Can the Story/DLC be done solo?

[Sinfury.2095]

Hello,

Been playing GW2 for about week now, have no characters above level 15. Been trying them all to get a feel for what I want. So far Mesmer, Revenant, Guardian, Ranger and Thief are really fun and I can see one of these being my main.  Sadly I tried Necro but for some reason I can't do it, feels clunky and I don't much care for the transformation thing. Yea I know I am weird and it does bother me that it seems like I am the only one that dislikes the profession because of how highly people praise the class.  Maybe down the road.

 

Point of this topic is I am brand new to GW2 and its been out for several years with ALOT of content along with episodes or mini expansions, whatever this game calls them, escapes me atm, but can this content from a story point of view be done solo? Or will I need to complete raids, fractals, just any group content with others? My time is limited and I just don't have time to sit down for 3 or 4 hours for stuff, maybe 2 at the most.  Sometimes on the weekend I may be able to join up for something but not very often.  I doubt I will ever be able to do any real raiding at any point tbh.  Is there plenty of content thats rewarding for people like me? I do enjoy collecting, farming, some pvp, exploring and I know there's alot of that here but how long should it take for me to get through said content realistically with classes above that interests me most?

 

I only ask because I may buy account related stuff on here and would rather have honest answers before committing fully here in this game. I enjoy the combat of this game way more than ESO and the only other game that I would consider here is EQ2.  I really like what I am seeing so far though and really want to give this game a full run through.

 

Thank you!

[Ayrilana.1396]

The entire story can be completed solo with any class. 

[Sinfury.2095]

Including all the Living world episodes and the Icebrood Saga stuff?

[Danikat.8537]

You can do all story instances solo, even the expansion and living world ones. If you find yourself struggling you can have up to 5 people join you (and that can be anyone, even if they've already finished it they can come and help) but it's not required for any part of the story.

 

Also a lot of the non-story content is in the open-world maps and you'll have a hard time finding ones where you're alone. Unlike a lot of MMOs you never really reach a point where you're finished with an area in this game, so even older maps will still be populated. Since you can play with anyone who happens to be around and don't need to join a party first it's easy to join in with whatever's going on, or to have other people join you and it's rare you'll have to complete things entirely solo.

 

The other thing to know is the Looking for Group tool in this game can be used for any content, not just dungeons and raids and it's very useful for finding populated maps for big events, or groups for instanced content. It's not automated - you can see all the groups which are currently recruiting and either choose one to join or advertise your own. It's a good place to start if you want to do big meta-events or other things which do need extra people. (A lot of which can be done in less than 2 hours, often less than an hour total.)

[Sinfury.2095]

Ok thanks for the clarification.  Its good to know I can still group with limited time then.  That makes me happy lol.  I guess for now I just need to pick a class and just go at it and let the game present itself to me.

 

Thank you!

[Khisanth.2948]

19 minutes ago, Sinfury.2095 said:

Including all the Living world episodes and the Icebrood Saga stuff?

Yes ... with the caveat that there is still some skill & build dependencies.

 

52 minutes ago, Sinfury.2095 said:

Point of this topic is I am brand new to GW2 and its been out for several years with ALOT of content along with episodes or mini expansions, whatever this game calls them, escapes me atm, but can this content from a story point of view be done solo? Or will I need to complete raids, fractals, just any group content with others? My time is limited and I just don't have time to sit down for 3 or 4 hours for stuff, maybe 2 at the most.  Sometimes on the weekend I may be able to join up for something but not very often.  I doubt I will ever be able to do any real raiding at any point tbh.  Is there plenty of content thats rewarding for people like me? I do enjoy collecting, farming, some pvp, exploring and I know there's alot of that here but how long should it take for me to get through said content realistically with classes above that interests me most?

A lot of the game's content can be tackled in about 1 hour. 1 hour would be enough to do all the daily t4 fractals or most map metas(although the issue with these it that they often start at specific time of the day which might not align with your play time), 3 of the easier strikes could be done in about 15 minutes, 15 minutes would also be enough for one of the world bosses(with one exception), an hour should be enough for at least 2 or 3 pvp matches(actual duration + queue time)

[Veprovina.4876]

16 hours ago, Sinfury.2095 said:

Including all the Living world episodes and the Icebrood Saga stuff?

HoT story and forward is a bit dificult but perfectly soloable.

I've only encountered one story instance that is probably not a good idea to solo and that's the Icebrood Saga mandatory strike mission.

 

I soloed it (cause i'm an idiot) but it took me 4 hours to do so. Bring people for that one.

The rest you can do yourself, just have a good build with damage, doesn't even matter if you die a lot, there's checkpoints that don't reset your progress.

[Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.294]

Regarding Necro - it changes alot once you hit level 80.  Having both a reaper and a scourge, reaper probably stays closer to the core, especially with going into reaper shroud.  Scourge, on the other hand, instead of having a shroud form that you go into, you have sandwells that you place around you.  I play a condi scourge and only have the flesh golem for the massive CC its charge skill provides.  Things just melt.  For my reaper, I power-leveled her from about level 15 to 78 in a couple days playing Mad King's Labyrinth during Halloween a few years ago. 

 

Point is, don't give up or feel like you're tied to just one because of the early game.  Lots of things can change.  I still say I main warrior - I solo the entire story with him - but, honestly, I probably spend more time on other toons actually playing the game.  And I say that with 14 toons across 2 accounts.

[Harfang.1507]

Everything is soloable, but the first playthrough is going to be painful. Unless you are a 'natural' or devote a lot of time to get good, be prepared to by stymied repeatedly. I talk from experience! The biggest shock is likely when you enter expansion areas, especially HoT. It would not say it is wall. A ramp would more like it. A steep one. Google up Dulfy when you get there. She is your friend.

That being said, I would say there is plenty of contents that you are likely to enjoy. GW2's biggest PvE strenghts imho are open world metas (collections of dynamic events leading to a big finale) and the fact that old maps always have some traffic, years after their release.