Inspiration to write on this topic should be credited to multiple sources ranging from message boards and fellow bloggers to in-game chat channel discussions.
We all have our preferred approach that we take when we sit down to play a massively multiplayer online game. There are those of us who prefer to solo and those of us who can not stand to play a multiplayer game without the multiple players. I do not need to establish this point any further; or do it? Recently it has become clear that the line is once again drawn in the sand between players. For a while this epic struggle of group vs solo play was taken off the burner and attentions turned to raiding vs, well, not raiding. I now return you to your regular scheduled debate.
There are a few recent cases where the aforementioned struggle comes into play. With the recent release of SOE’s latest EQ2 expansion, Rise of Kunark, players are faced with the blatantly obvious approach to befriending the solo gamer crowd. Kunark is comprised of an enormous collection of outdoor zones or “overland” areas and a decent number of underworld. If you’ve taken the time to explore or read about the overland areas in Kunark you would know that the majority of all the content seen to far has been incredibly aligned with the casual solo player. Solo quests are abundant and absolutely the best way to currently gain levels 70-80, there is no camping, and the quests all yield incredible loot. Those are just a taste of the solo friendly additions in Kunark. Tipa from West Karana feels that in EQ2 grouping should always be more rewarding than soloing – but is that fair? I can see the point of view from both sides. Those who group often feel that this is normal for them. Those that solo feel groups can be hard to obtain or unreliable. So who is responsible for mediating this debate? It falls to the developers of the game and players alike. The developers need to create the content for both and declare that it is how it is. Then it’s up to the players to either accept it and like it or not. As for EQ2 it’s unclear at the moment for everyone as to whether or not the solo play will grossly outweigh the group content but one thing is clear – it’s called EverQUEST for a reason.
Scott Hartsman (EQ2 producer) made a remarkably sensible statement about solo questing vs group grinding and racing to the end.
“Coincidentally, I got a few great IMs from raiders lastnight on the subject, whose guilds pride themselves on being among the first to max level so they can rush straight into raiding. One of them sums it up really well: “This is the first time I haven’t had to spend the first weeks of an expansion mindlessly sitting in the same 6×6 room grinding. I’m actually getting to enjoy it. This is fun.” Another was more brief: “quest xp = <3"
EverQuest II is not a game about sitting in one place and grinding. You find the activity that defines the core of your game, then you make sure it’s the part you polish the most, then you make damn sure it’s rewarding. That activity is questing.
Levelling is a transitory activity. Level 80, on the other hand, lasts a long time. Regardless of whether dungeon xp is tweaked or not, two months from now this entire conversation becomes moot, and people have had a blast in the meanwhile”
I mentioned there were a few cases of the group vs solo struggle. Pirates of the Burning Sea, set for release in early 2008, has taken an interesting approach to how they will balance the content in their game. Instead of clearly drawing the line between group play and solo play they have created a difficulty slider that will allow players to either make the battles easier or harder depending on how they would like their gaming experience to taste. As of now this is simply a conjecture but I think it’s safe to assume that if you find the group content lacking it would be possible to ramp the single player content difficulty way up and go at it with some friends. Heck, why not? While this system doesn’t work for every MMORPG out there (especially those that fall under the current fantasy formula) it definitely raises the question as to whether or not we’ll be seeing more choices being handed off to the player giving them the opportunity to determine their own fate and in a sense their own fun.
I don’t think it’s fatalistic to say that this debate will never end. It’s healthy for mmo’s to be under a constant microscope. That will keep the ‘ever evolving and changing worlds’ just that. As for me, well, I’m going to enjoy EQ2’s vast variety of content and I look forward to challenging or under-challenging myself in PotBS.
I’ve raided in the past and probably still would if time permitted. But honestly, the producers should NEVER listen to Raiders when they are looking for how the content/leveling progress goes.
Raiders (for the most part) only care about getting to max level, and THEN they are interested in the content. the ‘comments’ Hartsman received are only favorable because they made it easier for the hard-core to get to max level. What they’ve done here is made leveling like WoW….solo and easy. with the content at the endgame.
which is I’m sure what they are hoping…but SOE needs to understand they are never gonna get much of a percentage of the WoW crowd. WoW folks on the whole (in my experience from conversations) have a negative opinion of EQ/EQ2
This does not make it easier for raiders to hit max level. If you read the quote again the raider was saying how he/she is actually getting to enjoy the content because it’s more fun than sitting in a room raiding or grouping or grinding etc.
It actually makes it easier for the soloers and those more casual to reach the top since it places them on 100% equal footing to the raiders.
Scott was saying that regardless of the here and now in 2 months the 70’s will be 80’s and then they’ll have their end-game raids and what have you. Until then the game is packed full of enjoyable content that is actually worth reading and immersing yourself in.
