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Interesting view on why Wow is so successful...


http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2 ... ther_.html

I'm not convinced it's really demonstrating much, they said themselves grouping is an innefficient way to level and I'd say that's the crux of the problem. It's not that people are happier by themselves in MMOs, just that being alone is often easier in an MMO, it's often just much harder to find a decent group, dealing with people getting disconnected and so forth than it is to just knuckle down and get on with it yourself in too many situations across too many MMOs. I'd wage a bet that if you had a group system kinda like how games like Halo 2/3 or Shadowrun handle finding games that also gave a group of decently "ranked" (i.e. don't act like idiots, know how to play) players that you'd see a massive increase in the proportion of people that group instead of soloing. So essentially, it's not a lack of will to socialise, it's the modern day attitude of wanting things right this second, and if soloing is the fastest route to getting that then it's going to be the route that people pick.

I think it's a combination of the two things, or at least it is for me. I hate standing around doing nothing trying to get a group together, but even when groups are easy to come by I still like to spend some time soloing.

Having recently experienced the Halo 3 Beta system I do have to agree that would make a huge difference, being able to get a group running in 5 minutes wihtou tmuch effort, who could say no, but I would still spend some time soloing

I'm sure we all know there's a huge difference between soloing, PUGing & GGing. Even in a PvE game (or maybe especially in a PvE game) PUGing is a disaster.

GGing > all
Soloing > PUGing

Sometimes I really just want to solo some mobs to wake up or cos I dont have much time, but the best experiences & the most fun always seem to have come from GGs.

Playing with the same extended group of people regularly for long enough to be able to anticipate their reactions so you become a harmonious unit is very rewarding, no matter what kind of MMORPG you're playing.

they give a fair point tbh.
I'm playing wow atm, and we've joined a small guild then went to a very big one and it all comes down to the same. We just ended up grouping with each other so decided to just make our own guild and stick with that.
I always group with the same person, i dont do anything on my own unless he's out of town. I'm not grouping with strangers unless i'm in 'helping mode' then i just pop from one group to the other to just help kill a mob. After Daoc i become very antisocial. I just stay in my own guild with my own friends and i dont need any other hassle from leet ppl or loot discussions etc. For my friends i'm gona drop everything to help them out but i'm not doing that for strangers anymore. If that makes me a bad player then so be it but it makes me a happy one

It's difficult to solo a lot in LotRO. A huge number of quests require a fellowship.