its called an MMORPG for a reason

[batter_then]

ok massive multy player online role playing game... mutly player.... now that means groups of people doesnt it... which also means that the primery content of the game should not be solo in anyway shape or form... if you want to play a single... SOLO player game... go buy an xbox 3 or whatever number those 5 pound hunks of crap are becouse htis isnt the game for you <div></div>

[Amise]

<div></div><div></div><div></div>I could sit here and write a lengthy post that describes the ways in which MMOGs differ from single player off-line RPGs but I won't because such things are blatantly obvious to anyone with a clue.  I can think of plenty of reasons to play a MMOG over a single player RPG and less than half of them involve interacting with other people.  It's called a multiplayer game because multiple people can play it at once.  Not because game mechanics are intended to force people to interact with each other. If you don't like it that is tough.  It looks to me like developing solo capability is a direction that the makers of this game want to go in regardless of how often you want to write whiny posts about how it displeases you. <div></div><p>Message Edited by Amise on <span class=date_text>06-09-2005</span> <span class=time_text>02:11 AM</span>

[FrostP]

<DIV>I think solo content has its own merits for when you can't get a group together to finish off that old quest or when you play offpeak hours. I am an old school EQ2 player....when I was leveling to 50 everything in every zone almost was ^^ or in groups of 3-4 as a wizard that meant I could never solo anything and always spent my time looking for groups to finish my quests, coupled with the fact I played in UK timezone on Antonia Bayle server which if you think about it certainly isn't peak time for a mainly US server I managed to do my quests and hit 50 starting in November and hitting 50 at the end of April entirely fighting in groups.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Since then I have gone back and started a few alts I now have a level 31 Guardian and a level 15 Druid and a level 18 Shaman. The one thing I have noticed is I rarely find anything to do in overland zones with a group of friends....it almost feels like we are being told you will have to solo until you can do stormhold then you will have to solo in steppes until you can do varsoons. What makes even less sense is when they start adding solo mobs to those dungeons.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Now when I group with friends we have to train through masses of solo overland content in thundering steppes and even varsoons just to get to the mobs worth killing with a group of 4+ That in my humble opinion is poor design. I agree as players advance past the low levels in bulk it's nessacary for the mobs to get slightly easier so as to allow fewer new players comming into the game to do all the quests with less grouping oppertunities then the old system where every mob needed a few players to help eachother. I would be intrested however in knowing the reasoning behind such a huge change so suddenly mobs in antonica such as scarecrows, stags and skeletons on the North west island have all lost their ^^ status when these mobs where prime group content beforehand.....now if we want to group together we have to kill gnolls, gnolls and more gnolls until we reach the skeletons of caltorsis. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Basicly the group content has been taken away so the need to group has gone.....and with it in my opinion much of the fun to be had in overland zones has gone with it......I sometimes solo but I have to admit I don't chose to solo for any length of time because its just not fun to cheer yourself when you level, watch your spells over and over and remain silent when something unusual happens nearby. There is no interaction and that for me is killing the early level fun of my characters now. I don't believe for a second the decline in lfg players and groups running around in overland zones has nothing to do with the content change, some may argue its because players are growing bored with the game and I'm sure in some cases that is right but at the same time it's not intresting to solo your way from level 3 trials of the isle to level 18-20 suitable for grouping in Stormhold.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I think the original concept of dungeons all group content should definately have been stuck to, no group wants to clear the "crap" in the way when they get organised and thats exactly what you have to do every time in places like varsoons and runnyeye, fallen gate etc </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Now, speaking from the other side of the spectrum I touched on earlier. If my friends are not online or the day is quiet I can happily go on finishing quests killing solo mobs for credit and it gives me something to do. I have no argument with this concept, having played from launch I am aware of how it feels running around as a glass cannon unable to take more then 2 hits from anything and unable to find people who want to kill what I want to kill. However the fact remains if you want to roleplay, you want to make friends or you want to level fast all of which many many people do you need to find things to do together as a group. If players wan't to solo all the time I think they are missing out on a large chunk of what makes this game fun but thats fine, thats their choice I don't expect soloers to HAVE to group anymore then I want to be forced to solo however with the group content getting smaller and smaller thats what it feels like now. If you go into thundering steppes you can no longer fight in the riverbeds as a group, you can no longer fight griffons as a group, you can no longer fight outside varsoons as a group simply because if you group you take xp away from other players when killing solo mobs and no player likes to have that happen when they can handle the mobs alone.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#99ff00>What I would like to see is more group content put back in the overland zones....I think they went too far personaly. Or they could open up two instances of each overland zone permanently. For example Antonica 1 would be as it is now mostly solo content except for a few small areas and named mobs and Antonica 2 could be the old school version 90% heroic content. Admittedly I do not know how much it would cost to maintain two instances of each overland zone but if each zone has less players in perhaps there is some trick to having the load of both instances on the same server.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Nolrog]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> batter_then_u wrote:<BR>ok massive multy player online role playing game... mutly player.... now that means groups of people doesnt it... which also means that the primery content of the game should not be solo in anyway shape or form... if you want to play a single... SOLO player game... go buy an xbox 3 or whatever number those 5 pound hunks of crap are becouse htis isnt the game for you<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>/sigh.  Just because it's multiplayer, doesn't mean you can't go around and kill stuff alone.  It doesn't mean groups, it means that you are all in the same world together.  Solo style is every bit as valid as grouping and raiding.  Just because you don't like to solo, don't tell me that I can't play this game because I do.</P> <P> </P>

