Why do people want solo play in an MMORPG?

[Nuru]

The main reason why solo play is an option in MMORPGs is because people are paying for a product, and if they cannot actually play the game and make progress, people are going to stop playing anyways. Some people want a solo aspect even if they have a group to play with, so that they have something to do while they wait. However, most of the endgame items and dungeons are mostly party-play. So really, there isn't anything to get worked up about. As long as you have the option to solo to level cap, then there isn't any harm in that.

People will just never grow out of that FFXI concept.

[lynex]

I mostly play solo in this game. I played FFXI with my real life friends for 2yrs. I started this game with a few of them but they dropped out soon after. I joined a linkshell that soon became just a beginner shell so people would drop after a few months for a end game shell. I soon joined another one and they are for the most part nice. There is one who will never say hi to me except when we do group things together. Even now when we are off line my old shell says hi on their site but I never get anything from the new shell. I know I don't talk a lot but I have thought about this and the new shell makes me feel small with my old shell makes me feel welcoming. So sometimes solo play is just about how people treat you. I work a lot of weird hours and only like to do big events when i have a day off so I can put all my effort into it. So for the most part I only play with others maybe once a week just because thats all the time I have.

[Zumi]

Name 1 mmo where that happen.

You get people who want to rush to the boss. YOU NEVER get a party that wants to xp in a dungeon. And I do not want 30min partys, that and GROUPING IN INSTANCES ONLY IS EPIC FAIL! If I wanted that kind of game I would play diablo, I would like to play a mmo.

Ill give you an example of a mmo leveling in dungeons. You can level in WoW by doing queuing up for dungeons and not touching a single quest. The dungeons are very linear that you kill all the trash mobs in the way to each boss that gives lots of exp. When finished with the final boss you queue up for another one. Some people who don't like questing choose to run dungeons over and over as a way to level up.

[Yashnaheen]

I didn't read all 24 pages... but for me I'd like to be able to make progress without relying on a proper party worth of people being on the same mission / 7 people from my LS helping. GC missions weren't hard, finding a party pre Atomos was. The hardest part of CoP was keeping a group together all the way through.

End game shouldn't ever be solo. Getting to cap and getting access should be made available without 7 others required along the way. Having an option to duo or trio your way to access content would be a good option for everyone.

[Sonicrich05]

Thought I'd out my two cents in. This genre of games has a very distinct style. There's always something to do. The world is huge. The battle systems are usually cool. Multiple story lines. No single player game plays exactly like this game. I'm not very social. Every links ell I've joined always has one or two who kill the fun for me, being too serious. I like to do things at my own pace. If I have people I can enjoy playing with its awesome, but I'm a bit of a loner. I like to play solo because no other game plays like 11 or 14. I have family members to play with though, so I don't play only solo. Playing with36 people though is too much drama and hassle for me though.

[GodseijuroHiko]

I'm ok with solo play as long as it doesn't move as fast as party play, or as equally rewarding. Then there's no reason to party.

[Melondra]

WoW solved this problem pretty well i think it should be implemented here as well,when a item drops off a boss or major enemy at the end of a dungeon all members in that party should get that item and not just one person, this would solve that problem and would definetly encourage group play, and makes dugeoin runs enjoyable for everyone they could even make drop rate harder if it is to easy for most but if all members partispate in that run all members in that party get the item if it drops.

[Platinumstorm]

People asking for something like "solo leveling" is forcing me to solo level. Its like Aion having quest leveling and people on those forums saying mob grinding is still an option, so go do it, but the higher levels in Aion take about 200mil exp/level and mobs only give about 30-40k/kill (would take something like 5000 mob kills), and some classes can take 20-30sec/kill, while quest can give 6-15mil exp/quest that takes maby 10min's to do.

Unless they gimp the hell out of solo leveling/questing compared to every other game, it takes over mob grinding, the fact that mob grinding requires a party should mean its the main way to level while soloing remains a viable option. Making soloing a viable option to a party is far easier than the reverse.

People seem to think that we will do a type of leveling just because its there, if they add quest leveling and its twice as effective as mob grinding, im going to quest, hit cap level, and quit because the game sucks and I can win.

If they keep mob grinding and its 5 times as effective as soloing (takes 6 people), then I will party w/e possible and solo while im waiting. Solo people do want it easier, you want none to have an advantage over you even if they put in more work, this is virtually the same argument as casual vs hardcore. You want the ability to actually beat the game with your play time, when those with massive amounts of play time dont even want to be able to win the game, it should never end, for anyone.

Right, people play for efficiency. A proper game balance, believe it or not, does exist. If you want to maintain a good balance both systems need to be engaging and efficient. I have said nowhere that groups couldn't provide a better exp gain or even group quests, but the FFXI style was very bad. There are many types of players that play mmos and it's far more complicated than "solo vs group." That's just one subdivision. If everything is based around groups then exploration and adventure for an individual's taste is lost - likewise not everyone cares about story; I know people who skip through the FF cutscenes and I think they're crazy. Those same people don't understand why I am interested in story or get mad when stories like FFXIII completely disregard the characters and build up, or how XIII-2 basically served as filler for a few moments at the very end.

It's not even fair to say that soloers are casuals, because I know people who play solo all day every day.

[Starlord]

WoW solved this problem pretty well i think it should be implemented here as well,when a item drops off a boss or major enemy at the end of a dungeon all members in that party should get that item and not just one person, this would solve that problem and would definetly encourage group play, and makes dugeoin runs enjoyable for everyone they could even make drop rate harder if it is to easy for most but if all members partispate in that run all members in that party get the item if it drops.

As nice as that would be, the longevity of the content would suffer if everyone in party were to get the drop. ( unless there's a reason to go in the dungeon) people won't go into said content Repeatedly without a reason.

[Platinumstorm]

WoW solved this problem pretty well i think it should be implemented here as well,when a item drops off a boss or major enemy at the end of a dungeon all members in that party should get that item and not just one person, this would solve that problem and would definetly encourage group play, and makes dugeoin runs enjoyable for everyone they could even make drop rate harder if it is to easy for most but if all members partispate in that run all members in that party get the item if it drops.

I think in its original iteration they did pretty well, but they did skew too far into the solo category, especially in further expansions when they realized it was vital to have 100% solo content in a mature community for progression.