Time to improve game for solo and small teams

[Animosity]

Ok, FC,

You have had your little game, and gamble on making PVP better.

Now, There are a lot of us feeling ignored right now as we want to solo, or be in teams of 2 - 3 members.

I have a one person who i like to team with and there is nothing for us. Either we take a weak team mission, or cut a second key for a solo mission.

What would make me happy is that more quests for single or small teams. Further, if team missions could be tailored for smaller numbers.

Next, make it so that there are bosses that need to be solo'd to get the phat uber lewt, rather than making every good item drop only from multiple team bosses. I realize this will take alot of work as you will have to make profession specific bosses that are weak but balanced so that a single player can work on it.

Next you have to make it a viable path for someone to solo from lvl 1 through 200. This would guarantee a greater flexibility in game play, rather than the find a team, argue about missions, go bash things boring cycle.

MORE SOLO CONTENT.

Ani.

[PhoenixKebab]

Originally posted by Animosity
Next you have to make it a viable path for someone to solo from lvl 1 through 200.

^ as was advertised.

[__________Wraith God]

First, yes, I agree, soloing certainly has taken a back seat to team play, and soloing becomes increasingly harder as you rise in level.

Here's my take on what the main problems are with soloing.

1. First, and foremost, the key problem with soloing is that soloing requires players to distribute their IP more broadly than team players. This is because team players can offset deficiencies with buffs from other team members, and can therefore become specialists in the strengths of their char. Soloists can't do that. That means they're going to be weaker in general. Even if they join teams on occation, they're going to be weaker than a similar char of the same prof and level who has focused on team playing. Especially in PvP.

What soloists need then, are buffs that can offset some of the deficiencies of their prof. These buffs would be solo-mission only reward. They won't be as strong as those of the prof whose specialty they belong to, but they will be stronger than the normal buffs the prof gets outside of single player missions.

2. Second, the reward from single player missions, is in general, significantly less than a team mission of the same quality. This is obviously the case when team missoin boss loot is taken into account, but even without that, single player missions seem to have impoverished loot.

Missions of the same quality should have comparable loot, regardless of whether it is team or single player. If this is not done, the solution many have taken is to solo 'team' missions. That solution, while often viable, in general, defeats the purpose of single player missons because it means the soloist still has to try and find someone to team with. Even for the 2 minutes it takes to get a mission, this can be a major problem.

3. Third. Mob behavior seems to be geared toward teams. Almost as a general rule, when I solo a misson the very last action of a Mob within a nano second of its death is to hit me with a root, snare, poison. or debuff of some sort. For soloists what that means is you stand there and wait it out. When they're done in the context of the battle they add interest. As a last gasp act, they are totally dumb.

Admittedly, there are debuffs. However, as an addendum to the first point, they require the soloist to distribute IP even more broadly. Now Comp Lit and perhap Riposte are added to the list of one has to be at least semi proficient in just to avoid standing around.

4. Forth. Soloing with pet classes is an exercise in frustration. Of course pet pathing is abysmal regardless of whether you team or solo, but at least for MPs, teaming gives them an option of avoiding the pathing problem by not creating them. Or at least, not all 3. Soloists can't avoid the problem, and more often than not, when raises it head, its deadly. Crats are probably the exception, because, even as soloists, many simply choose not to raise MC and avoid pets altogether. Their calm compensates, and the charms are of short enough duration that the problem is not critical.

5. Fifth. Soloist can't effectively hunt. I know some will disagree with this, but for me the issue here is crowd control. Sure, calmers can be fairly effective even in a solo hunting situation. As an MP or a doc, though, the lack of crowd control is a major problem.

6. Sixth. Soloists need missions that are designed to be soloed. Pulling something like a Deus Ex style mission would simply blow me away. The possibilities here are enormous, and pretty exciting. But currently, we're no where near that.

[Dunsany]

I agree. We need better solo missions and rewards. And more solo quests that Neutrals can also do.