[observer]

<P>Answer me this.</P> <P>Why is it called MMORPG if all the servers aren't RP servers?</P> <P>/ponder</P> <p>Message Edited by observer on <span class=date_text>06-09-2005</span> <span class=time_text>07:39 AM</span>

[tillerman35]

<span><blockquote><hr>observer wrote:<div></div> <p>Answer me this.</p> <p>Why is it called MMORPG if all the servers aren't RP servers?</p> <p>/ponder</p> <div></div><p>Message Edited by observer on <span class="date_text">06-09-2005</span> <span class="time_text">07:39 AM</span></p><hr></blockquote> Oh, I think pretty much everybody's playing a role.  I have a couple of friends who play two different classes at two different levels, and I see their online personae change almost instantly when they switch from character to character.  Tanks develop a "take charge" mentality.  Palladins tend to take it a bit farther and adopt a "save the world" complex.  Healers become a bit prickly (they have to because of the constant demand for their attention).  By the time your character reaches level 25, the way you act will be influenced by the character's class. Of course, some people are playing the role of total @$$-hole.  And doing a bang-up job of it too.</span><div></div>

[EtoilePirate]

<DIV>I realize what I say is going to fall on deaf ears, because when people don't want to listen, they don't.  But I talk a lot anyway.  So here goes.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I would never have signed up for EQ2 -- and I certainly wouldn't be keeping the account -- if it weren't possible to advance through solo play.  I'm an adult.  I have time concerns.  I work and I just finished a master's degree and I'm moving and all of those are demands on my time.  Many of the people I play with have kids, in addition to all the rest.  Sure, you can plan for some things.  A raid, for example, takes advance planning and a block of time committed.  But the whole game shouldn't be like that.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I should be able to do many things alone, on my own time and my own schedule.  I should be able to get a pickup group every now and then, and sometimes an advance-planned group.  But it's bad enough that 95% of my life is framed by the demands of family, friends, work, and responsibility.  When I'm in my leisure time, what I do with it should be at least in part up to ME.  I don't want someone sitting around elsewhere because I can't be available, and I don't want to waste my time (and money -- we all pay for this little hobby of ours) sitting around and metaphorically spinning on my thumb because certain other people don't operate on my schedule.  An MMORPG should allow a player to log in for however long or short a time she chooses and to do as much or as little in a session as she wants.  It should not demand that I force other people to cave to my schedule, or force me to bend to theirs, when I don't owe them a thing (and vice versa).  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Should there be some things in the game that can't be soloed?  Absolutely.  Sometimes it takes a team to accomplish a big goal, and so the big challenges require a big team.  But if I play a class that encourages solo behavior -- which I do -- and I maintain a kind of random part-time schedule that makes me never sure whether I'm logging in at 10 am or midnight -- which I do -- who are you to tell me that the game should be rendered unplayable to me?</DIV><p>Message Edited by EtoilePB on <span class=date_text>06-09-2005</span> <span class=time_text>10:39 AM</span>

