How many people are soloing EE?

[sheintao]

I solo'd ALL of the MotD content on EE except CITW and the first (King's Forest) chain, including all the harper content added later. I have not yet tried to solo the High Road pack. All in all, it is not easy, but my toon is built for solo play. It's only a 3rd lifer: 18 wizard, 2 monk... name of Furian. Most of the content I solo'd the obvious way... taking it slow, and controlling agro. However, here are a couple exceptions:

Belly of the Beast: I totally cheated. I achieved this by immediately killing the casters capable of casting mass death ward, then ddooring out of the arena. I then came back, stood by the arena door, and set up a macro to cast death aura every few minutes. I want afk for a long while, came back, refreshed spell points, and then went afk again. Eventually everything was dead. I did have to go into the arena a couple times to grab some agro from the back of the arena and then ddoor out, but most of the time i was afk. I let the spectators kill the snake. The end of the quest (once in the belly) was as straight forward as any other EE quest.

Reclaiming the Rift: The negative level like effect accrued by using the barrier made this difficult. My tactic was to drag things up the ramp, and then jump off the edge. Jumping off causes you to come back on the next ledge up, out of range of the bad guys. I simply killed things from up there. When there was only one monster left i would jump down and dragged it over to the barrier to kill it.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have questions about a specific quest.

[AtomicMew]

It takes top gear, strong character build, good player skill, high metagame awareness, a lag free connection, a high level of concentration and knowledge of the quest.

Highly exaggerated

I've soloed all of MOTU EE quests including Belly of the Beast and a bunch of Ebberon epics as well. This was at level 23 using a bunch of heroic sands item, walmart epics and before I had planar conflux.

Most EEs are in fact extremely easy with decent play, decent gear and the right kind of build. The epics that are challenging probably number at around 5-10%, and most of those can be beaten by strong metagaming after a few tries.

[Jay203]

i solo what i can
sometimes it's just too much hassle to teach people how NOT to be a dumbass

[Shaatan]

Im not playing on Khyber so maybe Im not the one to talk, but I just wanted to agree with a lot of you and point it out once again.

Your best weapon in soloing anything (be it a quest or raid) is KNOWLEDGE ! Knowing how stuff works in the quest you want to solo is the key. If you know enough mechanics to find the best way for your toon to approach the quest, you dont have to worry much about other things. You can also make adjustments in your build for the particular content that you ll want to solo (mostly thinking of destinies).

People were giving the EE CiTW flagging quests as example so lets keep it this way. I, for example, soloed those chains on all toons I currently have (AA, FvS, Wiz, Barb). On AA it was no big deal, FvS and Wiz are first lifers, so they didnt have quite enough Spell Pen for EE Drows (thus I had to find other ways than instant kills to deal with them) and Barb is just your regular full-****** Barb. The point why I mention my toons is to show that with enough knowledge its not very hard to solo EE content on any type of toon (be it ranged, divine, arcane or melee).

I also find myself fairly often grabbing a few pikers and doing the PDK favor tour for them. I usually tell them to stay at the beggining to not cause unneccessary dungeon alert or deaths, but sometimes people insist on following me so I teach them how to solo those quests with the least effort possible.

[Beer_Dude]

Lots of insight and advice and it's much appreciated.

[Humperdink]

This is still partially true. EE does in fact scale, and quite a bit. The major differences are mobs hp and the damage their attacks/spells do. This scaling does not in fact change DC's of spells/tactics, saves of mobs, skill checks necessary (ie stealth, traps etc), or mob spell resistance. I find the biggest change in soloing compared to group play is the number of mobs. The sheer amount is very noticeable. Soloing eliminates almost half of the number mobs a group of 6 would encounter. If you add this in with the mob scaling hp and damage its makes soloing in some ways much more easier than a full group.

I've followed MrCow's works as well. However as recently as 2 days ago I found the scaling to operate differently. So, I'm thinking either something is not working as intended or this was placed somewhere and not mentioned. At least, this is what I've noticed running EE insofar.

Thanks for the input Teth, that confirms what I thought. What changes is the amount of HP (each monster has individually, as well as number of mob increases, hence a greater HP pool required to mow through) and how much damage their attacks cause. At the time some years back, I was testing monster saving throws in Shavarath so I could calculate effective spell DCs, and attack bonus so I could figure out effective character AC ranges. I noticed those things changed depending on difficulty setting, but not as the party size changed (dungeon scaling). I checked my observations with Mr Cow and he said he experienced the same.

If I recall correctly at that time there was no dungeon scaling on elite, but at some point that changed. Some scaling occurs on Elite versus Normal and Hard, but I think the ratio of scaling is less on Elite? I'd have to have that confirmed.

