Guild Wars 2

What’s with the solo instancing? I thought you stopped with this, I want to play an MMO to play with my friends, not to be locked outside. Now my friends that rely on me to help them can’t get it done.

Edit: Sorry for Clarity the first story when you enter Kessex Hills, I go there with my friend then suddenly we get thrown into seperate instances and and its just like not fun cause we cant even go at the same pace, and as a squishy she can dish it, but i’m usually there to keep stuff off her as a Guardian. It just kind of ruins it when we can’t play together

Theres like 4+ different teams so they all clash with the ideas etc. Some go for group instance some go for solo…I would say something but fraid to get infracted

You are FORCED to play alone?
That sucks….

I love that there’s solo content but I wish they would figure out a way to scale things from 1-5 so that everyone can be happy:(

Yeah, this isn’t much fun playing alone with some things, even if it was just a few minutes, but this is an MMO where we are supposed to be able to play with friends.

Also, and I can not believe I am complaining about new content being released, but new content is coming too fast. I mean, here we are not even done with Halloween and there is a new Living Story. In two weeks, there will be another. It’s starting to feel like an achievement chase and if you don’t do it you lose out on experiencing game and story firsthand, but there is no time to just relax. It also takes time away from doing alt gameplay. Perhaps this Living Story can be done once a month instead of once every two weeks, even once every couple of months would be good.

TBH I like the solo instancing, it lets you focus on the actual story. I mean, you don’t spend your time in a movie talking to your friends right? (Unless it’s The Room ofc)
Although it should work like the Personal Story where you can bring people along if you want.

Man… I’d hate to be at ANET right about now.

When there is group content, people complain that there isn’t a solo version. When you make solo content, people complain that there is no group version. When there is open world battles, people complain they want an instance. When you make an instance, people complain that they want it in open world.

Delvoire.8930:

Man… I’d hate to be at ANET right about now.

When there is group content, people complain that there isn’t a solo version. When you make solo content, people complain that there is no group version. When there is open world battles, people complain they want an instance. When you make an instance, people complain that they want it in open world.

the thus the forums are born.

when you let everybody have a say you hear nobody.

My husband and I play as a duo. I was quite disappointed to see we couldn’t play the new story instance together. He’s still leveling up his character and wasn’t able to complete the instance on his own. Thankfully he’s almost 80 and can hopefully complete it then but still, forced solo sucks. An MMORPG should NEVER force solo play.

Eh that solo “instance” ( i wouldn’t even call it an instance lol) takes 5 minutes on a level 80 and 15 minutes on lower level characters, EVEN if you read the story line. It’s not difficult every class can finish it no matter of the level. Dodge’s your friend!

After you finished the story line you will have enough people in Kessex Hill and you wish you could go back to soloing

slurpey.6014:

Eh that solo “instance” ( i wouldn’t even call it an instance lol) takes 5 minutes on a level 80 and 15 minutes on lower level characters, EVEN if you read the story line. It’s not difficult every class can finish it no matter of the level. Dodge’s your friend!

After you finished the story line you will have enough people in Kessex Hill and you wish you could go back to soloing

Except it is an instancing exactly, so why wouldn’t you call it that?

Here’s the problem with exaggerated claims (like your 5 minute estimate): they work both ways. So, we can instead say this:

“Eh that solo “instance” takes 45 minutes on a level 80 and 60 minutes on lower level characters, EVEN if you read the story line. "

See how that works?

Whether it’s difficult or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is that people expect to be able to play MMOs with their friends. When the game doesn’t let them play together, it’s frustrating.

hedix.1986:

TamTiTam.9574:

You are FORCED to play alone?
That sucks….

Indeed. Solo should be an option for people who prefer it (though why are they playing an MMO in the first place?), but solo should not be enforced, this is a MULTI-PLAYER game.

Personally I like doing these story things solo because it is harder to focus on the story, harder to immerse yourself as a protagonist in this story, and distracting and limiting to be as worried or more worried about what your teammates are doing than what is going on. I always feel rushed in dungeons, even story mode ones by teammates wanting to simply go forward. We all move at different paces.
I’ve never understood this kittenlish, elitist, snobiness that people have with someone wanting to read or watch the story at their own pace.

Nothing wrong with solo content, just like their is nothing wrong with group content.

Instead of either side asking for Arena Net to stop supporting the play style they dislike it may be more productive to petition them to make all content soloable and group friendly.

I see no reason why we can not `have our cake and eat it´.

Normally people complain about forced grouping.

