Lone Wolves Losing Interest

[VonBek]

I love this game though, even the fact that you sort of "earn" your right to solo.
It feels great to go back and solo that dungeon that gave you so much trouble before.

You just have to think more like a computer hacker than a hero.

You guys say it so well. <-- meant as constructive, and sincere.

[McBadger]

Villainsimple why are you trying to buy a dog if you're a cat person?

[Cupcake]

i have to agree that soloing is quite possible.

heck, i've soloed a ranger/rogue, a rogue, another rogue, and a cleric most the way to lvl10 solo.

The thing is though, my ability to solo was no doubt aided by the fact that i had already spent quite a bit of time getting to know the game in groups. The experience, tactics, and items i earned in groups with other toons was invaluable.

Soloing into the high-levels is completely possible.
Soloing it the first time through though? Not so much.

I love this game though, even the fact that you sort of "earn" your right to solo.
It feels great to go back and solo that dungeon that gave you so much trouble before.

They are adding a lot of solo content in though. In fact, all those adventure areas and solo difficulty quests were added AFTER DDO's release.
The solo XP was just upped to 80% of normal, which makes it as far from normal as hard is, just in the other direction.
Adventure areas are getting HUGE ranges of levels allowed, meaning you have 2+ places you can wander at any given level.
If anything, they've heard the cries of the lone wolves... it just takes time to create a complete niche for a type of gameplay that wasn't endorsed at all at release. Just look at PvP.

Oh Laith I very much agree with you.

For a brand new person to the game to go off soloing, would make them quit due to difficulty from unfamiliarity. I know there are several very useful solo guides for soloers to use.

[Laith]

DDO was created with the intention for grouping.

And this is largely why DDO has failed as an MMO. It forces you to rely on other people for your fun.

By the same token, that's exactly why i'm here: the focus on grouping.

Every other mmo i've played made solo a good alternative.
In fact, it was generally the BETTER alternative to grouping, so guess what people did: solo.

Why? Because in all honesty, soloing was more efficient.
The quickest, easiest way to get money and XP was solo, and it didn't allow other people to muck it up.
Only after you capped did it really become fruitful to group, because the raids had the best equipment.

The focus on grouping makes groups far easier to build.
It's proven again and again that once you are good enough, soloing still becomes a viable option for many players.
...not necessarily the easiest or best option, true, but viable and fun.

...without relying on others.

You guys say it so well. <-- meant as constructive, and sincere.

Well, i did always want to be a hacker.

[dungeonrat07]

Man my head is still ringing from last night!

I do not know what sever you are on At the moment I can not even spell right! At this moment in time I can just say it is the G one! If you are on that one. Go ahead put my toon in your friends list name Elimentria with all my toon I run anonymous! I am willing to help out but I am not an expert, umber, goober, or what ever just willing to help out! You send me something in the mail to let me know a little about you. I am asocial not anti social big difference! Asocial are loners who do not care nor want to harm Society! Anti Social are radical that want to destroy Society! Dam head still hurts and no I was not drinking last night!

[Talon_Moonshadow]

There is actually a lot you can do solo.
Most quests up to lvl6 have a solo option. And by then, you can do lower lvl ones on Normal....then hard....then elite.

With just one more person, your optons are much greater......with two even more.

I've done quests just 2 lvls lower then me with only me and one friend.

Ive done quests my lvl with just three of us.......wasn't easy, but doable.

If you have trouble finding groups, try making more characters....and make them on all the servers. Chances are you can find something for one of them to do.

Best yet is to form your own groups.
Many people hate forming groups but will rapidly join someone elses.
Whenever I put up an LFM for something out of the ordinary it always fills up fast......unless it is one of the hated quests anyway.

Role up a cleric......people always need clerics (or so they think).

Rogue is a good second choice for lower level quests.

[Riddikulus]

Basically, I don't want all the whiners turning DDO into another WoW or LOTRO. Go kill 5 rats, go find 10 sticks.....gag me. Games that encourage solo play usually have that element, and DDO is not intended for that target audience.

After running WW for the umpteenth time is it really any different? Guard Tember could just as well tell you to go down this hatch and kill 40 kobolds, a couple wolves, six skeletons and one big spider then come back to talk to me, which in the end sounds an awful lot like some of the WoW quests.

DDO encourages group play by not penalizing your XP when you add members to your team. WoW does just the opposite.

I would love to see more soloing options in DDO, and by that I do not mean just a solo option on dungeons. Random mob spawns, real places to explore, resource gathering, real crafting. People who don't want to do that stuff shouldn't have to, but it should still be there to keep more people engaged.

