ESO is a pretty easy game to update. All they do is look at Skyrim to pick the next expansion. They don't have a player base to fix problems but they do have limited modding which is nice.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Its not a bad game at all, and for the single player experience it does quite well, my own preference is for more scifi based gameplay, which for me means that in terms of single player experience, that SW:TOR is far superior, but its just because i am more biased in favour of SciFi than Fantasy, that and the character classes i usually play in Elder Scrolls games can't be created in ESO, i could wish that character creation in ESO wasn't quite so limited however.
ESO is ok, but the best no. Its not even the most populated game in its class. I would say there are other games which offer a much better single player experience. Its hard to say any game is the best because it so subjective to each players opinion and experiences.
Single Player MMORPG. Why even bother adding net code in the first place? We've moved past irony, way past the sublime and are now firmly entrenched in the rediculous.
A Single Player MMORPG. My head is about to explode.
Because I like gaming alongside others who like the same game. It's a common interest that we share socially.
Because I like the freedom to team up with others if I want to, but I like that I don't need to in order to play. I like that there are different ways I can interact with others, but I'm not stuck with those guys who think we should have bonding sessions during downtime between fights.
Because I appreciate the atmosphere and immersion others add to an environment.
It may be "re"donkulus to you, but it's how I like to play and it seems there are a lot of others who like it too.
Some people just seem to have a hard time admitting that to a lesser or greater extent, we all solo in MMORPGs. Sure they give us the opportunity to do it with others and that's when they are at their best, but we all solo some of the time and that solo part can be good or bad depending on the game. It's very good in ESO.
So come on guys, it's 2016, We all solo... nothing to be ashamed of.
We all always soloed sometimes. And I don't mind it, but I'm sick to the gills of MMORPG group content being largely relegated to small instances and braindead "here's some mobs you guys can fight together I guess" world events.
This doesn't touch on the fact that the large majority of content designed for groups of players doesn't present itself until the players has spent hours learning how to play his character solo and building his character explicitly for that purpose. Then, all of a sudden his build lacks utility or interactivity with other players classes/builds that are useful at endgame because, quite frankly, up until endgame, it was faster and easier to level solo and the player was never even asked by the game to participate in combat with other players, let alone encouraged.
THAT'S an issue in a genre whose only real niche is the ability for large amounts of players to cooperate, compete, and otherwise interact on a larger scale than any other genre... Developers deliberately avoiding utilizing the genre's strengths to fish for players by using mechanics from other genres. We all know good and well MMORPGs will never reach the complexity or quality of smaller multiplayer titles or single player games in these areas, but developers still bash their heads against the wall cause "hardy fucking har, we got action combat that blew your mind 7 years ago when a singleplayer/small multiplayer title did it!!!!1!!1!1!oneoneone".
Quit trying to be an orange, apple. That's stupid, and many folks enjoy apples more than oranges, or even both... But an apple mutated with an orange's skin... GTFO with that bait and switch.
Another analogy for MMORPG devs: for God's sake, QUIT trying to out strike a boxer. Wrestle his ass to the ground, play to YOUR strengths. YOU WILL NEVER beat him at his own game. Mmorpg combat/individual questing will NEVER compete with singleplayer or small group multiplayer games. Give that shit up already and focus on what makes the genre unique.
Or, even more apropos, bring a fucking raid to the boxing ring and show him how much more fun and effective things are when you have others around you, likeminded and working towards a shared goal.
Single Player MMORPG. Why even bother adding net code in the first place? We've moved past irony, way past the sublime and are now firmly entrenched in the rediculous.
A Single Player MMORPG. My head is about to explode.
Because I like gaming alongside others who like the same game. It's a common interest that we share socially.
Because I like the freedom to team up with others if I want to, but I like that I don't need to in order to play. I like that there are different ways I can interact with others, but I'm not stuck with those guys who think we should have bonding sessions during downtime between fights.
Because I appreciate the atmosphere and immersion others add to an environment.
It may be "re"donkulus to you, but it's how I like to play and it seems there are a lot of others who like it too.
Some people just seem to have a hard time admitting that to a lesser or greater extent, we all solo in MMORPGs. Sure they give us the opportunity to do it with others and that's when they are at their best, but we all solo some of the time and that solo part can be good or bad depending on the game. It's very good in ESO.
So come on guys, it's 2016, We all solo... nothing to be ashamed of.
