Living Story solo/duo-able?

[hihey.1075]

Hello,I was an active GW2 player until the release of HoT. Since then, I stopped playing completely and only logged in for the occasional birthday events. I was never really into PvE stuff, since I mostly focused on PvP and WvW.

My question is simple: is the GW2 living story soloable/duoable? If yes, how long does it take to complete all contents up to the most recent one?Keep in mind that: (i) I was proficient with all professions and have full sets of ascended gear for each of them, so gear should not be a problem; (ii) I am talking about ALL the living story, not just the episodes released with the expansions; (iii) my partner is going to be a relatively new player (although he already has few characters at lv80 with some pieces of ascended gear) - hence, I will effectively be carrying him.

[Neage.3579]

With the power creep that all the expansions has brought, all older content story related is very soloable and would take no time to complete... Dont really have an exact estimation on how long it would take but you're not going to run any "cant do this without a decent group" barrier.

[Cyninja.2954]

The entire GW2 story is designed to be soloed (except for some challenge modes) but can be duo-ed or played with up to a full party size (5 people). Just about all story dungeons will not scale to player numbers thus automatically becoming easier with more people.

An entire play-through of the entire story up to this point (no achievement hunting and challenge modes) consisting of:

1. Vanilla
2. Living World Season 2
3. HoT
4. Living World Season 3
5. PoF
6. Living World Season 4 up to now

would probably take over 30 hours for a level 80 character. That is with minimal skipping and actually listening and reading dialogue. You could probably shave off around 5-10 hours by rushing through some steps. Especially HoT has many checkpoints where you can reduce the overall time spent on HoT down from 6-8 hours to maybe 2 hours.

[MauChann.3081]

It is soloable, although some bosses have a few annoying mechanics to them where you might be faster and better off with 2 people, especially in ls3 and ls4 there's some annoying bosses.The only big issue you might run into, is that some instances are quite long and if you somehow manage to disconnect you have to do everything from that instance over again.. Some instances could really take up 1-2 hours of gameplay when you are doing it solo.

Ofcourse the more people means the faster you complete the story, but it's not a requirement to take multiple people.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@"hihey.1075" said:My question is simple: is the GW2 living story soloable/duoable?

• Solable? Depends on the player.
• Duoable? Absolutely,

At least one has to pay some attention to build and/or mechanics for it to feel "easy enough." Since that sounds as if it will be you, try to find a "forgiving" open world build for your partner. (See below.)

• GCE's Open World Builds (July)
• MetaBattle's Open World
• Forgiving Raid Builds (most are suitable for most players, mostly) (posted in Dec, it's a little out of date, but still applicable on the whole)

[Khisanth.2948]

Soloable? Yes

Out of 13 characters ...13 have completed everything from personal story to the end of ls34 have completed up to the end of pof4 have completed up to ls4e12 have completed up to ls4e3

As for time since it will be your first run probably a bit slower. A big chunk of the time is also spent simply running from A to B or waiting for dialogues .

The only really long instance I can think of is the end of the personal story but that is because it was originally a dungeon.

[Danikat.8537]

The entire story is designed to be played solo. It's not all easy (although which parts are difficult varies between people and professions) but there's nothing which can only be beaten by playing with other people.

But at the same time it can all be played with up to 5 people, so if you want to play with others you can do, and for some achievements it's definitely the easiest option.

[hihey.1075]

Thanks for all the replies!To clarify, by "Living Story " I was referring to the episodic contents that started to be released in.... 2014 maybe? In any case, I was not including the Personal Story in it - which I already completed and did not find particularly worthy to be played for a second time.

[ShadowDove.8329]

You can't replay the Personal Story anyway (unless you make a new character), so no worries about that.But yes, what everyone already said is still relevant. You can solo Living World/Living Story content. I did all of mine solo, though it took a fair while because I'm not exactly the most skilled player.

[crepuscular.9047]

every single story can be soloed, because you are the 'invincible' commander, no matter how many times you die you'll just come back to life, no god nor elder dragon stands a chance against you

you'll be the ultimate ruler across the entire universe, past, present, and future.

well... til Anet decides to lift a new hero to take your throne, they'll add a new story with the story objective to slay you.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

Yes. All story content, core, expansion and living world, is designed to be able to be played solo. For some achievements, you will need a group, but these are rare. By far, the most storyline achievements can be soloed.

How long will it take you? Well, that is hard to say. A few weeks to a few months, depending on how much you play and how skilled you are. This is, just playing through all story content after GW2 core. It will take much longer to go back and get the storyline achievements as well.

[Blocki.4931]

I will call into question anybody who has trouble doing any story content outside of challenge modes.

You might die a few times on some bosses if you don't understand their mechanics at worst, but besides that you should be fine

[Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.294]

@Blocki.4931 said:I will call into question anybody who has trouble doing any story content outside of challenge modes.

