This game needs less solo content.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

The MMO genre has been in decline for a good while now, and it's showing no signs of turning around. These games need to dip into the pool of solo gamers out there to remain relevant, as there aren't enough purely MMO-minded people left to really sustain them. We've known this for a while. Solo and coop experiences are favored by the majority. And you know what? I'm fine with that. You have the option to group if you want or fly solo if you want. Most of the game can be done either way. Endgame is purely group-oriented, of course.

Hell, personally, I'd like to see more solo content. High-end solo endgame (high-end meaning extremely challenging, something savage or harder) activities with commensurate rewards would be a welcome addition, in my opinion.

According to the forums it's been in decline since August of 2013. Just saying.

[RitsukoSonoda]

Solo content would be less appealing if they'd stop catering most of the game content to ppl less intelligent than the AI...

[HyperiusUltima]

Generally I think there should be a fine cut line between solo content and group content.

- MSQ: Solo Content is what this is technically, though the Trials that we get are Group Content(unless I’m staring at Hydaelyn for special reasons). Group makes dungeons go BRRR, but I think we need to bring back more dungeon development and SE needs to hire on more people to give us 2 Dungeons/patch again to keep things shaken up.

- Raids: Group Content by default. The issue we have however is that nobody wants to go back and do old raids, and Normal Raid Roulette is the purpose for this. On some DCs however it becomes a slog to get a group(staring at you, Dynamis and Oceania). Narratively we can’t really bring in 7 other NPCs in these raids, so there’s not a whole lot one can do in that instance.

- Relic: This is the meat that we should have for the patch lull - however, as Endwalker has shown and Yoshida’s current design philosophy for it(argument being that there’s so many jobs and people are doing multiple jobs more often), we’ve run into an issue where it’s a generic Tomestone Weapon. I will rant on this one as the Relic should push you to run different types of content, as has been tradition since time immemorial(excusing Eureka, the hell hole of Relics). Solo, Group, it shouldn’t matter as long as there is a goal. The issue however is that Endwalker changed that goal drastically to Tomestones, which drew a negative response after the second time due to the fact that it had no tie-in to story, grinding, or any other content. All you had to do was grind out your secondary Tomestones and you had a brand new Relic after a 1500 Tomestone exchange. Disgusting. Bozja had it balanced correctly between both your solo content, Bozja in general, and your group content; it was in fact the best relic grind I’ve had, if I want to be honest. BRING IT BACK. Exploratory zones are what drive people during the patch in the long-term, and it’s healthy for content creators as well compared to the likes of Criterion.

The point is that we can have solo content, it’s just that patch filler content needs to be long-lasting to an extent; say, 2 months minimum for the average casual player. This gives them time to digest it before the next PLL, where they can get people hyped for new content or story.

[DPZ2]

Bozja had it balanced correctly between both your solo content, Bozja in general, and your group content; it was in fact the best relic grind I’ve had, if I want to be honest. BRING IT BACK. Exploratory zones are what drive people during the patch in the long-term, and it’s healthy for content creators as well compared to the likes of Criterion.

To be clear, this is opinion. I do not doubt it is shared by a number of players.

I also do not doubt that there are enough players out there who have never engaged with Bozja, and never will. MMORPGs are a special case for games -- there are any number of players I've met in game over the years who do not care for anything except gathering and crafting. All of those Solo Activities have been a part of the game since ARR released.

Would I ask the devs to forgo Bozja-style content? Not likely. I've never engaged in it, but that doesn't mean others shouldn't. I actually enjoy the Island Sanctuary and would like to see more content like that. Does this mean I should baldly demand less group content? Also not likely.

The very premise of the OP is ludicrous.

[Atelier-Bagur]

The MMO genre has been in decline for a good while now, and it's showing no signs of turning around. These games need to dip into the pool of solo gamers out there to remain relevant, as there aren't enough purely MMO-minded people left to really sustain them. We've known this for a while. Solo and coop experiences are favored by the majority. And you know what? I'm fine with that. You have the option to group if you want or fly solo if you want. Most of the game can be done either way. Endgame is purely group-oriented, of course.

Hell, personally, I'd like to see more solo content. High-end solo endgame (high-end meaning extremely challenging, something savage or harder) activities with commensurate rewards would be a welcome addition, in my opinion.

But Ashes of Creation maaaaaan, I swear once my grandchildren play it, it'll be the savior of the MMO genre.

[Halivel]

But Ashes of Creation maaaaaan, I swear once my grandchildren play it, it'll be the savior of the MMO genre.

AoC looks promising on paper, but tbh I personally don't have high hopes for it so far. Mostly because it's far from the first time we're promised to get an amazing ground-breaking project of all times that looks great during dev streams, and that then ends up being another boring money-sucking grind-fest. I'll be more than happy to be wrong about this one in particular though.

[DamianFatale]

AoC looks promising on paper, but tbh I personally don't have high hopes for it so far. Mostly because it's far from the first time we're promised to get an amazing ground-breaking project of all times that looks great during dev streams, and that then ends up being another boring money-sucking grind-fest. I'll be more than happy to be wrong about this one in particular though.

Eh, 90% of mmos fail at launch. I'll see it if I see it.

[RitsukoSonoda]

AoC looks promising on paper, but tbh I personally don't have high hopes for it so far. Mostly because it's far from the first time we're promised to get an amazing ground-breaking project of all times that looks great during dev streams, and that then ends up being another boring money-sucking grind-fest. I'll be more than happy to be wrong about this one in particular though.

There's another MMO I seen on the way that looks like it has potential. Chrono Fantasy I think it was called. However the issue is we've had too many recent entries that showed promise and potential just to screw up the execution of the game or just fail to utilize it's potential at all. So I'll have to wait and see how the end product actually plays before making a decision to try it or not.

[Halivel]

There's another MMO I seen on the way that looks like it has potential. Chrono Fantasy I think it was called. However the issue is we've had too many recent entries that showed promise and potential just to screw up the execution of the game or just fail to utilize it's potential at all. So I'll have to wait and see how the end product actually plays before making a decision to try it or not.

Yep, that's probably my main issue with most new online games - a lot of them have potential and then just fail to deliver the things they've promised on a scale where FF14 or WoW with all their problems just pale in comparison and look almost like angels.

I had some hopes for Blue Protocol, but seeing it after release in Japan, I'm not really sure it was worth the wait. It's not bad, but it also doesn't feel particularly catching, either (and Amazon's "global" release won't be global anyway with its limited selection of a very small amount of western countries, so whatever, I guess).

The one genre I'm still interested in and that doesn't have much of a representation outside of its home market is wuxia, so... perhaps I'll give Perfect World 2 a try when it's out? We'll see.

[Zakuyia]

I get it! The solution must be then....

We should have NO CONTENT. JUST CANCEL THE GAME.

Oh your right..... o/ i motion the removal of the ff14 forum its dead anyway no one is here except bots.