We all always soloed sometimes. And I don't mind it, but I'm sick to the gills of MMORPG group content being largely relegated to small instances and braindead "here's some mobs you guys can fight together I guess" world events.
This doesn't touch on the fact that the large majority of content designed for groups of players doesn't present itself until the players has spent hours learning how to play his character solo and building his character explicitly for that purpose. Then, all of a sudden his build lacks utility or interactivity with other players classes/builds that are useful at endgame because, quite frankly, up until endgame, it was faster and easier to level solo and the player was never even asked by the game to participate in combat with other players, let alone encouraged.
THAT'S an issue in a genre whose only real niche is the ability for large amounts of players to cooperate, compete, and otherwise interact on a larger scale than any other genre... Developers deliberately avoiding utilizing the genre's strengths to fish for players by using mechanics from other genres. We all know good and well MMORPGs will never reach the complexity or quality of smaller multiplayer titles or single player games in these areas, but developers still bash their heads against the wall cause "hardy fucking har, we got action combat that blew your mind 7 years ago when a singleplayer/small multiplayer title did it!!!!1!!1!1!oneoneone".
Quit trying to be an orange, apple. That's stupid, and many folks enjoy apples more than oranges, or even both... But an apple mutated with an orange's skin... GTFO with that bait and switch.
Another analogy for MMORPG devs: for God's sake, QUIT trying to out strike a boxer. Wrestle his ass to the ground, play to YOUR strengths. YOU WILL NEVER beat him at his own game. Mmorpg combat/individual questing will NEVER compete with singleplayer or small group multiplayer games. Give that shit up already and focus on what makes the genre unique.
Or, even more apropos, bring a fucking raid to the boxing ring and show him how much more fun and effective things are when you have others around you, likeminded and working towards a shared goal.
Yeah well they have to design those first. Some MMOs have tried to make grouping a core PVE function that happens organically.
None better than Rift still to this day that starts you off with a Rift in the tutorial for drop-in grouping and then keeps that up in every zone with rift invasions that can't be ignored. It was a good beginning and EQN talked that talk before it was cancelled. It sounded like they wanted to take it to the next level with roaming mob packs and co-op player settlement building.
Who knows, maybe Amazon's New World will go there. Someone needs to because, as you say, that IS the strength of MMORPGs and it's mostly neglected in favor of "you as the hero" single player stories shoehorned into these worlds.
It's also why I do a lot of ESO PVP. Because there at least it is all about the grouping and co-op effort.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Single Player MMORPG. Why even bother adding net code in the first place? We've moved past irony, way past the sublime and are now firmly entrenched in the rediculous.
A Single Player MMORPG. My head is about to explode.
Because I like gaming alongside others who like the same game. It's a common interest that we share socially.
Because I like the freedom to team up with others if I want to, but I like that I don't need to in order to play. I like that there are different ways I can interact with others, but I'm not stuck with those guys who think we should have bonding sessions during downtime between fights.
Because I appreciate the atmosphere and immersion others add to an environment.
It may be "re"donkulus to you, but it's how I like to play and it seems there are a lot of others who like it too.
Some people just seem to have a hard time admitting that to a lesser or greater extent, we all solo in MMORPGs. Sure they give us the opportunity to do it with others and that's when they are at their best, but we all solo some of the time and that solo part can be good or bad depending on the game. It's very good in ESO.
So come on guys, it's 2016, We all solo... nothing to be ashamed of.
We all always soloed sometimes. And I don't mind it, but I'm sick to the gills of MMORPG group content being largely relegated to small instances and braindead "here's some mobs you guys can fight together I guess" world events.
This doesn't touch on the fact that the large majority of content designed for groups of players doesn't present itself until the players has spent hours learning how to play his character solo and building his character explicitly for that purpose. Then, all of a sudden his build lacks utility or interactivity with other players classes/builds that are useful at endgame because, quite frankly, up until endgame, it was faster and easier to level solo and the player was never even asked by the game to participate in combat with other players, let alone encouraged.
THAT'S an issue in a genre whose only real niche is the ability for large amounts of players to cooperate, compete, and otherwise interact on a larger scale than any other genre... Developers deliberately avoiding utilizing the genre's strengths to fish for players by using mechanics from other genres. We all know good and well MMORPGs will never reach the complexity or quality of smaller multiplayer titles or single player games in these areas, but developers still bash their heads against the wall cause "hardy fucking har, we got action combat that blew your mind 7 years ago when a singleplayer/small multiplayer title did it!!!!1!!1!1!oneoneone".
