Solo Players and Guilds

@james,

I know I am long but please read this, please.
In a discussion of a topic about changes that displease a player it has come up about solo players and guilds.

I can see both sides of this problem; the game is more geared for groups than solo. It is a MMO, and that is massive multiplayer online (think I got that right.
So, single players don’t get as much as players who are in a group.

In guilds with several players they can contribute coins to help with the expense of the buffs that help the players in dealing with loss of health, lava, and several other things that makes the game easier. For a solo player, they can not come up with all the coins to get all of those buffs.

Some see it as a form of punishment, at the least it is unfair to them.

My son and I were discussing this problem that was brought up in the general topic. He plays a lot of MMOs and says that in two different games they have set it up to reward the solo player. In one because when in a battle they have to do all the fighting alone, they get extra points in xp and more coins as a reward. In one game that has buffs that can be earned or bought a solo player has to have less points to buy those buffs or more coins to be able to purchase them. The reasoning is that with two or more players it is easier for them in the battles and a solo player shows how he is better in that he can win in playing alone while having more danger and difficulty in the battle or quests because of no help.

Couldn’t something like that be added to the game to reward those who take on the objectives, feats and even playing in areas that is more dangerous and demanding for them to accomplish the task?

Maybe even a developers type of guild they would be required them to give a small amount of coins to help pay for buffs and at the same time earn a small amount of extra coins when they get them while playing, say 2% of what is given to them, rounded up or down.

Please, please see that it is harder for a solo player to play this game and they deserve, in my opinion, something for dealing with the challenges of the game where they don’t have other players to help level the battles out. A group with meteorites if one dies the meteorite isn’t lost, a single player looses the meteorite. Wouldn’t it be more fair to give more chances, example three strikes and you are out, die three times you lose the meteorite. If a goat hits you and knocks you out of the area you don’t lose the meteorite, because a group of players doesn’t lose it when one players get knocked out of the area.

Again, please, please seriously consider this. For current players and new ones who quit because they feel they are treated unfair simple because they play solo.

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Part of the joy of playing solo to me is the freedom (“disadvantage”) of doing things by yourself and the reward of knowing you accomplished a goal without someone else holding your hand thru it. I don’t feel I deserve a bonus for a personal playstyle preference. I haven’t had a single guild buff since they were released. I could afford them; I don’t need them.

My personal feelings; anyone is free, of course, to type seven paragraphs attempting to dissect it.

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You have the right to your opinion; I don’t see it as holding my hand I see it a leveling the playing field. One player can not do as much as two, three or more players, they can not gather, kill critters, get as much loot from the meteorites, can not do as many crafting that a group can.

Even with alts it isn’t level, because I have to play each one, not a friend or in my base a son who steps in and has two people doing the work. When my back acts up I don’t have a friend who can step in and take the food I crafted and placed into the furnace out and take the food out of the mixer and put them into the furnace. I don’t have a buddy who can take the seeds and sackcloth and place it into the extractor for me when I am in so much pain I can not play.

That is leveling the playing field, Not holding my hand. If you want to see it that way, that is your choice.

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Hold my beer.

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I understand what you’re saying here, but I think if they were to go as far as reward solo play, that could have a negative outcome when it comes to the spirit of the game. You’ll find less people playing together and then that would be pushing the needle in the wrong direction perhaps.

There is also the mechanic of having more people hunting, spawns harder meteors and therefore the meteors as a whole, being easier if you are solo. But if you think the rewards for low level meteors should be higher, then that’s a perfect thing to suggest also :slight_smile:

As for the guild buffs, they do make things easier, but it’s a reward for pooling together and playing with one another which is what Boundless is about in my opinion, so if you decide to play solo, the game as a whole is going to be harder, so therefore not having the guild buffs is just another factor that makes solo play harder. I’m assuming that’s by design to encourage players to build communities, interact with others and work together :slight_smile:

But your suggestion isn’t a bad one by any means, I’m just of a different opinion :fist:

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From the get-go the devs have been designing a social game. On this forums for years past there has been discussion about what should a group be able to do vs. what should a single player be able to do and the devs have always been very clear that the game is meant to be played with other people, in a social setting.

