Your title " How critical are people to your fun" for me has a massively different meaning and therefore a different answer to your poll question of "How much of your MMO fun comes from interacting with other players?"
The last game I played I focused all my energies on wealth creation through crafting and selling on the AH. People were an important aspect to my fun because it was through trading that I made my profits, however, for me it was the crafting and wealth building that was my driving force which created my fun. The people were an important aspect of the process that made it fun but not the essence of my fun.
For your poll I answered 50% based on the actual poll question. The title - "How critical are people to your fun" I would have answered 75% or more.
This is a very good point.
I don't play games to socialize. So the "community" matters very little to me. However, i do like playing the AH. And also i like some pvp games. So i can't enjoy without other players to trade with (even anonymously) or pvp with.
But you seem to enjoy posting and interacting with us on here. So for all you loner dudes, give grouping and interaction a try in your MMO. It is not like it will kill you...Ok your avatar may get killed, but it is still the best part of the game.
Please don't be so fast to pigeon hole someone, especially when you aren't familiar with them on a personal level. Games are there for all to enjoy, however they choose to enjoy them. Because they decide on a different approach to suit their game play style does not make them bad or wrong.
Do you know if he/she has given grouping a go? Do you know if they suffer from some personal issues that make it difficult to socialise etc? Maybe they have discovered an outlet through gaming that provides them with happiness. Who are we to judge?
For the most part I'm a social player who loves interacting with people and being an active member within guilds and communities. Just because I decided to change my play style for my last game when I found something that I enjoyed and was good at does not make me a loner. Everyone has their own idea of what their best part of the game is as you just shared with us.
Originally posted by Scot So for all you loner dudes, give grouping and interaction a try in your MMO. It is not like it will kill you...Ok your avatar may get killed, but it is still the best part of the game.
Scot, is there a single thread anywhere on these boards where the majority of solo players said they didn't group occasionally with others?
It's really weird that you can participate in so many discussions on this very topic and still not have any understanding of the concerns, views, or playstyle of the solo player.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Originally posted by Scot So for all you loner dudes, give grouping and interaction a try in your MMO. It is not like it will kill you...Ok your avatar may get killed, but it is still the best part of the game.
Scot, is there a single thread anywhere on these boards where the majority of solo players said they didn't group occasionally with others?
It's really weird that you can participate in so many discussions on this very topic and still not have any understanding of the concerns, views, or playstyle of the solo player.
I almost never group. I can be the target of the comment. That said, trying to push, pull or bribe me into grouping is just going to make me more stubbornly resist. It's just my nature.
Originally posted by Scot So for all you loner dudes, give grouping and interaction a try in your MMO. It is not like it will kill you...Ok your avatar may get killed, but it is still the best part of the game.
Scot, is there a single thread anywhere on these boards where the majority of solo players said they didn't group occasionally with others?
It's really weird that you can participate in so many discussions on this very topic and still not have any understanding of the concerns, views, or playstyle of the solo player.
I almost never group. I can be the target of the comment. That said, trying to push, pull or bribe me into grouping is just going to make me more stubbornly resist. It's just my nature.
I almost never group too, but it's not that I won't, from time to time, and that every single time I do, without exception, it reminds me why I almost never group.
Even if I put a smiley I am still taken totally seriously, I recon you solo guys just have no sense of humour. I can't be sure it is because you are solo gamers though, as even posting on here as long as we have I don't understand you (?!). What are you guys supposed to be aliens from Mars? I do play solo myself (shock horror revelation!!), in todays MMO's it is nigh on impossible not to.
Sure grouping can be a pain, but live by Bills motto "Don't let a bad Pug get you down."
Depends. If it's open PVP the less people I see the happier I am. I don't like being bothered while questing and I have EVE level paranoia. It's hard to play fun that way.
For a PvE perspective I love it when things are completely overrun with players (assuming I don't have to compete for mobs).
That's the dominant side effect I see in FFA PvP worlds. While the games and their communities try and sell them as social, the opposite happens. People for the most part avoid each other like a disease.
For me, people in an MMO are key to the whole experience. It's when the mechanics force it to be invasive things start to go sideways. Either through forced LFG or forced PvP or forced anything. Just seeing other people doing stuff, being a face in the crowd, that's as far as I need it to go.
