Soloing vs Raiding in MMORPGs
In the MMO universe, there are really only two kinds of player when it comes to PVE: those who like to play with others, and those who don’t. The first type of player functions best in those hardcore, team-centric MMORPGs (generally of Western design. Think World of Warcraft) in which most, if not all, of the content requires you to either make (competent, hopefully) friends fast, or sit around staring at all the impossible-to-solo mobs and quests with a longing. That, or be subject to the terror of PUGs, in which you may be stuck for hours of your life watching a twisted inversion of the game’s mechanics. A sick carnival of horrors wherein suddenly, mages think they are tanks, tanks think they are rogues, and rogues think they are God.
Rogues Are Da Best!
These kinds of gaming experiences are the most terrible and loathsome of any in the history of gaming, short of perhaps the more frustrating and terrible 8-bit classics of the past. At least most MMORPGs don’t tack on shaky platform jumping in team environments (usually). Oftentimes I wonder if people who play heavily team-centric games are just masochists, getting together in groups of five, ten, fifteen, twenty, all to be ritually spanked and flogged by (insert impossibly hard dungeon boss here) night after night, until finally, like a moment of epiphany, the group finally gets their shit together and what was once OMGWTFHAX is now “lol farm status”. I don’t get it. Perhaps it’s that rough foreplay at the beginning that makes the (usually, these days) purple-colored lewts that much sweeter.
Then you have the opposite end of the spectrum, which is just as bizarre and mysterious; the dedicated soloist. Indeed, the soloist might be even more difficult to understand than the obsessive team player. Why exactly, soloist, are you paying a premium just to have what is essentially a single-player experience? What is your strange secret? Are you sad inside? Can you not communicate your pain to the rest of us? MMORPGs are meant to be cooperative experiences.
This Guy Is Impossible to Solo – Runes of Magic Raid Boss.
Perhaps the rest of us are simply an audience to the soloist. It seems most soloists suffer from that uniquely western sense of self-entitlement. They are probably most likely to be rogues (who generally have god complexes), or just habitual farmers, following the charts and mining rich veins of Lvl 87 Canyon Buzzard, which have a 0.057% chance of dropping [Vest of Sultriness], which because of a design oversight, sells at vendors for twenty-billion times the appropriate amount. These silent, stoic players may seem majestic in their solitude, but I don’t really get them either. To be fair though, Soloists aren’t all that rare in free to play games like Fiesta Online or Dragon Oath, as it seems like these Eastern games were largely designed to be more solo-friendly, though working as a team can usually get a quest done faster.
Then there are people who straddle the middle ground. This, to me, is the healthiest attitude, though it can only really flourish in the right game. A game with a decent amount of “get away from it all” solo content, and some challenging, but not stupidly frustrating team content. As with all things, balance is key in designing a successful MMO… that is, if you want to appeal to the widest possible profit margin. That’s what this is all about! Right? Thank goodness for F2P. Some of it might be pure garbage, but in the end, it’s all a ridiculous grind, whether you’re one corpse or twenty corpses. Which one are you?
By, B. Olivia
May 8, 2010
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Raiding with a lot of people is a boatload of fun.
May 8, 2010
#1
I usually play solo, but when I do raid with lotsa peeps it is fun. Not because of the game I’m playing, but because when you put a lot of gamers on vent, things can get pretty crazy and fun.
May 8, 2010
#2
Well I always make friends in MMOs. I enjoy both soloing and team play. I feel awesome when I pwn the easiest boss solo (which is maybe supposed to be soloed LOL) and awesome when I pwn the hardest one with my friends in game.
May 8, 2010
#3
I actually prefer a Single Player experience most of the time, as I get very irritated at players in the games I play. When a Wizard, with a single heal spell, has to play Cleric. Clearly something is wrong with the game.
Though I will help random people who DO NEED help. And the idea of a party with more than 6 people absolutely frighten me. As I cannot be myself and it has to keep just to game talk. It’s like “I’m already playing the game, why must I talk about it inside of it?”
May 8, 2010
#4
IcyBlue, you sound a lot like myself. I also usually prefer a single player experience. I guess I don’t like dealing with other people? I don’t know what it is, hah. For some reason though, I enjoy MMORPGs with larger playerbases though, even if I never interact with them or never want to interact.
May 8, 2010
#5
I think it’s the aspect that you don’t wanna be forced to Multiclass on a game that isn’t designed for that. It could be considered “FakeDifficulty”, especially if it’s often that you have to play many roles when you aren’t supposed to. That, and people end up too serious for comfort, yea?
And yeah, larger playerbases are fun. As you know someone is ALWAYS there to help you out, even if it takes a while. You aren’t just talking to a few people, but thousands. So you’re not alone.
