Many games are going the solo route. Even games that haven't released. Devs have already said that you will be able to solo in the games to be released FFXIV, SWTOR, and GW2. Devs have noticed they can reach a bigger audience by allowing solo play to max level. And, of course, bigger audience means bigger bucks.
I can sympathize with the OP to a certain extent. The problem is more with the placement of the fellowship quests in the game.
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I think it'll be really interesting to see what happens when the business model changes. Even if a lot of them don't stick around, the first few months of switching over is going to bring a lot of people interested in the game since they don't have to worry about paying for anything for a while in doing so, and the low level areas are going to be teeming with people wondering the same thing: "Why am I grouping? It's making everything too easy, and if we just go to higher level areas to actually have a challenge, I can't use any of the rewards I get for at least 4-5 levels." Seriously, I couldn't imagine how quick and easy all the low level content would be in a fellowship if a class that's on the lower end of the soloing spectrum has zero problems breezing through it all on its own. If only there were more fellowship-oriented instances scattered around which existed more for the challenge and rewards than for the experience...
I played Lotro at launch and recently for three months. I think it is an enjoyable game with lots of atmosphere and a fine crafting system.
However, as solo-friendly as this game is, I left it because it has the same forced-grouping mechanisms as Wow. First, by the time I got any character to level 40, it always had 10-15 uncompleted group quests. Worse, the end-game is identical to Wow and it's hundreds of clones; group-up to get the best loot or give up. Don't even get me started on Radiance. Speaking for myself, until this game becomes MORE solo-friendly, I will not be returning.
I think it's interesting how groupers call this a solo game and soloers don't think it's soloable enough. Seems like one of those cater to the masses things where you don't make anyone happy as a result. Groupers feel threatened and soloers feel left out.
I've played this game and it definitely felt more like a grouping game than a solo game, not only in content, but loot and even crafting that requires components from raid areas and group dungeon drops.
P.S. One other thing, your logic is flawed. We know from group centric games like EQ and WAR and FFXI and so forth that groups can be hard to find and it has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of solo content in the game, but everything to do with timing. People may be working on something different or they've already done those quests or they haven't gotten to those quests yet, or they don't do PUGs (read: guild only groups) so on and so forth.
For me LotRO is one of the few games left that I can call halfway decent. It has the perfect balance of solo and group content. I know back before moria you would not solo hardly any elite mobs. Nowdays you can pretty much solo whenever you want or group whenever you want. For me right now LotRO is prob about the only reason I havent given up on MMO's for good. No new game I know of right now has got me very excited for. I have been let down so many times on new games that seem to have always turned out to be just another cash cow theese days. I hope something worthwhile does come out soon lest I go insane with nothing to play. Cause I just about refuse to play boring single player games anymore either. Sigh**
I can sympathize with the OP to a certain extent. The problem is more with the placement of the fellowship quests in the game.
......
I think it'll be really interesting to see what happens when the business model changes. Even if a lot of them don't stick around, the first few months of switching over is going to bring a lot of people interested in the game since they don't have to worry about paying for anything for a while in doing so, and the low level areas are going to be teeming with people wondering the same thing: "Why am I grouping? It's making everything too easy, and if we just go to higher level areas to actually have a challenge, I can't use any of the rewards I get for at least 4-5 levels." Seriously, I couldn't imagine how quick and easy all the low level content would be in a fellowship if a class that's on the lower end of the soloing spectrum has zero problems breezing through it all on its own. If only there were more fellowship-oriented instances scattered around which existed more for the challenge and rewards than for the experience...
I played Lotro at launch and recently for three months. I think it is an enjoyable game with lots of atmosphere and a fine crafting system.
However, as solo-friendly as this game is, I left it because it has the same forced-grouping mechanisms as Wow. First, by the time I got any character to level 40, it always had 10-15 uncompleted group quests. Worse, the end-game is identical to Wow and it's hundreds of clones; group-up to get the best loot or give up. Don't even get me started on Radiance. Speaking for myself, until this game becomes MORE solo-friendly, I will not be returning.
Unfortunately, ALL the current games are forced grouping and raiding at the end at the moment. If you want to play MMO's, you just have to deal with it. Though I have played EQ2 almost since the day it opened and I've only ever been in 3 raids total. I can't stand raids. Its so boring. Go on these massive resource hogging raids to HOPEFULLY get some cool loot to just use in other raids. BORING. There's so much to do in EQ2 now that I just don't have to raid. There's other things to do.
Forced grouping was a nightmare at launch. Lotro was unplayable and stopped Lotro when i reached Lvvl 40 or 45 at release with my hunter.I always had to look for a group, not for dungeons but for ALL QUESTS , including small quests, bash quests. unplayable and boring.
Now Lotro is easier to play, with my Rune master (forgot the exact name) i can play solo if I don't find a group So i play and i have fun everytime in Lotro.