Now that I think about it, it's more critical to me that a title offers as much content to play with others as I can play by myself. There are games that do this like EQ2, Aion and Vanguard (by offering a lot of group content in the open world) but by in large the content outside of dungeons is for individuals. Yes, you can play them with others but it's more of a hindrance because it's designed to be soloable.
It's not a surprise that this topic is a relevent question, because it is. My question is in the realm of MMOs should it be.
I want there to be people "around" to give the world vitality but I don't have to interact with them on a regular basis. I do enjoy interacting with the few friends I have who play online games.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
I have people I can social with irl but if I broach a subject they don't like or bores them I can get in a lot of uncomfortable trouble; anywhere from them following me around with their blab blab blab trying to convince me to think like they do to the old fingers in the ears, "I can't hear you," if I have something to say. Yeah, I can talk to them about what they want but it's stressful stopping myself at the last second before I hit one of those unapproachable subjects.
It pisses me off that it is always what they want and never what I want to talk about. So I've stopped talking. Still, my stupid little internal social bar wants filled every day. MMO's provide a platform for social potential. I get to talk about what I want. Which is usually the dynamics of a surreal world, art, and creationism.
But I'm including forums in as part of game play. And the games forums ARE part of the game. In game itself I think I like to role play my characters. Forgotten Realmsish games seem to draw in more role players so I'm in Neverwinter now. It's nice to get around people who are just happy to get in a group and kill a lich.
The bitching on the forums about how the game isn't perfect is starting to get on my nerves. I'm a hypacrite to point it out but I like to imagine my bitching as constructive criticism. Hee hee.
Your title " How critical are people to your fun" for me has a massively different meaning and therefore a different answer to your poll question of "How much of your MMO fun comes from interacting with other players?"
The last game I played I focused all my energies on wealth creation through crafting and selling on the AH. People were an important aspect to my fun because it was through trading that I made my profits, however, for me it was the crafting and wealth building that was my driving force which created my fun. The people were an important aspect of the process that made it fun but not the essence of my fun.
For your poll I answered 50% based on the actual poll question. The title - "How critical are people to your fun" I would have answered 75% or more.
This is a very good point.
I don't play games to socialize. So the "community" matters very little to me. However, i do like playing the AH. And also i like some pvp games. So i can't enjoy without other players to trade with (even anonymously) or pvp with.
But you seem to enjoy posting and interacting with us on here. So for all you loner dudes, give grouping and interaction a try in your MMO. It is not like it will kill you...Ok your avatar may get killed, but it is still the best part of the game.
It is not like i haven't group from time to time. In fact, i said many times that i played WOW for so long, because of LFR.
But note that posting in forums is quite different. The key is convenience. Posting is asynchronous .. i don't have to wait for anyone. I can ignore anyone who i do not like.
To some extent i can also do that in a game, but less well, with more work.
1. It's very important to me to play MMORPGs in enviroment consisted majorly of people with similar attitude. I have chosen which MMORPG and specific server based on this. Which does not mean I used to group all the time, actually I did solo alot.
2. People can be important as well (albeit less than in MMORPGs) in some multiplayer games on player-run servers - like some of better FPS shooters or games like DayZ. Fortunatelly players and admin of those themself usually can police themself good enough- well some can't but that's just a matter of finding good server to hang-out on.
3. In other type of multiplayer games like lobby games with matchmaking systems - people does not matter that much - just give me tools to report cheaters and complete asses - and actually ban / get rid of them. Aside of that they don't matter in those types of games.
I guess about half. A little less than half actually but the poll didn't exactly provide that option (heh.)
I think I would enjoy it a lot more if more games provided a large variety of dungeons and high-caliber group gameplay. In a recent "what MMORPG would you make?" thread I mentioned my ideal MMORPG would probably cut out almost everything else except a short singleplayer tutorial, and focus overwhelmingly on group gameplay and running various dungeons. That focus would allow the game a reasonable chance at surpassing WOW's group gameplay (something MMORPGs have thus far failed to do imo.)
Point being: in a game where group gameplay was the focus, and extremely fun, other people would be absolutely critical to my fun. Whereas in modern MMORPGs they're often not critical to my fun, even though they're usually additive.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Point being: in a game where group gameplay was the focus, and extremely fun, other people would be absolutely critical to my fun. Whereas in modern MMORPGs they're often not critical to my fun, even though they're usually additive.