May 8, 2010
#6
I prefer to solo.
I’ve had the bad experiences of having to babysit many other players, mostly because they want to mooch off of my experience gain, namely FlyFF. That, and others wanting you to kill difficult enemies just to acquire rare items while the item obtain for the group is set to random. And as Icyblue said, multiclassing is a pain as well.
If I know a player personally or well enough on the web, I enjoy being in their company. They have a better understanding, and they’re not bugging you for other items/experience.
May 9, 2010
#7
“My weapon is my only companoin” i would like to say but recently I’ve started finding partying preatty fun,so i’m stuck in the middle for the time being
May 9, 2010
#8
I use to soloing because my friends never decide to join the games, and after a time of soloing I leave the game.
May 9, 2010
#9
im more of a 1 man army
May 9, 2010
#10
Haha.
May 9, 2010
#11
Thank god Aion is supposed to add solo instancing by next year because I hate doing things in groups which is why I quit wow.
May 9, 2010
#12
I’m more of a solo/small party type of guy. I usually run solo, but if a friend or two wants to go do something together, I’ll usually go with them. I’m usually never in a party of more than about 4. And I pretty much never party up with random people.
This is probably why I like Mabinogi, since it has special types of dungeons designed for a solo player and small parties.
May 9, 2010
#13
most of the time i just skip all the low level dungeon’s a bit sad since a cant fully experience the whole game
May 9, 2010
#14
Personally, I can go either way. I have fun with teams or in solo. However, have you ever seen a youtube video where someone solos heroic bosses in the forge of souls, or the pit of saron (wow)? While those bosses are fun with a team, I get much more satisfaction with being able to solo what it would normally take 5 people to down. That’s just raw power, and only those people with the most knowledge and skill in their respective classes will ever have a chance at doing such a thing. To put it simply, it’s a macho feel when you’re able to do something by yourself rather than in a team. I normally don’t even play mmorpgs for the social experience. I may need teams near the end, but till then I really don’t even give a damn if there are other players. I’m there for the diablo 2 feel of satisfaction as I get better gear, or level up my character. I play the games for that moment when I look at my character and say “damn, he is badass as all hell”. Well, that’s my take on it. Hopefully you understand one of the viewpoints of a soloist a bit better.
May 9, 2010
#15
Soloing is not “single-player”, at least not for me. I don’t want a single-player game; I want to adventure across a game-world with fleshed-out systems that support the feeling of a living, vibrant world. I want to craft and gather resources and play the market — all activities, especially the market-part, that require other people. I want to join a guild and become known as the go-to guy who builds what the others need; who runs resource-gathering for other guild-mates according to their need. I want a Diplomacy system a’la Vanguard, though I’d like to see it expanded to become a one-on-one PVP-style card-game. I find it baffling why people assume “solo play” is required to mean “single-player”. Then again, to me, it’s far more important to have believable crafting, a useful market, anti-inflation tools, Horizon-style house-crafting, EQ2-style interior options, etc, etc than it is to have “Raid instance #116″, whose only difference with #115 is that the big bad has 100 more hp.
May 9, 2010
#16
When I play solo, I kinda feel empty and start looking for a partner or someone to talk with.
When I play in team, I mostly get angry at the party member which aren’t doing what they are supposed to be.
So I can consider myself between the both things.
July 8, 2010
#17
I know how you feel, Solo = Sad that i’m alone and therefore have to deal with this crap alone, yet happy i’m not getting mooched off of
Multiplayer = eventually from being happy i have some back-up now ready to tell them to shut up since they’re idea’s of how to take down a guy is failing worse than their attempts to hide that they’re obviously mooching off me.
May 10, 2010
#18
Definitley a group player, especially at lower levels when you can take advantage of the higher lvled players =x.
May 11, 2010
#19
Solo with my real person friends. And that’s only on hard stuff. I like the ability to see the many people playing, struggling on that field boss I killed last
level, and tossing around free buffs. Being nice, maybe having conversations. But I simply cannot bear going into an 8 player party for one guy to say “my loot!!1″ and another to say “give to me I need 4 quest” and only have 4 people who aren’t just looting and spamming basic attack. I hate multiplayer raids w/noobs more than I g
hate needing to buy arrows as a mainly ranged character. What I enjoy is the NPC party feel of Guild Wars, and if Guild Wars wasn’t so lonely outside of town I might have more than those 2 people I actually know in my “friends” list.
