Guild Wars 2

This applies to (non-dungeon) PvE only:

Do you actually prefer not to play together with other people, or is your playing solo a solution to the lack of people to team up with (either in party or mini zerg)?

To put it in terms of what you think Anet should change: should this massively multiplayer game be turned into a solo game as happened with GW1, or should it be changed to make it much easier to find a group – ie by indicating the locations of other players on the zone map?

I’d welcome either one of those.

This is the most solo-capable mmo ever (unless you count gw1 as a mmo, in which case it’s the 2nd most solo-capable).

Preferably the second (by making people interested equally in all areas of the game, instead of one end-content dungeon and few farming spots, and dropping grouping-destroying mechanics like gear gates and fractal index).

I did play quite a lot solo until i found a nice small guild which i now team up with. The only problem i’ve found so far in group play is trying to get a couple of extra bodies for FoTM but that topic seems to have been exhausted here.

Both. Ideally you should be able to play it the way you want to play. So, both solo players and those who want to group need to be taken into account. To that end, features that allow for easier grouping could be considered.

Honestly the only thing that ever holds me back in group play is myself. I’m both shy around new people (meaning unintentionally poor party communication) and have issues with time coordination. I always feel bad bailing early, but when someone else needs to jump out I feel as though trying to stop them is constraining.

Obviously everything I just said will make most people go, “uh yeah duh, that’s how people work.” My problem is just that I worry a lot. If I had a 100% worry free, guilt free environment then it’d be better.

I tend not to pug dungeons because I worry about letting the party down or being “that guy”. Eliminate that and I’m fine. Maybe split up dungeon rewards to be both group and individual, as in — actually no before I finish that thought I already know it’s a bad idea. I guess the problem is just the lack of nonverbal communication options in my case.

i play so slowly i never expect anyone to stick around so i guess ideally i wish all areas would always be challenging, rewarding & soloable regardless of my level. but i guess thats not much of an answer.

I used to be in a hardcore raiding guild in WoW, but then RL happened.

Now I feel I can’t do much group play, because I get interrupted all the time and have to comfort/chastise/rescue/clean up after my two little boys. I’m the kind of person that can’t join groups and then abandon them whenever I fancy, I feel bad about that, so in the end, I don’t join groups.

GW2 is the first game without a pause button that I’ve played since my kids were born. I went for it because I loved GW1 so much and it promised lots of easy-to-join world events. I’m having a blast running around and joining whatever DE is going on, knowing that either they only last a few minutes, or it doesn’t matter if I log out in the middle.

I’d like to be able to play dungeons by myself, so I can pause when needed, but I don’t really miss them, there’s plenty to do in the world of GW2.

My reason for soloing is simply my very erratic time schedule. Sometimes I can play for an hour, sometimes for a whole day. But I never know when I might need to stop so it seems unfair to others for me to group up when I may bail at any moment. I doubt there’s much ANet can do to help those in my boat.

Having said that, I would like some way to find a guild easier. I’ve played games that had sort of a lfg tool but for guilds. So you could see what guilds were on your server, what they focused on (PvE, dungeons, PvP, whatever) and how many members etc. I don’t see any tools like that to make it easier to find a casual guild that may fit me.

This game’s open world pve has had me grouping with a frequency that puts most others to shame. But it does so in such a non-invasive way that to all intents and purposes, you’re soloing.

The dungeon crawling is typical MMO stuff, and that’s just how it is. Sadly I do think ANet have made something of a misstep with gear progression, but what the heck, as my grandfather used to say “You either s***or you get off the pot”

I do enjoy a bit of both. I find it very solo friendly. What I don’t find the game to be is as community friendly as GW1 in many respects. (Just my opinion) . I have found leveling my second Character that once you get to the final story mission there is absolutely no one doing said mission and I there for cannot complete the game on this character. I see that as a major drawback to leveling up any more character, therefore bringing my time in GW2 closer to an end than I had thought. Reaching my 2000+ hours in GW1 Looks unlikely.

I love soloing most of the time on various low to mid level alts. Joining in DE’s where I can. I do join Guild groups and group with my wife. I only pug if I happen across someone who needs some help with something. But I don’t shop pugs…. or run dungeons.

I’m okay with the present system. But whatever ANet wants to do (if anything) is cool with me.