This game is more fun actually than it was at launch (and in beta. Was in beta in 2006 and it was very hard to play) I have a job, lots of things to do IRL, when i play it's not for suffering but to have fun. It's a video game, not a 2nd job.
I am in a guild, i 'm not alone but i can play solo. That's the difference.
Forced grouping was a nightmare at launch. Lotro was unplayable and stopped Lotro when i reached Lvvl 40 or 45 at release with my hunter.I always had to look for a group, not for dungeons but for ALL QUESTS , including small quests, bash quests. unplayable and boring.
Now Lotro is easier to play, with my Rune master (forgot the exact name) i can play solo if I don't find a group So i play and i have fun everytime in Lotro.
This game is more fun actually than it was at launch (and in beta. Was in beta in 2006 and it was very hard to play) I have a job, lots of things to do IRL, when i play it's not for suffering but to have fun. It's a video game, not a 2nd job.
I am in a guild, i 'm not alone but i can play solo. That's the difference.
I loathed this game when I beta'd it. Not quite as bad as I hate WoW but it was really terrible.
I came back last week, and am completely LOVING it. I'm a major Everquest fan and always have been, but I haven't touched it in nearly a week because I'm having alot of fun with LOTRO.
I am so impressed with the changes to this game. The movement toward free to play is really a pity.
Comments
Vets are leaving now? ... *looks around* ... where?
Can't say I'm surprised. World of Warcraft did the same thing, and they are basically the same game, so.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
Many games are going the solo route. Even games that haven't released. Devs have already said that you will be able to solo in the games to be released FFXIV, SWTOR, and GW2. Devs have noticed they can reach a bigger audience by allowing solo play to max level. And, of course, bigger audience means bigger bucks.
I played Lotro at launch and recently for three months. I think it is an enjoyable game with lots of atmosphere and a fine crafting system.
However, as solo-friendly as this game is, I left it because it has the same forced-grouping mechanisms as Wow. First, by the time I got any character to level 40, it always had 10-15 uncompleted group quests. Worse, the end-game is identical to Wow and it's hundreds of clones; group-up to get the best loot or give up. Don't even get me started on Radiance. Speaking for myself, until this game becomes MORE solo-friendly, I will not be returning.
I think it's interesting how groupers call this a solo game and soloers don't think it's soloable enough. Seems like one of those cater to the masses things where you don't make anyone happy as a result. Groupers feel threatened and soloers feel left out.
I've played this game and it definitely felt more like a grouping game than a solo game, not only in content, but loot and even crafting that requires components from raid areas and group dungeon drops.
P.S. One other thing, your logic is flawed. We know from group centric games like EQ and WAR and FFXI and so forth that groups can be hard to find and it has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of solo content in the game, but everything to do with timing. People may be working on something different or they've already done those quests or they haven't gotten to those quests yet, or they don't do PUGs (read: guild only groups) so on and so forth.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
For me LotRO is one of the few games left that I can call halfway decent. It has the perfect balance of solo and group content. I know back before moria you would not solo hardly any elite mobs. Nowdays you can pretty much solo whenever you want or group whenever you want. For me right now LotRO is prob about the only reason I havent given up on MMO's for good. No new game I know of right now has got me very excited for. I have been let down so many times on new games that seem to have always turned out to be just another cash cow theese days. I hope something worthwhile does come out soon lest I go insane with nothing to play. Cause I just about refuse to play boring single player games anymore either. Sigh**
Unfortunately, ALL the current games are forced grouping and raiding at the end at the moment. If you want to play MMO's, you just have to deal with it. Though I have played EQ2 almost since the day it opened and I've only ever been in 3 raids total. I can't stand raids. Its so boring. Go on these massive resource hogging raids to HOPEFULLY get some cool loot to just use in other raids. BORING. There's so much to do in EQ2 now that I just don't have to raid. There's other things to do.
Forced grouping was a nightmare at launch. Lotro was unplayable and stopped Lotro when i reached Lvvl 40 or 45 at release with my hunter.I always had to look for a group, not for dungeons but for ALL QUESTS , including small quests, bash quests. unplayable and boring.
Now Lotro is easier to play, with my Rune master (forgot the exact name) i can play solo if I don't find a group So i play and i have fun everytime in Lotro.
This game is more fun actually than it was at launch (and in beta. Was in beta in 2006 and it was very hard to play) I have a job, lots of things to do IRL, when i play it's not for suffering but to have fun. It's a video game, not a 2nd job.
I am in a guild, i 'm not alone but i can play solo. That's the difference.
I loathed this game when I beta'd it. Not quite as bad as I hate WoW but it was really terrible.
I came back last week, and am completely LOVING it. I'm a major Everquest fan and always have been, but I haven't touched it in nearly a week because I'm having alot of fun with LOTRO.
I am so impressed with the changes to this game. The movement toward free to play is really a pity.