It's much more fun and challenging to solo in a group based game, for me at least. When the odds are against you it feels that much more rewarding to accomplish such a feat as soloing your character to cap. However grouping is just as fun, so I'd ultimately pick that if I had to choose. <10 players though, more than that becomes a bother, especially if you're the leader.
DDO is good for this.
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do. Benjamin Franklin
I don't like the idea of scaling either. The fact is, the content needs to be "different". Solo players get different content all together. It would be specially tuned for players who play solo. It would have its own set of rewards that would assist a solo player. The group content would be on a much more epic scale, and the rewards would be as such. I'm sorry, but you can't have 1 person vs. a dragon.. and then 40 people vs. the same dragon. I don't care how you "scale" it. Its silly. If one person could kill the same dragon you normally need 40 people for... either Chuck Norris is in the game.. or you've got issues with the game design. Only way I see to balance solo/group content.. is to make them nearly two different "games". And again, if all your wanting to do is solo the entire game.. there are much better games for that.
Just curious, at which point in time did an RPG become 'Epic' when you had to have 40 people to take on a Dragon? I mean back in AD&D PnP days you didn't have 40 people to take on that dragon, you had maybe 5 or 6. I'm sorry, but if your saying that by having 4 tanks, 8 healers, and 28 DPS take on your dragon makes you more heroic and the fight is more 'epic' then I'm at a complete loss. What do you do when you win, jump up and down and scream 'I was one of those FOURTY people who took on that one dragon!"? Umm yeah, I'd rather hit the local pub and talk up how me and 4 of my friends went up to that dragon and kicked his ass all by ourselves. Now that's epic!
Dragons SHOULD be epic. They should never be easily killed, and yes, it should take more than 5 or 6 people to kill an elder wrym.
And the last time my D&D group got cocky and tried to jump a dragon, the fight lasted two rounds before they teleported out, and one of them had to reroll. ( It was the one in the full plate armor with the glowing sword, )
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do. Benjamin Franklin
[Solo Play] Ever shoot hoops by yourself? It's relaxing, no pressure to perform. You're able to set certain goals, achieve them, but there is no shared glory.
[Group Play] Ever play a 2vs2 pickup game? It's fast paced, both team members have intimate understanding of their partner. There's a certain rush present for a win, which is shared. Relaxing but frustrating too.
[Raid Play] Ever play a full-on basketball game (5s)? It's highly dynamic, endorphin-ridden, and the rush is compounded. Hardly relaxing.
It's a question of being your own fully functioning body [solo play];
Versus being required to be a fully functioning body with emphasis on a specific organ's function [group play];
Versus being required to be a fully functioning body with emphasis on a specific tissue's function inside of an organ [raid play].
There are too many examples to illustrate the concept. It's a question of being in full control of the abilities and responsibilities but not being able to share in both success or defeat, versus giving up control (inherent frustration involved) but being able to share in both success or defeat. It takes an emotionally more mature individual to embrace grouping (this hardly means some groupers are mature by all counts, obviously).
I think there's a time and place for both. While it's relaxing to play alone, if I accomplish anything with said task that I'm proud of, instinctively I want to share it with friends. But that conversation has two subjects: the concept, and me. It ends up sounding selfish. I prefer group play. There are more dynamics at play, and although it is many times frustrating due to other player's shortcomings (not mine! =P), it's more enjoyable for me to watch something bigger than myself grow in understanding and execution.
Edit: Sometimes I'm so absent-minded I ...
That is exactly right, and we're not saying NO to save WoW, because it is already a lost cause. We are saying NO to dissuade the next group of greedy suits who decide to emulate Blizzard and Cryptic, etc. We can prevent some of the future games from spewing this crap, but the sooner we start saying no, the better the results will be. So - Stand up, pull up your pants, and walk away. - MMO_Doubter
For straight out leveling, what I call grinding, doing quests etc, I prefer solo work. Dont have to wait on anyone, or pause cause so and so's cat is in the way or whatever.. I can go at my pace.. I can just do what I gotta do and get it done on my time. Mainly because I have a wife and family and never know when someone will interupt me and I become the guy in the group to tell everyone to hold on.
