Players don't like being forced to group. That is something that has become clear following the release of World of Warcraft, but is it a good thing for the MMO genre? I think not. Look what has happened to WoW: incredibly rude players, self-serving gameplay, lack of any real sociability (the Dungeon Finder makes it practically impossible to meet new friends), and deserted landscapes. With the release of Cataclysm, there aren't even any group-focused quests anymore. Unless you're raiding, everything can be done alone.

My question is, does the MMO genre need to come full circle and focus again on players playing in groups? I think so. But, the problem is that even if grouping is incentivized, people won't do it. I watched a group of 12 or more people surround a quest mob in WoW, individually competing for its spawn timer rather than simply grouping up and knocking it all out at once. I've watched player after player die repeatedly against an elite mob designed for groups to tackle, apparently refusing to look for help. That is why games that want you to group and want you to be social have to cram it down your goddamn throat. EverQuest and Final Fantasy XI for example.

So start cramming. I'm sick of playing alone.

Opinions?

I fully agree.
 
Every class, and specc, is capable of killing just about anything solo.
That might greatly differ between some classes but that also shows why loads of people go for the obvious choices (Death Knights, Paladins, Hunters).
Your rogue will get raped sideways, your pala will afk auto attack it to death, healing itself with his heal seal.
 
What I hate the most is that the game is so solo focussed, even in dungeons, but that you still heavily rely on other people and their skill of avoiding certain things or following mechanics.
One guy isn't paying attention or wanking off while alt tabbing and the group can die, usually resulting in rude players insulting everyone and blaming everyone till someone leaves and the group falls apart.
 
Original WoW was quite a bit harder with lots of elite quests and stuff like it, nowaday you waltz through it to 85, get some pvp gear from the auction house and still have no clue how your class works.
Some things you need to learn, but there's things happening in groups and in the game overall that just makes the real players want to quit.
 
Sick of having someone join the group as tank and not tanking, but ninjaing every item that drops, constantly pulling groups on us and in general being an ass.
And he can't be kicked since someone like him was kicked before he joined.
 
Looks like the system designed to hurt the bad guys is actually hurting the good guys way more.

Jumped back in a couple weeks ago to see what was going down after a 4-5 year absence and I quite enjoyed the changes, but I can easily see how it would upset some.  
 
Never really liked playing with others, in WoW very specifically. I hated getting into a group only to find them talking almost entirely in abbreviations, something you can only find in WoW. Not a legitimate complaint really, but it pisses me off.

I agree kind of.  They streamlined everything so much that the leveling isn't meaningful anymore, questing isn't meaningful anymore ( elite quests got trimmed in the bud and converted to single player quests).   Some of the cinematic quests they added with Cataclysm were a cool addition.  But really the only fun I had during cataclysm was raiding with some folks on some decent encounters but there wasn't really enough of it.  Blizzard had a formula with Cataclysm, cater to the people who only drop in about 30 minutes a night and want to feel like they accomplished something.   But for the more hardcore... it got boring after awhile.
 
But i'm a masochist, i came from FFXI where i grinded my face in the dirt for 3 years and enjoyed it.   There less of me than there are people who want an easy to access experience.

@Seppli: Completely agree. I played WoW for 3 years, and then during WoTLK my guild joined another and started doing 25 man raids. I was up till 4 in the morning, spent over an hour simply waiting for people to get ready, and got no loot or any reward what-so-ever from the experience. The next day I asked myself "WTF are you doing with your life?" , cancelled my subscription and looked into getting a 360. Some of the best times I had in WoW were playing with a friend when we were leveling, but even when he wasnt there I could still experience the game. It gets better with friends, but they shouldnt be necessary because it gets too hard to coordinate. I want to play the game, have fun, and move on, not sit around waiting for people to get ready and then have someone blow the entire thing. I had a much more meaningful co-op experience with Portal 2 than I ever had in WoW.