Why do people play MULTIPLAYER games if all they want to do is solo?!

[Nepharia]

I'm at level 46 and I've run solo all my quests except those Heroic quests I can manage to get a PUG for. I've not been invited to a guild, and I don't personally know any one else that plays TOR, so I play alone. I enjoy it, for the most part (except for the occasional required quest that is terrible).

 

I am also not very competitive, whereas others can be *quite* competitive and if you don't meet certain specifications, they just don't want to play with you. I also don't enjoy PvP -- personally don't see the point in it. But that's just me.

 

But what makes this game so nice is I *can* play solo and still make it through the game. Most other MMOs make it virtually impossible to solo through your class quests, which I found irritating and after a 3 month stint with most of them, I left.

 

Now, having said this, I am not opposed to playing with a group. I would love to find a group of like-minded players to group with. However, those can be difficult to find in this environment.

[Shinavast]

The reason people solo so much in this game is that its more trouble to find a group than it is to just do most of the content yourself.

 

Not counting heroics and FP's ofc (but lots of people i know skip most of the heroics until the later planets).

 

*shrug* I wish there was more open world content that required a group - world events would be nice. Not to compare, but Rift had a great system where there was always SOMETHING going on in the world to go do and get some reward for. Would be great to see a system like that make its way into SWTOR.

[Dosblade]

Ok what YOU do with your money.. well I could careless. As we read there are some that HAVE to ..or try very hard to control others. But if you PAY for this then if you solo or group ..yep why in the WORLD would I care?

[Andryah]

Just because it is a MMO doesn't mean one should group.

 

Yeah, there is a lot more in MMO dynamics then just grouping up for some content. I know that WoW has been pretty successful in blinding people to this fact, and convincing people that grouping is the only thing in MMOs, but distortion does not = fact.

 

If grouping is what defines something as an MMO, then most FPS are MMOs because you can group online for some PvP.

 

Actually, now that I think about it, people complain that this is not an MMO but a single player game, and when they do they exhibit a lot of the characteristics in their posts of people who actually prefer to play group mode FPS games. Quite the irony there.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Andryah

[romandaemon]

I'm not talking about people who like to solo ON OCCASION, or people who would rather play with people they know or a reliable guild. I mean people who want to play THE ENTIRE GAME without ever grouping with another person, the people who want SOLO OPS in which they use their companions as a raiding team.

 

I mean, isn't laughing with guildies fun? Isn't screwing around in general chat fun?

 

If not, WHY play an MMO, then? What do these people get out of this game that a superior single player game (like Skyrim, for example) wouldn't offer them and even MORE?

 

Is it because, as PA once said, "You can ride that **** through Ironforge!"?

 

 

I am certainly one of those people. For me its about immersive environment. I barely ever have a chat window open, it just feels like a world around me is alive when you see who you know are real people strolling around.

But overall I would much rather smash with a buddy or 2 and our companions that hang out and chat in guild chat.

[fungihoujo]

I'm not talking about people who like to solo ON OCCASION, or people who would rather play with people they know or a reliable guild. I mean people who want to play THE ENTIRE GAME without ever grouping with another person, the people who want SOLO OPS in which they use their companions as a raiding team.

 

I mean, isn't laughing with guildies fun? Isn't screwing around in general chat fun?

 

If not, WHY play an MMO, then? What do these people get out of this game that a superior single player game (like Skyrim, for example) wouldn't offer them and even MORE?

 

Is it because, as PA once said, "You can ride that **** through Ironforge!"?

 

What did the soloers do to you, join your pug and ninja loot somethin... oh, no, probably not.

 

Reasoning is, there's a great deal more to do. That, and after 40 hours of playing TOR, the bugs are no worse or better- after 40 hours of Skyrim dragons are flying backwards, loading screens last 5 minutes, taking ten steps is like an Ilum slide show... with nothing around- and half the questlines have bugged out to being unfinishable.