Quit trying to be an orange, apple. That's stupid, and many folks enjoy apples more than oranges, or even both... But an apple mutated with an orange's skin... GTFO with that bait and switch.
Another analogy for MMORPG devs: for God's sake, QUIT trying to out strike a boxer. Wrestle his ass to the ground, play to YOUR strengths. YOU WILL NEVER beat him at his own game. Mmorpg combat/individual questing will NEVER compete with singleplayer or small group multiplayer games. Give that shit up already and focus on what makes the genre unique.
Or, even more apropos, bring a fucking raid to the boxing ring and show him how much more fun and effective things are when you have others around you, likeminded and working towards a shared goal.
Yeah well they have to design those first. Some MMOs have tried to make grouping a core PVE function that happens organically.
None better than Rift still to this day that starts you off with a Rift in the tutorial for drop-in grouping and then keeps that up in every zone with rift invasions that can't be ignored. It was a good beginning and EQN talked that talk before it was cancelled. It sounded like they wanted to take it to the next level with roaming mob packs and co-op player settlement building.
Who knows, maybe Amazon's New World will go there. Someone needs to because, as you say, that IS the strength of MMORPGs and it's mostly neglected in favor of "you as the hero" single player stories shoehorned into these worlds.
It's also why I do a lot of ESO PVP. Because there at least it is all about the grouping and co-op effort.
I have to agree that the ESO PvP was the most interesting feature to me during my time with the game. I'm thinking about returning, but the class system (despite all the extra skill lines you can pick up in world) just isn't very interesting to me and I dislike the rigidity of the armor bonuses/skill lines.
I like that you used the term organic, because that's exactly what the genre needs. A game that organically brings folks together. And I think that could go well beyond combat activities.
What it doesn't need, is to continue using these queues that make you feel like you're waiting in line at a literal themepark. Do these things organically. Queues and group/raid finders weren't an amazing epiphany from a developer that changed everything, they were an examle of developers throwing their hands up in surrender and saying "I don't know a better way to bring players together than using the same system console game developers have been using for their matchmaking since the turn of the century."
In my experience in ESO so far, it seems to me that you can have group, or solo content almost on demand. I was running around doing solo gathering and questing earlier. Then I felt like doing things with others, so I started doing some dolmens, some world bosses, some public dungeons, etc... and I found myself organically grouping, cooperating, helping and being helped by other players. I bumped into one person a few separate times. When I had my fill of group content, I went back to doing solo stuff.
I haven't even attempted PvP yet, but that's on the "to do" list.
I can be as social, or anti-social, as I want...and almost entirely on my own terms.
For me, ESO has struck a great balance between the two. I really enjoy my time in this game.
Some people just seem to have a hard time admitting that to a lesser or greater extent, we all solo in MMORPGs. Sure they give us the opportunity to do it with others and that's when they are at their best, but we all solo some of the time and that solo part can be good or bad depending on the game. It's very good in ESO.
So come on guys, it's 2016, We all solo... nothing to be ashamed of.
I'd like to come out of the closet and admit that... sometimes.... I too... will solo play an MMO.
"Sean (Murray) saying MP will be in the game is not remotely close to evidence that at the point of purchase people thought there was MP in the game." - SEANMCAD
There is no best current MMO as there is no universal "best" that all players can agree on.
Until we achieve a singular Borg-hive mind - best MMO, best movie, best song etc... will not exist
Perhaps you're assuming that the Borg are the end-all end-all in determining such things. Though, let's be frank, they still have a long ways to go to assimilate the entire universe. Until that time, we just won't know.
Plus, don't the Borg only assimilate technology and what they deem is useful(upgrade) for the hive? I can't imagine leisure or artistic material as useful to the Borg. Maybe it was when the splinter groups of Borg escaped from the collective, but then, they no longer belonged to the collective/hive mind, and thus would automatically be disqualified from your position.
The concept of Solo MMORPG is a fallacy. It's an excuse people have created to excuse the failings of game developers to develop games that prioritize group play. ESO, especially on the console, failed in that respect. The lack of text chat has conditioned the player base, so much, that people barely use it after it's introduction.
The game is too geared towards quest grinding solo up to high levels of CP. You do your faction's quests... Then another faction's... Then ANOTHER faction's. It's kind of ridiculous.
I don't see a option in playing a solo MMORPG when you can play AAA-quality RPGs, already, or an ARPG like Diablo III or PoE (both of which feel more MMORPG than ESO, these days, especially if you play ESO on a console).
I'm disappointed in this game, and the developers willingness to bend over and give up instead of do something to make group play and communication a bit more common place across all facets of the game.
There is a big difference between "soloing in an MMORPG," which everyone does to some extent (crafting is often not a group adventure, for example)... and "Predominately soloing in an MMORPG." In ESO you can level cap your character without ever seeing another person, and then some. And that "some" is a lot.
It's like playing a single player RPG with mediocre graphics and story, and then buying expansions with more of the same... Just cause.
Why make excuses for that?
Also, am I the only one missing the logic here? A single player MMORPG is not an MMORPG. It's an Online RPG with a multi-player component. No one called Dragon Age Inquisition an MMORPG. What you're basically telling people, is that ESO is something like that, but trying to keep the MMO aspect to give it more relevance (because MMO is all the rave, I heard). This makes literally no sense to me.
Outside of those few areas where you're literally forced to play with other people, the Multi-Player aspect of this game has died out just like it does in older FPS and RPG games (Dragon Age, Assassin's Creed, Killzone, etc.).
It's not cool to queue for a party in peak times and have a 2 hour queue time.
The concept of Solo MMORPG is a fallacy. It's an excuse people have created to excuse the failings of game developers to develop games that prioritize group play. ESO, especially on the console, failed in that respect. The lack of text chat has conditioned the player base, so much, that people barely use it after it's introduction.
The game is too geared towards quest grinding solo up to high levels of CP. You do your faction's quests... Then another faction's... Then ANOTHER faction's. It's kind of ridiculous.
I don't see a option in playing a solo MMORPG when you can play AAA-quality RPGs, already, or an ARPG like Diablo III or PoE (both of which feel more MMORPG than ESO, these days, especially if you play ESO on a console).
I'm disappointed in this game, and the developers willingness to bend over and give up instead of do something to make group play and communication a bit more common place across all facets of the game.
There is a big difference between "soloing in an MMORPG," which everyone does to some extent (crafting is often not a group adventure, for example)... and "Predominately soloing in an MMORPG." In ESO you can level cap your character without ever seeing another person, and then some. And that "some" is a lot.
It's like playing a single player RPG with mediocre graphics and story, and then buying expansions with more of the same... Just cause.
Why make excuses for that?
Also, am I the only one missing the logic here? A single player MMORPG is not an MMORPG. It's an Online RPG with a multi-player component. No one called Dragon Age Inquisition an MMORPG. What you're basically telling people, is that ESO is something like that, but trying to keep the MMO aspect to give it more relevance (because MMO is all the rave, I heard). This makes literally no sense to me.
Outside of those few areas where you're literally forced to play with other people, the Multi-Player aspect of this game has died out just like it does in older FPS and RPG games (Dragon Age, Assassin's Creed, Killzone, etc.).
It's not cool to queue for a party in peak times and have a 2 hour queue time.
It sounds like you never play in Cyrodiil and always queue for dungeons as DPS, both of which, BTW, are your choice. You're experiencing ESO as a solo game because that's what you do. It's not how all of us play it.
When I'm in Cyrodiil I'm grouped there all the time while socializing with friends on Teamspeak or Discord. And I run dungeons on my DPS, tank and healer. Average wait time for a tank is 5 seconds and for a healer a minute or less. DPS can take a while (although I can't remember the last time it took me more than 15 minutes to get a group) but them's the breaks when you queue as the role that 90% want to do.
What ESO does is give you a lot of choices of what to do and how to do it. It's up to you what you do with it... including the lonely solo play you describe.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
The concept of Solo MMORPG is a fallacy. It's an excuse people have created to excuse the failings of game developers to develop games that prioritize group play. ESO, especially on the console, failed in that respect. The lack of text chat has conditioned the player base, so much, that people barely use it after it's introduction.
The game is too geared towards quest grinding solo up to high levels of CP. You do your faction's quests... Then another faction's... Then ANOTHER faction's. It's kind of ridiculous.
I don't see a option in playing a solo MMORPG when you can play AAA-quality RPGs, already, or an ARPG like Diablo III or PoE (both of which feel more MMORPG than ESO, these days, especially if you play ESO on a console).
I'm disappointed in this game, and the developers willingness to bend over and give up instead of do something to make group play and communication a bit more common place across all facets of the game.
There is a big difference between "soloing in an MMORPG," which everyone does to some extent (crafting is often not a group adventure, for example)... and "Predominately soloing in an MMORPG." In ESO you can level cap your character without ever seeing another person, and then some. And that "some" is a lot.
