Group content required for story completion

[coso.9173]

I'm usually wary of forced group content because I tend to doubt my capabilities, but I did well and we did it without issues.What will happen in 6 months if others aren't playing it well see by then.

[Zok.4956]

@Vayne.8563 said:

@Jilora.9524 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

@"Mea.5491" said:

"Making group content required for the story is a step backwards."

Then you would cry in FFXIV, story is locked behind DOZENS of non-soloable dungeons and trials, lol. GW2 has a ridiculously LOW amount of FORCED group content for a massively

multiplayer

game. :tongue:

Yep and some people chose this game for that reason. This is a change that's introduced badly. Anet is trying to tell me well if you want to keep moving forward this is the direction we're going. If it is, you'll be going without me and players like me.

It may not matter to you, but if there are enough of us, it will matter to the bottom line of the game. And that should matter to everyone playing.

Sure it might "force" you to play with other players for that one mission but its taking care of the forming of a group for you if you just use the Public squad. The mission itself is fairly easy and doesn't require a ton of coordination beyond just ticking the boxes of the progressive objectives and then the boss fight at the end.

Technically the game "forces" you to play with other players whenever you do an event in the world or a World Boss. Its not much different than that, you're just pressing a button to do it.

But it's not forcing me to group with other people. I can rock up to a meta event or world boss without grouping and often do.

The person above just said they duo it easily which could mean it's soloable so try solo or with a friend who understands your unique circumstances

Yep I'm going to try it. You might be led to think I solo most of the time, but that's not the case. I just play with a few guldies most of the time.

After finishing it as a public strike, I played it solo until the last boss fight and solo it takes a little bit longer to kill mobs, vets etc. but it was solo much more fun because solo I could do the pre-events and events in my own time, understand mechanics, do the little jumping puzzles, collect items etc. and other players could not steal mechanics or collection items. I could even go AFK a few minutes for a phone call.

But I did not finish the last boss fight solo. Because I could not break the break bar completely with spamming tank-skill-3(harpoon) doing this alone. And without breaking the break bar the fight is way too long. So I left the instance when the boss was at 70%.

If anet would tweak this instance only a little bit, it would be a nice and not too hard solo story instance.

Calling this a strike mission is misleading.

[ShroomOneUp.6913]

@Dante.1763 said:

@"Mea.5491" said:

"Making group content required for the story is a step backwards."

Then you would cry in FFXIV, story is locked behind DOZENS of non-soloable dungeons and trials, lol. GW2 has a ridiculously LOW amount of FORCED group content for a massively

multiplayer

game. :tongue:

Maybe thats why we are playing this game and not that one.

I repeat. MMO =/= 10 man instanced dungeons. It means a bunch of players online together at the same time.

actually that is exactly what MMOs are. an MASSIVE MULTI O with only solo content....?

[ShroomOneUp.6913]

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

"Making group content required for the story is a step backwards."

Then you would cry in FFXIV, story is locked behind DOZENS of non-soloable dungeons and trials, lol. GW2 has a ridiculously LOW amount of FORCED group content for a massively

multiplayer

game. :tongue:

Maybe thats why we are playing this game and not that one.

Maybe that's why FFXIV is successful and GW2 is having issues. I love GW2 but too often it feels like a single-player game for an MMO. Solo players always cry when we get multiplayer content in a multiplayer game. It's sad.

Successful maybe, interesting to me? no, and ive had friends who left GW2 for it try to get me to play it. Im not interested in the type of gameplay they want out of an MMO, its why i stay behind, GW2 has what i want, if it changes to much i will of course leave, but i wont be starting a "typical" mmo.

The only time ive seen Solo players "Cry" is when it impedes the story, ive never thought story mode should be multiplayer mandatory, so im on their side there. Which by the way what do you mean by solo players? Players who enjoy doing -Their- characters story alone, or those who play alone 100% of the time(can you even? this game always has players doing events.)

Very rarely do i see people demanding all 5-10 man content be removed(most are troll threads too...), in fact this isnt even asking for that. Most of the strike mission threads, raid threads and back in the day dungeon threads wanted it to be easier as this game has a huge easy going population, and i do sort of agree with them.

well good thing that NONE of the content aside from season 1 missions are the PLAYERS story but some random as charr's story and ryland's story

[Vayne.8563]

@ShroomOneUp.6913 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

"Making group content required for the story is a step backwards."

