Dear Bungie: Why do you dislike solo players so much? (Long, sorry.)

Dear Bungie, I very nearly didn't write this post. I started and stopped and rewrote a post like this multiple times last week, ultimately deciding that I didn't [i]need[/i] to post this. I didn't [i]need[/i] to voice my frustration and aggravation. Surely you're aware. Surely I'm not alone. And then you gave us the details on [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/pub/CrimsonDays]Crimson Doubles[/url] and I nearly lost it. I decided I needed to give it some time, to cool off and see if it's really as big a deal as it seemed at the moment. And the truth is, it's not a big deal. You just don't want me to play your game anymore, is all. Not me, specifically, I guess, but players like me. Players who don't have groups of friends who play your game. Players who would like to play with existing friends rather than go find random groups of people to become "friends" with. Players who would prefer to play a game when they sit down to play a game, rather than start the game and spend a solid half hour trying to find people on a third party website to play the game with. I guess I should have seen the writing on the wall by now, right? You've been perfectly alright with solo players like me running missions and strikes and patrols, but the instant we wanted to play some end game content like a raid or try some high level PVP like Trials of Osiris, you didn't want us playing your game anymore. You wanted us managing friends lists and party apps (if we're lucky), opening up websites and looking for similarly inclined players to join us for some not-insignificant portion of time (if we're not). And then you chose Rift for Iron Banner. Possibly the most team-reliant of PvP game modes in Destiny. The solo player really has almost no hope of having success playing this game mode unless they happen to be partnered up with a pre-made group of friends who don't completely fill out the roster. You took this game mode and slapped on the Iron Banner coat of paint that only serves to amplify potential frustration with whatever gametype it's applied to. I'm not complaining about Iron Banner specifically - I've enjoyed it from time to time. I'm just pointing out that outside of Trials, it has the greatest potential for player frustration simply by it's nature. And you layered that on top of an already frustrating experience for solo players. And then you created Crimson Doubles. This actually seems like it could be a very fun mode. I'm interested to see how the Broken Heart buff changes the game. Except it too requires a pre-made Fireteam. And once again, I don't really have any friends who still play Destiny. Once again, I'm excluded from playing part of your game - a game that I've really enjoyed since launch, by and large. "Have you tried destinylfg.com? Or .net?" I hear you asking. And yes, I have. And it works, mostly. But only for the stuff that I have out-leveled, because I don't want to drag a team down because I don't have the time to invest in getting really good, or in repeatedly trying to conquer something. (I used to be a regular raider in WoW, and I know how it goes. I just don't have the time for it anymore.) It's also a problem though, because it takes a while to actually find people. Like, how long do I wait between messaging a group before I attempt to join another? How many other people do we have to wait for before we try it? What if the content that I'm interested in trying is too old for enough people to be interested in running through it? It can take a significant amount of time outside of the game to find people to play the game with. Let's talk about time for a moment, can we? Surely you're aware, most people have restrictions on their time. For me personally, I'm unable to play video games most days. I might be able to for a little while on Mondays or Tuesdays, and most of Saturday is free usually, but I've got commitments every other day of the week. And even those days when I do have time for games, I only have time for games because I don't have other commitments. Which means that those times are also usually the only windows I have available for non-gaming social interaction with friends (whom I don't usually have to locate via online matchmaking services, except for Facebook. Hmm...). Going to dinner or a movie or something with real, live people and having face-to-face interactions with them (the horror!) means that I'm not able to play a game. Between work and other stuff, I usually can't devote large chunks of time to playing - certainly not in one long shot, at least. And yet, that's exactly what I have to do if I'm going to attempt a raid, especially if I'm going to use a third party matchmaking website (which I am, because as mentioned above, I don't have friends playing the game). If I'm going to have a stretch of time where I [b]can[/b] play a game, why would I want to spend a good chunk of it elsewhere trying to make that happen? Doesn't it seem reasonable to simply enjoy what time I do have by actually playing the game? If I can do that with another game and not with Destiny, why should I play Destiny instead? [b]Side Point:[/b] You guys do know you've got other games vying for my limited playtime, right? Because you don't seem to recognize that. I mean, I'm all for a living, changing world, but when it's a choice between Sparrow Racing (the couple races I played were fun, you could certainly bring that back!) and Fallout 4, you do know I'm going to pick Fallout, right? You want to have limited time events in the game, and that's fun. I like the fact that Iron Banner isn't going on all the time, but is a regular thing. I like the concept of Trials of Osiris being limited to the weekends, even if I can't play it. Please, don't try something new one time and expect everyone who has the opportunity to give it a try. Assume that some Destiny fans simply don't have the time to try whatever new limited time event you're trying, and give them another chance at it. Keep it around for a little while longer or have another event or something, please! [b]/End Side Point[/b] Let's talk about matchmaking for a moment, too. I know this topic has been hammered over and over and over again, but I just wanted to point something out. In the [url=https://www.bungie.net/7_bungie-weekly-update---02192015/en/news/news?aid=12599]Bungie Weekly Update[/url] where you made the announcement that the weekly heroic was going to become a matchmade activity, from your very own M.E. Chung: [quote]The overwhelming community response was such that many players didn’t have the numbers on their friends list to experience the activity on a weekly basis.[/quote] My only real point with this: if the overwhelming response is that many players didn't have the numbers on their friends list to experience a [b]three-player[/b] weekly activity, it follows that they also don't have the numbers on their friends list to experience a six-player weekly activity. Unless you'd like to conjure up some magical math that makes six players [i]less[/i] than three, somehow? All of this adds up to what I'm going to term "barriers to entry" or BTE for short. Let's list them for simplicity sake, shall we? 1. No optional matchmaking within the game for high-level, end game, event specific content such as: - Raids - Nightfalls - Top-level Prison of Elders - Trials of Osiris 2. New events being created and designed to specifically exclude solo players (Crimson Doubles) 3. Ongoing events being tuned to be exceptionally difficult for solo players Do you, Bungie, understand how each one of these BTE is by your design? I mean, I guess you probably do. It's just taken me this long to realize that this is the direction you started out going, zigzagged from a little bit when you made weekly heroics matchmade, and then held fast to ever since. The real question - the only question I have left at this point, the only one that honestly matters to me any more - is [i][b]why do you have so little regard for the solo players in your community?[/b][/i] Because, let's be clear, walling off portions of the game and continuing to design things that solo players either A) cannot take part in them or B) cannot have any reasonable hope of success is [i][b]not[/b][/i] how you demonstrate any form of affection for the solo players. I have enjoyed Destiny for the most part, and [i]I want to continue enjoying and playing the game[/i]. It's just immensely frustrating to hear over and over again how you hear the community, but to see the biggest BTE for new and solo players alike not only remain, but to be reinforced. If it were so difficult to create things for the solo players that you literally couldn't do it anymore, that might be one thing. That is not the case though. And there are ways to welcome solo players into group activities. You literally helped to pioneer this on consoles. It's not like it a foreign concept to your own game! As demonstrated by the switch from pre-made to matchmade weekly heroics, it's well within your grasp! There are easily dozens of good ideas for how to make this work coming right from the community itself. Automatically add optional matchmaking to activities once they are no longer the newest content, place qualifiers on activities that give players control over how/when matchmaking is implemented, silo things off so matchmade players and pre-made teams don't have to face each other, and more! Take your pick! Come up with something new! Talk to us and tell us more than just that you know we are unhappy, tell us how you are looking at fixing things! And then I realize you just don't want me to play, and I understand.

English

#feedback #Matchmaking #time #frustration #Soloplayers

Revision
Date Edited
Edited By
Subject
Link
Category
Flags
Subject
Body

Revision
Date Edited
Edited By
Subject
Link
Category
Flags
Subject
Body

Revision
Date Edited
Edited By
Subject
Link
Category
Flags
Subject
Body

Revision
Date Edited
Edited By
Subject
Link
Category
Flags
Subject
Body

#feedback

Forum Search

Posted by

Topic Type

Category

Posted Date

Dear Bungie: Why do you dislike solo players so much? (Long, sorry.)

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History

Post History