I've been leveling up a character with a friend since level 1, so it feels like a MMO to me. Different people can have different experiences I suppose.

I'm in 4 guilds, most of which were just for trading so they aren't very social. in fact with over 100 people online chat doesnt happen much. These were early access guilds, perhaps i should try some of the ones that popped up a bit more recently.

I have one guild I'm in but its the wrong faction. Maybe its time for a switch, they are awesome :P

jambam817_ESO wrote: »

I'm in 4 guilds, most of which were just for trading so they aren't very social. in fact with over 100 people online chat doesnt happen much. These were early access guilds, perhaps i should try some of the ones that popped up a bit more recently.

I have one guild I'm in but its the wrong faction. Maybe its time for a switch, they are awesome :P

You can chat with all of your guilds at the same time. I have characters in every faction as does my little guild and many who are in the large guild, the Thornblades. We're always in chat even if we aren't playing together. It's very social if you make it social.

I think the conclusion is, I need to look for different guilds. These trading ones are boring

Honestly, this game is utterly refreshing as at its core we are all playing as one massive group.

Do you hear people complaining about 'kill-stealing'?
Do you run through dungeons simultaneously with other players, helping each other as you go?
When playing 'alone' are you still benefiting from group buffs, heals and synergies?

Lose the mindset that you have to physically be partied to be in a party and you may feel less alone. You may also start to appreciate the shared content this game offers without the need of a contrived game mechanic.

However, if you do want the contrived mechanic the group tool is very good, in my experience. I've only used it half a dozen times, but I am literally placed with a group of 3 others the second I tell it I am LFG.

The only MMOs I play are the ones that allow you to feel like a solo game. For the most part, my real life is not conducive to grouping.

Frequent AFKs, the need to logout at a moments notice regardless of whether in combat or not.. doesn't make for a good multiplayer options.

Hence, I spend 95% of my time soloing and only MMOs that handle that a solo experience well are ever played. The few friends I do make understand the needs of my situations so I do play with them from time to time. However, I don't want to have to explain all that every time some random PUG gets together.

ESO is much how MMOs should be. (for me)

The grouping mechanic to me in this game is confusing and not good. In ddo you would post the quest you wanted to do with the level range you wanted and people could easily join. Then you could share the quest and away you go. In this game it randomly puts me with people in my level range then I see they are half way across the map doing something totally opposite of what I'm looking for. So I teleport myself to them and can't even see them. I can see the arrow above their head but not them.

So then I ask in guild chat "anyone want to help with alchemist quest". I get a couple takers and we keep trying to get to each other but i end up only see their arrows above their head.

I have found the grouping in this game terrible at best. I will be heading back to ddo soon if they can't get this figured out. This game sort of feels like a poor man's ddo any way. It's like some kind of dollar store knock off dungeons and dragons.

OP, @KariTR is spot on, really. You are playing with other people, just in a different way than other games have it set up. Though you can "group up" in the traditional sense if needed.

I actually really enjoy it. I've killed many mini-world bosses just because people showed up. No grouping required, we just kind of looked around, saw enough people and "woosh" dead boss. I heal whoever needs healing as best I can. Plenty of times I've pushed through the solo dungeons in small packs of players, just because I could pew-pew with them and toss them extra heals to keep them alive.

But then we go our separate ways, having benefited from playing with one another but no strings attached. I do understand your desire to talk with people, sometimes you just need to actually say something to them to get a conversation going. Like me for example. I'm a very quiet player, but if you shoot me a "hello, how are you?" I always respond.

I've played WoW, LOTRO, and SWTOR; and enjoyed playing the games largely by myself. Its hard therefore for me to be critical of the interaction with other players; I would warn against passing expectations on what other games in the genre are offering. I think a lot of people are doing that; which begs the question, why pay for a game skinned off another game? When you could just play the original? I want games to have a uniqueness and I feel ESO is unique; from the PvP I have played I really have enjoyed it quit well.

I just don't see it like a lot of you. I enjoy MINOR solo content in an MMO, but this just feels entirely solo. I guess you wouldn't really understand unless you've experienced, say, Everquest, the original. Thats the type of grouping i enjoy. Solo content was almost non-existant.
It sounds like there will be lots of group content in VR levels but thats a while a way.

@jambam817_ESO I have played Everquest classic. And I don't know about you, but I did a lot of soloing in that game too (kiting giants through Karana, woo!). Though I understand what you're looking for, and that is definitely not in this game.

In fact, there hasn't been such group intensive content in a long time (at least from what I've played, it might be in other new games). You can't really compare anything to classic EQ anymore, the average playstyle has changed quite a bit since then. In EQ you had to group up to quest anywhere other than the open world. Crushbone? Group. Velks? Group. Mistmoore? Heck yes group. Oasis? Group.

Classic EQ was a totally different animal from what we have in MMOs today. It's not a bad thing, it's just different now. I honestly believe that (and many will probably punch me for saying this) most MMOs nowadays are set up to make casual play easier. EQ grouping was not casual. You didn't just get up and go "OK guys, gotta leave done playing" and leave group. You made sure your group was provided for with a replacement, because one player leaving could completely undermine that group's ability to farm/level efficiently.

EOS is very geared towards easy solo play, this is true. But that doesn't mean you can't group with a bunch of people you meet and run around beating stuff up.

I think @KariTR‌ and @ClaudiaMay‌ got it right. I think MMOs these days do cater towards casual play more. In some ways, I like that and in some I don't. I'm more of a casual player myself and I hated forced grouping in other MMOs. Let me clarify here. I don't mind having content like raids or raid bosses or PVP that is all optional content having forced grouping. But I simply didn't like having to group with strangers in order to do anything, including progress my character. For me then, having the 'option' to group for 'optional' content makes me group more often. Somehow it just feels better being able to make that choice myself.

I can certainly attest to the social element being alive and well, but probably in places that you're not expecting, coming from a different gaming background. I've been leveling my main cooperatively with my SO. In addition to that, we've grouped up for instanced dungeons, but we've also grouped up with random people who were struggling with an overworld quest or boss. I've helped people by filling a low health bar as I pass or rezzing a stranger who died as I exited a building. That sort of organic interaction is one of the best things ESO has going for it right now.

Gone are the days where you had to sit around spamming in chat for an hour to get a group just so you could finish a required quest. Now if you're having trouble with a quest/dungeon/boss, you can just run up to any nearby player in the world. Hold 'F' and whisper them for help.

jambam817_ESO wrote: »

I know, my fault for not enjoying it the way it is. But MMO brings to mind parties and grouping and of course some questing.

There is just questing and dungeons(if even) and pvp zergs. I just feel like its a single player play through all the lore then you're supposed to hang around for the PVP goodies. Meh.

"Parties" and "grouping" are essentially the same thing, and they are not things to do, like questing and dungeons are, so the comparison makes no sense. You group/party WHEN questing or running dungeons. That is no different in this game, other than that phasing currently creates some issues in this game.

I run around not talking to anyone because it simply isn't required to do anything. And even if i do, trying to get some people that play this game to socialize is like pulling teeth. They wont even group up for a quick pub dungeon run.

It wasn't required in WoW or most other MMORPG's either. In fact, the great success of WoW came from the fact that you could solo without being forced to group. If you want to be social, join a guild with others that feel the same way. Expecting the hundreds of thousands of other players o stop and chat with you is highly unrealistic. In fact, if you make your socializing "like pulling teeth", most people are not going to want to socialize with you anyway.

If you want to group, form groups with other people that want to group, rather than expecting everyone to play and socialize how you think that they should.

MMORPG means massively multiplayer online role playing game. It does not mean majorly forced grouping game.

It means it is massive (like really big), multiplayer (more than 1 player at a time), online (people connect to it, when the term was coined, most people connected via dialup via an ISP), role playing (assuming an alternate identity and interacting as that character) and game (something meant for people to have fun and enjoy).