An empty world

My opinion and please don't shoot me for it, is that if players want to play in single player or friends mode upon release it should be with separate characters. I currently run with a fairly large guild, and almost everything that happens, happens in friends. If everyone is playing on their own separate instances the world is going to be very lonely. Sure they might have to increase spawn rates and the amount of resources, but I think it would be worth it.

The game also needs channels of communication whether they're realistic or not. At the moment if you're not playing with others you know, it can seem like a very lonely and empty place to be. I'm not suggesting anything like a dungeon finder since those are abominations. A simple LFG system even if it's just bulletin boards all over the world would help a ton. Click on a "job" board and it shows everyone who's looking to join others, would help tremendously.

I also believe there should be more done to promote grouping and social aspects of the game. Party bonus experience should be greatly increased, and skills and abilities should be segregated more so people look to others to fulfill rolls. Anything that brings people together more should be considered high priority. People should be able to assist each other when creating items, gathering resources, all kinds of endeavors.

It's the social aspects of these games that keep people coming back, and the systems need to reflect that. These systems might not get them into the game, but they will greatly improve the retention of players.

 

There are probably 1% (or less) of the population playing now that will be playing at launch.

 

The post isn't about the current empty world, but the future one. People being able to create solo instances is fine, but it shouldn't share the same world as the massive multiplayer one. It also creates all kinds of issues with people having to log out and in to join the same kind of game.

In my current guild, people constantly are logging in and out switching between multi-player and friends mode. It's just a really bad system. If you really want people to have private instances so easily, just let people create their own private instances when they zone in. I think it's a terrible idea to do that, but it's better than forcing people to log out.

This game promises to be a very realistic social game. We'll be living in a world with real housing, weather and times of day. To make a real world and then give people no reason to be in it with each other is just bad game design.

 

This game was billed as selective multiplayer with the ability to toggle between modes. I just don't see going back on that and making the multiplayer mode stand alone at this point. However, you could curb much of friends and single player use by making the resources and mobs shared with multiplayer.. which would eliminate MUCH of the reason people section themselves off into smaller sections of the game in the first place.

Wouldn't be a popular decision.. but... options.

 

I understand why they did single-player-online in a way, but I don't like that it's more efficient to play in that mode. Spawn rate for nodes should be much lower in single-player or something.

I think initial intent was - you're a solo player, but the world updates based on other people and you have the option to toggle back and forth. But for a number of people it seems to be more efficient to play in that mode for leveling/resource-gathering. It almost seems exploited to me.

 

It seems to be more of a player issue here. While provided option to play with others, they chose to go solo instead.

Might want to check out different guild that are more in favor for people gatherings and doing things together.

 

The sensible person would always go friends only/single player for leveling.

 

I could agree with the logic of having more resources in the group setting to balance individual availability in scenes... But only if mob density is likewise increased for group play to balance the difficulty of gathering.

 

I would much rather play in the single-online for resource gathering unless it is a area higher than my level, or unless of course one of my guild mates wants to do the same thing. To me nothing is more annoying (other than being PKed) then gathering resources and have someone come in and take them when you are busy taking out mobs. IMO its much more relaxing to go at my own pace in the zone - knowing that everything is waiting for me when I get to it. I can still chat with other friends online so for me its not like I am alone at all.

 

Single player online is just nice for grinding, and alone time........

 

For me, story lines. I want to go through every tidbit of information and not feel rushed.

 

I thought the resource spawns for all online modes are shared...

 

Nope.

 

Well, shucks. Apparently I'm gathering and leveling like a noob...

 

I think what would alleviate the issue, is if it were easier to switch modes, a right-click to that word that shows what mode you are in, would work great. I don't like all the logging in and out either, and it will happen, because that is how the game is made.

 

Why have solo and friends mode at all then? Why wouldn't you just have it so if you hold a button down as you click on a zone it creates an instance of that zone that only your party or you can enter?

Now everyone is in the same world, and no one has to share anything with anyone if they don't want to.

Having friends mode and solo mode the way they have it right now just doesn't make any design sense.

 

Sometimes I don't want to pvp, but I'll be damned to go visit the oracle to say so, simple solution, go to friends mode so I can gather and pve in peace.

I'd love a different way to create a zone for example.. but there isn't one, and personally, I think a drop-down menu for the mode you are in (top-left corner), would be sufficient for me. Then I don't have to log out and in again all the time.

Many different playstyles here, which is part of the problem..

 

Single player online and friends online are major features of the game for me. I can't imagine that I would be the only one upset if they dumbed it down.

 

I personally do not use the solo or friends-only mode very often as this way SotA does not feel like a living world but I can understand people who do not want to be bothered and choose these modes just because of that.
Yes sometimes there are avatars “stealing” resources or doing annoying things but then I simply ignore them and they stop disturbing me.

That the (felt) majority is using solo mode to harvest is in my eyes more a misusage related to the game system as solo mode rewards the avatars with a scene with all resources just for them while you may have to share them in multiplayer mode.
There are some solutions possible to “encourage” the usage of farming in multiplayer mode. E.g.

The already mentioned higher respawn rate could be an option. The more people are inside a scene the higher is the respawn rate. Of course the multiplier does not have to be equal to the number of avatars in the scene. Maybe with 4 or 8 people the maximum is reached…maybe with a multiplier of 2x or 4x faster respawn rates.

Another Option could be the usage of a mechanic we already know from pvp scenes. In Solo mode you could simply get lesser resources or just not all resources are there obtainable and enemies could have lesser or not all the loot you get in multiplayer mode.

…

It should be rewarding to use and be a part of the multiplayer mode and not a burden.

 

"One of us, one of us, one of us..."

No thanks. Forced socialisation is only slightly less obnoxious than forced PVP.