[Aspenor]

I would love to see more soloing options in DDO, and by that I do not mean just a solo option on dungeons. Random mob spawns, real places to explore, resource gathering, real crafting. People who don't want to do that stuff shouldn't have to, but it should still be there to keep more people engaged.

Except for the crafting part, you just described every explorer zone put into the game so far.

[Cupcake]

After running WW for the umpteenth time is it really any different? Guard Tember could just as well tell you to go down this hatch and kill 40 kobolds, a couple wolves, six skeletons and one big spider then come back to talk to me, which in the end sounds an awful lot like some of the WoW quests.

DDO encourages group play by not penalizing your XP when you add members to your team. WoW does just the opposite.

I would love to see more soloing options in DDO, and by that I do not mean just a solo option on dungeons. Random mob spawns, real places to explore, resource gathering, real crafting. People who don't want to do that stuff shouldn't have to, but it should still be there to keep more people engaged.

My argument against this is then "you" are asking DDO to become like WoW EQ and every other similar game out there.

But that's not why "we" play DDO. We play DDO because its different.

Killing 50 kobolds and going back to talk to tember is not the same has fulfilliing city writ quests or whatever. Well, I take that back. It IS a writ quest for the writ of commendation.

I really would hate to see DDO turned into the other games as far as gathering and crafting goes. But that is my own personal opinion.

[Westerner]

We currently are paying around $42 every three our four months for a new stand-alone game - we are not paying for the client/server game service, because no one would pay for just the service without the updates.

Depends on your time frame, I guess. New players joining now might pay the monthly fee for quite some time before they get bored of the game. I've been at it four months and just reupped for another six.

[Karavek]

Hold on folks before this degenerates in a debate on crafting and collectables. Any of us who call ourselves PnP fans should stand with a common outcry for the real Core book craft feats for casters and end it there. If they had given it to us from day one, many weapons like Sun Blades would be common place, we would never have seen the lame collectors we have, and we likely would of never had them have to waste time and development funds changing things like the end static rewards to a more randomized style which only increased the Time Sink style of WoW where you have to re run a dungeon many times to aquire a rare drop.

Lets not forget in PnP if u kill something you get anything and everything it has in its hoarde not one dinky little item you may have to run 9 times through to get( as per my new character having to run WW 9 times just to get the black widow bracers that should just always be in the Black Widows lair, wow wouldnt that be logical and more like D&D and not contrary to thier own xp reward system which penalizes you for repeating quest more then once on each setting.

Id love all the named statics to appear for everyone everytime in chest and just be bound or vendor loot which would keep it fair to all, not require Time Sink, and just up the xp even more for named ecounters in quest. Keep in mind that even in PnP standard xp reward rules give out much more xp for killing bad ass foes then ever is rewarded for story end rewards. Pre made mods xp reward system prove that point. And its one of the annoying points that make doing very long quest end up being Zerged because no one likes having to bail after an hour but with maybe only 10 minutes left before you finish when Real Life calls and says sorry cant let you play 10 more minutes you have an emergnecy and need to move now. if u got **** loot and died a few times it equals a real bummer you wont get your 10k xp and have to run it again I am sure many know that pain by now.

Last word again any craft talk best be kept to wanting the real craft feats end of story.

[Riddikulus]

My argument against this is then "you" are asking DDO to become like WoW EQ and every other similar game out there.

That's not at all what I'm asking for. DDO is sufficiently different from WoW/EQ/LOTRO simply because it is based on the D&D ruleset, has active combat and encourages grouping. But there is no reason to exclude all of the other stuff that WoW/EQ/LOTRO has, especially given that DDO still hasn't the content to support not having all the other stuff. e.g. how many times do you have to repeat the new quests to cap 16?

But that's not why "we" play DDO. We play DDO because its different.

Killing 50 kobolds and going back to talk to tember is not the same has fulfilliing city writ quests or whatever. Well, I take that back. It IS a writ quest for the writ of commendation.

A lot of the WoW quests have similar backgrounds. You kill 18 furbolgs to gain favor with the Timbermaw who will then grant you access to the Winterspring area. Doesn't that sound familiar? Just a different wrapper.

I really would hate to see DDO turned into the other games as far as gathering and crafting goes. But that is my own personal opinion.

You don't have to craft in WoW if you don't want to. There are plenty of quests and loot to level there without it. Here however the quests are all you have.

[Riddikulus]

Except for the crafting part, you just described every explorer zone put into the game so far.

Yes the explorer areas are a step in the right direction. Need more and bigger. It would be nice if they went somewhere too...

[VonBek]

Yes the explorer areas are a step in the right direction. Need more and bigger. It would be nice if they went somewhere too...

There's that piece in the middle of Searing Heights that looks like it should lead to something...

I wonder if they planned anything for it, or it's just there so they have an option, if they need one.