Hey, Please Don't Make the Game Impossible to Solo.

[ilonlie.4316]

9 minutes ago, ArchonWing.9480 said:

I mean, if I really don't want people in the same area as me, I would just leave.

That's what I do when I have a reason to avoid other player(s). I  doubt they know they're interfering with my play. I can come back later.

[Nazarick.9653]

On 3/2/2022 at 12:42 AM, LittleSoftTail.8405 said:

I get that it's a MMO but a lot of us prefer to solo, at least, sometimes because of anxiety or just because they don't like having to group up with people constantly. I generally don't understand why MMO companies just love making it impossible/hard for players to solo their content. If I can't solo, then I guess I'm out. I have social anxiety and feel very uncomfortable grouping up with randos and even guild mates, the most I can do without feeling anxious or uncomfortable is to chat with other people on Map/Zone chat (I dunno why either), and yes, I get that I could just play singleplayer games but MMOs have something singleplayer games don't that I like.

I struggled enough as it is with HoT and PoF, and now it's possible that I won't be able to do any of the content without the help of a group. And I know I am not the only person who feels this way so.. kitten us, I guess.

 

If this post is because of all the sustain nerfs on launch day, those nerfs were designed to push people into playing the new builds.

Mechanist for example is faceroll in open world (I never died once until I reached Soo-Won), which is just as well...as the mob density and aggro is ridiculous compared to PoF.  (stop to mine a node and you get 6-7 mobs with 2000 yd ranged attacks and/or constant CC spam)

[ilonlie.4316]

8 minutes ago, Khisanth.2948 said:

If you really don't want to play with other people don't play multiplayer games would be a much better strategy.

Sure but the OP  did not say they didn't want to play with other people. I sometimes find it to my advantage to leave a crowded area and come back later.

[ArchonWing.9480]

23 minutes ago, Khisanth.2948 said:

If you really don't want to play with other people don't play multiplayer games would be a much better strategy.

I mean, that's still a choice. Sometimes I do want to play with other people, and sometimes I don't. And there's plenty of stuff you can choose to do alone like story and collections.

Now if you meant people who absolutely want no possible human contact (nobody in cities, or joining in in open world, being able to solo world bosses), then yes that would not be the game for them.

I was responding to the implication that you had no choice in deciding whether you wanted to do something solo or not, but you can reach max level and get fully geared with access to the majority of maps and achievements without interacting much. I heard you need to group up for the turtle, but I don't think that's essential. If it is, then I'll just be crying on my Skyscale which didn't require me to group up. Don't think I'll find any pity there.  😉

It's not like some other MMOs where you must raid or your progression to the rest of the game is blocked and you can't do new content. You can actually skip many things and this might have to do with the fact that ascended  BiS gear made 6 years ago is still BiS (but maybe with a stat change or two)

  

16 minutes ago, ilonlie.4316 said:

That's what I do when I have a reason to avoid other player(s). I  doubt they know they're interfering with my play. I can come back later.

Yea, for the most part nobody can hold you hostage. If I don't like something, I can just leave. This changes a bit when it comes to instanced content, but I've come to terms with dealing with that.

And there are even people that can solo fractal CMs, so I just don't think the game is THAT hostile to solo players.

Edited April 20, 2022 by ArchonWing.9480

[ilonlie.4316]

1 hour ago, Blude.6812 said:

So you were able to get your turtle saddle without doing the required group strike mission for the thruster control unit? 

If the game announces it's a completion then it's a completion.

[Ventidius.6708]

On 3/1/2022 at 7:54 PM, Fuchslein.8639 said:

Do you know what MMO means?

I'm an introvert IRL and prefer to spend time alone, but that doesn't mean I would want to live in a world where I'm the only living person.

[Ashantara.8731]

4 hours ago, Khisanth.2948 said:

If you really don't want to play with other people don't play multiplayer games would be a much better strategy.

Social anxiety is not about not wanting to have other people around you but about being frightened of socializing with others, being "judged" by them, having to meet supposed expectations etc. (No one enjoys feeling lonely.)

