Party...?

[pandabearcat]

You can only say that for MMOs as of late/last few years. Everquest, FFXI, Lineage I/II, etc. (the original MMOs) all were extremely group/party heavy as soloing was not the primary way for anything. Not everyone enjoys playing a massive multiplayer game's story mode/etc. stuck in an instance by yourself even unable to call your NPC companion. Not saying one way or the other, but we've had a member already leave our FC/the game saying they felt like they were just playing a solo RPG game with online chat. Would be nice if they allowed the option/choice of having more people with you at times/fights. Nothing wrong with options if it doesn't take away from everyone else's eh?

I agree with you, but like you said, (I am going by your description, since I did not play those games), you grouped for those because like you said "soloing was not the primary way for anything".

So the incentive to group was because it was faster/the only way of doing certain tasks, in those games leveling.

One thing that a lot of people forget is...if you want a social experience, you'll find its much better to go search for one than wait for one to come to you.

If you think about if, if you just wait for people to invite you to a party, maybe throwing out a shout every once in a while, you're not going to get more than the same people who are also making the minimal effort to "group".

Whenever I'm in a FATE group or whatever I try to strike up conversation. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I will agree with OP and Sumii that this game does feel like a solo game.

And that is depressing, but its not something you will get the playerbase to change unless the game mechanics change.