No more SOLO quests! When will ALL quests be group quests?

Flame_of_Udûn

Seeing as though I play the majority of ESO in a group with friends you can understand how frustrating SOLO quests are, why not just make ALL quests have the option to be solo or not? I hate being so restricted, especially since some of the best quests are solo such as the main story line, mage's guild, fighter's guild etc. I want to hunt daedra and foil Molag Bal's plans with my friends but Oooooh no! You have to be on you're OWN to play these quests...... WHAT?! that defeats the purpose of playing an MMO if i'm constantly being forced to play on my own! I understand if some people prefer to play on their own, that's fine, but there should be an option given to those who don't. If i'm in a group then I obviously want to quest AS A GROUP so why am I constantly seeing my friend as a white arrow rather than a fellow adventurer! Is there any plans to change this? And Does anyone else feel this way?

Pele

Agree.

forthewinn2

The main storyline is all scaled to be solo content, they theoretically could allow people to group for this content but would have to develop a system for scaling mobs to the number of people in the group, as it stands currently the main storyline would simply be too easy if everyone could group up for it.

lv 1-50 is designed to be solo content(for the most part), if everyone was grouped up all of the time they would never learn the entirety of the game mechanics and would never learn how to pull their own weight.
We would yet again have the problem of everyone hitting veteran content/group dungeons and have people running around like headless chickens.

Solo content forces people to depend on their own abilities/skills so that when they decide to participate in difficult group content the rest of their group can rely upon them.

Flame_of_Udûn

I understand that to a degree and perhaps having one quest line as solo is agreeable (though not preferable) but in making several integral quest lines entirely solo is somewhat ridiculous.
I wouldn't mind if on occasions I was made to stand on my own two feet and then reconvene with group but it's pretty annoying not being able to play any guild quests with my group.
I'm just suggesting some kind of choice should be devised. You can't punish players for playing how they want to play by enforcing solo quests on them simply to prevent the harsh reality of late game content.

jeevin

The grouping in the game sucks balls. I played almost the entire game to VR10 solo, with the exception of public dungeons. At first it was because the phasing system totally prevented grouping with friends. But in the end I just enjoyed the game far more at my own pace. Now my friends no longer play so I'm not interested in grouping at all. I would much prefer solo content when they add more.

forthewinn2

The fighter's guild line and the mages guild line aren't actually required, in fact doing their respective quests doesn't even level guild skill lines.
The fighter's/mages guild and main story quest line are an extremely low percentage of all quests meaning that for most of the quests in the game you can group up.
If playing with your friends is very important to you I would recommend doing all of the quests in a particular zone with them, try doing dolmen/world bosses/dungeons with them and save the main story line for times when your friends aren't online.

sethman75

The day the game goes group orientated is the day it dies.

Get it through your melon that group based players are and will always be the minority.

Deal with it

Falmer

It largely has to do with what's called a "target audience". This is an Elder Scrolls game. Its fan-base is almost entirely made up of people who played Elder Scrolls games SOLO.

If you want to group up, then group up. There is nothing preventing you from doing the quests as a group. There is literally nothing a group can't handle that was designed for a solo player. The reverse obviously isn't true.

Pele

forthewinn2 wrote: »

The main storyline is all scaled to be solo content, they theoretically could allow people to group for this content but would have to develop a system for scaling mobs to the number of people in the group, as it stands currently the main storyline would simply be too easy if everyone could group up for it.

lv 1-50 is designed to be solo content(for the most part), if everyone was grouped up all of the time they would never learn the entirety of the game mechanics and would never learn how to pull their own weight.
We would yet again have the problem of everyone hitting veteran content/group dungeons and have people running around like headless chickens.

Solo content forces people to depend on their own abilities/skills so that when they decide to participate in difficult group content the rest of their group can rely upon them.

Grouping does not make you less capable of learning the game's mechanics. If anything, grouping allows you to hone a specific role (tank, healer, DPS) thus making you more efficient in groups. Solo-only players must spread their focus to be self-sufficient.

I do not say this to be cruel, but some of the worst players I've grouped with were those who played solo most of the time and grouped only to get group content done. They are a hodge-podge of armor and skills that work well when they're alone but not so much in a group.

Having the option to group up with your friends/family for everything does no harm to anyone. If it makes content easier for them, so what? It's how they want to play; that in no way affects you if you choose not to group.

Rev Rielle

sethman75 wrote: »

The day the game goes group orientated is the day it dies.

Get it through your melon that group based players are and will always be the minority.

