And even there it’s entirely possible for some players to solo pug their way to moderate success.
The focus of the game has most definitely shifted from groups to individuals in nearly every context.
I blame both the players and developers for this paradigm shift. The demand for and the development of class homogenization is the main culprit in my opinion.
What do you think?
I think M+ proves you wrong.
Not to mention the many forms of PvP.
You can argue that the grouping experience is much easier/less social though.
Either way, I’m really glad I can solo queue my way to group content, otherwise I’d have likely quit the game over a decade ago.
I think it’s moreso connecting servers through cross realm and cross faction, as well as the change to lockouts. You aren’t stuck making do with what’s on your server, you can put a group of likeminded players together and play on your own time relatively easily.
There’s no real risk of losing your opportunity if the group isn’t good enough, and no obligation to stay if the group isn’t good enough either.
Class homogenization has nothing to do with it. It has to do with a changing player base that these days has neither the time nor the patience to schedule their lives around multiple 4 plus hour raid sessions every week. That is why mythic+ and solo have come to predominate, you can log in play for a while and log out, 5 mans are easier to organize and done with way faster, allowing shorter play sessions and solo stuff you are not reliant on anybody and nobody is relying on you to show up so you can come and go as you please.
Those are the reasons I solo these days. I raided quite a bit in TBC, WotLK and Pandaria. Not anymore. Not worth the time investment.
I mean even if you’re arguing that you can pug your way to success in M+/PvP and therefore it’s “solo content”, playing with a dedicated team in any content dramatically increases the consistently and cap of content in which you can do.
This doesn’t even make sense, because in Classic the pug scene is EXTREMELY strong and yet the classes are the least homogenized they’ve been in WoW’s life.
The strength of the pug scene arose because it’s not 2006 anymore and if a game isn’t at least mildly convenient, a lot of people simply won’t stick around.
M+ is very much a solo activity. From the individually scored leaderboard to the fact that the individual player only needs to show up and do the same thing everyone else is doing to complete the experience. At no point is the focus on the cooperation of the group rather than that of an individuals participation. No single player is required to be responsible for some unique contribution.
You just happen to be playing the game at the same time as four other random players you probably have never met nor are the chances that you needed to communicate with them to coordinate game play. You simply show up and do your thing.
Maybe it’d be better if you defined cooperative gameplay then, because to me this describes most classic expansion raiding.
I’d really like to see you try and beat a M+ while everyone is doing whatever they want.
The lack of explicit communication does not mean no communication.
Following up on a player’s action is a form of communication that even LFR has.
And LFR is the closest to “do your own thing” group content we have in PvE.
That is more likely to happen in PvP BGs in regards to your own team.
It’s not required for moderate success.
I’d also say communication absolutely happens once difficulty requires it, be it verbally or by typing during a run or through discussions of gameplan and going over expectations and heuristics before the key starts.
The exception to the rule under rare and exceptional circumstances doesn’t prove it false.
What would be moderate success?
What did the game used to have that it doesn’t now then? Coordination for moderate success has never been required, socialising might’ve been in order to join a consistent raid group to do the content, but communicating with those people was rarely ever required in order to execute the content itself.
Show up, hit boss, do basic mechanics, get loot.
I think part of the problem is that the skill difference between late heroic and late mythic bosses difficulty change is night and day different.
You can pug heroic all day long. However most mythic pugs aren’t going to get past the first three usually especially early on.
Not saying this is a bad thing but I think a big issue is the lack of awareness in how different later bosses in mythic are and the mindset needed.
What is “difficulty”?
Some players speed run Quake to an absurd degree, that doesn’t mean that the only legitimate conversation about Quake must only include topics that discuss speed running.
No.
Some players take mythic+ to the extreme. Good for them but not every conversation is about them.
For the vast majority of players, they do not participate in that activity.
You’ve conflated solo (being entirely alone) with independent (not part of a preformed group).
In the context of this conversation they are equivalent.
Well that’s relative, as you’ve stated, but difficulty being relative also means players tools and expectations to overcome said difficulty is also relative.
At the end of the day players do better and get further when they communicate, either during or before the run, their heuristics and expectations of their teammates.
Negative. A solo player may queue for a dungeon, or use the group finder for an M+. Upon acceptance and joining the group, they are no longer solo. Solo means doing something in the absence of other players. World boss? Not solo. Some of the world events, not solo. That’s a lot more than raiding.
Well it is a Cali company. They’re entire state is about division.