For me the the most significant benefit and positive aspect of the Solo Dungeons concept would be the absence of the very annoying phenomenon that is Speedrunners.

I don't care about rewards, just the possibility of a non-stressful encounter with a dungeon. I will most probably que up for a group run after a solo reconnoitering run.

frogthroat wrote: »

LalMirchi wrote: »

For me the the most significant benefit and positive aspect of the Solo Dungeons concept would be the absence of the very annoying phenomenon that is Speedrunners.

Might be, or might be it doesn't help with that.

If the rewards are not the same as with a group, people would still queue to get the transmutes, motifs, and pledges as usual and nothing would change.

If the rewards are the same, the skilled speedrunners would leave, leaving less skilled to group. And also people like me would leave. I queue as a tank or a healer because the queues are shorter, but don't particularly enjoy tanking with pugs. If I had the option not to, I would not. So with the same rewards as with group dungeons, the skilled speedrunners would leave along with us who play support just to get through the queue faster. Leaving behind fewer supports and the less skilled speedrunners (who may or may not still do fake tanking).

Isn't the premise of SOLO Dungeons just what it says on the tin, ie not having to group?

shadyjane62 wrote: »

Eleven years, day one player, have paid for dungeons for eleven years and never entered one.

Would be very happy at solo dungeons or even more story dungeons with no rewards. I am sitting on millions and a full craft bag and have never experienced the dungeons stories due to the fact they are not solo.

I will not interact with people I do not know or even more want to spend time watching them speed run or talk trash or vote people off the island. This game is way too toxic in this instance.

But you do have some sort of a build? (Like, Order's Wrath and Tide-Born, with a couple Druid's Braid pieces or something?)

Start by soloing base game dungeons on normal difficulty and work your way up. If you can solo a base game zone world boss, you can solo a base game dungeon on normal. If base game zone world bosses are trivial for you, you can solo base game dungeons on vet/vetHM.

Start with BC1 ( north of Auridon), Spindle 1 (north east of Glenumbra) or FG1 (west of Deshaan). After that try something like Tempest Island or Vaults of Madness.

LunaFlora wrote: »

i do not understand why people are even discussing rewards at all.
ZOS said in their January 7 livestream that Solo dungeons would have dedicated rewards.

and this interview
https://wccftech.com/elder-scrolls-online-zenimax-interview-free-content-battle-pass/
Are there no new dungeons for this year? Is the Night Market aimed at the players who would normally expect dungeons?

Nick Giacomini: Right now, there are no new group dungeons planned for 2026. We do have a Trial that's going to be coming. You mentioned the Night Market. And solo dungeons are going to be coming. That will allow players to engage in dungeon content solo, and there will be different difficulties and rewards associated with those. That was one of the trade-offs that we had to make in order to do solo dungeons. It's one of the things that we're trying to invest in generally. That Chapter model and its 18-month lead time was really restrictive in terms of what we could do on top of that to respond to player feedback to do more exciting things, and this is an example of that.

Exactly. There WILL be (my interpretation: unique) rewards. We just don’t know what the rewards are… but there’s little point in discussing reward structure when this is literally like 9 months away. Historically, the rewards are probably momentos and I don’t imagine they would count for pledges— at least not veteran+ pledges.

MorallyBipolar wrote: »

When the toxic casuals get their way there will be no end game community left. Ya'll are shooting yourselves in the foot.

Iriidius wrote: »

Warhawke_80 wrote: »

MorallyBipolar wrote: »

ESO is an MMO with group content being the end game activities.

The casual solo crowd just keep lobbying for changes that will make life much harder for those of us who play for the group content.

Solo and story modes discourage grouping, which is the opposite of what ZOS should do if they want to maintain a viable ESO going forward.

And I'm sick and tired of people trying to claim ESO is the latest edition of Elder Scrolls. It's not. ESO wasn't even created by the same studio that produces Elder Scrolls games. ESO is an MMO and grouping is a vital aspect of the game.

