Lack of Solo End-Game

[Linken.6345]

@Ayakaru.6583 said:

@Linken.6345 said:What about world bosses and map meta events?You can do them without being in group with anyone.

Those are so isignificantly easy you can target the boss with autoattack and come back after 3 minutes.Did you know the fire elemental has attacks he hasn’t used since the introduction of megaservers. Not once

Yea I did know that been here since head start that fire elemental would wipe out whole maps.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

Queen's Gauntlet was loved when it was introduced because it was solo challenging content. Powercreep made it quite a bit of a laugh, even the new tier added. But all the same, I find it odd ArenaNet has not done more content like it.

As it is, the only real solo "end-game" we get is the Living World instances, Queen's Gauntlet, and SAB. I would not be opposed to more challenging content. I tend to find the LW bosses too easy, even when people complain that they're too hard (e.g., Caudecus, Eater of Souls).

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

@Jethro.9376 said:

1. I didn't read all of this
2. You want solo content? Run daily dungeons. There are enough of them and you can make decent coin.

People want challenging content designed and intended to be done solo. Not group content that they do solo as a bonus challenge.

And yes, there actually is a difference. When you're balancing for multiple people, multiple targets, the fundamentals of the design differ than when you're designing for singular people and targets.

Personally, I'd take more challenge motes in story for achievements. I quite enjoyed the Season 2 challenge motes on bosses, but hated that they weren't available for first playthrough of the character (first playthrough of account I can get, but per character? Yuck.). I really wish every storyline had such challenge motes for the boss battles. Especially if ArenaNet ends up nerfing the boss in normal playthrough, the challenge mote can simply be the boss without the nerfs.

[kharmin.7683]

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

People want challenging content designed and intended to be done solo. Not group content that they do solo as a bonus challenge.This is not GW2. If players are looking for this type of content, then they should look to other games that focus on it.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

@kharmin.7683 said:

@"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:

People want challenging content designed and intended to be done solo. Not group content that they do solo as a bonus challenge.This is not GW2. If players are looking for this type of content, then they should look to other games that focus on it.

Who says that "this is not GW2"? We already have a bunch of solo content, mainly the main story. We also have, as I mentioned in my first post, things like Queen's Gauntlet and SAB which are both designed with solo gameplay in mind (Queen's Gauntlet being only solo'able).

Solo content exists in GW2, yet solo content is "not GW2"?

[Adul.1520]

@kharmin.7683 said:

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

People want challenging content designed and intended to be done solo. Not group content that they do solo as a bonus challenge.This is not GW2. If players are looking for this type of content, then they should look to other games that focus on it.

Well, as it's been pointed out, GW2 already has challenging content intended for solo play, such as SAB, Queen's Gauntlet and LW bosses/achievements. It's just that some of us want more of it.

Edit: ninja'd.

[DudaMartins.8012]

i'd love a solo mode for Fractals

[Puma.3645]

...........................

[Skotlex.7580]

The only daily content which I believe fits the OP's request would be the daily sunken treasure hunt. Or doing the buried treasure meta in desert highlands.

I am thinking that they could readjust the bandit bounties to be elites rather than champions, and then that would also qualify as daily solo content.

Though some people can already solo them, so there's that.

Because GW2 happens in open maps, it's just too easy to design the challenging content around groups rather than for single players.

[crepuscular.9047]

hmmm... why play a MMO if you are only after solo experience?

[Adul.1520]

@"crepuscular.9047" said:hmmm... why play a MMO if you are only after solo experience?

A lot of people do. MMORPGs have different player types that want to get different experiences out of their games. Most MMOs have a very large "explorer" population—players who tend to stick to soloable objectives and exploration, stuff they can do alone at their own pace. They typically don't like to play game modes that require organized grouping. GW2 caters to every player type but is especially welcoming to explorers, which means that a large portion of the playerbase prefers to do soloable content (or group content that requires little to no organization).

[crepuscular.9047]

@Adul.1520 said:

@"crepuscular.9047" said:hmmm... why play a MMO if you are only after solo experience?

A lot of people do. MMORPGs have different player types that want to get different experiences out of their games. Most MMOs have a very large "explorer" population—players who tend to stick to soloable objectives and exploration, stuff they can do alone at their own pace. They typically don't like to play game modes that require organized grouping. GW2 caters to every player type but is especially welcoming to explorers, which means that a large portion of the playerbase prefers to do soloable content (or group content that requires little to no organization).

a lot of the end-game contents were already soloable long before power creep came in, it's just how good you are

[kharmin.7683]

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

@kharmin.7683 said:

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

People want challenging content designed and intended to be done solo. Not group content that they do solo as a bonus challenge.This is not GW2. If players are looking for this type of content, then they should look to other games that focus on it.

