Niche for casual?


Pathfinder Online


Good day,
My question is simple: in the opinions of the experienced players, is there a niche in this MMORPG for the casual PvE player? To define terms, "casual" should be taken to mean "playing an average of ~2 hours/week", and a game would be considered to have a "niche" for the casual player if, with only that investment of time and some creative thinking from the player, the player can feel that he or she is genuinely contributing to world development, with a wide range of options in the content that he or she chooses to explore at any level.

I shall provide two examples. I state at the outset that the following statements represent my opinions only and are not to be construed as being worthy of discussion. I provide them only to give readers a sense of the play that I am seeking.

I considered Guild Wars 1 to have a good niche for the casual player. We were able, from the time of the betas to EotN, to maintain a ~2 hr average of play each week, create a wide variety of characters with an amazing variety of builds, always sign off feeling that we had made "progress", and eventually complete all the content several times over (different team compositions were of great interest to us).
To provide a counter-example, we do not consider Guild Wars 2 to have a good niche for the casual player. It has too high a level of "grind", too many restrictions, and all the "world changing" material seems to happen either without player input or in a way that requires high-level characters with plenty of time on their hands to contribute. It doesn't help that the group size has been limited to 5 when we have forged groups of 8 people that wish to play together, but that is a side issue.

Having perused this far, you understand that I am simply wondering if the Pathfinder MMORPG, as it appears now, seems to have a niche for the casual player. I fully understand that the game is changing and evolving, and that if enough individuals of like mind join, there is a reasonable chance that we could influence the final state of the game, etc. I'm just asking for the opinions of current players as to the current state of the game and any conclusions that said players feel comfortable drawing on the basis of "official" announcements/discussions/FAQs/etc.
Thanks for listening!

Goblin Squad Member

I, to this day, still consider DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online) to be the ultimate minimal hour casual PVE game.

As for PFO, when the final product is unveiled, I believe there will be a place for the small-time casual player. I find it hard to reinforce that with specifics until the game develops a bit more.

Goblin Squad Member

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So, there's definitely a difference whether you are talking about solo play or group play.

Solo play: Playing this game casually as a solo player is going to limit your options. Gathering can definitely be done solo, and consists of running around filling up your bags with stuff harvested from nodes, similar to WoW and other games, while avoiding packs of mobs. If you want to play the economy, in the current state of the game you can haul goods from one settlement to another and make a profit that way but you'll have to coordinate with others at both ends to make the transfers. You can do this by PMing on these forums, or on private company/settlement websites. You can also refine or craft, but both will also require coordination for obtaining materials (unless you harvest them yourself) and for selling the product. I expect that by the end of February we will see some development of the Auction Houses to the point where a lot of the coordination can be done through those, which will greatly aid the solo casual player.

Group play: This will definitely require coordination, and probably also joining an existing group (shameless plug for the Seventh Veil, which is casual friendly, but there are many others to choose from). If your schedule is limited but flexible, you can check for scheduled events and log in during those times. Events may include taking down monster escalations, some of which require very coordinated tactics, or group gathering events which might include players acting as guards killing low level monster camps while they watch over the gatherers nearby. If your schedule is both limited and inflexible, you can schedule your own events and have other players join you when it's convenient for you. This may sometimes result in a lower than expected turnout, so you'll have to have a backup solo option for yourself if the event falls through.

Basically, playing casually in this game is definitely doable, especially if you join a group with an efficient infrastructure that you can take advantage of. If you want to play this game casually without joining any groups, it will be somewhat difficult until a lot more features are implemented, or until you have enough experience on your character to be able to gather, refine, and craft through the entire process. Hopefully by then you'll be able to take advantage of a functioning Auction House to buy/sell along the way and at the end of the process.

Taking down camps of low level monsters solo is not recommended. It can be done, but will probably quickly become boring.


I have 2 jobs and I have lots of fun in PFO. My mates don't see much of me on weekdays, but I touch base with them and join them for an hour or 2 if they're doing something fun, or just do stuff (like gathering) on my own.

I make sure to gather the stuff we need, and because I'm not on as much as the rest of my mates, I also represent a low maintenance cost for them. For instance, I don't grind through gear as much so I'm less of a burden on the crafters.

It all seems to work out fine for me and I hear no complaints from my mates.

But to only average 2 hours a WEEK, as the O.P. writes about, that's the lowest level of casual I can imagine, and I can't see how the O.P. would even keep track of the game, unless they have many hours to read the web while stuck at work.

