Forced to Raid?

[RukoBoshi]

Eh, would say your point falters at the very start here. Or, at least, would disagree that the appeal of an MMO is playing with other people.

I enjoy the game for the content of the game. The other players are just background noise.

Yep, i've put dozens of hours playing solo in Star Wars the old republic before starting to play with friends.

In Black Desert online i did the same and most of what we were doing could be done completely alone.

There's MMO for people wanting to play by themselves.

[Ameela]

While I won't judge anyone for their choices in regards to how they play the game I am curious about something.
If your objective is to play a totally solo experience why would you pick FFXIV for it and not something of a similar scale that's also created from the ground up to be single player, since as an MMO XIV still has to make a lot of compromises that others wouldn't have to.
What advantages does it have over something like, say, Xenoblade?

[Boblawblah]

While I won't judge anyone for their choices in regards to how they play the game I am curious about something.
If your objective is to play a totally solo experience why would you pick FFXIV for it and not something of a similar scale that's also created from the ground up to be single player, since as an MMO XIV still has to make a lot of compromises that others wouldn't have to.
What advantages does it have over something like, say, Xenoblade?

You're saying that Xenoblade allows me to
- explore a world similar in size to FFXIV?
- have as many jobs/classes as FFXIV?
- do dungeons with a group of npcs and see them grow?
- experience a living growing world?
- be around real players while not having to be WITH them?
- craft my own gear, and gather the materials to craft them?
- experience the comfort of the Final Fantasy universe?
- buy and sell in a constantly changing economy?

[Ameela]

You're saying that Xenoblade allows me to
- explore a world similar in size to FFXIV?
- have as many jobs/classes as FFXIV?
- do dungeons with a group of npcs and see them grow?
- experience a living growing world?
- be around real players while not having to be WITH them?
- craft my own gear, and gather the materials to craft them?
- experience the comfort of the Final Fantasy universe?
- buy and sell in a constantly changing economy?

Yes actually to most of those except the ones that would obviously require a multiplayer component.

[RukoBoshi]

While I won't judge anyone for their choices in regards to how they play the game I am curious about something.
If your objective is to play a totally solo experience why would you pick FFXIV for it and not something of a similar scale that's also created from the ground up to be single player, since as an MMO XIV still has to make a lot of compromises that others wouldn't have to.
What advantages does it have over something like, say, Xenoblade?

Purely for the story in my case. This is the only thing i took into consideration before starting the game.
Not the gameplay, not the mechanics or endgame content and not the multiplayer aspect.

I just wanted to play through one of the only two mainline FF i didn't play yet.
Lots of people in the Final Fantasy community were recommending FFXIV and saying it has one of the best FF story. That was enough of an incentive to start.

[Boblawblah]

Yes actually to most of those except the ones that would obviously require a multiplayer component.

so no then

[Ameela]

Purely for the story in my case. This is the only thing i took into consideration before starting the game.
Not the gameplay, not the mechanics or endgame content and not the multiplayer aspect.

I just wanted to play through one of the only two mainline FF i didn't play yet.
Lots of people in the Final Fantasy community were recommending FFXIV and saying it has one of the best FF story. That was enough of an incentive to start.

Yeah the story is definitely a big draw, though if I wasn't into the game itself I don't know how I'd feel about its seemingly endless nature. Not even Endwalker had the grace of letting me leave without telling me there's actually more stuff to do!

so no then

I'd argue that if the main thing you're getting out of the multiplayer is simply the knowledge that the characters around you who you never address and who never address you are actually real people behind the screen then that's not really worth all the concessions that XIV has to make in the gameplay, level design and even the story in order to implement said multiplayer component.

[Vahlnir]

While I won't judge anyone for their choices in regards to how they play the game I am curious about something.
If your objective is to play a totally solo experience why would you pick FFXIV for it and not something of a similar scale that's also created from the ground up to be single player, since as an MMO XIV still has to make a lot of compromises that others wouldn't have to.
What advantages does it have over something like, say, Xenoblade?

Some enjoy the story. Others enjoy having a cheap hobby. Maybe they find the jobs fun to play, the world pretty, etc. And MMOs make regular additions to their game in many forms. At the end of the day, what draws a person to any given game is usually going to be different from another and ultimately it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks.

[Illmaeran]

While I won't judge anyone for their choices in regards to how they play the game I am curious about something.
If your objective is to play a totally solo experience why would you pick FFXIV for it and not something of a similar scale that's also created from the ground up to be single player, since as an MMO XIV still has to make a lot of compromises that others wouldn't have to.
What advantages does it have over something like, say, Xenoblade?