Who says that "this is not GW2"? We already have a bunch of solo content, mainly

the main story

. We also have, as I mentioned in my first post, things like Queen's Gauntlet and SAB which are both designed with solo gameplay in mind (Queen's Gauntlet being only solo'able).

Solo content exists in GW2, yet solo content is "not GW2"?

My point was that my understanding was that GW2 was not designed to be so heavily invested in solo content, because it is a MMO. Yes, there is content that can be solo run, as you've clearly shown, but such content is not the norm. Personal story is a way to progress into the MMO areas of the map. I don't believe that it was intended to be replayable for being solo content otherwise the game would be marketed as such.

[Adul.1520]

@crepuscular.9047 said:

@Adul.1520 said:

@crepuscular.9047 said:hmmm... why play a MMO if you are only after solo experience?

A lot of people do. MMORPGs have different player types that want to get different experiences out of their games. Most MMOs have a very large "explorer" population—players who tend to stick to soloable objectives and exploration, stuff they can do alone at their own pace. They typically don't like to play game modes that require organized grouping. GW2 caters to every player type but is especially welcoming to explorers, which means that a large portion of the playerbase prefers to do soloable content (or group content that requires little to no organization).

a lot of the end-game contents were already soloable long before power creep came in, it's just how good you are

At the end of my last post where I said "soloable content", I really meant "content designed for solo play". My bad, I should have been more exact with my wording.

[ScottBroChill.3254]

just farm winterberries forever

[Ashgar.3024]

I'm a solo player. My end game is SPvP and fractals. Yes both involve other players but require no commitment, just some basic communication skills. Seems to be fair enough in an MMORPG.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

@kharmin.7683 said:

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

@kharmin.7683 said:

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

People want challenging content designed and intended to be done solo. Not group content that they do solo as a bonus challenge.This is not GW2. If players are looking for this type of content, then they should look to other games that focus on it.

Who says that "this is not GW2"? We already have a bunch of solo content, mainly

the main story

. We also have, as I mentioned in my first post, things like Queen's Gauntlet and SAB which are both designed with solo gameplay in mind (Queen's Gauntlet being only solo'able).

Solo content exists in GW2, yet solo content is "not GW2"?

My point was that my understanding was that GW2 was not designed to be so heavily invested in solo content, because it is a MMO. Yes, there is content that can be solo run, as you've clearly shown, but such content is not the norm. Personal story is a way to progress into the MMO areas of the map. I don't believe that it was intended to be replayable for being solo content otherwise the game would be marketed as such.

No one's asking for it to be the norm, just for there to be more than three cases of it (two of which are festival, and one of which is the furthest thing from challenging), and it's not "content that can be solo run", it's "content that is designed to be solo" and "content that can only be solo'd". There's a mighty big difference between them.

The personal story is more than just a way to progress into maps. There is no need for such a thing, it's just the main plot of the game, and it was intended to be replayable for being solo content given by the fact that it is solo content (which can be done in a group if you so choose) that is designed as replayable. A good number of achievements require replaying some story steps, in fact. And, in fact, the game was marketed as such: "This is your story." Remember that phrase? What do you think it meant besides a customized, branching story narrative (which is not something that can be done as a group)?

@"crepuscular.9047" said:hmmm... why play a MMO if you are only after solo experience?

Who ever said "only"?

Personally speaking, I like playing the game solo most of the time; when I don't, it's either with a zerg, or with friends. I don't tend to pug unless me and friends need to fill up a group. That said, I love having a community. If I wanted to just run around a map where I am the only player, I'd stick to games like Oblivion, Skyrim, ME: Andromeda, and all those other open world single player RPGs out there. But I find those boring, for one simple reason: A lot of space, a lot of loneliness. I like doing objectives solo, and I'll do instances solo, but I also enjoy being able to randomly run into people doing the same thing or something different in the same area. I like map chat (most of the time).

But the fact I like a community existing in the game I'm playing, doesn't mean I don't want any form of challenging and instanced solo content.

Would it really be so much to ask for a challenge mote for more story instances, or a handful more cases of Queen's Gauntlet-like content? Not to play only those things, but so that there's some content where it isn't designed for 4/9/50+ other players to be with me?