Which is great if you can find some worthwhile people to play with, which I simply cannot do often enough to make it worthwhile. The majority of people playing MMOs are people I'd rather slit my own wrists than spend time with.
That has to change in order for group-based MMOs to be worthwhile again.
The attitude of players absolutely would change if there weren't any matchmaking systems and the title was group focused. There would be a bigger sense of putting one's self out there and be more opt to behave. The ability to press a button and be placed with others sans screening can lead to disastrous concequences
Also, in most cases your "name" would carry more weight in the game when it came to getting groups. Yes, there would still be jerks that dispite thier bad attitude were really good players but that would be worst case scenerio. Now you have to deal with bad attitude AND lousy play at times.
I do like the fact I can quest, be in queue for PvP and be in queue for dungeons but I would happily trade group focused gameplay with required social interaction. More bang for the buck IMO.
I can play a game for a month solo, but after that if the game is the typical 90% solo content I am looking for another game. once the new car smell wears off the only thing that keeps me interested is the people, or more specifically the group content. and by group content I don't mean log in, zerg some bosses with complete strangers and log out. games really need to go back to more challenging content across the board.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity. I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
The quality of the game's community makes a huge difference to my longevity in a game. It's a night and day difference to me.
Anarchy Online, while much maligned, had a fantastic community that was vocal, helpful, and mostly positive. The bulk of the games in that generation boasted similar, more tight knit server communities due to the large amount of grouping requirements in my opinion.
The folks who played seemed to really want to be there which is a huge difference from what we see with games now.
Nothing irritates me more than to hear someone run down the game in-game. It's an act of negativity that's infectious and either incites similar complaints, arguments, or kills conversation in the channel altogether.
The advent of solo leveling, lfg tools, and etc have made the whole aspect of communication for and in groups all but nonexistent and has killed most of the connections I would tend to make with other players in the older games.
Those connections are a part of the drama that is the living story part to me.
I'm personally never excited at the prospect of farming, but helped a friend farm the claw camp in AO for GA MK2 for 6 hours as we heard it had dropped there recently (it didn't drop that day, but NS did and I was an NT that needed it , so it worked out. ).
Alliance killed a guildie in the Barrens? How many did you see? I'm OMW.
Those are the things that make you want to keep logging in even during that lull between content patches.
It's when the mechanics force it to be invasive things start to go sideways. Either through forced LFG or forced PvP or forced anything. Just seeing other people doing stuff, being a face in the crowd, that's as far as I need it to go.
I'm at the other end where I feel I'm being forced to solo. I want to be out there interacting with the other players, running dungeons, bashing mobs, combining abilities, but the recent batch of MMO's don't let me. From quest chains to weak mobs, to fast self healing and solo instances, it's all forcing me to solo. I can group, as I'm sure someone will come in and start shouting, but when the game is literally telling me, "You can do this on your own, no problem!", I feel no need to, as do the other players around me.
Quest chains mean people have to be on the same part of the chain, weak mobs that can be killed in their dozens mean I don't need help with battles, fast self healing means I can just sit back for 20 seconds if something went bad and be full health again, and solo instances just completely shuts out the other players.
I'm 100% on how critical other people are to MMO's. Why even bother playing an MMO if they're not? I can play a single player game that shows much more impact on my gaming - I can shape the world, have things change based on my actions - in an MMO if I kill 'Mob X' he'll be back again in a few minutes, if I save the farmers sheep they'll be lost in the fields again in five minutes, nothing changes in an MMO world. It's the people that make the game the fun it is, no doubt about it.
I'm at the other end where I feel I'm being forced to solo. I want to be out there interacting with the other players, running dungeons, bashing mobs, combining abilities, but the recent batch of MMO's don't let me. From quest chains to weak mobs, to fast self healing and solo instances, it's all forcing me to solo. I can group, as I'm sure someone will come in and start shouting, but when the game is literally telling me, "You can do this on your own, no problem!", I feel no need to, as do the other players around me.
Quest chains mean people have to be on the same part of the chain, weak mobs that can be killed in their dozens mean I don't need help with battles, fast self healing means I can just sit back for 20 seconds if something went bad and be full health again, and solo instances just completely shuts out the other players.
