Voice of a Solo Player -- We have our reasons, don't tell us 'this game is not for us'

I just wanted to voice my thoughts on Solo Play being viable in AoC.

At the moment, I'm still under level 15 and have solo'd most of the way, with occasional out in the world spur of the moment, pug type grouping. It's taken a while, but then hey! I'm not really in a hurry either! I don't need to feel 'bad' that I'm not in a rush to level 25, I wander around, kill stuff when I want, explore, gather, fish, whatever .. I am free! I love a good ding as much as the next person

I've grouped a bit, and really my idea of 'fun' is not grinding the same Elite mobs for hours on end to level up as fast I can. That sounds like a day-job, and I have one of those. I want my MMORPG time to feel free, and fun! Even though I solo a lot, I LOVE seeing other players around and feeling part of the broader in-game community, chucking on heals to passersby when they need it or grouping on-the-fly, but if I'm 'forced' to group, count me out. Not interested. But often I do want to group, and that's good too.

Regimented, sweaty game grinding is fun for a while, but it's not for everyone. People have kids/partners/chores/social & emotional, health, time issues etc, the list goes one. Modern life is real, some of us can only log on in fits and spurts for limited time but we enjoy playing MMO's as much as people that enjoy grouping.

I guess what I'm asking is:

Please keep drops in that game that allow solo players to progress their gear too. Sure, don't make it as good as the grouped-content gear, but give us a reason to log in and kill stuff
Please add some nice gear rewards to quest chains so we can upgrade that way
Please don't hate us! We are excited about Ashes, we want this game to be GREAT and escape into it for many years to come.

Thanks for listening if you made it this far :-)

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Comments

Fippy

Agreed. I would love to see quests and commissions have fully fleshed out relatively minor (white to green level) gearing options, with some harder quest lines resulting in pretty decent gear. Dungeons, raids, and crafting will always have the best gear by the nature of MMOs, but soloing should still be viable even if it's not the best.

Andi

Don't worry about it. People said you'd have to group in Lineage 2, too, and you could solo just fine. The same is true here, even now, and most content isn't even in yet (like quests, for example).

Savic Prosperity

i can tell you i have mostly solo'd and i can get gear, just not mage gear for lvl 10 range. I have not successfully found decent weapons solo though. Again gear drop rates are intentionally higher right now than they normally would be so its hard to say how it feels

I would say that even post changes named mobs that can drop weapon/recipe/resource might be what people 'farm' for gear, but we havent seen what the plan is for that part of it

But i agree i would like to have ways to get basic gear that wouldnt involve having to just buy it from someone else at that stage if i cant make time

Sneakypie

It seems to me the gear drops from regular mobs dry up after level 10, which has taken some of the fun out of it for me. When the game drops for reals I too will be crafting better gear but with the Dec 20 WIPE looming no time to do so. Good to hear there a other Solo'ers around

CROW3

I’ve solo’d A2 entirely so far. Slow-er, but I’m making steady progress and testing just fine. I don’t want ashes to be made for solo-ing, but I think soloing needs to be possible, if thag makes sense.

Gizban

Gigibytes wrote: »

It seems to me the gear drops from regular mobs dry up after level 10, which has taken some of the fun out of it for me. When the game drops for reals I too will be crafting better gear but with the Dec 20 WIPE looming no time to do so. Good to hear there a other Solo'ers around

The path may be to harvest the mats for the gear you want and then have a crafter make it.

I enjoy gathering because Vera is a pretty place. Hope the snowy mountains give me a Skyrim vibe.

Xhykor

Maybe a career path "Mercenary" Permanently increases solo XP by 250% and reduces Drop change 25% (XP 250%+ Drop 25%-) and as counter in Groups reduces XP 75% Drop change +50% (XP -75% Drop +50)
+ maybe a Mercenary exclusive questline
and to remove the Mercenary status you need spent a lot of gold, along questline and so on

to make it impactful.

NOTE: I just used some Radom numbers, more important is the concept.

This way it allows you to level solo and be a solo player, that still pushes you to group play for possible drops you need for gear and crafting.
but at endgame a merc would need a separate reward system since XP would not be important anymore and it should be avoided that merc is just a level system.

Sneakypie

All great suggestions above - thanks for your input

MincVinyl

I didnt quite understand it either. I was told it was a hard game to solo and many seemed to complain about it. However I had next to no issues. Maybe some people are bad, but I don't see where they could have issues yet. Perhaps they just dont have heals and are dying due to trying to speed run?

Solo should be viable in the openworld. Be nice to get a balance where the mid tier of players have a slight struggle. On more elite mobs the top tier of solo players should have a struggle.

dirich

The lead game designer recently did an interview where he mentioned that he wants to allow solo players to have something to do (more or less, I can't recall the exact quote - it was a single phrase in a 1h long interview).

So, I guess, the point is that sololing will get some love, but right now the focus is on the core mechanics characteristic of Ashes.

I doubt there will be time for itbefore the second half of 2025 since the plans for the first half, from what I understand, are classes (augments etc).

