Toggle Solo Play for the Whole Game Option - Yes or No?

ofSunhold

No, I don't think anyone should be allowed a Solo Phase

Seems likely there would be a significant performance hit if a bunch of us chose to have personally instanced Tamriels.

I'm sympathetic to the wish, but the underlying structure is already pretty shaky.

More of the shared shards with a lower population cap would be good though.

Delta1038

Yes, I would like the option to play in a Solo Phase

I would like it for RPing plus I really did not get to enjoy Seyda Neen because there was like a billion people all over the place. And half were spamming Warden spells. Honestly I want more MMO's like Destiny where it has a small number of players in each zone. It does not break single player flow and keeps the game running smooth while still allowing for fun player itteractions if you want.

sarbonn

The main reason I play this game is because there are other people in the world with me. Otherwise, I'd just play Skyrim or Fallout 4. Or some other single player game.

I love doing Dolmens not because Dolmens are fun, but because there's a group of people there with me, fighting the good fight with me. So, no, I would not like to see it ever be a single player type game as an option.

zsban

Meh, I wouldn't use it but I wouldn't care if others did

There are actually cases already in the game when you're teleported into your own instance for a given content - these are called solo dungeons.

So I guess it was a design choice by the content creators to not hide other players from you in certain locations.

itehache

No, I don't think anyone should be allowed a Solo Phase

That does not make sense.

This game is an MMO.

The_Conquerer

No, I don't think anyone should be allowed a Solo Phase

farming mats would be way to easy, and prices would drop on gold mats. Then everyone will be running around with golded out gear and that will lead to not having to grind or farm cuz everything will be easily accessible and ZoS or any MMO doesn't condone that. Plus the game will get boring for everyone very rapidly because there will be nothing left to do

Gilvoth

No, I don't think anyone should be allowed a Solo Phase

as far as i know:
we can allready do prety much everything we want to solo in eso.
we dont need this poll, nor its option.

Norbi

No, I don't think anyone should be allowed a Solo Phase

MMOs aren't created to be played solo throughout the entire thing, that's what single players are for. Regardless, it's useless to even talk about it because it will never happen.

Elsterchen

Yes, I would like the option to play in a Solo Phase

ofSunhold wrote: »

Seems likely there would be a significant performance hit if a bunch of us chose to have personally instanced Tamriels.

I'm sympathetic to the wish, but the underlying structure is already pretty shaky.

More of the shared shards with a lower population cap would be good though.

Actually we do have solo instanced content (main quest f.eg. ... and honestly OT did not improve performance as well. So, optional solo, toggled when needed, should be fine.

CromulentForumID

lolo_01b16_ESO wrote: »

So you want to create seperate instances where bots / gold sellers can farm their stuff without getting disturbed or reported? Sounds like a very bad idea.

If you created an instanced quest area where mobs did not respawn, this is not an issue at all. Nothing spawns until you leave or log out. This would be something like a dungeon or instanced delve. Or Private Dungeon, as mentioned above.

These would be an improvement over the Audiron, Betnikh, and Dreugh farming happening right now, every night. Of course, if this is optional, the botters would not choose it.

If we're talking about just a private instance of the open world? Yeah, that is not something that would work.

I personally would have liked a lot more of the quests in the game to launch into a private instanced area. Especially those that are based on stealth.

Eirella

No, this is an MMO.
Besides, people could just toggle solo play and then bot the game or something.

Talon_Draconis

Magdalina wrote: »

How'd that work with a MMO server? Genuine curiosity, I don't know much about how it works. From my understanding, it sounds like the server(our poor, already struggling server) would have to host thousands of instances for all the players wanting to solo, keeping track of npcs, nodes, spawn timers etc etc for each and every one of them. That sounds like a truly awful idea. Am I missing something though? Does it work differently?

Even that aside though, I really don't think it's needed. I agree other players can be annoying sometimes but an all empty Tamriel just sounds so lonely I also feel like a way better idea would be just a tad more instancing on quests, other player definitely do break immersion when you port to some Oblivion plane to urgently close the portal and have to wait for it to respawn because someone just killed it. There's no reason that quest related locations that ate only accessible during quests shouldn't be instanced. It's already the case with main story, it should be with a lot more quests too.

guild wars did it the towns were hubs and everything else was instance for you and your group would love that for this game execpt maybe the pvp areas

Nestor

It's only because your chasing the MQ of the new content on release day (I am assuming your on console)

I did the Morrowind MQ on an Alt Monday on the PC and it felt mostly like a solo adventure.

You will also find most of the other content will feel like that too in the rest of the game right now. So, my advice, is go do some other zones in other areas of the game, or do the Main Quest for the game which is instanced Solo (as are the Mages and Fighters Guilds too). Once you have finished with that, then the Morrowind hub bub will die down and you will have less of the other players around.

Bombashaman

Yes, I would like the option to play in a Solo Phase

Just make a toggle which renders all the other players and their graphic effects invisible, but not their other effects. So they may kill critters or take nodes in front of you etc. but you can't see them or their flashy skills.