But I do like groups for the big content stuff, the raiding, the guilds, the events, and dare I say.. *gasp* the RP...
For straight out leveling, what I call grinding, doing quests etc, I prefer solo work. Dont have to wait on anyone, or pause cause so and so's cat is in the way or whatever.. I can go at my pace.. I can just do what I gotta do and get it done on my time. Mainly because I have a wife and family and never know when someone will interupt me and I become the guy in the group to tell everyone to hold on.
But I do like groups for the big content stuff, the raiding, the guilds, the events, and dare I say.. *gasp* the RP...
edit: spelling... well most of it..
you just described EXACTLY my playstyle. Except the RP. And before someone jumps on my throat, no, I'm NOT saying RP sucks or anything like that. I respect RPers, I have IRL friends that are RPers, it just isn't my thing.
Personally, I like to solo almost exclusively. This is because I rarely have time to dedicate to being in a group. Due to my schedule, I can usually only dedicate 20-30 minutes at a stretch to sitting in front of a game, then I have other things that need to be done. Soloing, this is no problem. Grouping, it is. Secondly, I've found that the overwhelming majority of groups do not have my focus in mind, they want to rush around killing things for as much XP as they can as fast as they can. I detest that kind of gameplay. Since I'm paying the monthly fee to have fun, why should I play with people I'm not having fun with?
I'm not saying other people can't do whatever they want, I just choose not to.
Kudos to the members above, they have it said well.
Everyone wants to play it the way they like. They want to solo for things they want to, and group if they got a reason to. So? The best way is to have game implement fun for both playstyle. It is best to have games that offers more to solo gamers, and other games putting more emphasis on group mechanics.
Solo v grouping is very similar to the pve v pvp argument. Everyone has their point of view personally you should be able to do both whenever you feel like it without been forced to do either. That goes for solo/grp and pve/pvp. Honestly You need both without one the other becomes boring. Id like to see mmo's do a buddy sytem where you can play with just 2-3 people and do the content, would help mmos that are not bad, just dont have big sub bases.
P.S. Is it just me or do co-op games seem more fun now than mmo's?
It depends on my mood when I'm playing. I tend to solo when I feel like soloing, and grouping when I feel like grouping. Though I have to admit that I spend most of my time actually soloing. Though I mainly solo for stuff that I know that I can do on my own. However, if there's a certain mission that I absolutely cannot do on my own, then I will group up with either PUGs or Guildies in order to finish it. Which is exactly how I like it, to be honest. I feel that it is best when a game caters to both the groupers and the soloers, so people will be able to have more choices on the play styles that they want, instead of being forced to do something that they do not want.
Comments
DDO is good for this.
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.
Benjamin Franklin
Just curious, at which point in time did an RPG become 'Epic' when you had to have 40 people to take on a Dragon? I mean back in AD&D PnP days you didn't have 40 people to take on that dragon, you had maybe 5 or 6. I'm sorry, but if your saying that by having 4 tanks, 8 healers, and 28 DPS take on your dragon makes you more heroic and the fight is more 'epic' then I'm at a complete loss. What do you do when you win, jump up and down and scream 'I was one of those FOURTY people who took on that one dragon!"? Umm yeah, I'd rather hit the local pub and talk up how me and 4 of my friends went up to that dragon and kicked his ass all by ourselves. Now that's epic!
Dragons SHOULD be epic. They should never be easily killed, and yes, it should take more than 5 or 6 people to kill an elder wrym.
And the last time my D&D group got cocky and tried to jump a dragon, the fight lasted two rounds before they teleported out, and one of them had to reroll. ( It was the one in the full plate armor with the glowing sword, )
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.
Benjamin Franklin
[Solo Play] Ever shoot hoops by yourself? It's relaxing, no pressure to perform. You're able to set certain goals, achieve them, but there is no shared glory.
[Group Play] Ever play a 2vs2 pickup game? It's fast paced, both team members have intimate understanding of their partner. There's a certain rush present for a win, which is shared. Relaxing but frustrating too.
[Raid Play] Ever play a full-on basketball game (5s)? It's highly dynamic, endorphin-ridden, and the rush is compounded. Hardly relaxing.
