How Often Do You Play Solo?

theoverseer

100% All The Time

Maybe a tad less than 100%. I will do PUG dungeons for endeavours/events or if I need transmutes. I can count the number of trials I've done on one hand - I only do them if asked to by a guildie, but that almost never happens anymore, possibly because I'm useless.

Cooperharley

About 75%

I used to play with groups all the time when my friends played. Many have left over the years with all the different balance changes.

The PUG experience, especially as a support player, is most often painful as it seems many players play with their eyes duck taped shut or theyll be light attacking with a bow 600 yards away from the fight in a vet DLC dungeon.

Solo it is

Parasaurolophus

25% or less

theoverseer wrote: »

Maybe a tad less than 100%. I will do PUG dungeons for endeavours/events or if I need transmutes. I can count the number of trials I've done on one hand - I only do them if asked to by a guildie, but that almost never happens anymore, possibly because I'm useless.

Why do you need transmutation crystals for solo play?

Cooperharley

About 75%

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

theoverseer wrote: »

Maybe a tad less than 100%. I will do PUG dungeons for endeavours/events or if I need transmutes. I can count the number of trials I've done on one hand - I only do them if asked to by a guildie, but that almost never happens anymore, possibly because I'm useless.

Why do you need transmutation crystals for solo play?

Reconstructing gear most likely

Parasaurolophus

25% or less

Cooperharley wrote: »

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

theoverseer wrote: »

Maybe a tad less than 100%. I will do PUG dungeons for endeavours/events or if I need transmutes. I can count the number of trials I've done on one hand - I only do them if asked to by a guildie, but that almost never happens anymore, possibly because I'm useless.

Why do you need transmutation crystals for solo play?

Reconstructing gear most likely

What's the point?

ArchMikem

100% All The Time

The only times I'm playing cooperatively with others is Dungeons. Otherwise, I'm alone, there no one here beside me.

Supreme_Atromancer

25% or less

There's a lot of different observations to be extrapolated here, and I haven't even read the comments yet. I think it highlights that the (probable) underlying point of the survey has more complex reasons.

ESO for me is pretty much 100% quality partner time, where we both get to enjoy our love of Elder Scrolls, but together.

If I were single, I'd spend a LOT of my time playing alone, though. (Note to self: take rubbish out).

I do casual trials once a week, and at times in the past spent a lot of time doing group pvp.

I used to raid and do a lot of 4-person hardmodes and trifectas a lot more- but eventually the balance between what was meta and what was fun for me to play grew far too one-sided and I had to choose.

Nihilr

100% All The Time

My husband and I play duo when I play, but he plays solo mostly. This includes pvp. If most players are TES fans and not so much MMO fans, then maybe ZoS should be making co-op (duo/4-player) OPTIONS for the 12-player trials... Hmm? Less rewards, but also less headache and faster to group.

Before people butt in:
• No, we don't want to be forced to join guilds and make weird/fake friendships for some loot...
• No, we don't want to sit in zone chat for hours waiting for nothing instead of going around doing things productively...
• And the group-finder tool isn't used hardly as much as it should be used...

ChaoticWings3

About 75%

Nihilr wrote: »

My husband and I play duo when I play, but he plays solo mostly. This includes pvp. If most players are TES fans and not so much MMO fans, then maybe ZoS should be making co-op (duo/4-player) OPTIONS for the 12-player trials... Hmm? Less rewards, but also less headache and faster to group.

Before people butt in:
• No, we don't want to be forced to join guilds and make weird/fake friendships for some loot...
• No, we don't want to sit in zone chat for hours waiting for nothing instead of going around doing things productively...
• And the group-finder tool isn't used hardly as much as it should be used...

Honestly its not a bad idea. Getting 12 player groups together tends to drag on a lot longer then you think it will if you are joining or making a random trial group in group finder. I usually have to watch some videos while waiting and become a complete expert on something I knew nothing about by the time I get a group together. Its usually why if I see a trial endeavor I will usually skip it regardless of the amount of endeavors that are given out as a reward. The difficulty of the trials usually makes it difficult to complete too. So a four player trial with maybe 1 to 3 set piece drops per player at the end maybe would probably be fair to do an easier version of the trial (still want to make the 12 man groups relevant).

daim

100% All The Time

Nihilr wrote: »

My husband and I play duo when I play, but he plays solo mostly. This includes pvp. If most players are TES fans and not so much MMO fans, then maybe ZoS should be making co-op (duo/4-player) OPTIONS for the 12-player trials... Hmm? Less rewards, but also less headache and faster to group.

Before people butt in:
• No, we don't want to be forced to join guilds and make weird/fake friendships for some loot...
• No, we don't want to sit in zone chat for hours waiting for nothing instead of going around doing things productively...
• And the group-finder tool isn't used hardly as much as it should be used...