[Blocki.4931]

While most people are confused at "solo content" in an MMO, we have to remember that GW2 is essentially a single player MMO. You never have to group up with anybody to do a large majority of the content and that is one of the main reasons why I have been playing it for the past 6 years. While you have the downsides of a rather "anti-social" experience that doesn't encourage doing group content it is also a neat thing to be able to achieve basically everything on your own.

[zityz.6089]

Bring back Heroes. They can only be used in Fractals, Dungeons, Raids, story mode stuff.It would be nice for them to have added dungeons to the PoF and HoT with added story stuff as well.

I hope they do bring back mini dungeons. They're great content for people who don't have the time to get into raids.

[Khisanth.2948]

There is already solo content, group content that doesn't require an explicit grouping and also group content that does require an explicit group.

@Skotlex.7580 said:The only daily content which I believe fits the OP's request would be the daily sunken treasure hunt. Or doing the buried treasure meta in desert highlands.

If those count then both Bitterfrost Frontier and Dry Top are better versions of them.

[smashgodlight.6584]

To be honest I some how agree with you but not fully I played this game from launch and they were some serious down times for getting bored of the end game . I mean og WB are not a solo thing neither any other raid fractal wvw pvp and so on but the point i thing is not the solo end game is more like the reward of it if you play in a farminf pve group you probably be ok because of the reward for ex. gold and mats . I personally believe that is not a solo problem but more of the reward any of the game optiosn you have will give you many useless rewards that by the end of the day you will salvage them and 9 times out of 10 your inventory is full of them ! If you check on othe mmo even if you do a simple WB you can get a huge amount of gold and a good weapon/armor rewards ! In gw2 this happens rarely only in tequatl and in triple trouble and raids ! So again i believe that is not the fact that you play solo is more like you know what you will expect of the game after yo do a specific event.

[mercury ranique.2170]

I see up and downsides to adding more solo game content.An MMORPG is about cooperation and playing together with others. It is what defines the genre by definition. This doesn't make it a good thing.I was there at GW1 when they prepped it for the release of GW1 and the decrease of the playerbase. They added support of 7 heroes, making a lot more content solo-able in a friendly way.In many games I have seen the concept that when something can be done solo, most people will prefer to do so.This says a lot about the existensial crisis in the Massive Multiplayer online part of the genre, but the same goes for the roll playing part of the name.

Having said that....The genre is more then what the name implies. Both the MMO and the RP part of the games are nothing more then niches in what defines it. More important is the gameplay, the way of story telling, the fantasy genre and extensive lore involved.

I think this can not be really solved in the concept of GW2 as scaling and balancing is too complicated yet.I would like to see a system of machine learning being released on a scaling and balancing. This so any encounter (instanced, open world, event or random trashmob) is scaled based on AI meassering the players participating and adjusting this when it changes, but to make this work, you would need a re-design of the entire environment. Till then it will be a matter of choice and that is always hurtfull to a part of the community.

[Yamazuki.6073]

I suppose it's due to having a partner, but I personally prefer group content that can be soloed. When I want to solo I can, but when she's on (or friends) we can do it together. Content that can only be soloed always feels terrible for me now.

[thehipone.6812]

@"crepuscular.9047" said:hmmm... why play a MMO if you are only after solo experience?

Because I like playing a game with other people around, but I REALLY hate wasting my available game time looking for a group, waiting for a healer, finally getting a group and having someone go "BRB smoke break" and just wasting everyone's time.

On the original topic - "fashion wars" and chasing rare drops are solo-able (or solo-able enough) endeavors. I include joining map metas in there too because you mainly just show up at the designated time. But it isn't necessary to just be a zergling. PoF seems designed for the solo player or small group of friends. The events that drop the profession minis are all soloable and offer a chance at rare/valuable drops. Chests, champ bags, and even some random events/mobs give unique stuff. Junundu Rising meta is soloable and easily completed in a group of 3 to 5 as long as you start with the awakened fort first.

[crepuscular.9047]

@thehipone.6812 said:

@"crepuscular.9047" said:hmmm... why play a MMO if you are only after solo experience?

Because I like playing a game with other people around, but I REALLY hate wasting my available game time looking for a group, waiting for a healer, finally getting a group and having someone go "BRB smoke break" and just wasting everyone's time.

well... that's why Anet flushed Mhenlo and his teacher Master Togo down the toilet :lol: