I am a Solo Gamer - but i need an MMO to enjoy Solo Play the most

Yes I'm like that as well. I like having small chats with random people now and then or even getting attacked by bandits (pvpers). But I don't like grouping or joining guilds.

 

It sounds like single player online will be your gametype of choice, since you will still be able to see the world around you change.

 

And you'd be wrong. Single Player-Online is depressing in it's emptiness. As I said, I do like seeing other players. Unless SOTA can fix it's NPC issue so that the world feels alive without the players, New Britannia only feels alive with other players.

 

The best AI in any game is the player on the otherside of the MMO

 

I agree with this post. With the exception of a small group of people in uo, I've never really been a group player in mmos. I'm very picky about who I play with really.

At the same time MMOS have ruined solo player games for me. Even playing them mostly solo, MMOS add depth and excitement to the experience that solo games just cannot. I love open pvp and open loot for example, probably the richest and most enjoyable part of MMOS for me, and solo games just can't deliver that. The danger and excitement it creates makes solo games seem dull and pointless to me. I really hope an open loot option makes it into shroud, because just open pvp without it just doesn't satisfy me since there's no real danger then.

 

I was talking about Myrcello, not about you.

 

I enjoyed reading everyones posts here. My question would be, how do we further support a solo adventurous type of play? I believe that everyone is a solo adventurer even inside a group. Everyone is an individual. Many features of the game are very very solo, such as fishing, cooking, etc. It's these solo types of play that support the larger group style of play. Consider a fishing tournament. The more solo mechanics that are put into the game, the better it will feel to play it. Only one person can fish with one fishing pole, and it's up to the player to decide how they want to use it, where, with whoever.

Basically what i'm saying is that solo mechanics should be heavily concentrated on to further support a freeflow of character growth and interaction with the environment. Even the musical instruments are built upon a solo type of play but allow group play.

 

@DavenRock [MGT] ,

The main thing is I think the devs need to support ways to be clever and improvise, as I already mentioned. Once these game mechanisms are in, the devs should also keep that in mind when they're designing scenes. So for example, if cover is important to a stealth-based player, they should think about whether they want to provide opportunities for cover, and where to put them in. Sometimes, they might want to intentionally make the scene hard to stealth, other times they might want to specifically put that in as an option. Other forms of improvisation might be climbing, using ropes, setting enemies against each other, distracting enemies, waiting for enemies to be alone, attacking weak spots, etc. Typically rogue stuff.

But the devs do have to think about this stuff when making scenes. Some of the control points are very difficult for stealth currently, even though stealth should be possible. So for example, I found sneaking through Eastreach difficult, though that might have been because I wasn't skilled enough in stealth. Though, what I ended up doing was wait for another (unsuspecting) player to go through, and when all of the liches and skeletons aggro'd to him, I snuck through through the other way.

Then I think you just need numerous ways for solo players "to find each other" for activities. One of them might be setting up camps in the wilderness, that then appear on the overworld map, like Myrcello and I have suggested in separate threads. Another thing to think about is how to make sure players go in towns and in taverns. Going in towns would be encouraged by the need for maintenance; repairing and buying and selling things. Going in taverns would be encouraged by the need for food and drink, and possibly buffs from listening to music. Some of these things would be do-able at camps, if you wanted to, though easier at towns. "Hunting areas" also need to be all over so you can do it all over, and there will be a hunting area near every town. Also, honestly, if I think towns (including POTs) were more spread out, that would encourage people to go to the closest one, and more towns would be filled, though that might be a ship that's already sailed.

 

You're sharing a sandbox with all the other kids. Depending on how you play, it can be everyone's business. That's how people get bans.

Funny you should mention that because I hate crafting (and, thus, don't participate in it).

This is where the conversation starts rubbing me the wrong way... as it's progressively conflicting with the quote bellow:

You can believe whatever you want. Being an individual doesn't necessarily mean that you're on your own or that you want to be on your own. You'd be surprised how many people play multi-player games to be part of a greater whole and really don't want to do anything by themselves. Not because they can't do it, but because it's more fun for them to be in a group.

So the only support you'll get from me is in the pointing out that you chose to play solo in a multi-player game/mode.

 

Bilbo Baggins going solo against Smaug the dragon,

 

Oh and another way to enable improvisation is to allow players to take advantage of their environment, as suggested in this thread. Whether that means setting bushes on fire, or spreading lightning through water, or knocking up dust with gust spells in sandy environments. The way Witcher 3 places swamp gas and other inflammables in swamp areas is another good example; you can use those things effectively in the game to take out drowners.

 

I am in Myrcello's camp. To throw in an example of group play I enjoy in spite of preferring solo play is town defense. When a town is being over run by mobs, I enjoy fighting them as a loose group of town defenders. Various strategies are developed without discussion on the fly and etc. I also like (ducks head) sitting around the bank observing conversation and fool's play.

 

Had to do some clean up in this thread. Please try to keep the opinions civil on this matter.

 

I am very much like OP. About 90% of the time I prefer playing as the lone wolf in an MMO. I don't really enjoy raiding/dungeon crawls that much (probably because I focus more on crafting and gathering) but on occasion I like them. I just prefer a world that is alive and changing; the ability to interact with other players if I choose to do so. I love running my shops and selling things to players.

 

I may be mostly a solo adventurer (not that I still wouldn't like to hang out with more people), but I like the economic sub-game. I can't have that without suckers customers to buy my stuff at high reasonable prices and give me money.

Instead of monsters to fight and dungeons to loot, in this sub-game I have other sellers to compete with and buyers to loot.

I also like FvF type play, when you can just jump into a big battle at any time.

 

Count me in. OP's gameplay is just like mine.
Talking about reasons, how about this one: for the price of a PC game I get it, plus a whole real living world. Not just boring AI, but real people. Isn't it cool?
My playing time is severely interrupted constantly by my kids etc, so it's hard to get involved. But real players provide a real economy and real metagame, regardless of your involvement. You can't beat that in an offline game. Moreover, now I don't 'believe' offline games, because the world is artificial.