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Soloable or Not?
Taggerung1
Member Posts: 5
in Guild Wars
Can this game be enjoyed by one solo player? I have read the reviews, but this has never come up. I'm just wondering, because I am a fan of traditional RPGs, and Id like to see if this game would interest me. Thx,
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I've gone through a good deal of it solo for the most part. You can pic up NPC henchmen to help you and thats how I've done most of the quests/missions. Mostly because I tend to play during the mornings and day when most people are at work or school or whatnot.
Richard J. Cox
"There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust."
Solo with henchmen is doable. Solo without any henchmen, you're probably not going to get too far in some of the quests. It's easy to find yourself ganged up on quickly.
So... It's kinda like Diablo II, in the sense that you can get through it alone, but its easier and faster to do it with a group?
I'd highly recommend grouping for this game.
I never played Diablo II, so I don't know.
When I got into Post-Searing, I had a level 8 Elementalist/Mesmer and tried going solo without any henchmen. I could do some things alone, but when I encountered groups of 3 or more Charr, they would put the smack down on me. Then I would get penalized -14%, and as much as I tried, there was no way I would take on more Charr while penalized (considering they were tough for me w/o penalties).
Adding a healer and warrior henchmen, even though they are only level 3, made a huge difference. Now I'm able to concentrate on dealing out damage while the henchmen do their job. I'm able to survive (much longer) than I could by myself. So I would say, yes, it is easier and faster. It's also a lot more fun.
While it's still not a true solo, it works for when you want to adventure on your own for whatever reason. I mean, there are times when maybe you don't feel like looking for a group, or don't have time to commit to a longer quest, or you just want to be alone.
Another thing is let's really look at the big picture.. Unless you REALLy want someone's char right beside you, one can join a guild and chat while using hirelings... you don't feel alone cause of the physical presence of the hirelings with the chattering of a guild.. boom.
Best of both worlds.
Realmreaver formally of EQ, SWG, FFXI and WoW.
Malis/Pirotess of PSO.
Some named of Diablo 1 and 2
Grendel Kinguard of GW.
most of the time i do mission solo then do them with a friend that have less time to play and its much more fun and easier in team.
Also its relly easy to get a group in this game with the mission outpost.there is always people seeking for a group or group asking for m,ore player.Usualy your in a group in less then 5 min.
You can get through to the Divinity Coast/Beetletun area solo, so I think your "first few areas" is a bit of an understatement. You can also get to level 20 solo. Now, if you're talking about completing all the missions.. you may have a point, it all depends on what "getting through the game" means to each person.
I don't mean this as insulting but.. it's entirely possible that someone is more skilled at soloing than the both of us. What you're saying up there comes across as "I can't do it, so you can't either." - which is silly. Sure, they'd have to be a few levels
On a side note.. you can complete the game, in any sense of the word aside from possibly *ALL* the quests, with just a duo partner and no henchmen. That being said.. with a duo you can still complete 95% of the quests. Just a few will give you trouble.
- Nellus
most of the quests can be done with just henchmen, others pretty much require a decent team. All the explorable areas can be solo'ed (afaik). It's certaintly challenging, thats for sure. It also depends on what classes you pick, some are easier to solo than others. I thought the Wilds mission wasn't solo'able until my brother did it the other day...though if anyone manages to solo Thunderhead Keep i'd be incredibly impressed...
---sig---
PvE in general is pretty lame, if you think long and hard about it. You are spending your time beating a severely gimped AI that would lose to a well trained monkey. Best not to think too long and hard why you are wasting time playing games in general actually...
Guild Wars is very much a game about building your character based on your selection of skills. The choices you make and how well you use those skills in a combat will determine how well you can do without relying on other players to help you. Henchman definately help out a lot but they tend to be significantly lower level than you and they only have a few skills each. A real human player is always better than a henchman unless they are simply a terrible game player!
Some character builds (combos of professions and skills) WILL SOLO BETTER than other combos. So if you here someone say "Oh you can make it this far in GW by soloing..." That doesn't mean much unless you know what build they are playing and their experience with optimizing builds.
I beleive the casual gamer will have to learn to be a bit of a powergamer to go far in GW, or they will need to rely on lots of other players to help them along. The inexperienced or non-analytical player will not successfully "solo" (with henchman) past level 14 or so. However, teaming-up with just 1 other person will significally increase your chances of sucess, and quite possibly see you all the way to 20th and nearly all of the content. Pick your teammate well though, and better yet, pick-up 3 or 4 teammates. Personally I enjoy grouping with 3 random people plus henchman, or a full group of people that I know are good players.
ok..granted I havnt made it past level 15 yet and I have only done pvp in the arenas... but when do you get to have groups larger than 4 people? How much later is it that you can have groups with 6-8 people??
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a robot foot stomping on a human face -- forever."