 

General chat's fun if you like Chuck Norris jokes I guess- and finding a good guild can be hard- I find the guilds that offer some sort of multi player content are the ones full of people I never would want to play with- raid guilds being by far the worst, because no I don't care about hearing the over important tank yell at people for four hours.

 

tldr- people play the game cuz there's lots to do, they avoid multi play because most people suck.

[Vincire]

I play MMOs for the options and more frequent content updates. I burned out on forced grouping in Everquest. Unfotunately, this game becomes TORCraft at 50.

[Lucpol]

they avoid multi play because most people suck.

 

I hope that is not the attitude you get through life with-otherwise good luck to you...

[hurja]

real people make better statists than npc:s. illusion of the world and that flargh.

[DalrisThane]

Deleted. No point. Everyone is TLDR these days. +See Sig. Edited March 31, 2013 by DalrisThane

[Garravesh]

I play late nights as a I work swing shift and there is virtually noone available for grouping.....

 

i tried pvp last night only to be brow beaten by the self proclaimed elite folks that i was a noob and had no business in pvp otherwise.....not a pleasant experience but typical...

 

that's the reason i play an mmo solo...

[Clarian]

I'm certain that if given the choice of 8 KOTORS rolled into one, in a single player format with companions, and ongoing content updates many of these players would choose the single player option over an MMO.

 

I certainly would. And I'd emphasize that I'd be willing to pay a subscription for it.

 

I don't think a game on the scale of the Old Republic would have been developed without paid subscriptions being part of the plan. And the scale is one of the things I particularly like about it. To me, having eight different perspectives on one universe, in one game, is cooler than a series of eight separate games.

 

But I think the general consensus is that no one would subscribe to a single-player game. Well, not enough people to make it work, anyway. And that might be true, I don't know. But I want a big, long-term game, and I know they're not cheap to develop, and I'm willing to pay for it.

[Darth_Urtani]

SWTOR is more of a single player RPG than an MMO.

[Zootskyqua]

tldr- people play the game cuz there's lots to do, they avoid multi play because most people suck.

 

I hope that is not the attitude you get through life with-otherwise good luck to you...

 

Actually, its more true than not. Ive had more bad experiences trying to play with other people. Between crying over getting beaten in a game, screaming because someone else got the piece of loot they want and flipping out because people arent playing thier class they way they feel they "should" be played. Etc......etc.... I'd rather play by myself anymore.

 

Basically, alot of people do suck. No offense....heh

[DarkCarnage]

SWTOR is more of a single player RPG than an MMO.

 

SWTOR is a MMO, vs a RPG, the biggest diffrence is mainly 1 thing.

 

MMO you have to ahve a on-line servers and have to be in a world wiht other poeple, althoguht you do not ahve to paly with them.

 

a RPG you play on your computer and sometimes have a option to log in to a multi-player systems, but if you off-line you an still play solo.

 

at lest that how MMO vs normal games seem to me.

[Cerion]

I hope that is not the attitude you get through life with-otherwise good luck to you...

 

As odd as it may sound to you, people in games are a whole lot worse than people in real life. I meet tons of great people in real life -- perhaps because we all have to act decently to make it through our days. We all know the anonymity of the interwebs can bring out the worst in people.

 

Not so in an online video game. Most people online do suck. Look at the posts on these forums for a sampling of your fellow gamers.

 

Fortunately, BW gives me the option to still have fun whilst I weed through the chaff in game. When I meet cool people, I'll try to friend them.

[RowanThursday]

 

Not so in an online video game. Most people online do suck. Look at the posts on these forums for a sampling of your fellow gamers.

 

Indeed, I think in many cases I'd sooner group with a wampa. At least they'd make for a comfortable warm snuggle buddy for breaks in *long* group quests.

 

The thing that gets me is... why do people get so *angry* at people for not being in a group mood?

 

I mean... how does it adversely affect Fred the Jedi if I don't wish to group? Put another way, why does his desire to corral me in as an ersatz companion/hunter pet for his Heroic in any way take precedence over my desire to get on with my class quest and planetary quest *without* being harangued by someone whose attitude suggests that grouping him would be constant nagging that my DPS isn't sufficient, that I'm not geared right, blah, blah, blah?

 

As to the question of whether, if this game were single player, I'd prefer it... well, the very good point has been made that it wouldn't *work* single-player. You'd get one- or, at the most, two class stories... and they'd probably be Jedi Knight and Sith Inquisitor. Now, I played a S.I. first, and I'm beginning to seriously contemplate playing a Jedi Knight fourth- my Smuggler's rolling along well at 41, so 50's in sight, and my Imp Agent will need a Republic counterpart for variety... but... Smuggler has given me more fun in 41 levels than I've had since the Worgen starting quest area of WoW:Cat, and indeed probably more than that, given all the storytelling/characterisation elements that... are the game to me, and Imperial Agent's looking good so far... and in a single-player version, I have a very strong suspicion those game paths simply wouldn't have been there.

 

So... I play the games for characters, for variety of characters living through storylines. For that, as has been said, I suspect you need the MMO subscription.

[Taikaesine]

I'm probably one of the people that the original statement applies to. I solo most of the time, I queue solo for PVP and accept the occasional group when i know I will be there for long enough to see the quest through to complete. My reason for this is that I am married and have kids, they need help with different things and randomly put my son back in bed through the evening. I solo so that I don't impact on others by having to leave halfway through a 4man quest or a flashpoint. I'm all for grouping, but not at the expense of other peoples experience of the game.

[Clarian]

You'd get one- or, at the most, two class stories... and they'd probably be Jedi Knight and Sith Inquisitor.

 

Good point...that's why I like 8 stories in one game, because it includes stories that otherwise wouldn't ever be done in a smaller-scale game.

[Lethality]

Sometimes I like to buy tickets to go to a professional basketball game or a baseball game, because I enjoy the experience and energy of actually being there.

 

Other than asking for a hot dog, and maybe something brief to the person who takes my ticket, I don't really interact with anyone else there.

 

You're a spectator.

 

And what you're there to witness is the actual event, which IS a multi-player team sport. You as a spectator are not multi-player. You're part of the environment. The athletes are the players.

[Lethality]

But yeah, if they’d done KOTOR 3, I would never have darkened the door of an MMO again. And considering the story part is a direct sequel to the KOTORS (Ex = the planet quests i.e. not class quests of Taris… where you find out about the Endar’s Spire, The Promised Land, and so on…), I’m happy. Not great. The MMO part should never have happened IMO. But good enough for me to be here.

 

A ringing endorsement if I ever heard one! i.e. I'm guessing BioWare hates to hear that about their MMO.

[Ethern]

Simply because they have no other choice. The MMO format was imposed to players only wanting a Kotor sequel.

That involve subscription monthly fees, and other unwanted features, that it is in any case stupid to force.

 

Anyway TOR's multiplayer aspect only reaches the mere co-op level. This game has no community feeling level - forcing players to be interdependent on anything - and never will, so I don't see the problem, nor the reason of such questioning in the OP.

Edited February 20, 2012 by Ethern

[DalrisThane]

Deleted. No point. Everyone is TLDR these days. +See Sig. Edited March 31, 2013 by DalrisThane

[Highsis]

Only Bioware is capable of telling such good stories.

 

I play this game for the story, rest of game elements just happen to came along.

 

I'm actually regretting that I ever bothered to interact with other players as I've been spoiled once by an idiot on the general chat.

 

That's when I realized I should turn off general chat and never interact with other players.

 

 

 

Sith Warrior Major Spoiler

 

 

A guy asked if marauder is good for PvE on the gen chat. an idiot answered on the gen chat, "I am lvl 50 and I finished all my class quests but the last one in which I should defeat Baras. I tried multiple times but still no luck. IMHO marauder is definitely bad for PvE."

 

 

When there are lots people together, dumb brains tend to blend in, and I'm merely trying to avoid them from ruining my experience...

Edited February 21, 2012 by Highsis

[Uruare]

I like a much looser social proximity across the boards, online and in RL alike, than MMO's frequently arbitrate at various levels of play.

