February 4, 2009

Missing Solo Content

WTF? You ask... solo content? I want Mythic to fix RvR and endgame content to have fun with my buddies. You know what? Me too! BUT what is there to do in WAR when you log in during off-hours, when everyone else is busy doing stuff you're not up to right now or groups are full? Is there anything you can do solo that's fun? And I'm talking about a rank 40 character that does not have to level anymore. Sure, you can join the odd scenario solo, but it really depends on your class and some luck how that will turn out. Often it's not much fun to solo join scenarios. In oRvR chances are, you'll run into a warband and get stomped. I know what some say, its a MMO - you should play with others. But sometimes you just want to idle around and do something on your own. What options are there else or should there be?

Crafting
If your crafting skills are not maxed yet, sure you can train these... but crafting in WAR is very, very easy so that won't last long. You can start to hunt for ingredients, but you don't really need to as there are only few consumables you really need. I always run around with stacks of those potions i can use for tanking, but neither is it hard to hunt for them nor is grinding mats that much fun. In WAR there is no real hunt for recipes either, so being busy trying to acquire that odd recipe you're missing is not an option. The pre-launch proclaimed "experimental" side for crafting does not really exist in WAR.
You could try to earn money with your crafting skills, but at the moment crafted things like potions are worth pretty much nothing. Talisman makers can make a few bucks and sure you can sell raw ingredients, but nothing really gives you the "feeling" you created something valuable that is worth selling and showing off proudly at the auction house. Crafting in WAR right now is not a fun experience once you get the hang of it and the "products" are only of limited use. The ingame economy is quite broken compared to other games.

Solo Content
Once you hit rank 40 there are not many quests still worth doing. Most likely you'll have solved all existing epic quests with rank 37 or right after. Why not have some loooong and epic rank 40 questline to immerse in? In Age of Conan you had this very long and character defining main quest line you were following all the way up to max. level. Some epic rank 40 questlines with a good story to tell, a few nice rewards along the way and some epic challenges would be great. In AoC there were many instances for that questline you had to enter solo and no one else could help you with. Some of them had good challenges concerning the appearing fights and you had to utilize your character properly to beat them. Talking about those instances, why not have a duo dungeon? I know many play with their girlfriend/wife or best friend. A challenging dungeon for two players could be fun as well. Could be like an epic PQ, maybe 30-40min long, repeatable once a day. And i really don't care if you can only find social clothing in there, just want something unique.

Tome unlocks
Of course there are tome unlocks you can hunt as well. But most are pretty useless when it comes to character development and just fluff. I like fluff, but killing thousands of NPCs (for the unlocks not everyone has) is not that much fun. And once you scouted the existing world there is not so much more to see.

Beside renown, right now there is only so much to do when soloing. Shouldn't there be at least some things to do? I really hope they'll pimp crafting some more. I read in some comment from a dev that they'll have another look at crafting (especially apothecary) again. Let's hope they'll fix the highest tier potions and maybe add some fun (transformation, speed, etc.) potions. IMO it should be possible to advance your characters devlopment solo in some more ways. And if its an epic questline that's highly entertaining, that's fine with me as well. The rewards can also be of a cosmetic nature... new dyes, cool cloaks, trophies, maybe some character customizing stuff you can apply like the CE stuff. Do you log in sometimes to discover everyone else is busy/offline? What do you do? What do you WANT to do?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Level an alt

Anonymous said...

I'd love some solo content, your idea for a duo dungeon is awesome although you'd have to have a healer friend.

Class specific epic quests like the quest weapons in WoW would be a good addition IMO, the hunter one forced you to learn how to kite really well and couldn't be done unless you had a minimum amount of skills in handling your character.

Also, I'm still hoping for additions to the crafting system, especially some kind of gear crafting with harsh material requirements.

Anonymous said...

I am hoping that Land of the Dead will be solo friendly in areas, sort of like DAoC's DF was.

You could go in there solo and farm "seals" to turn in for gear, and you could get a good deal of money from doing that. Or you could go in there with a group, or a warband, or several warbands and raid the place

Unknown said...

heyo,

There are always alts as anonymous said.

a duo dungeon with non-epic rewards would be a cool idea though, maybe different paths for different duos : MDPS&MDPS, vs. RDPSx2 vs. Healer&Tank
different things to kite or straight spank and tank or Uber dps down.

but honestly, i kind of like that there isnt anything to do in the off-hours. It alleviates the "need to play, things are happening without me" that i used to feel in WoW. there comes a point around 12:30/1am when scenario pops slow down, most people are logging and that gives me a chance to say, you know what, time for sleep, nothing to do here.

Anonymous said...

You make a really good point. There isn't much to do solo after 40. I don't think leveling again is the answer anyway.

I personally think there is too much soloing in MMOs these days (getting to max level solo is not only possible but often the easiest way to do so).

I'd like for there to be more things to do at 40 solo. I'd also love to see more things for groups that were rewarding!

Anonymous said...

I would like to see some new crafting profession like a "refiner" which takes, lets say, 6 lower level items of a kind and creates a better one. E.g. out of six +8 talismans he can make one +9 talisman. Or he can destill better potions, blending herbs etc. One side effect would be less crafted stuff in the auction house - resulting in better prices.

Inquisitor Goody said...

I'm not even close to Level 40 yet where as most of my guild are so I tend to Solo a LOT. I'm really enjoying PQs at the moment because my Swordmaster seems to get Gold medals fairly regularlarly.

Also I know this in not really the place but if you could let me know how you made the link to your character on War-europe's realm war work that would be great.

Thanks :-)

Thulf said...

@Inquisitor Goody
Check this post, should help to create your own link:
http://stuntystomper.blogspot.com/2008/11/heavy-metal-firefox.html
You have to utilize the character search until you can copy the link for your char.

Anonymous said...

Totally agree and is why I no longer play warhammer. love the RVR but I also love PVE and dungeon crawling. Other games fit the bill better. I also don't think the new expansion will make this any better.