I felt GW1 had a good balance, even at the end with unlimited heroes you could bring along. We had a strong guild for the big things like Tombs, UW/FoW, Urgoz/Deep, vanquishing and hard modes, but for everything else nothing held people back from progressing on their own.

I feel like GW2 is zerg or nothing most of the time, and I can’t get my timing right to get a guild group to help me finish my personal story. /end whine

I play at a very slow pace and I often take breaks standing there and sorting my inventory, going over my skills, looking at the landscape – you name it. Being in a group (or running a dungeon) I can’t do all that, it forces a pace and playstyle upon me that is not mine. Simple as that.

I’d love to do group content but I simply can’t stand the hectic and ‘go go go’ mentality.
To me a game is not a party like it seems to be for many other players (I don’t like parties), it’s a leisurely stroll where I can be distracted by a thousand things.

In other words: I’m not group compatible.

@ zauselbaut:

same here.

There needs to be an something in between zerg and solo out in the open world, or if it is already there an easier way to find it. Maybe in practice it just doesn’t work, but I bought this game to play along with other people out in the open world. In my imagination I thought I could just play alongside people, but it just doesn’t seem to happen.

I think you should be able to make your own way. And offer the 2 options. So people that like to group can do everything in company, and people that like solo can do everything for himself.
Anyway there is also people that sometimes like to relax and play an alt solo without hurry and relaxed, but his main is focused to teamplay and so.
With 2 options you can go whatever you want depending of your mood

If this game were any more solo friendly, it’d be a single-player RPG.

I’m pretty introverted and don’t always want to play in a party, but PUGs in various areas tend to work nicely for me. I can wander about with them for a bit and then leave when I get tired and just want to be alone.

I find most of the game soloable, even parts of Orr, if I’m patient. Some areas simply aren’t, but there’s more than enough for me to do when I’m playing by myself that I don’t really see anything to complain about.

helladoom.4317:

This applies to (non-dungeon) PvE only:

Do you actually prefer not to play together with other people, or is your playing solo a solution to the lack of people to team up with (either in party or mini zerg)?

To put it in terms of what you think Anet should change: should this massively multiplayer game be turned into a solo game as happened with GW1, or should it be changed to make it much easier to find a group – ie by indicating the locations of other players on the zone map?

I prefer to level solo and quest on my own but I like how some mmo’s offer harder quests which require multiple people so you can team up at times too. But questing I think it is better solo just because if you team up at times they need to go afk then you sit and wait or you have to go afk etc.

It’s like living on your own vs a roommate. Living on your own you can come and go as you please not worrying about having anyone there, can do whatever you like whenever you like in your place but it is nice to have company at times. Whereas a roommate you have to set some rules and boundaries, etc. This is why I never lived with anyone after moving out from the parents.

Then again all mmo’s, including this one, you can hit max level going solo. So honestly they don’t need to change anything to be more solo since it can be done already.

I play solo, but love that this is a Co-operative MMO (unlike WoW). I play solo, but ask in map chat when I need help with something. Other players are really nice and jump at the chance to help out. I needed help with an annoying Skill Point yesterday, and a few others came and helped out. It was great. Then I went back to playing solo.

Cheers.

Generally speaking I prefer to play solo just because I like to take things at my own pace and look at the scenery (and try to climb it). I tend to feel a little pressured in a party when nothing explicit is going on, mindful that watching me trying to Jump Shot up a mountain isn’t the best use of our time. I haven’t sought out party-related stuff just yet, like dungeons and all, but I’m not ruling it out for the future. I’m always happy to help out/interfere with an Event or something, too.

I’m not hardcore enough for most, but so far I’ve managed to solo everything I’ve tried without too much frustration and I can still see the value in teaming up. I’d actually be more inclined to join a dungeon party or whatever if I knew that messing up or failing to meet people’s standards wouldn’t scupper the whole thing and waste everyone’s time. I’d rather just avoid that stress and bounce around maps.

I would love to see a “solo friendly” zone for level 80. Not every level 80 wants constant challenge and group play. The mobs are too many and too strong to enjoy being in ORR. Even in a “zerg” the event battles are too long for the reward you get.

I would like to feel strong and mighty when i reach 80, but was disappointed when i felt like a weakling arriving in the first 80’s zone.

I find World Questing totally a soloable experience. Do a few things take a couple/few to overcome? Yes. Anyone complaining about that little bit, is silly and wrong.

I think they struck the perfect balance, at least in the low-mid level areas.
I’m a guildless loner because I like going at my own slow pace without holding anyone back, but when I come across someone in a tough fight or somebody asks for help on map-chat I’m more than happy to lend a hand and then be on my way after the baddies are crushed.

I DO wish they had an “LFG” chat channel, though. The dungeon-crawlers tend to spam the map-chat something fierce.

Going from my experiences in GW1, I was in various guilds as a member and officer, only to find most times I wasn’t really doing anything much with other guildies. I’d just pack the heroes and go vanquish or something. Rarely would a guildie accompany me through story-related stuff, but I’d usually be there to help them out.

The breaking point for me was when there was no one left on at my time (I play with other Aussies mostly but they usually pack up and go to sleep when I’m getting warmed up) so I find myself in a gap between when the Aussies retire and when the Yanks start up. This led me to being in a guild by myself which I created; I didn’t have to please anyone else, bow to requests from anyone when it wasn’t convenient and I could just roam as I wanted. I know that’s not very social but what more can you do when you find yourself in a gap like that? Sometimes you gotta be the bridge. Sure there were some regulars that I played with and had some marvellous times with along the way, but most of us know that nothing like that lasts.

I sometimes question why I made my own guild in GW2 because now it’s rather counter-productive if you want anything like what others have in the way of guild buffs and perks from masses of influence. I think the most I’ve ever had at one time was about 3000 influence which came from zergs in Straits of Devastation, but didn’t last too long after researching different levels of disciplines and crafting stuff like a guild vault, etc. which now seems like a massive waste of influence because I can’t put a great deal of stuff in there. :P

Still, even going through L80 zones I feel rather soft and vulnerable by myself basically because I can tend to be this loner that kind of doesn’t really fit in all that well. This is why ‘zergs’ are a good idea for me because you can help out a group of like-minded people and be rewarded for it.. just get a decent number of hits in or you won’t be rewarded at all drop-wise but just get the DE completion with the coin/xp/karma.

Overall I believe anyone can take on an enemy by themselves, or (typically) maybe even 2 or 3 if they’re good, maybe even a veteran.. but if you’re alone, larger mobs will always win if you’ve underestimated the aggro.

Lastly I believe what other people have said has merit; yes we do need an LFG channel because the /map chat is over-crowded in areas like LA, and we need more dots (other players/allies) on the minimap, similar to what WvW has.

lisamee.2408:

I would love to see a “solo friendly” zone for level 80. Not every level 80 wants constant challenge and group play. The mobs are too many and too strong to enjoy being in ORR. Even in a “zerg” the event battles are too long for the reward you get.

Try Frostgorge Sound. The northern end of the zone is level 80ish (it has Ori and Ancient Wood nodes and level 78-80 mobs) but it’s not as crowded as most of Orr.

Of course, for those same reasons, you run into a lot of bots.

I like the idea of showing on the map where other players are. This would be great. Notably though, in sub-80 zones, there can be quite a spread in player levels. I think most areas have a 10 level spread, but a few are 15. It might be more useful to only show other players +/- a few levels.

i think it should be completely soloable (dungeons included) yet give much better rewards if done in a group. hell make the dungeons scale from 1-5 people.

helladoom.4317:

This applies to (non-dungeon) PvE only:

Do you actually prefer not to play together with other people, or is your playing solo a solution to the lack of people to team up with (either in party or mini zerg)?

To put it in terms of what you think Anet should change: should this massively multiplayer game be turned into a solo game as happened with GW1, or should it be changed to make it much easier to find a group – ie by indicating the locations of other players on the zone map?

The world we live in is “massively multiperson.” Let’s say I want to go on a hike to spend some quality time in a quiet environment, out in nature all by myself. Now, obviously, unless I go on an unmarked trail in the middle of nowhere, chances are I’m going to run into a few more hikers, some alone and some with a companion or two. I should expect to see people because the world is “massively multiperson,” so I should I also be forced to start talking to random strangers, maybe even start hiking along side them? No, of course I shouldn’t. Sometimes I like to be able to do things alone, and sometimes I like to do things with other people.

Same goes for an MMO. Level 80 zones SHOULD at least have some areas (of any given level range) that are solo friendly – and god forbid not contain annoying mobs just because the zone is “high level.” Heck, I’d love to have some solo dungeons, too.

MMORPG stands for

Massive – large, or many
Multiplayer – players playing in the same space
Online – over the internet
RPG – role playing game

no where in that does it say “massive group up or F off RPG”.

I echo a lot of what other people said. My biggest reason for soloing and not doing any dungeons other than Arah and AC story is I just can’t guarantee I won’t go AFK mid dungeon due to circumstances outside my control. It’s not fair to those I would group with to make the decision kick me or wait for me to get back if I do have to go AFK. Rarely can I actually get time where I can just play uninterrupted. It was a stretch getting my personal story done for that reason but it’s not something I could do regularly.

Overall though I’m happy with the “solo-friendly” nature of this game. I’m a little concerned about the future of Ascended items and what options will exist for the solo player but I’m still in ‘wait-and-see’ mode.

My experience with Guild Wars 1 and what was said about GW2 prior to release is the only reason I even ventured in to another MMO. I just need my game(s) to be flexible and be scheduled around my life because my life can’t be scheduled around a game. When you play MMOs with other people you kind of have to schedule life around the game (to an extent) because there are real people with lives of their own involved who want their time in game to be fun and engaging, not sitting around waiting on that guy who is always going afk.

When running around in the open world I almost never group up, as a matter of fact like others here I like to take it my own pace. Sometimes run in windowed mode while grinding, exploring, doing heart quests or whatever and watch a movie at the same time (vlc player on-top ftw). But I do think that the game is as solo friendly as it needs to be. I like that some events require more people to complete but dont force you to group up, I can come and go as I like.

If I really want to group, I do dungeons, especially fotm which is really fun. Kind of tired of the lfg spam in lions arch though. There needs to be a better way for looking for groups! Spamming chat for groups isnt social, its just annoying.

I wish there was a solo option for the dungeons. I think it is ridiculous that I can solo my entire personal story until the end. At the end I am forced to group for a dungeon that won’t even end up being my personal story any more. Why couldn’t the story mode for that dungeon just be the individual player teaming up with destiny’s edge?

I like how open world works… just show up and its like being in a group. I also like the way pvp puts me in a group. But I dont know how the dungeons work here. Do you need to group before going to dungeon or what? This new dungeon that was introduced the other day I dont even know where it is. If I have to look for group then I’m not doing that. Already done that before, dont like it.

Well last night while I was doingvmy dailies in the Sothsun Cove I noticed on the Mao chat that some asked: “Anyone up for the rich ori node?” Now as we know the ori nose is guarded by a Champion Karka. So I responded to him to invite me into the party so one could kite the champ while the other one mines.

When we got there I proceeded to start kiting the champ with my ranger and sure enough the other guy went in and mined what he could out of that, what surprised me was that immediately after he finished he just quit the party and left me there alone with the Karka which sure enough proceeded to quickly wipe me out…

Last night was the first time since the headstart that I haven’t bothered to finish dailies, and this is simply because of actions of a single selfish player.

So yes I’d much rather just solo trough the content than deal with idiots like him…

Taku.6352:

Well last night while I was doingvmy dailies in the Sothsun Cove I noticed on the Mao chat that some asked: “Anyone up for the rich ori node?” Now as we know the ori nose is guarded by a Champion Karka. So I responded to him to invite me into the party so one could kite the champ while the other one mines.

When we got there I proceeded to start kiting the champ with my ranger and sure enough the other guy went in and mined what he could out of that, what surprised me was that immediately after he finished he just quit the party and left me there alone with the Karka which sure enough proceeded to quickly wipe me out…

Last night was the first time since the headstart that I haven’t bothered to finish dailies, and this is simply because of actions of a single selfish player.

So yes I’d much rather just solo trough the content than deal with idiots like him…

I actually have noticed this more and more lately – a lot (not all) of the friendly players are starting to dwindle at a rather fast rate.

I tend to play duo/trio as much as solo in gw2 just as a did gw1 the reason is mainly that whilst a group is fun duo’s trio’s are alot more rewarding both from a challenge point but from the fact its you and a buddy/couple of buddies exploring the wide world and taking of threats together as oppose to the squad of heroes adventuring that a group above 2-3 seems to bring.

Im not against partying in a bigger group though i just prefer a smaller one where the challenge is greater(like logan, rytlock and caithe’s little party in edge of destiny).

