All Group Content Should Have A Solo Option

Vrienda

Xerton wrote: »

Aeula wrote: »

Xerton wrote: »

Aeula wrote: »

Agreed 100%.

I've done every dungeon on veteran now and yet I still have no idea what they were about due to me being forced to skip all the dialogue and story and being auto kicked at the end because everyone else left while the NPC's were still talking. I'd love a solo mode to see the stories for myself.

Simply look for a guild that plays at your pace! That's it!

I don't want to join a guild.

Go play Skyrim....

Nope. I like ESO. Why don't you go play world of warcraft if you want an overload of group only content?

mewcatus

Solo Variant could be useful. Say, for story-telling or getting all the lorebooks and bits and pieces here and there. It can also serve as a tutorial mode for newbie players to experience the dungeon and all said mechanics first hand by itself. Great for self practising without impacting others.

Of course, the rewards could be dramatically lowered. But I feel that a tutorial mode dungeons would be beneficial in the long run.

Xerton

BlackSparrow wrote: »

I wish at the very least, you had a log where you could review all the dialogue on the dungeon you just did, so you at least know what was going on in retrospect.

There are addons for that

Sausage

If this genre is gonna go with solo option on everything, its maaaassive step backwards and put this genre into boreness, exactly when they should be innovative and creative.

Ermiq

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

Unfortunately you are wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_game

I'd never trust Wiki. Now it is a foe to me.

Aeula wrote: »

I don't want to join a guild.

There is a risk to become homeless without a guild store in Homestead update.

Vrienda

Eremith wrote: »

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

Unfortunately you are wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_game

I'd never trust Wiki. Now it is a foe to me.

Aeula wrote: »

I don't want to join a guild.

There is a risk to become homeless without a guild store in Homestead update.

Already got the money I need for the small Dark Elf home I've had my eye on. Don't need to play the guild store for cash. If I need more money I'll go on a crime spree.

The_Saint

Palidon wrote: »

Many may disagree but it is my opinion there is too much Group Content forced upon solo players. I am a solo player. I do not like running in groups. The World Bosses, Undaunted Pledges and much of Craglorn with the exception of the Craglorn quest line are all geared for group play. My suggestion is to have a solo option for all group content. The rewards do not have to be the same since the difficulty would change but there should be a solo option.

Just become a good solo player and you can do all world bosses, 90% undaunted pledges, 100% of craglorn all alone... And when this is not enough for you dont play an mmo

modaretto

What you are describing is not MMO

LordGavus

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

LordGavus wrote: »

It's an mmo.
Also you can already do a large portion of the content solo. All overworld content and some of the world bosses, most normal dungeons and if your good enough vet dungeons too, also there is maelstrom arena.
I get that sometimes you just want to go solo, that's when I do the quests or just wander off into the wilderness. But in my opinion we need more group content in ESO.

I am mainly a solo player = let me get that out of the way right from the start.

I also don't think how SWTOR allowed group content to be soloed worked particularly well - instead having genuinely scaleable content so that X Content done as a group was significantly more difficult than when X Content was played solo they just made everything easier - for everyone. It made the game boring.

And I agree I think there should be more group content in ESO, and more PvP (and I pretty much never PvP in MMORPGs).

But having said all that I see no reason why people are so against making more of the game content accessible to even more players - happy players stick around and spend money, and that is a good thing for everyone, no matter their preferred style of play.

All The Best

Yeah that's fair enough. I guess my only real concern would be resources diverted into solo stuff while neglecting group stuff. Afterall there are plenty of single player games, elder scrolls and other .
Otherwise theres no real issue with solo versions of group content.

Chadak

To everyone trying to hide behind the ricepaper-frail deflection of 'go play skyrim', consider very carefully that Elder Scrolls has no player base without the single player game fans having been handed this MMOificated Elder Scrolls game rather than ES6.

All I and a number of my friends have ever wanted was multi-player LAN play in our elder scrolls games.

So we're making due with this MMOified thing. We weren't touching it at release. It was a crap MMO hitting all the same pants-on-head ridiculous points as pretty much every mmo that came before it, but this one had Elder Scrolls lore and graphics.

Big.

Freaking.

Woop Dee doo.

For most of two years, we mocked this games very existence without mercy or relent.

Why? Because it was, in our eyes, a pathetic nd arrogant betrayal of a playerbase nearly 20 years in the cultivating.

One Tamriel got some of my groups attention. We looked into it. Some of us liked what we were seeing in the massive de-MMOifying of the newest elder scrolls game.

I've been running around in game with anywhere from 2-7 of my best gaming and work buddies since one Tamriel hit. We're liking it pretty ok. We mock the unexplained absence of underwater exploration, but it isn't a big deal that it isn't here.

What would be a big deal would be if we couldn't play most of it like an elder scrolls game. Ya know, like more than half of us have been doing since Arena and Daggerfall kept us awake far too often on school and work nights.

I'm fine with content requiring a group, but the simple fact at hand is this - Elder Scrolls does not have, and has never had, a hardcore multi-player customer base.

Me and my buddies are not antisocial. We've had no trouble doing every bit of group content we've felt like doing so far.

We couldn't possibly care less about the vast majority of players not in our real life clique though.

Why not?

Because we're here for an elder scrolls with multi-player experience, not the experience of putting up with every one man clown show in the game.

We don't care about your metas. We don't care about your achievements.

Did we recently complete white gold tower with no tank and everyone off healing while dpsing? Rather fantastically, we did.

Do I have a clue what the difficulty setting was? No.

We'd still have preference for LAN/Internet multiplayer.

Then we wouldn't have to put up with the annoyingly MMO junk.

So, yelling at people like me and mine top 'go play skyrim' is really about as effective as poisoning yourself and waiting for us to get sick.

There's an amazingly good chance we don't care what you think, and if Bethesda/Zenimax bother us into quitting, you won't hear much about it.

Because we basically don't care what you think.

And I think too much MMOification is crap in an elder scrolls game. I'm liking One Tamriel pretty well. I'm not liking how mmoified all the skills and powers are, but it could be worse.

Ta.

Gandrhulf_Harbard

LordGavus wrote: »

Yeah that's fair enough. I guess my only real concern would be resources diverted into solo stuff while neglecting group stuff. Afterall there are plenty of single player games, elder scrolls and other .
Otherwise theres no real issue with solo versions of group content.

Well, what I would do if I was Zeni is this.

When new content is added with new group content let it bed in, get its bugs fixed etc. Then 8-12 months down the line enable solo versions of that content.

Keep the initial emphasis on the group versions of the content, and only enable solo version down the line when most of the people who play it as group content have it cleared and all but forgotten about.

So that initial development resources are focused on the new content as PvE and Group content (but with scalability built in from the start) and they enable Solo versions because that scalability was there from the start.

So in effect all that happens is they just turn on the option to play solo after a certain period of time.

All The Best

Gandrhulf_Harbard

Chadak wrote: »

We mock the unexplained absence of underwater exploration, but it isn't a big deal that it isn't here.

Far. far too few games develop this side of things.

We have Stamina already for holding our breath.
Swimming animations are already there.

Why not develop that side of things. Hidden underwater passages in dungeons leading to secret rooms with long lost lore, and maybe an otherwise unreachable mini-boss.

I remember back in 1988/89 running a TTRPG of MERP, and designed a dungeon with a "hidden tunnel" in it that players had to swim along to bypass a whole corridor of traps and danger. Three different groups played through that dungeon (it was a regular at 24hr gaming marathons for local charities) - and all three groups took the option to die to the traps rather than thinking "outside the corridor" for a second and taking the rather poorly hidden underwater tunnel.

All The Best

Chadak

Can't say I disagree, Gandrhulf. We're bemused by the absence, but not thrown into lamentations over it.

They really missed some great opportunities for traps and exploration secrets by excluding it though.

ArchMikem

To be honest I'd agree, cause I'm not a people person and if I can do something on my own, I will. But that leads into the one main problem. If there's a Solo option for Group content, then nearly EVERYONE will choose the Solo option because it's easier and faster. Group content would die, and that's no bueno for an MMO.

DMuehlhausen

How about NO. Go play Skyrim. If anything there should be group content. That's what made the first MMOs amazing. You had to work with people to do almost everything. It also made the end game content, if you could call it that, less toxic since those top players knew the work it took to even get to that point.

Now everything is rush rush rush gimme gimme gimme. Oh look I got to max level face rolling faster than you. HA NOOB GTFO

idk

@Palidon

You are certainly entitled to your opinion. However, you chose to play an
MMO and MMOs should have group content that remains group content. It's a huge part of what sets the genre apart from solo games.

Zos has come far with offerings of or solo quests since the game launched and including providing a solo arena. Trials and group dungeons should remain group content.

Your entitled to your oppinion just as your entitled to choose to play an MMO. Zos isn't required and should not make a solo version of any group content. You can see it if you want. It's your choice.

EvilCroc

As one of the wisest people on this forums said (sorry, I don't remember your nickname):
"MMORPG - Massive multiplayer online role play game. What exactly in this definition says there should be any group content?"
I can agree with the OP. At least Craglorn should be real solo friendly, as One Tamriel have promised.
And I still can't forgive ZOS for new world bosses.

Wifeaggro13

Palidon wrote: »

Many may disagree but it is my opinion there is too much Group Content forced upon solo players. I am a solo player. I do not like running in groups. The World Bosses, Undaunted Pledges and much of Craglorn with the exception of the Craglorn quest line are all geared for group play. My suggestion is to have a solo option for all group content. The rewards do not have to be the same since the difficulty would change but there should be a solo option.

hahahaha o my god. this is why i never want another single player IP going to MMO. what group content is forced upon you? the dungeons and trials. thats like 5 % of the games content.? honestly i dont care if they did what you ask but the loot should be nothing more then standard green or blues no sets. Truthfully if you dont like grouping i hate to say this but dont play MMO's thats what their heart and soul is about. Go play the other TES titles

Prof_Bawbag

The high and mighty amongst us wouldn't be able to frown down upon us mere snowflakes/scrubs from their self constructed Ivory Towers. They may all *** about us, but they love us really. We make them feel better about themselves. Without us, they wouldn't be able to stroke their ego in-game or on here.

NewBlacksmurf

Disagree

It should actually be the other way around

All solo content should have at least a duo or trio option

Miss_Morphine

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

Disagree

It should actually be the other way around

All solo content should have at least a duo or trio option

With the exception of vma and main story quests all of it does...

Chadak

How about you gizmos bleating 'go play skyrim' go play LoL instead of polluting our single player lore-rich IP with your incessant and unquenchable yearnings to grow your epeens?

Why are you playing an elder scrolls game and expecting all group hardcore everything all the time with leaderboards?

Did you fail to grasp that 99% or more of elder scrolls fans are brought here by loving the single player experiences of the franchise?

If anyone's chosen their game fantastically poorly, it's the clowns that heard 'elder scrolls online' and, for some reason, imagined it would be EQ1 vanilla all over again.

GreenhaloX

I would like the separation to exist between contents that are solo and those that are group, and the current group contents do not need to have a solo option. Similar to some have pointed out, there are many solo contents already, and I can agree that you are able to solo normal contents such as certain dungeons, pledges or world bosses.

However, I hate to be the critic, but I just want to deviate a tad bit and point out, whether you agree or not. For those claiming or actually soloing group vet contents, such as dungeons or DSA, or even a trial.. those level of difficulties are not meant for single player. So, if these higher level and more difficult contents are being soloed, there is something fishy going on. There are too many hard-hitting adds and mobs coming at you with the bosses for one legitimate player to handle. Yes, there are clips out showing some seemingly high-powered sorc doing so or soloing vet bosses in dungeons and even a vet trial.. fine. Although, some may disagree and may badger with replies, as the norm of this forum, but I still call "bullsht!" I said it before, saying it now and will always stand by it. Whether you agree or not, there is no seemingly legitimate build or skills (level of dps and resistance allowable) allowed within the current confine of ESO that would allow one toon to solo a vet dungeon or trial! Particularly, when things are always being nerfed.

If a certain toon is capable and doing so, then, from one's point of view here.. this perspective can be related to the Alex Rodriquez and Mark McGuire of pro-baseball or Lance Armstrong (just to mention a few of many.) Overtly, they are seemingly doing great and superhuman things, and people were at awe at their greatness. However, behind the scene, they had illegal or abnormal aid or help. In vet contents (soloing), you can roll around and block all you want, you are still getting hit from all sides, by those adds, mobs and boss, and at many instances, at the same time. If your hp or shield is holding steadfastly or barely getting scratched (like showing in many clips), then there is something abnormally fishy going on. That's all I will say..

NewBlacksmurf

Miss_Morphine wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

Disagree

It should actually be the other way around

All solo content should have at least a duo or trio option

With the exception of vma and main story quests all of it does...

