How do you spend the majority of your time playing in ESO? Group or Solo?

Jade1986 · November 2017

Zorvan wrote: »

Jade1986 wrote: »

Zorvan wrote: »

Jade1986 wrote: »

33 like mostly solo, and five only like solo. So in the group of MOSTLY soloing you have 38

12 Mostly group and 25 it is 5050 split ( which would count to enjoying both aspects of the game, which includes grouping ), that is 37.

So the group of mostly only soloing is 38, and those who enjoy soloing AND grouping is 37. You cannot include the people who enjoy both equally in the group of ONLY enjoying solo. It doesnt work that way because then you would be excluding the fact that they enjoy grouping too.

Again, it is clear that the majority of players enjoy BOTH solo AND group content. And I have said that from the get go, that the majority of people enjoy a mix of both questing solo, and group content.

Except why are you only giving the 50/50's to the groupers and not also to the soloers? Try again.

No. The way you are interpreting it, and we all know it, is you are trying to prove that people enjoy solo over grouping more. And with the 5050 crowd that is not the case, we enjoy both equally. So you cannot include us into your solo-centric group. We belong with the group who enjoys mostly grouping and a little solo. As it is clear that we enjoy both aspects, and find both important. Your poll is BIAS AF. If you wanted to make it more accurate it should have read.

What content is important to you.

Solo only
Group only
A mix of both

In which case you would have def seen " a mix of both " on top.

So basically, you're trying to accuse me of rigging the poll, while you rig the poll?

Am I understanding you correctly?

How on earth would that be rigging it? You -have- to solo to play the game, so -naturally- the numbers for time being spent solo are going to be higher. The way I wrote it is asking what content is important to people, giving solo and group content equal say in the matter. If there were group instances to solo quests with higher difficulties with improved rewards and complexer / more interesting mechanics you could bet your booty my vote would have went from 5050

> mostly grouped.

jabrone77 wrote: »

Zorvan wrote: »

jabrone77 wrote: »

Zorvan wrote: »

jabrone77 wrote: »

Like I said in the other post, there is a middle ground. There is room for both solo and group play.
This still doesn't mean you should be entitled to every reward because you only play one way.
The other post asked why ZOS locked rewards behind group activity when most play solo. This poll could be 100% solo players...still doesn't mean ZOS isn't right to put rewards behind group activity.
Of course leveling, questing, and most normal dungeons can be solo'ed. It would be ridiculous to say it isn't. That still doesn't mean you should get the reward if you fail to meet the requirements laid out by ZOS...in this case using the activity finder tool.
I don't understand what this is trying to prove beyond "I only play this way so I should have a way to get everything" entitled BS.
No game hands out rewards if you don't meet the requirement to earn that reward.

This poll is merely to find out how people play the game. The poll is as fair as I could seem to make it. So yeah. And if you're going to continue arguing the point of another threads' topic, please argue it in that thread. Thanks so much.

But why are you looking to see how people play the game? What's the reason behind the need to find this out?

Personally, I believe more people solo than group. This is to test that hypothesis.

Of course they do solo activity. As I said, most leveling and questing and gathering is centered around solo play. Why the need to test such obvious outcome? What's the reason to test what's already known?

Exactly, the way the poll is done is bias as all hell. It is clear that zos has made the game far more solo friendly than group friendly, so naturally while you are waiting to group you will spend most of your time solo. That is the nature of the game. The way this poll is done is trying to discredit the importance of group play or the importance of having a balance in content.

duendology · November 2017

Mostly solo because:

a) I like to wander A LOT and take time while "delving" etc: checking every box, backpack, crate or.. dark corners, and groups usually storm into a delve or alike...skyshard then boss, or boss then skyshard..aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand they're done.

b) I don't want to deal with feverish players who get hysterical because other people don't play by their rules...aka they take the game a little too seriously. I get that anyone who wants to group should learn at least the basics of this game's mechanics.. but really, I am a laid-back person and am here for fun NOT for scores.
Having said that it would be great to find a group of equally laid-back and chill people who do dungeons or trials and don't get bat**** crazy if you make a mistake or two.