You might die a few times on some bosses if you don't understand their mechanics at worst, but besides that you should be fine

Ummm...Last boss fight in Season 2 is one that I haven't been able to complete solo. I'm running 5 CC's on a berserker and just can't manage the mechanics for that last fight on my own. DPS isn't the problem, its getting the things the NPC's toss into the ring and doing whatever it is with them I have to do in the time allotted. One of these days I'll get my brother or a couple guildies to run that mission with me again and it will be over. But other than that one? Yeah, I even ran my main and my alt through the mordremoth fight together at the same time (I let the alt die after getting in enough hits to qualify and just concentrated on my berserker for the rest of the fight).

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

I will call into question anybody who has trouble doing any story content outside of challenge modes.Why?The world has race car drivers and people who can't park a car. We have those who can solve quadratic equations in their head and those who have trouble calculating a tip. And probably more germane: we have people who win marathons and people who have trouble making it up the hill, even though there's plenty of evidence that nearly anyone who can get out of bed can finish one, if they want to (some will need a lot of training time; some won't).

So why is it hard to imagine that some of the personal stories might be beyond challenging for some people?

OK, that's an unfair question. Research, it turns out, shows us that it is really hard for people who excel at something, to fathom why some people have trouble with the basics of that thing. And likewise, it's hard for those who have trouble with the basics to grasp they are even missing something in the first place.

[Blocki.4931]

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

I will call into question anybody who has trouble doing any story content outside of challenge modes.Why?The world has race car drivers and people who can't park a car. We have those who can solve quadratic equations in their head and those who have trouble calculating a tip. And probably more germane: we have people who win marathons and people who have trouble making it up the hill, even though there's plenty of evidence that nearly anyone who can get out of bed can finish one, if they want to (some will need a lot of training time; some won't).

So why is it hard to imagine that some of the personal stories might be beyond challenging for some people?

OK, that's an unfair question. Research, it turns out, shows us that it is really hard for people who excel at something, to fathom why some people have trouble with the basics of that thing. And likewise, it's hard for those who have trouble with the basics to grasp they are even missing something in the first place.

Because you can ress rush any boss at any given time if everything else fails. You cannot possibly fail them unless you just stop.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@Blocki.4931 said:Because you can ress rush any boss at any given time if everything else fails. You cannot possibly fail them unless you just stop.

Even that turns out not to be true for everyone in all story instances. I'm not arguing that GW2 is one of the more difficult games out there. I'm acknowledging that things appear differently to people of different skill levels. For those of us who can solo story missions, rez rushing is a fail safe if anything gets weird. For those of us who struggle, it is sometimes first resort and doesn't always succeed.

[TheAgedGnome.7520]

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@"Blocki.4931" said:Because you can ress rush any boss at any given time if everything else fails. You cannot possibly fail them unless you just stop.

Even that turns out not to be true for everyone in all story instances. I'm not arguing that GW2 is one of the more difficult games out there. I'm acknowledging that things appear differently to people of different skill levels. For those of us who can solo story missions,

rez rushing

is a fail safe if anything gets weird. For those of us who struggle, it is sometimes first resort and doesn't always succeed.

Ok, I'll ask: what's "rez rushing"?

[Blocki.4931]

@TheAgedGnome.7520 said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@"Blocki.4931" said:Because you can ress rush any boss at any given time if everything else fails. You cannot possibly fail them unless you just stop.

Even that turns out not to be true for everyone in all story instances. I'm not arguing that GW2 is one of the more difficult games out there. I'm acknowledging that things appear differently to people of different skill levels. For those of us who can solo story missions,

rez rushing

is a fail safe if anything gets weird. For those of us who struggle, it is sometimes first resort and doesn't always succeed.

Ok, I'll ask: what's "rez rushing"?

You respawn and get back into the fight. Boss fights usually don't reset if you die and start over. You do it until you win

[Khisanth.2948]

@"Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.2946" said:

@Blocki.4931 said:I will call into question anybody who has trouble doing any story content outside of challenge modes.

You might die a few times on some bosses if you don't understand their mechanics at worst, but besides that you should be fine

Ummm...Last boss fight in Season 2 is one that I haven't been able to complete solo. I'm running 5 CC's on a berserker and just can't manage the mechanics for that last fight on my own. DPS isn't the problem, its getting the things the NPC's toss into the ring and doing whatever it is with them I have to do in the time allotted. One of these days I'll get my brother or a couple guildies to run that mission with me again and it will be over. But other than that one? Yeah, I even ran my main and my alt through the mordremoth fight together at the same time (I let the alt die after getting in enough hits to qualify and just concentrated on my berserker for the rest of the fight).

There is no time limit in that fight but having a ranged weapon equipped is useful though not required. That is mainly for the second and third time when you light the flames since the Smothering Shadows do not show up the first time.