I can't remember where the groups of 6 start (ice mountains I think), groups of 8 start after ascending. You also finally get a decent monk in the 'protector' as opposed to the almost useless 'healer'. I'd say 60% of the missions can be done with just henchmen, some are easier than others. The Dragon's Lair is incredibly easy to solo (bit disappointing really), Thunderhead Keep damn difficult (a full player team has enough difficulty).
---sig---
PvE in general is pretty lame, if you think long and hard about it. You are spending your time beating a severely gimped AI that would lose to a well trained monkey. Best not to think too long and hard why you are wasting time playing games in general actually...
you CAN solo a lot of this game ( with henchman ) if you know what u are doing. but, it is a lot easier to do with a party of actual people, not to mention its better to have 5 other peoples opinions than rely on your own plans with 5 henchman.
y0da
Depends on how you define solo. I have gone up to lvl 13 while solo. I define solo in this case as no other human teamate. You will need the AI henchmen for a lot of missions/quests, but you don't have to control them or anything. They attack what you attack.
Since I am the only human on my team, I consider that soloing.
You're wrong. Most of the game is soloable. I just did Draknor's Forge a few days ago solo. Actually, I tried it twice with other people but the groups were terrible and got me killed both times. So I grabbed a bunch of henchmen and did it myself with no problem. It was easy, even. Dragon's Lair? Did it solo too. I'm guess after the Iron Mines it will be less viable as a solo game due to henchmen not having imbued armor, and I know the couple of areas in Temple of Ages are not soloable, but still, the vast majority is soloable.
Just because you can't do it solo, doesn't mean other people can't.
Wow. You are one seriously bitter person. I gave real examples from the past week of playing and you accuse me of making up stuff?
Couldn't beat you in GvG? What are you talking about? Care to give some specifics?
I would have no problem with it if you had said some parts of the game were difficult to do solo, some parts impossible, and that without a group you wouldn't be able to enjoy 100% of the game. I would agree with you. But you said "But, rest assured, that MOST of the game is NOT soloable" which I do not agree with. It is possible to solo the majority of the game (by majority I mean # of areas).
I don't care if you post something unpopular or that makes the game look bad (like invisible walls can be annoying), but at least let it be true.
wellp, id say most of the eastern part is soloable. But when you get to the western parts and south east... you really do need a companion every time you go out of a district. And basically you can do quests with henchmen, but there are thse that could not be achived with henchmen alone. Humans are important in the team because they can make deicions given a particular event. I'd say, this is more of a team game on later levels while pre searing and early post searing is not that much.
i~ku~ra
you talkin to me?
i~ku~ra
sorry bout my post, i was kinda rude on replying lolx! i should have asked like... just a "?"
i~ku~ra
we GW players are so cool
i~ku~ra
From reading you folks, it seem like you can duo and have a few henchman in the worst case in order to complete everything...or nearly everything.
Duo is acceptable to almost every soloer, easy to find another soloer and bargain hep X for help Y type, you can be shafted a little in such bargain, but not to much usually so...work fine.
The ''everything'' or ''nearly everything'' may be an issue. Also, having to always been duo could be a turn off for some soloers.
I try to be objective, since I didnt try GW and will not until they change that PvP that open some zones depending on which continent control a PvP zone, I dont care even if North America would be owning that zone all the time, the fact it relly on PvP turn me off, completely...so remaining objective on others topics.
Duo is closer to solo then to grouping IMO, and so does think most soloers. A group by definition start at 2 players, but in practice, duo is often only 2 soloers...so for me, a group start at 3 persons. Solo & duo should be consider together, while 3-6(or 8) players should be considered a group.
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Perhaps he can, perhaps he can't. I was simply stating that I did the majority of it with a duo, so it's *possible*. If I implied that just because my partner and I can do this.. that EVERYONE can.. I'm truly sorry, but I don't see where it came across that way. Of course, you also have to take into consideration the classes involved in soloing. For those interested.. two monk secondaries work very well. Ranger and Elementalist primaries in my own duo. Of course, there's always the option of bringing along a healer henchman should you choose a different path.
I'll be the first to admit that there are a handful of quests that my little duo cannot complete. That's where the percentage in my estimate came into play. When I grow tired of messing around on Slackker I'll likely find a few more people and complete these.
As for Salahuddin.. being an alpha tester has what to do with this topic, exactly? It seemed as though it's just a little merit badge on your chest that you're puffing out for everyone to see. In no way does it account for skill, or make your opinion and experience any better than those who weren't in the alpha. Using it to condescend the rest of us just makes me glad to read the post where you said you no longer play.
In summary: It's POSSIBLE, but would of course depend on your level of solo/duo skills. Some gamers are more adept in these roles (like myself, in my opinion) and some are amazing in groups. Personally, I suck in a group and choose the solo/duo path to save other players from having to cope with my inadequacies in that role.
- Nellus