FF14 becoming more solo friendly is good

[Elistan]

You got that right

[Dragonlancer]

There isn't a problem, it's good, people just flipping tables for no reason like it's the death of MP or something. As if running Satasha with a bunch of level 90s is somehow a good learning and social experience for new players. All the side content is still MP only as far as I can tell. Mostly MSQ mandatory stuff is getting this added. (Correct me if I'm wrong) Additionally it's optional which others have already brought up. Also we have had trusts since Shadowbringers, so if it was a problem it would already be one. Also in a world with skip potions, this is what draws peoples ire for people not playing well? /facepalm

Me: "Hi"
Group : crickets, runs off like bots
Me watching cs
"The field has been locked"
/victory fanfare.
Me: thanks for group!
Group: "watch the cs at the inn" /leaves

What a wonderful social and learning experience I had, the boss was dead before I got to participate and no one said anything except to give me crap for watching a cs. Great times. /eyeroll - Least the ai will actually teach mechanics because they will actually do the mechanics for some of these older dungeons lol

I'm firmly in the "It's about time this was added" camp. Also a god send for all those people with kids , when a dirty diaper happens, good luck explaining that to your group without being flamed in the tales from DF thread or something, god forbid you take care of responsibilities as they arise and didn't chart out your time with that little bundle of pure chaos before joining, should have gave it a firm look like "you wait to poop son, Sephirothx32535987x is a VIP"

All this is joking... kinda...

Haha well said. I can relate to you when the Sciatica in my back reminds me that I have been sitting too long. Often this is in the middle of a raid, but my wonderful friends mind my back and give me some slack. Other times I solo content so that I have the pre-reqs to join them or I am simply doing stuff on my own. The best part is I can decide solo or group at any time. =) Peace.

[Kenyon]

That's why I am happy they have taken a route that is solo friendly as well as has ridiculous challenges for those few that want it.
Video games are for fun.

Ditto on solo friendly. If it was not for Trusts I probably would not play the game. I have run dungeons with other players and its OK but there is a certain stress that comes with communal responsibility. (My hunch is Trusts are harder because there is no rez and the NPC don't seem to have as much DPS as when I ran with players.)

Ditto on video games for fun. As a Microsoft stack programmer I spend my days solving complex programming issues. I do not need more of the same stress in my leisure time.

[IdowhatIwant]

As the majority of players enjoy playing their class solo, the content should reflect the base. Grouping in dungeons is fine, but for the average player the content should be soloable.
Overly complicated and ridiculous mechanics only appease the masochistic players who never leave their keyboard. This group accounts for a very small percentage. If these people want bragging rights, maybe they should study to become scientists and develop new treatments for cancer. Having a game so difficult that only those who never leave the confines of their room solves nothing.
That's why I am happy they have taken a route that is solo friendly as well as has ridiculous challenges for those few that want it.
Video games are for fun. They are not for polishing one's epeen in town showing off what nobody else can get without quitting their jobs, family, life to get.

These threads are getting old. First of all, from the context your statement I think you probably need to get a job, family, and life, cause only a child says things like this. From the recent census about 46% of players have both the minion and the mount from Pandemonium. So that means 46% of level 90 players completed Savage, that doesn't even account for how many attempted to complete. So you are wrong that a small percentage accounts for doing end game / challenging content. Do your research before you make false claims.

With that being said, making the game solo friendly is not a bad idea, some people don't want to deal with partys and thats fine, as a some like you are just entitled and lazy and going to waste my limited time to do the things I want to do in the game, as I in fact have 50 hr per week job. The problem is when the solo friendly option affects the game play of the current player base as a whole, which is what it is doing in some cases. That is where people don't like the idea. For those of you that only play for the story, why have an opinion on end game content anyways, never understood that.

Now the reason for this, it not because SE actually care about you in particular, they want to try and market the game to single player gamers that are fans of the FF franchise. Sadly this marketing idea is not going to work. Most people that do not have a interest in MMO games is because they do not like the game play or they do not want to pay a subscription.

If you took more than 5 minutes to actually think about some things you might not make threads making accusations about people, player bases, or making yourself look like a child.
Have a good day enjoy your solo content, hope to never deal with you in game.

As someone who enjoys playing solo, I do think these changes are good overall. FFXIV has one of the best stories in the franchise, and unlike most other MMOs it treats the story and lore with higher priority. I have known a few people who found it intimidating that the game forces you to do group content to experience that, so I am glad this will help them.

Another reason why I like this system is the fact that playing solo allows you to experience the dungeons without having to look up a guide and study the mechanics first. Thats always been a bit of a pet peeve of mine since I started playing MMOs. With this system you can actually learn all that with a team of NPCs who are a little less intimidating then other players, and it means aspects like the bosses and environments are not spoiled in advance. Sure, such mechanics matter little in the ARR content, but for the expansions and beyond I think its a good thing!