TL;DR-

When it comes to dungeon scaling:

-The DC required to land a spell remains the same.
-The DC required to land a tactic remains the same.
-The DC to use a skill remains the same.
-The spell pen required to beat SR remains the same.
-Monster HP, number of monsters, and their physical and magical damage output increases

[taurean430]

Agreed on all points except the spell pen and dc's. To be fair I'll need to take another looksy based on what's being posted as it doesn't mirror my observations.

Could be bad rolls I guess. Can't help but to question 55 spell pen/54 necro/50 enchant failing or requiring debuffs in that content. High Road yes, Drow chain no...

I'll take another look when I get a chance though.

[Humperdink]

Agreed on all points except the spell pen and dc's. To be fair I'll need to take another looksy based on what's being posted as it doesn't mirror my observations.

Could be bad rolls I guess. Can't help but to question 55 spell pen/54 necro/50 enchant failing or requiring debuffs in that content. High Road yes, Drow chain no...

I'll take another look when I get a chance though.

And you may very well be right Taurean. Play this game long enough and you realize what should be and what is aren't always the same. Hence testing and observation by players in the game helps sometimes.

[gerardIII]

I solo EE CitW with my Battle Cleric.

[xTethx]

Thanks for the input Teth, that confirms what I thought. What changes is the amount of HP (each monster has individually, as well as number of mob increases, hence a greater HP pool required to mow through) and how much damage their attacks cause. At the time some years back, I was testing monster saving throws in Shavarath so I could calculate effective spell DCs, and attack bonus so I could figure out effective character AC ranges. I noticed those things changed depending on difficulty setting, but not as the party size changed (dungeon scaling). I checked my observations with Mr Cow and he said he experienced the same.

If I recall correctly at that time there was no dungeon scaling on elite, but at some point that changed. Some scaling occurs on Elite versus Normal and Hard, but I think the ratio of scaling is less on Elite? I'd have to have that confirmed.

TL;DR-

When it comes to dungeon scaling:

-The DC required to land a spell remains the same.
-The DC required to land a tactic remains the same.
-The DC to use a skill remains the same.
-The spell pen required to beat SR remains the same.
-Monster HP, number of monsters, and their physical and magical damage output increases

You might want to add mob dc's on their spells/tactical feats does not scale either.

[BlackSteel]

I solo a majority of the expansion's quests, along with the druid and high road packs w/o much difficulty on my arti. But It wouldve been much harder doing these for first time bonus 2o-25 w/o the right twists or destiny.

[moops]

Thanks for the input Teth, that confirms what I thought. What changes is the amount of HP (each monster has individually, as well as number of mob increases, hence a greater HP pool required to mow through) and how much damage their attacks cause. At the time some years back, I was testing monster saving throws in Shavarath so I could calculate effective spell DCs, and attack bonus so I could figure out effective character AC ranges. I noticed those things changed depending on difficulty setting, but not as the party size changed (dungeon scaling). I checked my observations with Mr Cow and he said he experienced the same.

If I recall correctly at that time there was no dungeon scaling on elite, but at some point that changed. Some scaling occurs on Elite versus Normal and Hard, but I think the ratio of scaling is less on Elite? I'd have to have that confirmed.

TL;DR-

When it comes to dungeon scaling:

-The DC required to land a spell remains the same.
-The DC required to land a tactic remains the same.
-The DC to use a skill remains the same.
-The spell pen required to beat SR remains the same.
-Monster HP, number of monsters, and their physical and magical damage output increases

We shortman EE and leave spots open for guildies and friends, and as a caster/divine caster I've noticed that things start to save a lot more once a 5th person steps in.

Could be I'm rolling bad or they are rolling good, but it happens quite consistently.

This is in all MOTU and High Road--don't run Eberron enough right now to have an opinion.

P.S OP
Some of these quests are much harder with 6 people than soloing. In fact, many players that solo this content on EE, join our groups and zerg ahead like they are going to solo it for us...and then get powned.

Mostly run EE for loot and better chests...

[Humperdink]

We shortman EE and leave spots open for guildies and friends, and as a caster/divine caster I've noticed that things start to save a lot more once a 5th person steps in.

Could be I'm rolling bad or they are rolling good, but it happens quite consistently.

This is in all MOTU and High Road--don't run Eberron enough right now to have an opinion.

P.S OP
Some of these quests are much harder with 6 people than soloing. In fact, many players that solo this content on EE, join our groups and zerg ahead like they are going to solo it for us...and then get powned.

Hmm, interesting. I wonder if it's a function of the mobs have more HP and take longer to die and therefore they get a greater number of saving throws over time vs the spells being cast. Or perhaps the scaling mechanic has actually changed.

