I thought this was a "massively multiplayer game"

[Aalwein]

For being in the category of MMOG, this game has so many mechanisms that force people into solo play its ridiculous. During the betas I didn't have the chance to play with my wife, as she was never in the beta, and now that I have had time to play with her after launch I spend more time out of a group with her than I do in one. Most of the main story is solo, grand company leves are also forced solo. A huge chunk of the game is forced solo tasks, taking the multiplayer right out of MMOG. Class quests also end up being mostly solo, although I can understand these being solo.

It's just really saddening to have to play half the game solo when my gaming partner is sitting right next to me doing the same content... alone.

It just doesn't make any sense. Please allow at least light parties to enjoy all of the awesome content this game has as a group - don't force us to play ALONE when we are all paying to play a game TOGETHER.

[Juran]

The only thing I can think of that requires solo play are a few story missions and the class quests every 5 levels. Other than that everything can and most times must be taken with other players. I think that you are making mountains out of mole hills, and are still a low level (which is no excuse because it shouldnt take more than 4-5 hours to reach the first instance). There is a veritable cornucopia of multiplayer content, but you would know this if you spent your time playing instead of trawling the forums.

[Diavolo]

I play most of the mission, save for ones related to my class/duties with my girlfriend. I personally like that it can be something played solo and multiplayer.

[RitzNBitz]

hes 100% right, and it has been a peeve of mine from the very beginning. Outside of dungeons there really isn't much party related activities. Unless you count fates~ or bad fetch quests.

It would be way better if much of this was party orientated. Even if it meant we don't see our team mate in the story cutscene.

[Lunar]

I see what you guys are saying but partying takes up time. SE is heading into the right direction. Noone has enough time now to play for hours and hours. Making a party requires time!

[Steeled]

I see what you guys are saying but partying takes up time. SE is heading into the right direction. Noone has enough time now to play for hours and hours. Making a party requires time!

Not with duty finder, it doesn't. Between friends, ls, FC, shouts, and duty finder you should be able to get a party for any of this stuff.

It's even not so bad that you CAN go in solo, it just sucks that you HAVE to.

[Aalwein]

I don't mind that there is content meant to be soloed, but don't force me to solo it. Outside of class quests, there should be nothing that forces me to go solo in a massively multiplayer game. Tune it for solo play, fine, I'm ALL for that - I solo most of the time. But don't FORCE me to split off from my friends and family like much of the main storyline and grand company leves do. I mean, we're talking about the main story quest - the best quest content in the game. Why force people to go that alone? I want to enjoy those "omg" moments with a party. If I wanted to play these quests alone, to be forced into running *any* content solo, I would be playing FF13 or some other single player RPG. I'm not saying I don't want solo content - I'm saying I don't want to be FORCED to solo.

[Juran]

Not with duty finder, it doesn't. .

Coming from a tank that doesn't mean much. As a Bard I can wait upwards of half an hour for a DF match

[ElHeggunte]

They could have added the option to let you do more of the story in a group (and have the encounters scale in difficulty accordingly), but it's still important that they remain soloable. Otherwise down the line new players will have a hell of a time trying to get anyone to help them with "old" content that they literally can't progress without. It happened all the time in FFXI, especially during the Chains of Promathia expansion if you weren't part of the initial rush or didn't have friends who didn't mind being dragged around and forced into level capped instances (and gear didn't scale down so you needed dedicated sets per each area), but progressing through the content was mandatory if you wanted to access the end-game content of that time.

Besides, dungeons and endgame content are still plenty group-oriented and that's where you're going to be spending most of your time anyway. Nothing else besides a few specific story and class scenarios really force you to play solo.

[Steeled]

Quite clever of you to snip out six words out of my post.