Solo, Group, Raid

Will there be Solo Content?

This is a big concern for most players, and it very simply covers the desire of players who want to play by themselves. Now the biggest statement against this is and has always been "Then why don't you go play a single player game?" but in a world dominated by IM's and text messaging and the vast worldwide communication community this is no longer really a valid statement, in fact did you know that more text messages are sent in a day than there are people on the planet? People like to talk, with friends or new people who could become friends and many people like this level of socialization and communication while playing their game their own way, on their own. If they were to jump into a single player game they couldn't be chatting about the latest episode of Heroes, or the Superbowl, or share the neat gear they just got. There is a huge feeling of gratification for many people when they level up solo and then tell their guild "DING!" and see 20 or 30 "Grats" messages go by. These people want to play a multiplayer game, they just don't want the hassle of dealing with other players in their immediate playspace.

So to answer the question, yes there will be solo content. And to answer the next question I know everyone is dying to ask....I love Heroes, Hiro is my hero.

Will there be Group Content?

Grouping is also a big deal to many players starting at the people who like to be in a group while they solo play on their own and chatting to the people who like to get a bunch of friends together and play regularly to the more hardcore who run only group content as much as they can. It is an important aspect of the MMO gaming space and the community at large and often the largest question brought forth when discussing group play is "If I can solo then why would i group?" That's a good question and a challenge for development teams who want to get the balance of their game right. There are many ways to incentivize players, convince them to group without forcing it. Higher XP rewards, missions that can only be done as a group, locations that can only be played in as a group, gear and loot that can only be achieved as a group. All of these things can provide players with reasons for joining a group and sticking with it, perhaps even making their own decision to only play when grouped. The key is, that if they make such a decision, that it is theirs to make.

So will there be group content? Of course there will. How will we incentivize players to group? Well I can't let all the cats out of the bag right now, what would I have for my lunch if I did?

Will there be Raid Content?

Well the first thing that needs to be done is to change this question to "Will there be end game content" because the Raid is just a method of end game play to keep players playing after they hit maximum level. Once upon a time this was less a concern because it could take you a year or two to hit maximum level in some of these games but these days with a more casual audience you can't really expect that of anyone but the very hardcore. So how do you keep people interested in playing once they hit the end...that I think is what most people mean when they ask "Will there be Raid Content?" What form that End Game Content takes is another question. Take a look at what some other games have done. Everquest had the Planes and dragon runs for their endgame content and this content is what many people believe originated the term "Raid". Anyone who played EQ for long remembers the late night runs through Hate and the dreaded "You will not evade me" messages from Innoruuk. Guild Wars has PVP as their endgame content, a constant churn of PVP that is almost always slightly different because you are facing human brains and ingenuity rather than computer controlled AI. And World of Warcraft has used both of these in their endgame content to great effect, in fact I have met people in PVP who have never been in an end game Raid and have also met people who are Naxxramus geared who have never PVP'd. Though there are those who prefer one of these games over another and might come away from this saying "But Atrius said they were doing what Guild Wars does" or some such, please rest assured I use these games only as examples of things people have taken part in as End Game endeavors. I am also not saying any of these are better than the others though personally I like the ability to choose from multiple types of play while still in the same game. Whether that choice be PVP, or Raiding, or Crafting, or Barbie Fashion Designer I feel that giving players more choices at this point will ultimately make a wider range of players happy and lets all be honest...Happy players are far more fun to group with than Sad players so we get some more group incentivizing there.

So now that the question has been altered to "Will there be End Game Content?" I can answer that with a yes. What form will that end game content take? Now now people, if I share everything with you right now, then you will be left unsatisfied at a future date when I have nothing to share because I have already leaked everything. Though I think it's safe there will be no Barbie, or pink dresses involved.

How much of the content will be Solo, Group, raid?

The obvious next question is how much of the content will be solo, how much will be group and how much will be end game? Remember what I said about happy players? Well to get happy players we need to play around with this balance while we actually have people playing in the game, in some kind of alpha or beta state. You, our fans in essence carry the answer to this most important question within yourselves. So to answer the question of how much will we have for the solo player, how much for the group adventurer and how much for the Raid Entreprenuer? Well the answer is....Enough to give the solo player an opportunity to say "Ding" in guildchat and have his buddies all congratulate him, enough for the group player to put his elite squad together and become the scourge to his enemies, and enough for the end game player to keep telling his friends "Gratz" in guildchat when they Ding and become an even bigger scourge to even bigger and badder enemies long after he has hit max level.

Now before people respond with a slew of "But it should all be this way" or "I don't like solo play" or "I think Groups are for n00bs" Or "But Atrius I WANT Barbie fashion designer!" remember that our job is to make a game that is as fun as possible for as many people as possible and that means that we are listening to all of you so if your request is to cut out another group I suggest instead to rethink the comment you want to make. Instead of demanding that "This game can't have soloing or it will be too easy" try saying "This game really needs to have some kind of tactical group or raid play for me to find it interesting."

Thank you all for listening, I hope this helped in some way. And no I am not really saving that cat for lunch, what kind of person do you people take me for...it's for dinner.
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-Atrius-
Lead World Builder, Stargate Worlds