Why only duo option and not solo as well. I get it this could cater your personal preference but as we can clearly see the majority of player base is solo so a sort of arena version of trials would make more sense.

Let the raiding people keep the perfected versions or make it a huge grind for solo but as it stands now there's only a small portion of players whom benefit from the trials - or even see them!

And maybe it would encourage the soloists to group up if they would first be able to get a feel of the area alone.

ChaoticWings3

About 75%

daim wrote: »

Nihilr wrote: »

My husband and I play duo when I play, but he plays solo mostly. This includes pvp. If most players are TES fans and not so much MMO fans, then maybe ZoS should be making co-op (duo/4-player) OPTIONS for the 12-player trials... Hmm? Less rewards, but also less headache and faster to group.

Before people butt in:
• No, we don't want to be forced to join guilds and make weird/fake friendships for some loot...
• No, we don't want to sit in zone chat for hours waiting for nothing instead of going around doing things productively...
• And the group-finder tool isn't used hardly as much as it should be used...

Why only duo option and not solo as well. I get it this could cater your personal preference but as we can clearly see the majority of player base is solo so a sort of arena version of trials would make more sense.

Let the raiding people keep the perfected versions or make it a huge grind for solo but as it stands now there's only a small portion of players whom benefit from the trials - or even see them!

And maybe it would encourage the soloists to group up if they would first be able to get a feel of the area alone.

I think either way would be good overall. Probably would prefer solo myself since I don't normally group up for story content anyway. Reward is a bit up in the air for me. I agree with the fact that perfected gear should still be given only to the vet 12 man groups. The non perfected gear could be given as a lesser reward for running through the trial during the solo which could help alleviate the need for initial gear grinds to be a part of a 12 man group later on. Still think there needs to be an extra incentive besides better gear and achievements for running 12 man groups since it is a time sink to do them. If they do a dungeon story mode I don't see why they can't do it for trials too but let up to 3 others group up with you if you prefer it might be the best way to go.

Sorry for rambling, its late and its a topic that I'm kind of invested in so I apologize if the cadence of my writing or thoughts is a bit off. XD

Calastir

About 50%

First let me say I'm a huge fan of yours, Hack. All my ESO character builds are based on your guides.

I play both PC/EU and PC/NA daily and always start my day crafting solo. Then I try finishing my daily and weekly endeavors solo (if possible) after which I do the stuff I really enjoy; Daily Questing for Events and World Boss fights, which usually means either fighting alongside other players or calling zone and my guildies for help.

I'm always pressed for time so waiting for response can be a huge frustration.

SilverBride

About 75%

I've seen a few responses that refer to encouraging players to group up, but I don't understand why that is a goal. Why should any player have to be encouraged to play a way they don't enjoy?

Cooperharley

About 75%

Nihilr wrote: »

My husband and I play duo when I play, but he plays solo mostly. This includes pvp. If most players are TES fans and not so much MMO fans, then maybe ZoS should be making co-op (duo/4-player) OPTIONS for the 12-player trials... Hmm? Less rewards, but also less headache and faster to group.

Before people butt in:
• No, we don't want to be forced to join guilds and make weird/fake friendships for some loot...
• No, we don't want to sit in zone chat for hours waiting for nothing instead of going around doing things productively...
• And the group-finder tool isn't used hardly as much as it should be used...

This becomes more apparent too on lesser played servers like console servers for instance or for trials that aren't as popular (eg, kyne's aegis).

It'd be nice to have the option to have NPCs fill in slots for a full group or something. Obviously veteran would be completely impossible but a normal trial taking a bit longer due to NPCs filling those slots? I wouldn't mind it.

Number_51

25% or less

My answer of "25% or less" is probably misleading. I group with 1 other person, 95% of the time. So, in my opinion, I am playing solo, just with someone else. Almost never will I (or we) join a pug for any reason. If it's content the two of us can't accomplish ourselves (with or without companions) it's probably not gonna get done. So far that content has been just trials (and ToT which we're just not interested in).

BXR_Lonestar

25% or less

SilverBride wrote: »

I've seen a few responses that refer to encouraging players to group up, but I don't understand why that is a goal. Why should any player have to be encouraged to play a way they don't enjoy?

Honestly, this is an MMO game and its built to be played with others. Yes, you can do a lot of content solo, but if I was going to play solo, Skyrim or Oblivion provide me a better experience, as caves, dungeons, etc. have more depth and lore to them, there's literally 1000's of books with in-game lore in the game. ESO just feels like its 10 miles wide and 6 inches deep compared to those games, and that's because it would be hard to have a multi-player experience that had that kind of depth to it.

Nobody should be forced to do content they don't like (its why I avoid Tales of Tribute like the plague), but I often feel like players who say this because they haven't found the right group of people to enjoy that content with. For example, I'm a PVE player. I spend the vast majority of my time lately playing PVP, and I used to HATE PVP, but I found a group of people that has made it fun and enjoyable and it's made me feel like I'm a valuable member of the team.