@Miss_Morphine
Actually All and no exceptions. Especially the main story and vMSA

It's a game forced to play on an online MMO server so all content should allow at least two or three

It's as simple as one character being talked to and the others just taging along....it is One Tamriel right?

KochDerDamonen

Mmm, well there is a solo option. Some dungeons basically cannot be done because of mechanics, but most content is possible to solo through an amount of dedication and specialization in one's build.

No opposition to a "story" mode for dungeons, not really interesting to me as I'm the sort of person who would stand and read an NPC's dialogue if I want to (and as the healer, plenty of groups don't know what to do about it )

GreenhaloX wrote: »

However, I hate to be the critic, but I just want to deviate a tad bit and point out, whether you agree or not. For those claiming or actually soloing group vet contents, such as dungeons or DSA, or even a trial.. those level of difficulties are not meant for single player. So, if these higher level and more difficult contents are being soloed, there is something fishy going on. There are too many hard-hitting adds and mobs coming at you with the bosses for one legitimate player to handle. Yes, there are clips out showing some seemingly high-powered sorc doing so or soloing vet bosses in dungeons and even a vet trial.. fine. Although, some may disagree and may badger with replies, as the norm of this forum, but I still call "bullsht!" I said it before, saying it now and will always stand by it. Whether you agree or not, there is no seemingly legitimate build or skills (level of dps and resistance allowable) allowed within the current confine of ESO that would allow one toon to solo a vet dungeon or trial! Particularly, when things are always being nerfed.

@GreenhaloX Go level a stamina sorcerer, pick up some cheap briarheart gear and tell me how hard it is to solo some vet dungeon bosses. I've never even finished vMA, and I can do it! Sorcerers and magicka Templars just get MORE healing out of fat groups of enemies ^^

Tapio75

I kind of agree but i dont really want solo option as it is.. What i want, is private instance for dungeons, delves and other content where group can break the immersion factor..

When private instance is selected, all delves, dungeons, quest inside areas and such, scale to number and level of people in the group so that you can go to a delve with your friend to do some sneaking in peace, away from crazy trains (Thaanks Ozzy) or go alone in delve or dungeon or whateever if you sop choose..

While "Its an MMO" argument is felt heavy in the air, Elder scrolls is such, that it can be regarded as a part of TES series and as such, should have fully optional grouping anywhere, immersion and freedom of choice first, no forced grouping.

I would love to see once or twice in a moth an "Cease fire" day at Cyrodil so that people could go and explore without fear of being harassad by evil players :P

Miss_Morphine

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

Miss_Morphine wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

Disagree

It should actually be the other way around

All solo content should have at least a duo or trio option

With the exception of vma and main story quests all of it does...

@Miss_Morphine
Actually All and no exceptions. Especially the main story and vMSA

It's a game forced to play on an online MMO server so all content should allow at least two or three

It's as simple as one character being talked to and the others just taging along....it is One Tamriel right?

I agree when it comes to the main story quests. I never really understood the decision to make them solo only.

vMA? I'm not for diverting a large amount of resources to make ESO into Skyrim but I'm not for taking things from niches either. It's a different kind of content that appeals a lot to some people. Why would I want to make it basically dead in its current incarnation? We have vDSA for the same thing in a group. It would become another vDSA and the scoring landscape would completely change, killing the place for some.

TequilaFire

I find most of the time when I am running solo I am not really solo at all there is usually someone who joins in at a world boss or in a dungeon even though we are not really grouped.

Not joining a guild of like minded people is just making it harder on yourself however.

Wifeaggro13

Miss_Morphine wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

Disagree

It should actually be the other way around

All solo content should have at least a duo or trio option

With the exception of vma and main story quests all of it does...

no it really does not .its solo content . what he is saying is the content should have a group option that is un soloable with itemization that is greater then the solo version.

Wifeaggro13

Sausage wrote: »

If this genre is gonna go with solo option on everything, its maaaassive step backwards and put this genre into boreness, exactly when they should be innovative and creative.

Exactly . welcome to corporatization of the genre make as much money as possible with as little effort as you can post launch. they made there money back on the base of game sales. subs and Clown store is all juicy quarterly profit. why would they make content that is harder to design when they can bilk the churn with a skelton crew of kids right out of game design schooll for a quarter of a seasoned designers salary.