Challenges as a solo skater

If you absolutely refuse to party up or do an OTL, that's up to you and how you want to play the game. 

Completing all dailies/weeklies solo is incredibly easy and quick; after that, you're in limbo till the next day/week. I enjoy the benefit of going for those extra goals, because it presents another level of difficulty.

As someone who never plays with a team and only parties up with randoms, absolutely, it takes more time. I appreciate the sentiment, but the difficulty of completing some of the party-based challenges adds another aspect to the game. OTL is hard to finish, it takes time, effort, and multiple attempts. For those who do complete it, there absolutely should be a benefit over those who never even try.

my party is always open. i regularly help skaters with challenges.

Your response doesn't address the problem... literally at all.

We just don't want to be forced to play with strangers to be able to receive the same awards as everyone else. This isn't a difficult concept to understand. You play with randos-- good for you. Some of us would rather be given the option whether or not to do that, not be left completely unable to complete the challenges because of it.

As an autistic person, I struggle with social interactions with people I don't know, especially over voice or video media. This is not a voluntary response to those situations. 

Being forced to group with someone, I'm left with two options: A.) Suffer through undue discomfort and stress to interact with a person I'd rather not interact with in order to complete some arbitrary challenges in a video game; or B.) Forego the rewards of those challenges and simply not play.

I can tell you now, if I'm made to choose enough times, it will eventually always be choice B, and that choice will become permanent. I simply won't be back, won't be playing their game. There are probably thousands of other players that feel the same way, and for game developers, it's not a good look to have large groups of players leave your game because you made them feel alienated and then didn't do anything about it.

Fair enough, and everyone's opinion matters; that's what the forums are for. 

I agree that the social interaction can be a bit awkward; for example, I have my mic disabled for comms. Doing that may help with your situation. To 'address the problem,' as you put it... What, in your opinion, should the benefit be for doing multiplayer challenges like OTLs? 

It can't be nothing. That would be like me arguing that because I didn't purchase the Skate Pass, those who did should receive no benefit because I won't be able to receive the same items/tix bonuses.

Sure, they are different, as one has monetary backing, but taking awards away from those who do want to go for them isn't the solution. Eliminating all multiplayer aspects isn't the answer. Like you said, 'this isn't a difficult concept to understand'.

So what's your fix?

colonelpeaches​ 

I think one thing that could solve a lot of the frustration is disconnecting the multiplayer tasks from 'a set of objectives'. As of now, many of the objective sets are mostly obtainable solo except for one or two tasks. This can be frustrating for people who play solo and not get the rewards of completing the entire set.

Separating those into two tracks, either with the same reward or a different one, could at least be beneficial for the feeling of completing challenges. I always keep the multiplayer ones for last and it's a hurdle to grind them out to get the better rewards.

EA_cuervo​ TG_Chronos​ curious to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for the tag!

I can definitely see where both sides of the discussion are coming from. Challenges that encourage social or multiplayer activities can help players explore different parts of the game, but I also understand the frustration from players who primarily enjoy skating solo and feel locked out of completing certain challenge sets.

I think the suggestion of separating solo and multiplayer objectives, or providing alternative ways to complete some challenge tracks, is interesting feedback. While I can't make any promises regarding future changes, I've been following the conversation and will make sure the team's aware of the feedback being shared here.

Appreciate everyone keeping the discussion constructive and taking the time to explain their perspectives.

CrownCollective​ 

That's certainly an option! Separation to two tracks (multiplayer/singleplayer) with equal awards would be a possible fix. If the awards were different, we're probably back to the main point OP was making: that they won't get the multiplayer awards.

My concern with equal awards is if the multiplayer ones take longer due to the time it takes to party up and complete things together. There isn't a reason for multiplayer at all. I too keep the multiplayer ones for last typically, and it certainly is more of a hurdle like you said! 

Quite the puzzle indeed. Maybe a solution for everyone would be if the singleplayer track were scaled in difficulty to have more challenges which take longer?

If the estimated time to completion were more similar, that could be a possible answer. Meaning, if you want to do multiplayer, it's fewer challenges, but the extra time it takes to complete things with 2-4 players equates to the estimated completion time of the single-player track with more challenges.

Thank you EA_cuervo​ for passing it along; it's certainly interesting!

I just accept any invites I got and I completed all the challenges and tasks no problem. I prefer to not chat and just keep focused on completing things quickly.  You would be surprised how little time and effort it takes, all for getting outside the comfort zone for maybe 3-5 minutes 

It's my pleasure. I also really appreciate seeing the community come together to discuss ideas and share their vision for the game in a constructive way. While I can't promise any specific changes, I can make sure that feedback and suggestions like yours are seen by the team. Thanks again for contributing to the conversation!

As far as rewards go, if they're separated, I have no problem with people playing multiplayer getting higher rewards. As long as solo players aren't locked out of getting any free cosmetics or anything like that, I see absolutely no reason why those willing to go out of their way to complete the harder or more time-consuming objectives shouldn't get better rewards for it. Rather than make solo play more difficult, make multiplayer play more rewarding.