Maybe that doesn't apply to ALL content in this game, but I definitely think that so much of your ability to engage with this game's content in an enjoyable fashion depends on you connecting with the right people. Now if your anti-social like I am, that may be hard to do, but once you find the right people, much of that content that you believe is unenjoyable might become much more fun and engaging, whether that be PVP, trials, vet dungeons, IA, - heck, even housing is that same way.

Credible_Joe

About 75%

BXR_Lonestar wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I've seen a few responses that refer to encouraging players to group up, but I don't understand why that is a goal. Why should any player have to be encouraged to play a way they don't enjoy?

Honestly, this is an MMO game and its built to be played with others. Yes, you can do a lot of content solo, but if I was going to play solo, Skyrim or Oblivion provide me a better experience, as caves, dungeons, etc. have more depth and lore to them, there's literally 1000's of books with in-game lore in the game. ESO just feels like its 10 miles wide and 6 inches deep compared to those games, and that's because it would be hard to have a multi-player experience that had that kind of depth to it.

This is a take produced by ignoring everything that doesn't give a competitive reward. ESO blows every other single player Elder Scrolls game out of the water by sheer volume of content, and it's expanded the lore of the world by orders of magnitude.

Literally every delve, dungeon, and story interior has writing and background to it, which is directly contrary to what I've observed in Oblivion and Skyrim, where many dungeons are nothing more or less than combat gauntlets (much more so Oblivion than Skyrim, to be fair).

This might have been a valid argument at launch, but today it's just laughably telling at how much lore and content that's ignored by power gamers.

coop500

About 75%

I keep trying to branch out to really crazy vet trial kind of group content, but admittedly, it burns me out and quickly becomes not fun when I need to download 50 addons and stand in formation like a parade for every boss. So I am steadily drifting back towards that 100% solo.

Melivar

About 75%

Might be higher currently but I expect it will go back to 75% when the expansion hits and more people are around at least for a while.

Used to be closer to 50% but schedule and content lead to more solo time that last content cycle.

SilverBride

About 75%

BXR_Lonestar wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I've seen a few responses that refer to encouraging players to group up, but I don't understand why that is a goal. Why should any player have to be encouraged to play a way they don't enjoy?

Honestly, this is an MMO game and its built to be played with others.

MMO means there are multiple players in the game world at the same time. It does not mean we have to interact and group with them.

I look at the game world the same way I do real life. I live in a big city but almost all the activity I do, I do solo. Everywhere I go there are others around, but I don't feel the need to group with them.

I see the game world as being similar to the real world, and my characters interact similar to how I interact in the real world. And most of that is solo activity.

RealLoveBVB

25% or less

SilverBride wrote: »

I've seen a few responses that refer to encouraging players to group up, but I don't understand why that is a goal. Why should any player have to be encouraged to play a way they don't enjoy?

Well, ZOS is also trying to "force" players for group content, as they lock rewards (like leads in trials or dungeons, powerful sets or monster masks) behind that stuff.

But just for my personal understanding: why don't you all like group content? Is it because of the content itself, like dungeons or trials, or don't you just not like to socialise with other players?

Supreme_Atromancer

25% or less

RealLoveBVB wrote: »

But just for my personal understanding: why don't you all like group content? Is it because of the content itself, like dungeons or trials, or don't you just not like to socialise with other players?

The most common answers to this are:

lots of dedication to the same, sometimes quite repetitive gameplay loop
performance anxiety and pressure
obnoxious personalities and putting up with other people's crap
a stupidly MASSIVE POWER GAP in the population
have to build to a spreadsheet
the mentalities are quite different
people have so little patience for the needs of others
Added to include: a lot of people just want to explore the world and story, and doing the same content over and over doesn't feel like Elder Scrolls gameplay; its an absurd abstraction you can't really immerse yourself in.

I think since a lot of the more toxic people have moved on over the last two years, some of the toxicity has finally started to simmer down, though you can still see the inherent attitudes in some of the sweatier discords, and that's probably a turn-off for a lot of people.

Supreme_Atromancer

25% or less

Also, I just watched the HtM video linked upthread and think it was great.


I wanted to say as a "silent minority" club member who has been told by the spotlight-hoggers my views are irrelevant, its nice to see some pushback.

For the sake of conversation I will say that I wasn't convinced of the logic of who spends more on MMOs, and I don't think there's any evidence of it.

But I was pleasantly surprised by the video and glad I watched it.

SilverBride

About 75%

RealLoveBVB wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I've seen a few responses that refer to encouraging players to group up, but I don't understand why that is a goal. Why should any player have to be encouraged to play a way they don't enjoy?

Well, ZOS is also trying to "force" players for group content, as they lock rewards (like leads in trials or dungeons, powerful sets or monster masks) behind that stuff.