Even if I didn't want the multiplayer experience, I'd still want to play MMOs for the following reasons.

1. I always headcanon RP my game characters and MMOs are generally great at having NPCs which support that.

2. MMOs are persistent, living, games that get regular updates. If I buy an Elder Scrolls game, I can count on the base game plus a couple expansions before it stops being supported. As long as MMOs are running, they're always getting new content to do.

3. Even when my FC's quiet and I'm essentially soloing, I love seeing all the other players out doing their thing. Playing "alone among many" as I like to say makes me feel part of a vibrant and dynamic community. It's like real life; I have my friends and family for social activities, but there are always other people at the restaurant if we go out to eat. The same thing applies to the game. Single player games are fun for what they are, but they can feel lonely after a while whereas in an MMO there's always activity around me.

4. For XIV specifically, the story's so good that even if I never interacted with another player I'd want to play it.

5. Sometimes it's simply the genre. I prefer fantasy games to other genres and most MMOs fit that to a T.

6. Since XIV's so take-a-break friendly, a solo-friendly design lets people come in and out to play what they want when it's available. There were times when I wasn't able to put the time into an MMO, but I could sub for a month or so at expansion launch, again for a couple months mid-cycle, then again for a month or two before the next expansion. Since I was busy getting caught up on the story I was essentially playing solo, yet I enjoyed that time substantially.

I've heard the argument that MMOs are only for interacting with other players since EverQuest in the 90s, when players tired of having to rely on groups for every single thing and just wanted to progress something at their own pace.

Then games like WoW and EQII came out. Both had a solo experience from day 1. There was still a point where you reached a solo content ceiling in them and would need to step into grouping or raiding, but it was a first step. The MMO genre has kept changing since that point, incorporating this idea more and more. Because developers realized the appeal was never being forced to interact. It was being together online in a dynamic and persistent world and having agency and choice in the way they interacted with others.

THIS. I won't lie, I wish MMOs had the social aspects they did back in the early MMO to Vanilla WoW days, but that had as much to do with the times as it did game design. Even so, I think more solo-friendly design is better for the genre and the games themselves in the long run.

[Renathras]

I keep seeing posts and discussions about content you must complete before Endwalker.

You don't have to do any raids other than the Crystal Tower 3x 24 mans, I don't think.

8 man raids have Normal versions that aren't Savage. They're roughly the same difficulty as the 8 man Trials you do like the Primals, Bismark, Knights of the Round, etc. So even if they DID change this to you needing to do them later, the stuff that's required for the story is generally tuned where it's pretty forgiving and basically everyone can do it.

That's honestly something I love about this game.

And it does seem that, over time, they're considering making it where you can do those for the MSQ without needing other people, like the second Trial in Endwalker where you can choose to do it with the NPC friends if you want to.

.

The only raids that are really like hard stuff are Extreme Trials and Savage Raids. There's some side content raids in Eureka and Bozja, but those aren't MSQ so they're their own things.

EDIT:

While I won't judge anyone for their choices in regards to how they play the game I am curious about something.
If your objective is to play a totally solo experience why would you pick FFXIV for it and not something of a similar scale that's also created from the ground up to be single player, since as an MMO XIV still has to make a lot of compromises that others wouldn't have to.
What advantages does it have over something like, say, Xenoblade?

Some people love the lore and are Final Fantasy fans.

Something a lot of "Why MMO if you don't want to people?" types don't get is that MMOs are also persistent worlds, which appeal to many. When you turn your console off with Xenoblade, that's it. The game is done, the world shuts down, nothing happens, nothing changes. If you log out of FFXIV, people are still doing content, MBs are fluctuating, and new patches are still being added and released. You can argue Xenoblade 3 will get some new content, but there's a point (relatively short term of 2-4 years) where that stops. With MMOs...well, look at WoW and FFXI and even Everquest still going after all these years.

This is part of the reason people who play MMOs want an MMO that is popular/has a lot of players, because those that do are unlikely to go into maintenance mode or shut down for years and years.

Not to mention FFXIV is well known for its story at this point. ShB's story is easily on par with most single player RPGs, and EW continues that.

And for some people, it IS neat to know that those "NPCs" around you that you aren't necessarily interacting with all the time ARE other people and that you DO have the option to interact with them in the future if you feel like it. If you decide you want to clear a dungeon in Xenoblade with a friend someday, can you do it? No. But if you decide you want to get a couple friends to raid with in FFXIV in the future, can you do it? Yes!