Frustrated Rant..

[Mockduck]

Why wait two hours to fill a group? Give it ten minutes and then go in with whatever you have. As long as you aren't being restrictive in who you want, aren't looking for a "perfect party" and are in the general level range of the quest then there really shouldn't be too much of an issue. I think the longest I've ever waited for groups was during the pre DDO:U doldrums, and even then I had just two incidents when I couldn't fill a group and went in solo instead. Especially for Tears of Dhakan, any party makeup will be fine. No "healer"? Heal yourself. No casters? No problem.

[RhapsodieInBlue]

The only problem with the "solo if you don't get a group" is this:

EVERY caster can cast hold person/monster, ray of enfeeblement, ray of exhaustion, and any other sort of debilitating debuff an endless amount of time.

My monk ran devil assault on normal because I haven't done it before. I was level 12, with 19 strength buffed. (dex build, obviously.) On the last wave of trogs, second to last group with 2 fighters and 2 witch doctors, I had ray of enfeeblement -12 (that's maximized...) taking me down to 7 strength which took me out of being centered carrying only 167lbs of equipment. (bad deal about being small i suppose). The second it wore off after 2 minutes, it was cast upon me immediately following.

I had to kite these 4 mobs around the instance for 14 minutes until I got lucky with my paralyzer long enough to get both witch doctors down without a maximized RoE smacking me in the forehead.

Is this fair? Sure.

Is it stupid? Absolutely.

It has been this way with every quest I have tried to solo, whether it is level 6 or level 11.

Just now I tried to do one of the house J quests...little did I know it would have 2 orange mindflayers and 1 red mindflayer in it. Had I had troubles with mindflayers in the past? No..not really, when grouped. And when they were there..POOF one paralyzer hit and they were down for the count. This time in this quest? Blew through the whole place in no time Disrupters in hand blasting away the entire instance until I get to that one mind flayer. Get through 3/4ths of his healthbar without paralyzing him once, then I see the green aura around him that he is, then after a couple more attacks POOF LOL YOUR BRAIN HAS BEEN EATEN.

Hm. Interesting. Sure looks like he was paralyzed and I made a save on Mind Blast and Hold Person before that.

I can go on and on about it, but I won't as I don't want to sound like I am excessively whining, it just doesn't seem like there is anything left for me to solo these days. Most of the quests have double or triple switches that need pulled, or mobs that take some luck to overcome by yourself. (LOL WEWT! Look at that! One beholder just randomly flying about? Oh..failed save versus disintegrate before my paralyzer took hold..) With STRICT reentry penalties (and 99% of the time you HAVE to reenter if you die on solo unless you want to eat cake or are lucky enough to die near a shrine...) it just almost isn't worth it.

So far the only thing I've been able to solo is the slayers quest in the vale. Why is that do you ask? Banishers and Paralyzers and on certain mobs weaken/enfeeble...

Win, eh?

Here's to the next 7 levels..wonder if I can do it.

[Mockduck]

Sure, I hear ya, I guess what I'm saying is that the OP says he waited two hours for the group TO FILL. Assuming that not all of the five other players joined at the last second, I would offer a suggestion to go in with what you have after waiting for as long as you can handle.

[Mockduck]

The only problem with the "solo if you don't get a group" is this:

EVERY caster can cast hold person/monster, ray of enfeeblement, ray of exhaustion, and any other sort of debilitating debuff an endless amount of time.

My monk ran devil assault on normal because I haven't done it before. I was level 12, with 19 strength buffed. (dex build, obviously.) On the last wave of trogs, second to last group with 2 fighters and 2 witch doctors, I had ray of enfeeblement -12 (that's maximized...) taking me down to 7 strength which took me out of being centered carrying only 167lbs of equipment. (bad deal about being small i suppose). The second it wore off after 2 minutes, it was cast upon me immediately following.

I had to kite these 4 mobs around the instance for 14 minutes until I got lucky with my paralyzer long enough to get both witch doctors down without a maximized RoE smacking me in the forehead.

Is this fair? Sure.

Is it stupid? Absolutely.

It has been this way with every quest I have tried to solo, whether it is level 6 or level 11.

Just now I tried to do one of the house J quests...little did I know it would have 2 orange mindflayers and 1 red mindflayer in it. Had I had troubles with mindflayers in the past? No..not really, when grouped. And when they were there..POOF one paralyzer hit and they were down for the count. This time in this quest? Blew through the whole place in no time Disrupters in hand blasting away the entire instance until I get to that one mind flayer. Get through 3/4ths of his healthbar without paralyzing him once, then I see the green aura around him that he is, then after a couple more attacks POOF LOL YOUR BRAIN HAS BEEN EATEN.

