Posted by Shockum in Blue Milk & Cereal | 18 Comments
Blue Milk & Cereal: Solo Or With Friends – How Will You Play?
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In spite of the name, massively mutli-player online games can not only be enjoyed with friends, but also by yourself. When the design is done right, you’re not forced to choose either method.
With Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare is pushing both of those ideas to the next level with the introduction of Companions as well as Heroic quests.
Companions are great sidekicks that come along with you on your journey. They’ve become a BioWare staple in their single-player games. The hero (or heroine) begins a quest and along the way picks a rag-tag group of people to help achieve success. Awesome story, right?
The Companions in TOR do a good job of complimenting your own character and abilities. Some can tank, others heal, and a few will bring that extra damage if you need it. They give you the ability to continually move through most content, without having to stop and ask for help – unless you choose to.
Heroic quests are multi-player (group) quests you find throughout the game. They don’t have an impact on the story, and you clearly don’t have to do them. But they are definitely designed for group-based areas where help from other real players is required to complete the tasks, or even just to survive. It’s another way to give more of a “massive” feel to TOR.
For me, I’ve always been a solo gamer, at least in terms of leveling. Give me a companion to help with tasks, guild chat to talk to my guildmates and I’m set. Then, there will be times I would rather quest with friends and I’ll have those options here too. And of course, I know I’ll be jumping into PvP, and in time Operations and Flashpoints, where group play is essential to success.
The great thing about TOR, and MMOs in general, is you have all of these options. You can choose to play how you want to play.
So, how do you intend to play TOR? Are you more interested in playing solo, or with a group of friends? Or would you prefer a mix of solo and group play?
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I like grouping so I will be mostly grouped. But I am sure there will be those solo times as well, like in any game.
solo except when i can play in a grop i probaly will do that
I travel a lot for my job, so the hours I can play change drastically each week. Just not the volume but also the time zone. I find it easier to solo, and then eventually find a relaxing guild to circle back to the pieces i have missed.
I usually play with my MMO friends on the “good” side, but with TOR, I will start with an IA->Sniper, so I will mainly play solo, because my friends will be on the Republic side of the war.
When I decide to level an alt or if I don’t happen to like the IA, maybe I will play a bit more on groups.
I quest solo because with a 2 year old I may have to be away for a bit of time (this has been a lot lately). When I know I will have a few hours of time I will do my best to group up and run what ever instance/dungeon/flashpoint/group chain quest i can during that time. Before the kido I would raid druing the week now I am a weekend raider err was since I am not currently playing a game with raids in it.
Pretty much this for me as well, kid is not quite 2 but close and most of my time is devoted to her. I used to be a hardcore raider and also would play 40 plus hours a week. Now I maybe play 12 tops. So I group when I can, but solo if I know I cannot devote steady time to a group.
It looks like I will have two mains, one to solo/dungeon lvl up with, and the other to play coop with my wife.
One republic and one Empire.
I usually play exactly the way you do Shock.
Tend to level solo until I need to finish some heroics as I am a completionist at heart (well actually I got a little bit of OCD) …can’t leave this place until I get that last group quest done or it will bother me forever.
But there always comes that time when I decide it is time to raid and PvP and then I am all about that for a while and then eventually go back to my leveling solo again!
I said “Other” because while I do Solo, probably most of the time…I often group up to help people out and I am always chatting with Guild Members, or offering help on Chat Channels if someone asks a question that I know an answer to. So, if you are helping others out, even if not physically grouped with them, is that truly Solo?
I *always* interview and join a Guild before I even buy an MMO that I want to play. I am almost always available if a Guild member needs me to help them, or the Guild needs someone to fill a spot in a group/raid/etc. I even plan my Characters so that I can fill any role needed.
Being disabled, I have certain restrictions that make it difficult, or impossible to group sometimes. Sometimes I just *have* to be away from other people, and go at my own pace. I don’t like to rush. I don’t want to skip any Story in TOR, and as an aspiring Dedicated Crafter, I will want to do a lot of gathering – which takes time. I don’t want to slow a group down just for that.
If you are online 40+ hours a week, how much do you have to spend in a group to be considered a Grouper? Why am I a Soloist if I spend 15 hours a week grouping, and someone else only plays 15 hours a week spends 15 hours grouping is a non-Soloist? Sure, I solo more, but that’s only because I am on more. I group just as many hours as the other person – which is at or above the average hours a typical gamer plays in a week (or close to it). I guess I just don’t see what the big difference is.
This describes me in many aspects. I will group when i’m needed but as a home-bound person I will have much more time to play the game then most other folk. I’m sure I will be leveling faster than most of my guild mates just for the fact that i’m online more. Unless some of them take a week or 2 off work. :)
Definitely solo as much as i can or until the need for a group is necessary i.e. Operations, Flashpoints, Warzones.
Mostly solo for me. I don’t really like being tied down running with a group. Sometimes I need to leave without much notice so it just works out better that way for me.
I say mostly solo. I levelled all of my toons in wow solo aside from instances and group quests. In the early days round level 17 I joined with a group of two level twentys in menethil and ran from there to ironforge then took the train to stormwind. Before that I’d only been to darn. That stands out as one of the coolest groups I’ve ever had. Next to the first time I went to an instance bfd.
Aside from instances and helping out guildies, until level cap, all I need in this life of sin is me and my trandoshan.
Half and Half
I’ll level with the ppl that are the right level and play style to keep up. Beyond that, I’m sure I’ll be taking part in mostly grouped events after reaching level cap.
Since this is the first MMO I’ll be starting without rl friends already in game I’m going to assume most of the first couple month I play will be alone.
Being a huge fan of everything Star Wars, I’m having trouble deciding what type of server to join. I’ve always joined a PvP server because that is what my friends have always played. Does anyone have any insight on how different server types (RP, PvP, etc) effect how often a typical player groups?
I will play whatever my schedule allows me to play. So grouped if it lines up with friends and solo if it does not. I will not wait for my friends to level up with me, I will not wait to experience content and I would expect the same from them. When gamers get older and have lives they have to live. Playing solo becomes more appealing, since most of the people we play with have the same situation, we all can’t get on at the same time.
I would not be surprised if most of the solo voters felt some what similar.
I’m usualy leveling solo because I really enjoy taking my time doing this. So quests, definitly solo. But my main goal is raiding so at the end of the trip, when I will reach level 50, it will be an another story. ;)