The Daily Grind: Do you like having the freedom to play solo?

@Tizmah

I used to prefer games that forced grouping. But then I got tired of guild drama. I haven't joined a guild in an MMO in years now and I have so much more fun. So although I am happy to go and do content with public groups whenever I can get them, I need solo for the times I can't quickly get a group together.

@correllis

This, right here. I've yet to see an advertisement for an MMO that mentions raiding.

@correllis

This is why I feel MMO developers should start looking into Public Raids (like public quests/missions) and experiment with it.

@(Unverified)

Failed in Rift. Expert Rifts and Raid Rifts are some of the worst group content that I've ever seen in any MMO.

Just to be clear, I was happy with the box value of the game. Rift is worth picking up and trying out. It's fun for a while. End game boils down to WoW though.

@Emolition

You just described my entire experience with Final Fantasy XI. I personally highly prefer solo content, however, I would LOVE to be rewarded for grouping up. Rather than SPLITTING EXP, they should make it so people gain bonuses to the EXP they gain by being in a group. People would be grouping up like crazy, and the solo players could still solo.

That's kind of what they did in Eden Eternal. It could take a while to grind repeatable guild quests to get that last bar of EXP, but you could do it with a party, or go into instances and get tons of job points and EXP.

@ShivanSwordsman
This is how it's done in Spiral Knights (and, apparently, how it will be done in GW2): XP, money, and gear (usually tokens) are not divided. Instead, everyone gets the exact same reward he would get for defeating that enemy while playing solo.

GW2 goes a little further: whereas Spiral Knights divide crafting materials, GW2 will provide each player with his own independent copy of crafting material nodes.

So, no downsides to playing in groups, only upsides, while still allowing players to go solo if they want.

@Arkanaloth

Absolutely. I read the dev diaries, interviews, forums, and promos very carefully even for F2P MMOs before deciding to spend my time on them. If they do not offer good solo content, I take a pass. "The end game is for raiders and good gear is reserved for raiders" mentality of many games is a complete turn off. I don't want to depend on people to accomplish my goals or to have phat lewt.

But i agree with many other posters here. It is nice to group up when it's convenient, easy and fun, but not as a requirement to do content.

@Arkanaloth

I simply will not play MMOs that are not solo-friendly.

One of the reasons I loved (and still love) Guild Wars so much is that it is as close to perfect as it gets for player group size flexibility: whether you are alone, online with a friend or two, or online with a full group -- virtually all of the game is accessible.

I really wish more MMOs would offer Heroes/mercenaries/henchmen as an add-on/MT for those of us who either solo a lot or who tend to play in smaller player group (2 to 4 people).

@OutThere

Group content is more fun. I've yet to see any developer create level capped content that wasn't a boring grind.

Personally, I enjoy raiding with a group of fun and moderately competent players. I think future MMO developers should place more emphasis on trying to teach people to be better players in group circumstances rather than creating random dungeon finders and loot bags.

In many cases, the problem with endgame MMOs isn't the content itself. It's the players and generally one of two problems. People can't play well in the sandbox with others. People don't understand basic game/class mechanics without extensive internet and forum research at the level cap. One of those is a solvable problem.

Obviously, the other argument is the time component. There are many other non-MMO pick up and play alternatives out there. MMO's aren't for everyone. People told me that 7 years ago, I argued with them and in the end, they were right.

@eyeball2452

I've played quite a bit of group end game content over the years. I find it very enjoyable. I still don't want to play a game that only has group end game content.

I would go one step further with your thought. When you solo play to level cap, you use one set of skills and tools. Suddenly, you are in a group and have no idea how to play your class in a group. All of a sudden those skills that were of no use to you are key. If you generally group while you level, you will have to trust me that this is a fairly common experience and accounts for a lot of people not knowing how to play their class in a group. It does not help that many groupers are impatient and demeaning of those whose game experience has been different from theirs. WoW and all its add ons has brought up a whole generation of min/maxers who really have no interest in the experience of grouping and playing in a group, they just want interchangeable rote players who are all specced the same and use the same macros. I see nothing fun or interesting or really even challenging about that. Consequently, if that is the environment for end game content, I would rather solo.

@Dril ^^what he said

@Dril

Yes, something like WoW currently. And no thanks.

@Utakata

Now there's a shock! Everyone saying they wanted a bit more grouping got downvoted.

How unpredictable!