ESO already caters almost exclusively to the casual crowd and it's been very detrimental already. Just look at the exodus of players after U35 hit. U35 killed the end game trial community. But the casual solos don't care because it doesn't effect them. Yet the population continues to decline further and further the more ZOS caters to the casual solo players.

Trials and vet dungeons are a blast when they click. But let's be real: the vast majority of ESO players are solo or duo folks, not raid chasers. Reddit polls and threads consistently show 90%+ of content is soloable, and most players stick to overland, quests, or arenas with a buddy—group stuff is a small slice.

The real grouping killer? Hardcore guilds and PUGs kicking anyone under perfect DPS or mechanics.

Newbies and casuals get burned once, then nope out forever—sticking to solo where it's chill. That's why queues feel dead: the pool of potential groupers left awhile back because they were told they were "Bads"....ZOS catering to the solo/duo crowd keeps the 26M player base alive and growing.

More casuals = more funding for your trials. Win-win but honestly there has to be folks actually showing up for them and that has been a issue.

Yeah toxic groups gatekeeping everyone not fitting their expectations are one of the main reasons most ESO players are not playing in groups.
Despite coming from Skyrim I played PvP in Cyrodiil daily for years solo, in PuGs and smallscales but had to stop because solo I get zerged on sight by everyone, PuGs arent available most of the time or get killed immediately and most PvP groups dont let me play with them and the few that do are not online most of the time.

U35 already drove away most of the end game community. Even more focus on casuals that never play group content will make the problem even worse, and it will make it much harder to use group finder successfully.

Solo dungeons are fine so long as there are no special, dungeon specific rewards given for them. Maybe overland gear from the same zone, and NEVER a monster helm.

MMO's should encourage grouping, especially when all the end game content in ESO requires grouping. You can argue that Mealstrom and Vatershrans are end game, and they kinda are, but those are the only exceptions.

shadyjane62 wrote: »

Eleven years, day one player, have paid for dungeons for eleven years and never entered one.

Would be very happy at solo dungeons or even more story dungeons with no rewards. I am sitting on millions and a full craft bag and have never experienced the dungeons stories due to the fact they are not solo.

I will not interact with people I do not know or even more want to spend time watching them speed run or talk trash or vote people off the island. This game is way too toxic in this instance.

Sounds like MMO's are not the games for you.

ToddIngram wrote: »

shadyjane62 wrote: »

Eleven years, day one player, have paid for dungeons for eleven years and never entered one.

Would be very happy at solo dungeons or even more story dungeons with no rewards. I am sitting on millions and a full craft bag and have never experienced the dungeons stories due to the fact they are not solo.

I will not interact with people I do not know or even more want to spend time watching them speed run or talk trash or vote people off the island. This game is way too toxic in this instance.

Sounds like MMO's are not the games for you.

Was waiting for this one. I have played MMO's for over 23 years. I like other people to interact with. I was very active on Gift Exchange where I spent a great deal of real life money to fulfill their wishes.

It is interesting that you equate doing dungeons to be the sole reason for being in ESO.

You are wrong.

shadyjane62 wrote: »

Eleven years, day one player, have paid for dungeons for eleven years and never entered one.

Would be very happy at solo dungeons or even more story dungeons with no rewards. I am sitting on millions and a full craft bag and have never experienced the dungeons stories due to the fact they are not solo.

I will not interact with people I do not know or even more want to spend time watching them speed run or talk trash or vote people off the island. This game is way too toxic in this instance.

@shadyjane62 Out of everything you’ve ever said on the forums this is my favorite, especially the vote people off the island part. 😊

LunaFlora wrote: »

i do not understand why people are even discussing rewards at all.
ZOS said in their January 7 livestream that Solo dungeons would have dedicated rewards.

and this interview
https://wccftech.com/elder-scrolls-online-zenimax-interview-free-content-battle-pass/
Are there no new dungeons for this year? Is the Night Market aimed at the players who would normally expect dungeons?