The forced instance is a very nice touch in order to fill-in players with what’s currently happening with the LS in an easier manner IMO. But yeah, when players want to experience instanced content in a party like the Personal Story content, it should happen. I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to handle this.

Azure Prower.8701:

Normally people complain about forced grouping.

I agree. THIS was a main concern on the final mission for the personal story.
“Why am I being forced to have a 5 person party”.

Although I personally solo almost everything I play more than my friends so it was not a huge deal for me, I see where everyone is coming from. Having a choice is better than no choice.

Where is Marjory located in Kessex Hills to re-enter the story instance again. I am only level 31 and was wipped by the final boss and left. When I returned (in an overflow I will add), I don’t see her so I can’t re-enter the solo instance?

She’s at the camp on the NW shore, near the centaur bridge. Over at the cliff edge in front of the tent.

Donari.5237:

She’s at the camp on the NW shore, near the centaur bridge. Over at the cliff edge in front of the tent.

Thanks

Scaling instances would be my preference – choice is always a plus.

I really wish that all of the story mode dungeons were scale-able from 1-5 players and awarded a fraction of that dungeon’s tokens once per day for completion (say, 10-15) That way someone who does not enjoy grouping or doesn’t have the time to commit to exploration mode dungeons can slowly work on dungeon armor.

Targarion.8046:

An MMORPG should NEVER force solo play.

The fact it is there means they think it’s OK. I think choice is important of course but the fact this is forced solo begins to also highlight and explain the mentality of a massive plethora of inherent design flaws across the board that they’re constantly fighting and struggling with. It could be the current people just inherited these problems from others but it’s starting to reach god-tier BS mode. It’s like the game itself is a wobbly rope bridge with a few rotten wooden planks in it, you need to be very careful how you cross it or players start falling through never to return.

hedix.1986:

TamTiTam.9574:

You are FORCED to play alone?
That sucks….

Indeed. Solo should be an option for people who prefer it (though why are they playing an MMO in the first place?), but solo should not be enforced, this is a MULTI-PLAYER game.

Ouch. How does that work with this instance? It wasn’t terribly kitten my Guardian but I can imagine it being brutal on a light armor. Especially one under level 80 and not in optimal gear.

I thought it was nice to have a short explanatory setting instance solo so I can take in the story impact without a rush. It’s not like every instance in the game is locked to solo groups, it seems to be very few. So the balance seems allright to me. I also think it is a myth that there isn’t a large amount of people that enjoys solo-play once in a while in MMOs.

Of course choice is always great but in this case it did not feel like the end of the world that there was no group thing, as it is so short and almost pure storytelly.

The final boss fight is obsured for anyone new to this game. My Level 32 warrior can not take these down. Did they make it harder with the patch today? Why can’t the SOLO instance be at the level of the character that entered it.

Thanks for the clarification, Matthew. It would have been nice to be able to do the story instance as a group, but I can understand how technical reasons may have meant that it’s not possible in this instance.

Still, I’m a bit puzzled as to why you can’t re-enter the instance by talking to Marjory with a group.

MatthewMedina.5419:

Thanks for expressing your concerns. It’s definitely our preference to give players as much choice about their instanced experiences as possible. Whenever possible, we make instances capable of being either soloed or completed in groups.

However, in this particular case, because we are manually intercepting everyone over level 25 and automatically loading them into the instance, we currently don’t have support for parties to be brought into the instance together under those circumstances. This is something that we are looking at addressing for the future. It was not an easy choice, but for narrative reasons we felt it would have been less impactful for players to load straight into Kessex Hills without having experienced the instance beforehand.

I do regret that we weren’t able to offer “The Nightmare Unveiled” as group content at this time, but hopefully the remainder of the open world content makes up for this.. :-)

I did like the way you learnt the story as soon as you entered the map. However you could have added an option to leave the instance and come back with more friends. Like when talking to the woman at the start leading the group she could have had said something like “If you don’t think we are ready, speak to me again once we have reinforcements.”

That way people could leave the instance and come back to play through if they felt they were not strong enough or preferred playing with friends.

Delvoire.8930:

Man… I’d hate to be at ANET right about now.

When there is group content, people complain that there isn’t a solo version. When you make solo content, people complain that there is no group version. When there is open world battles, people complain they want an instance. When you make an instance, people complain that they want it in open world.

there should be no solo anything in an mmo, the point is to play with others

My friend bought GW2 several days ago during the 29.99 discount, and he can’t beat the instance. For me who is geared in full ascended with 80 exotic, it is easy to beat the instance. However, for someone who just joined the community, he is totally overwhelmed, due to his level, gears, and game experience. What’s worse is that I cannot go in and help out my friend. Plz Anet, remember always leave an option for us to do instances in a group.

Disastro.4086:

Targarion.8046:

An MMORPG should NEVER force solo play.

The fact it is there means they think it’s OK. I think choice is important of course but the fact this is forced solo begins to also highlight and explain the mentality of a massive plethora of inherent design flaws across the board that they’re constantly fighting and struggling with. It could be the current people just inherited these problems from others but it’s starting to reach god-tier BS mode. It’s like the game itself is a wobbly rope bridge with a few rotten wooden planks in it, you need to be very careful how you cross it or players start falling through never to return.

Lol, you name perfectly reflects your outlook on things.

Ofc, there should always be options for those who want to group, but personally i loved the fact it was solo. It gave me the sense that it was ME being summoned on an important mission and not having to worry about anyone else while in there gave me a chance to immerse myself more into what it was all about.

MatthewMedina.5419:

Thanks for expressing your concerns. It’s definitely our preference to give players as much choice about their instanced experiences as possible. Whenever possible, we make instances capable of being either soloed or completed in groups.

However, in this particular case, because we are manually intercepting everyone over level 25 and automatically loading them into the instance, we currently don’t have support for parties to be brought into the instance together under those circumstances. This is something that we are looking at addressing for the future. It was not an easy choice, but for narrative reasons we felt it would have been less impactful for players to load straight into Kessex Hills without having experienced the instance beforehand.

I do regret that we weren’t able to offer “The Nightmare Unveiled” as group content at this time, but hopefully the remainder of the open world content makes up for this.. :-)

The personal story allows us to play with others in an instance even if we aren’t in the same area when the instance is entered.

To be perfectly candid the rest of the content being good doesn’t make up for the forced solo instance. I am asking long and loudly for narrative, lore and story telling, but if it means giving up group play it isn’t worth it to me.

Surely you can manage both?

Lostwingman.5034:

TBH I like the solo instancing, it lets you focus on the actual story. I mean, you don’t spend your time in a movie talking to your friends right? (Unless it’s The Room ofc)
Although it should work like the Personal Story where you can bring people along if you want.

I don’t spend my time in a movie theatre talking with my friends. But I seldom attend one alone and I can’t imagine an usher stopping us at the door and telling us that we’ll have to attend separate showings because this is a solo movie…

With respect to the final boss:

Fight at range
Bring condition cleansing

That’s all ya really gotta pay attention to. I’ve done this on both my engi & my thief and had a MUCH easier time with my engi because of being able to fight at range. My thief, on the other hand, was forced to cleanse & heal like a madman. If you’ve got some knockback or launch skills, use those to knock the champ out of the big red circle he stands in. Otherwise, meleeing will chew you up fast.

How can you call a 5 minute map a solo instance? ROFL!

I do all story instances, if at all possible, in a team of two. It’s always disappointing when that isn’t possible for some reason that just sounds arbitrary.

Why port level 25+ characters into the instance in the first place?

A better way would have been to play a cinematic for ALL players who port to Kessex Hills, and then spawn them next to the instance entry point, where they could have entered the instance solo or in a group, regarless of their levels.

Wow, it is a small 5 minute nugget of story, is grouping for it really necessary? You do it once and your done with it, or you leave and do it later.

MatthewMedina.5419:

Thanks for expressing your concerns. It’s definitely our preference to give players as much choice about their instanced experiences as possible. Whenever possible, we make instances capable of being either soloed or completed in groups.

However, in this particular case, because we are manually intercepting everyone over level 25 and automatically loading them into the instance, we currently don’t have support for parties to be brought into the instance together under those circumstances. This is something that we are looking at addressing for the future. It was not an easy choice, but for narrative reasons we felt it would have been less impactful for players to load straight into Kessex Hills without having experienced the instance beforehand.

I do regret that we weren’t able to offer “The Nightmare Unveiled” as group content at this time, but hopefully the remainder of the open world content makes up for this.. :-)

The problem with this approach is that impact you were hoping to achieve ends up getting lost on some players. Friends zone together, but when they don’t end up in an instance together and can’t find any way of joining one another, they end up leaving the instance immediately and prematurely to try again (because in their minds they’ve encountered a bug rather than an intentional design). And so, the focus shifts completely away from the story and onto resolving an annoying problem of the game not functioning as expected.

People, it’s an short instance that you complete in 5-7min max. Honestly, stop being so picky and blowing it out of porportion. No reason for all these complaints. And it’s actually fun to do solo imo.