Then you would cry in FFXIV, story is locked behind DOZENS of non-soloable dungeons and trials, lol. GW2 has a ridiculously LOW amount of FORCED group content for a massively

multiplayer

game. :tongue:

Maybe thats why we are playing this game and not that one.

Maybe that's why FFXIV is successful and GW2 is having issues. I love GW2 but too often it feels like a single-player game for an MMO. Solo players always cry when we get multiplayer content in a multiplayer game. It's sad.

Successful maybe, interesting to me? no, and ive had friends who left GW2 for it try to get me to play it. Im not interested in the type of gameplay they want out of an MMO, its why i stay behind, GW2 has what i want, if it changes to much i will of course leave, but i wont be starting a "typical" mmo.

The only time ive seen Solo players "Cry" is when it impedes the story, ive never thought story mode should be multiplayer mandatory, so im on their side there. Which by the way what do you mean by solo players? Players who enjoy doing -Their- characters story alone, or those who play alone 100% of the time(can you even? this game always has players doing events.)

Very rarely do i see people demanding all 5-10 man content be removed(most are troll threads too...), in fact this isnt even asking for that. Most of the strike mission threads, raid threads and back in the day dungeon threads wanted it to be easier as this game has a huge easy going population, and i do sort of agree with them.

well good thing that NONE of the content aside from season 1 missions are the PLAYERS story but some random as charr's story and ryland's story

@ShroomOneUp.6913 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

"Making group content required for the story is a step backwards."

Then you would cry in FFXIV, story is locked behind DOZENS of non-soloable dungeons and trials, lol. GW2 has a ridiculously LOW amount of FORCED group content for a massively

multiplayer

game. :tongue:

Maybe thats why we are playing this game and not that one.

Maybe that's why FFXIV is successful and GW2 is having issues. I love GW2 but too often it feels like a single-player game for an MMO. Solo players always cry when we get multiplayer content in a multiplayer game. It's sad.

Successful maybe, interesting to me? no, and ive had friends who left GW2 for it try to get me to play it. Im not interested in the type of gameplay they want out of an MMO, its why i stay behind, GW2 has what i want, if it changes to much i will of course leave, but i wont be starting a "typical" mmo.

The only time ive seen Solo players "Cry" is when it impedes the story, ive never thought story mode should be multiplayer mandatory, so im on their side there. Which by the way what do you mean by solo players? Players who enjoy doing -Their- characters story alone, or those who play alone 100% of the time(can you even? this game always has players doing events.)

Very rarely do i see people demanding all 5-10 man content be removed(most are troll threads too...), in fact this isnt even asking for that. Most of the strike mission threads, raid threads and back in the day dungeon threads wanted it to be easier as this game has a huge easy going population, and i do sort of agree with them.

well good thing that NONE of the content aside from season 1 missions are the PLAYERS story but some random as charr's story and ryland's story

Saying a flashback is not a player's story is a bit rich. I read a lot. I see lots of flashbacks about characters that aren't the main character, but they're still part of the main story. Are you saying that seeing something like that (no spoilers from me) will not affect your character. Cause I don't believe that's the case.

[ShroomOneUp.6913]

@Vayne.8563 said:

@ShroomOneUp.6913 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

"Making group content required for the story is a step backwards."

Then you would cry in FFXIV, story is locked behind DOZENS of non-soloable dungeons and trials, lol. GW2 has a ridiculously LOW amount of FORCED group content for a massively

multiplayer

game. :tongue:

Maybe thats why we are playing this game and not that one.

Maybe that's why FFXIV is successful and GW2 is having issues. I love GW2 but too often it feels like a single-player game for an MMO. Solo players always cry when we get multiplayer content in a multiplayer game. It's sad.

Successful maybe, interesting to me? no, and ive had friends who left GW2 for it try to get me to play it. Im not interested in the type of gameplay they want out of an MMO, its why i stay behind, GW2 has what i want, if it changes to much i will of course leave, but i wont be starting a "typical" mmo.

