Solo Epic AS IF!

[rest]

I <3 6 minute solo Epic Claw runs. I do em every day.

[TFPAQ]

Think of hirelings as players. Not great players but players none the less.
If you were able to amass a great deal of gold scroll hirelings, then it might be possible to "solo" and epic quest on your own.
But then you wouldn't have soloed the quest would you? You would have depended heavily on those hirelings, even if you were just using them as a distraction while you did all the work.
Hence, you didn't solo the quest. You had help. AI help, but still help.

In this game "AI help" is an oxymoron ...

[Angelus_dead]

Think of hirelings as players. Not great players but players none the less.

No, I won't think of hirelings as players, because hirelings are not players.

But then you wouldn't have soloed the quest would you? You would have depended heavily on those hirelings, even if you were just using them as a distraction while you did all the work.
Hence, you didn't solo the quest. You had help. AI help, but still help.

That is not logical. Assuming a false premise understandably leads to a false conclusion.

[CaptainCameo]

Its all dependent on how much resources you are willing to throw into the equation. You are going to need 4 things; intimate knowledge of the quest, great gear, great resources stockpiled (mana pots and scrolls), and the time to spend.

There are characters and players out there with all of the above, Its not impossible...

I found a good quote on that btw:

If someone says "That's Impossible", you should understand it as: "According to my very limited experience and narrow understanding of reality, that it's very unlikely."

I like that quote. I did say virtually impossible though. Not 100% impossible.

+1 to Mr. Cow and Diyon for proving me wrong and showing me something awesome.

[Ciaran]

To use that interpretation would lead to the opposite of your conclusion.

To interpret solo as meaning "completely alone" would mean that hirelings are irrelevant, because hirelings are not people. If one player by himself is alone, then summoning a hireling means you are still alone. This is pretty obvious, if you compare it to the possibility of being in a single-player game.

You are correct in that you are the only living person currently in that instance. That’s a rather literal definition of soloing though.

Using a hireling in a quest means that there is another presence that is (usually) assisting you. When the AI is spamming heals on you as you fight, therefore removing the need for you to stop combat and heal yourself, can you really consider that “soloing”? That presence, human controlled or not is assisting you in completing the quest.

I suppose you could consider the hireling just another resource that you, the player are using. It might be tempting to classify potions, wands and scrolls in the same way, but that would be a mistake. None of those things have AI that automatically heal you when you lose HP. You can set a hireling to be active, to follow you and then just let the AI take over. This has mixed results but that’s beside the point.

In single player games, generally when you say you “soloed” the game, that means that you didn’t use any of the computer controlled companions. People have soloed Dragon Age, NWN without using companions. Using companions, even though they aren’t controlled by other living human beings isn’t considered soloing – your character had assistance from other AI controlled characters, which makes the encounters easier.

[sephiroth1084]

I am confused.
What quest in the game is it possible to die in 4 seconds in?

Hordo died about 4 seconds after buffs completed in Hound a while back. Finished buffing, tank ran in, the rest of us started moving around to the right, and that first reaver that spawns ran over to Hordo and killed him. /squish

[Phidius]

You are correct in that you are the only living person currently in that instance. That’s a rather literal definition of soloing though...


...your character had assistance from other AI controlled characters, which makes the encounters easier.

Here's how I solo epic quests... I sit back in my chair, close my eyes, and imagine all those inflated mobs dropping like flies. Then I imagine the beautiful purple glow as I get my Epic token (or fragments, depending on which one I'm soloing).

Sometimes I get a scroll/shard/seal, then I imagine myself upgrading my gear.

And I (unlike so many posers) do it completely without any artificial help (sometimes I do naked runs, but that's a different story)!

Go me!

[Chai]

I'm pretty sure it's virtually impossible. You can post a video to prove me wrong if you like.
Remember: No hireling. That's the real way to solo stuff.

You do understand that casters have been soloing epics with no hirelings for a while now right? This isnt some new thing that just happened. Hirelings are actually more of a burden than any kind of help.

[Ciaran]

Here's how I solo epic quests... I sit back in my chair, close my eyes, and imagine all those inflated mobs dropping like flies. Then I imagine the beautiful purple glow as I get my Epic token (or fragments, depending on which one I'm soloing).

Sometimes I get a scroll/shard/seal, then I imagine myself upgrading my gear.

And I (unlike so many posers) do it completely without any artificial help (sometimes I do naked runs, but that's a different story)!

Go me!

Behold the power of visualization!

Heh, I'm not taking anything away from anybody who solos epic content, with or without a hireling it's impressive!