Grand Lodge Goblin Squad Member

@OP
Yes - but you have to adapt your play style.
I did write a series of 'solo-play' guides that should help you. Google Emerald Lodge Guild and you find it on the public pages (I'm on my phone - otherwise I would link to it).
What you need:
A guild/settlement that is accepting this game style
Something you feel you can contribute - see solo play that goes into what this could be
Meeting up with some members at least for a few minutes will be crucial as you are not self sufficient and depending on what you do you need help from the settlement that can only be given in real time - example giving you recipes or refined goods or material - also to hand anything over you generated.
So ensure you have some overlap occasionally.
This leaved politics and raids. You are probably best served in an area which is above average peaceful as you won't keep up on politics or know who is friend or foe. Worst think happening would be that your own allies attack you because you aren't a regular.

Happy to take players like you into the Emerald Lodge - but also happy to advice you if I feel other groups suit you better.

Goblin Squad Member

Agreed with the other posters that the question is not "is my playstyle compatible with this game" but rather "is my playstyle compatible with this community of players within the game." Find a group you get along with and you should be just fine.

With all of that said, do keep in mind that we're very early in the development cycle in this game; we've got the very basics of our combat and economic systems in place but that's about it- quests, minigames, dungeons etc will not be coming for a while yet. There's not a lot to do in the game other than picking up rocks and flowers, farming goblins and bandits for salvage and recipes, or PVP if you want to get into that.

Goblin Squad Member

I must admit that if I would play a game only 2 hours a week, I am not sure if I would be able to sustain enough muscle memory to comfortably play the game. With that I do not even mean the skill to keep doing twitchy PvP combat, but rather knowing exactly what every button does, the setup of my G15 gaming keyboard, how I set up hotkeys and macros, the intricacies of this particular game, that sort of thing.

Having said that, I think a crafting/gathering profession in a social Company or Settlement would certainly be a possibility for a really casual gamer. Trade some, talk some, harvest some maybe with others, cue up some crafting jobs and you are done.

Goblin Squad Member

The upside of Time base XP is that you don't need to grind away to be better at your character skills (mostly true, you do need to kill X things with a particular weapon to get higher rank feats, but In the time you get that XP you mostly have those kills)

When you actively play you focus mostly on wealth and possession improvement. Also you can work with what ever settlement to improve it as well.

My only question is, "Is it worth 15$ month for only 2/hours of playing per week?"

Goblin Squad Member

Short answer is yes. Because its a group game try to find a group that has people on during your play times and you will not only have fun but make meaningful contributions while you do.

Goblinworks Executive Founder

If you want to participate in the world-changing decisions, casual play will NOT get you there. That said, the closest thing to a world-changing decision to date has been the land rush settlement sites and types, and the closest thing currently happening is political setup between those settlements.

If you want to join a side, go out and kill a bunch of monsters, possibly finish off an escalation, and then return to sell spoils and buy equipment, I expect that that niche will exist soon. The barrier to that right now is getting the economy set up for free market, which will happen as soon as it is easier to use free market than to use a command or communist model. I expect that as soon as buy orders and settlement/company discrimination are in the AH, the best model will include enough free market aspects for casual players to buy gear with coin that they get from selling spoils.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

There may be. At best, it looks like it'll be a very small one though.

Make no mistake though, this is primarily a PVP game.

Goblin Squad Member

akilah wrote:

Good day,

My question is simple: in the opinions of the experienced players, is there a niche in this MMORPG for the casual PvE player?

Absolutely.

Exp gain is independent of time spent online, and crafting queues are independent of time spent online.

You could definitely be an asset to your settlement by training 1 gathering skill and 1 or 2 crafting skills.
Log on for an hour, get refined materials from your settlement, start a queue for crafting finished products, spend any spare time running out and gathering in the hexes around your settlement.

You'll contribute to your settlement by passing on the raw materials and finished goods, and each time you log in, you'll have the accomplishment of seeing the new items you've crafted.

You will need an active settlement to provide you with recipes and raw materials, but if you are willing to pick a crafting profession that they don't already have covered, they will be happy to have you. I know Forgeholm would.

Goblin Squad Member

TL/DR; You could craft armor for an organized group.

Some large settlements have a lot of crafting going on, and need queue time on dedicated crafters. They would give you the materials and you would set your Queue then play your 2 hours.
Armor crafting times are know to get crazy long (as in days per piece) and since you would be supplied so you just had to get online to start the craft, and pass along the finished gear, you could easily fit into an organized crafting group. Eventually crafters will 'sign' their work, so you would even get a bit of fame this way.

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