Grouping vs Solo in DDO

joejccva71

We all know we love to solo. Some people also love to group, but there is that fine line where when we start new characters in a game we actually just want to solo for the first few levels just to get the "feel" of the game. To get the feel of the UI, the skills, spells, characters, etc etc. In DDO, Soloing is just not going to happen.

Turbine forces you to group in this game unfortunately. Now some people love it, some hate it but why not give us a choice in the matter? I am a veteran MMORPG gamer and have been playing online games since the UO days. I have played the PnP of D&D for years although I haven't played in quite some time, I still understand and remember alot about it. I understand that in the true PnP D&D world soloing was just not there. Regardless if it "could" happen, you always had a party of different races/classes and you had a DM guide you along your adventure whether it be a dungeon or some snowy mountainous region.

The good news about DDO is that even though they practically require you to group to even advance through your quests, grouping is actually quite fun with the right people. Getting a group of 4 to go on one of the quests has it's advantages. The quests are very well done and while on these quests, you actually do "feel" like you are in a D&D world from the PnP days. I get those feelings every quest I take and with a decent group it can be quite fun. Sure there are alot of bugs and there are many aspects of the game that really need to be worked on, it still can be fun regardless of the "instanced quests".

I just wish that we had that ability to solo. Some players don't have alot of time to play games these days and I myself only can log on to games about 20 hours a week at the most. Sometimes it's just nice to be able to login and play by yourself once in a while rather than trying to /tell people if they want to join a group to do some quests.

I've posted here before saying DDO sucks, but ever since I DID start grouping with folks it has become alot more fun so yes....I retract my previous post saying DDO sucks. It needs alot of work still but it has some nice potential.

We'll see how things go.

Thanks.
Joe

Minsc

They have already said they will include some solo content in the form of either stand-alone quests or the Danger Zones, where you don't have to be in a party to go into one, but there will be active quests to complete within them.

Also they have said that quests will take at most 3 or 4 hours to complete with most much shorter than that, so if you play 20 hours a week you should have no problem getting in some good play time.

Using instances for dungeons is the entire reason the dungeons work the way they do, if they had one persistant world with everyone in it all we would get is another bunch of zones that have filler mobs that have no purpose. Every zone in DDO wil have a purpose or a goal for you to complete, so everything you do will help you advance your character.

Anofalye

Been a second class hero won't make soloers happy.

 

Solo deserves more than been the last option before logging off.  Me I would group rather than solo, but that is MY choice.  Why would someone solo rather than group in this game?  There should be a in-game reason.  Otherwise, it is pointless and they should not even bother to implement it as it will lead to angriness from the soloers.  This reason must be wise however, nobody who prefer a group should go soloing rather than group (unless they max everything they can in grouping and are bored and considering to max other stuff). 

But that would be another topic in itself and not betraying D&D while figuring all those goals would take a LOT of work.  Trust me, their design team would not even start to consider to maybe think about raiding if they would design a great solo and a great grouping system, it means a LOT of work and it is merely covering the 2 basics needs of the players (PvP would be the 3rd basic needs at best, after PvE solo and PvE grouping and raiding would be deep somewhere after tradeskills).

Findariel

Well it's not said that there will be no possibilty to solo, but why should you want that?

The quest rewards and xp will be the same for groups or solo players, so it must be the challenge that makes you want to solo, not any "farming" or "powerlevelling" reasons. Unless there will be a fixed player minimum for the dungeons (ther will be level restrictions, both min and max), I guess going in alone will be possible. It will take a lot more time to complete the quests, though.

Anofalye

Reasons to solo in a MMO:

- To achieve something in an enviromnet where you can change mind at group at any moment.

- To compare and compete with other soloers (not with groupers or raiders).

- Because you can't commit to a group or doesn't want to deal with others ATM but might want later or another day.

 

And the list barely starts.  Challenge is on this list with the compete/compare section possibly, but it is not on the TOP of everyone list.

 

When you goes in real time, I don't want my reflexes to be challenge at every moment, I would not play such a game.  D&D is about brain challenging (no matter how limited) when it come down to challenge, the troll is an exemple of that type of challenge, if anything real time deter from this type of challenge.

 

DDO is not really solo understanding...ideally solo and grouping would be 2 differents systems as far uberness wise is concerned, so folks who want to perform in either place need to do this aspect of the game and face it logic.  A MMO who understand the rightful place of solo would rake the market.  The best soloer on the server deserve to be someone who earns everything soloing.  The best grouper on the server deserve to be someone who earn everything grouping.  If someone disagree he is either a mistaken(false) raider, someone who doesn't understand or lazy...yet the lazy folks should realise that having only 1 system doesn't means less work for the player (devs are paid and should welcome more work, at least officially).

Rinna

In my personal opinion, if you primarily solo in games, you may want to continue your search for the perfect mmorpg.  You don't play pen and paper D&D solo, and you most likely won't be playing much of D&D Online solo, or getting very far or much enjoyment out of it.

I think that the way turbine plans to do the "join a group or looking for group" in this mmorpg will make it very easy to find good solid groups to play with.  And because there's much more instanced group material it shouldn't be hard for anyone to find a group and still enjoy the game.  I think the taverns are going to be similar to Star Wars Galaxies cantinas (back in the day before the empty silence became deafening lol) where players congregate to find groups and team up to conquer the next quest, heal up or socialize.

I think this thread should be re-titled "grouping in DDO" because I don't believe there's going to be a whole lot of solo content.  Sticking to code and original D&D, this is the correct path to take with this game.  People are worried there will be nubs in groups and that's why they hate being "made to group" but usually the best pen and paper D&D games had at least one nub lol one "leeroy jenkins" that would make everyone else at the table bang their head against the wall.  IMHO it fits perfect.

