I'm about to preorder the Imperial edition ($80) but before I do so, I need some kind of reassurance:

I love TES series. My playing days go back to Daggerfall. I can enjoy the qualities of each of the games, but my favorites are (1) Morrowind, (2) Skyrim, and (3) Oblivion - in that order. I want to like TESO as well.

Thing is: I don't have a large group of friends to hang with online. My question is: is this a game where I can go solo? Or is like WoW - which I hated (because a few jerks basically ruined it for me) - where you have to have friends in order to survive.

Thanks, MB

Edit: I get this is an MMORPG and so, yeah, solo play is not in the design. But is it possible ...

Depends on what you want to do. You can quest, explore and level to game cap and have a great time... but there will be some places you cannot go and not get your but kicked. I personally will be very happy with the game going solo or duo with my wife. I may try some of the group stuff solo or just with a real life friend or two... but I know I probably will not be doing any of the major Adventure Zones that are designed for 12 player groups for sure.

This game has a good story and openly welcomes you to run off into the wilderness and explore. I soloed for most of my beta sessions, and I had a blast.

Even then, the game also encourages this phenomenon of soloing while in a group. It's really easy for a group of three or four to meet together in the middle of a dungeon and join to take out the boss together. No communication, no group requests... you just fight side by side and everyone gets experience and loot. It's a very cool mechanic if you're like me, and are painfully shy about lfging. This includes PvP. I once found myself caught in a zerg rush to capture a keep (which we did!). I participated with the group and worked as a team... without ever grouping with a single person. Everyone was a complete stranger, but it still felt like a fantastic feat of teamwork when we took that keep down.

There are only two things you really need a group or guild for. One is group dungeons... they're just too hard to solo. There are plenty of solo dungeons, though, so you won't feel pressured to group up for these. \

The other is trading. There's no auction house, so your best bet to trade for anything is to join a trading guild. There are a couple recruiting right now.

That's good to hear. So when you enter an area or zone, is it just you in that area or is everyone who is online in the same area? Not sure how the single server system works ...

Edit: @ BSparrow: Interesting. With a million people online, though, how do you keep from falling over people?

Not everyone is in the same area--the server uses phasing to make sure the place doesn't feel overpopulated...there are usually multiple versions of each area running at once--but there will be other people in your game world. The only places that are completely instanced (where it's just you) are certain specifically solo and group dungeons.

Yes, there is plenty of Solo content...

However, remember, this is an MMORPG

No, it is not possible to solo all content.

However, unless you really dislike people

there is the oportunity to make acquaintances

and even friends.

I don't dislike people. Just certain people.

Hopefully this game won't promote the kind of behaviour that the WoW mechanics does.

But that's a bit early to tell.

I usually play solo these days, although some MMOs allow you to group without actually being in a group for some of the world content. But don't know if that's the case here.

But you can solo in all the MMOs I've played, you just have to resign to the fact there will be a lot of content you won't be able to do. Although there's usually plenty to keep you going. Depends on you to some extent if you RP you should be able to create some of your own content.

Personally I think it's the mechanics of a game that holds the key to how a community will shape up.

I'd suggest joining a group at some point just to see how it compared with your experience in WoW as it sounds like you had a bad one there.

But good luck anyway.

You don't need a bunch of friends to start on an MMO, you make friends within the game.

Definately YES. This game is solo friendly, with the option to "get into" MMO playing if you want. But you can quite easily do 90% of the PVE content yourself. For some of the stronger bosses, you'll need help from party members, but you don't have to do instances or dungeons, you can simply enjoy the world solo and get to level 50, no worries.

MaxBat, if you're a mature gamer, check out The Older Gamers, they're a friendly bunch and very social. It's strictly for mature players. All ages, from 25+ to 80+ ! Joining a guild will be helpful, and you might actually enjoy yourself while you're at it

You can definitely do a whole lot solo. In fact guys like me who love grouping are whining about how much is oriented more towards solo play. I do recommend finding at least a buddy or two for PvP (if you want to do PvP) because being all alone in Cyridil is rough. Even if you don’t want to find a buddy I am sure there will be plenty of wide open PvP guilds with no reqirements who just want to go get their battle on, and you could just link up with them when you feel like doing PvP.

Also there are tons of guilds opening up for players who are not hardcoe, and don’t want guild duties. In other words there are many people just like you in the game who will be willing to group up occasionally but want to be able to do their own thing most of the time.

I just want all the loot so I don't have to compete with others even though every players loot is different when in a group off the same mobs. That and ppl jumping in cheapens the experience of me doing stuff myself.

Thanks for the great replies!! You give a gamer hope!

And that hope was all I needed to lay to my $80.00 for the TESO Imperial Edition. WooHoo!

@ Zaraco: Yes, my experience with WoW was less than ideal. I'm hoping for some kind of oversight or something to prevent that type of behavior from getting out of hand.

A mature gamer? Hmm . . . well, I suppose I am. Or, well, I was teenager when I was playing Daggerfall ....

MB

Im an avid solo player, i like to be by myself, discover things myself, i dont like people bugging me, i dont like to sit around in vent/guild chat and chat my gums off like a school girl, im there to enjoy the game, and being a chatty kathy breaks my immersion. with that said, i do also do allot of group stuff as well, when i need to or when my guild needs me.

This game will be what you make it, and it has the possiblity to be played solo in allot of aspects, but in some instances, to get/do certain things, you will need a group.

I've never made a group of friends to play with online as well, thats just not how i enjoy my games. I keep to myself (mostly) and thats how i like it. I will solo as much pve content as possible, and join groups in cyrodiil for group pvp, until i get used to the place, then i may branch out when i get higher level, and solo pve content, snag skyshards, (in cyrodiil) etc. basically i will solo as much as possible, but group here and there.

I feel you will be suprised as to how much we may be able to solo, as will i. but we will see

Well, technically, it was designed for players to be able to solo. It's just not as solo oriented as the single player games. There will also be dungeons and certain other areas that you will not be able to solo. I would suggest finding yourself a nice casual guild where you can solo as much as you want, but have people to group if you choose to do so.