The only time ive seen Solo players "Cry" is when it impedes the story, ive never thought story mode should be multiplayer mandatory, so im on their side there. Which by the way what do you mean by solo players? Players who enjoy doing -Their- characters story alone, or those who play alone 100% of the time(can you even? this game always has players doing events.)

Very rarely do i see people demanding all 5-10 man content be removed(most are troll threads too...), in fact this isnt even asking for that. Most of the strike mission threads, raid threads and back in the day dungeon threads wanted it to be easier as this game has a huge easy going population, and i do sort of agree with them.

well good thing that NONE of the content aside from season 1 missions are the PLAYERS story but some random as charr's story and ryland's story

@ShroomOneUp.6913 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

"Making group content required for the story is a step backwards."

Then you would cry in FFXIV, story is locked behind DOZENS of non-soloable dungeons and trials, lol. GW2 has a ridiculously LOW amount of FORCED group content for a massively

multiplayer

game. :tongue:

Maybe thats why we are playing this game and not that one.

Maybe that's why FFXIV is successful and GW2 is having issues. I love GW2 but too often it feels like a single-player game for an MMO. Solo players always cry when we get multiplayer content in a multiplayer game. It's sad.

Successful maybe, interesting to me? no, and ive had friends who left GW2 for it try to get me to play it. Im not interested in the type of gameplay they want out of an MMO, its why i stay behind, GW2 has what i want, if it changes to much i will of course leave, but i wont be starting a "typical" mmo.

The only time ive seen Solo players "Cry" is when it impedes the story, ive never thought story mode should be multiplayer mandatory, so im on their side there. Which by the way what do you mean by solo players? Players who enjoy doing -Their- characters story alone, or those who play alone 100% of the time(can you even? this game always has players doing events.)

Very rarely do i see people demanding all 5-10 man content be removed(most are troll threads too...), in fact this isnt even asking for that. Most of the strike mission threads, raid threads and back in the day dungeon threads wanted it to be easier as this game has a huge easy going population, and i do sort of agree with them.

well good thing that NONE of the content aside from season 1 missions are the PLAYERS story but some random as charr's story and ryland's story

Saying a flashback is not a player's story is a bit rich. I read a lot. I see lots of flashbacks about characters that aren't the main character, but they're still part of the main story. Are you saying that seeing something like that (no spoilers from me) will not affect your character. Cause I don't believe that's the case.

it literally isn't. you play a random charr AND ryland in those. you do not play the commander in those.and i excluded the season 1 stories alreadyfurther more they are more of additional side stories than essential story arks. they add depth to the world but they are not essential to understand the story going forward

[Vayne.8563]

@ShroomOneUp.6913 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

@ShroomOneUp.6913 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

"Making group content required for the story is a step backwards."

Then you would cry in FFXIV, story is locked behind DOZENS of non-soloable dungeons and trials, lol. GW2 has a ridiculously LOW amount of FORCED group content for a massively

multiplayer

game. :tongue:

Maybe thats why we are playing this game and not that one.

Maybe that's why FFXIV is successful and GW2 is having issues. I love GW2 but too often it feels like a single-player game for an MMO. Solo players always cry when we get multiplayer content in a multiplayer game. It's sad.

Successful maybe, interesting to me? no, and ive had friends who left GW2 for it try to get me to play it. Im not interested in the type of gameplay they want out of an MMO, its why i stay behind, GW2 has what i want, if it changes to much i will of course leave, but i wont be starting a "typical" mmo.

The only time ive seen Solo players "Cry" is when it impedes the story, ive never thought story mode should be multiplayer mandatory, so im on their side there. Which by the way what do you mean by solo players? Players who enjoy doing -Their- characters story alone, or those who play alone 100% of the time(can you even? this game always has players doing events.)

Very rarely do i see people demanding all 5-10 man content be removed(most are troll threads too...), in fact this isnt even asking for that. Most of the strike mission threads, raid threads and back in the day dungeon threads wanted it to be easier as this game has a huge easy going population, and i do sort of agree with them.

well good thing that NONE of the content aside from season 1 missions are the PLAYERS story but some random as charr's story and ryland's story

@ShroomOneUp.6913 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

"Making group content required for the story is a step backwards."