In fact, I think the argument could be made that carrying yourself AND a hireling through a quest is more of an accomplishment than just carrying yourself, their AI can be THAT bad!

[Quikster]

Not only have epic quests been soloed, but epic raids have been solo'd as well

Sorry OP, all it means is you need a lot more gear, experience, and skill.

[xxScoobyDooxx]

On people that say the solo epic quests I lasted 4 secs didn't even see one enemy so I died to an invisible thing.

Note: My title is not "My thoughts" for a reason.

This thread should be moved to the the Achievements section

[Diyon]

Noting, I consider using hirelings to not be solo'ing, but looking at some of the arguments for this, you have an AI helping you, etc. So I can't use summons and solo? Its an AI presence that's helping me complete the quest.

(under the arguments so far using a summon= not solo'ing)

[fuzzy1guy]

Using a hireling is not solo.


That said. It's possible to solo most of the epic quests out there so far. With a couple exceptions. And even those could be done if you threw enough resources into your attempt and had a little luck on your side.

Are they EASY to solo? No way. Can every character build do it? NO WAY!

But most of them can be done solo. And with minimal resource usage.

casters (arcane or divine) with some melee ability and the right gear can solo thru almost anything. with enough time and resources.

So far on a sorc (non warforged) i've personally managed to solo thru von 1, 2, 3, bigtop, snitch (crateos is real nasty), claw of vulkoor, the black loch, and made a damm good attempt at several other epics solo.


It can be done. It's a serious challenge and major investment in resources and equipment. But it can be done. And you can fail in about .1 second pretty easy too.

[moops]

Just practice OP. . .Run the quests on a lower difficulty and learn them inside out. If you are a caster with the right gear, you can solo many Epics without any resources. Divine it is a little bit harder.

[ColinQ]

Not only have epic quests been soloed, but epic raids have been solo'd as well

How do you solo epic von?

[Angelus_dead]

You are correct in that you are the only living person currently in that instance. That’s a rather literal definition of soloing though.

You are the one who said you were using the "technically" and "strictest" definitions.

can you really consider that “soloing”?

Obviously yes.

I suppose you could consider the hireling just another resource that you, the player are using. It might be tempting to classify potions, wands and scrolls in the same way, but that would be a mistake.

That is the opposite of the truth.

You are fighting against both the precise technical definition of "solo" and the practical useful definition. When someone in a multiplayer game talks about whether someone can defeat a challenge "solo" or not, what they're asking is if you need to recruit other people to help you get through it, or if it can be done by one person. To deny "solo" from applying in that situation means you are reducing the descriptive capability of language.

[Diyon]

How do you solo epic von?

Well I suppose you MIGHT be able to have everyone else drop and you go into von6 solo, manually set up each djinni and then strategically firewall each base with additional damage added to make sure its timed right. Then some how make sure you finish it in an hour. (not sure whether FW will affect the pillars and whatnot, if anything, substitute ice storm once its upgraded)

That's pure speculation, there could be a number of things I missed there.

[khaldan]

Well I suppose you MIGHT be able to have everyone else drop and you go into von6 solo, manually set up each djinni and then strategically firewall each base with additional damage added to make sure its timed right. Then some how make sure you finish it in an hour. (not sure whether FW will affect the pillars and whatnot, if anything, substitute ice storm once its upgraded)

That's pure speculation, there could be a number of things I missed there.

The old way of doing it was standing between either 1st and 2nd or 2nd and 3rd, shooting the pillars to almost dead, then manyshot them down. No clue how to do it on epic with all the fun that epic implies, though.

[CaptainCameo]

Noting, I consider using hirelings to not be solo'ing, but looking at some of the arguments for this, you have an AI helping you, etc. So I can't use summons and solo? Its an AI presence that's helping me complete the quest.

(under the arguments so far using a summon= not solo'ing)

Summoning is different than hirelings because it's a skill you can use. Although using one would almost be a waste. I saw a hezrou die in only a few seconds.
Another reason they don't count is that they can't be told what to do. Hirelings can, although they don't always listen.

[Srozbun]

Well I suppose you MIGHT be able to have everyone else drop and you go into von6 solo, manually set up each djinni and then strategically firewall each base with additional damage added to make sure its timed right. Then some how make sure you finish it in an hour. (not sure whether FW will affect the pillars and whatnot, if anything, substitute ice storm once its upgraded)

That's pure speculation, there could be a number of things I missed there.

The pillars are immune to fire. I heard ice storm is not getting upgraded after all (someone confirm this?) Even if they did work on the pillars by the time you run to another one you will be out of range and your wall/storm will disappear. I'm sure I missed some things too.