Story Mode Dungeons: Do we want them?

Smitch_59

YES. We want a story mode.

Interesting poll.

Been an Elder Scrolls fan since TESIII. ESO is the only MMORPG I've ever played. I'm a geezer in my 60s with slow reflexes and various health issues. In game terms I'm a max-CP-scrub-solo care-bear. I can't solo normal dungeons, although I can solo some world bosses. I'm not gonna drag a group down with my crappy DPS, and if I tried I'd probably get kicked. So I'll just continue playing solo content with no ESO+ and no DLC. Adding a dungeon solo-story mode would actually incentivize me to buy the DLC.

idk

Other:

TheFM wrote: »

Adam_Chattaway wrote: »

NO every game that did this killed off all social and online interactions. this is an MMO dont want to play with other go play an offline game. SWTOR did this and killed its entire online dungeon running community. if you ruin eso i WILL find you.

The New World was an open world survival full loot pvp game, not they just announced becasue some people cried in alpha they are REMOVING ALL OPEN WORLD PVP... wtf x100000000000000000000000000000000000

Exactly, swtor bombed through the floor when it came to social aspects when that damn story mode came out with invincible companions.

That is not why SWTOR bombed as it crashed long before then. Their slow pace of adding content was a big reason for their failure to keep players. SWTOR was released more than 3 years before ESO and just released 6.0 where ESO has will release 5.0 this year. Not to leave out the recent SWTOR expansions have a fraction of the story that a single ESO chapter or DLC has and they have to wait more than a year on average to get that.

Welfur

YES. We want a story mode.

Zatox wrote: »

Dont waste DEVs time to "story mode". This is MMO, go and find proper group. It is not hard, you just need to communicate with other people, not UI.

Well if people would act like actual intelligent and communicative people i would agree with you, sadly the experience of group finder users like me with dungeon finder is: 90% don't even know that there is a chat or if they know, they choose to ignore it. So often i feel like running a dungeon solo with 3 np's with varying degree of skillfull script. Which would not be so bad if they would let me experience the story.

Casdha

YES. We want a story mode.

1. I love it when folks say in one breath that it will cause folks to leave if they do not have the incentive to group up with others and in the very next one they tell them to leave if they don't like it.

2. It is more of a strain on the servers to group as it has to track you and your interactions with one another vs. tracking you as an individual. Both ways you are still being tracked. What an instance is as far as graphics assets are handled locally. For all intents and purposes text (yes dumbed down term) is the only thing that is passed back and forth between the player and the server. (What to display when, and where you are) Your machine has every item in the game it is just a yes or no check to whether you have possession and can use it. Combat is just a more complex version of this based on your character, what you are fighting/doing and math. (Ok player asked for this move, play this animation now and take this many HP away)
(edit: overland should be way more taxing on the servers, at least in populated areas than any instanced dungeon)

3.Folks interpretation of what Solo mode means is subject to their personal beliefs so I answered yes in the sense that something needs to be done. That doesn't mean necessarily that what I want matches what the next person wants when it comes to Main story content being locked behind group mechanics.

Nerouyn

Yoshihito wrote: »

Might I suggest playing The Elder Scrolls 1-5? This is an MMO, not a single player game. There are other games for a solo experience.

Nope.

The fact that ZO keep trying to lure players into dungeon and trial content - eg. making one of the Witches Festival achievements dungeon and trial based - tells us very clearly that this content isn't popular in its own right.

I initially started playing ESO as an MMO. I like MMOs. I like playing with others. But as an MMO, ESO doesn't fire on all cylinders.

What it does really well is single player story content. That's why many play it that way.

Story content in dungeons doesn't really work. Most players have heard / seen all the story stuff before and just want to rush through it.

On the rare occasions I do dungeon content I just quickly click through all dialog to get the quest completions. Cos I'm considerate and don't want to make everyone else wait.

And sometimes I can't even do that. I queue'd up for one during the recent event and the questgiver was in the midst of several groups of enemies. The rest of the team just ran past them. When I asked if I could get some help picking up the quest only one player came back to help me reach the questgiver.

