects for those who need them (I don't need them in huge amounts nor do I want them. My circle is deliberately small and consists of people who hold great meaning to me).

So no, I'm not really sure you'd want to meet me in DF - I'm sorry! I really do suck. If that somehow happened, yes, I would be polite and but would likely ignore most attempts at conversation. Unless, due to some much cutscene time, it was The Praetorium. Despite what I've said above, sometimes there have been great moments of wit there (bar the one guy who had not the wit, yet prattled incessantly... a little piece of my soul died that day and the rest went into full rebellion). But those times are counted on one hand, and I've run that place more than I'd like to admit to.

And even after all that, I am seriously considering finding people as a static group for even just small dungeons (all content) so randomness can be alleviated, though the leap to do that is currently hard, I would like to think for obvious reasons. I could be considering for some years. Can't do an FC as mine is a family-only one. If I was able to find people of a similar outlook, then I'd be much more open to consistently running content with others as an LS static or some such - though they'd have to be aware of the fact that I just won't be able to do it all the time myself because I need so much "me" time to process stuff.

Anyway. No one is suggesting removing group content away from the game. Where have you read this?

[TroySoFab]

Anyway. No one is suggesting removing group content away from the game. Where have you read this?

Anyways, I am here hoping they make Trusts available from 1 - 80, and not only in dungeons, but also zones. Anyways, I know it's a multiplayer game, being encouraged to play with others, I accept that. But sometimes, very often, there is just no one that qualifies to help on the content you want to do. I just hope Trusts don't end up being overly restricted "only once a day", "only these select dungeons" or anything like that.

Here you go. Also Kleeya above me sums up my view pretty well. Before the announcement of trusts ideas like this would have been quickly dismissed, now we are at the point where its being welcomed.

Correction: *sometimes* grouped content helps. Other times it really doesn't and leaves me despairing for humanity's future. I welcome trusts so that I can continue to place blind faith that somehow we're not all screwed. Let me have my dream. I generally object to having to run with random people but I try to get over it, but I have explained this before. Randoms are the not fun element. It should all be fun really. I'm not someone who is sociable with people I am unfamiliar with, I don't enjoy lots of people in any great way, and I do not currently receive worthwhile social interactions with randoms in dungeons - apart from being polite, hi, goodbye, tactics where necessary. Point of fact, I've given up on dungeons right now - I'll run if my daughter asks to, and that's about it. Aside from a few weeks back when I literally had to ask the tank to focus on actually tanking (so shut up spamming chat bar with your asinine observations and at least try to hold some aggro), I have not come across people using dungeons as a place to meet others and chat about the weather, so what does it really matter if some dungeons we do not run with real people should we choose not to? It does not matter. It does not take away social aspects for those who need them (I don't need them in huge amounts nor do I want them. My circle is deliberately small and consists of people who hold great meaning to me).

I'm going to sound like a broken record here, but you obviously do not enjoy multiplayer games. So why go into a multiplayer game if you dislike playing with people so much? There are plenty of fun single player games where you don't have to interact with randoms or anyone at all.

[Ceridwenae]

Here you go...

I don't read that as what that poster is saying. I read it as they're saying they're hoping things aren't restricted because sometimes there's no one they want to run things with. They're not saying move everything group based out; could be their FC isn't available at whenever they're home from work; sometimess you have to queue for a longer time than maybe you have available. It still doesn't stop people running with others when they want to and there's still nothing asking for stuff to be removed. Just giving the possiblity of enjoying content without having to wait for others at the same time. The two are not mutually exclusive, and let's not slippery slope fallacy ourselves to say they are.

I'm going to sound like a broken record here..

You're making me defend myself? you cad! I can't tell you how I love being told not to do a thing because reasons! That only makes me do it harder. But seriously, I do enjoy MMOs! The story content in this game in particular really resonates with me. I enjoy running dungeons and trials with my family! If any of my RL friends or family played, we'd run with them too (but they don't). I may dislike running with randoms but that does not preclude me from enjoying content or playing with other people. I thought I'd made that clear, so apologies if not. I'll also add my husband isn't currently subscribed, and my daughter isn't endgame content yet. I'd rather do stuff with them than not, so I'm not doing dungeons right now.