It's like playing a single player RPG with mediocre graphics and story, and then buying expansions with more of the same... Just cause.
Why make excuses for that?
Also, am I the only one missing the logic here? A single player MMORPG is not an MMORPG. It's an Online RPG with a multi-player component. No one called Dragon Age Inquisition an MMORPG. What you're basically telling people, is that ESO is something like that, but trying to keep the MMO aspect to give it more relevance (because MMO is all the rave, I heard). This makes literally no sense to me.
Outside of those few areas where you're literally forced to play with other people, the Multi-Player aspect of this game has died out just like it does in older FPS and RPG games (Dragon Age, Assassin's Creed, Killzone, etc.).
It's not cool to queue for a party in peak times and have a 2 hour queue time.
It sounds like you never play in Cyrodiil and always queue for dungeons as DPS, both of which, BTW, are your choice. You're experiencing ESO as a solo game because that's what you do. It's not how all of us play it.
When I'm in Cyrodiil I'm grouped there all the time while socializing with friends on Teamspeak or Discord. And I run dungeons on my DPS, tank and healer. Average wait time for a tank is 5 seconds and for a healer a minute or less. DPS can take a while (although I can't remember the last time it took me more than 15 minutes to get a group) but them's the breaks when you queue as the role that 90% want to do.
What ESO does is give you a lot of choices of what to do and how to do it. It's up to you what you do with it... including the lonely solo play you describe.
There is indeed Cyrodiil. Craglorn is hardly solo friendly either.
As you say though @Darksworm ESO can be played solo - a "proper" single player game as opposed to an mmo with pseudo-group stuff - pseudo because you can do it solo. Whether you like the graphics or not is another matter but are you saying it wasn't worth your purchase price?
You can however play ESO as a group game - excluding the solo instances of course. And do nothing else. Yes you have to work at it, join a guild / create a friends list or - frankly - use world chat (voice or text).
The group finder can be / is a problem - and I do question whether Z's use of dps/heal/tank definitions to put groups together. Most people can do enough of either to get through most normal dungeons etc. - pugs created in chat prove that.
ESO is OK, but then, I was never the biggest Elder Scrolls buff in the first place. These days, I find FFXi to be one of the best single player MMOs out there. With trusts and the RoV content, it takes you all the way through its various stories. It is certainly not the EQ clone it began as, and has matured in a VERY different direction than did EQ. If the solo MMO is your thing, then it's certainly worth a month or 2 of sub money. Personally, it gave me far more than ESO could ever hope to aside from PvP, which I'm not into anyway.
The concept of Solo MMORPG is a fallacy. It's an excuse people have created to excuse the failings of game developers to develop games that prioritize group play. ESO, especially on the console, failed in that respect. The lack of text chat has conditioned the player base, so much, that people barely use it after it's introduction.
The game is too geared towards quest grinding solo up to high levels of CP. You do your faction's quests... Then another faction's... Then ANOTHER faction's. It's kind of ridiculous.
I don't see a option in playing a solo MMORPG when you can play AAA-quality RPGs, already, or an ARPG like Diablo III or PoE (both of which feel more MMORPG than ESO, these days, especially if you play ESO on a console).
I'm disappointed in this game, and the developers willingness to bend over and give up instead of do something to make group play and communication a bit more common place across all facets of the game.
There is a big difference between "soloing in an MMORPG," which everyone does to some extent (crafting is often not a group adventure, for example)... and "Predominately soloing in an MMORPG." In ESO you can level cap your character without ever seeing another person, and then some. And that "some" is a lot.
It's like playing a single player RPG with mediocre graphics and story, and then buying expansions with more of the same... Just cause.
Why make excuses for that?
Also, am I the only one missing the logic here? A single player MMORPG is not an MMORPG. It's an Online RPG with a multi-player component. No one called Dragon Age Inquisition an MMORPG. What you're basically telling people, is that ESO is something like that, but trying to keep the MMO aspect to give it more relevance (because MMO is all the rave, I heard). This makes literally no sense to me.
Outside of those few areas where you're literally forced to play with other people, the Multi-Player aspect of this game has died out just like it does in older FPS and RPG games (Dragon Age, Assassin's Creed, Killzone, etc.).
It's not cool to queue for a party in peak times and have a 2 hour queue time.