Anyway, the topic of this thread is whether the game is soloable, and most of it is. And apart from Fractals, Strikes and Raids, you are not forced to communicate with others, either, so even map meta events can be done without having to talk to others. I'd even go as far as claiming that Fractals also can be done without communicating (I've had LFG runs with some people in my group never typing a single word in chat), but the aspect of social interaction is still present in such a tight environment as people with a social anxiety disorder might be scared of feeling watched and judged by their teammates regarding their performance or keeping up pace or what not (even when that fear is unsubstantiated), which causes immense stress and anxiety.

Edited April 21, 2022 by Ashantara.8731

[Ashen.2907]

1 hour ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

Social anxiety is not about not wanting to have other people around you but about being frightened of socializing with others, being "judged" by them, having to meet supposed expectations etc. (No one enjoys feeling lonely.)

Anyway, the topic of this thread is whether the game is soloable, and most of it is. And apart from Fractals, Strikes and Raids, you are not forced to communicate with others, either, so even map meta events can be done without having to talk to others. I'd even go as far as claiming that Fractals also can be done without communicating (I've had LFG runs with some people in my group never typing a single word in chat), but the aspect of socializing is still present in such a tight environment as people with a social anxiety disorder might be scared of feeling watched and judged by their teammates regarding their performance or keeping up pace or what not (even when that fear is unsubstantiated), which causes immense stress and anxiety.

This.

 

Not only is the vast majority of the game soloable, much of the non-soloable content requires little or no interaction with others to complete. Essentially 99% of the game is solo/social anxiety friendly.

[Cynder.2509]

You can still solo about everything the game throws at you (even fractals). You just need to know what you're doing. Even a squishy DPS meta build can easily solo stuff if you know your stuff. No need to make the game easier than it already is. 
Also there's lfg for everything. If you don't have the required LI for lfg then either get them or make your own group. 
The majority of open world PvE is just spam 1 and camp on bearbow anyways. There's nothing hard to it. Sure, the expansion amps might be a tiny bit "harder" but that is because before entering this content the game assumes you're experienced already because for example when HoT came out people have been playing for 3 years and the expansion is adjusted to the experience of 3 years. 
Just watch some guide on youtube or something to get better if you're new and have no idea. There's lots of guides for the game. 

[patton the great.7126]

I mean your reason is sad, but I respect your right to feel that way. When it comes to solo content try condi Rev full trailblazer with torment runes. I just recently crafted hope and soloed all the content. Some of the tougher champions like the Orr Champs and the legendary risen high wizard can be tough with most builds, but condi renegade does stupid damage with decent survivability with a well timed dodge or 2.  

 

 

 

 

[Zavijah.2695]

It has nothing to do with anxiety for me, and everything to do with that fact it's not as enjoyable.

 

I could have a fun, forgiving and self sufficient sustain build to attend meta's and not be reliant on others passive heals. 
I Don't appreciate sustain being nerfed to curtail the play style of the Actual minority - Raiders. Hardly anyone does it for a reason, and you've incentivised it even less. 

I can still take out White Mantle with realistic ease on any of the classes I play.
I can still facetank Braham in Dragonstorm with my chosen favourite class. 
I can still take out the boss in Glint's chamber on the story with no dramas. 

But I won't push forward and continue to spend my time, or Gems I would otherwise purchase for a diminished experience.

I regret pre=ordering EOD, and will wait for the June 'balance' patch and honestly, if I don't like it, I will never look back at this game. 

[Blude.6812]

17 hours ago, ilonlie.4316 said:

If the game announces it's a completion then it's a completion.

What are you talking about?  Sounds like off topic and makes no sense.

[Ashen.2907]

16 hours ago, Zavijah.2695 said:

I Don't appreciate sustain being nerfed to curtail the play style of the Actual minority - Raiders. 

It was not targeted at raiders. Raiders do not build for sustain. Scapegoating benefits no one.

[ArchonWing.9480]

16 hours ago, Zavijah.2695 said:

I can still take out White Mantle with realistic ease on any of the classes I play.
I can still facetank Braham in Dragonstorm with my chosen favourite class. 
I can still take out the boss in Glint's chamber on the story with no dramas. 

So..... what's the problem then?

16 hours ago, Zavijah.2695 said:

I regret pre=ordering EOD, and will wait for the June 'balance' patch and honestly, if I don't like it, I will never look back at this game. 

This is why I don't recommend pre-ordering. You can always look at initial opinions, and usually there's a major pre-patch change.

Realistically speaking, any expansion is going to take a while to iron out. I'm just going to say that if  you want to play a game that doesn't have balance changes and can't accept the fact that sometimes your stuff will be hit, then you're not going to find many games out there.

I've had to throw some of my primary builds in the trash because of the expansion. But you can't be that afraid of change.

But, whatever.

Edited April 21, 2022 by ArchonWing.9480

[Granrey.8920]

some content should be "soloable" and some should be "group".    Hero/ mastery/location points should be soloable.

 

Meta and other events should be group base.

 

[Sobx.1758]

7 hours ago, Ashen.2907 said:

It was not targeted at raiders. Raiders do not build for sustain. Scapegoating benefits no one.

Yeah, "any change I dislike is because of that group/content I dislike!" sure is a convenient stance to hold. But as you're saying, the nerfed sustain options provided high sustain while still going for high dps, which were the options picked mainly by solo players "wanting to do everything at the same time" (as in have high dps with high sustain). Groups don't need that, since they can -and usually do- relegate sustain to other player/s.

(this might look like I'm explaining it to you, but I'm not -I'm just adding to what you've already said in the response to @Zavijah.2695 😛 )

 

Also more @thread itself, I think it's ok to want to play mmorpg and solo some stuff. This game (as well as other mmorpgs) always had, has and will have plenty of soloable content, I don't see a problem with that. But playing mmorpg game with an expectation to solo 100% of it doesn't make much sense to me and I would definitely not like that approach.

Edited April 22, 2022 by Sobx.1758

[mindcircus.1506]

21 hours ago, Zavijah.2695 said:

I Don't appreciate sustain being nerfed to curtail the play style of the Actual minority - Raiders. Hardly anyone does it for a reason, and you've incentivised it even less. 

No serious raider was using Invigorating Prec, Might Makes Right, or Parasitic Contagion.
No raider would chose Parasitic Contagion over Lingering Curse.

Raiders build for Damage and let sustain be carried by a dedicated support. That's the group play meta, has been since the introduction of Druid, Tempest and Chronomancer.

The nerfs were in direct relation to Open World players trivializing group content solo. They were meant to address a portion of the playerbase that was getting over on busted interactions to stand in red circles. They were meant to restore meaning to dodging, blocking, aegis and other forms of counterplay

So if you want to lay mindless hate on people for the nerf, you now know who to direct it to.

[Gerebos.1065]

I can relate to this because I am a solo player too in most of the time and sometimes I ran into , let's call them players but they are far from that mentality level, so I ran into players whom always expected perfection and split second skill reflexes...okaaay GW2 is already like a second job in some areas and I said no thx.

Then what remains to enjoy a game you like for far more reasons than the playerbase? Soloing the content.

I main a Warrior/Thief with berserker gear and before it was ok to solo without using glitches,bugs,abuses,etc now some bosses are undefeatable without and is for mastery maybe achievement,no train bosses.

The constant punishment from boss skills or the skills which instantly downs you makes it a pain or impossible to do solo contents and I defeated solo quite a couple of bosses even instance bosses.

GW2 became a mass of many type of players and as suggestion it would be nice to have difficulty scaled maps. Solo firendly but lesser rewards or noone at all or hard where you need lot more to prevail.

Aaaannddd never forget the multi accounting/multi boxing is always available, it's a mesmerizing experience xD and is approved by the game so for solo players like is this should be haven like sadly not the solo players use it mainly 

 

[serialkicker.5274]

On 3/2/2022 at 1:54 AM, Fuchslein.8639 said:

Do you know what MMO means?

It means Massively multiplayer online game. In other words, a game where a lot of people play simultaneously in the same universe. Nowhere does it say you should be forced to group up in order to play.