So you still are on same world as others and can't farm or do anything which could be interpreted as advantage to you.

Every problem solved?

mesmerizedish

Yes, I would like the option to play in a Solo Phase

Turelus wrote: »

The issue would be this would becoming a farming mechanic.

You own private world to farm bosses and nodes with no one around to contest or take kills before you get there.

Why would this be a bad thing?

I was initially going to vote no, but then I thought "actually I would probably use the feature occasionally, so why not?" I haven't rigorously examined the idea, because it will never happen, but superficially I don't really see any problem with it. You're absolutely right that people would use it to farm, but... so what?

Phinix1

Yes, I would like the option to play in a Solo Phase

Turelus wrote: »

The issue would be this would becoming a farming mechanic.

You own private world to farm bosses and nodes with no one around to contest or take kills before you get there.

Not an issue. Time invested = profit. Just nerf node respawn rates while in solo phase and poof, problem solved.

If there really was one.

Personally I am tired of looking at all the trolls and attention seekers. But MMO's in general have become such a shameless money grab I am about to the point of just saying screw it and playing/modding only solo games.

nine9six

Yes, I would like the option to play in a Solo Phase

I'd buy the game a 13th time to have a solo version.

AoDD33pfri3d

Trashkan wrote: »

Yes why not just limit certain exploits and drops. But why would anyone but a bot user care about this. It would give us all precious mats to farm without dealing with botters. Plus how annoying is it when a new dlc drops you can't even find a delve boss for at least 20 min. Anyone that disagrees probably uses bots and sells mats like hot cakes.

You want a solo game play skyrim, eso will never be a solo game

Nestor

mesmerizedish wrote: »

I was initially going to vote no, but then I thought "actually I would probably use the feature occasionally, so why not?" I haven't rigorously examined the idea, because it will never happen, but superficially I don't really see any problem with it. You're absolutely right that people would use it to farm, but... so what?

Because it would crater the economy.

Currently, the Harvest Nodes are on a respawn timer with several factors in place, including the number of players in a zone. All designed to feed a certain amount of mats into the economy and the players inventory to make stuff with. And, not flood the market with mats. An economy that has no limitations on supply is a broken economy.

And, lets look at the technical standpoint behind this. These instances don't exist in a vacuum, server resources need to be allocated to run them. It would essentially increase the amount of resources needed to run the game by a factor about as large as the player base it. That is not cheap to do. You want a $100 a month sub fee? If it could even be done for that much as you are really asking for each player to have their own server.

Might as well play a stand alone single player game on your PC.

Aurie

If you don't like other people around, why are you playing an MMO?

Darkstorne

Bombashaman wrote: »

Just make a toggle which renders all the other players and their graphic effects invisible, but not their other effects. So they may kill critters or take nodes in front of you etc. but you can't see them or their flashy skills.

So you still are on same world as others and can't farm or do anything which could be interpreted as advantage to you.

Every problem solved?

This is... actually brilliant. At least for questing. Doesn't solve my issue of dungeons being all about sprinting through to reach the boss, being too worried to stop and read that lore note on those creates because you know three NPCs are due to spawn on top of you at any point. But it would still help with the overworld and towns.

Nestor wrote: »

It's only because your chasing the MQ of the new content on release day (I am assuming your on console)

I'm on PC, and it's not just Morrowind. I've had this feeling about the game ever since launch, it's just that the issue is so damn pronounced with Morrowind that I wanted to see how many other players felt the same way. It's not a request or anything, I just wanted to know if I was alone in feeling this way, or if other players have similar frustrations with this game.

There have been some great (and not so great ) responses in this thread though, with bot exploits and farming chests/mats in solo dungeons being great counter points. I guess it's just a shame ZOS didn't design the game from a modern perspective originally, because I think with One Tamriel proving so successful and finally making this game feel like an online TES game, a more subdued approach to player interaction (outside of specifically designed group locations like dolmens) would do this game wonders. But certainly I can see that a simple toggle would create too many issues now, and it really would take a complete redesign of how nodes work. I just really wish I could enter Vivec's palace and think "Wow, this looks amazing!" and not "Wow... that's a lot of players and particle effects..." And most of all I wish I could approach dungeons the way I do in traditional TES games, clearing enemies at my own pace, taking time to absorb the atmosphere, not worrying about constant respawns to the point I don't even feel safe reading the notes and journals scattered around, and feeling the need to rush to the boss in case he's already being killed by someone else.

Aurelle1 wrote: »

If you don't like other people around, why are you playing an MMO?

I'm surprised by how many people keep saying this in the thread. This is an incredibly narrow view of the genre, that not only demonstrates an inability to think outside of the box ("this is how old MMOs did it, so it's how ALL of them should do it"), but it also shows you haven't been paying attention to the evolution of MMOs visible in games like Destiny and The Division where running into other players is mostly restricted to town hubs and specific group areas (think dolmens and world bosses from ESO) with the majority of the game being kept mostly solo to reinforce the atmosphere and the storyline that the game is presenting.