It sounds like you never play in Cyrodiil and always queue for dungeons as DPS, both of which, BTW, are your choice. You're experiencing ESO as a solo game because that's what you do. It's not how all of us play it.
When I'm in Cyrodiil I'm grouped there all the time while socializing with friends on Teamspeak or Discord. And I run dungeons on my DPS, tank and healer. Average wait time for a tank is 5 seconds and for a healer a minute or less. DPS can take a while (although I can't remember the last time it took me more than 15 minutes to get a group) but them's the breaks when you queue as the role that 90% want to do.
What ESO does is give you a lot of choices of what to do and how to do it. It's up to you what you do with it... including the lonely solo play you describe.
There is indeed Cyrodiil. Craglorn is hardly solo friendly either.
As you say though ESO can be played as a "proper" single player game as opposed to an mmo with pseudo-group stuff - pseudo because you can do it solo.
You can also play ESO predominantly as a group game - excluding the solo instances of course. To do that though its easier if you join a guild / create a friends list or - frankly - use world chat (voice or text). The group finder can be a problem - and I do question whether Z's use of dps/heal/tank definitions to put groups together. Most people can do enough of either to get through most normal dungeons etc. - pugs created in chat prove that.
There ARE people geared well enough and with enough knowledge of the game that they solo the veteran dungeons that can be soloed - some dungeons can't be soloed of course when you need two people to pull 2 switches or trigger two plates or the ones that have "capture" mechanics that need at least one other person to free the captive.
So people do indeed put together funky groups through chat to do that typically to grind one for a set.
The problem is that some people take that concept and without having either the gear or the skill try to impose those funky no healer or no tank groups on 3 random strangers using the group finder. I have very low tolerance for that type of selfishness and will either kick or leave those groups formed through the group finder when someone tries to pull that shit.
I've run in many 4 DPS vet dungeon groups but only ever when created outside of the GF. When I queue as a particular role in the GF, I make damn sure I'm ready to do that role: hold aggro and gather mobs as a tank, heal everyone as a healer or bring my "A" DPS game. It's just the considerate and sociable thing to do because I have no idea who I'm going to be grouped with and what their cap[abilities are.
I healed IPC normal just last night with my CP540 healer just because I wanted a quick no drama (or so I thought) run and was happy to get just one key from the pledge. The group finder put me together with a CP500+ tank, one CP400+ DPS and a level 10 new person. The tank immediately said he was looking for some legs or something in impenetrable and then he noticed the level 10 person and started spamming a kick vote for her which I declined every time. Obviously the level 10 person couldn't provide him with the piece of gear he wanted because it wouldn't be CP160. He finally whispered me asking why I wasn't agreeing to kick the lowbee and I answered back in group chat for him to stop it and go put together a grind group instead of using the GF if that's what he wanted... so he quit the group... and we got another tank in seconds who wasn't a selfish dickwad and finished ICP with no problems.
It's actually funny that I run into many more selfish asshats in PVE dungeon runs than I've ever run into in PVP. By a factor of at least 50:1. And PVPers are allegedly the sociopaths lol.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Its not a bad game at all, and for the single player experience it does quite well, my own preference is for more scifi based gameplay, which for me means that in terms of single player experience, that SW:TOR is far superior, but its just because i am more biased in favour of SciFi than Fantasy, that and the character classes i usually play in Elder Scrolls games can't be created in ESO, i could wish that character creation in ESO wasn't quite so limited however.
What do you mean here? Class? you can now pretty much be whatever you want to be in the ES world.. not all things work for end game pvp or pve BUT you can make whatever you want. Want a heavy armor rouge using a staff..go ahead shoot! That's the biggest selling point.
"Beliefs don't change facts. Facts, if you're reasonable, should change your beliefs."
"The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear.
There is no best current MMO as there is no universal "best" that all players can agree on.
Until we achieve a singular Borg-hive mind - best MMO, best movie, best song etc... will not exist
Perhaps you're assuming that the Borg are the end-all end-all in determining such things. Though, let's be frank, they still have a long ways to go to assimilate the entire universe. Until that time, we just won't know.
Plus, don't the Borg only assimilate technology and what they deem is useful(upgrade) for the hive? I can't imagine leisure or artistic material as useful to the Borg. Maybe it was when the splinter groups of Borg escaped from the collective, but then, they no longer belonged to the collective/hive mind, and thus would automatically be disqualified from your position.
I can see it clearly: The Bloomsbury Borg group. Yes, this is one for the initiated
/Cheers, Lahnmir
'the only way he could nail it any better is if he used a cross.'