My vague plan is to one day watch all of ESO's dungeon story content on youtube. When I get around to playing all the other content.

Ydrisselle

YES. We want a story mode.

Yoshihito wrote: »

Might I suggest playing The Elder Scrolls 1-5? This is an MMO, not a single player game. There are other games for a solo experience.

I own every Elder Scrolls games, and I've only played ESO. I'm a solo player by the way...

ZOS_GregoryV

Greetings all,

After removing a handful of posts, we must remind everyone that all posts should be kept civil, constructive, and within the guidelines of the rules we have in place. If there may be any questions in regards to the rules, please feel free to review them here.

Thank you for your understanding,
-Greg-

Iccotak

Yes. Although I don’t want a story mode, let people who want it have it.

@Nerouyn
I highly disagree - Dungeons are what got me fully back into the game.
I debating leaving before but when ZOS first released the dungeon finder I was hooked instantly - Dungeons are some of the best content in the game.
ZOS encourages them for events because they are fun.
Most people I meet are in three camps
- casual zone player for the story
- Dungeon & Trial players (many of us also enjoy the story)
- PvP

Paramedicus

NO. Do not add a story mode.

@Casdha
Mob AI and mechanics must be handled by servers CPU and also there is some RAM needed for evey spawned instance. So more instances = more resources needed. Dunno how much resources are used for calculating players interaction in one instance tho. Hard to tell which is 'cheaper' for server: many solo instances with many mobs but no players interacting vs less instances with less mobs overall but with players interaction added. Anyway, ur 2nd point is prolly invalid since we don't know the answer.

Fata1moose

YES. We want a story mode.

Solo mode dungeon yes, I don't quite want to call it "story mode" because that implies very easy combat. I want something a bit more where there are still mechanics but it scales for solo.

Also a veteran overland is something that needs to be added too on the opposite side of the spectrum it's too easy in groups or even solo for high level characters.

theyancey

YES. We want a story mode.

Absolutely! The more players in the game, including casual ones, the healthier the game and the community will be.

DarcyMardin

YES. We want a story mode.

Yes to story mode. (As I’ve been saying for ages). I would particularly like to actually experience the plot lines of last year’s and the coming year’s “year-long stories” in their respective DLC dungeons so I know WTH is going on.

*Please.* I’m a storyteller myself (novelist) and stories are important to me!

xaraan

YES. We want a story mode.

I have plenty of people to run dungeons with but I'd love to see this feature.

Just don't give the same types of drops and rewards and I can't see a problem with it. But would be great to just go through the story, not worry about making people wait like if you are with others that want to hurry through when grouping.

Edit: this would take a little more work from zos, but you could even do this on trials: Have a story mode where you don't fight the actual trial bosses, but maybe the area has already been destroyed by raiders and you only have to fight through scavengers or something in the area and you find some books/survivors that can tell you the story. Then you aren't giving away any of the actual trial vibe, but creating content from already existing work (with a little extra work).

Casdha

YES. We want a story mode.

Paramedicus wrote: »

@Casdha
Mob AI and mechanics must be handled by servers CPU and also there is some ram needed for evey spawned instance. So more instances = more resources needed. Dunno how much resources are used for calculating players interaction in one instance tho. Hard to tell which is 'cheaper' for server: many solo instances with many mobs but no player interacting vs less instances with less mobs overall but with player interaction added. Anyway, ur 2nd point is prolly invalid since we don't know the answer.

Yea I thought about addressing that after reading it. If the content becomes more popular and more people are trying to play it then it would be more taxing on the systems. Each computer in the server can only handle so many connections at once at a minimum due to ram limits, but cpu ram and lag produced by the client pc also play major parts. One person with a crappy rig could pull down a group if the coding didnt compensate for it.

Maybe the truth lies in this, they don't want it to be that popular/ more popular to do because they would have to reallocate hardware or run more of it.

Edit: As a side note, you would think that if solo instances were an issue that solo players trying to go into a group dungeon would also be subject to a queue. I have never had to wait to get into a group dungeon that I'm trying to solo.

xTypeSmoky

NO. Do not add a story mode.

