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How is this game fun for solo players now?


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I'm frustrated.I bought this game on release and have played it on-and-off since. For the most part, I don't have many criticism. It's the first MMO I've actually enjoyed, for starters. The world, graphics, music etc are incredible. But as a (mostly) solo player, I'm finding higher levels to be annoying.

A lot of things are locked behind a grind of some description. It's tedious.

Vistas, Points of Interest etc are now "locked" behind hordes of strong enemies. I've just died for what seems like the hundredth time to a mob, just because I want to explore the world.

Why are some masteries reliant on PvP or WvWvW? Trying to get that damn spoon was anger-inducing to say the least, as I'd get one-shot by any passerby. I main a Thief, so forget about doing anything worthwhile in those modes.

Instant-kick from Raids.

I'm happy to except it's probably down to me not being a strong MMO player, and that there's failings on my end, but it seems more and more that the game is geared towards those playing as a group...which in itself isn't bad, but it leaves solo players in the dust.

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Having dangerous mobs in the world is par for the course for... most games with an overworld. If there wasn't an obstacle to overcome, then there wouldn't be much point in playing the game. The expansion content was designed under the assumption that, once you get to either Heart of Thorns of Path of Fire, that you have a good grasp of your character and the tools available to them. If you aren't good at the game yet, then yes you're going to have trouble with things.

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I don't know, I've played solo before and don't have much problem. If you're a solo player strictly though you probably shouldn't think about raiding, because it's not a solo activity. I'm convinced the biggest portion of this games population doesn't raid, and perhaps has never even set foot in a raid.

As for the rest of it, it's called a learning process.; The game isn't brain dead easy but it doesnt' mean it cant' be done. For harder hero points, either wait for an HP train, or use a mentor tag and call out in map chat. That would leave a couple of hero points you can't do.

For WvW, learn to follow commander tags. Make sure you have plenty of speed running abilities. There are plenty of people who solo this game. It's true you have to be better at the game than when the game was new, but that's because many of us have years of experience and need something to challenge us.

Are you using your own build or did you get one off a site like meta battle? When you go into WvW are you using PvE gear, or did you make a set that makes you more survivable. Games evolve. The content tends to get harder because people have taken the time to learn the game. But this game doesn't do a great job in teaching itself and so if you're just say going from open world Orr into open world HoT, you're going to hit a learning curve. It's not impossible to learn, it just means taking some time to learn.

If you need help in HoT, I might be able to show you how to deal with the place, assuming you're on a US server anyway..

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You're kind of setting yourself up for abuse with a post like this. There's a lot to unpack there and your approach is full on negative. You could have broken all of this down into a small addressable parts, created a post for each and asked the community for specific help and if you approached it with a positive attitude, you would get a lot of specific positive support.

The result would be way better.

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@"SpiritSharD.2650" said:Vistas, Points of Interest etc are now "locked" behind hordes of strong enemies. I've just died for what seems like the hundredth time to a mob, just because I want to explore the world.I'm not sure there is a Vista or POI in this game that isn't soloable. Many, when you get past core maps, are mastery-gated for sure. But all can eventually be solo'ed.

Why are some masteries reliant on PvP or WvWvW? Trying to get that kitten spoon was anger-inducing to say the least, as I'd get one-shot by any passerby. I main a Thief, so forget about doing anything worthwhile in those modes.I'm unaware of any mastery points other than maybe the spoon collection? Feel free to tell us which you Mastery is gated there and maybe some of us will have ideas on how to help.

Instant-kick from Raids.Why would this affect a solo player?

I'm happy to except it's probably down to me not being a strong MMO player, and that there's failings on my endWhile this is definitely possible, a significant part of being a "strong MMO" player comes down to gear and build.Tell us your gear, weapons, tell us what traits you are using in your build. Let's see what we can do to help you. There's likely just a few changes that need to be made to make your character feel actually viable.

but it seems more and more that the game is geared towards those playing as a group...which in itself isn't bad, but it leaves solo players in the dust.This is and will always be the case yes.Some content will not be accessible as a solo player. This is increasingly the case when you get past 80. What sets GW2 apart from most other MMOs is that you aren't completely cut off from most rewards if you dont group up. There will certainly be exceptions (raid rewards being an example) but BiS gear, pretty much all QoL and the bulk of the games cosmentics are totally accessible within a reasonable rate when you play alone.

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The problem is as time went on the divergence in skill between players widened massively. Anet has to find a balance that challenges yet is still easy enough for most.

The rise in difficulty generally reflects a baseline improvement in skill level on average and elite spec power creep

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I play primarly solo and I would say I have low to average skill level in the game.