[FamilyManFir]

<blockquote><hr>batter_then_u wrote:ok massive multy player online role playing game... mutly player.... now that means groups of people doesnt it... which also means that the primery content of the game should not be solo in anyway shape or form... if you want to play a single... SOLO player game... go buy an xbox 3 or whatever number those 5 pound hunks of crap are becouse htis isnt the game for you <div></div><hr></blockquote>No.It's a Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game. That means that many people can play at the same time on the same world. Period.It's not a Massive Multi-group Online Role Playing Game.

[KelemGarima]

<DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Some people play at times when getting a group is not easy, some people can only play for short periods of time and don't want to inconvenience other players by leaving a group, some people prefer to be .....solo. What they all have in common is they like to be a part of a thriving community where thousands of people are moving around them with their own agenda's and thoughts - to some people even listening to others talk and brag is entertaining. Stop talking about solo players as if they are social misfits when in fact they are people who have external factors that limit their playtime or style.........</DIV>

[Banef]

All I know is, every zone I used to XP in on my main is nearly empty on my alt. Outside I see solo players running, killing. I play MMOs for interaction with other players, and since it seams that solo XP and quests has made grouping pointless, the game is ruined for me at this time. I will give up leveling my alts and just hang up my hat until the expansion arrives. <div></div>

[Ashlian]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> tillerman35 wrote:<BR><SPAN><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> observer wrote:<BR> <P>Answer me this.</P> <P>Why is it called MMORPG if all the servers aren't RP servers?</P> <P>/ponder</P> <P>Message Edited by observer on <SPAN class=date_text>06-09-2005</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>07:39 AM</SPAN><BR></P> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>Oh, I think pretty much everybody's playing a role.  I have a couple of friends who play two different classes at two different levels, and I see their online personae change almost instantly when they switch from character to character.  Tanks develop a "take charge" mentality.  Palladins tend to take it a bit farther and adopt a "save the world" complex.  Healers become a bit prickly (they have to because of the constant demand for their attention).  By the time your character reaches level 25, the way you act will be influenced by the character's class.<BR><BR>Of course, some people are playing the role of total @$$-hole.  And doing a bang-up job of it too.<BR></SPAN> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>I think that's a pretty big generalization. Anyone who knows me, for instance, knows that I might TALK in character, but every character I play is ME, and acts accordingly. I always had the nicest dark elves in Norrath. A lot of people are like that, they might throw in a class flavored comment every so often, but it's not serious RP, and they therefore don't play on a RP server.</P> <P>I won't argue that people repeat certain patterns of behavior, though I would say that in my experience, it's more likely that my friend who is usually the guardian will seem to think that his alt is also a guardian even when he's a mage. Which has provided some funny moments. I almost always play healers, it fits my personality, and the one time I played a newbie mage with a friend, he sat there yelling HEAL HEAL at me because, of course, I was the healer, right? There are certainly people who change their playstyle for different classes, but a lot of people I know do that in reverse, and play certain classes because that fits their usual persona. Either way, there's a big difference between playing a role and Role Playing in the sense of taking on a completely different persona like I did when I played Vampire the Masquerade.</P> <P>As for the topic, I solo a lot and I group a lot, depending on when my friends can play. I LOVE the idea of having separate instances for group vs solo players, and if I remember correctly, they actually did that when they were testing out the solo mob changes. They do it all the time in the instanced zones, I don't know why it couldn't be done for the very large instanced zones as well. It's rare to find less than 2 of most of them anyway, at least on my server.</P> <P>Ashlian Liadan, 37 Fury, 32 Tailor of Mistmoore</P>