Then you would cry in FFXIV, story is locked behind DOZENS of non-soloable dungeons and trials, lol. GW2 has a ridiculously LOW amount of FORCED group content for a massively

multiplayer

game. :tongue:

Maybe thats why we are playing this game and not that one.

Maybe that's why FFXIV is successful and GW2 is having issues. I love GW2 but too often it feels like a single-player game for an MMO. Solo players always cry when we get multiplayer content in a multiplayer game. It's sad.

Successful maybe, interesting to me? no, and ive had friends who left GW2 for it try to get me to play it. Im not interested in the type of gameplay they want out of an MMO, its why i stay behind, GW2 has what i want, if it changes to much i will of course leave, but i wont be starting a "typical" mmo.

The only time ive seen Solo players "Cry" is when it impedes the story, ive never thought story mode should be multiplayer mandatory, so im on their side there. Which by the way what do you mean by solo players? Players who enjoy doing -Their- characters story alone, or those who play alone 100% of the time(can you even? this game always has players doing events.)

Very rarely do i see people demanding all 5-10 man content be removed(most are troll threads too...), in fact this isnt even asking for that. Most of the strike mission threads, raid threads and back in the day dungeon threads wanted it to be easier as this game has a huge easy going population, and i do sort of agree with them.

well good thing that NONE of the content aside from season 1 missions are the PLAYERS story but some random as charr's story and ryland's story

Saying a flashback is not a player's story is a bit rich. I read a lot. I see lots of flashbacks about characters that aren't the main character, but they're still part of the main story. Are you saying that seeing something like that (no spoilers from me) will not affect your character. Cause I don't believe that's the case.

it literally isn't. you play a random charr AND ryland in those. you do not play the commander in those.and i excluded the season 1 stories alreadyfurther more they are more of additional side stories than essential story arks. they add depth to the world but they are not essential to understand the story going forward

But YOUR CHARACTER is seeing a vision and that vision gives him information about a character that he's interacted with before. Everything in this game is your story even if you're not there. Do you think the cut scene where the Pact Fleet goes down in Verdant Brink in HoT isn't part of your story because you're not there? THinks that explain and clarify your story are absolutely part of your story.

In this particularly case, access to season 1 through strike missions is part of your story. Are are you saying Season 1 didn't happen to your character.

[ShroomOneUp.6913]

@Vayne.8563 said:

@ShroomOneUp.6913 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

@ShroomOneUp.6913 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

"Making group content required for the story is a step backwards."

Then you would cry in FFXIV, story is locked behind DOZENS of non-soloable dungeons and trials, lol. GW2 has a ridiculously LOW amount of FORCED group content for a massively

multiplayer

game. :tongue:

Maybe thats why we are playing this game and not that one.

Maybe that's why FFXIV is successful and GW2 is having issues. I love GW2 but too often it feels like a single-player game for an MMO. Solo players always cry when we get multiplayer content in a multiplayer game. It's sad.

Successful maybe, interesting to me? no, and ive had friends who left GW2 for it try to get me to play it. Im not interested in the type of gameplay they want out of an MMO, its why i stay behind, GW2 has what i want, if it changes to much i will of course leave, but i wont be starting a "typical" mmo.

The only time ive seen Solo players "Cry" is when it impedes the story, ive never thought story mode should be multiplayer mandatory, so im on their side there. Which by the way what do you mean by solo players? Players who enjoy doing -Their- characters story alone, or those who play alone 100% of the time(can you even? this game always has players doing events.)

Very rarely do i see people demanding all 5-10 man content be removed(most are troll threads too...), in fact this isnt even asking for that. Most of the strike mission threads, raid threads and back in the day dungeon threads wanted it to be easier as this game has a huge easy going population, and i do sort of agree with them.

well good thing that NONE of the content aside from season 1 missions are the PLAYERS story but some random as charr's story and ryland's story

@ShroomOneUp.6913 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

"Making group content required for the story is a step backwards."