Fine with whatever suggestions you want to throw out, I just thought that needed to be mentioned.

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@Janna55, I am going to put here my two-sided coin, which I hope fits within the scope of your discussion. :slight_smile:


On the first side is the fact that I am still playing the game and my brother isn’t. My brother was playing the game a bit when I first started playing again after official release and he eventually stopped, and though I don’t know exactly why, I think a big part of the reason was the time investment required to do stuff, even just building, but progression in general felt slow to him, I think. (It often does to me too)

I’m sure that I did offer to help, to give him better stuff that I already had or to top-up certain materials, but I think he preferred to do it all on his own, probably because he wanted to achieve it himself rather than rely on someone else to progress.

I have felt the same way and even though I often still feel that way now, when I am offered help from others, be they friends or strangers, I am likely to decline their offer of help. I often try to help others too, but again, I think sometimes people do just want to achieve things on their own or simply don’t want to feel like they are taking advantage of help being offered to them.

Finally, because of this and my general experience of the game, I have not suggested to any of my friends to play this game with me, because I know they wouldn’t want to play it as much as I do.


On the second side, this is not the first MMO I play and it won’t be the last and it certainly isn’t the worst grind-heavy game I’ve played.

There are areas that could use improvement in ways that wouldn’t detract from group play like the meteor lives thing you pointed out, but game mechanics to compensate solo-power vs group-power tend to be difficult to balance without causing backlash and without making group-play an unattractive option. Just like there are games that make group-play the only way to properly play that game, there are other games that go too far the other way and make solo the only way to do something effectively and in good time.

Personally I think there’s a lot more that could be done to make the game more enjoyable for solo players like myself, but the dev team isn’t that big after all and there are still quite a few features missing from the game that some of us have been waiting for a long time.

Balancing player-power takes a long time to get right with any game and it’s an easy balance to upset, even when it’s the only focus of attention for some time on the development schedule, as @Ovis said quite well. Not every decision is clear-cut and can have effects on the game that will be difficult to predict, even for the developers.


Ultimately, I personally believe that’s why the developers are so careful and slow-paced with changing some mechanics, especially “controversial” mechanics, unless they absolutely have to. Take for instance footfall, bombs, the centraforge, the upcoming coin machine… These are but few of central game mechanics that tend to get heated debates, and large part of that will be because we all have different perceptions of what’s right for whom.

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The more I read these threads the more I like the idea of a “per-affected-avatar” cost for guild buffs.

It seems people are gathering coin in several ways but right now, for the cost of the coin you could get the buff on 500 avatars right? I’m not honestly sure what the current member cap is.

I’d put mega grapple and run on my banking guild for 320c per head no problem.

For 26,666c/head? Some weeks I turn that over but I would never do it. Really only 1/3 of my “guild members” would make any use of it.

I am in a real guild with my toons as well and when/if we run buffs it’s discussed and/or the person(s) who want cover the cost. Right now we don’t have any helix up that I know of though, they’re in an older guild house.

the current cap is 100 free slots with 400 extra sub only slots for a total of 500

that was another big debate with the fact players can “pay” to join full guilds

By the way, I’m not trying to pick on you @Janna55. I’m not completely against what you’re asking for, or trying to derail your request here. It’s just that personally I expect nothing as an advantage from choosing to play alone vs the clear advantage of playing with others.

I always know the risks involved and I’ve been doing it in mmos and multiplayer games for many, many years. It’s a hard road in some games; I just fail to see a true handicap as a result of solo play in Boundless. I think the devs managed to make solo play a pretty viable option, all things considered.

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I think this is why I feel that the way things are now are OK too. For instance I really wanted to do end-game stuff in Borderlands 2, but all the end-game stuff felt like it was balanced almost exclusively for 4-player groups or for cookie-cutter builds that required quite specific legendary items. I really liked that game, but at the same time, felt left out from that type of end-game content, that in Borderlands 1 was achievable as a solo player.

In Boundless I have not felt left out from end-game content per se as a solo player, though I do wish I could do more on certain fronts as a single individual. :slight_smile:

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The playing field is level. Of course 10 people are going to get 10x the stuff.

Making it so solo players get more is actually unlevelling the playing field.