How many casuals people in this game, my chagrin. You can also add story mode to the trials so that it does not take place in 12 people, but alone. ROFL

ArcVelarian

YES. We want a story mode.

Yes, but it should be officially named "Derp Mode".

ForfiniteStories

YES. We want a story mode.

Yes, I want them. And solo-able Trials as well.

Here is a thread on the SWTOR Reddit in regard to this topic. (SWTOR is my main MMORPG.)

Besides experiencing the story and not having to worry about a group forcing you to neglect it to complete the run ASAP, it is sometimes not easy finding a group for things. I remember having struggled for a year or two in finding one or a few individuals to help me with various content in Craglorn because I wanted to explore the land and all it offered to its fullest in chronological order, but I found myself out of luck and disappointed in the end. Thus my interest in ESO waned; and died completely on top of the fact that each story is strongly linear, such as the Dark Brotherhood DLC, where you couldn't even help the Temple of Julianos or whatnot against the Dark Brotherhood. Now I feel that I have to recreate my main character just because of the stain the DB DLC, etc, left on her legacy; she's a healer, not a murderer, but I did not know what to expect. Though the latter is a completely different subject and I dare not stray further from the main topic.

I eventually did manage to complete at least the main quest for Craglorn, and the funny thing is, the first few quests gave me the impression that I had to group for everything when it was just the first few quests. That being said, I thought I truly did get all the story I needed to know when I did get around to completing it, but I happened upon a guild that ran Trials and whatnot and we did a few Craglorn ones that revealed quite a bit about the story I realized I should have known about and done during its completion. All along, I only ate a pizza without the toppings when I thought I had eaten the entire thing.

Sincerely, former player/subscriber wanting to get back into things.

Linaleah

YES. We want a story mode.

ArcVelarian wrote: »

Yes, but it should be officially named "Derp Mode".

call it derp mode or baby mode or any other insult you can come up with. those of us who just want to experience the story at our own pace? do. not. CARE.

Contaminate

NO. Do not add a story mode.

It’s a waste of resources because no one repeats dungeons for the story, as if people would replay a story mode more than twice, three if we’re being incredibly generous.

You try to overhaul any dungeon for solo play, either you have to remove fights entirely, devolve them to just 100dmg light attacking “bosses”, or give the player invincible NPCs to carry them through it. You’d have to make it literally impossible to fail and at that point there is no impact of a story where nothing was a threat and victory was guaranteed from the start with no effort needed.

Nebthet78

YES. We want a story mode.

Here is the only important part of this whole argument ZOS is going to consider.

How many players are currently purchasing the DLC dungeons?
How many players are using ESO+ to access the DLC dungeons?

How many players are not doing either?

If they create a story mode, how many more players will buy the DLC dungeons or subscribe?
Is is significant enough to warrant the effort required to create this?

I think it is. Let's do it ZOS!!

James-Wayne

YES. We want a story mode.

Been asking for this since 2014. Well over due. Should help sales as well.

BaiterOfZergs

Yes. Although I don’t want a story mode, let people who want it have it.

I don’t see the issue.

TheNuminous1

haelene wrote: »

TheFM wrote: »

Mannix1958 wrote: »

I'm not sure what the downside of this proposal would be.

Even less people grouping, people getting rewards for doing nothing pretty much.

No one said they would get rewards. In fact, most of us agree that there would be no rewards so people would still have to run normal and vet for gear.

Also, I don't believe it would effect grouping at all considering the ones that would use it aren't grouping anyways (or are using pre-mades, which wouldn't change).

Exactly! People that are not even using the group finder or doing dungeons at all are the ones requesting for this mode of play. There is no reason not to add this and it will not effect current grouping populations for dungeons and trials.

And while everyone seems to agree that they are ok with no rewards i disagree, just make the reward type different. Maybe no set pieces or something. But regardless no one should get nothing for completing any kind of content.

Nestor

Yes. Although I don’t want a story mode, let people who want it have it.

TheNuminous1 wrote: »

And while everyone seems to agree that they are ok with no rewards i disagree, just make the reward type different. Maybe no set pieces or something. But regardless no one should get nothing for completing any kind of content.