I'm able to solo 85% of the game. The other 15% I go: this is an MMO. It's a multiplayer game. Expecting to not have to play "with" others to achieve everything is not realistic. So I come back later and maybe later, someone else will be trying to do the same thing as me and we can play "together" and complete whatever it is that I need.

I can solo most of Core Tyria. I tend to need help with HoT and PoF areas.

But that challenge means that I am given something to work towards to improve. Without that challenge that's too hard for where you are now, you have no way to get better. Or at least no easy way to measure that.

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I am a pure solo player, not in any guild or ingame friends. And besides raids and PvP I can manage it all. I dont like those 2 gametypes anyway so that is easy for me to skip.And for harder content there always seem to be enough players around to either help, or need the same thing too.Not sure if you have all expansions, and all mounts. but they help a lot for skipping mobs and getting sneaky to places not directly intended to get to with a shortcut.Skyscale is so damn good for this. But I hardly play thief so I do not know if that is as easy as say a boon ranger, or condi mesmer for instance.Good luck man or woman, don't give up yet :)

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@"EmmetOtter.8542" said:You're kind of setting yourself up for abuse with a post like this. There's a lot to unpack there and your approach is full on negative.

Seems rather simple to me: the OP is isn't happy about not being able to play single player in a multiplayer game. I'd say they bought the wrong game, and instead should have looked for the title "Skyrim" somewhere else on the shelf.

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I opened this topic expecting to see something about HoT HPs and was gonna post in agreement - yes, those 100% need to be nerfed since the maps aren't that active anymore and you shouldn't need to group up with people to do HPs (as Anet has shown with PoF HPs). But I can't comprehend how you are finding it difficult to get the pois and vista's though when all you have to do is walk to them (pois) or press a button on them (vistas)? You do know that you can just skip enemies? Mounts are great for that actually, with the jackal and the bunny you pretty much have everything covered.For the record I play holosmith and deadeye, while I'd be lying if I said it's not a challenge at all (they're on the weaker side of the new specs IMO, especially deadeye), I have solo'd everything in base game, PoF and HoT (except for the HPs) with them. Some of the HPs in HoT I can manage on my own with ranger, mesmer or necro only but then again those classes have always been broken (no matter how hard the forums try to speak against that cause obv they main them lol). My biggest problem is with pois, hps and stuff that requires an event to show up or the meta to progress (Istan and the damn warehouse), I really dislike timegates on map completion.I know that this might come off as ironic considering it goes against your playstyle but if you need help with anything/ you're struggling in the game, you can feel free to add me and I'll help you out.

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@"SpiritSharD.2650" said:I'm frustrated.I bought this game on release and have played it on-and-off since. For the most part, I don't have many criticism. It's the first MMO I've actually enjoyed, for starters. The world, graphics, music etc are incredible. But as a (mostly) solo player, I'm finding higher levels to be annoying.

A lot of things are locked behind a grind of some description. It's tedious.

Vistas, Points of Interest etc are now "locked" behind hordes of strong enemies. I've just died for what seems like the hundredth time to a mob, just because I want to explore the world.

Why are some masteries reliant on PvP or WvWvW? Trying to get that kitten spoon was anger-inducing to say the least, as I'd get one-shot by any passerby. I main a Thief, so forget about doing anything worthwhile in those modes.

Instant-kick from Raids.

I'm happy to except it's probably down to me not being a strong MMO player, and that there's failings on my end, but it seems more and more that the game is geared towards those playing as a group...which in itself isn't bad, but it leaves solo players in the dust.

I play almost exclusively solo. Not trying to be disparaging, but this is primary lack of experience/maybe gear. Core Tyria is so easy and Vistas are almost always on a clear path with no mobs.

General advice:

  1. For thief, I suggest you use pistol/pistol. Ranged weapon, with good damage. Make sure you take Critical Strikes and Invigorating Precision, major grand master trait. This should be enough heal to sustain most encounters in solo PvE. Also, I would advice visiting GW2 metabattle website. They have some general build setups.
  2. Start of with going to Orr. Cursed Shore is easy and profitable.
  3. With the gold you get from farming Cursed Shore, you should be easily able to go buy full exotic gear from the Black Lion Trading network. This will require around ~20 gold or so. You should be able to get that in few hours tops.
  4. At this point you should be able to solo almost any mob in core Tyria that is not legendary. Note that champions do require skill to solo.
  5. Next step is start the first story mission of Path of Fire (PoF). It gives you Raptor mount, which should make traversing extremely easy.
  6. Go through PoF maps to get hero points to unlock elite lines.
  7. For thief, I would unlock Deadeye elite trait line first.
  8. Do Heart of Thorns maps last. They are not meant for non-experienced players.
  9. I am not aware of any mastery locked in WvW except one of the mounts, which is useless in PvE. There is nothing that requires PvP is far as I know. You should never have to set foot in WvW or PvP if you do not want to.

