Group oriented or solo play character

As I bounce around different games, I notice that very early on I decide whether I will spec my toon towards being an effective team-player, often at the expense of the single-player experience, or if I will be selfish and spec him for solo play. Often, especially as one gets near the level-cap, the consequences of such a decision can become quite dramatic.

My first ever MMO toon is my healer in EQ2. I specced him for solo-centric play, mostly because at the time I did not know what a raid was and what it entailed. I put most of my Achievement points in maxing out his damage soaking and damage dealing aspects, at the expense of his healing power, in other words your typical battle priest build. Good if you play by yourself but kinda sucks for your teammates.

I have done the same thing on my rogue in WoW, where I don’t really intend to get into the raiding scene and play mostly for myself.

On the other hand, looking at Age of Conan and Warhammer, I am leaning more and more towards building  team oriented toons and set a group-play centric development path for them.

My point in all this is that I just noticed that I have a tendency to categorize MMOs as being “team” or “solo”, which also helps me determine how committed I will be to a title, “solo” games typically being the ones which will see that lowest commitment level from me.

Interesting.