Then you would cry in FFXIV, story is locked behind DOZENS of non-soloable dungeons and trials, lol. GW2 has a ridiculously LOW amount of FORCED group content for a massively

multiplayer

game. :tongue:

Maybe thats why we are playing this game and not that one.

Maybe that's why FFXIV is successful and GW2 is having issues. I love GW2 but too often it feels like a single-player game for an MMO. Solo players always cry when we get multiplayer content in a multiplayer game. It's sad.

Successful maybe, interesting to me? no, and ive had friends who left GW2 for it try to get me to play it. Im not interested in the type of gameplay they want out of an MMO, its why i stay behind, GW2 has what i want, if it changes to much i will of course leave, but i wont be starting a "typical" mmo.

The only time ive seen Solo players "Cry" is when it impedes the story, ive never thought story mode should be multiplayer mandatory, so im on their side there. Which by the way what do you mean by solo players? Players who enjoy doing -Their- characters story alone, or those who play alone 100% of the time(can you even? this game always has players doing events.)

Very rarely do i see people demanding all 5-10 man content be removed(most are troll threads too...), in fact this isnt even asking for that. Most of the strike mission threads, raid threads and back in the day dungeon threads wanted it to be easier as this game has a huge easy going population, and i do sort of agree with them.

well good thing that NONE of the content aside from season 1 missions are the PLAYERS story but some random as charr's story and ryland's story

Saying a flashback is not a player's story is a bit rich. I read a lot. I see lots of flashbacks about characters that aren't the main character, but they're still part of the main story. Are you saying that seeing something like that (no spoilers from me) will not affect your character. Cause I don't believe that's the case.

it literally isn't. you play a random charr AND ryland in those. you do not play the commander in those.and i excluded the season 1 stories alreadyfurther more they are more of additional side stories than essential story arks. they add depth to the world but they are not essential to understand the story going forward

But YOUR CHARACTER is seeing a vision and that vision gives him information about a character that he's interacted with before. Everything in this game is your story even if you're not there. Do you think the cut scene where the Pact Fleet goes down in Verdant Brink in HoT isn't part of your story because you're not there? THinks that explain and clarify your story are absolutely part of your story.

In this particularly case, access to season 1 through strike missions is part of your story. Are are you saying Season 1 didn't happen to your character.

so because i can read up on someone elses experiences it makes it MY story? cool lemme read MLKs biography then its MY story

[ShroomOneUp.6913]

but lemma put it differently and compare it with something similar: caithes story.in season 2 you acquire memory seeds in order to understand and track down caithe who at this point stole aurenes egg. In those mission you trot from the grove to metrica to the silver wastes and witness CAITHE'S story why she broke up with faoline, what motivated her how they saved second born from asura yadda yadda yaddait is STILL her story we witness. the commanders story is merely to hunt down caithe. and the only big reveal we get is that sylvari are creations of mordremoth through all of it that is in the end important to HOT, however this is something we would have learned regardless because laranthir will message you and warn you about that very fact. so even the big lore reveal is not that important to learn in CATIHE's story as you get that fact anyway. only the hunt of caithe was important story wise as it made the commander not be with the fleet and be potentially killed during mordremoths destruction of it.now with ryland story it a mission that has no baring other then show the daily routine of the charr defactors and how almorra died. we know however already that bangar has an small army and that almorra is dead. we merely get more detail that are not essential for moving forward. there is nothing vital to learn in those stories that will be important later on. in fact we remain just as clueless as what is coming next.

[maddoctor.2738]

I found the instance to be solo-able just fine. And it's not like the old Arah story mode either, it doesn't punish you for doing it solo, the health pools are normal. Now some of the achievements can be challenging to solo (or even impossible) but if you really want to experience the story of it, it's fine. Also, for future playthroughs, after you solo it the first time, you can use the public version, where you don't have to set-up a group beforehand. There is no real role, or build, needed for this instance

[Krzysztof.5973]

@mindcircus.1506 said:

@Khisanth.2948 said:It definitely does not require 5-10. It was pretty easy with 3 despite being scaled for 4.

Previous posters have also noted doing it with 2 and solo.

How many of the people complaining have actually tried it solo?

None.It's just another thread of false rhetoric, armchair dev speak, backhanded economic threats, hyperbole and make-believe anecdotes by a focused group who figure the game's experience shouldn't change from Queensdale onward.A group of people who feel that good group content is something they can leave their keyboard in the middle of and still get carried to a full reward.

A lot of us really liked this approach to the story.Fortunately for those who didn't there is still plenty of other content for them to enjoy.Unfortunately their entitlement will not accept it.

This pretty much closes the discussion. You can go and solo this side-story. Play the way you want. Nobody is forcing you to do anything. Let others enjoy it they way it was designed.

[Tiny Doom.4380]

@"Krzysztof.5973" said:

This pretty much closes the discussion. You can go and solo this side-story. Play the way you want. Nobody is forcing you to do anything. Let others enjoy it they way it was designed.

I did part one solo last night and part two solo this morning. Until I came here and read this thread I had no idea either was intended to be group content. I thought there was a problem with the in-game description. Since I couldn't see a "solo" option in game I tried both. The public one was non-functional with about ten people in map chat discussing what they were meant to do and why it wasn't working so I tried the "Squad" version. I played through the first part solo and assumed it was meant to be that way. It was very easy all the way to the final boss, which was annoying but only in exactly the same way many bosses in the last two seasons were.

That was last night. This morning I logged in and did part two, which was even easier, including a much easier final boss fight. It didn't occur to me at any point that the content was meant for a group - it seemed to be tuned very well for solo play.

I was on my full heal druid, who I always use for Living Story stuff and this episode played exactly like any other so i would suggest that whatever your solo experience in other chapters on a given character, this won't be much different. There was, however, some discussion in map chat suggesting that, if you don't own a Commander tag on the account you're playinng, you won't even see the "private squad" option so you will have no solo option. If that's true (I can't test it) then it ought to be changed.

Other than that, I'd say that if you want to do it solo you should just choose the Private Squad option and go in alone. It's perfectly doable.

[PookieDaWombat.6209]

Good job Anet. Now you've added content I can't enjoy because I have to play it with others when I just want to experience the story. All because you want to force players into strike missions and eventually raids because you see less traffic in that content. So you also stick any and all rewards behind doing that content as well. smh. This trend continues and I'm not even sure going back to Cantha will be enough to keep me along for the ride.

tl;dr make your actual PvE open world content actually rewarding with out absurd grind. If PvE's only real rewards come from the gemstore then you've failed.

[IndigoSundown.5419]

@zealex.9410 said:

@IndigoSundown.5419 said:

@"Mea.5491" said:

Maybe that's why FFXIV is successful and GW2 is having issues.

Nah, FF is a very popular IP with many millions of fans. Guild Wars is not.

I love GW2 but too often it feels like a single-player game for an MMO.

A major design aim of Guild Wars 2 was to be a game that appealed to players who hated MMO's as well as those who loved them. The end result of that is that ANet has two groups who want fundamentally different things from the game. Part of that divide is those who want a more WoW-like experience versus people who didn't like WoW-style endgame, Whether GW2 offers enough content that is suited for those who want group play or for those who don't is going to depend on which side of the divide you sit on.

Solo players always cry when we get multiplayer content in a multiplayer game. It's sad.

And some of the group-PvE crowd complain every time a release comes that doesn't offer group content. Before you hang your hat on the idea that group content is a defining factor of whether a game is multiplayer or not, you might consider that the most successful MMO once published stats saying that 5% of its population raided consistently.

---

The issue here is packaging. ANet presented this release in the story journal. The content is designed to offer a glimpse into the LWS1 story that a lot of players may have missed. That means people are going to think of it as story. Story has always been something people could do at their own pace and alone if that's what they wanted to do.

If ANet wanted to present another group content initiative, I think that's great. Both groups need things to do to keep up their interest in the game. It think that it as inevitable that when they packed the release as "story" (maybe because they wanted to tie it to PoF ownership and that mechanism already existed for story episodes) there were going to be expectations of solo play.

Ff has traditionally existed in the sp turnbased genre which run opposite to what ff14 is, if anything ff14 could be seen as a slap to the face for ff fans since it doesnt directly cater to them except for maybe the lore and story.