It's a question of being your own fully functioning body [solo play];
Versus being required to be a fully functioning body with emphasis on a specific organ's function [group play];
Versus being required to be a fully functioning body with emphasis on a specific tissue's function inside of an organ [raid play].
There are too many examples to illustrate the concept. It's a question of being in full control of the abilities and responsibilities but not being able to share in both success or defeat, versus giving up control (inherent frustration involved) but being able to share in both success or defeat. It takes an emotionally more mature individual to embrace grouping (this hardly means some groupers are mature by all counts, obviously).
I think there's a time and place for both. While it's relaxing to play alone, if I accomplish anything with said task that I'm proud of, instinctively I want to share it with friends. But that conversation has two subjects: the concept, and me. It ends up sounding selfish. I prefer group play. There are more dynamics at play, and although it is many times frustrating due to other player's shortcomings (not mine! =P), it's more enjoyable for me to watch something bigger than myself grow in understanding and execution.
Edit: Sometimes I'm so absent-minded I ...
That is exactly right, and we're not saying NO to save WoW, because it is already a lost cause. We are saying NO to dissuade the next group of greedy suits who decide to emulate Blizzard and Cryptic, etc.
We can prevent some of the future games from spewing this crap, but the sooner we start saying no, the better the results will be.
So - Stand up, pull up your pants, and walk away.
- MMO_Doubter
For straight out leveling, what I call grinding, doing quests etc, I prefer solo work. Dont have to wait on anyone, or pause cause so and so's cat is in the way or whatever.. I can go at my pace.. I can just do what I gotta do and get it done on my time. Mainly because I have a wife and family and never know when someone will interupt me and I become the guy in the group to tell everyone to hold on.
But I do like groups for the big content stuff, the raiding, the guilds, the events, and dare I say.. *gasp* the RP...
edit: spelling... well most of it..
you just described EXACTLY my playstyle. Except the RP. And before someone jumps on my throat, no, I'm NOT saying RP sucks or anything like that. I respect RPers, I have IRL friends that are RPers, it just isn't my thing.
Personally, I like to solo almost exclusively. This is because I rarely have time to dedicate to being in a group. Due to my schedule, I can usually only dedicate 20-30 minutes at a stretch to sitting in front of a game, then I have other things that need to be done. Soloing, this is no problem. Grouping, it is. Secondly, I've found that the overwhelming majority of groups do not have my focus in mind, they want to rush around killing things for as much XP as they can as fast as they can. I detest that kind of gameplay. Since I'm paying the monthly fee to have fun, why should I play with people I'm not having fun with?
I'm not saying other people can't do whatever they want, I just choose not to.
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
Kudos to the members above, they have it said well.
Everyone wants to play it the way they like. They want to solo for things they want to, and group if they got a reason to. So? The best way is to have game implement fun for both playstyle. It is best to have games that offers more to solo gamers, and other games putting more emphasis on group mechanics.
Win win for all.
Solo v grouping is very similar to the pve v pvp argument. Everyone has their point of view personally you should be able to do both whenever you feel like it without been forced to do either. That goes for solo/grp and pve/pvp. Honestly You need both without one the other becomes boring. Id like to see mmo's do a buddy sytem where you can play with just 2-3 people and do the content, would help mmos that are not bad, just dont have big sub bases.
P.S. Is it just me or do co-op games seem more fun now than mmo's?
I prefer soloing.
Make us care MORE about our faction & world pvp!
It depends on my mood when I'm playing. I tend to solo when I feel like soloing, and grouping when I feel like grouping. Though I have to admit that I spend most of my time actually soloing. Though I mainly solo for stuff that I know that I can do on my own. However, if there's a certain mission that I absolutely cannot do on my own, then I will group up with either PUGs or Guildies in order to finish it. Which is exactly how I like it, to be honest. I feel that it is best when a game caters to both the groupers and the soloers, so people will be able to have more choices on the play styles that they want, instead of being forced to do something that they do not want.
Main characters:
Jinn Gone Quiet (Guild Wars)
Princess Pudding (Guild Wars)