 

Back in Ultima Online, I had a blast decorating my houses. Never did get a giant castle like I always intended, but I satisfied myself with a small town.

 

I can only guess at how much time I spent decorating my houses and their immediate lockdown environments. How much time and effort I put into both that and negotiating the locations with previous owners must've been 1000-2000 hours all told, quite possibly more.

 

I had to deal with very few people. My vendors, all cleverly disguised as townsfolk, all sold the various assortments of stuff I crafted on my equally assorted alts, and my little town became a bit of a haven for perma-red PKers that loved its remote location and my happy go-lucky willingness to stock good, cheap gear and potions and bandages and recall reagents/scrolls just for them.

 

And then they got into RPing, and my little town turned into a little mecca of evil RPers.

 

And then some serious bignamer vendor mall moguls moved in and gave birth to the Atlantic shard city of Cainia, which became and remained an evil RP guild haven until probably well after I bowed out of the game altogether.

 

I was never, ever, ever forced to do one cotton-pickin' thing with anybody. Not for anything to do with my crafting, my house decorating, my adventuring about on my adventuring characters; nadda.

 

And when I felt like doing stuff with people, they were out there and weren't too hard to find, especially after a bleeping city of castles and large stone towers got built around my meager little house-town.

 

Not everything was great. I definitely lost the nostalgia-tinted lenses long ago on the matter, but what really was great remains great in memory.

 

And for me, the greatest thing about it was, alongside that devestatingly wonderful pile of people that made their RP city there, the fact that I could throw on some of my good, cheap gear, take some of my potions and bandages and just enough reagents to cast recall a few times and go murder people.

 

Yessir, I could go find an idiot and kill it. These were pre-trammel days for all your UO vets out there, and not only pre-trammel, but the Blackthorn's Revenge expansion hadn't even hit yet for the bulk of my time there.

 

I and some perma-red RPers became highway bandits between Britain and Bucc's Den. Someone set a little house up for us out there and that's what our 'raiding' consisted of every Thursday and Saturday or Sunday nights; we'd go in groups of five on a sweep of the roadways and murder anyone and everyone we came across, RP style.

 

Yes, we said 'Prithee' as a point of hilarious annoyance. I seem to recall a couple of occasions wherein we said nothing but 'Prithee' to all pleas to be spared and threats and all else just for the lulz.

 

And we didn't have to. Sure weren't doing it for 'gear progression'. The notion of grinding was limited to skilling up; all our gear was good, cheap crafted junk we'd never miss when, not if, we died and lost it.

 

Our -good- gear was locked down in our houses on display and only occasionally used when we'd go and tackle a dungeon.

 

 

And you know what? No MMO I've had the pleasure of playing, or that was at all a pleasure to play, offered me the experience of a sandbox quite like that.

 

Being social was a good thing, but required for virtually nothing except spelunking the depths of the dungeons. You could, if it turned your crank, spend thousands of hours crafting and harvesting crafting mats and setting up/decorating at least one house and exploring; o'ye gods, the exploring; and a'so on, so on, so forth.

 

There wasn't this overwhelming push for super gear. Full suit of (what was in my time the rarest ore type to make anything out of) Valorite full plate? No better than regular ol' steel full plate, but it was -blue-.

 

And people -loved it-.

 

Bronze for being kinda goldish got a lot of play and sales too.

 

So, yep. Looser social proximities really trip my trigger. All this sardine can packing-in to run on gear treadmills...yeah, sure, I can have fun with it with the right people, but unto itself?

 

What a crock. This whole premise is pathetic without people you're actually friends with, and if you're here for the storyline?

 

Sure as hell ain't worth pandering to too many people you probably won't care about anyway over it. The gear treadmill has no new secrets to share with me; the heck do I need other people constantly shoulder to shoulder with me for beyond that?

 

 

But it's nice that they're out there if I'd like to do something with people.

 

Sometimes, that's fun too.

Edited February 21, 2012 by Uruare