AnviOfVai · November 2017

PVP player here and I often run solo, Sometimes I will join a group if invited but I never lfg anymore Unless an event is going on

DieAlteHexe · November 2017

duendology wrote: »

Mostly solo because:

a) I like to wander A LOT and take time while "delving" etc: checking every box, backpack, crate or.. dark corners, and groups usually storm into a delve or alike...skyshard then boss, or boss then skyshard..aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand they're done.

b) I don't want to deal with feverish players who get hysterical because other people don't play by their rules...aka they take the game a little too seriously. I get that anyone who wants to group should learn at least the basics of this game's mechanics.. but really, I am a laid-back person and am here for fun NOT for scores.
Having said that it would be great to find a group of equally laid-back and chill people who do dungeons or trials and don't get bat**** crazy if you make a mistake or two.

I had a group like that back in the EQ days and it was wonderful. Alas, nothing quite the same since. My guild is laid back but we're all mainly "journey, not destination" sorts and play at really odd times, rarely all at one time.

phairdon · November 2017

Group for Kvatch arena, Folly and occasionally, world bosses.

Asardes · November 2017

I alternate between solo content: questing, exploring, dailies, crafting writs and group content like dungeons and trials. I've been running HotR dungeons, vDSA and vet trials a lot lately, but also exploring CWC and picking pockets in Vvardenfell - some CWC dailies require stolen items and I'm missing some specific achievements on my main character.

TheShadowScout · November 2017

My playstyle? I think this one pretty much sums it up...

(and all the rest of them too! https://imgur.com/gallery/o6nCS

)

Shardan4968 · November 2017

Mostly solo, but not "very little" grouping, just less than solo.

Kiralyn2000 · November 2017

I suppose it depends on the definition of "grouping".

I'll join in with others at a dolmen or rampaging down the corridors of a delve/public dungeon.

On the other hand, I've only been actually added to a Group... once. (hanging around near a world boss to kill in Wrothgar)

starlizard70ub17_ESO · November 2017

Actually a little less then 50/50, more like 35% group and 65% solo. But that's because my guilds aren't always on the same time I am.

monktoasty · November 2017

Solo except for group dungeons. But even solo..there's strangers adventuring by my side many times as we do the same quests.

eklhaftb16_ESO · November 2017

No matter how poorly worded the poll question may be, it's fairly obvious that the majority of people will group only when necessitated by the game mechanics - and if the same content was available in solo or public mode, they likely wouldn't bother grouping at all. That's not just ESO, that's a general trend in contemporary MMORPGs and the reason why most of the new MMORPGs have "open world dynamic events", individual loot and no mob-tagging.

We get it, you guys love to group. That's perfectly okay, knock yourself out. Just, please, don't act as if it was some sort of popular nation-wide pastime. Last time someone tried to build a MMORPG around group content, it almost bankrupted and had to go F2P.

Daimmyo · November 2017

I enjoy ESO for questing and general exploration, I group usually when getting to a boss which is difficult for me to solo but just by hailing in the local chat to see if anyone is up to it.

In PvP, I will probably join the random group of players around objective.

Don't have that much time to do dungeons, but I will probably try to PUG them.

Jade1986 · November 2017

eklhaftb16_ESO wrote: »

No matter how poorly worded the poll question may be, it's fairly obvious that the majority of people will group only when necessitated by the game mechanics - and if the same content was available in solo or public mode, they likely wouldn't bother grouping at all. That's not just ESO, that's a general trend in contemporary MMORPGs and the reason why most of the new MMORPGs have "open world dynamic events", individual loot and no mob-tagging.

We get it, you guys love to group. That's perfectly okay, knock yourself out. Just, please, don't act as if it was some sort of popular nation-wide pastime. Last time someone tried to build a MMORPG around group content, it almost bankrupted and had to go F2P.

But we can never get a picture if what you say is true, for one simple reason, we dont know. I am however willing to bet that the majority of people enjoy more than just one thing, making the whole picture important, not just solo or grouped. You are technically soloing even when waiting for groups, so the way the poll was made gives a heavily skewed picture in favor of the ops bias.

Kel · November 2017

eklhaftb16_ESO wrote: »

No matter how poorly worded the poll question may be, it's fairly obvious that the majority of people will group only when necessitated by the game mechanics - and if the same content was available in solo or public mode, they likely wouldn't bother grouping at all. That's not just ESO, that's a general trend in contemporary MMORPGs and the reason why most of the new MMORPGs have "open world dynamic events", individual loot and no mob-tagging.

We get it, you guys love to group. That's perfectly okay, knock yourself out. Just, please, don't act as if it was some sort of popular nation-wide pastime. Last time someone tried to build a MMORPG around group content, it almost bankrupted and had to go F2P.

