BrassRazoo wrote: »

Craglorn is not able to be soloed.
To all that are saying it they must not have actually done it.
There are a number of quests, the main storyline being the big problem ...

Craglorn isn't part of the main storyline. It's just the story of the zone itself like every other zone. Craglorn is one zone, one zone out of all where you need a group. So what you say is, players that like group-play (in a MMO) shouldn't have story-content at all?

Sorry, but the success of other MMOs out there is speaking another language. If you would ask me, I would say one of the main problems of ESO is the lack of more meaningfull group content and that the leveling is way to easy. So, if you ask different people, you will get different opinions and if we look at what differs ESO from successful p2p titles out there, the forced grouping is not a problem at all, because it's all completely optional. Why are MMOs, where you can't even reach the max-level without grouping and can't complete the story without grouping more successful than ESO? Because grouping is such a bad thing? I sincerely doubt that.

Elijah_Crow wrote: »

I'll even do one better. If any of you are DC who want to complete Craglorn content, private message me and I will personally come out to tank for you, bring my wife to heal and one of my siblings or friends to help you complete it.

This is the idea. Requiring this gives you an opportunity to meet people and share experiences. This in my opinion should be an important part of all parts of the game from questing to crafting, to PvP.

Is that DC NA or EU?

It's an mmo stop asking for single player content blablablablabla you know the drill

The issue here is not to make craglorn soloable but to give incentive for players to do the quests again so you can find group members. But please noooo mooooore solo content

I think players should be able to hire a couple of NPC mercenaries to help them out. To encourage grouping they could have you get an XP or loot bonus if you have a full group of players. But at least this way anyone who can't get a group would still be able to quest. NPC's would, of course, have a few commands so the player can instruct them to do simple things like stand on a spot or pull a lever. One could choose from tank, dps or healer roles for their NPC.

HBK wrote: »

Enaijo wrote: »

So what you say is, players that like group-play (in a MMO) shouldn't have story-content at all?

Most of the questing/leveling content is already "groupable".

Only bugs/hitches (which should be fixed/ironed out) and "solo instances" (which are also design mistakes, enforcing solo play in a MMO is insane) prevent you from doing so.

Most of the "none-forced-group-content" in ESO is boring as hell. Have you ever done a few normal quests with 2 or 3 people? Hit one button, enemy is dead ... yeah, that's really gameplay that everyone likes ... not.

Everyone who is reasonable can see, that ZeniMax will never invest the time and money that's needed to make Craglorn "soloable". All you would get as official response would be "there are more solo-zones in the works".

WraithAzraiel wrote: »

2 zones are group-encouraged (Craglorn and Cyrodiil).

Umm, no. I can wander Cyrodiil solo. Craglorn, I have to be in a group to enter anything. So not the same.

[Moderator Note: Edited quote format to display properly]

You guys realize you don't have to have the quest to provide the 'open-the-door' part of the content, right?

Most of those have some ugliness within, so you're probably going to want four people to fight, three at least, two bare minimum.

As for the brief part requiring access, put out in zone chat that you need three other people long enough to stand on a pressure plate or unlock a door. After that, it's fair game. (Though most of you won't clear it solo or even duo.) You can assist with these even if you never picked up the quest, or have long completed it.

Crag is optional content and does not need to be made any more soloable than it currently is. For everyone out there struggling with this, you need only find three others like yourselves and you're set. (Just understand that you may have to assist them in catching up to the step you are on in order to progress.)

Would like to complete Craglorn one day as well...been quite some months since I got there and made no progress due to lack of people wanting to group up..

Enaijo wrote: »

Audigy wrote: »

Fact is, forced group content has no future in MMOs. Every MMO that tried this, has failed and went F2P. You need the Casuals, you need those who run with passer byes.

Fact is, without forced group content, MMOs have no future ...

You don't have to do craglorn if you can't solo it. Craglorn has nothing someone "needs" + there are more singleplayer-zones in the works.

Group-/Adventure-Zones are the single point, the single point about the "endgame" of ESO that I really love. If you take this away, what's there? Only the same that you can find in any other MMO and most of it done badly.

The second biggest subscription-MMO has forced group-content for the main-story, not optional ... starting at level ~17, not endgame ... and it has millions of paying players. So, forced group-content is not a problem at all, no matter what you try to make the people believe.

You are wrong.

At WOW the game you obviously refer to only about 5-10% of the players raid in guilds up to Mythic. Are you really thinking that those 10% keep WOW alive? As much I dislike WOW and the road its gone, their move to F2P should teach everyone of the hardcores out there, that you are not more important to those companies than the Casuals.

I could say many things now about why you are naïve to think that your small amount of hardcores pay the bills, but hey its not on me to teach you how MMO´s work today and what target group they have.

Pretty much every MMO now has item shops, most of them offer sub free playing, raid content is extremely limited and is cut thinner every year. Look at WS, a wonderful game, but 10 years too late. The designers said at a press conference recently, that their move to large raids and forced grouping was a mistake and doesn't work anymore.
Blizzard only releases 2 raid tiers and not 5 or 4 like in their first years. Really, is the reasoning behind all of this so hard to understand?

