# Duo-Friendly MMOs? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 14, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674 "2013-04-14T13:41:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nerdessence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/47e85d/32.png) [@Nerdessence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nerdessence)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/1 "2013-04-14T13:41:39Z")
I am introverted, but I do love playing games with my husband. The trouble is that most MMOs either ignore the duo or they outright discriminate against them. TERA, for example. We had a lot of fun with it until the first dungeon cropped up. We immediately uninstalled it. I refuse to play a game that forces a bizarre extroversion on me. I understand that most people like grouping, but an increasing number of people prefer to game intimately with their spouses, lovers, sibs, even just a close friend or two. The industry is changing slowly, but the Korean market seems especially hateful toward solo/duo play. We already know about TOR (I can live without Flashpoints and Operations), Champions Online and Star Trek Online. We both tried and never got into WoW. Neverwinter is coming up and FFXIV looks very promising for smaller groups. Anything else out there spring to mind? I don’t care if it’s harder, but not impossibly hard. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/2 "2013-04-14T14:36:22Z")
Me and a friend are having a ton of fun duoing adventures in Dungeons and Dragons online. Best part is we haven’t paid a cent. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/3 "2013-04-14T15:15:56Z")
Not sure if [Runescape](http://www.runescape.com/title.ws) may be what you are looking for in terms of general playability - it’s browser-based so you don’t need have to even install anything and you can play a large amount of the game for free, so you can check it out very easily. They try to cater for everyone from solo to groups to big groups. It’s nothing like WOW or TOR though. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/4 "2013-04-15T21:48:14Z")
Lord of the Rings Online is very solo/small group friendly. There are NO required groups anywhere in the ‘storyline missions’ and one of the instanced content types (Skirmishes) even allows you to generate content specifically balanced for a duo. It helps that LotRO has comparatively few but comparatively versatile classes too. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/5 "2013-04-15T22:06:10Z")
Question: Why play MMOs if you don’t like playing with others? The greatest part of an MMO is the interaction you have with human players. If you don’t like that, why not switch to a different type of game? There are plenty of games where 2 people can have a lot of fun with. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/6 "2013-04-15T22:06:48Z")
Oh. I forgot to mention that LotRO also has a bunch of content designed for groups of THREE, so if you can make one friend or bring another, you open up a whole lot of stuff. Or you can probably duo a lot of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/7 "2013-04-15T22:13:42Z")
[The Secret World](http://www.thesecretworld.com/) is free-to-play (pay subscription for extra goodies) after buying the base game; check Steam/Green Man Gaming/Amazon for sales. Most general content can be soloed or duoed; there are “dungeons”/group missions but you can easily skip those. It’s basically a modern-day world but where every urban legend/conspiracy theory has truth to it, and 3 organizations vie for power and to keep the true evils in check and from affecting too many innocent bystanders. You can cross-team between those factions so you don’t have to worry about which one(s) you guys pick. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/8 "2013-04-15T22:26:52Z")
I came in here to mention The Secret World. Great game, lots of fun especially if you like solving puzzles (some of which are _really_ challenging) together. (The solutions are available online if you get stuck, of course). It’s a cool mix of modern-day Lovecraftian horror, Indiana-Jones-style swashbuckling in old tombs, exploring abandoned Cold War bunkers in Transylvania, and more. I haven’t done many of the dungeons or raids, but I still have fun playing the game. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/9 "2013-04-16T18:37:20Z")
Secret World is good. I’d also recommend Guild Wars 2. The advantage these games have for duos is that character abilities are very customizable in both. So you can set up your characters to complement each other well. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/10 "2013-04-16T19:30:35Z")
I’d like to second the Runescape recommendation. I played and enjoyed it for quite a while. More of a puzzle game, IMO, with a lot of interesting things to figure out. > [@Airk](#): > > Lord of the Rings Online is very solo/small group friendly. > > There are NO required groups anywhere in the ‘storyline missions’ and one of the instanced content types (Skirmishes) even allows you to generate content specifically balanced for a duo. That was not my experience. I reached a point where I didn’t feel like I could continue the storyline without getting into a party to do one mission, so I dropped it. Might have been me. Two people together would have done the job. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/11 "2013-04-16T20:17:28Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > That was not my experience. I reached a point where I didn’t feel like I could continue the storyline without getting into a party to do one mission, so I dropped it. Might have been me. Two people together would have done the job. When did you play? Because if it was more than two years ago, your experience bears no resemblance to the way the ‘epic’ quest line now works. If it was less than two years ago, I hate to say it, but you must’ve been doing something wrong, because I’ve done the entire epic quest line through level 60 as a solo character. I think there might still be some optional group missions in the level 65 content, but all the new 66+ stuff is solo/small group friendly again. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/12 "2013-04-16T20:25:28Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > When did you play? Yeah, it was probably more than two years ago. Maybe I’ll give it another try. The main storyline was well done I thought, as an old LOTR fan. When I couldn’t do that it was just “gather 5 mushrooms and deliver them to the next town” type thing that drove me from WoW. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/13 "2013-04-16T20:46:17Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Question: Why play MMOs if you don’t like playing with others? The greatest part of an MMO is the interaction you have with human players. If you don’t like that, why not switch to a different type of game? There are plenty of games where 2 people can have a lot of fun with. Lots of reasons. A bigger, less static world, for one. Also, wanting to act alone or just with one or two close friends doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy having other people around. There’s more choices in real life than totally isolated and part of a large group. Some introverts actually enjoy sitting on the front porch alone and waving at the people who go by. They may not want to talk to everyone, but they don’t want to be completely alone either. In short, two people playing together surrounded by others can be more fun than playing on a deserted island. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/14 "2013-04-17T01:30:05Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > Yeah, it was probably more than two years ago. Maybe I’ll give it another try. The main storyline was well done I thought, as an old LOTR fan. When I couldn’t do that it was just “gather 5 mushrooms and deliver them to the next town” type thing that drove me from WoW. I’d advise coming back, at least for a try. It’s free after all. The worst thing about LotRO right now IMHO is that fact that you need to be level 75 to go to Rohan, which is freakin’ phenomenal. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/15 "2013-04-17T03:08:28Z")
DDO is very duo-friendly. (It’s also very solo-friendly.) ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/16 "2013-04-17T03:10:03Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > DDO is very duo-friendly. (It’s also very solo-friendly.) I assume that’s after it went F2P? Because I played it in beta and you needed 3 people to do damn near anything. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/17 "2013-04-19T09:58:21Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > Lord of the Rings Online is very solo/small group friendly. > > There are NO required groups anywhere in the ‘storyline missions’ and one of the instanced content types (Skirmishes) even allows you to generate content specifically balanced for a duo. > > It helps that LotRO has comparatively few but comparatively versatile classes too. I’ll second this. It works great if you pick a healer class to go with a relatively sturdy class. Right now I am playing a minstrel (healer/dps) alongside a warden (primarily a tank) and we can do small fellowship quests with no issues at all. IMHO you’ll need a primary healer (Rune-keeper or minstrel) along with a non-support class (Hunter, Champion, Guardian or Warden). Actually any 2 classes could work well, but as a group of primary healer and a tank, we have taken on 2 elite mobs plus a group of three normal trash mobs with some effort, but we’ll survive. Also, the game generate loot table for each member in the class, so you won’t be fighting over drops. To clarify about the epics: For epics, the game has added a new “Inspired Greatness” buff that gives you a big boost to your stats if you are soloing it or doing it with a friend. I also find the Old Republic quite nice for 2-person play, just that later in the game you hardly find heroics for small groups. For the normal areas, you can easily use one of the in-game NPC companions of them to fill in a missing role. I was having a blast using a Jedi Sage along with my friend playing as a Jedi Guardian, and both of us have our healer companions out. I hardly need to heal my friend at all. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/18 "2013-04-19T11:21:01Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > I assume that’s after it went F2P? Because I played it in beta and you needed 3 people to do damn near anything. When I last played it (F2P, a couple of years ago), I found it was pretty easy for solo play up until level 8-10, at which point the number of interesting solo-able quests dropped sharply. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/19 "2013-04-20T05:26:58Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > I assume that’s after it went F2P? Because I played it in beta and you needed 3 people to do damn near anything. I can solo almost anything in the entire game, even a couple of the raids. I can easily duo every single quest outside of raids. (A couple of the quests require four people to stand on four levers at once; 2 people each bring a hireling and you’re good to go for those types of mechanics. There are only a handful of such quests. Maybe like 3 out of the 279 non-raids in the game.) ---
**Author:** ![Elyanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5ac83/32.png) [@Elyanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elyanna)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674/20 "2013-04-20T05:41:22Z")
I’ve played LOTRO and The Secret World and both are pretty fun duo, but one frustrating thing about both is the forced solo instances. Tripped my husband & I up in TSW because we made builds to complement each other, which made solo instances frustrating enough for him to quit. I kept going in a survival build. All of LOTRO’s classes can stand on their own so choosing complementing classes isn’t a problem there; I just still hate forced solo instances when I want to play with my husband. :mad: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duo-friendly-mmos/655674.md?page=2)