Who is saying otherwise? I'm saying this poll exsists to try and prove one style of gameplay should be equally rewarded as another when a special event is created for one style over the other.
And if that wasn't the case, Zorvan would be here telling you that's not what he's trying to accomplish with this poll. But because your view is in line with his, he won't do that. Proving this is a bias poll and he's looking for a outcome supporting his own view.
By all means, play solo..we get it..you like to play solo. But don't act like you get the reward for not doing what the requirements are for getting said reward.
Pretty simple, really..

ADarklore · November 2017

The problem is... some who prefer to group are commenting in this poll trying to convince ZOS that there are more people who want group content, thus ZOS should create more group-only content in the future. But what everyone forgets, and I keep harping on, is that ZOS already has the data, they can easily tell who runs one type of content, who runs both, who runs a mix, etc. So these polls really do nothing to help ZOS and only further the divide and add even more angst to the forums. I think it's pretty clear that ESO is solo-centric based upon the amount of content developed for solo players versus what is available for groups. If grouping were more popular, they wouldn't have changed Craglorn or eliminated the plans for a second group-only zone. Yet, those who prefer grouped content cannot accept the reality of this fact, they continue to dispute the 'mostly solo' crowd is the majority in this game, even when 90% of the game is geared towards soloing.

Storymaster · November 2017

ADarklore wrote: »

The problem is... some who prefer to group are commenting in this poll trying to convince ZOS that there are more people who want group content, thus ZOS should create more group-only content in the future. But what everyone forgets, and I keep harping on, is that ZOS already has the data, they can easily tell who runs one type of content, who runs both, who runs a mix, etc. So these polls really do nothing to help ZOS and only further the divide and add even more angst to the forums. I think it's pretty clear that ESO is solo-centric based upon the amount of content developed for solo players versus what is available for groups. If grouping were more popular, they wouldn't have changed Craglorn or eliminated the plans for a second group-only zone. Yet, those who prefer grouped content cannot accept the reality of this fact, they continue to dispute the 'mostly solo' crowd is the majority in this game, even when 90% of the game is geared towards soloing.

I can assure you ZOS has all of the behind-the-screens metrics on how people play, despite how the selfsame people perceive how they play, and then post about that on the forums.

ZOS certainly will not be looking to the forums for such answers.

Zimbugga · November 2017

I have friends, so... Everything is easier with them.

Kamatsu · November 2017

HuawaSepp wrote: »

Didn't think that so many people play solo.
I wouldn't even play without a group and without teamspeak.
Even for grinding in skyreach I need TS.
Even for MSA I need at least TS.

Here's the thing - what you're experiencing is associative bias. People by default will seek like-minded players, so those who prefer/like group gameplay will naturally seek out and associate with people with similar interest's. This means that what you will see and experience is the majority of players being of similar mindset as you... but because you do not associate with those who play/like/prefer different things, you do not see them as being the majority.

I would bet that the guild(s) your in are for doing vet dungeons, trials, DLC dungeons, pledge's, selling loot via a trade kiosk... right? And I bet you spend most of your time hanging around dungeon entrances, or the quest pick-up/turn-in points for dungeons, pledges, etc... right? You don't go out questing and seeing the dozens upon dozens of people in each quest area doing the quest's... why would you, since you don't go there?

Fact is if you look back at the history of MMO's... it's the solo player that is the majority, and is the reason why MMO's made it as popular as they are/were. Prior to WoW MMO's were group-only & group-focused, they were hard games that were not accessible to the majority of players... and they struggled to get to 200K players - yes, back in the days Everquest with it's ~200K players was considered HUGE.

Then came along WoW and changed the landscape of MMO's forever. Why? Because it was accessible to everyone. Anyone could log in, roll a Hunter and complete all the overland quest's. Why do you think there were so many Hunter's in the game? It was the perfect solo class... sic the pet on the enemy, auto-attack from afar and heal the pet as you fight. YUes it had the Warlords story to it which helped, as well as the fact it was made by Blizzard... but the main fact is it was possible for everyone to experience the main zone's storyline and quest's. The only aspect's that the solo-player couldn't do were dungeons, raids and world bosses.

Interesting facts came out when discussing the launch of WotLK, why they were moving the hardest vanilla raid to be the starting raid in LK, and why they were looking at doing a LFR system - the reason? Of their whole player base only 6% of WoW's players had ever even stepped into a raid, and under 1% had stepped into the hardest vanilla raid. So 94% of the player base - in a game the was known as "raid or die" - had never even stepped into a raid at all. The vast majority of the playerbase were happy doing solo content and dungeons for group content.

