When I played Guild Wars, I mostly did it solo. I’d go to towns, load up on my henchmen, and then go out and wander the world and clear things without worrying too much about anyone else who might be out there. Missions, quests, anything… I soloed it. Which made it surprising to me when I met people who considered what I was doing to not really be soloing because I still did have a party of AI companions.
Yes, I had friends who insisted that the real way of soloing was to eschew henchmen as well and be just by yourself… usually with an army of Necromancer pets. And yes, I also knew people who argued right back that if you’re summoning a horde of pets, you’re not really solo any longer.
This argument can go down a lot of rabbit holes, frankly. You might consider something to be soloable enough if you can bring AI companions to accomplish things. Or maybe you consider things to be solo enough if it’s you and your army of pets. Or maybe it’s about none of the above and as long as you can just queue up for everything solo and never have to manually form parties like it’s 1999, that’s good enough. Maybe none of those is solo enough and you tell your Star Wars: The Old Republic companions to take a hike because you’re going this truly solo.
What’s solo enough to count as solo for you in an MMORPG?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