Is that like WoW? In principle it’s very similar. In practice EQ2 blows WoW completely away.
I understand what you’re saying….and what Scatt was saying as well. I just can’t help feeling like this negatively affects people who enjoy the grouped/heroic content, ie. dungeon crawling. I think I just agree with Tipa’s assessment
The name EverQUEST has been around for close to a decade now, and this is the first time ever that solo content has been far more rewarding than group content.
The PVP servers are where Scott’s logic is flawed. Of course, nobody thinks about PVP so he’s not considering both server types in his argument. Basically, on PVP there are gank groups everywhere. It’s almost impossible to solo quest grind. If you group to grind the solo quests, you often find yourself at a different stage of the quest lines than the rest of your party. Most of the time, people don’t want to keep backtracking every time a new group forms.
You end up with static parties who play 20 hours a day every day leveling up just fine and those people who have more RL responsibilities – families, jobs, social lives etc get screwed. That’s not good for the health of the game. I’ve been a subscriber since 11/04 and right now I’m trying to decide whether or not I want to keep going. I can’t figure out why they cant provide legitimate exp gain mechanics in both group or solo play. Why alienate the group crowd? Makes no sense to me. Sure this isn’t EQ1 and PVP is supposed to be hard but it’s also supposed to be fun and I know many people who aren’t having fun. Life’s too short – if the game isn’t fun it’s easy enough to find a new game.
Lazaretto
73 Warden
Nagafen
The solo stuff is great on PVE servers, you can log on grind a few quests get 15-20% exp and call it a night. On PVP, it sucks.
What I can’t get my head round is why they took a perfectly good system balanced between group, solo and raid – King of Sky – and threw it in the bin. There were loads of fun experiences for all kinds of player types in KoS. And there was a ton of new group and solo stuff to do in EoF. In RoK it’s solo quests. Take it or leave it. The only way you’re going to hit 80 before you die is by solo questing.
I like solo questing – a lot. I’m on nearly 1,700 quests now. But the lack of option to do anything else at all is really frustrating. And, for me, boring as hell.
Sure, I like solo questing, but I like to mix it up with some group stuff here and there. And aside from 4 itty bitty quests in the castle in KP, there’s no sign of anything but solo quests. The thing about balance is that you ave a little of one thing, a little of another. What on earth have they been thinking? Kill 10 rats – great work devs. Where did you get the idea to do that?
Nice post Keen. I frequently find myself trying to choose between doing solo content or group content whenever I log into the game. EQ2 definitely accommodates both side with plenty of content and this usually makes for a hard decision.
I’ve recently taken a look at the Solo Timeline that EQ2i has on their site and decided to try it out.
http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Solo_Timelines
I’m over in Steamfont now and having a blast. So much so that I invited a friend over to join me on the 20 part questline listed there. This then lead to more people joining us and soon we almost had a full group there. Its funny how things then changed to leaving the solo quest line to doing the harder kill tasks instead because it was just too easy. Not a fault of the game, just the group.
Looking forward to exploring some of the scaled content in Splitpaw Saga (EQ2) because this is just the type of stuff that solves issues like I had last night.
I think the transition to solo quest lines and heroic dungeons is a natural decision. I look at my character’s quest journals and the ones that remain uncompleted are all Heroic or Epic. Why do they remain? Coordinating time to get them done. We endlessly hear people complaining about finding a group. Add to that the complexity of finding a group willing to work on a quest you are working on. Then coordinate which step needs to be worked on.
You end up getting groups eventually, and even if they are guild groups or friends, you continually find yourself getting other people caught up to the same step you are on. You wind up repeating the quest steps over and over before being able to advance your own quest progress.
Solo quests solve the problem. And guess what? You can still group! As other people have complained… quest XP is massive compared to combat XP. So grouping through solo content isn’t deterred. You can run the progression of solo quests MUCH faster while grouped without really losing anything. Plus, if there is someone to group with… fine. If not, it’s solo. Go it alone.
Besides, I give SoE the credit of being able to print a list of all quests alongside the number of times each has been completed and compare. I’d wager the solo quests have been completed at least a magnitude of 10 times more than heroic ones.
in response to what Ulion says about grouping to do solo content.
if you have more than 3 people doing solo quests, it gets REALLY boring unless you are doing +3/5 quests. I’ve been levelling a brigand with my wife and we’re at 37 now and doing solo quests we are constantly in a position killing lvl 40+ because we’ve just rushed through the other quests. whenever there is a white/blue mob the fight is over so quickly, it’s almost annoying.
Solo content is fine when soloing, but with a group it’s easy mode (ie boring) When I have a group, i want challenge. I want to see that tank turning the mobs and controlling the aggro and the mages watching their hate levels and the CCs controlling the mobs and the healers popping off their cures in a nice fluid dance.
I’m not hating on the solo content, but why hurt the group content to do it?