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
There is no best current MMO as there is no universal "best" that all players can agree on.
Until we achieve a singular Borg-hive mind - best MMO, best movie, best song etc... will not exist
Perhaps you're assuming that the Borg are the end-all end-all in determining such things. Though, let's be frank, they still have a long ways to go to assimilate the entire universe. Until that time, we just won't know.
Plus, don't the Borg only assimilate technology and what they deem is useful(upgrade) for the hive? I can't imagine leisure or artistic material as useful to the Borg. Maybe it was when the splinter groups of Borg escaped from the collective, but then, they no longer belonged to the collective/hive mind, and thus would automatically be disqualified from your position.
Actually the borg "as written" are supposed to assimilate everyone and everything - not just advanced civilizations.
It's not always shown like that on screen - but the Borg concept is - complete assimilation of everything.
As far as Borg collective having a preference for "art" - that's debatable.
Actually, I seem to remember simply too many references to the Borg in both STNG and STVOY that portrayed the Borg only interested in assimilating useful technology, all else was basically destroyed or ignored (as not a threat). So, I think there were definitely some cultures in the Universe that simply weren't assimilated as it was totally a waste of Borg time and resources to do such. Non-warp-capable civilations among them.
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"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Elder Scrolls games have always felt like MMO's without other players..even back in the days of Arena.
This doesn't touch on the fact that the large majority of content designed for groups of players doesn't present itself until the players has spent hours learning how to play his character solo and building his character explicitly for that purpose. Then, all of a sudden his build lacks utility or interactivity with other players classes/builds that are useful at endgame because, quite frankly, up until endgame, it was faster and easier to level solo and the player was never even asked by the game to participate in combat with other players, let alone encouraged.
THAT'S an issue in a genre whose only real niche is the ability for large amounts of players to cooperate, compete, and otherwise interact on a larger scale than any other genre... Developers deliberately avoiding utilizing the genre's strengths to fish for players by using mechanics from other genres. We all know good and well MMORPGs will never reach the complexity or quality of smaller multiplayer titles or single player games in these areas, but developers still bash their heads against the wall cause "hardy fucking har, we got action combat that blew your mind 7 years ago when a singleplayer/small multiplayer title did it!!!!1!!1!1!oneoneone".
Quit trying to be an orange, apple. That's stupid, and many folks enjoy apples more than oranges, or even both... But an apple mutated with an orange's skin... GTFO with that bait and switch.
Another analogy for MMORPG devs: for God's sake, QUIT trying to out strike a boxer. Wrestle his ass to the ground, play to YOUR strengths. YOU WILL NEVER beat him at his own game. Mmorpg combat/individual questing will NEVER compete with singleplayer or small group multiplayer games. Give that shit up already and focus on what makes the genre unique.
Or, even more apropos, bring a fucking raid to the boxing ring and show him how much more fun and effective things are when you have others around you, likeminded and working towards a shared goal.
None better than Rift still to this day that starts you off with a Rift in the tutorial for drop-in grouping and then keeps that up in every zone with rift invasions that can't be ignored. It was a good beginning and EQN talked that talk before it was cancelled. It sounded like they wanted to take it to the next level with roaming mob packs and co-op player settlement building.
Who knows, maybe Amazon's New World will go there. Someone needs to because, as you say, that IS the strength of MMORPGs and it's mostly neglected in favor of "you as the hero" single player stories shoehorned into these worlds.
It's also why I do a lot of ESO PVP. Because there at least it is all about the grouping and co-op effort.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
I like that you used the term organic, because that's exactly what the genre needs. A game that organically brings folks together. And I think that could go well beyond combat activities.
What it doesn't need, is to continue using these queues that make you feel like you're waiting in line at a literal themepark. Do these things organically. Queues and group/raid finders weren't an amazing epiphany from a developer that changed everything, they were an examle of developers throwing their hands up in surrender and saying "I don't know a better way to bring players together than using the same system console game developers have been using for their matchmaking since the turn of the century."
I haven't even attempted PvP yet, but that's on the "to do" list.
I can be as social, or anti-social, as I want...and almost entirely on my own terms.
For me, ESO has struck a great balance between the two. I really enjoy my time in this game.
Though, let's be frank, they still have a long ways to go to assimilate the entire universe.
Until that time, we just won't know.
Plus, don't the Borg only assimilate technology and what they deem is useful(upgrade) for the hive?