I have gone into almost everything blind and never had an issue. Thats why groups label things such as learning party, practice party, clear party, farm party, weekly clear. A large majority of groups do not go in with the intention of 1 shoting the boss, unless it is a farm party, or a weekly savage clear group (even these don't always expect a 1 shot). Sometimes I feel like people make excuses rather than just admitting they would rather play solo. There is nothing wrong with that. This player base is very friendly, far more friendly than I am which is good.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/abigail...h=48a5ec051928

is one. You are welcome.

Yeah, thats not really a very accurate source to represent the FFXIV player base off of.
I like to play more games alone than with others, but I do like playing games with others as well. Where do I fall into that?

Edit: 46% of course applies to characters above level 90 and completed the MSQ.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

(My hunch is Trusts are harder because there is no rez and the NPC don't seem to have as much DPS as when I ran with players.)

The reason is because Trust are programmed to perform better when the player is slacking/afk, but perform their worst when the player is on their A-game. Possibly to ensure it'll never be the faster alternative vs running with generic DF folks. You will always finish a run anywhere between 23m to 30m. Funnily enough if you're a DPS main and/or a player whose active hours are within the 'cursed hour', taking account of the queue time sometimes Trust can be a slightly faster option.

[Fyrebrand]

I love that I can enjoy the story mostly solo, but when it comes to dungeons, trials, and raids I will always prefer to be grouped with other players. Trusts definitely have their upside, which for me is basically just not having to wait in a queue if I'm playing a DPS job, but I just don't find it as fun. The dungeons just seem to drag on, and have to be designed with shallow mechanics that an AI bot can do (basically just fancy AoE patterns). I don't appreciate the fact that they're going back and making sweeping changes to a bunch of already-existing dungeons to make them playable by NPCs.

I suppose it remains to be seen how different it will actually be, but I'm not expecting to be impressed. Of course I am happy for players who really want this and feel that it is a must-have feature, and I have always wanted something to be done about DPS job queue times. It's also awesome what they're going to do with the ARR main scenario ending dungeons, that thing was a dumpster fire for way too long. Still can't believe they waited all this time to finally fix it, letting so many players endure a crappy MSQ experience for years and years.

[Aelin_Ashryver]

I was a little worried at first but then I remembered that I played most mmo's ever at first almost entirely solo before I found a community. And even WITH the community I still enjoyed having autonomy to do things alone and at my own pace. Esp when it is story that they are making an optional solo experience, seems fine to me! Some people are really just introverted and don't want to talk to others but they should still get to experience the great story of ffxiv!

[Sardonyx_Eternal]

There isn't a problem, it's good, people just flipping tables for no reason like it's the death of MP or something. As if running Satasha with a bunch of level 90s is somehow a good learning and social experience for new players. All the side content is still MP only as far as I can tell. Mostly MSQ mandatory stuff is getting this added. (Correct me if I'm wrong) Additionally it's optional which others have already brought up. Also we have had trusts since Shadowbringers, so if it was a problem it would already be one. Also in a world with skip potions, this is what draws peoples ire for people not playing well? /facepalm

Me: "Hi"
Group : crickets, runs off like bots
Me watching cs
"The field has been locked"
/victory fanfare.
Me: thanks for group!
Group: "watch the cs at the inn" /leaves

What a wonderful social and learning experience I had, the boss was dead before I got to participate and no one said anything except to give me crap for watching a cs. Great times. /eyeroll - Least the ai will actually teach mechanics because they will actually do the mechanics for some of these older dungeons lol

I'm firmly in the "It's about time this was added" camp. Also a god send for all those people with kids , when a dirty diaper happens, good luck explaining that to your group without being flamed in the tales from DF thread or something, god forbid you take care of responsibilities as they arise and didn't chart out your time with that little bundle of pure chaos before joining, should have gave it a firm look like "you wait to poop son, Sephirothx32535987x is a VIP"

All this is joking... kinda...

This is fantastic. If I could like this twice I would, lol.

[elioaiko]

I guess they're just future proofing old content. There's plenty of casuals who dislike playing with others (even though they're playing an MMO).

It doesn't hurt the majority of people at the end of the day. The good players will queue for faster clears and the bad ones will only make their AI party mates suffer instead of calling someone toxic for telling them that Cure 3 is an AoE heal.

[Gember]

I honestly think its a good option for fresh new people, people redoing the story on a alt, and taking their time with content. There IS a charm to that. I think.. (I could be wrong.) that they are trying to revamp ARR dungeons so these new players are going to understand what mechanics do. I really hope the trust systems would do some shout outs like: "Adventurers, stay close to me!" and it would be a call for a stack marker. (Though there is not really much stack markers in ARR, but this is an example.) Then there could be an option to turn NPC dialogue off, but any new player won't have a clue at first how to do that. Its a good way to teach players instead of the side quests from the Smith. That gets avoided so much, and does not teach everything they need to know. But... I don't want dungeons to be full on tutorials either. Just sprinkle it here and there through ARR content and hopefully people will have a better understanding of how to play the game. It is a story after all.