Rattrap

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Originally posted by joejccva
grouping is actually quite fun with the right people.

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I have to repeat something that has been said many times before.

Grouping with right people is fun.

Only problem is that 90% of the times you will not be grouping with right people. I played many MMORPG's and i can tell you that the day I find good group is a good day for me. And good days are far and between...

Better prepare yourself for 90% of not right people. And enjoyment of going trough the dungeon with people that do not speak , except to say "GOGOGOGO!" , "STFU noob!". People that think roleplay is some gay slang word. People that will quit the dungeon in the middle because their mom just walked into the room. People that will trigger every possible damn trap in the dungeon and generally run around like beserk speed addict in amok rage.

In one word people that would make you wish you could SOLO this dungeon.

This is the normal day in MMORPG and normal random group.

And by the way soloing in PnP is not only possible but it happens often. Although DM's try to avoid it because the rest of the group will eat all the cheetos and drink all the mountain dew if left alone for long !! Yay!

jmd10222

some solo would be nice, but grouping is the foundation of D&D so more content for it should be in than not.

druh68

It seems this topic keeps coming up (Solo vs Group). It also seems that half of the players want it their way (No grouping required - OR - Grouping required). Wouldn't it make sense for a MMORPG to cover both play styles and try to make all the players happy? Why is it so hard to understand? The first MMO to find a  comfortable mix will rule!

fiontar

The whole debate over solo play in MMORPGs has been beaten to death. The clear facts are that if a MMORPG isn't solo friendly it's not going to have a chance in the market, plain and simple. It doesn't matter what the arguements are for grouping, against soloing and vice versa, it's something a MMO needs to be able to offer.

What irks me all the more about the total lack of soloability here is the fact that the game IS all instanced, which would make it extremely easy to adjust instanced content for solo or duo players, but they either can't or won't do so!

I think City of Heroes is a game that got the whole instancing group/solo thing right. No matter what else you think of the game (I only lasted three months there myself) it was a game that was solo friendly, while still making you want to group when possible. I'm one of those MMO players who prefers to solo about 70% of the time, while spending my group time with in game friends I actually enjoy grouping with. With CoH, I enjoyed the solo part, but found myself wanting to group more than in other games, to the point that I persued Pick up Groups with often bearable results.

What's my point? If a MMO want's to be heavily group centric, it needs to do so by making it fun/ adventageous to group, with out killing the ability to have productive fun while soloing. Make me want to group, but don't make me have to group.

DDO has a lot of other serious flaws and is missing probably 3/4 or more of the features one would expect from a current or next generation MMORPG. In spite of all that, lack of soloability is the most glaring show stopper. That it could be so easily addressed but isn't is the ultimate in frustration.

Ceylous

hey anafalye and Han... I mean Joe Solo (the original poster)... If u want to solo in a game than just play FFXI and pick a beastmaster that would be perfect for u. AN MSPOG.... Massively Single Player Online Game???? WTF..... compete with other soloers.. that has to be the DUMBEST reason why to solo in an mmorpg EVER. Soloing is reserved for an MMO specifially when the devs have NERFED your character class or for MMO's that have died and that the player still wants to play with no one on ala. late night.

Stark

Everyone likes to solo some of the time and some all of the time so Ceylous your quick summary lacks any substance or meaning. If a game you pay to play forces grouping or for that matter anything else Linear it becomes a bore fest at best but will probably end up a frustrating angry experience for most. DDO is not D&D PnP so lets remove ourselves from that comparison. It says it will be similar to draw you in but it lacks the freedom the PnP game has or can have with all Instance areas and Forced grouping. I just hope they don't screw it up and fail in the end. DDO will need solo content equal to or close to the group content or it will not make money after the hype of release happens.  

Anofalye

Ceylous,

 

I rather solo than group you, anyday.

 

A dev who tries to enforce grouping between you and me is only going to lose players.  There is no way I will bear persons who insults others.

 

Solo is the second most important aspect for me when I consider a MMO, the first is grouping.  Raiding is on the negative side, if raiders are reward above non-raiders I dismiss the game althogether as trash.  PnP was solo friendly so whoever say otherwise has himself never play PnP seriously to think otherwise (it was group centered, but a bright and lucky soloer was more successful than any grouper can ever think of been, so the reward was awesome for the soloers, soloers don't ask for that much reward, they just want to rule soloing, which is a pretty logical request).

calibek

Personally just to state my opinion...i love the game. At first, I though it was going to be horrible due to the all instance move, but in reality it is great. I LOVE the quests because they require you to use your brain and solve puzzles not just bash, bash, bash monsters to complete.

I play a rouge in the stress and it is great because a lot of people need rouges if they want to find all the treasure or certain optional quests need completed while completing the main quest. The trap disarming and lockpicking makes me actually feel like a rouge and I ENJOY IT!!!

My one biggest gripe though is this topic...soloing. Due to RL issues and time contraints I can't commit all my free time to playing in a group everytime I'm on. Not to mention the whole looking for a group then if people drop finding replacements...it does get tiresome at times. I personally would settle for certain restrictions for soloing. If they would make the treasure less, or give a lot less XP for each quest completed solo as opposed to group then I would be fine with that simply because I know I can log on for 45 min or so and complete a quest. It will take me longer to level but that is ok with me cause leveling isn't my main objective...having fun is and this game, in my opinion, delivers on the fun aspect. The only thing keeping me from giving it a 10/10 on the hype-meter was the soloing aspect.