I can't imagine leisure or artistic material as useful to the Borg.
Maybe it was when the splinter groups of Borg escaped from the collective, but then, they no longer belonged to the collective/hive mind, and thus would automatically be disqualified from your position.
The game is too geared towards quest grinding solo up to high levels of CP. You do your faction's quests... Then another faction's... Then ANOTHER faction's. It's kind of ridiculous.
I don't see a option in playing a solo MMORPG when you can play AAA-quality RPGs, already, or an ARPG like Diablo III or PoE (both of which feel more MMORPG than ESO, these days, especially if you play ESO on a console).
I'm disappointed in this game, and the developers willingness to bend over and give up instead of do something to make group play and communication a bit more common place across all facets of the game.
There is a big difference between "soloing in an MMORPG," which everyone does to some extent (crafting is often not a group adventure, for example)... and "Predominately soloing in an MMORPG." In ESO you can level cap your character without ever seeing another person, and then some. And that "some" is a lot.
It's like playing a single player RPG with mediocre graphics and story, and then buying expansions with more of the same... Just cause.
Why make excuses for that?
Also, am I the only one missing the logic here? A single player MMORPG is not an MMORPG. It's an Online RPG with a multi-player component. No one called Dragon Age Inquisition an MMORPG. What you're basically telling people, is that ESO is something like that, but trying to keep the MMO aspect to give it more relevance (because MMO is all the rave, I heard). This makes literally no sense to me.
Outside of those few areas where you're literally forced to play with other people, the Multi-Player aspect of this game has died out just like it does in older FPS and RPG games (Dragon Age, Assassin's Creed, Killzone, etc.).
It's not cool to queue for a party in peak times and have a 2 hour queue time.
When I'm in Cyrodiil I'm grouped there all the time while socializing with friends on Teamspeak or Discord. And I run dungeons on my DPS, tank and healer. Average wait time for a tank is 5 seconds and for a healer a minute or less. DPS can take a while (although I can't remember the last time it took me more than 15 minutes to get a group) but them's the breaks when you queue as the role that 90% want to do.
What ESO does is give you a lot of choices of what to do and how to do it. It's up to you what you do with it... including the lonely solo play you describe.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
As you say though @Darksworm ESO can be played solo - a "proper" single player game as opposed to an mmo with pseudo-group stuff - pseudo because you can do it solo. Whether you like the graphics or not is another matter but are you saying it wasn't worth your purchase price?
You can however play ESO as a group game - excluding the solo instances of course. And do nothing else. Yes you have to work at it, join a guild / create a friends list or - frankly - use world chat (voice or text).
The group finder can be / is a problem - and I do question whether Z's use of dps/heal/tank definitions to put groups together. Most people can do enough of either to get through most normal dungeons etc. - pugs created in chat prove that.
It is a choice however.
So people do indeed put together funky groups through chat to do that typically to grind one for a set.
The problem is that some people take that concept and without having either the gear or the skill try to impose those funky no healer or no tank groups on 3 random strangers using the group finder. I have very low tolerance for that type of selfishness and will either kick or leave those groups formed through the group finder when someone tries to pull that shit.
I've run in many 4 DPS vet dungeon groups but only ever when created outside of the GF. When I queue as a particular role in the GF, I make damn sure I'm ready to do that role: hold aggro and gather mobs as a tank, heal everyone as a healer or bring my "A" DPS game. It's just the considerate and sociable thing to do because I have no idea who I'm going to be grouped with and what their cap[abilities are.
I healed IPC normal just last night with my CP540 healer just because I wanted a quick no drama (or so I thought) run and was happy to get just one key from the pledge. The group finder put me together with a CP500+ tank, one CP400+ DPS and a level 10 new person. The tank immediately said he was looking for some legs or something in impenetrable and then he noticed the level 10 person and started spamming a kick vote for her which I declined every time. Obviously the level 10 person couldn't provide him with the piece of gear he wanted because it wouldn't be CP160. He finally whispered me asking why I wasn't agreeing to kick the lowbee and I answered back in group chat for him to stop it and go put together a grind group instead of using the GF if that's what he wanted... so he quit the group... and we got another tank in seconds who wasn't a selfish dickwad and finished ICP with no problems.
It's actually funny that I run into many more selfish asshats in PVE dungeon runs than I've ever run into in PVP. By a factor of at least 50:1. And PVPers are allegedly the sociopaths lol.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
"The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear.
"The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear.
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer