This might be me just being over dramatic... but after reading this, i got my first grief stricken moment of doubt about the game...

On drawing in non-MMO players

"This is more a multiplayer Elder Scrolls game than an MMO. [You'll see] very limited UI, nice and clean, not a lot of bars.. the combat system is very much action-based. It's also soloable... you can solo almost the entire game. We wanted to get Elder Scrolls players who were unfamiliar with online games and MMO terms to get in, play, have fun and get introduced to the multiplayer aspects.

Does this mean what we already know and there is content that if you follow a specific path and steer away from specific harder areas you can get from lvl 1 - 50 solo... or does this mean that "almost all" content is "soloable" ie: easy enough to not need a group. and then after 50 (endgame) you finally may require a group with adventure zones...

My biggest fear with new mmo's is that almost all content is easy enough to solo making group pve play unnecessary, easy and therefor boring...

Surely not... please someone tell me i am totally wrong on this.

from this interview...

http://www.gamereactor.eu/news/78291/The+Elder+Scrolls+Online+-+Game+Director+Interview/

You can probably solo pretty much everything if you outlevel/outgear it. I doubt you'll be soloing endgame pve content anytime soon.

Yes you are wrong

It has been done this way in every mmo (majority of content, dont give me that 3-5 "heroic" quests per zone, when there was 50 soloable), otherwise people would get angry they cant do stuff on their own and there will be much more of them

Game designed for a crowd is bound to have compromises

I 100%'d GW2's overworld without ever needing to group up and WoW was 90% solo-able.

I don't see a problem with most things being solo-able.

I DO however have a problem with ANYTHING being solo-only.

All MMOs are solo'd. Companies usually aren't asked whether they are, or not. He means that you will be able to level from 1-50 by yourself, without needing to group up if you so desire. I solo leveled World of Warcraft from 1-85 as a Holy Paladin, so trust me when I say that solo leveling isn't a big deal...even if it takes forever.

OP, it sounds like you aren't a fan of any MMO that's designed so you can solo most content. Sounds like you'd much rather prefer MMOs where you MUST group together with other players to be able to do most of the content.

I find that tedious and boring; If I want to go out now, why do I have to wait until I get into a group? Especially if I play a common class that rarely gets picked for groups because they're a dime a dozen? What happens if I want to do a quest that nobody else does, for whatever reason? This is, of course, ignoring the trolls and n00bs who don't give a damn about teamwork, some of whom you can't tell until it's far too late.

I'd much rather be able to solo most things. That way there, if I feel like grouping up with others, I can. And if I don't want to, I'm not forced to.

So I wonder, will you have to go searching just to find some mobs worth killing when grouped because almost everything above ground is made for soloing.. and virtually the only content worth grouping will be in dungeons…. That would leave a severely sour taste in my mouth… so PVE groupers will be running the same dungeons over and over and over and over again because everything else is made for solo… that would be very disappointing for me personally, but I understand it’s a decision for probably the majority of people who want to solo.

Don't you just get sick of doing the same dungeons?? or are you primarily a solo player?

Haha you picked up on that huh?? Hey, I dont mind soloing, but given the opportunity to group i would take it any day of the week... there must be so many mmo players these days who prefer solo over group, to me thats odd, but each to their own

And for me, the gripe is more that group orientated players end up getting what.. 16 different dungeons to run in 50 levels.

I've gone through MMO's without really needing a group before. It's just nice to have a group.

In ALL MMOs you can solo almost all of the content. This is not new at all.

I can reach level 90 in WoW without grouping with anyone. Same with Rift, SWTOR, TSW, Tera, GW2 etc etc etc

Ok , ok I understand that all the other games do it… I am just surprised that no one cares that another MMO is being designed to play primarily single player… I am not saying it doesn’t work, I am not saying It will be bad, I am just disappointed that there will be a small amount of content designed for groups.

I guess its just me but the mmo experience I was hoping for wasn’t playing on my own while watching other people run past me playing on their own…

Surely the people who have posted here so far can understand how I would feel that way?

this game is starting to sound more like GW2 every single day.

IM NOT IMPRESSED

Not all, I just quit an MMO where you had to group up to beat about 40% of the main quests. But.... They have patched all the old quests making them far easier recently and have even made pervious group quests into solo only. So, I guess you're right. Have a cookie.

woohoo finally! some people who are not looking for a 90% single player game labeled as a MMO lol! I thought i was alone on this...

The main quest is solo only also this likely means they are catering more toward TES fans which likely means a buy to play game.

No it doesn't.

It can't hurt the odds

When I hear the "solo most of the game" I have a feeling that is more inclined towards just the first faction zone. I believe that once you start the 50+(+) areas you are going to need to group up more to finish doing those quests. Obviously they are suppose to be much tougher than your first faction zone (especially the 50++ area).

But you have to remember that there are still many aspects of this game that will require groups. Doing anything in an Adventure Zone is going to require a minimum of 4 people, but most of it will need 24 people. Trying to do any of the Master Dungeons in the game will require your normal group of 4. Plus Cyrodiil itself. Sure you could do a lot of things in there solo, but at the same time if you want to do some keep capturing you might want to find some groups to roll with.

I guess i am hoping that there will be that whole "stumble over a group" situation in many parts of the game... by that i mean.. lets say your soloing in an area, and you meet up with some other players, end up joining up to go and explore some areas... it sounds like and would be an awful shame if every single above ground area you explore is so easy its a total waste of time to be in a group because it is all soloable.

or another example would be... I loved it in some older games where you would be wandering through a zone alone, come across a hard nasty bunch mobs, get your ass kicked solo… Respawn - and then bump into some other players in the zone, tell them your story of finding these particularly hard mobs, form a group with them and go and seek revenge!

I think this kind of spontaneous grouping goes such a long way to building a great PVE community, meeting new people, sharing information and completing hard tasks that feel spontaneous instead of just getting a group so you can run the same dungeon again and again until your high enough level to try the next dungeon ZOS have set out for you once you reach a specific level.

Like some have already said in this thread, just because they said you can solo doesn't mean that there wouldn't be instances in the game where you might need a group. It's just one of those wait and see situations where you will need to play the game first hand before you know whether or not you think you might need to group up to do something

Yeah that's a good point, i am just a bit casual these days to think of 50+ stuff at the moment :/

I forget which interview it was, but I half remember hearing Paul Sage say that most content was balanced around 1.5 players, meaning that while you can solo, it's more challenging to do so. Of course, this probably means a full group of four will demolish stuff that might be a struggle for the individual members.

Personally I'm happy about this. Its a pain in the butt to have to find other people in order to play my game.

But just because most content is solobable, doesn't mean there won't be things for groups. Adventure Zones and such.

I think the PvP is clearly intended to be the focus of the multiplayer aspect of this game. Its like an Elder Scrolls game (single player story) with the option to go and fight other players. That's exactly what I want.

There are enough WoW clones out there already. If you're looking for a traditional MMO experience play one of the 8,000,000,000 already on the market.

The 1.5 man content you are thinking of is the open dungeons. They are suppose to be tough for a single person but get a group and it's much easier.

yeah, like most things it will be a wait and see, i'm just speculating on information that is available... however in a way i got a pretty clear answer from a lot of peoples responses here today, i guess the trend with MMO's is to make them primarily solo games... and it sounds like most people want to play MMO's single player which is in my opinion odd, but so is the world we live in