Blizzard wanted more players experiencing the raid, so made it a lot easier and made it the starting raid... in the hopes to 'encourage' the solo player to experience raids and experience the love & care the devs put into that specific raid (Blizzards words, not mine).

And then we look at other games in the genre..

Guild Wars 1 - not quite an MMO, it was an instanced game that apart from the starting zone was forced grouping throughout. However they provided AI companions to use instead of other players. Most discussions of the unofficial forums revolving around these companions were about which were the best to use. There was some talk that these companions should go, but that always got yelled down.

The desire for improved AI companions was so great that Anet eventually made it possible for players to turn their own characters into AI companions - thus fully controlling their look, weapons/armors and skill selection. There was more work done into helping people solo the game than there ever was to encourage/force grouping with other players - and this was at player demand.

Guild Wars 2 - the base game was extremely popular because it was dead easy, could be solo'ed and had very few aspects that required group's. In fact the game was designed that apart from the few dungeons it had, there was never a need to group up or be forced to play with others. It was extremely solo friendly.

Then they listened to people who were of the "MMO = forced grouping & hard" mindset, made the expansion solo unfriendly, made it reliant of grouping to get through the story, to get hero points (skill points), explore the map, etc. If you were solo and didn't play in the initial wave... you were boned. ANet suffered a 67% loss in revenue and a massive loss of players due to this.

They had to apologize, nerf the content quite a lot, change group-only hero-points to be solo'able, etc just to stop the complete freefall of their revenue and player base. Had they not done this, they'd have hit earnings lower than Wildstar's within a year of the expansion and quite possibly been faced with being shut down by NCSoft/

Wildstar - this was going to be the game for the hardcore, the game for the 'group-only' folk. It failed massively. Massive complaints about it's progression... but also about how little there was for people other than the progression grind.

In an attempt to stabilize and grow and not be shutdown by NCSoft they worked on and added a lot of solo-friendly content, a lot of things for casual's to do that didn't require grouping... and it saved the game. Yes Wildstar never really took off, but these changes were enough to starve off it being shutdown by NCSoft.

Etc and so on. You look throughout the MMO genre and industry, at least in the West, and you'll find those that have been successful are all those who have catered to solo players and casuals, those who do not want forced grouping to achieve the story or progress the basics of their characters, etc. Those MMO's which offer "hard" content and/or forced grouping are small niche games - they are small niche games because the demand for this type of content is small.

The vast majority of MMO's players don't want to deal with others, don't want to be forced to group with others... they want to log in, do a quest or 2 to relax from a day at work. And ESO is no different.

I quest a lot on various characters in different zones... and everywhere I go I see dozens upon dozens of people doing the quest's, killing mobs in quest area's, etc. None of them talking in zone, none of them in groups... just questing solo. I've talked with a few... and those that respond are just like me, out to relax, have fun and de-stress.

I know many people like doing these polls and such, and pointing out the results.. or the # of agrees one poster gets over another. Fact is the population of a forum is a minor part of a games population. Very few people ever bother to check out forums - it's an average of around 15% (based on comments made by WoW, STO & LotRO devs) of a MMO's playerbase which will visit and/or post on a forum.

And we are not representative of the majority - those on the forums are more active, generally more progress focused, more interested in bettering ourselves, or focused on certain aspects of the game. We 'care' more about it. Any poll or such will be biased because of that, because generally those seeking forums are looking for better builds, better strats, to talk about aspects of the game they like/hate, try and influence game devs to move the game one way or another, etc.

But these type of threads and commentary will crop up no matter what the MMO, simply because in the end - those who are here are trying to influence the game to be more towards what they want and like. And those who play solo... generally don't bother with forums, they just log in and play... and if/when the game gets too hard they just leave for the next game to have fun & relax in. They don't have 'loyalty' to a game or brand. But they are the majority of the players in the MMO genre...as proven by game after game after game.

And last point - if 'group' content was where the majority of the playerbase was, why is the majority of content produced by ZOS solo-friendly? If the majority loved group-focused content, one would tend to assume that the majority of the revenue stream would come from said majority... yet the majority of content produced is for solo-focused players. Why not more dungeons and trials and more world bosses rather than solo-focused storylines and quest zones?