Stand in flame, attack shadow which consumes the flame buff but since you are already in it you get the buff again.Without a ranged weapon you would have to get the buff then run over to the shadow and hit it then try to run back to the flame.Other useful thing to have is invuln/block/stability(everything a necro doesn't have =_=) for when you are channeling

[Corax.7692]

@"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

I will call into question anybody who has trouble doing any story content outside of challenge modes.Why?The world has race car drivers and people who can't park a car. We have those who can solve quadratic equations in their head and those who have trouble calculating a tip. And probably more germane: we have people who win marathons and people who have trouble making it up the hill, even though there's plenty of evidence that nearly anyone who can get out of bed can finish one, if they want to (some will need a lot of training time; some won't).

So why is it hard to imagine that some of the personal stories might be beyond challenging for some people?

OK, that's an unfair question. Research, it turns out, shows us that it is really hard for people who excel at something, to fathom why some people have trouble with the basics of that thing. And likewise, it's hard for those who have trouble with the basics to grasp they are even missing something in the first place.

When I got the game, friends strongly encouraged me to get mounts, so I dove into the PoF story before even finishing the personal story (which was, in a word, Very Boring; yes that's two words).

I ended every boss fight in my underwear.

It wasn't until the other night, helping friends through the final fight with Balthazar, that I learned about using the special action key, and a few other things. There was no mention of it by the game engine to me, just some vague verbiage about "coordinating attacks" with Aurene, and I sure never noticed a tiny button appearing above my skill bar amongst all those flames and explosions happening. The friend who started the instance, even with our prompting to use the special action key, couldn't get it to work most of the time and so we would all just be killed.

If you're not already savvy to the genre of game, you'll have a tough time, as so many things like this aren't explained.

Anyhow, yes, living story stuff is doable solo. Enjoyable solo? I don't find it so, I find it frustrating and obnoxious. With friends, it's actually fun, even if we sometimes have to run an instance an extra time or two.

[ShadowDove.8329]

@"Corax.7692" said:When I got the game, friends strongly encouraged me to get mounts, so I dove into the PoF story before even finishing the personal story (which was, in a word, Very Boring; yes that's two words).

I ended every boss fight in my underwear.

It wasn't until the other night, helping friends through the final fight with Balthazar, that I learned about using the special action key, and a few other things. There was no mention of it by the game engine to me, just some vague verbiage about "coordinating attacks" with Aurene, and I sure never noticed a tiny button appearing above my skill bar amongst all those flames and explosions happening. The friend who started the instance, even with our prompting to use the special action key, couldn't get it to work most of the time and so we would all just be killed.

If you're not already savvy to the genre of game, you'll have a tough time, as so many things like this aren't explained.

Anyhow, yes, living story stuff is doable solo. Enjoyable solo? I don't find it so, I find it frustrating and obnoxious. With friends, it's actually fun, even if we sometimes have to run an instance an extra time or two.

If you don't play the game in order, you wouldn't learn how to use mechanics like the special action key until really really late. One of the reasons why it's encouraged to follow the story (aside from not getting spoilers) is to ensure that you've gradually learnt and adjusted to enemy mechanics, as well as to learn how to use the extra skills the game sometimes gives you.

[VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.]

I just pushed a rev through lw2 and Hot, now in the middle of LW3.

On average: one episode/story step per evenening. Soloable? Very much. I also soloed all of LW2, Hot (exception Mordri fight), LW3, PoF and LW4 so far on my main (ele). soloable? Very much indeed.

[Ashantara.8731]

All LW story content (maps as well as instances) is 100% soloable. As for "How long?", that is hard to answer, since we don't know your available amount of free time (if you are currently taking time off from work, the LW content alone can be finished in a week per character, not counting the campaign releases).

[Tibicia.8315]

Solo or duo, yes. Story missions are nowhere near as challenging as PvP or WvW, so even if your partner doesn't have the greatest gear, I suspect you won't really need to carry him.

Time it would take? Not a clue. I never did it all in one lump.

Suggestion: If you've been playing competitively, then think of this as a completely different game. Relax, enjoy the time with your partner, and don't look at the clock. You two might even consider making new characters together and start your story from the beginning, working as a team.

[Kavian.6729]

@Blocki.4931 said:

@TheAgedGnome.7520 said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@Blocki.4931 said:Because you can ress rush any boss at any given time if everything else fails. You cannot possibly fail them unless you just stop.

Even that turns out not to be true for everyone in all story instances. I'm not arguing that GW2 is one of the more difficult games out there. I'm acknowledging that things appear differently to people of different skill levels. For those of us who can solo story missions,

rez rushing

is a fail safe if anything gets weird. For those of us who struggle, it is sometimes first resort and doesn't always succeed.

Ok, I'll ask: what's "rez rushing"?

You respawn and get back into the fight. Boss fights usually don't reset if you die and start over. You do it until you win

This is not true for the last boss's of the story chapter. Up until then everything is soloable, for some reason the last chapter is setup as a dungeon and the boss will reset health, plus with the amount of health in the boss's you are looking at a half hour to finish one fight solo. Not fun at all.