I just want an mmo to be multiplayer outside of instances

[Khryseis_Astra]

I've been playing Eureka the past couple of days and I do get to interact with a lot of people. Bozja was the same but I don't know how populated it is rn...

I’m thinking Eureka is more populated lately because Krile has a prominent role in the story and will likely be the new caster job character in Dawntrail. I decided to go back and make another relic weapon, and I’ve found it really active. Honestly the whole vibe of Eureka is great… groups working together to spawn the NM fates and almost always setting a pull time and waiting for others to get there, people willing to travel to inconvenient locations to rez you if you die, people who will explain how things work in each zone… the relics are still a bit of a grind, but I always enjoy my time there. After I finish my latest relic, I’m going to try and get in on a BA run sometime before Dawntrail, since that’s the only thing I haven’t done yet.

Just last night I was in a small party in Pyros, and someone had put in shout chat that the instance was locked and a bunch of people started leaving. But Penny only had about 10 minutes left til her spawn window, so we decided to try and farm for it, joined by one other solo player. And it popped! The poor tank’s instance timer was running out and it kicked him out midway through the fight. Our healer kept me and the other dps alive while we took turns holding aggro on the boss and even rezzed and healed the solo player! And we cleared it with just the four and a half of us! lol good times!

[kaynide]

It’s not a bad want, but it’s just not the direction the game is designed in. If I wanna feel like a part of a swarm of players in an mmo, I play guild wars. When I want an interactable soap opera, well… here we are.

[Volgia]

I’m thinking Eureka is more populated lately because Krile has a prominent role in the story and will likely be the new caster job character in Dawntrail. I decided to go back and make another relic weapon, and I’ve found it really active. Honestly the whole vibe of Eureka is great… groups working together to spawn the NM fates and almost always setting a pull time and waiting for others to get there, people willing to travel to inconvenient locations to rez you if you die, people who will explain how things work in each zone… the relics are still a bit of a grind, but I always enjoy my time there. After I finish my latest relic, I’m going to try and get in on a BA run sometime before Dawntrail, since that’s the only thing I haven’t done yet.

Just last night I was in a small party in Pyros, and someone had put in shout chat that the instance was locked and a bunch of people started leaving. But Penny only had about 10 minutes left til her spawn window, so we decided to try and farm for it, joined by one other solo player. And it popped! The poor tank’s instance timer was running out and it kicked him out midway through the fight. Our healer kept me and the other dps alive while we took turns holding aggro on the boss and even rezzed and healed the solo player! And we cleared it with just the four and a half of us! lol good times!

I am working towards BA myself. Its something nice to do, and that EW is clearly missing.

[Poporito_Popoto]

Everquest 1 is the game you want @Threadstarter.




Cheers

Funny, I soloed EQ1 from 32 to level cap 60 through grinding mobs.

I miss it, though not as much as Ultima Online.

So yea...more solo content please. At least using trusts for MSQ trials.

[Erinellza]

This is why I play GW2 as a side MMO, their open world dynamic/meta events are more fun and rewarding than FATEs in XIV.

[Krojack]

Hello, this is kind of just a rant off my chest, but I'm struggling with playing mmo's lately because they're all so solo-oriented or instance oriented. All the group activities are going to result in me never seeing people again and our conversation limited to a "hi", a joke here or there and a "gg" never to be seen again.

Why is RP or statics the only mmo part of the game right now?

FF14 is what you make of it. I do MANY things with friends outside of instances. I think you need to explore more of the game.

[Jojoya]

Hello, this is kind of just a rant off my chest, but I'm struggling with playing mmo's lately because they're all so solo-oriented or instance oriented. All the group activities are going to result in me never seeing people again and our conversation limited to a "hi", a joke here or there and a "gg" never to be seen again.

Why is RP or statics the only mmo part of the game right now?

Sitting in an instance with 7 other players does not make a MMO.

Hunt trains and S ranks? Now that's MMO to the point that if you have an older PC or PS4 you're going to struggle in the chaos.

You can join FATE farming groups. Better yet, focus on the chain FATEs that spawn the big ones that crowds will show up for.

You can join Treasure Map parties (though that's split between open world and instance).

If players want the game to feel like a MMO, it's up to them to take the initiative. The game isn't going to force it on players.

Don't forget: during the 10 year Roadmap Live Letter, YoshiP said he wants the game to stop being known as a MMORPG and start being known as a RPG that can be played solo or with friends.

This comes across as quite condescending. There are problems with modern MMO's ability to forge friendships that could be addressed.

Most of those problems are due to the way people have chosen to play MMOs.

They want huge populations around them. They want convenience. They want "efficiency". They want to be done as quickly as possible. They don't want to waste time stricking up friendships with people they meet through random matchmaking but they exclusively use random matchmaking to do the majority of their content that they aren't doing solo.

MMOs that try to go old school when it comes to party forming get hits with tons of complaints about "it's not convenient", "it doesn't respect my time", "I feel like I get excluded", etc.

What's a developer to do when the way players approach game play is in opposition to the things they say they want?

[caffe_macchiato]

Why is RP or statics the only mmo part of the game right now?

The developers want FFXIV to be a solo game, and that's fine. What FFXIV excels at is being a social network where you can meet people to play other games with. When you combine this with adult activities, it's clear why FFXIV is still so enormously popular. It allows you to talk to people who are interested in the same other games that you are.

Do you have "rizz"? If not, you should practice. Try emoting to someone whose character you are attracted to. If they have "WU/T" or "F+" in their search info, that means they're open for discussion. Then you'll probably be roped into some adult content, which is normal because this is FFXIV. Now you have a friend! They usually play a different game most of the time, because of course, it's FFXIV. Now every time you log on you can AFK with your friends while playing your other games. Now that's what I call multiplayer!

[strawberrycake]

The problem is that they haven't decided to invest into meaningful ways to do content in the open world and most of it ends up being a grindfest at the exact same location for everyone even remotely interested in doing MMO like content.

FFXIV is a very linear game, so all of it's solutions are linear. Modern MMOs approach this problem in two ways. Way number 1 is to have non-linear solutions that progress you to the same point, such as not having to do each part of a string of quests in an exact order, starting players at different locations depending on a choice they can make or by creating a world event with multiple ways to earn reward towards character progression surrounding the quests needed to progress in whatever content is being done.

Solution number 2 is Phasing or sharding, similar to instances, but simply having a certain amount of people allowed in said shard or phase of the open world, this allows them to control the amount of people you see thus making the interactions more personal. Sadly XIV doesn't utilize sharding seamlessly, like other MMOs use phasing seamlessly. you have to manually switch and sadly XIV doesn't use this during major events all the time.

FF also has become more Discord Oriented, which I am wholly against due to it making the game feel very dead, I enjoy that in other games I play people are talking and conversing about content we're all doing and making groups for content. I suggest to you if you care, to not let others discourage you, this is a very serious issue with the state of the game for many other like minded players, we want said issue to change to. Hopefully we'll see that happen one day!

[RitsukoSonoda]

I'm still thinking the thing the OP is actually looking for is more opportunities for social interaction and meeting new people in game during gameplay and actual exportation. It doesn't seem like an actual issue in regards to having friends to do instanced content with.