There should still be Mob Loot, I think that has been mentioned, if not in this thread, I know I have suggested it in other threads. Boss Loot should be a cut above Delve Boss Loot, but dungeon set pieces should not be part of the table. Perhaps Zone Set items, where the Bosses drop the same loot as Delve Bosses, just a higher chance of Purples as an example.

Nomadic_Atmoran

Yes. Although I don’t want a story mode, let people who want it have it.

I think a story mode would be a respectable middle ground compromise. It wouldn't take too much work to reorganize the dungeon to support a single or two players to move through it and complete the story. Doesn't need any achievements or goodies and would let players looking for four man dungeon content to continue to get it while the players that prefer to play alone would still be able to enjoy the story.

Alinhbo_Tyaka

Yes. Although I don’t want a story mode, let people who want it have it.

I see no reason not to create a story or tourist mode. I would still run regular dungeon content for the drops and group activity. I can see myself occasionally going into a dungeon as a tourist to get a better look at the graphics, etc that I don't see when rushing through with a group. It's kind of sad that groups don't take more time to appreciate the work that goes into the atmosphere of an instance and even with the longer exit timer there isn't enough time to do it when the run is over.

barney2525

YES. We want a story mode.

zvavi wrote: »

Two main downsides.
1. More instances on the server side means more lag, rip PC EU.
2. Some players that came for the single player, have stayed for the multiplayer, if dungeons had story mode, those players wouldnt stay, and eso would lose customers.
3. Stop flooding the forums with the same thread.

As devil's advocate....

1 - We know there are major performance changes coming in March. Can we please stop complaining about the current lag and see how much is fixed when the new game is installed?

2 - I don't follow the logic. If they came for the 'single player' and stayed for the multi, then they would do the same for story mode

3 - Freedom of making threads is a basic right of all players. Let the moderators decide if something needs to be removed

IMHO

m2rc

NO. Do not add a story mode.

Singleplayer dungeons??? The whole point of a dungeon is to do it with other people! You can still enjoy the story of the dungeon, you just have to pay attention and read the quest description if you're stuck.

Linaleah

YES. We want a story mode.

m2rc wrote: »

Singleplayer dungeons??? The whole point of a dungeon is to do it with other people! You can still enjoy the story of the dungeon, you just have to pay attention and read the quest description if you're stuck.

WHEN? when do you get to do that, when the rest of your group is sprinting right past every npc, skipping everything that they can get away with? WHEN do you enjoy the story, when best case scenario, they wait long enough for you to click on npc to progress the quest, forget exploratory conversation options or talking with any other npc's....

oh you want to read the lore? lolnope, best case scenario, you get just enough time to click on it to unlock it, and then hope you find the right pages in a right order after you are out of the dungeon.

best possible case scenario is that maybe, just maybe after some effort and scheduling you manage to set up a group to do A dungeon for the story. and even then, because in so many of them - once you finish talking to npc - they move on, even if other members of the group - haven't yet, so if you are that other member of the group - no rest of the dialogue for YOU.

sigh...

Ashfen

YES. We want a story mode.

Linaleah wrote: »

WHEN? when do you get to do that, when the rest of your group is sprinting right past every npc, skipping everything that they can get away with? WHEN do you enjoy the story, when best case scenario, they wait long enough for you to click on npc to progress the quest, forget exploratory conversation options or talking with any other npc's....

oh you want to read the lore? lolnope, best case scenario, you get just enough time to click on it to unlock it, and then hope you find the right pages in a right order after you are out of the dungeon.

best possible case scenario is that maybe, just maybe after some effort and scheduling you manage to set up a group to do A dungeon for the story. and even then, because in so many of them - once you finish talking to npc - they move on, even if other members of the group - haven't yet, so if you are that other member of the group - no rest of the dialogue for YOU.

sigh...

Yes !
I'm so tired of reading that we just claim an "easy mode". It's not a question a difficulty, it's just about having the possibility to enjoy the story and the lore.

Fata1moose wrote: »

Solo mode dungeon yes, I don't quite want to call it "story mode" because that implies very easy combat. I want something a bit more where there are still mechanics but it scales for solo.

That's exactly what i think.