Seras.5702:

With respect to the final boss:

Fight at range
Bring condition cleansing

That’s all ya really gotta pay attention to. I’ve done this on both my engi & my thief and had a MUCH easier time with my engi because of being able to fight at range. My thief, on the other hand, was forced to cleanse & heal like a madman. If you’ve got some knockback or launch skills, use those to knock the champ out of the big red circle he stands in. Otherwise, meleeing will chew you up fast.

That’s what I did, I switched to a level 27 Elementalist and picked off each one or two at a time. I was still downed a few times but the NPC’s were able to help.

I’m fine with the solo instance, but should have the option to allow other people in. Similar to story events. My wife, who is not as skilled, had a hard time soloing the event. I had to complete the last part for her. Not everybody has the same skill set and need a little help one and a while.

Edge.4180:

MatthewMedina.5419:

Thanks for expressing your concerns. It’s definitely our preference to give players as much choice about their instanced experiences as possible. Whenever possible, we make instances capable of being either soloed or completed in groups.

However, in this particular case, because we are manually intercepting everyone over level 25 and automatically loading them into the instance, we currently don’t have support for parties to be brought into the instance together under those circumstances. This is something that we are looking at addressing for the future. It was not an easy choice, but for narrative reasons we felt it would have been less impactful for players to load straight into Kessex Hills without having experienced the instance beforehand.

I do regret that we weren’t able to offer “The Nightmare Unveiled” as group content at this time, but hopefully the remainder of the open world content makes up for this.. :-)

The problem with this approach is that impact you were hoping to achieve ends up getting lost on some players. Friends zone together, but when they don’t end up in an instance together and can’t find any way of joining one another, they end up leaving the instance immediately and prematurely to try again (because in their minds they’ve encountered a bug rather than an intentional design). And so, the focus shifts completely away from the story and onto resolving an annoying problem of the game not functioning as expected.

This is exactly what happened to us.

Especially after the las instance (Tassi resealing the Bloody Prince) allows up to 5 people, but sometimes you all end up in different instances, and sometimes you end up in the same instance as your party but it kicks everyone out after two seconds. Yesterday it took us 8 tries to get in the same Bloody Prince instance with a 3 people party.
How were we supposed to know that the new instance was strictly solo and not just broken? We could have left and tried again but we didn’t know if it was repeatable either.

I mean, I could study the patch notes before heading back into the game, but I really want to avoid spoilers before a new story instance.

It’s all just stuff I’d rather not be dealing with when what I really want is to enjoy new content and get caught up in the story and atmosphere…

I love solo instances becouse i can do them myself and dont have to bother with anyone. And it makes me feel that i am main part of the story only me and not some other group of people. I hope in a future i will be able to do every living story instance solo.
I just like it.

Introduction instances that you play solo? Works for me, got nothing against it.

Minigames and activites that you can’t play with your friends and get forced grouping with random players? That is something you should work on.

This is a good discussion. I agree with all those above who have laid out good arguments about the benefits of choice. There are people who prefer to play solo, and people who prefer to play in a group. I’d like to see all content be available to both types of players.

That being said, these instances that focus on the Player as a main character probably do make sense as solo. It helps you feel more part of the story. On the other side of the spectrum, it can be disheartening to work your way up to Arah story mode only to have all the cutscenes feature some other person you’ve never met before.

I didn’t even look at it as an instance, more of a story introduction which it really was and I loved it. It made me genuinely interested in what’s happening at the tower which I cant say for all LS updates. I agree that you should be able to enter with a party but being there solo made me feel more involved.

My stance: Story instances should be soloable, but you can bring friends if you want.

i liked the way it went straight in to the story when loading into kessex hills, i was getting tired of the formula of: load in, find npc, talk to them, accept mission. the straight load in made the story feel seamless and it felt like it mattered in the moment, so i’m very happy with that decision.

I also liked having a solo instance, it made it feel like a personal mission, however there should be an option for people who want/need to group up.

rizzo.1079:

I love that there’s solo content but I wish they would figure out a way to scale things from 1-5 so that everyone can be happy:(

This is one the first times they’ve done it. Prior to this most of the instances were either group instances or at least doable with a group.

I think the only reason they did it this way was to set up the story in Kessex Hills before you see the new map. It wouldn’t make sense to rescue Marjory and Kasmeer after you’ve seen them at their camp and you’ve seen the veil lifted already.

The sequence of events meant that you had to do the instance before seeing the new map. Maybe they don’t have the technology to transport an entire party to an instance when someone zones into a map? It’s a little different from how a dungeon instance is created.