Also, by definition you cant have a solo guild. That totally defeats the purpose.

i have a solo guild in WoW,KotOR and guild wars 2 just my char and 1 alt most MMO’s its 100 do able

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Ummm… no one holds my hand. The goals I’ve reached I’ve reached because I’ve worked super hard and invested everything back into my goals… I support the economy both by buying a lot and putting coin in my request baskets… working as a team with likeminded goals does not mean you’re being carried.

And for the love of holy whoever, can we please stop trying to force a “multiplayer” into a single player game? Everyone is free to play how they like. Also free to make choices… if you chose not to be in guilds I don’t think you should win a trophy for it. No one is being punished, they’re just not getting the reward…

Kinda like it’s free cupcake day at work on Friday… let’s say you didn’t come to work on Friday because you don’t want to… that’s fine, but it doesn’t mean they have to have a separate free cupcake Monday just to be fair… you made a choice… No cupcake for you!

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I can see everyone’s point, both sides of this coin. I am new to MMO, this is my first. Somewhat new to gaming, always played match three, then son talked me into Sims 3 and it was single player and I was in control of everything, which I did and didn’t like. So I have a lot to learn and understand the mechanics of these games.

I won’t take everyone’s time to share how I grew in gaming, but I have, slowly. This is my first “serious” game and the first MMO and the first where I have had to play in situations where I would face danger, death and for me, a lot of challenges. You can laugh and shake your head but when I first played I wouldn’t go to a level 2 planet unless my son was with me, I was so scared of the spitters. Now, I can go to a level 4 planet alone, I may die a lot, but I will still go.

My son quit playing, not enough content, and for other reasons, death penalty is one. He plays when I ask him to help me. So I am a half solo and half group, when I need help I have him, but for the most part I do things on my own.

And that is where I do see how difficult it can be for solo players. It is obvious that the game, even though it says solo in the description and the devs state it is also for solo, is developed mainly for group play, they want communities.

Some of what they want will never happen, you don’t have players staying at their shops chatting to other players who have come to shop or just visit, you don’t see players standing in groups chatting, and interaction that the trailer showed that attracted a lot of players. Players very seldom at a guild get together to build and interact, different countries, time zones, different times they are free, so it is to me much more like a solo player game.

Only in certain areas do you see several players together; hunts (mainly meteorites but also some for animals and other items), doing the events such as trading flowers that last for only a short time.

Some here on the forum always think that when I mention problems it is all about me and made remarks about whining and complaining, but mainly I am championing the new players, the low level ones, the solo players the ones who are struggling and don’t know the ins and out. And I have seen some of those same players pitching fits and whining about footfall.

I feel that the guilds need some work, that there are problems in how some players take advantage of what they can get, buffs, and ignore how they should help their guild. That isn’t fair but how to fix that, I don’t know.

I feel that the solo players does lose out, the devs wanted communities, but the didn’t state that in their reviews, advertisements that Only groups can succeed at this game, it is geared for them, but stated it is also for solo players.

Then they have a obligation to the solo players to some extent level the playing field in some areas. That is my opinion and it is okay if others don’t agree, I’m not asking forum members to jump on my bandwagon, just for the devs to consider the idea and help the solo players they stated could play this game.

My son is social phobic and borderline agoraphobic, for those who don’t know, that means he will hardly ever leave the house. He will not interact with others only unless he has to. He can’t even handle more than three at a family event.

There are probably others here who have trouble interacting and feel left out because of their problems, whether psychological or physical health issues. I think of them when I “whine and complain” not myself.

Solo players are the minority, and I just want the devs to look at some changes that can level the playing field in some area where groups are rewarded.

Again, I’m not asking everyone to agree with me and I do want to hear reasons why, that is important to know also.

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Congratulations. I’m proud of you. :star2:

To insinuate that being in a guild means you don’t achieve goals without being carried, is unfair.

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My intention wasn’t to insinuate anything at all. I thought I stated my point pretty clearly. It’s unfortunate if anyone misunderstood my words. I was in no way, size, shape or form attempting to say anything negative against guilds or even group play.

So …Cupcakes for all?

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Only on Friday… :joy:

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