[This is sort of a continuation of thought from what I wrote yesterday, which you can find here. Don't feel like you have to read it though.]


Solo solo solo.

One thing World of Warcraft did for MMOs was introduce the quest system. Of course whenever a change is made for the better, it's inevitable that something negative happen as well, and in this case the game “lost” party play. A typical WoW player will spend many more hours traversing the world themselves than they will in any organized group. At high levels there are more instances and raids, but the leveling experience is downright lonely.

Other MMORPGs don’t have this problem. They’re harder, slower, and more challenging, but because of that you get to go every step of the way in a party – from level 1. The quest system of WoW doesn’t encourage these players, it’s built to take in people who are happy to wander alone through a multiplayer world.

The people who play these other games do exist in WoW. They are the raiders who stick with the game for years. The goals are very similar to the gameplay found in older game: to work with other people to defeat a particularly challenging computer controlled foe. The difference is that in World of Warcraft this experience comes after a long leveling period, when it really should begin at level 1. World of Warcraft’s hand-holding quest system takes the “multi” out of multiplayer.

In fact, grouping is discouraged. Finding members who happen to have the same quest log as you requires leveling with them from the beginning. Grouping also tends to yield slower experience. When the grouping and questing systems do mesh, it usually lasts only until the quest is complete - often not even until it is handed in. Most players progress faster by skipping early instances rather than spending the time to find the correct class makeup.

Warhammer Online offers a potentially better solution. Mixing quests and parties, the game offers public quests. Everyone in an area has the quest running in the background, tallying a global number of foozles to kill. This encourages working together even outside of a party, and doesn’t require one each of tank, healer and DPS.

"The game starts at 70" is a popular line for Warcraft elite. Only at the highest level does the gameplay shift to a point where it is mainly group-based. Eventually, most players reach 70 or give up. Here is where they spend most of their time, and where the real game begins. Why is this the case? Shouldn’t the game encourage partying from the beginning, rather than spitting out selfish solo players into the high level group-based community? Does the quest system really have to mean the end of partying?