Why do people want solo play in an MMORPG?

[Andrien]

As a paying costumer in a MMORPG. I want to play on my time, not on anyone else time.

Imho, for SE to attract a lot of potential costumers within their fanbase, including those new to the franchise, and new to the genre of MMORPG like those playing on PS3, then it must have something for everyone. The game must be appealing to all audience. More people playing equals a larger community that is bound to interact with each other one way or the other. Its a win win situation.

[Almalexia]

As a paying costumer in a MMORPG. I want to play on my time, not on anyone else time.

As a paying customer, you're acquiring the whole package: the MMO and the RPG. The MMO is as important as the RPG and no HTML tagging will change that. If you didn't want an MMORPG you should have done a little research and avoided this game and others like it. There are a great many other games that are online, but not RPGs; games that are RPGs, but not online; and RPGs that have partial online elements.

You chose the one that was both online and an RPG. There are also a massive number of other players. By no coincidence, the content and systems of the game reflect that.

The game must be appealing to all audience.

Nothing should ever appeal to all audiences.

All Audiences is the holy grail of game design, yet every quest to find All Audiences has ended in disaster. I'm starting to think All Audiences doesn't exist. Perhaps it's better to create games that target distinct segments of the market instead of vainly pursuing All Audiences. Now, Some Audiences is real--I saw one just the other day. I've even come across a couple Niche Audienceses here and there.

[Miliant]

The fact that it's an MMO does not mean you have to play with other people. It just means a lot of other people play it too.

Players make their decisions on how they want to play based on many things. Some people like to group for everything. Others like to group for only what's necessary. Others like grouping, but only with a specific group of people. The beauty of online gaming is the freedom to tackle content in whichever way you want.

A developer's role should be to provide content to all the different ways in which players choose to play the game. There's a high demand for solo, so there's plenty of solo content. But there's also a high demand for group, so there is plenty of that too.

I see no issue.

[Cendres]

If most of the game is solo ( by game design not by player choice there's a difference), the game will be like it was in 1.0 at the beginning.

You mean it will have zero content so people will have to make up their own fun just like in Saga of Ryzom? (if you don't know what that is it's a good idea to look it up, it's educative on what could have happened to XIV 1.0)

No it will not, also I grouped easily in XIV 1.0 and I don't expect that to change in ARR. What I do completely expect from the game is something akin to modern XI where you can level solo if you want but you must group in order to finish story lines, do dungeons and all that jazz.

There's no problem in adding solo or puzzle dungeons too but that must come after the group stuff is in and balanced.

I honestly do not fear much for this game because Yoshi knows very well who the solo/casual crowd is and what they like and who the groupers/hardcores are and what they in turn like.

It's going to be okayyy. Also the real issue was never grouping it's always about TIME management. Make it so you can get a group in a good amount of time and you encourage people to participate.

I only have so much time on my hands, like in the last XIV G+ chat, I end up leaving because over one hour and I have to go make dinner or help my daughter with homework or something. Rarely do I get 3 hours of uninterrupted time to myself. That's the problem.

[ZakarnRosewood]

3 + 2 = 5 dungeons, != 1 dungeon

:P

I like change and cycle. If the dev could introduce hard to get gear and then connect it over multiple dungeons and then update those dungeons with branching paths or other changes then I could see it lasting longer. IMO FFXI party play put me to sleep though so I just stopped because of that. (Love the environment / world but the "gameplay" style knocked me out)

I like a lot of WoW's dungeons, my own character is pretty damn old and gimped but I get on my friends every now and then and its pretty fun / intense. (Because he already has a guild group it doesnt matter I'm not as spot on lol)

Edit: still have to be careful stagnating content and gear

This was my biggest complaint and the reason i ended up quitting FFXI. I was falling asleep. Waiting for parties to level up, waiting for parties for missions, running to get to a party, waiting for an airship (then nodding off and missing it), standing in one spot with a party spamming my 1 or 2 moves, etc. i realized that if I'm struggling to stay awake then I need to play something a little more active.

i like the MMO genre, I want to get more involved. I'm willing to admit that FFXI was my first MMO and i didnt understand the dynamics of it at the time, wasnt involved in linkshells as much as i should have been, and i didnt understand the time sinks. Then i played WoW and couldnt get into a guild cause no one wanted a noob. That in its self was frustrating because i'm not completely retarded (just mostly retarded), I just didn't have the experience in this style of game, didnt know the lingo, didnt understand the dynamics of party play, or even really know where to start. How am I to get this noob stink off of me if no one is willing to help me grow? I'm pretty sure we were all "noob" at one point.

That whole thing frustrates me, its like walking up to a 1 year old, just learning to walk, watch him fall, then laugh at him, call him a noob, and refuse to teach it how to walk. Who knows, with a little effort on someones part to help teach that kid he could be the next tri-athalon winner.

[Andrien]

stuff

I don't think you see the point I'm trying to make. Also I do not agree with your second statement because I don't see the necessary proof that can support it.

Therefore, Final Fantasy as a franchise is not a niche. Ex: FFXIII sold over 6 million. That is potential costumers/fans SE is possibly denying if they go niche. I don't think your idea is a good business plan.

[tymora]

Even thought I strongly prefer group play, there are many situations where solo play will be nice.
1) When I would log in and no one on my f-list would be on.
If I have a few hours, it might be ok to look for a group. If I don't have much time, something that I can solo for a bit would be nice.
2) Bad hair day, just don't feel like grouping.
3) On call day, jobs...babies...wives...Have a few hours but can be called away anytime. Being married with kids add a lot of limitations.

Now regarding a balance between solo and group:
1) If solo is equally efficient as a group, few people would group because it is troublesome to look for or start a group. Groups should therefore give additional bonuses or solo should get some kind of penalty. I do not mind areas that are solely marked as group play though.

2) If few people group up, the fundamental premise of a MMO breaks down, which is the massively portion. Basically, "group play" should build up the community and camaraderie between players. At the end of the day, it is not the game itself that keeps players in, but rather peer pressure from those you meet in the game.
-> This is why in my opinion many recent MMOs have been failing and why FFXI still had a loyal following after so long. I myself left FFXI because the last few in my old LS quit.

"Balance" is hence tricky. You don't want a group-inclined situation where players get discouraged before they can find a LS where they belong. You also can't have a solo-inclined situation where the community never gets built.

One thing is for certain though, looking for a group must not be hard regardless of what job you have. Ideally, all jobs/classes must be useful in any situation.
-> For example, game balance wise, give melee a form of magical damage, which should be much weaker than a mage's but still relevant. Likewise, mages should be able to do physical damage, weaker than melee but again still relevant. Or better yet, allow mages to use en-spells to convert melee physical to magical damage.

[AdorraEloom]

problem solved for you, mmo's completely destroyed for others. yaaay.

How are they destroyed for others? "Others" will be doing the harder content in groups, end game, primals, and so on, while the solo players will be doing the easier content. Problem solved I think.

[AdorraEloom]

The fact that it's an MMO does not mean you have to play with other people. It just means a lot of other people play it too.

Players make their decisions on how they want to play based on many things. Some people like to group for everything. Others like to group for only what's necessary. Others like grouping, but only with a specific group of people. The beauty of online gaming is the freedom to tackle content in whichever way you want.

A developer's role should be to provide content to all the different ways in which players choose to play the game. There's a high demand for solo, so there's plenty of solo content. But there's also a high demand for group, so there is plenty of that too.

I see no issue.

Yay

Somebody who understands that ARR is not 100% solo!

ARR is still a MMO and requires a lot of grouping to achieve higher end items and tackle the harder content. Like ifrit in 1.0, there was the normal mode where it was really easy (in ARR will be solo) so people could progress through the story, than there was hard mode for people who wanted to tackle him down and get a weapon. That is the idea Yoshi has planned in ARR, where the story will be solo, but if you want the good items than you still will need a group and have to do a hard version of the battles.

Some said well if the option to solo is there for main story why would anybody group up than, the answer is simple you will group up and do hard mode because you will want the good rewards.

I think this is the perfect system, as you are not taking away the "MMO" out of the game as people will still group up and do hard modes for the gear and challenge and achievements, but at the same time your not taking away the story from the people who don't have the time to group up and learn hard battles.

[Reliku]

I don't get the concept that if one is playing MMORPG, that is should not be solo play, it is illogical to me.

We are all individuals, and we are all members of SOCIETY, if the above statement is true, then we cannot be individuals, because society requires....no demands collective effort, and society is bigger than mmorpg, once can argue that mmorpg exist within society. However, reality shows we dont always do things together, we still do things solo, such as jogging, listen to music...etc, individalism exist in society, even within communism it exists, so why is soloist deemed "bad" within MMORPG? to the point that people have gripes?

The point is, they are not mutually excusive, and there are value in both spectrums. Just like in society, it takes a collective effort to build a 80 story building, but not everything demands collective effort. You can meditate, you can read a book and learn something, you can train your body, and those are things that can be and are often done solo. Mmorpg is nothing but a smaller scale society. Like everything, moderation is key, catering to one side only is illogical.