Deal with it

*Points Seth in the direction of EVE Online and it's success*

Food4Thought

I thought the same as the OP when I first started to hit the solo quests. I thought the boss fights were too difficult and the only way to beat them was to simply out level them.

But now that I am in my 40ies and have completed both the fighter's and mage's quest lines, I don't feel that way any more. What was a struggle then, is a cake walk now. You just learn that those quests are a a tad more difficult than the run of the mill quests in have in the game world. You got to go in with your buff up, your gear maintained and properly leveled, a few soulstones for the "oh crap" moments, and some multi-function healing pots to pump up the regen.

In other words, use all the tools you have been given in game to use regardless of class or weapon / armor choices.

Go about it smartly, and you shouldn't die more than a couple of times on the boss fights. If you do, you simply aren't paying attention to the cues you are given for when you need to get the hell out of the way.

nerevarine1138

I thought this was a parody thread at first. Then I cried a little on the inside.

OP: the point of these quests is to make sure you understand how to use your abilities. If you can't handle these missions on your own, it means that your groupmates are carrying you through other content. Which is fine, but the quests are there as a sort of skill-check, to make sure that when you get to VR content, you won't be holding your group back.

Pele

I often wonder if some people actually read posts before replying to them.

The OP wants the option to play with his friends in a group because he enjoys playing with them and would rather not be alone. Nowhere did he state he wants to group because quests are difficult.

He wants to share the gaming experience with his friends especially pivotal moments. Is that so hard to understand? How in the world does having this option affect you if you choose not to group?

Elad13

This option is in game...it's call Cyodil....or PVP. All quest in that area can be grouped...giving the option to play how the OP wants to play. There are also group dungeons and public dungeons that allow this. Because this game was designed has a fusion of single player and MMO. It does limit things for just about everyone....but no matter how you play you do have options to do so.

Aeratus

In the way it's written, the main storyline is incompatible with group play. This is because it's written such that you're THE vestige. Having two players at once would require the story and dialog to be changed.

NobleX35

No...just no. Enough of this all or nothing poop. There needs be a good balance between both group and solo quests. And as far as solo quests are concerned you should be able to do them as a group (except in those rare instances where it's a solo instance).

Pele

Aeratus wrote: »

In the way it's written, the main storyline is incompatible with group play. This is because it's written such that you're THE vestige. Having two players at once would require the story and dialog to be changed.

Indeed. Except in many of the quests, you are the hero and acknowledged as such by the NPCs, yet you can group with friends to complete it; they are also the hero.

nerevarine1138

Pele wrote: »

I often wonder if some people actually read posts before replying to them.

The OP wants the option to play with his friends in a group because he enjoys playing with them and would rather not be alone. Nowhere did he state he wants to group because quests are difficult.

He wants to share the gaming experience with his friends especially pivotal moments. Is that so hard to understand? How in the world does having this option affect you if you choose not to group?

Because that option means that people who haven't learned basic things like... let me see here... how to block, dodge, interrupt, kill harvesters, self-heal etc. would be able to hit high levels without ever having learned to do those. And by the time you get to VR dungeons, that's no longer acceptable.

kassandratheclericb14_ESO

@‌nerevarine1138
Your OPTION is to kick this person from your group if they get into it. Remember this is an MMO and MMOs are about playing with other people. There are plenty that go through and don't learn these skills already. You won't even know WHY they don't know these skills.

Maybe this person will never DO any vet level dungeon...maybe they just want to play with their friends.

steveb16_ESO46

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

Because that option means that people who haven't learned basic things like... let me see here... how to block, dodge, interrupt, kill harvesters, self-heal etc. would be able to hit high levels without ever having learned to do those. And by the time you get to VR dungeons, that's no longer acceptable.

Seems perfectly acceptable to me, especially if it keeps people playing to play. I played LOTRO for years, leading a guild and doing raids. Raids were always full of people who didn't know what they were doing or didn't have great stats or gear.

You just dealt with it.

Nox_Aeterna

Well , i play most of the game solo , therefore they should remove all the group content cause i cant do it alone.

:P hope it helps to see how silly you sound OP.

Anyway , they should have no forced solo quests ON THE MAIN PATH , side quests and so on would be perfectly fine , just like there are group dungeons/anchors/world bosses... all that forces solo players to wait for others to complete.

kassandratheclericb14_ESO

Nox_Aeterna wrote: »

Well , i play most of the game solo , therefore they should remove all the group content cause i cant do it alone.

:P hope it helps to see how silly you sound OP.