Signing off,
Tava
May 12, 2010
#20
I tend to play solo nowdays, ok more in the middle. I had my share of raids, and … they’re just boring (farm content just to get one shiny epic loot that will get outdated preety soon week after week..after week?). On wipfests I was more angry at my team mates that they can’t follow ‘simple’ tactics even when wiping so much, I was holding it inside of me, but sometimes I’ve just wanted to shout my frustration through vent. Ahhh…and PuGs, well they’re one of a kind breed. That pushed me more into more of a solo player, all the negative expiriences with people, nowdays I want to be independent.
One thing to put emphasis on, I’m a solo player but that doesn’t mean I don’t like interacting with people! Also, I like killing them in every possible shape (I was always more of a pvper than pve player) and knowing it’s a character controlled by other person gives me the thrill of the hunt (no, I’m not a rogue, I usually tend to make warrior type characters in every mmo).
So to sum it up, nowdays I don’t like to rely on someone and I feel more comfortable alone – at long last at least I can relax and have fun, that what games supposed to give.
May 15, 2010
#21
i love raiding….i really hate soloing but i know it needs to be done :/
May 18, 2010
#22
I dont mind partying but i prefer soloing as you dont need to wait for people to do what you have to do. I like to be able to do all that i can alone. Usually i dont dungeons early, just waiting for people to get in a party can take hours it depends on the game. I mean i usually only team up if is a quest that requires group or a dungeon quest or something.Like some guy said in one of the comments, just because we like to play solo dosent mean we dont like to interact, hell i think i have more fun chatting than actually playing the game sometimes.
May 22, 2010
#23
“A game with a decent amount of “get away from it all” solo content, and some challenging, but not stupidly frustrating team content. As with all things, balance is key in designing a successful MMO… that is, if you want to appeal to the widest possible profit margin.” Lets not forget that one of the greatest MMO successes of all time, EQ, was nothing but stupidly frustrating nearly impossible to solo content, and just celebrated its 11th birthday recently.
July 8, 2010
#24
In games i take a different attitude depending on class, but mainly it’s like so, I’ll solo unless there is a reward for teaming up, due to the fact that half the time it’s just being in a group with some little kid who can’t even hold his weapon (And for that matter, steals the loot already set for me since i can’t take the time to grab them while healing his idiot self) And i’ll team up due to quests and not only quests, but also for fun if i find people who can play well.
July 11, 2010
#25
I always solo because when I’m in a party I’m not allowed to go afk, but my parents might call me anytime and “if you can’t quit a game at any moment, then it’s not a game”. Well in many games that I play leveling in a party is actually slower, B. Olivia said it, asian mmorpgs are solo friendly.
August 1, 2010
#26
Ehm, well i like soloin’ a lot, but when you see for example that you are lvl 10 and the ”mini-boss” is lvl 9…in Allods(at least in the Legue side) that means get a raid or you will get OWNED….i died millons of times trying to solo little monster whit crowns on their names….so my point is, soloin’ is awesome and makes you awesome, but when the shit hits the fence….raid or die are the options to me
August 26, 2010
#27
i’d could go ether way to solo or teaming up, (and as a rouge/theif/assassin player lol) but- Cash Shops puts alot of the playerbase where they dont belong leading the party to more likely to fail at an incredibly higher rate then it should making me perfer solo unless of course with friends or guild that i know, making me look at the general random public playerbase as mostly useless which i hate because that discourages me to bother with new people and theres that few amount of random people who really know how to play,
December 29, 2010
#28
ok listen ill let people in on the pros and cons of soloing now there is a game called shaiya and it had a guild where all they did was raid the hardest dungeons in the game but what was bullcrap was that the leader got all the items and you had to get “points” to get stuff from them which is again bullcrap now of corse you CANT solo everything unless you hack or have lame GM equipment which each of them buffs up your stats EXAMPLE:+500 but on the other hand soloing can be good if your trying to get decient items and equipment because it is likly to happen if your in a party one of your teamates will get the item and not you but like i said you cant solo eveyrthing somethings are nessary to make you strong in the game for example a mage isnt a good soloest you could use a mage in a party raid to get some good items then transfer the items to your soloest also i think the reason some people solo is to get good money like i said if your in a party a teamate might get a really good item you want so a soloest could farm in one place and farm abunch of item you dont need but sell for alot goto the shop sell it or open up a shop and wait for someone to buy them
January 8, 2011
#29
In most, if not all games, I prefer to play with a friend or 2. 2 people doing 1 mobbing or ‘collect this item’ quest’s together decreases the quest time. In fps where it is an all out no teams game, I am always in a group of 5. I could shoot the 5 people anytime, but I choose not too as we get more kills together. (Ganks Ftw).
I also usually have camp groups that camp all around 1 area.
Multi player is always fun Imo!