Could be? Warcraft I-III were RTS games, yet the MMO they led to has been the big dog in the genre for 15+ years. Based on the available evidence, I'd say IP has a bigger effect on success than you seem to want to credit. Please note that a larger share of WoW's population began "raiding" -- which is the pinnacle of PvE instanced group content -- only after LFR.

Is there a demand for instanced group content in MMO's? Yeah. Is there also a demand in GW2 for anti-instanced group content. Since the game was pitched as being in part for those who hated MMO's, I'd say yes.

[blueberry.2504]

Optional story group content in a mmo. Great choice to get more people interested in doing instanced group content, like the new strike missions. Why do people always ask that everything should be singleplayer in a mmo, multiplayer that is.

[Ayrilana.1396]

@PookieDaWombat.6209 said:Good job Anet. Now you've added content I can't enjoy because I have to play it with others when I just want to experience the story. All because you want to force players into strike missions and eventually raids because you see less traffic in that content. So you also stick any and all rewards behind doing that content as well. smh. This trend continues and I'm not even sure going back to Cantha will be enough to keep me along for the ride.

tl;dr make your actual PvE open world content actually rewarding with out absurd grind. If PvE's only real rewards come from the gemstore then you've failed.

Join the strike in public mode. It’s no different from doing story content in the open world.

[Cyninja.2954]

Can confirm, the opening strike mission is easily soloed (I've completed it so far 5 times, twice in public, twice as squad in sizes of 4 and 10, 1nce solo). It is very heavily scaled and if you are in there solo the amount of enemies, some of their hit points and break bars are vastly reduced.

I would still recommend for any player to give it a shot with others because it is a lot more enjoyable than alone.

All the players freaking out should really reevaluate how they approach this game and maybe first try things out (even be it solo) before always coming in and complaining as natural first reaction. It's getting very tiresome at this point, and unfortunately it's in some parts always the same regulars who immediately start complaining.

It's one thing to disfavor something after trying it, say challenging group content, but coming in guns blazing swinging the complain about over every minor thing without even having tried it costs credibility. I'm personally not in favor of forced instanced content, but it becomes harder and harder to sympathize here when players start complaining without even having given the content a try.

[NorthernRedStar.3054]

@aspirine.6852 said:I like the group mission, not sure I like the long kitten end fight but the rest was fun.

The fight at the end isn't long if you have any idea what you're doing.

[Jilora.9524]

@PookieDaWombat.6209 said:Good job Anet. Now you've added content I can't enjoy because I have to play it with others when I just want to experience the story. All because you want to force players into strike missions and eventually raids because you see less traffic in that content. So you also stick any and all rewards behind doing that content as well. smh. This trend continues and I'm not even sure going back to Cantha will be enough to keep me along for the ride.

tl;dr make your actual PvE open world content actually rewarding with out absurd grind. If PvE's only real rewards come from the gemstore then you've failed.

You can get everything solo as I got crystal frags from the new strike multiple times a day 9-11 with like 5 bonus once a day. numbers may vary. If you do the easy groth duo raven you get 3 bonus chests with chance at precursors and many other rare stuff but that isn't required. You can do it once a day or buy the armor flat out w gold and in the thread it's discussed so kinda maybe read thread instated emo rant

[Khisanth.2948]

@Tiny Doom.4380 said:

@"Krzysztof.5973" said:

This pretty much closes the discussion. You can go and solo this side-story. Play the way you want. Nobody is forcing you to do anything. Let others enjoy it they way it was designed.

There was, however, some discussion in map chat suggesting that, if you don't own a Commander tag on the account you're playinng, you won't even see the "private squad" option so you will have no solo option. If that's true (I can't test it) then it ought to be changed.

That is false and anyone can create a 10 person squad anyway.

Both options available and as you can see in the squad UI the account has no commander tag.

[aspirine.6852]

@NorthernRedStar.3054 said:

@aspirine.6852 said:I like the group mission, not sure I like the long kitten end fight but the rest was fun.

The fight at the end isn't long if you have any idea what you're doing.

Lol you think people look at chat or listen to the npc's?

[PookieDaWombat.6209]

@Jilora.9524 said:

@PookieDaWombat.6209 said:Good job Anet. Now you've added content I can't enjoy because I have to play it with others when I just want to experience the story. All because you want to force players into strike missions and eventually raids because you see less traffic in that content. So you also stick any and all rewards behind doing that content as well. smh. This trend continues and I'm not even sure going back to Cantha will be enough to keep me along for the ride.

tl;dr make your actual PvE open world content actually rewarding with out absurd grind. If PvE's only real rewards come from the gemstore then you've failed.

You can get everything solo as I got crystal frags from the new strike multiple times a day 9-11 with like 5 bonus once a day. numbers may vary. If you do the easy groth duo raven you get 3 bonus chests with chance at precursors and many other rare stuff but that isn't required. You can do it once a day or buy the armor flat out w gold and in the thread it's discussed so kinda maybe read thread instated emo rant

First don't come with the chance at precursor nonsense as technically there is a chance for precursors from killing moa on starter maps, so thats not even a thing to tout. Second, while yes, I can solo this new content, it takes far longer to do solo AND new players most certainly could not do it in a timely fashion (hell even vet players can't do it fast alone), so it still makes the whole endeavor extra grindy. But yes, I am aware you can just grind out gold as well and buy things on the TP. Well except the cape. Thats another grind of a different kind.

Also, you'd think that if they are going to reward people with a weapon at the end of it, they'd at least make the weapon you get from doing level 80+ content exotic, but no. They don't even do that. Its a rare. Yay?

See nothing you described has anything to do with what I said originally. I couldn't enjoy the full content of the story because to do so requires a group. Now, to be fair to Anet, I did enjoy the feeling of it being harder, but that was mostly due to me having to wear all the hats while doing it solo, so I had to try to manage all of the aspects as we trotted along. To that end, it was great. At no point could i stop to take it in. That, unfortunately is the double edged sword. I know they put a lot into that area design, and i saw almost none of it since I could only focus on my actions. I might still run through there with my friends now as i don't have to worry about them talking over the dialog or story, which could make it easier to finish faster and see more of the level, but then it will be exponentially easier too.

Ultimately nothing about this makes me want to play strike missions though, and that's a failing. Full stop. There is no reason they couldn't have given some parts of this some breathing room for story while giving other aspects the frenetic combat. More importantly they can stand to give some kind of in game reward in PvE without the need to grind either gold or widgets. Its about respecting player time, and recently that seems to be low on the priority list. I'm all for putting in time and effort, but the moment you stick it behind grind, I lose interest really fast.

[Karkara.9067]

anet is already trying their best (even giving away precursors) so we play instanced group content, i expect then to give us free legendary’s before they realize GW2 community don’t like this type of content overall, but hey... maybe they give us free cantha expac as rewards?? maybe if they force us to do 1 strike mission a week so we have continuous access to the tengu race the community will play the instanced content for more than 1-3 months after release.

(i like group content overall, but at the same time, i'm not disconnected from reality)

[Blaeys.3102]

@Mewcifer.5198 said:The latest story requires 5-10 man instanced content in order to complete it. Anet has not required group content for story since the original Zhaitan fight which they later changed to be soloable.

Making group content required for the story is a step backwards.I prefer my first playthrough of new story content to be done solo so that I don't have the distraction of another player. Now, not only do I need another player, but if my friends arent online and willing to do it with me I am stuck with randoms who are even more of a disruption to my enjoyment of lore and story.

I know anet wants to push players into trying out strikes but this is not the way to do it.A chapter in my story journal should not require group content.

It doesn't have to be done in a group. This content is soloable - several of my guildees did it yesterday. I did the content three times - all with groups of 5 or fewer - the first time with just 2 of us. I think that is why the other warband npcs are there.

[Einlanzer.1627]

@jinxykat.6519 said:I thought it was extremely fun (went with a public group) Honestly, players shouldn't be so turned off by group play, it IS an mmorpg, after all.

Yeah i kind of agree. In fact, I think in some ways GW2 has sabotaged itself by over-favoring solo and open world content. Open world content might as well be solo even if you are doing it with other people - and that's part of the problem. The game started undermining itself years ago by not prioritizing organized group content more.