I played other MMOs, and generally, GW2 is on the harder side, because it primarily plays like an action RPG. You need to learn to heal, dodge and avoid damage. Most other MMOs you do not even need to do anything, and can manage by just hitting skill 1 repeatedly. This will not work here, especially in a level 80 map. It is not difficult, but you will need to understand and apply the game mechanics, on a very basic level, to get by.

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@"SpiritSharD.2650" said:I'm frustrated.I bought this game on release and have played it on-and-off since. For the most part, I don't have many criticism. It's the first MMO I've actually enjoyed, for starters. The world, graphics, music etc are incredible. But as a (mostly) solo player, I'm finding higher levels to be annoying.

A lot of things are locked behind a grind of some description. It's tedious.

Vistas, Points of Interest etc are now "locked" behind hordes of strong enemies. I've just died for what seems like the hundredth time to a mob, just because I want to explore the world.

Why are some masteries reliant on PvP or WvWvW? Trying to get that kitten spoon was anger-inducing to say the least, as I'd get one-shot by any passerby. I main a Thief, so forget about doing anything worthwhile in those modes.

Instant-kick from Raids.

I'm happy to except it's probably down to me not being a strong MMO player, and that there's failings on my end, but it seems more and more that the game is geared towards those playing as a group...which in itself isn't bad, but it leaves solo players in the dust.

Uuuh, I play mostly solo myself (daily T4s and the eventual raid tho). I mained a thief for a long time before changing classes, and I'm sorry but this seems to be a total L2P issue. Sure, thieves fall behind in many aspects but they are by no super bad in any game mode if you're willing to change according to what you need to do. You can make nearly unkillable pDPS builds for open world using Acrobatics and Critical Strikes. You're no Scourge or Mirage by any means but you'll have outstanding survivability. D/D thief can be pretty strong and annoying to play against in PvP too.

And yeah, there are frustrating enemies out there, specially in HoT maps, and that's part of the learning curve. Adapting to them and knowing when to pick a fight and when to scram. If you haven't already, go through PoF and grab the mounts. They make avoiding enemies around the world miles easier.

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OP, .. you can't ttake your pve gear into WvW. You very likely need help with your build.

Look at metabattle, to see build suggestions for your class, and if you have any questions, ask.you'll get more help that way than just complaining that a multiplayer game...is designed for multiple players..

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I main thief in PvE, have since I started playing, and I can say from experience that thief is the easiest class to pick up vistas/POI/nodes. Shadowstep is your best friend. It's very much about timing but most mobs should be far enough away that you can shadowstep to the node/vista/etc, use it, and then shadowstep back or mount up before you get attacked. Most npcs have a "cast time" for abilities so scooping up points should be easy as long as you don't freak out. Invisibility before the shadowstep is a plus too so it should go:1.) Stealth2.) Shadowstep3.) harvest/view vista4.) mount up/gtfo

I agree the spoon thing kind of sucks but I don't care enough about the achievement for it to really matter to me. From ANets perspective it only incentivises you to play ALL of the game modes they worked really hard on.I have been in guilds, was in one that I liked a lot but I left to be a sadboi. Now I solo pretty much everything(because I can't find that guild again and I don't remember what it was called ;-; ) and I love it. Guilds are great but I hate disappointing if I can't raid/pvp or missing out on guild missions. There is plently that can be soloed, if not on thief then on a heartier class. On my reaper I can solo most HoT content that isn't specifically a group event. It's really about learning your class. Thief is pretty squishy so if you're having trouble staying alive you might need more defensive skills (i.e. dodges, shadowsteps, stealth). Daredevil gets an additional dodge so you might want to try that if you're having trouble. Hope this helps.

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define solo gaming.

if solo gaming for you is not being in a dedicated in game guild but still enjoys team plays like pvp/world bosses/fractals/dungeons, you're not that hardcore solo player. and you just don't merge and leave as if nothing happened. this is why there is PrintScreen, or just adding them in your Friends list/following them.

if solo gaming for you is doing everything alone, like EVERYTHING, you're missing a lot..

and to top that, heres a video..

"when you're dying, and dead and you still know that time is moving really really slow."

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