Solo vs Party

[Zumi]

Started an LS with a group of people from FFXI When FFXIV came out had about 35 people at launch. Currently all but 2-3 of those people quit and there is rarely anyone one on the LS at the same time.

Which leads to me having to solo pretty much everything. I soloed Gladiator up to 50 because there was really nobody to play with. There in lies the problem with FFXIV. You can't really force group content on people when there are so few people to play with or get things done with. Forming an exp party is incredibly hard if you don't have a set group of players to play with.

After the first month or so of FFXIV most people I knew quit. That is the problem with FFXIV lack of players to do forced group content. I am hoping the new job quests are soloable or I won't be able to do them.

[Wolfie]

I think more often than not, the solo crowd isn't a "solo" crowd and they don't hate on multi player content, or they wouldn't be playing the game at all.

It's more of an issue of not wanting to wait and/or search 30m+ to put together a group to get something done. Or, if the content is really unpopular like Shposhae, several days. That's why content finders, auto-grouping, and matchmaking features are so popular in games today, because it lets someone do something productive and fun while waiting for a group.

[mbncd]

I've done some party play but I'm mainly a soloist. Some people really believe that the social aspect is all that exists in a game with a social aspect to it, but I play this game for the same reason I've played all the others (story, NPC characters, exploration and a sense of achievement) as much as (if not more so than) I do for the social aspects.

There are many players here with different things that they do and don't appreciate. One group disrespecting another for that difference in personal opinion and style of play (both of which hurting no one), in a world where such differences should be embraced, is akin to forcing their own views on everyone to make them into unthinking clones who can only travel the currently popular set path. That sounds incredibly boring o.o Everyone looking/speaking/thinking/acting the same, no sense of achievement as everyone else will do or have done the exact same thing in the exact same way, no sense of wonder, just robotic key presses as we follow the script, etc. We may as well just read a book instead for all the interactivity and exploration and experimentation that that promotes... I prefer to stumble along my own (probably messy and unrefined but definitely fun) path rather than trying to match other people's styles of play.

As for the concept of a monster arena, I think that would be fun for both soloists and party goers alike. There's no reason the challenges couldn't be based around party size (a party of one is still a party) so there are more to fight in a big party while keeping the difficulty level of a solo challenge solo appropriate, much like the current linking system.

[Xoo]

If people learnt to use the fucking search function they added and updated their status as looking for party or even searching in party to join with a click no. What they do? Shout like morons in Ul'dah when search can be applied to the whole world and join.

God, if this isn't the truth emboldened. I was with a leader the other day who couldn't seem to find members, and I asked him, "Did you put up recruit?", "Did you search?", "Did you ask your LS?" to which I got a negative on all counts. It's amazing.

[Shiki_Lockhart]

LOL Xoo /comfort

Well, if that part leader was hoping for the party made itself without asking no one then he could wait a week to have something done >_<

That sums, people just don't use search function and don't update their status when are looking for party or to do something.

If they have a LS or multiple LS then is easier to find people and do something without having to use the search.

[Xoo]

I just got out of another thread trying to explain the negative effects of player laziness and their endless capacity to blame someone else because they couldn't be bothered to investigate for themselves. Not to brag, but I can build a party just about any old time of the day, for many reasons. I have a small collection of Linkshells, almost capped on my friend list, am quite familiar with the search/party functions and translator. All of this amounts to resourcefulness. Another key attribute is persistence - of which I have so much that I send tells to random people and ask them if they'd like to join whatever event I'm doing atm. You'd be surprised how many accept if you know how to ask them politely.

[Rydin]

The Solo crowd says:
It can be no fun waiting for a party that may not ever happen

If people learnt to use the fucking search function they added and updated their status as looking for party or even searching in party to join with a click no. What they do? Shout like morons in Ul'dah when search can be applied to the whole world and join.

Until people learn to use and use that will be much easier to find parties. Also this applies to people trying to make parties and are party players.

true.... but would having solo content (that you aren't forced to do) diminish your game experience? As much as I love partying... I also love compromise so SE can make a game that almost everyone can enjoy

Started an LS with a group of people from FFXI When FFXIV came out had about 35 people at launch. Currently all but 2-3 of those people quit and there is rarely anyone one on the LS at the same time.

Which leads to me having to solo pretty much everything. I soloed Gladiator up to 50 because there was really nobody to play with. There in lies the problem with FFXIV. You can't really force group content on people when there are so few people to play with or get things done with. Forming an exp party is incredibly hard if you don't have a set group of players to play with.

After the first month or so of FFXIV most people I knew quit. That is the problem with FFXIV lack of players to do forced group content. I am hoping the new job quests are soloable or I won't be able to do them.

I would imagine SE hopes this isn't a long term problem. With the server merge and then 2.0 (Hopefully bringing in way more people), SE has to be hoping that populations increase to where "Finding people to party with" is no longer an issue

[Jinko]

God, if this isn't the truth emboldened. I was with a leader the other day who couldn't seem to find members, and I asked him, "Did you put up recruit?", "Did you search?", "Did you ask your LS?" to which I got a negative on all counts. It's amazing.

Amen to that, I'm convinced that people still don't even know it exists (or are looking in the party menu), in fact a few people I have told about it have said wow I never knew that was there.

Doink.