Is solo play really a thing? (Read pls)

Recent

Hello there,
I am asking a genuine question here. Solo play can get stagnant and extremely lonely in an rpgmmo not to mention that there are basic things that one wants to achieve where a group of ppl are needed. I personally enjoy doing a lot of solo content but i do need my trading guild to sell things..i dont want to spend hrs spamming zone chat to sell an item honestly.
I will need help in some dlc dungeon cos mechanics make it impossible to solo...ffs im not leet in any sense.
My question is how...how do you play this game solo and feel satisfied and like you are achieving something..i play for the endorphins...those feel good feelings i get when i achieve a task etc.

Please share anything you want to discuss here as a solo player...really anything. I genuinely appreciate all replies eccept rude comments ☺

daim

Thats exactly what I do.

I'm in a trading guild to sell stuff, not that I would need to but I'm a hoarder and can't throw stuff away.

I've played solo for years. There are a lot of content that I haven't yet done even that I have played on and off since beta. I've soloed dungeons (those that can be soloed) and zone bosses. Collecting and unlocking stuff. That's just how I like to play ESO. I don't like to group up but I like how the game feels.

Back in vanilla wow I used to do a lot of hc raiding. I guess I got my doze of it back then.

LunaFlora

i do not play exclusively alone, but completing quests even daily repeatable quests i can do alone so often do it alone.

the people i do play together with sometimes are often offline when i am online so it is hard to not play alone

jaws343

I don't fully understand your question here.

There are absolutely solo things to do in game. All overland, all questing, even solo arenas and eventually even soloing dungeons for players.

There are also group activities and group/guild related content.

But I think it is an oversimplification to say that the moment someone joins a guild for a trader, for example, they are no longer solo playing the game. I've joined countless guilds to sell things and never had a convo with a single player in them. I do group content as well, but the majority of my time in game is spent doing things on my own.

Frankly, the only way you aren't going to find enjoyment in playing a game for solo content, including an mmo, is if you must have human interaction in your video game play time.

Personally, I play video games to get away from people for the most part. I deal with enough people at work, I hang out with my friends doing things, and I spend my personal time playing video games alone. Whether that is ESO, Fallout, Star Wars, etc, it doesn't really make a difference. A video game is as enjoyable as it is and I don't need others to get that enjoyment out them. That being said, I still enjoy grouping here or there for content, but I don't require it to enjoy a game. Because games for me are a personal enjoyment and less of a social need.

SeaGtGruff

I play solo the vast majority of the time, and routinely skip any content that either can't be soloed due to mechanics or is just too difficult for my character to solo.

I seldom group with any friends, guildmates, or random players in order to complete content that I can't solo (that is, I don't put out a call for help so I can complete the content), although I do group on occasion if someone invites me but only if I'm not already occupied with something else.

On the other hand, I frequently join other players without grouping up, to help them kill a world boss or shut down a volcanic vent or other group event, if I see them call for help in /zone chat or /guild chat and I'm not otherwise occupied. I don't group unless they send me an invite (if I had responded to their call with "omw"), and I don't ask them to share their quest with me, because I prefer to just show up and help out.

disintegr8

I like solo play, not being forced to do this or that, not being 'hit up' every time I log on and hassled to do certain things. You set your own agenda, do whatever you feel like, or enjoy doing.

I don't run around randomly and generally have a goal that I'm chasing in that session. It may be collecting skill points for a character (I have 18), doing crafting writs, leveling skill lines on characters, completing a zone, farming leads/sets/materials, even cleaning up inventory (boring but necessary).

Recently I finished getting all companions for all my characters and I'm currently working on Scrying for the most played ones (I took about 3 years off). I very rarely log on without an idea of what I want to do for that session and with 18 characters, I have plenty of choice.

Having said that, I've been playing with an oversees friend since very early in the game, probably about 25-30% of my ESO time is with him. Mostly it's for the company, but it does help to put aside some of the harder or more boring content until we are both on, to make it easier or less boring (we can both do most content solo). Having company is also good in Cyrodiil, doing it solo is so boring.

When it comes to larger group content and trading, yes guilds very much make it easier. Running random groups in new trials is not really my cup of tea, so will usually wait until I'm in a guild to do them. Once I'm comfortable with a trial, say 2 or 3 runs down, I'd happily play my role in a random group (normal only).

Nightowl_74

I belong to several guilds but consider myself a solo player. I've never participated in dungeons or anything that requires a grouped instance or any level of organization. Sometimes other people happen to also be fighting the thing I'm fighting, or I'll join a dragon fight or harrowstorm. Stuff like that.

The parts of the game I really enjoy are questing and housing. I'm more a decorator and gatherer/crafter than an achievement hunter, so my feeling of satisfaction with the game isn't really tied to accomplishment. Sometimes I log on and spend an hour deciding exactly where and in which house to place an item, and that type of thing makes me happy. Fishing also makes me happy, I like to fish a lot. Another thing I had a lot of fun doing was the Litany of Blood, but I finished that a long time ago. I do still enjoy DB dailies, but not as much as I enjoyed deciphering the clues in the book and hunting for the targets. Anyway, those are some of my personal feel goods!