I often log in and solo content aswell if im abit bored at strange times of the day when nobody else is around in the guild or i just want to explore a new map.

Present balance (well say, pre-update) is quite good. Dungeons are basically a no-go, that’s a shame but I can accept that (fits with philosophy, and I don’t mind doing some group stuff). Perhaps one addition I would like: a dungeon party finder (slightly offtopic, but a solo-oriented player may benefit most of this, since we don’t like standing around waiting for a group to form).

Other than that, the main issue is loot. Ascended aside, simply put with the current system grouping up means faster kills, while drops per mob stay (almost?) the same. With any form of DR, that gets worse. Rich nodes being guarded by champions is also unfriendly to solo players. Seeing how groups already have the advantage of being able to do better farming events/dungeons, that might deserve a bit of balancing. Perhaps add a form of outnumbered buff like in WvW?

This is a great question to explore, and it’s incredibly hard to put words to it. The first concept that comes to mind is the co-op that happens in the Playstation game “The Journey”.

I think I am reminded of The Journey the most because of how it has distilled so sweetly the joys of playing multiplayer while exploring a world. While GW2 and MMOs make the social aspects quite explicit through chat and teaming and such, underneath these elements are these fundamental experiences and feelings of being with others and sharing.

I actually really like playing with other people, and I didn’t realize that until I played Rift and Glitch and experienced their public grouping. In GW2 it’s so amazing that I don’t think I can go back to a game that doesn’t force me to be in a party with other people to play with them.

I just don’t particularly enjoy dungeons, because I’ve always had bad luck ending up in groups with people who think other players are their personal NPC minions and freak out if our AI isn’t programmed precisely the way they’d like. I enjoyed running dungeons in GW2 at first because I had a static group of RL friends who were a joy to run with, but one of them quit and the others are pugging fractals.

I really miss Plinx and wish they hadn’t nerfed it. I had a feeling it was coming, but it was a fun and relaxing way to meet people and hang out. I’ve met some nice folks farming Southsun, but Plinx on my server always had this block party feeling to it that’s missing now.

I enjoy running around solo to do the following things: discover new areas, do quests, some dynamic events, and farm for materials.

I enjoy running around in a group to do the following things: some dynamic events, world bosses, dungeons and WvW.

GW2 makes it easy to do many of these things solo. All they need to do is improve their LFG tool.

I’m ok with playing solo, joining a zerg when a group event is there, get out of the group and continue doing my own business at my own pace.

I don’t care for the mechanic of a party. I never have. I think it’s brilliant the way they handle tagging, resources, etc, etc, so we’re all just ‘playing together’ when we come across each other, without having to form an artificial entity to ensure we share things. A party is a bit of a ball and chain.

The way this game works, I can come across some people, do a DE or two, leave and go craft, answer a phone call, deal with a work issue for an hour or two, come back, maybe come across them, or some of them later, and join them doing that thing for a bit. It’s just…organic. A party is this kinda militant thing where you inherit this unspoken set of responsibilities that’s just…blech.

Having said that, I ‘love’ playing with people. I love playing with people in this game far more than any other MMO I’ve ever played, because you can do it without a group. It’s made me ‘more’ of a social player. I do a lot of WvW (though I’m a GDI), I love DEs, I love helping people, rezzing them, being rezzed, etc. Sometimes I’ll follow (stalk?) someone around that happens to be doing stuff in a heart area of mine so it goes faster and safety in numbers and all that.

Do I think it should be ‘required’ to have other people with me to do content? Never.

Do I think they should remodel zones so there is ‘always’ a reason to be in any one of the zones at any time as a down leveled max level character, enjoying DEs and whatever else is going on and enjoying the same rewards you could get by dragging your fingers across a chalk board (I mean playing in Orr)? You bet!

But if you are fishing looking for people who think it’d be a good idea to make Vanguard 2, because so many people lined up to play Vanguard, which had the philosophy of “what we really need is to go back to EQ”…no thank you. I think GW2 did a nice job of scaling things dynamically for 1 or more people (open PvE) and they should keep it, continue it, fine tune it, whatever.

I’ve actually been thinking about this quite a bit. For me, GW2 both encourages soloing and discourages it. And it mostly boils down to the basic design. My only reference is GW1 so I can not compare to how other MMO type games worked and I know GW1 was not a true MMO although that is what makes this interesting.