Also, these games *are* recommended for people like me. We have established that, but know that this is different for everyone and we take it at our own pace - though I am not the spokesperson for all with anxiety - it's not cookie cutter (no mental illness is, so it's not useful to think of it as such). I thought we'd covered that too. Apologies again if it wasn't clear enough. Maybe one day I will be comfortable with daily interactions with random people, but I certainly won't be if I'm not even in the place where I can do that! - again though, how are dungeons the optimal place for that? If you're not on something like Discord, I mean. Me and family always run using discord and we have a fantastic time doing that. We play better because of it. Can't see how it'd be different with other FC people if we weren't family only. When I played GW2 and ran with some guilds a couple of times there was certainly chat communication over third party apps like that as it's more efficient to running content than spamming a chat bar. If I want to run stuff "properly" I want the best shot at communication to do so. Randoms in a dungeon with limited communcation isn't it. It's not optimal. Sure, you can get through stuff without, but that's what causes more problems than not.

[Aramina]

You're making me defend myself?

Don't worry about explaining yourself. In the end, SE realizes that there is a market of people who need and/or enjoy solo content within the wider world of an MMO. A few people wanting to stomp and demand that it not be allowed in an MMO is not likely to change that. That aside, a broader audience is healthy for the longevity of the game. People that enjoy group content are not going to wake up tomorrow (or June 28th/July 2nd) and say "Well I enjoy group content, but since I can use trusts now I guess I will do that instead." One group does not risk the other.

[Ceridwenae]

Don't worry about explaining yourself. In the end, SE realizes that there is a market of people who need and/or enjoy solo content within the wider world of an MMO. A few people wanting to stomp and demand that it not be allowed in an MMO is not likely to change that. That aside, a broader audience is healthy for the longevity of the game. People that enjoy group content are not going to wake up tomorrow (or June 28th/July 2nd) and say "Well I enjoy group content, but since I can use trusts now I guess I will do that instead." One group does not risk the other.

Aww, no, I was just joshing a bit with TroySoFab. I don't mind explaining over and again if I have to, and I'm sure they were just saying it with the best of intentions. But I appreciate your post and do agree completely. I'll always support opening games up in terms of accessibility for everyone of all ages, genders, abilities, health, work schedules and so on, and this is no different.

[Aramina]

Aww, no, I was just joshing a bit with TroySoFab. I don't mind explaining over and again if I have to, and I'm sure they were just saying it with the best of intentions. But I appreciate your post and do agree completely. I'll always support opening games up in terms of accessibility for everyone of all ages, genders, abilities, health, work schedules and so on, and this is no different.

Same. I, personally, prefer group content over solo content, but at the same time having desirable content for more people means more people playing. More people playing is more money, and more money increases the likelihood of the game I love continuing to thrive. On top of this, just because someone may be drawn initially to solo content does not mean that they won't eventually dip their toes into more group-focused things and find a before unrealized love of that as well.

[Ogulbuk]

...No, they did not. You can't just change the definition of what the acronym for MMO stands for, in general, for the genre just because you feel that mentioning a few personal and arbitrary examples of games that don't follow the traditional mold to a "T" all of a sudden changes the way the entire industry looks at and frames the acronym entirely.

The first M still stands for Massive, as in, the game world is very, very large and it can incorporate an almost endless stream of locales, environments, cultures, races, cities, etc. It's huge, it's an expansive over world. You're not strictly confined towards a linear pathway or specific locale like a single player game would box you in with. You can freely roam an area that expands and seems larger than it really is.

That was never the meaning of the "Massive" part, the meaning was that you would inhabit the same world as thousands of people, something that was unheard of at the time. 32 people in a single fleeting match was considered ridiculous and ambitious at the time. 1000+ players in a single server was, by definition, massive.

That's irrelevant, though, and a semantic argument that means nothing. This is a game that has always catered to soloing in a huge chunk of it's content. Until you hit a dungeon checkpoint, the entire MSQ can be enjoyed as a completely solo at-your-pace experience, it's just very slow to progress (level wise) without running dungeons all the time, but not impossible.

I mean, how many actually Role Play in RPGs? Almost everything we consider an RPG is a fixed storytelling game with a slow grindy progression system in place. Sometimes the story itself is optional. Embracing that acronym as your justification to protest new soloing paths is, honestly, completely ridiculous. The only consistent in MMO has always been: persistent world with thousands of other players inhabiting the same world.