[moops]

Hmm, interesting. I wonder if it's a function of the mobs have more HP and take longer to die and therefore they get a greater number of saving throws over time vs the spells being cast. Or perhaps the scaling mechanic has actually changed.

Might be...but they also start to save on my Otto's Irresistable Dance, at the first casting of it a lot more.

But like I said, could be I just consistently start to roll bad or they roll good once the 5th person enters. But since I'm not just doing these quests for favor or bravery streaks, I'm in them almost every night I play on EE and might have a different experience than those people who only do an EE once or twice.

[xTethx]

Might be...but they also start to save on my Otto's Irresistable Dance, at the first casting of it a lot more.

Wasn't aware you are working so hard against game mechanics.

[maddmatt70]

I have/will solo epic elite quests when looking for a specific piece of loot with my fvs or wiz but it's a last resort option for me, stopped when I pull whatever I was looking for. Much rather find another willing soul and short man probably using boxes to up the loot chance, or just let the loot dice roll in a full group. Really don't enjoy soloing in an MMO much, on any difficulty. I find it more tedious than challenging, inevitably I'll start wondering why I'm even playing an MMO after prolonged soloing. Curse of the ASE gaming personality type perhaps.

Hey Cain I 100% agree with this except it really has to be something I want even more then you i.e. I think you can put up with more then me. Solo is crazysauce.

[sugrcain]

Hah yeah probably, I'll grit my teeth through any existential crisis I might be having and do what I gotta do to reach my goal. The ones brought on by video games are pretty mild and easily subdued, I can generally manage to go on a while. Hell, I'm probably better at solo play on my blue bars than I am at group play with them. I'll be a lot more attentive since screwing anything up leads to more annoyances, made more so by being self-inflicted. Soloing just doesn't give me the same enjoyment and entertainment that even duoing does. Probably why I don't play single player offline games much anymore, there's a hollow feeling I'm left with when compared to team play.

I can get why people like to solo EE though. Certainly a good way to test your skill with the game and a characters power. It's going to take quest knowledge, a decently built and geared character with an understanding of how to play it, attentive play and to get that endurance factor in there likely a bit of time beyond what a group will need to get EE quests done solo. That's a recipe I can imagine would be appealing to some personality types.

On a side note, right about now I'd happily settle with some solo DDO play. Want my fix.

[WruntJunior]

EE Solos aren't hard in general. They just require time and being careful...they don't take much more than tactics and a capable character.

Personally, I've soloed all PDK favor quests on EE on my sorc so far, and going to do the same on my AA and Juggernaut. Outside of 3 quests (Belly of the Beast, Reclaiming the Rift, and Battle for Eveningstar), they were all fairly easy....in fact, my main goal with my sorc now is to go back through for each quest on my achievement post and get a 0 pot/0 re-entry completion for EVERY quest.

In fact, my favorite way to farm High Road EE loot is to solo whichever quest on elite and invite 5 people to loot (since I don't like finding groups for that, and my play times don't ideally mesh with the high-end players I know well on Thelanis now).

Definitely more than 2 or 3 people soloing EE if I can solo it fairly easily though.

Edit: Woohoo, didn't even notice this was on Khyber forums...but if Khyber's anything like Thelanis, I'd say probably quite easily 50-100 people can do it fairly easily, maybe more...I don't really know what Khyber's population is like, though, so they may be full of gimps. :P

[Humperdink]

Out of curiosity, what kind of builds are people using to solo? For example, I look at Wrunt Junior's stable and see a bunch of flavor of the day easy button power builds. That can make a huge difference in the ability to clear out bad guys. No offense meant Wrunt and not a comment on your skill as a player at all. ;-) But a melee in solo LD blitz, an arcane in Shiradi, and an Fury AA cycling Manyshot and 10k all have huge over the top almost cartoonish capabilities. I'm wondering if people are successfully soloing EE content without those kinds of builds.

[WruntJunior]

Out of curiosity, what kind of builds are people using to solo? For example, I look at Wrunt Junior's stable and see a bunch of flavor of the day easy button power builds. That can make a huge difference in the ability to clear out bad guys. No offense meant Wrunt and not a comment on your skill as a player at all. ;-) But a melee in solo LD blitz, an arcane in Shiradi, and an Fury AA cycling Manyshot and 10k all have huge over the top almost cartoonish capabilities. I'm wondering if people are successfully soloing EE content without those kinds of builds.

EDs best suited for soloing are typically the ones used (such as, for a self-sufficient melee, LD). You do have a point, though - most people that solo EEs a lot do so with "power builds" so to speak, the builds that wind up being FotM builds just because of how extremely powerful they are.

Edit: As a note, though, player skill is probably a more important factor than build in EE soloing - it's just that these "power builds" cut into the curve a bit. :P