GW1 was more a co-op RPG. You were able to solo as much of the content as you could. And truely solo if you did not want to bring heroes or NPC’s if your build was made for it. You could vanquish a zone, you could do a mission, you could do a dungeon. For those without a guild or in game friends you could do 95% of the game by yourself. The great thing was, if you had in game friends or a good guild, you could also do any of that content with up to 7 other people.

It was this design of the game that allowed people at differnt points of the storyline or with different goals to do content together. Vanquish titles had measurable progress by zone, everyone had the same list of specific missions to complete. GW2’s design is different.

GW2’s story line is more personalized and branches differently. For people with different charater backgrounds, they have different missions and thus doesn’t encourage grouping. When trying to 100% zones, people may have already started in different spots or finished different hearts. It very much encourages solo activities for much of the exploration. Only at certain DE’s will people congregate but then typically run off in different directions once it’s complete. Sure it’s possible to do this as a group but not everyone can clear the zone in one go and will eventually be at different points.

Dungeons and ( and WvW although I’m mostly addressing PvE here) are the only area’s I see that truely encourage grouping. I think it’s the instancing which allows people to come together for a specific short term goal.

So anyway, that’s my 2 cents. I think part of this contributes to the lonelyness some players feel. While it’s true that there may be people together in an area zerging a DE, I myself don’t consider that group play. So for me, I do most of my exploration alone and utilize guild members to do dungeons. And I’m not sure I like it this way…

No qualms with grouping, just hate standing around and doing nothing.

Will not do dungeons because dungeons require group creation time, travel time, and fight explanation time.

It’s the same reason I skip over champion mobs and group dynamic events. Would love to do them but when I can get just as much joy playing alone as with another person why would I ever voluntarily stay in one location and wait?

Any change this game made that would take away downtime sounds good to me.

azurrei.5691:

Taku.6352:

Well last night while I was doingvmy dailies in the Sothsun Cove I noticed on the Mao chat that some asked: “Anyone up for the rich ori node?” Now as we know the ori nose is guarded by a Champion Karka. So I responded to him to invite me into the party so one could kite the champ while the other one mines.

When we got there I proceeded to start kiting the champ with my ranger and sure enough the other guy went in and mined what he could out of that, what surprised me was that immediately after he finished he just quit the party and left me there alone with the Karka which sure enough proceeded to quickly wipe me out…

Last night was the first time since the headstart that I haven’t bothered to finish dailies, and this is simply because of actions of a single selfish player.

So yes I’d much rather just solo trough the content than deal with idiots like him…

I actually have noticed this more and more lately – a lot (not all) of the friendly players are starting to dwindle at a rather fast rate.

welcome the WoW community to the game, this is what happens when you put in gear tiers and progression. many people that play that type of game have the attitude of “if you aren’t in my guild you are just an NPC to me”

I get called away a lot. I have a wife and two dogs and a job that keeps me on call, so I don’t want everything 100% group oriented because I will never get anything done.

“To put it in terms of what you think Anet should change: should this massively multiplayer game be turned into a solo game as happened with GW1”

This. ^

I do try to be super-friendly when I’m in a group, but I don’t enjoy grouping (particularly the act of actually building a group) and while I will group enough to play through content (e.g. completing all the explorable modes & fractals ones) I won’t do so sufficiently to farm/grind rewards from them.

GW1 was my favorite game ever, and I would have been happy as a clam if GW2 were solo-able instances and open world map – sadly of course it’s solo-able open world map and group-only instances.

This wouldn’t be so bad, except that the itemization has turned out to be rather disappointing with – transmuting aside – end-game rewards being hugely slanted towards group content (8 dungeon sets vs 1 karma & 1 craft & 1 loot) + the ludicrous demands of the Mystic Forge gating pretty much every other cosmetic reward.

I really really don’t think it’s on the cards, but if the announced dungeon overhaul were to be making them scale as low as solo player or introducing NPC instance party members I would be ecstatic!

Personally, I wouldn’t care one jot if Ascended rarity, ‘celestial’ attribute items and such were reserved only for group content rewards – just so long as the content itself & a proper share of the visual bounty were obtainable solo.

Compared to GW1, I’m very much in the like-it-not-love-it camp at the moment – optimistic though; if there’s one thing MMO fandom has taught us, it’s that games grow more solo-friendly as they mature..