Anyway , they should have no forced solo quests ON THE MAIN PATH , side quests and so on would be perfectly fine , just like there are group dungeons/anchors/world bosses... all that forces solo players to wait for others to complete.

Not sure you read the OP. They said people should be given an OPTION to play solo or grouped.

So sounds to me they wish to allow everyone to quest any quest, either way.

Exarch

forthewinn2 wrote: »

...they theoretically could allow people to group for this content but would have to develop a system for scaling mobs to the number of people in the group.../quote]

You mean like the one that City of Heroes implemented a decade ago?

Bloody NCSoft...

isengrimb16_ESO

Never, hopefully. Forcing people to group never ends up well. Wait a few levels, you can beat any boss on your own.

Damn, I hate forced grouping, too much like forced pc multiculti. "MAKE FRIENDS WITH PEOPLE WHO HATE YOU, YOU'LL LOVE IT". No! That never happens.

And once you allow solo quests to be groupable, then you have all the groupies complaining about how easy it is to beat a boss in a duo/trio, and then they demand the difficulty be INCREASED, so that no one can ever solo it again. And then you'll see "anyone who isn't holding a stick and wearing a dress need not apply". PFFT!

GnatB

forthewinn2 wrote: »

The main storyline is all scaled to be solo content, they theoretically could allow people to group for this content but would have to develop a system for scaling mobs to the number of people in the group, as it stands currently the main storyline would simply be too easy if everyone could group up for it.

So what if it's easy? Not everybody plays MMO's for a challenge. Some play it just to relax and chill. SW:TOR is probably *the* most group friendly MMO I've ever played. None of the "single player" content scales for the group. Sure, running through a story line quest with 2 or 3 (or I assume 4, though I've never tried) is pretty darn easy. So what?

They don't need to do diddly squat except let people in a group enter the same "instance". and let the objectives/whatever fulfill for all of them.

Flame_of_Udûn

I'll admit it was a poor choice of title to illustrate my point, though to be clear I'm not suggesting be rid of all solo quests i'm merely suggesting a better compromise.
Instead of being forced to do solo there should be an option to group with friends and this is not because I find solo too challenging or my build does not allow me to cope on my own (because I can manage the solo quests fine) its just because of the sheer value of fun.
For example on many occasions I've found myself in an awesome boss battle and i'll just been describing it to my friends rather than them being next to me experiencing it as well.

That's my point, i'm not a programmer or anything so I don't know how hard it would be to incorporate this into the game but I was thinking along the lines of these quests increasing in difficulty when in a group and normal difficulty when not.
Thanks for all the replies, it's genuinely helped me see different perspectives

Flame_of_Udûn

Nox_Aeterna wrote: »

Well , i play most of the game solo , therefore they should remove all the group content cause i cant do it alone.

:P hope it helps to see how silly you sound OP.

Anyway , they should have no forced solo quests ON THE MAIN PATH , side quests and so on would be perfectly fine , just like there are group dungeons/anchors/world bosses... all that forces solo players to wait for others to complete.

...You've missed my point completely. I hope this helps you to see how silly you sound.

That's a PAR

Flame_of_Udûn

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

I thought this was a parody thread at first. Then I cried a little on the inside.

OP: the point of these quests is to make sure you understand how to use your abilities. If you can't handle these missions on your own, it means that your groupmates are carrying you through other content. Which is fine, but the quests are there as a sort of skill-check, to make sure that when you get to VR content, you won't be holding your group back.

I understand that these solo quests help people determine their own survivability rather than depending on others all the time, but devoting entire quest lines to solo makes no sense at all.
Why not integrate random solo events now and again instead of completely tearing really fun aspects out of the game for me and my group.

I also understand that there are far more quests that can be grouped rather than soloed but that shouldn't be the case. For example, I want to do fighters guild quests with my friends. I can't. That shouldn't happen.

Tandor

Most of the quests can be done in a group. It's not the game's fault if your friends don't want to do them with you !

The main storyline quest should be solo, you're the hero and it wouldn't make sense for the Prophet to be addressing a load of Vestiges at once.

jeradlub17_ESO

Unfortunately OP mmorgs today have lost their way. They have forgotten the "massively multiplayer" and now cater to the solo xbox crowd for profits.

Immortal_Wombat

Not everybody liked the idea of online Elder Scrolls game in the first place. That said, since there is a variety of interests I think there should be a way to toggle between solo and group.

Though most solo quests make sense to be solo, nothing else Zenimax did made sense so screw it!