But just for my personal understanding: why don't you all like group content? Is it because of the content itself, like dungeons or trials, or don't you just not like to socialise with other players?

I do like group content, but I enjoy a lot of other activities, such as daily writs, surveys, master writs, trading, housing, clearing zone maps, endeavors, Golden Pursuits, etc., and these aren't condusive to being done in a group.

I'd probably do more group content, but honestly non-stop combat just tires me out after awhile, which is why I'll never get very far in the IA unless they add a save. And it ties me to my computer because we can't just go afk here and there for real life stuff when in a group.

I am very social but I get my social interactions from chatting with others. These isn't much time for that when in a group concentrating on boss mechanics.

theoverseer

100% All The Time

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

theoverseer wrote: »

Maybe a tad less than 100%. I will do PUG dungeons for endeavours/events or if I need transmutes. I can count the number of trials I've done on one hand - I only do them if asked to by a guildie, but that almost never happens anymore, possibly because I'm useless.

Why do you need transmutation crystals for solo play?

Reconstructing gear most likely

What's the point?

I reconstruct gear for my alts. Is that not normal procedure?

ChaoticWings3

About 75%

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

RealLoveBVB wrote: »

But just for my personal understanding: why don't you all like group content? Is it because of the content itself, like dungeons or trials, or don't you just not like to socialise with other players?

The most common answers to this are:

lots of dedication to the same, sometimes quite repetitive gameplay loop
performance anxiety and pressure
obnoxious personalities and putting up with other people's crap
a stupidly MASSIVE POWER GAP in the population
have to build to a spreadsheet
the mentalities are quite different
people have so little patience for the needs of others
Added to include: a lot of people just want to explore the world and story, and doing the same content over and over doesn't feel like Elder Scrolls gameplay; its an absurd abstraction you can't really immerse yourself in.

I think since a lot of the more toxic people have moved on over the last two years, some of the toxicity has finally started to simmer down, though you can still see the inherent attitudes in some of the sweatier discords, and that's probably a turn-off for a lot of people.

As a tank main that ran group content for several years that prefers solo content you pretty much explained exactly my thoughts about it. Even in guilds the pressure of being the tank and doing your role well in harder content can get to you after awhile especially when there is miscommunication in getting past a hard phase. I will put it another way, everyone was nice and encouraging during the runs but I put myself down more even when something was completely out of my control during a boss since I am suppose to being controlling the battlefield at all times. The last point is especially true to me since I usually just want to explore the world at times and not deal with harder difficulty content at times. I still hunger for doing things on the harder difficulties but it is mentality draining after awhile and I prefer to just chill and explore the world the way I want. Hence the reason I'm for the the story mode difficulties for dungeons and trials.

Nestor

100% All The Time

Occasional dungeon or trial I will group. However 98% of my time is Solo.

frogthroat

About 50%

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

theoverseer wrote: »

Maybe a tad less than 100%. I will do PUG dungeons for endeavours/events or if I need transmutes. I can count the number of trials I've done on one hand - I only do them if asked to by a guildie, but that almost never happens anymore, possibly because I'm useless.

Why do you need transmutation crystals for solo play?

Reconstructing gear most likely

What's the point?

Because you need much more gear when you play solo. In a group you need basically just one setup for a dungeon. Maybe trash and boss setups. But if you go through it solo, you may need an optimised setup for each encounter.

Of course it's better to optimise for different encounters in a group, too. But it's not strictly necessary. As a solo, if you want to also be effective, you need different builds. You can of course slap on a tanky build and take your time. But if you want to go through it in a decent timeframe, you need a lot of gear with you.

Rexicom

100% All The Time

Nihilr wrote: »

My husband and I play duo when I play, but he plays solo mostly. This includes pvp. If most players are TES fans and not so much MMO fans, then maybe ZoS should be making co-op (duo/4-player) OPTIONS for the 12-player trials... Hmm? Less rewards, but also less headache and faster to group.

Before people butt in:
• No, we don't want to be forced to join guilds and make weird/fake friendships for some loot...
• No, we don't want to sit in zone chat for hours waiting for nothing instead of going around doing things productively...
• And the group-finder tool isn't used hardly as much as it should be used...

Finally someone understands! You managed to put my exact feelings in your points! Thank you.

johnbonne

100% All The Time

I play almost entirely solo, closer to 100% than 75%. I'm here for the stories this game tells way ahead of the MMO things, now that the single player/offline games have satisfied me. TES' in-universe books are some of the best I've read in a video game, but it's nice to play in an era where these authors lived and penned their works, and see just how true the books are to the events that happened.

That said, I am willing to engage in social guilds and speak to people, but I'm a returning player from a long hiatus and group content isn't an option until I build up confidence and an understanding of all the mechanics the game has to offer right now.