So, with the TRUST system I never have to wait to queue for a dungeon in ShB?

[Aylis]

You think it's more MMO playing solo with bots?

Don't get me wrong, I like the trust system and it has it's place for like story progression, but... It makes it somehow more MMO? Really?

Back in the hay day of FFXI we had to actually communicate to other people to get stuff done. Wanted to form a party to level? Shout in Jeuno or Whitegate for an hour and try to get a decent selection of jobs in the party. Ran for 30 minutes to your destination and the Paladin wants the Ranger to pull mobs for him? Tell him he's dumb and have someone who the tank could quickly provoke the mob off of pull. Red Mage is attacking with a sword or dagger because he doesn't have the Refresh and Haste spells since he can't afford them? "Heal/Haste/Refresh only! Bye!"

Now we just queue for instanced content and maybe once in a while say "Hi" to a random group of people. Or in the case of the new trust content, do a dungeon like it was a single player game.

Convenience is great, and I am very glad I don't have to deal with forming groups the old fashioned way. But claiming it's more "Massively Multiplayer Online" by playing by running stuff with bots is odd to claim.

The term "massively multiplayer online" just means you're logging into a world to share with other people having either the same or different experience as you. There's never been a set rule that you have to always experience the world with others. In EQ1 yes grouping was always a thing as well as other MMO's at the time. However skilled and gutsy players did have the option of saying "I think I can solo this". Some did, some didn't but that was all part of the learning experience. Dual boxing was allowed (one person playing two or more accounts at once) and later on came the ability to hire a companion NPC to function as a tank or healer or dps. Grouping was always there and nothing can take that option away. That's the main word, options. It's great to have the ability to do the content you wanna do on your own terms and not have to look for others that may never come.

As for what I mean by the learning experience I'll be one to argue a player learns more about their class in the solo game far more then the group game. In the solo game all you got is you to either cheer your result's or have no one to blame but yourself for your downfalls. That alone can help make a player say "okay what am I doing right and what am I doing wrong" which can lead to more skilled players in the group side of the game.