Amottica

The game can easily be played solo though there is some of it, a small part of it, that does require groups. That makes sense as it caters to a full spectrum of the player base.

Considering we have five guild slots available we can easily keep our trad guild and use one or more of the other slots to find a nice casual or more serious guild to run group content with. Heck, I have seen guilds do raids and dungeons as well as WB and world event runs.

This is how much of the game operates as we group for group content and often quest on our own.

frogthroat

Recent wrote: »

how do you play this game solo and feel satisfied and like you are achieving something..i play for the endorphins...those feel good feelings i get when i achieve a task etc.

I got more endorphins from soloing Bloodroot Forge than from finishing vMA.

JARTHEGREY

I play exclusively as a Solo player and I do get frustrated sometimes. I've reached endgame on my 1st character (although I haven't managed to complete the last few imperial City quests as they require assistance).

I have 6 other characters and I am slowly going through the quests with them but I find I am getting 'bored' now - I'm not reading the text quite as much and just 'going through the motions'.

I have ESO Plus but I am really thinking of knocking it all on the head to be honest. I know this is an Online MMO but I really would like better support for trading. i.e. not having to use a Guild Trader or at least - make the Guild Trader UI easier to use. Also, having merchants with 'limited' funds (like Skyrim) would be great.

But I guess the clue is in the name - it's a MMORPG.

colossalvoids

As a solo player I generally don't go for dopamine rush, mean I was years ago for example doing VMA for the first times etc. but generally it's going from doing group activities, where it's not only my own responsibility but a group coordination making it special. Solo activities are mostly means to supply my group time and getting lore bits or achievement hunting if any are left.

Liguar

This is a great game for having plenty of things to do solo, or with a friend or several. If on any given day I can't figure out what I want to do, I log off and play something completely different.

The ability to join multiple guilds for different things is pretty great, even if I myself only belong to one.

disintegr8 wrote: »

I like solo play, not being forced to do this or that, not being 'hit up' every time I log on and hassled to do certain things. You set your own agenda, do whatever you feel like, or enjoy doing.

This is spot on though!

XSTRONG

75% of my Eso play time i play solo the other 25% are I like to do random dungeons, battlegrounds and some stuff with my trading guild.

mdjessup4906

I started this game as a solo player who only joined guilds for free ports. I just did quests and solo'd dungeons for the lore/story.

I do group stuff now, mostly as a tank, but soloing group dungeons is still my favorite thing to do. There's just something about being in them by myself that I like. Maybe because I'm not "supposed to" lol.

AvalonRanger

Is ESO even MMORPG? Basically, ESO is 1000 years ago version Skyrim now.
Not so MMO game anymore. But It's not problem for me also. Because I can enjoy this game
as pure Elder Scrolls game rather than MMO genre.

I focus on solo story contents mostly. I play group dungeon daily as tank role,
but only for gear and resource farming purpose, not for enjoying. I also go PVP zone
sometimes, but only for "support skill grinding", not for enjoying ESO style PVP itself.
I hate both PVE and PVP ESO style combat as action game fan anyway.

Building house decoration, take a much of picture of all Tamriel, then I'm good enough
as one of Elder Scrolls fan. I'm playing solo mostly, but very happy.

SilverBride

Recent wrote: »

My question is how...how do you play this game solo and feel satisfied and like you are achieving something..i play for the endorphins...those feel good feelings i get when i achieve a task etc.

I achieve a lot solo. I've done every quest in every zone on 4 characters and am working on the 5th now. All my characters' crafts are maxed, antiquities maxed, every museum piece in the game found, psijiic skill line completed. I get a lot of satisfaction from completing these things.

I recently started queuing for dungeons and doing pledges so I could max Undaunted for the passives. I've also completed every base game dungeon in normal and vet so I could equip my characters with monster helms. And I've farmed leads for Oakensoul and the Wading Kilt, so my characters are better geared.

Those things are group content but the reason I did them is so my characters are now more powerful and can complete more activities solo. And it was a good experience in almost every run.

I am in a trade guild but I consider that a solo activity. They are the storefront but are not involved in placing and selling my items for me.

I want to add that I'm often chatting with friends while I'm running around doing my thing, so I have plenty of social interaction even though I'm doing my activities solo.

Nestor

I play almost exclusively Solo. I will group for the occasional Dungeon or Trial. I am in 3 Guilds and from time to time do things with them.

Mostly I log in, do stuff, leave and never interact with anyone.

Northwold

I only play solo and concentrate on housing and whatever I need to do to be doing that, public dungeons or whatever they're called, and some group dungeons (soloed, so mainly base game as most of the DLC dungeons are too hard), world bosses, together with questing when a new chapter's out and just generally wandering around to relax.

It's fun enough, now, but what I would say is that, played solo, the game suffers from a quite severe "mid game" problem where overland content becomes far too easy to be satisfying solo, while stuff like dungeons remains too hard, that only starts improving probably around CP800 or so. So that bit in the middle I found really, really tedious. The addition of companions has probably helped a bit with this.