Another thing - if there was a majority of the playerbase doing group-focused content, they wouldn't need to do an "event" to 'encourage' players to do that content. Look at what the event is - do group-focused content to get a lootbox for a RNG chance at rare mounts, pets, costumes, etc.

Do you honestly believe that ZOS would be having this event, giving away items that pull in lots & lots of money for them, if the majority of players do group-content?

Absolutely they wouldn't - this 'event' is designed to try and 'encourage' the majority of the playerbase to dip their feet into something they do not do. If the majority of players were already doing dungeons, trials, etc... ZOS would not be offering inducements for players to play it... no, they'd be offering the lootboxe's for doing solo-friendly content instead. There's no way in hell that ZOS would offer up rewards that could cost it's revenue stream dearly if they thought the majority of the playerbase would participate in it.

monktoasty · November 2017

eklhaftb16_ESO wrote: »

No matter how poorly worded the poll question may be, it's fairly obvious that the majority of people will group only when necessitated by the game mechanics - and if the same content was available in solo or public mode, they likely wouldn't bother grouping at all. That's not just ESO, that's a general trend in contemporary MMORPGs and the reason why most of the new MMORPGs have "open world dynamic events", individual loot and no mob-tagging.

We get it, you guys love to group. That's perfectly okay, knock yourself out. Just, please, don't act as if it was some sort of popular nation-wide pastime. Last time someone tried to build a MMORPG around group content, it almost bankrupted and had to go F2P.

This is very true except I would add thst it's not just modern mmos..even from the very first mmos people mostly played alone except when the need arose to do otherwise.

To me..mmos are multiplayer but the appeal is that people play in a dynamic world..meaning..you have people to sell stuff to and buy from or ask for help if needed or to rpg or pvp against..it's not just referring to making a party and grouping for everything.

Group play can be fun but although many games tried to encourage or even force it..it never works out that way.

Storymaster · November 2017

Zorvan wrote: »

How do you spend the majority of your time playing in ESO? Group or Solo?

idk · November 2017

A mixture but I stay in the game for the group content

Loc2262 · November 2017

If I wanted to play only solo, I'd not play an MMO. So I do lots of group content. But ESO has lots of really great solo content too, quests and story, so I do lots of that too.

Kel · November 2017

ADarklore wrote: »

The problem is... some who prefer to group are commenting in this poll trying to convince ZOS that there are more people who want group content, thus ZOS should create more group-only content in the future. But what everyone forgets, and I keep harping on, is that ZOS already has the data, they can easily tell who runs one type of content, who runs both, who runs a mix, etc. So these polls really do nothing to help ZOS and only further the divide and add even more angst to the forums. I think it's pretty clear that ESO is solo-centric based upon the amount of content developed for solo players versus what is available for groups. If grouping were more popular, they wouldn't have changed Craglorn or eliminated the plans for a second group-only zone. Yet, those who prefer grouped content cannot accept the reality of this fact, they continue to dispute the 'mostly solo' crowd is the majority in this game, even when 90% of the game is geared towards soloing.

You'll have to quote a post advocating for MORE group content, because I'm not seeing one. This is a fallacy. If anyone thinks there is only one way to play, they are mistaken.
I see no one asking for more group content. Anywhere.
The only ones I see saying "I only play this way" is solo players. And they are welcome to do that. No one's saying otherwise. But don't think you'll get the same rewards for playing solo. Some of the best weapons in the game are already locked behind solo content. What more do you want? Players play diffrent. That's ok. Saying the rewards for a special group event should be attained by not grouping is silly to the extreme.
Everyone keeps saying "The game is 90% solo" and THAT'S TRUE. So help me understand why you want in on that last 10% that has nothing to do with your preferred playstyle? Are you so greedy you need it all?
Give me a break, here...

Elloa · November 2017

I didn't voted cause... I play in Duo with my boyfriend with little grouping. Duo with a friend/boyfriend is not really soloing, but it's not really grouping either.

I love ESO mostly for the story and exploration content. I enjoy Dungeons answell once in a while. I do not PVP, and very rarely do trials.