The days are long gone when those who had all day to play made the majority of an MMO´s population. Todays its the dad, the mom and the employed citizen who plays a few hours a week and pays the bills. Screw them off and your game goes down the drain, its simple.

I assure you, in 5 or 10 years when you wont have that much time anymore, raise a kid or two, work abroad and hang out in the clubs, raiding will also not be an option for you anymore.

I for one am all for getting rid of those reduculous 4 man door locks. If a person is capable, there should be no such restriction to content. If you are a group of 2-3 you should be able to access those quest lines locked behind doors. But the current 'difficulty' should not be nerfed.

It is possible to solo (or duo) everything not locked behind those 4man doors. (And everything behind them too, if you have some guys help unlock it for you...)

riverdragon72 wrote: »

90% of this game is soloable, we don't need another soloable zone.

Here is the major flaw in this statement.

Options to level a VR11+ you have solo. You have Cyrodiil repeatable quests, PvP in general, or grinding.

Zos doesn't want us grinding, and a large population does not want to engage in pvp.

So, you have crap solo play options to level VR11+.

m.stollb16_ESO wrote: »

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

As for the brief part requiring access, put out in zone chat that you need three other people long enough to stand on a pressure plate or unlock a door. After that, it's fair game. (Though most of you won't clear it solo or even duo.) You can assist with these even if you never picked up the quest, or have long completed it.

I know they've changed some of the doors that blocked non-questers since release (I think the door in Balamath, for example), but can you enter the dungeon in the end (last one in lower Craglorn at the lake) now, if you've already completed that quest?

Also, about 6 months ago I tried to enter the boss room in Ruins of Kardala with a char that was on the quest and I was able to enter the room while another person in my group that wasn't on the quest could not enter. The same thing for the door that blocks access to the boss room in Tombs of the Na-Totambu. In a group of 4, only the 2 players that were on the quest could enter. So did they change that since October 2014?

Even if this is optional content (now that completing all quests in the VR 1-10 zones only gets you to about VR 11, I'm not sure if I'd call it optional), it's still stupid quest design that there's one-time quests that you can only complete with other players that are on the same quest (which they can only do once).

@m.stollb16_ESO , I know you can enter Balmath and kill the boss there more than once. Kardala also worked, as we had someone that had completed the quest already help with pressure plates and he was also able to enter (though I was surprised).

The end quest for Lower and Upper both may be the exception, as I have not tried them more than once, nor have I visited the area after the kill.

I suspect it would work though (Quest marker may not show above 'key' but I believe they remain interactable.

infraction2008b16_ESO wrote: »

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

Crag is optional content and does not need to be made any more soloable than it currently is. For everyone out there struggling with this, you need only find three others like yourselves and you're set. (Just understand that you may have to assist them in catching up to the step you are on in order to progress.)

Technically it's not as it's the only zone outside of cyrodiil with repeatable PVE quests. ZoS pretty much have given players the ultimatum of either being forced into pvp or into groups which was pretty much a dumb move. Also add the fact to gain access to the trial quests you require completion of a one time quest that you need 4 players on the same quest to push a button it's definetely not optional.

Also when wrothgar and other areas come most people will lose interest in craglorn. It will just become dead content like a lot of the almanac areas, therefore IMO it needs to be boarderline soloable to ensure players can still get through it after there's even less interest than there is now.

@infraction2008b16_ESO There are 16 non vet dungeons and 10 Vet dungeons that you can run to your heart's content. I believe there is only one repeatable in Crag that requires four people to unlock a door (Critical Mass), the rest can be entered solo, though most will not be clearable without help.

Even if you are not into PvP, you can enter Cyro up to a group of 24 and knock out PvE/Dolmens without concern of PvP - you are less likely to get engaged in those numbers, esp. if you are questing. Under enlightenment, there is 1.5 million XP's to be had daily from the Cyro PvE repeatables. There are also several sharable one-time quests to be found, as well.

The argument of "They give you no other choice, except for this other choice." doesn't hold a lot of water when you look at it that way.

Cyro means chance of PvP, but it doesn't automaticallly mean only PvP or even guaranteed PvP.

Regarding the mainline quests in Crag, again, you can both assist and get assistance from others regardless of where they are/are not in the quest chain. The only exception being the last quest in the chains.

You can (and I have) cleared much of Crag's content solo. It's not necessarily easy, but it can be done.

Either way, I'm sure they are bound to add more repeatables elsewhere to give people some variety. Things like Critical, even Trials (in many cases) are only going to burn up 30 minutes or so at most.

I would prefer they released Murkmire as a end game solo content. Leave craglorn be. It is easy enough to solo almost everything in it if needed. What is impossible to solo - just leave it.

Ah I forgot, the REASON why it needs to stay that way, is after finally starting to get groups for craglorn, I actually had MORE fun than at anytime ever playing eso. This game is so fun when grouping...so jump in there, quit complaining now, and just do it. It's a blast

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

The argument of "They give you no other choice, except for this other choice." doesn't hold a lot of water when you look at it that way.

It holds plenty of water, this game has the elder scrolls name attracted to it after all it should give you more choices on how and what you do with your time in game... not put barriers up and push you one way or the other.

While you might enjoy grouping for everything or PvP have you thought that some people might not enjoy having to find groups for every single little thing or might not like being a target in the alliance war?