I'm 100% on how critical other people are to MMO's. Why even bother playing an MMO if they're not? I can play a single player game that shows much more impact on my gaming - I can shape the world, have things change based on my actions - in an MMO if I kill 'Mob X' he'll be back again in a few minutes, if I save the farmers sheep they'll be lost in the fields again in five minutes, nothing changes in an MMO world. It's the people that make the game the fun it is, no doubt about it.
But why would you complain about feeling obligated to solo solo content?
Why wouldn't you choose the game's group content, if group content is what you want?
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
I chose 75% or more. But that is about 60% for my friends that I play with. We usually jump from MMO to MMO together.I rarely join PUGs anymore. The other 15% for ppl to make cities and trade feel alive and pvp (if I participate in that for that MMO). In some MMO's the strangers are more important for me, like with dynamic events in GW2.
Because I play slowly and take my time to "stop and sniff the daisies", it is very rare for me to find other players to play with. Hence the presence of other players in the world immediately around me is largely irrelevant to me.
In most modern themepark MMO's, other players are mostly "optional", because you can solo 75% of the game content anyway. And soloing just means it will take 3 days to reach level-cap, instead of 2...
In fact, other players can even detract from my enjoyment of the game if they decide to start bunny-hopping around the village market or some such idiotic behaviour.
That is exactly my problem. I play the way I want to play and if other people don't want to play that way, I don't adapt to them, I simply ignore them. Most of them are real assholes anyhow so I don't miss them a bit.
Well I already know based on your previous posts that you dislike grouping, Cephus404. I think your attitude of play how I want to play and don't adapt is a self fufilling prophecy about why you dislike grouping. That is your choice however.
Grouping and player interaction is what makes an MMO an MMO for me. Otherwise I could easily play a single player game with bots and scripted teammates and perform. There is something to be said for teamwork and coordination to overcome an objective and that is tons of fun for me. I also prefer other people to grind with because it makes the game far more interesting to me. I miss leveling in old EQ and FF11 where grouping was way more efficient than soloing and thus people actively sought groups for their every day play experience.
Nowdays I see more people avoiding each other. Heavily scripted quest content makes grouping up for tasks awkward and inefficient. Even dungeons and raids are being given "solo options" where you get queued in to go with a group but no one talks, and the instance is nerfed so interaction is needed much less than before.
Game developers have lessened the need for finding and adapting ones own play to the play of others and in doing so they have lessened the social bonds that tie people to the game. And then those same game devs wonder why the player base leaves and goes to another game and they have to go FTP to get people back in....
Other people are what makes an MMO an MMO and they are CRITICAL to the long term fun of an MMO.
People mean little to me in MMOs. I will play one if I think its fun, and will run groups with random people, making friends every so often, or just helping others when the need arises.
My friends and I don't always agree on what we should play, every now and then we'll get into something, but everyone is segregated on their own little platforms. It will likely change with the new set of consoles but right now, I play whatever I want, whether there are people to play with or not.. and when I stop enjoying myself, I stop playing.
Comments
Please don't be so fast to pigeon hole someone, especially when you aren't familiar with them on a personal level. Games are there for all to enjoy, however they choose to enjoy them. Because they decide on a different approach to suit their game play style does not make them bad or wrong.
Do you know if he/she has given grouping a go? Do you know if they suffer from some personal issues that make it difficult to socialise etc? Maybe they have discovered an outlet through gaming that provides them with happiness. Who are we to judge?
For the most part I'm a social player who loves interacting with people and being an active member within guilds and communities. Just because I decided to change my play style for my last game when I found something that I enjoyed and was good at does not make me a loner. Everyone has their own idea of what their best part of the game is as you just shared with us.
Scot, is there a single thread anywhere on these boards where the majority of solo players said they didn't group occasionally with others?
It's really weird that you can participate in so many discussions on this very topic and still not have any understanding of the concerns, views, or playstyle of the solo player.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I almost never group. I can be the target of the comment. That said, trying to push, pull or bribe me into grouping is just going to make me more stubbornly resist. It's just my nature.
I almost never group too, but it's not that I won't, from time to time, and that every single time I do, without exception, it reminds me why I almost never group.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
Even if I put a smiley I am still taken totally seriously, I recon you solo guys just have no sense of humour. I can't be sure it is because you are solo gamers though, as even posting on here as long as we have I don't understand you (?!). What are you guys supposed to be aliens from Mars? I do play solo myself (shock horror revelation!!), in todays MMO's it is nigh on impossible not to.