Samadhi · November 2017

Play mostly solo, only really group for daily pledges and random dungeon runs
am able to solo most dungeons, but find the experience faster and more enjoyable with a group role-playing as part of an Undaunted squad
rather than simply some overpowered stereotypical heroine who accomplishes everything herself in a world of incapable NPCs

am thankful the game allows me to seamlessly go between the two playstyles and still have it 'make sense' in terms of my characters

personally suffer anxiety conditions that frequently inhibit my interactions with others, so solo remains my primary outlet of play
but not being the 'only hero in the world' and having tasks that expects multiple skilled individuals in an in-game storytelling mechanic
adds to my level of immersion and to the convincingness of stepping into another populated world

Kay1 · November 2017

Solo PvP too OP fellaz

Rainraven · November 2017

Kamatsu wrote: »

HuawaSepp wrote: »

Didn't think that so many people play solo.
I wouldn't even play without a group and without teamspeak.
Even for grinding in skyreach I need TS.
Even for MSA I need at least TS.

Here's the thing - what you're experiencing is associative bias. People by default will seek like-minded players, so those who prefer/like group gameplay will naturally seek out and associate with people with similar interest's. This means that what you will see and experience is the majority of players being of similar mindset as you... but because you do not associate with those who play/like/prefer different things, you do not see them as being the majority.

I would bet that the guild(s) your in are for doing vet dungeons, trials, DLC dungeons, pledge's, selling loot via a trade kiosk... right? And I bet you spend most of your time hanging around dungeon entrances, or the quest pick-up/turn-in points for dungeons, pledges, etc... right? You don't go out questing and seeing the dozens upon dozens of people in each quest area doing the quest's... why would you, since you don't go there?

Fact is if you look back at the history of MMO's... it's the solo player that is the majority, and is the reason why MMO's made it as popular as they are/were. Prior to WoW MMO's were group-only & group-focused, they were hard games that were not accessible to the majority of players... and they struggled to get to 200K players - yes, back in the days Everquest with it's ~200K players was considered HUGE.

Then came along WoW and changed the landscape of MMO's forever. Why? Because it was accessible to everyone. Anyone could log in, roll a Hunter and complete all the overland quest's. Why do you think there were so many Hunter's in the game? It was the perfect solo class... sic the pet on the enemy, auto-attack from afar and heal the pet as you fight. YUes it had the Warlords story to it which helped, as well as the fact it was made by Blizzard... but the main fact is it was possible for everyone to experience the main zone's storyline and quest's. The only aspect's that the solo-player couldn't do were dungeons, raids and world bosses.

Interesting facts came out when discussing the launch of WotLK, why they were moving the hardest vanilla raid to be the starting raid in LK, and why they were looking at doing a LFR system - the reason? Of their whole player base only 6% of WoW's players had ever even stepped into a raid, and under 1% had stepped into the hardest vanilla raid. So 94% of the player base - in a game the was known as "raid or die" - had never even stepped into a raid at all. The vast majority of the playerbase were happy doing solo content and dungeons for group content.

Blizzard wanted more players experiencing the raid, so made it a lot easier and made it the starting raid... in the hopes to 'encourage' the solo player to experience raids and experience the love & care the devs put into that specific raid (Blizzards words, not mine).

And then we look at other games in the genre..

Guild Wars 1 - not quite an MMO, it was an instanced game that apart from the starting zone was forced grouping throughout. However they provided AI companions to use instead of other players. Most discussions of the unofficial forums revolving around these companions were about which were the best to use. There was some talk that these companions should go, but that always got yelled down.

The desire for improved AI companions was so great that Anet eventually made it possible for players to turn their own characters into AI companions - thus fully controlling their look, weapons/armors and skill selection. There was more work done into helping people solo the game than there ever was to encourage/force grouping with other players - and this was at player demand.

Guild Wars 2 - the base game was extremely popular because it was dead easy, could be solo'ed and had very few aspects that required group's. In fact the game was designed that apart from the few dungeons it had, there was never a need to group up or be forced to play with others. It was extremely solo friendly.

Then they listened to people who were of the "MMO = forced grouping & hard" mindset, made the expansion solo unfriendly, made it reliant of grouping to get through the story, to get hero points (skill points), explore the map, etc. If you were solo and didn't play in the initial wave... you were boned. ANet suffered a 67% loss in revenue and a massive loss of players due to this.

They had to apologize, nerf the content quite a lot, change group-only hero-points to be solo'able, etc just to stop the complete freefall of their revenue and player base. Had they not done this, they'd have hit earnings lower than Wildstar's within a year of the expansion and quite possibly been faced with being shut down by NCSoft/

Wildstar - this was going to be the game for the hardcore, the game for the 'group-only' folk. It failed massively. Massive complaints about it's progression... but also about how little there was for people other than the progression grind.

In an attempt to stabilize and grow and not be shutdown by NCSoft they worked on and added a lot of solo-friendly content, a lot of things for casual's to do that didn't require grouping... and it saved the game. Yes Wildstar never really took off, but these changes were enough to starve off it being shutdown by NCSoft.

Etc and so on. You look throughout the MMO genre and industry, at least in the West, and you'll find those that have been successful are all those who have catered to solo players and casuals, those who do not want forced grouping to achieve the story or progress the basics of their characters, etc. Those MMO's which offer "hard" content and/or forced grouping are small niche games - they are small niche games because the demand for this type of content is small.

The vast majority of MMO's players don't want to deal with others, don't want to be forced to group with others... they want to log in, do a quest or 2 to relax from a day at work. And ESO is no different.

I quest a lot on various characters in different zones... and everywhere I go I see dozens upon dozens of people doing the quest's, killing mobs in quest area's, etc. None of them talking in zone, none of them in groups... just questing solo. I've talked with a few... and those that respond are just like me, out to relax, have fun and de-stress.

I know many people like doing these polls and such, and pointing out the results.. or the # of agrees one poster gets over another. Fact is the population of a forum is a minor part of a games population. Very few people ever bother to check out forums - it's an average of around 15% (based on comments made by WoW, STO & LotRO devs) of a MMO's playerbase which will visit and/or post on a forum.

And we are not representative of the majority - those on the forums are more active, generally more progress focused, more interested in bettering ourselves, or focused on certain aspects of the game. We 'care' more about it. Any poll or such will be biased because of that, because generally those seeking forums are looking for better builds, better strats, to talk about aspects of the game they like/hate, try and influence game devs to move the game one way or another, etc.

But these type of threads and commentary will crop up no matter what the MMO, simply because in the end - those who are here are trying to influence the game to be more towards what they want and like. And those who play solo... generally don't bother with forums, they just log in and play... and if/when the game gets too hard they just leave for the next game to have fun & relax in. They don't have 'loyalty' to a game or brand. But they are the majority of the players in the MMO genre...as proven by game after game after game.

And last point - if 'group' content was where the majority of the playerbase was, why is the majority of content produced by ZOS solo-friendly? If the majority loved group-focused content, one would tend to assume that the majority of the revenue stream would come from said majority... yet the majority of content produced is for solo-focused players. Why not more dungeons and trials and more world bosses rather than solo-focused storylines and quest zones?

Another thing - if there was a majority of the playerbase doing group-focused content, they wouldn't need to do an "event" to 'encourage' players to do that content. Look at what the event is - do group-focused content to get a lootbox for a RNG chance at rare mounts, pets, costumes, etc.

Do you honestly believe that ZOS would be having this event, giving away items that pull in lots & lots of money for them, if the majority of players do group-content?

Absolutely they wouldn't - this 'event' is designed to try and 'encourage' the majority of the playerbase to dip their feet into something they do not do. If the majority of players were already doing dungeons, trials, etc... ZOS would not be offering inducements for players to play it... no, they'd be offering the lootboxe's for doing solo-friendly content instead. There's no way in hell that ZOS would offer up rewards that could cost it's revenue stream dearly if they thought the majority of the playerbase would participate in it.

Well said. Not sure I agree with all of your inferences, but it's nice to see fact > inference make an appearance.

I wonder if or how much the answers would change if we asked instead whether people prefer to solo or group? As some have pointed out, we don't always have both options.

This really can't be overstated though:

Kamatsu wrote: »

Fact is the population of a forum is a minor part of a games population. Very few people ever bother to check out forums - it's an average of around 15% (based on comments made by WoW, STO & LotRO devs) of a MMO's playerbase which will visit and/or post on a forum.

And we are not representative of the majority - those on the forums are more active, generally more progress focused, more interested in bettering ourselves, or focused on certain aspects of the game. We 'care' more about it. Any poll or such will be biased because of that, because generally those seeking forums are looking for better builds, better strats, to talk about aspects of the game they like/hate, try and influence game devs to move the game one way or another, etc.

Even if we had a consensus on this forum, what relationship that actually has to how the player base in general feels about things isn't all that clear.

Cadbury · November 2017

Too bad this is only a portion of the game's population. Even if you put this poll on Reddit and Steam. So only ZOS can disclose the true metrics.

phileunderx2 · November 2017

All by myself...