FFXIV needs to stop accommodating Solo Players

[Nighthawky2010]

What is accommodating "solo players" tho? Do you mean people looking to play a single player game within an MMO. I like to Solo play a lot, like I PF alone, do dungeons alone, do my rouls alone, that's solo play, you're not going in with friends or Fc mates, just you joining randoms alone for the sake of completing content. Or we can take it back to the OG meaning back when MMOs allowed you to literally solo content if you were good enough and were an actual solo player, because thats not possible in XIV at all.

I agree. The game is basically a solo MMORPG. Outside the new extreme, savage, unreal modes, you basically doing MSQ solo; now that there are the trusts & duty support, you can do the MSQ dungeons alone. I do alot of the old dungeons & extreme trials for the gear to turn into the GC. Most of the exploratory content can be done either solo or with a party, same goes for the deep dungeons.

[AnotherPerson]

What is accommodating "solo players" tho? Do you mean people looking to play a single player game within an MMO. I like to Solo play a lot, like I PF alone, do dungeons alone, do my rouls alone, that's solo play, you're not going in with friends or Fc mates, just you joining randoms alone for the sake of completing content. Or we can take it back to the OG meaning back when MMOs allowed you to literally solo content if you were good enough and were an actual solo player, because thats not possible in XIV at all.

It's possible if you're WAR at higher levels. Just takes longer.

[Boblawblah]

What is accommodating "solo players" tho? Do you mean people looking to play a single player game within an MMO. I like to Solo play a lot, like I PF alone, do dungeons alone, do my rouls alone, that's solo play, you're not going in with friends or Fc mates, just you joining randoms alone for the sake of completing content. Or we can take it back to the OG meaning back when MMOs allowed you to literally solo content if you were good enough and were an actual solo player, because thats not possible in XIV at all.

By "accommodating", I assume the OP means, "force people to play in groups to do content"

[Ath192]

Solo players can go find another game. When you try to make everyone happy you make noone happy. This has always been true. IDK why Yoshi P and CBUIII keep trying to learn a lesson that's already been learned a million times by a million people. The game is called FFXIV ONLINE.

Noone ever will say this was a good solo game. EVER. Let's get that out of the way. So hopefully it's a great multiplayer game, and they focus on that. The framework of the game is for multiplayer gameplay, so any solo experience will always be compromised because the game isn't meant for that.

[Nighthawky2010]

Solo players can go find another game. When you try to make everyone happy you make noone happy. This has always been true. IDK why Yoshi P and CBUIII keep trying to learn a lesson that's already been learned a million times by a million people. The game is called FFXIV ONLINE.

Noone ever will say this was a good solo game. EVER. Let's get that out of the way. So hopefully it's a great multiplayer game, and they focus on that. The framework of the game is for multiplayer gameplay, so any solo experience will always be compromised because the game isn't meant for that.

I disagree. FFXIV is my first MMOrpg That I started playing almost 10 years ago. The games is basically a single player mmo. Outside doing the newest extreme/savage content or new exploration content that require multi-players, the game is basically solo.
With the of NPCs, squadrons, Trusts all of the MSQ dungeons can be done solo.
The game should be balanced. You want to invite all people to join the experience, whether they are casual players such as myself, mid-carders, or high-end raiders. I believe the game should cater to all groups.

[Taliriah]

Solo players can go find another game.

Not really no, because the game industry at large is obsessed with co-op games, as they know that social ties are one of the strongest driver of player retention. Many people keep playing games they don't otherwise really like anymore because they don't want to let their friends down. That's manipulative.

I don't like game where success requires playing with others. I prefer when socializing is something you do because (and when) you want to, rather than doing it because otherwise your progress is impeded.

In the later case, people often view other players are merely tools to further their own progression in the game, and that's why you have people who are so intolerant of people "not playing the game right" or not micro optimising their rotations and such. Socialization mandated by gameplay mechanics is not good socialization.

FFXIV is mostly fine as it is. It gives you plenty of options both if you want to play solo and if you want to play in a group. (It still sucks when you need to sit in a queue for half an hour to complete a MSQ duty, for instance).

[LuciferNacht]

Not really no, because the game industry at large is obsessed with co-op games, as they know that social ties are one of the strongest driver of player retention. Many people keep playing games they don't otherwise really like anymore because they don't want to let their friends down. That's manipulative.

I don't like game where success requires playing with others. I prefer when socializing is something you do because (and when) you want to, rather than doing it because otherwise your progress is impeded.

In the later case, people often view other players are merely tools to further their own progression in the game, and that's why you have people who are so intolerant of people "not playing the game right" or not micro optimising their rotations and such. Socialization mandated by gameplay mechanics is not good socialization.

FFXIV is mostly fine as it is. It gives you plenty of options both if you want to play solo and if you want to play in a group. (It still sucks when you need to sit in a queue for half an hour to complete a MSQ duty, for instance).

I completely agree with this. It is awful when you are reliant upon others and their skill level to progress in the game. It's incredibly frustrating.

SE can have the best of both worlds, create tons of community interaction but ensure the MSQ at a minimum remains able to play solo. I will play with my friends or static for everything else.

[LianaThorne]

I completely agree with this. It is awful when you are reliant upon others and their skill level to progress in the game. It's incredibly frustrating.

SE can have the best of both worlds, create tons of community interaction but ensure the MSQ at a minimum remains able to play solo. I will play with my friends or static for everything else.

Out of curiosity, what would you suggest as a way to fix the subpar play? We've already had parsers suggested which people did not seem to like so I'm curious what other alternatives you had in mind.

Like, what could SE do to make people want to/force people to play better?

[ChrysOCE]

Out of curiosity, what would you suggest as a way to fix the subpar play? We've already had parsers suggested which people did not seem to like so I'm curious what other alternatives you had in mind.

Like, what could SE do to make people want to/force people to play better?

Realistically, nothing. There's no real way to force people to be better, especially if they don't want to.

You could maybe have things hit harder/faster in 80+ normal content, which could push players to be better. But you can still have 1, even 2, player(s) in a dungeon be carried. And there will undoubtedly be howls of protest at making the base MSQ harder.

They could update the Hall of the Novice and introduce Halls of the Experienced/Advanced maybe? Something that shows some relevant/current concepts around higher gameplay. If they agree themselves on what is relevant and "correct".

[DBriggs304]

There is a decent mix in my opinion. I do like that they have offered a way to do dungeon content with NPC's but hope they don't go overboard. As long as they keep the community interaction in check (Which they have) then I think it works out for more group content. I never tried to do group content in WoW cause I heard the horror stories of what I might encounter. This game pretty much cured that so I do that content here and there with zero issues.