Sure grouping can be a pain, but live by Bills motto "Don't let a bad Pug get you down."
That's the dominant side effect I see in FFA PvP worlds. While the games and their communities try and sell them as social, the opposite happens. People for the most part avoid each other like a disease.
For me, people in an MMO are key to the whole experience. It's when the mechanics force it to be invasive things start to go sideways. Either through forced LFG or forced PvP or forced anything. Just seeing other people doing stuff, being a face in the crowd, that's as far as I need it to go.
It's not a surprise that this topic is a relevent question, because it is. My question is in the realm of MMOs should it be.
Any people? - Marginally
Friends? - Very much
Yeah that's the same for me.
I want there to be people "around" to give the world vitality but I don't have to interact with them on a regular basis. I do enjoy interacting with the few friends I have who play online games.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
MMO's are a social safe for me.
I have people I can social with irl but if I broach a subject they don't like or bores them I can get in a lot of uncomfortable trouble; anywhere from them following me around with their blab blab blab trying to convince me to think like they do to the old fingers in the ears, "I can't hear you," if I have something to say. Yeah, I can talk to them about what they want but it's stressful stopping myself at the last second before I hit one of those unapproachable subjects.
It pisses me off that it is always what they want and never what I want to talk about. So I've stopped talking. Still, my stupid little internal social bar wants filled every day. MMO's provide a platform for social potential. I get to talk about what I want. Which is usually the dynamics of a surreal world, art, and creationism.
But I'm including forums in as part of game play. And the games forums ARE part of the game. In game itself I think I like to role play my characters. Forgotten Realmsish games seem to draw in more role players so I'm in Neverwinter now. It's nice to get around people who are just happy to get in a group and kill a lich.
The bitching on the forums about how the game isn't perfect is starting to get on my nerves. I'm a hypacrite to point it out but I like to imagine my bitching as constructive criticism. Hee hee.
It is not like i haven't group from time to time. In fact, i said many times that i played WOW for so long, because of LFR.
But note that posting in forums is quite different. The key is convenience. Posting is asynchronous .. i don't have to wait for anyone. I can ignore anyone who i do not like.
To some extent i can also do that in a game, but less well, with more work.
1. It's very important to me to play MMORPGs in enviroment consisted majorly of people with similar attitude. I have chosen which MMORPG and specific server based on this. Which does not mean I used to group all the time, actually I did solo alot.
2. People can be important as well (albeit less than in MMORPGs) in some multiplayer games on player-run servers - like some of better FPS shooters or games like DayZ. Fortunatelly players and admin of those themself usually can police themself good enough- well some can't but that's just a matter of finding good server to hang-out on.
3. In other type of multiplayer games like lobby games with matchmaking systems - people does not matter that much - just give me tools to report cheaters and complete asses - and actually ban / get rid of them. Aside of that they don't matter in those types of games.
I guess about half. A little less than half actually but the poll didn't exactly provide that option (heh.)
I think I would enjoy it a lot more if more games provided a large variety of dungeons and high-caliber group gameplay. In a recent "what MMORPG would you make?" thread I mentioned my ideal MMORPG would probably cut out almost everything else except a short singleplayer tutorial, and focus overwhelmingly on group gameplay and running various dungeons. That focus would allow the game a reasonable chance at surpassing WOW's group gameplay (something MMORPGs have thus far failed to do imo.)
Point being: in a game where group gameplay was the focus, and extremely fun, other people would be absolutely critical to my fun. Whereas in modern MMORPGs they're often not critical to my fun, even though they're usually additive.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Which is great if you can find some worthwhile people to play with, which I simply cannot do often enough to make it worthwhile. The majority of people playing MMOs are people I'd rather slit my own wrists than spend time with.
That has to change in order for group-based MMOs to be worthwhile again.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
Also, in most cases your "name" would carry more weight in the game when it came to getting groups. Yes, there would still be jerks that dispite thier bad attitude were really good players but that would be worst case scenerio. Now you have to deal with bad attitude AND lousy play at times.
I do like the fact I can quest, be in queue for PvP and be in queue for dungeons but I would happily trade group focused gameplay with required social interaction. More bang for the buck IMO.
