wtf_man wrote on May 23, 2012, 10:48:

sauron wrote on May 23, 2012, 10:29:
The one thing that bugs me about LOTRO is that it caters to soloing almost too well. MMOs really start to rock when they encourage (but don't force) well-coordinated group play, and LOTRO just doesn't do that early enough. Apparently it finally gets going at endgame, which is supposedly a lot of fun.

With most MMO's design... you can't have one without the other...that is "encouraging grouping without forcing it". The way they do this is by creating content that you can't possibly solo and HAVE TO "Look For Group". That, my friend, is STILL forced grouping... it's just limited to certain content instead of majority of the content like old-school MMO's were.

Guild Wars 2 is the first MMO that I've seen turn this mechanic on it's head. Most of the Content is Coop only (like oldschool), but they've removed the need to "Look For Group", because the overal design promotes coop, instead of making PVE competitive (No Kill Stealing, No Loot Stealing, No having to form a group first, Etc. etc. Just help kill the shit!!!)

This is a fresh approach to a stale genre, IMO, and I enjoy it immensely. Once one has played a "coop approached" MMO instead of the traditional "solo vs. grouping" MMO, I don't think they'll ever go back.