[yoni.7015]

41 minutes ago, serialkicker.5274 said:

It means Massively multiplayer online game. In other words, a game where a lot of people play simultaneously in the same universe. Nowhere does it say you should be forced to group up in order to play.

You are not forced to group up in order to play. For some things in game a group is needed, just like in every MMO. 

[IAmNotMatthew.1058]

On 4/21/2022 at 3:32 AM, Zavijah.2695 said:

I Don't appreciate sustain being nerfed to curtail the play style of the Actual minority - Raiders. 

If it was aimed at Raiders then atleast Raiders got more than 4 Strikes on EoD release, it makes the amount of content Raiders got maybe 11% instead of 10%.

[Tails.9372]

14 hours ago, mindcircus.1506 said:

They were meant to address a portion of the playerbase that was getting over on busted interactions to stand in red circles. They were meant to restore meaning to dodging, blocking, aegis and other forms of counterplay

This is pure speculation as the devs never gave a reasoning for these changes. Also, this reasoning doesn't make much sense as they left most of the worst offenders in that regard completely untouched and actually added more to the list with EoD.

[Cyninja.2954]

1 hour ago, Tails.9372 said:

This is pure speculation as the devs never gave a reasoning for these changes. Also, this reasoning doesn't make much sense as they left most of the worst offenders in that regard completely untouched and actually added more to the list with EoD.

 

That's the point. We don't know the reason for the nerfs, but going by the primary builds and where those saw use, it has nothing to do with raids or raid builds. The claim that raids or raiders are to blame is just flat out unreasonable.

 

Also your deflection that other builds are still very survivable and thus this could not have been the aim is faulty. The majority of complaints about the nerfs came strait with the EoD launch. Most players complaining just knee-jerk reacted and had no, and could not have any, idea how new builds would behave. 

 

Even with some builds remaining, that still does not disqualify the assumption as to why the nerfs were done, because there is always the chance that some things were missed by the devlopers. That and the reasonable assumption that there is a push to make players adopt the new elites, which in return require EoD.

Edited April 22, 2022 by Cyninja.2954

[Tails.9372]

27 minutes ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

The claim that raids or raiders are to blame is just flat out unreasonable.

Sure but that's in the first part of the post which is not what I was responding to.

36 minutes ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

your deflection that other builds are still very survivable and thus this could not have been the aim is faulty

You don't seem to understand what a deflection is, I never responded to "the point" you were talking about. I merely pointed out the issues with another argument someone tried to make.
Also there is nothing faulty about what I said because: context. We were talking about A-Net which ofc. would have known about what they are going to add to the game.

29 minutes ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

that still does not disqualify the assumption as to why the nerfs were done

If you take into account that they added new ones: it does.

31 minutes ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

the reasonable assumption that there is a push to make players adopt the new elites

Has nothing to do with the argument you're responding to (and thus would be an example of an actual deflection).

[mindcircus.1506]

1 hour ago, Tails.9372 said:

This is pure speculation as the devs never gave a reasoning for these changes. Also, this reasoning doesn't make much sense as they left most of the worst offenders in that regard completely untouched and actually added more to the list with EoD.

There was only one group of players abusing these traits. It certainly was not raiders. It wasn't the fractal meta. Had they been an issue in sPvP or WvW then the balance team would have split the effects for competitive game modes.

As for why some of these traits were left unchanged while others were not:
A quick look at the offenders gives a pretty clear picture. This was about addressing problematic interactions, not about the specific traits themselves.
On it's own, Parasitic Contagion was not a problem, it's return on damage wasn't actually that high.
But Parasitic Contagion+A spec that does massive AOE damage in the form of Torment + Runes that Heal on Torment Damage+ a skill that spreads conditions(Epidemic) lead to what was and largely still is one of the most busted interactions in the game.
To say that Impact Savant was not overperforming is likewise absolutely ludicrous when you couple it with Shredder Gyro on a spec that can perma Stability on itself.

To say that the worst offenders were left untouched is untrue.
The worst offenders were Condi Scourge, Condi Shortbow Rev, and Power Scrapper. All three took at least one (and in the case of Scourge 3) major hit.
The high performers that were not hit weren't even close to the level of those three.