Nick Giacomini: Right now, there are no new group dungeons planned for 2026. We do have a Trial that's going to be coming. You mentioned the Night Market. And solo dungeons are going to be coming. That will allow players to engage in dungeon content solo, and there will be different difficulties and rewards associated with those. That was one of the trade-offs that we had to make in order to do solo dungeons. It's one of the things that we're trying to invest in generally. That Chapter model and its 18-month lead time was really restrictive in terms of what we could do on top of that to respond to player feedback to do more exciting things, and this is an example of that.

I think the concern is if the rewards will be big enough that they kill the incentive to do group content.

I think a solo version is great. But I do hope they're careful that the rewards don't kill the dungeon queue.

It's amusing to read the comments of some players trying to bring a toxic culture of "endgame elitism" to ESO. Guys, if you came to play THIS game, play THIS game, not any other.
The idea of ​​solo dungeons isn't new to MMOs (it's at least 10 years old), and experience shows that this hasn't made them any less popular. Currently, ESO already has instances that can be run solo (like IA) and group dungeons that can be completed solo. At the same time, there are world bosses that can be fought in groups, even if you're not technically part of a group. So I doubt this will significantly change the game, but it will make it more interesting for more players.

Warhawke_80 wrote: »

Yeah, that nails it. One half of the community just wants to have fun playing the game, and the other half can only have fun if they're making someone else lose or miss out on something.

This could also be flipped as one half of the community just wants to have fun and the other half can only be happy if they take rewards from them that they didn't earn. But, I don't think either of those assessments are particularly fair.

People of all types want good and rewarding content that they can play in a reasonable time frame. Rewards are a normal part of gameplay and people want those rewards to serve their various purposes. People want group rewards to remain group rewards not because they can only have fun if someone is missing out. But because there's people who like taking on challenges for trophies, which has been a normal part of all game and sports since long, long before the invention of video games.

Group rewards also encourage new people to step outside of their comfort zone. Some of them will be really glad they did and join in on the group content. Others will be like "glad that's over." But, the former group is whom the group are encouraging. This way new people can take on things that they be a bit intimidated by or have misconceptions about and end up joining in. More people who enjoy group content means shorter queue times and more enjoyable experiences for those who also like group content and already do it regularly.

Neither of those are about wanting to make people miss out. It's just about wanting all the various activities to be fun and rewarding experiences with their own unique stuff so that they all maintain healthy populations.

A lot of the worry around solo dungeons killing group ones is that people who are only there to farm rewards will just take the easiest path without care and exit the queue. This can lead to unhealthy queue times and an unpleasant experience for those who enjoy group content. It's a valid concern.

I don't think that solo dungeons will kill group ones if the rewards are balanced correctly. They're a normal part of MMOs and there's no one right to play them. But they do have to be careful about the rewards so that group content remains rewarding and accessible too.

Warhawke_80 wrote: »

No one's trying to import some foreign 'elitism' culture here

Let me disagree. If what you wrote were true, no one would even think of starting such threads as https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/687889/mmo-does-not-mean-grouping/p1

Warhawke_80 wrote: »

The upcoming solo dungeons (like tuned versions of Moon Hunter Keep and March of Sacrifices) aren't replacing group content—they're expanding access to stories and mechanics that speed-runners and toxicity have made miserable for everyone else. Plenty of us love the group version precisely because it's group content: coordination, roles, triumphs that mean something when earned together. Adding a solo mode doesn't erase that. It just means more players get to experience the dungeon's lore at their own pace instead of being dragged through it like cargo.

Absolutely.

Warhawke_80 wrote: »

So sure, play THIS game. Just don't pretend expanding who can meaningfully engage with its content somehow diminishes what the rest of us have built here. The doors have always been open in ESO. They're just getting a few more keys.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

I got turned off by group dungeons when I'd be a group and they went from point a to point z, like it was a track meet. I like to look around; enjoy the dungeon I'm in etc. Plus, I'm not that good, never have a min-max kind of build and I don't play so I can get scoffed at. It's just better solo. Even though Public Dungeons are the highest I could ever complete. Well, I did do Volenfell with my Necro. Not sure if that's easy or hard.