I can play a game for a month solo, but after that if the game is the typical 90% solo content I am looking for another game. once the new car smell wears off the only thing that keeps me interested is the people, or more specifically the group content. and by group content I don't mean log in, zerg some bosses with complete strangers and log out. games really need to go back to more challenging content across the board.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity.
I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
The quality of the game's community makes a huge difference to my longevity in a game. It's a night and day difference to me.
Anarchy Online, while much maligned, had a fantastic community that was vocal, helpful, and mostly positive. The bulk of the games in that generation boasted similar, more tight knit server communities due to the large amount of grouping requirements in my opinion.
The folks who played seemed to really want to be there which is a huge difference from what we see with games now.
Nothing irritates me more than to hear someone run down the game in-game. It's an act of negativity that's infectious and either incites similar complaints, arguments, or kills conversation in the channel altogether.
The advent of solo leveling, lfg tools, and etc have made the whole aspect of communication for and in groups all but nonexistent and has killed most of the connections I would tend to make with other players in the older games.
Those connections are a part of the drama that is the living story part to me.
I'm personally never excited at the prospect of farming, but helped a friend farm the claw camp in AO for GA MK2 for 6 hours as we heard it had dropped there recently (it didn't drop that day, but NS did and I was an NT that needed it
, so it worked out. ).
Alliance killed a guildie in the Barrens? How many did you see? I'm OMW.
Those are the things that make you want to keep logging in even during that lull between content patches.
I'm at the other end where I feel I'm being forced to solo. I want to be out there interacting with the other players, running dungeons, bashing mobs, combining abilities, but the recent batch of MMO's don't let me. From quest chains to weak mobs, to fast self healing and solo instances, it's all forcing me to solo. I can group, as I'm sure someone will come in and start shouting, but when the game is literally telling me, "You can do this on your own, no problem!", I feel no need to, as do the other players around me.
Quest chains mean people have to be on the same part of the chain, weak mobs that can be killed in their dozens mean I don't need help with battles, fast self healing means I can just sit back for 20 seconds if something went bad and be full health again, and solo instances just completely shuts out the other players.
I'm 100% on how critical other people are to MMO's. Why even bother playing an MMO if they're not? I can play a single player game that shows much more impact on my gaming - I can shape the world, have things change based on my actions - in an MMO if I kill 'Mob X' he'll be back again in a few minutes, if I save the farmers sheep they'll be lost in the fields again in five minutes, nothing changes in an MMO world. It's the people that make the game the fun it is, no doubt about it.
But why would you complain about feeling obligated to solo solo content?
Why wouldn't you choose the game's group content, if group content is what you want?
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
I spend a lot of time solo in mmos but I very much rely on guild and other chat channels for a sense of community and camaraderie.
Well I already know based on your previous posts that you dislike grouping, Cephus404. I think your attitude of play how I want to play and don't adapt is a self fufilling prophecy about why you dislike grouping. That is your choice however.
Grouping and player interaction is what makes an MMO an MMO for me. Otherwise I could easily play a single player game with bots and scripted teammates and perform. There is something to be said for teamwork and coordination to overcome an objective and that is tons of fun for me. I also prefer other people to grind with because it makes the game far more interesting to me. I miss leveling in old EQ and FF11 where grouping was way more efficient than soloing and thus people actively sought groups for their every day play experience.
Nowdays I see more people avoiding each other. Heavily scripted quest content makes grouping up for tasks awkward and inefficient. Even dungeons and raids are being given "solo options" where you get queued in to go with a group but no one talks, and the instance is nerfed so interaction is needed much less than before.
Game developers have lessened the need for finding and adapting ones own play to the play of others and in doing so they have lessened the social bonds that tie people to the game. And then those same game devs wonder why the player base leaves and goes to another game and they have to go FTP to get people back in....
Other people are what makes an MMO an MMO and they are CRITICAL to the long term fun of an MMO.
People mean little to me in MMOs. I will play one if I think its fun, and will run groups with random people, making friends every so often, or just helping others when the need arises.
My friends and I don't always agree on what we should play, every now and then we'll get into something, but everyone is segregated on their own little platforms. It will likely change with the new set of consoles but right now, I play whatever I want, whether there are people to play with or not.. and when I stop enjoying myself, I stop playing.