Weekend Recovery: Crafting Compelling Solo Endgame Experiences in MMOGs
It's Monday morning; some of us have spent the weekend partying, some of us have just been relaxing, but either way it's back to work! Going forward I'm going to try a bit of an experiment, using my Monday 9 AM spot not for a recap of the weekend news but to put forth what I hope will inspire some fun thought-provoking discussion around the topic du jour. I'm calling this Weekend Recovery, and you'll be able to jump into the discussion both here and on our GayGamer forums.
* If you'd like to suggest a topic for Weekend Recovery please do! If I pick your suggestion I'll throw you a shout out in the column thanking you. You can send suggestions to mixvio@gaygamer.net
So grab a cup of coffee and read after the cut for this week's inaugural topic.
It should be obvious by this point that I'm a big fan of MMOGs; I have had subscriptions to almost all the big launches since Ultima Online and at any given month I'm juggling three or four games at varying frequencies. Last week Gordon at We Fly Spitfires brought up a subject I've always been interested in myself: the endgame. While MMOGs originally started out as huge social experiences over time they were refined further and further into single player escapades that had multiplayer components thrown in here and there liberally, to the point that now the preferred method of progression is to just play the game alone. Most games these days heavily cater to that, requiring very little in the way of group activity as you level-- you can get through the entirety of World of Warcraft, for example, solo, and any group quests or instance runs are completely optional. However, once you hit the level cap, the expectations of the game shift radically from solo-friendly to heavily dependent on raiding. For the solo player it's a startling change of perspective as the rug is pulled out underneath you, and for those players who don't want to raid the only content they have left comes down to recycling daily quests over and over, PvP arenas/battlegrounds, or chasing after vanity achievements.
There's a lot of reasons why the leveling experience is usually a solitary one, but I suspect the biggest cause is probably due to the fact that playing online with strangers is generally not the most satisfactory experience. Big egos and bad attitudes drive most people to wanting to be by themselves or with friends, and game designers have facilitated that as the genre has grown in popularity and subscription numbers. In fact, when a new MMOG launches these days one of the most common questions you'll see developers answering beforehand is whether or not a game will require grouping.
This week, I don't want to focus on why the social aspect of MMOGs don't seem to work well in practice, but discuss what can be done to provide for the solo player that doesn't want to raid either.
Raiding, if you're unfamiliar with the lingo, is the predominant activity when you reach your game's max level. You and a group of others (the specific amount varies from game to game, WoW utilizes 10 or 25-man raids these days, but originally it had 40-man dungeons) go into an instanced dungeon where you have significantly harder enemies to fight as well as bosses to down. The rewards tend to be the best gear in the game, the most amount of gold, and other special items benefiting the increase in difficulty. It's a new activity grind to replace the leveling experience, and requires a significantly higher commitment of time to accomplish. Given that so many MMOGs make playing by yourself in your own time very easy, when you get to the endgame content raiding almost becomes a second job to take responsibility over. That was the hardest thing for me to get used to, personally, when I recently got my priest in WoW to 80; the game went from being something I could sign in and poke around on whenever I wanted to something nine other people were depending on me to be there for. Depending on your feelings, this is either awesome or terrifying.
So what should game developers be doing if they want to stick with allowing the leveling portion to be done alone? Right now if a player hits the end and wants to avoid group raids, they don't really have a lot of options. I mentioned the big ones: daily quests, reputation grinds for various faction gear, PvP over and over or collecting achievements. You can also level your trade and crafting skills or metagame the server's auction house but for a player who wants to continue playing by themselves there's an obvious lack of attention paid to what they can do.
My perfect fantasy would be, obviously, solo raids! A long single player (or with a friend if you want to invite them along) dungeon that can be accomplished by yourself would be an awesome addition to any current MMOG. Something harder and more interesting than killing ten of X enemy, requiring a bit more finesse than the non-instance quests, with comparatively better gear as a result. In the game's hierarchy it could be stuck underneath the first tier of group raids, but still above the regular dungeons you do before level cap. Champions Online probably comes the closest to what I'm envisioning here between their Nemesis quests and Monster Island, but in practice so far my experience with that has been entering an instanced building with three rooms that have harder-than-normal enemies and a boss-like mob at the end. How awesome would it be to play through a long dungeon half the size of Ulduar and downing a monster at the end of it, befitting your stature as a hero? I get goosebumpy thinking about it (and am happily sticking the significant increase in stress on game servers out of my 'happy imagination place' place) already.
It stands to reason that cajoling players into wanting to play with each other isn't going to happen for most of the level grind, and really most gamers are likely to even resent the concept. From my own anecdotal experience the majority of people want to play a MMOG alone, with any player interaction entirely voluntary outside of capital cities or conversation. In response, fleshing out the solo experience would be an improvement over squishing players into a weird disconnect from the campaign they experienced for the majority of their characters' lives. Especially from a story perspective, it's weird constantly having affirmation by the NPCs of all the amazing things you've accomplished well beyond what anyone else has done, but-- wait-- to go any further you need to join up with nine other super people just like you. It really deflates the sparkle on my special quest drop pants.
So, this week's discussion: what ideas would you guys come up with to strengthen MMOGs for the solo player? Leave your opinions here or on the forum thread.
mixvio
Posted to Miscellany on 12 October 2009
· Comments (14)
Other stuff like this: conversation, mmogs, opinion, reader input, weekend recovery
Although a nice article, could you either change it so it's clear that it's WoW-centric, or do some more homework? Eve Online has these solo 'raids' (a term I've only ever heard used in WoW, btw, not across the whole genre), a very lucrative (if indeed dull) venture. In fact given that these are multiplayer games, I'd argue that any kind of social interaction at the higher levels is good. I got so bored doing the end-game PvE stuff in Eve that I left for a few months before going back. Manly because there was no-one to talk to. No I've chosen a different part of the game to explore, again solo. Surely the better solution is more variety, not more depth? Otherwise you'll just finish the final solo stuff, and need yet more content. If there is a wide, if not terribly deep set of playstyles, then there is always something to go back to.
Having played EVE for years, the solo endgame content is even less what I was talking about than Champion Online's implementation.
And speaking of homework, "raid" as a term originated in Everquest, not WoW. ;)
The article isn't WoW centered at all, I pull examples from various games and even point out that Champions Online is the closest towards what I personally am fantasizing about than any of the other games.
Thanks for your cogent review of what has bothered me about MMOs ever since I first played them. Being forced into grouping in order to accomplish any part of the game is, to me, just not good programming. If the designers can't take the time to create a unique experience for a single player in an MMO world, then that game is immediately hobbled as many players (like me) hate being forced to rely on others to accomplish my own particular goals. Such grouping is alienating a huge swath of players who might otherwise be interested.
I'm really hoping that Bioware's The Old Republic can put together a complete and compelling experience for single players because if it's not, then it will be the first Star Wars PC game I've declined to buy.
That's a very interesting article mixvio, although you did overlook one game which requests grouping from an early level to progress the storyline - Lord of the Rings. I've not met anyone who grumbles about being forced to team up in that game, probably because of how it's done (even terminology can have an effect - simply calling your group a 'fellowship' helps draw you into the story) and the source material.
The LotR books are, in modern terms, a description of nine mmog players group and individual experiences. The game taps that group feeling from the books quite well, whilst still allowing soloing outside the main storyline. But because the original story is group focused, so is the games story. I like that - and I'm not a huge group gamer, I prefer soloing myself.
I dunno, I played a fair bit of LoTRO (though it didn't draw me in as much as others) and I didn't feel especially pressured into grouping. I don't know if that changes further up but it wasn't the case for me until 15ish. I will agree though that grouping did seem to be encouraged more than in other games, but I think that's also due to the time in which LoTRO was released; the push for "easy mode" leveling has only gotten stronger since then, especially with the release of both WoW's expansions that made it easier and easier to play solo. Now it's common, but when LoTRO was released even WoW itself wasn't quite as favorable for it as it is today.
I keep meaning to pick it up though; it didn't grip me the way I wanted to when I originally bought it but I've heard they have improved things since launch.
I really like your idea actually. Although I understand that MMORPGs are all about the "massively online" element, I think there's a lot of things lacking for the solo gamer. Why not have some epic quest lines that can be completed by an individual? I don't like the idea that I have to raid just to get the rewards or cool looking items I want.
Age of Conan had a really nice solo questline going with it's Destiny quests and night time quests in Tortage. I'd like to see more stuff like that.
seems like a "solo raid" would defeat the purpose of, you know, the "massively multiplayer online" part of this.
interacting with your fellow humans, working out problems as a group, and getting that group feeling of WHOOHOO! is the whole point, imho.
There are plenty of single-player RPGs out there that offer plenty on epic experiences. Maybe go with one of them instead of an MMO?
MMO end-games are generally based around groups simply because they are massively multiplayer. You can't just put blinders on to the fact there has to be a point where going solo just doesn't cut it anymore.
Sure, you end up feeling "thrown" into multiplayer if you've been flying solo until you can't anymore ... but new single player content isn't going to change the perspective you made for yourself. Maybe spend more time while leveling grouping where you can.
Lets say for example that they added your half-ulduar instance to Warcraft. Where should the difference/difficulty lie from both other instances and dailies? You can't make the rewards better than the group instances because there would be no reason to do the group instances ... and really you can extrapolate my whole argument from there. Say the drops are just as good but maybe you can only get a limited number of items from the solo. Does the solo instance only drop items you can use then? Won't you simply and quickly just run out of stuff to get and be forced to do groups anyway? Or maybe it drops stuff for anyone just like normal instances and you end up running it for nothing day after day ... almost like you would for a daily, except without the consistent rewards of a daily.
Asking for a better transition between leveling and end-game in an MMO is totally reasonable. Asking for more solo content in an MMO really isn't.
So maybe at heart you know the issue, you're just asking the question about it.
because there would be no reason to do the group instances
Ah, so people only do the group instances for rewards, not because they are fun. As you say, there would be no reason to group if you could get the rewards while playing something that is fun.
This, everyone, is the problem with MMORPGs, and why so many people are pushing for fun content - like singleplayer content, 5man group content, et cetera. The rewards are why people play.
Not the fun. Isn't this very, very sad?
I'm all for more soloing in MMOs. Just because it's called a massively multiplayer game shouldn't mean that you're forced to group up with other people to advance your character. And some people (like myself) enjoy going solo but also like helping - or just socializing with - other players via chat.
It looks like some developers are starting to realize the potential for profits in making their games more solo-friendly, as well. I haven't played EVE Online so I have no idea about that, but I agree that WoW is very solo-friendly, except for endgame activities. Guild Wars is also solo-friendly, with the option to hire henchmen and recruit Heroes (both AI-controlled, although the player can issue them commands) to form parties, instead of human players.
More recently, Dungeons & Dragons Online has made quite a number of changes to accomodate solo play. There's a Solo difficulty option (where you cannot take anyone else in with you) for a large number of quests at the beginning of the game. Once you get beyond that part, soloing is made easier via dungeon scaling, in which enemy stats, behavior, damage, etc. are all scaled according to the number of people that you have in your group. A person doing a quest solo will have a different experience than when s/he repeats the same quest with five of his/her friends.
Look at it this way: the world is massively-multiplayer, but I bet you're not grouped or raiding right now -- you're sitting at home soloing the Web.
When you go to work, you (usually) group up and participate in some sort of corporate raid. Sometimes you have an active role, sometimes you just make potions and repair armor (filing, making copies, running errands for the boss, etc?)
Sometimes you go out at night and you get into a 5- or 10-man party, but other times you just want some epic solo experience.
Having something with massive multiplayer aspects can enhance the experience, but people need to stop arguing that *because* something is MM that the only acceptable interaction is multiplay. MM should mean that multiplayer is an option, but not a requirement. Solo RPGs like Zelda and Final Fantasy might have some epic solo opportunities, but there's not even an *option* to interact with anyone else. Having that option is what MM should be about.
Marian et al:
Group quests aren't really "fun" though. In WoW, for example, there's no real difference between the single player quests and the group ones, other than the fact that the monster you have to kill at the end is too hard to do by yourself unless you're ten levels above it.
If the multiplayer experience was more compelling I would be all for it. The point of this entry, however, was "Well they make the 1 - 80 experience as easy as possible to get through by yourself but when you get to the end you're forced to play with others, contrary to what they put you through for the first half of the game-- why?" That's a design fault in my opinion, and since I don't think game designers are going to be able to fix the human shortcomings that lead to people wanting to play by themselves, or in limited doses of multiplayer content, the alternative is to not half-ass the single player part.
You mentioned how WOW was very single player friendly until you hit end game. Surely this is done so that its possible to actually do the quests. Many of the low level areas have very few people questing and forcing people to party for them just wouldn't make sense as finding a party can be near on impossible especially if you are playing during off peak times. And as new expansions come out previously highly populated areas become almost barren (e.g. the harder areas of outlands)so they make the leveling easy to solo so they dont have to go back and change the quests from group quests to soloable quests every time an expansion hits (kinda like they did with some of the low level group quests a awhile back.
That being said i agree that some really good single player endgame would be nice for mmo's.
On another note FFXI all but forced you to party once you hit level ten for most of the classes (if you wanted to level with any decent speed atleast) and in my opinion it was one of its biggest failings (that and the 3 month unsubscribed=deletion of account).
On another note FFXI all but forced you to party once you hit level ten for most of the classes (if you wanted to level with any decent speed at least) and in my opinion it was one of its biggest failings (that and the 3 month unsubscribed=deletion of account).
Yeah, I agree. Beastmaster went by pretty quickly for me, but that was really the only class; I also soloed Red Mage and Blue Mage into the early-to-mid 50s, but that took a fair amount of time. If it wasn't for the 3-month rule I'd probably have gone back to it every once in awhile, just because I liked Vana'diel so much.