Still, definitely a +1 for this thread.

Lughlaoch

Agreed. I have soloed up to level 12 and only yesterday grouped with guildies and did some HH. Sadly, I did not win a loot roll, but was given a nice helm by a guildmate. In any case, my sword and other items are still level 10 required and mostly vendor purchased or created. Yes, a reason to log in is always motivating. I think we'll get there...it's alpha - HOWEVER, it would seem the loot tables are fairly fleshed-out, right?

Andi

Gigibytes wrote: »

It seems to me the gear drops from regular mobs dry up after level 10, which has taken some of the fun out of it for me. When the game drops for reals I too will be crafting better gear but with the Dec 20 WIPE looming no time to do so. Good to hear there a other Solo'ers around

Nah, it's just random. I found a green lvl 10 tome just yesterday.

You'll want to buy a crafted weapon, anyway. Nothing drops the kind of gear you can get from players. And that's just a money question.. which you can farm solo. Or you trade for gathered resources (or refined), if you take on a profession or two.

MincVinyl

Also we have to remember that solo gameplay isn't exactly the big conversation starter compared to Woah you can fight bigass dragons in this huge dungeon with a ton of friends.

They certainly wont expect people to be grouped 100% of the time while in game for trivial tasks.

CROW3

I think there's a significant difference between an MMO designed for group play where solo'ing is a viable alternative for 80% of content, and an MMO designed exclusively for group play where 10% of content is viable for solo players.

The former will cater to a broader audience, the later will obviously have a much smaller audience. I've always considered Ashes the first option, but we'll see.

nanfoodle

I used to Solo in EQ all the time. Thats another group centric game. Ashes will be the same. You can solo and some class do it better then others. There will come a time you need to learn the game on the team side of things. I understand. As a Bard I run off solo about 25% of the time. Grinding off dept most times lol

Flashfirez23

I think phase 2 will be a little more solo friendly since the economy and story arcs will be added.

Fippy

nanfoodle wrote: »

I used to Solo in EQ all the time.

EQ was a game where some classes simply couldn't solo even if they wanted to. Good luck grinding to 50 as a warrior. Comparatively, this game is already leaps and bounds ahead of EQ when it comes to being solo friendly. It's harder and slower than grouping, yes, but it's definitely possible. When the questing systems get fully fleshed out I'm sure it will feel a lot better.

nanfoodle

Fippy wrote: »

nanfoodle wrote: »

I used to Solo in EQ all the time.

EQ was a game where some classes simply couldn't solo even if they wanted to. Good luck grinding to 50 as a warrior. Comparatively, this game is already leaps and bounds ahead of EQ when it comes to being solo friendly. It's harder and slower than grouping, yes, but it's definitely possible. When the questing systems get fully fleshed out I'm sure it will feel a lot better.

My Bard soloed very well. My Necro did as well. I used to grind raid trash solo with no problem.

Pham

Gigibytes wrote: »

I just wanted to voice my thoughts on Solo Play being viable in AoC.

At the moment, I'm still under level 15 and have solo'd most of the way, with occasional out in the world spur of the moment, pug type grouping. It's taken a while, but then hey! I'm not really in a hurry either! I don't need to feel 'bad' that I'm not in a rush to level 25, I wander around, kill stuff when I want, explore, gather, fish, whatever .. I am free! I love a good ding as much as the next person

I've grouped a bit, and really my idea of 'fun' is not grinding the same Elite mobs for hours on end to level up as fast I can. That sounds like a day-job, and I have one of those. I want my MMORPG time to feel free, and fun! Even though I solo a lot, I LOVE seeing other players around and feeling part of the broader in-game community, chucking on heals to passersby when they need it or grouping on-the-fly, but if I'm 'forced' to group, count me out. Not interested. But often I do want to group, and that's good too.

Regimented, sweaty game grinding is fun for a while, but it's not for everyone. People have kids/partners/chores/social & emotional, health, time issues etc, the list goes one. Modern life is real, some of us can only log on in fits and spurts for limited time but we enjoy playing MMO's as much as people that enjoy grouping.

I guess what I'm asking is:

Please keep drops in that game that allow solo players to progress their gear too. Sure, don't make it as good as the grouped-content gear, but give us a reason to log in and kill stuff
Please add some nice gear rewards to quest chains so we can upgrade that way
Please don't hate us! We are excited about Ashes, we want this game to be GREAT and escape into it for many years to come.

Thanks for listening if you made it this far :-)

I don't think there's technically anything preventing solo players from crafting some pretty good gear except time investment.

Also, I think they should be careful about making dropped gear too accessible because that could potentially de-value the crafting system as well.

I really don't want to see a repeat of New World crafting/economy crash.

Fippy

nanfoodle wrote: »

My Bard soloed very well. My Necro did as well. I used to grind raid trash solo with no problem.

Yes, those were two classes very well known for being able to solo at a rate that it made sense for them to not be reliant on groups all the time, and what classes can do at end game is a bit different than leveling.

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