Why do people want solo play in an MMORPG?

[Lucke]

Maybe it's just me, but 90% of the stuff in 1.0 was soloable with 10% forced grouping. I understand the OP's thoughts. An MMO should be multiplayer first and single player second. Seems to me that 1.0 was the opposite.

If a majority of stuff in a MMO is soloable or single player, then it is no longer MULTIplayer.

Before anyone chews me out saying "B-b-b-but! There are lots of people online! It's multiplayer!". Well, multiplayer in this context is a group of people doing content together. If everyone is off soloing and doing their own thing, it's no longer multiplayer in my mind, just a single player game with a chat room.

I hope ARR really takes to heart the genre name, not to the extreme that XI was though. I'm fine with grinding solo and doing leves solo, but dungeon, events, bosses, and all that other content require MULTIPLE people to complete.

[Radacci]

It doesn't make sense to be able to solo most of your gameplay in a MMO either. There's a plethora of offline games that suit that.

it feels like you're a pretty pathetic hero, if you need help to kill marmots, or even goats.
i'm fine with having to get party, to clear amal'ja camp, or FATE, Raids etc; but not standard content...that just feels awkward and pathetic.

[Elexia]

it feels like you're a pretty pathetic hero, if you need help to kill marmots, or even goats.
i'm fine with having to get party, to clear amal'ja camp, or FATE, Raids etc; but not standard content...that just feels awkward and pathetic.

Technically if you go that route you're not even supposed to be touching the fauna around you and heading straight for the bad guy.

[Andrien]

It is an MMO, but I also expect it to feel like a Final Fantasy RPG like other Final Fantasy titles.

So yes, this game is not just an MMO, it is also an RPG.

[Masamune1004]

There's more to a multiplayer experience than just partying you know. The wards, linkshells, and just meeting other people out in the fields and rezzing them (or vice versa) are all part of this experience too. That's what makes an MMO feel alive, something that is probably impossible to replicate in a single player game (even though Bethesda tries ). I don't mind partying so much, but there's a lot that I want to do by myself to prove I can do it and not that my party carried me through it. Also other reasons people have posted before (hard to get a party going in a short amount of time, people being dicks, etc.)

[Shougun]

it feels like you're a pretty pathetic hero, if you need help to kill marmots, or even goats.
i'm fine with having to get party, to clear amal'ja camp, or FATE, Raids etc; but not standard content...that just feels awkward and pathetic.

Yeah I hated that about FFXI. HERE COMES A RABBIT RUN!!!! lol

(Though a part of that problem is the monster choice for higher zones, they could have picked stronger monster and it would have made more sense to run in fear without a group lol)

I imagine a level 50 should be able to solo Totorak though (they can, I hate the forced party limit though - "you need two people" .. what for? I'm going to go bitch slap the main boss with my nuke lol). I dont mind being forced in the party if people are still doing the content, and content finder will help a lot with that - but still it took me 4 non stop hours of shouting for the first baby Ifrit fight to get a group of people (all level 50's but me) to instantly kill Ifrit (cant imagine how long I'd have to wait if the party had a chance of dying because of level sync). At that point SE should just make the boss fight an option to turn into a challenging solo fight (including your pal chocobo).

[Starlord]

It should be up to the player to decide what the dominate factor in their experience is (solo/group), not you.

The game doesn't magically give Group play or Solo play. If the game is too easy, what's the point of grouping up? When you can just solo it? If the game is too hard, soloing isn't even an option ( unless your some expert or something lol.) Point here is, I don't decide for people whether they should solo play or group play. But the game itself has to be set up in a way people can solo and people that can group up. The content is either labeled solo or it's labeled party content.

[Fleur]

I like to group, but I like to play solo just as much. Just because someone likes to play an MMO, does not necessarily mean that they love playing in groups. Some reasons for solo play + MMO:

1. Limited play time -- you want to get something done without spending half of your short play session getting a group.
2. Play time may be interrupted -- maybe you are watching kids or are doing household stuff like taking something out of the oven, putting clothes in the dryer when the washer is done, etc. Group = chained to computer (or, making everyone wait for YOU).
3. You enjoy the ever-updating, active, alive seeming world of an MMO. I don't know where I read this quote, but "other players are content" in an MMO!
4. You like chatting and socializing with others; that is by no means the same as grouping up to kill stuff with others!
5. The MMO economy interests you. You like to trade, buy, and sell, with real people.
6. Shyness and/or lack of confidence. Random groups especially can be brutal and intolerant towards those that aren't excellent players and not everyone wants to deal with this.
7. Unwillingness to deal with potential drama/group dynamics in an MMO. Reasons vary, you might have a busy social life or a lot of drama IRL and want a break, or you might just be a private person.

Just my thoughts. I may be misunderstanding the OP though; when people talk about "solo players" what they usually seem to mean is "players that never or rarely join a party to kill stuff with a group".

[Reaujien]

I play solo in MMORPGs with the same expectations I have when I want to play offline, single player games with other players... All while trying to figure out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop ~

[Pwnagraphic]

I've never really even seen people say they prefer to play solo in an MMO, or be interested in an MMO just to play solo. I thought this was something people brought up in an argument against adding solo content to FFXIV just as fuel.