Hm. Interesting. Sure looks like he was paralyzed and I made a save on Mind Blast and Hold Person before that.

I can go on and on about it, but I won't as I don't want to sound like I am excessively whining, it just doesn't seem like there is anything left for me to solo these days. Most of the quests have double or triple switches that need pulled, or mobs that take some luck to overcome by yourself. (LOL WEWT! Look at that! One beholder just randomly flying about? Oh..failed save versus disintegrate before my paralyzer took hold..) With STRICT reentry penalties (and 99% of the time you HAVE to reenter if you die on solo unless you want to eat cake or are lucky enough to die near a shrine...) it just almost isn't worth it.

So far the only thing I've been able to solo is the slayers quest in the vale. Why is that do you ask? Banishers and Paralyzers and on certain mobs weaken/enfeeble...

Win, eh?

Here's to the next 7 levels..wonder if I can do it.

To deal with your Ray of Enfeeblement problem: Make sure while soloing that you carry some at least Lesser Restoration potions. They aren't that expensive and will save you in situations like that.

[transtemporal]

Why not join other peoples groups op? I don't even play on US prime time and usually theres enough groups up to fill a space cruiser. Also, as others have said, don't wait for the perfect group, just cover the base roles for that quest and get on with it.

Another thing you could try is looking in the who panel for people who aren't in a party and ask if they want to join. Don't blind invite them, send a polite tell with the quest and difficulty and if they say yes invite them. Much faster than waiting for someone to notice your lfm.

[sephiroth1084]

The only problem with the "solo if you don't get a group" is this:

EVERY caster can cast hold person/monster, ray of enfeeblement, ray of exhaustion, and any other sort of debilitating debuff an endless amount of time.

My monk ran devil assault on normal because I haven't done it before. I was level 12, with 19 strength buffed. (dex build, obviously.) On the last wave of trogs, second to last group with 2 fighters and 2 witch doctors, I had ray of enfeeblement -12 (that's maximized...) taking me down to 7 strength which took me out of being centered carrying only 167lbs of equipment. (bad deal about being small i suppose). The second it wore off after 2 minutes, it was cast upon me immediately following.

I had to kite these 4 mobs around the instance for 14 minutes until I got lucky with my paralyzer long enough to get both witch doctors down without a maximized RoE smacking me in the forehead.

Is this fair? Sure.

Is it stupid? Absolutely.

It has been this way with every quest I have tried to solo, whether it is level 6 or level 11.

Just now I tried to do one of the house J quests...little did I know it would have 2 orange mindflayers and 1 red mindflayer in it. Had I had troubles with mindflayers in the past? No..not really, when grouped. And when they were there..POOF one paralyzer hit and they were down for the count. This time in this quest? Blew through the whole place in no time Disrupters in hand blasting away the entire instance until I get to that one mind flayer. Get through 3/4ths of his healthbar without paralyzing him once, then I see the green aura around him that he is, then after a couple more attacks POOF LOL YOUR BRAIN HAS BEEN EATEN.

Hm. Interesting. Sure looks like he was paralyzed and I made a save on Mind Blast and Hold Person before that.

I can go on and on about it, but I won't as I don't want to sound like I am excessively whining, it just doesn't seem like there is anything left for me to solo these days. Most of the quests have double or triple switches that need pulled, or mobs that take some luck to overcome by yourself. (LOL WEWT! Look at that! One beholder just randomly flying about? Oh..failed save versus disintegrate before my paralyzer took hold..) With STRICT reentry penalties (and 99% of the time you HAVE to reenter if you die on solo unless you want to eat cake or are lucky enough to die near a shrine...) it just almost isn't worth it.

So far the only thing I've been able to solo is the slayers quest in the vale. Why is that do you ask? Banishers and Paralyzers and on certain mobs weaken/enfeeble...

Win, eh?

Here's to the next 7 levels..wonder if I can do it.

If you're soloing you really need to be carrying a lot of supplies, such as Lesser Restoration and Heroism.

Also, it helps to have a sense of the quest you're running beforehand... the 2 quests you mentioned here can be extremely brutal even on full groups of experienced players.

[RhapsodieInBlue]

That's the thing, though. How am I supposed to know what missions are solo friendly or not? I am a complete newbie. I don't like having to read a forum about EVERY mission before I go inside it to know whether I can handle it or not.

There is no partial experience award. Oh..you made it to the end boss but lose to him every time for 3 hours? Doesn't matter..your reentry penalty has killed 100% of your exp even if you succeeded!

I am at a standstill as far as soloing goes. Now that I am thirteen it is *bleh.* It's either 1000 exp per mission, or unable to complete it. And there are hardly enough 1000 exp missions to run that I can get to 14 or above since the more you run them, the less they give.

And about the restoration potions...I shouldn't have to use more consumables in a mission thats 5 levels underneath me than I get in loot to pay for them. It just doesn't seem right.

[sephiroth1084]

That's the thing, though. How am I supposed to know what missions are solo friendly or not? I am a complete newbie. I don't like having to read a forum about EVERY mission before I go inside it to know whether I can handle it or not.

There is no partial experience award. Oh..you made it to the end boss but lose to him every time for 3 hours? Doesn't matter..your reentry penalty has killed 100% of your exp even if you succeeded!

I am at a standstill as far as soloing goes. Now that I am thirteen it is *bleh.* It's either 1000 exp per mission, or unable to complete it. And there are hardly enough 1000 exp missions to run that I can get to 14 or above since the more you run them, the less they give.

And about the restoration potions...I shouldn't have to use more consumables in a mission thats 5 levels underneath me than I get in loot to pay for them. It just doesn't seem right.

If the quest entrance panel says that the quest is Very Long, you can bet that it will be hard or impossible to solo. If a quest has particularly difficult monsters, it is usually also tough to solo (mindflayers, beholders, vampires, mummies, maruts) unless you have a foil (such as wall of fire vs. mummies). And sometimes, it does just take running a quest and failing to find out that you can't solo it, or how you need to change your tactics in order to complete. The game isn't especially difficult for the most part, but it also isn't a cakewalk, and is not aimed at soloing.

There have always been quests that represent an incongruous challenge compared to other adventures of their level. Devil Assault is one, Proof Is In the Poison another. Without coming to the boards, you could ask people in-game, whether guildies, friends, via LFM or in the Advice channel. All I can say is either buck up and press on, or try grouping, and in either case, good luck.

Soloing is expensive. If you don't want to put up with the cost of keeping necessary items on your character, then expect to run into situations like you did. If you're worried about mounting costs, check the AH and brokers for Lesser Restoration clickies, clickies of Heroism, clickies of Neutralize Poison, Disease/Blindness/Curse removal. One way or another, all characters, whether soloing or not, should have these basic items in their inventory at all times--it just goes to not being a burden on your other party members.

[RhapsodieInBlue]

hardly a burden upon party members...

Blindness Ward equipped...immune to disease and poison via class abilities...a decent AC for someone who does not own chaosguarde, anything over +4 armor, nor one of the nice robes yet. (45 with barkskin potion, 47 with prot evil, higher if casting is involved.)

I carry health potions, constantly use fists of light as well as keep healing ki going and if there -are- casters in the party them the water light water finisher as well.

I just can't get over how powerful caster AI is. My saves are base 16/21/21 ... 18/23/23 with fire light fire and 21/23/26 in water stance with fire light fire (or heroism).

I save on just about everything my level except on a 1, and yet of course, due to the HORRIBLE handling of ray spells in this game (lulz whut? no ranged touch? move out of the way? from an invisible ray of enfeeble/exhaustion?) it's like they have an ez-mode to destroy you.

I appreciate your input, don't get me wrong, I just find it difficult to play when my guildies aren't around unless it's storming through something so low I get -75% experience on top of a "You have completed this too many times, loser." penalty.

[sephiroth1084]

hardly a burden upon party members...

Blindness Ward equipped...immune to disease and poison via class abilities...a decent AC for someone who does not own chaosguarde, anything over +4 armor, nor one of the nice robes yet. (45 with barkskin potion, 47 with prot evil, higher if casting is involved.)

Immunity items cover almost the same role as removal potions, except that you may want to put something else on in place of your Blindness Immunity on occasion. Helps to have a few removals also, but that's fine.

I just can't get over how powerful caster AI is. My saves are base 16/21/21 ... 18/23/23 with fire light fire and 21/23/26 in water stance with fire light fire (or heroism).

I save on just about everything my level except on a 1, and yet of course, due to the HORRIBLE handling of ray spells in this game (lulz whut? no ranged touch? move out of the way? from an invisible ray of enfeeble/exhaustion?) it's like they have an ez-mode to destroy you.

Do you have Stunning Fist? That tends to work well on casters, and if you rush them as soon as you notice them, you can often disable the casters before they get off any dangerous spells. I do this with trip on both my intimitank and barbarian. You can dodge rays, but they are almost impossible to dodge if you are running AT the caster. Pay attention to their animations--even if you can't see the ray, you can see the purple-black energy around their hands just before they fire.

Melee classes that don't have stealth as an option tend to have the hardest time soloing stuff, as they can't deal with more than one or two monsters at a time. One thing that helps tremendously is a paralyzing weapon (+1s are ML 10 I think)--swing until something gets paralyzed, then target something else, and keep doing so, cycling back to your previous targets every few hits to keep them stuck. Works well as a combo with a cursespewer.

Do you use hirelings? They usually make quests more difficult, as they trigger dungeon scaling, but they may help, as they can provide a distraction, another source of offense, and may also help you in doing your job better with buffs or healing.

[RhapsodieInBlue]

My experiences with hirelings is that they are useless, or rather have their places.

The cleric you tell to stay put in a place that has no monsters usually ends up running towards you and killing himself.

I don't have a big problem with groups as I do use a paralyzer, it's just hopping over the melees to get to the caster that's the problem...I strafe run at an angle towards casters, but I still get clipped by whatever they are using.


I guess I will just entertain myself attempting to get a bloodstone from the undead part of the desert as it seems that disrupters actually work some of the time.

You can look at my...for lack of a better word...armory page sometime, though I just switched gear around so it won't be entirely accurate.

[Noctus]

Tell me about it. I have TONS of trouble finding people in the LFM to do the Vale of Twilight quests, I haven't seen a LFM for the Vale of Twilight raid yet and its supposed to be the most popular raid in the game...

Hello? Have you ever opened the LFM tab in the social panel?

Shroud gets puged at a rate of roughly 5-10 runs per hour.

I mean, seriously?

[DireWolverine]

Hrm.

Well, Argonnessen seems to have become my default 'home server' since I went VIP... it's where I do most of my playing with the little lady. (Not that kind of playing, you pervs. Keep your minds out of the gutter - you're blocking my view of the stars. )

Of course, I've been having a hard time convincing her to group outside of our duo. We did have some enjoyable experiences with another player (man, is everything I write going to be a double-entendre tonight?), so I'm hoping to get her to accept more grouping in time. PM me with character names and I'll respond in kind... maybe we can get something going.

And welcome to Argonnessen!

[SINIBYTE]

That's the thing, though. How am I supposed to know what missions are solo friendly or not? I am a complete newbie. I don't like having to read a forum about EVERY mission before I go inside it to know whether I can handle it or not.

Do what I do - zone in and look around.

[RhapsodieInBlue]

Do what I do - zone in and look around.

I did that. I destroyed the quest until I got my brain eaten.

Twice.

[calvinklien]

--

[Elsbet]

Hrm.

Well, Argonnessen seems to have become my default 'home server' since I went VIP... it's where I do most of my playing with the little lady. (Not that kind of playing, you pervs. Keep your minds out of the gutter - you're blocking my view of the stars. )

Of course, I've been having a hard time convincing her to group outside of our duo. We did have some enjoyable experiences with another player (man, is everything I write going to be a double-entendre tonight?), so I'm hoping to get her to accept more grouping in time. PM me with character names and I'll respond in kind... maybe we can get something going.

And welcome to Argonnessen!

You write a post like that and want us to get out of the gutter? Good luck with that!

~~~~

I rarely have trouble finding groups. I tend to have trouble finding groups I'm willing to spend my time on. I've no problems with new players or f2p. I do have problems when someone obviously doesn't have a clue and pretends they do. I dropped a group before it started this week when the group leader insisted that level 7 players (who probably aren't ready for Tempest Spine anyway) won't get power leveled by the level 14 fighter he picked up.

My solution is my friends list. When yourun with people who are good and you have fun with, ask to friend them. Then when you are online if you don't see anything you are particularly interested in, you can ping them, see what they are up to and join in or start something together. That is how I've done msot of my questing on Lil lately because most of my guildies are capped or just TR'd. Lil's in the middle.

[skunk]

Things all depend on what class you are, what role can you fill, and is that class honestly needed?

if you want groups, roll a rogue, cleric, or favored soul (healing). just make sure to fill them rolls.

[Ode1st]

I'm a premium player (bought some adventure packs) that decided to try the game out when it went F2P (and glad I did). I play with a couple friends and we generally don't play without each other, so we always have a competent, easy-going group. We only play on Argonessan so far and I notice other people wherever I go: houses, harbor, marketplace, etc.

I have yet to try to find PUGs to play with because I haven't needed to, but my friends and I get various random tells asking us to group up, so I never felt the population was low.

[Vorn]

I rarely have trouble finding groups. I tend to have trouble finding groups I'm willing to spend my time on.

QFT.

Some folks tend to stay with guild/channels/friends list because it's safer, or they like the folks there having played with them a lot, or lots of of other reasons. Those who take the game very seriously get very upset when pugs go wrong. That being said, many of those guild/channel/friends list groups will pug out spots if they haven't filled. It a wonderful feeling to join a group of seasoned players, cheerfully say, "Hey guys! What's my job?" and be told "Just don't suck."