ESO in particular tries telling stories through the vast majority of its quests that pretend you are the only player in the area, when you're usually swarmed with other players. If you think an MMO should be swarming with players, then you should at least be mad about the writing and quest design in this game not supporting that. The writing and the game design are completely at odds with each other.

MarrazzMist

No, I don't think anyone should be allowed a Solo Phase

Because it would be too easy way to escpe the guards and:

Turelus wrote: »

The issue would be this would becoming a farming mechanic.

You own private world to farm bosses and nodes with no one around to contest or take kills before you get there.

Plus 1 million phases/instances of the same area might be really bad..

Bombashaman

Yes, I would like the option to play in a Solo Phase

Darkstorne wrote: »

I'm surprised by how many people keep saying this in the thread. This is an incredibly narrow view of the genre, that not only demonstrates an inability to think outside of the box ("this is how old MMOs did it, so it's how ALL of them should do it"), but it also shows you haven't been paying attention to the evolution of MMOs visible in games like Destiny and The Division where running into other players is mostly restricted to town hubs and specific group areas (think dolmens and world bosses from ESO) with the majority of the game being kept mostly solo to reinforce the atmosphere and the storyline that the game is presenting.

I agree. And how many of these people are playing the RPG part of the game, because ESO is mmoRPG. I'm quite sure only the minority of these "why you play it's MMO" do themselves play the RPG part. So why do THEY play?

I can say for myself, that I don't play this game because it's MMO or RPG. I play it more like an solo adventure game with other players playing in the same world. And for that RPG-part which everyone seem to forget ESO is, I don't play that either.

Bombashaman wrote: »

Just make a toggle which renders all the other players and their graphic effects invisible, but not their other effects. So they may kill critters or take nodes in front of you etc. but you can't see them or their flashy skills.

So you still are on same world as others and can't farm or do anything which could be interpreted as advantage to you.

This wouldn't take away neither the MMO nor the RPG part of the game. One would still be playing the same game as others and his or their actions would show on the world (check MMO). And you could roleplay as much as you want, too (check RPG).

Sotihe

No, I don't think anyone should be allowed a Solo Phase

Sorry but what a stupid idea. U don't like MMOs go play skyrim or one of the other million solo games out there.

RDMyers65b14_ESO

No, I don't think anyone should be allowed a Solo Phase

I think that it would cause too much server strain. It is bad enough already. It is a MMORPG but you can not ignore the first three letters. Yes, the other people can be annoying and get in the way, but all of the endgame is definitely multiple player. Besides, the main quest is solo.

ofSunhold

No, I don't think anyone should be allowed a Solo Phase

Elsterchen wrote: »

ofSunhold wrote: »

Seems likely there would be a significant performance hit if a bunch of us chose to have personally instanced Tamriels.

I'm sympathetic to the wish, but the underlying structure is already pretty shaky.

More of the shared shards with a lower population cap would be good though.

Actually we do have solo instanced content (main quest f.eg. ... and honestly OT did not improve performance as well. So, optional solo, toggled when needed, should be fine.

Banished Cells (for example) is a small, enclosed space. Auridon is not. The MQ is also a bunch of smallish spaces, with placed enemies that don't respawn, no nodes, etc.

I'm not saying it's not possible, I am suggesting that creating a lot of copies of the dynamic, open world would be extra work for the hamsters. And the hamsters are already pretty tired.

strikeback1247

Trashkan wrote: »

Yes why not just limit certain exploits and drops. But why would anyone but a bot user care about this. It would give us all precious mats to farm without dealing with botters. Plus how annoying is it when a new dlc drops you can't even find a delve boss for at least 20 min. Anyone that disagrees probably uses bots and sells mats like hot cakes.

Ah, the classic "If you don't agree with me you are evil"-argument.

10/10

drakhan2002_ESO

Meh, I wouldn't use it but I wouldn't care if others did

I'm on the fence on this topic - I see the advantages and disadvantages to your post. However, a balance (for me) would be to have certain solo-able, instanced "parts" of the game...like some of the quests are now. But it's more of a dungeon area that is instanced -- so I can just farm and grind...

Dracindo

I can't simply say yes to having a toggle. I would love to play this game all for myself, but I shouldn't be allowed to switch back to Multiplayer.

When you have a good farming location, all you need to do, is go to Singleplayer, go with the farm route, and go back to multiplayer with lots of gold. Or one could easily cheat in singleplayer and take cheated stuff to multiplayer.

I say yes to being able to play this game as a singleplayer game, but it should have 0 connections with the online game. Everything you do in singleplayer, has to stay in singleplayer.

Edit: A SP copy like that would be nice, so that way, you could unlock everything, which will allow to, for example, decorate a house and see how it looks, and if you like it, save gold for that house, gather the furniture and repicate it online. Also good for testing builds, so that you don't waste too much gold online.

Zolron

Yes, I would like the option to play in a Solo Phase

Maybe not the whole world but I wish their were options to enter the delves solo. If one chooses to enter them solo the mobs and boss do not respawn for 24 hrs !!