Guild Wars 2

Dear Devs,

I leave for this feedback on my GW2 departure, as with no sub to cancel there seems no way to leave any feedback as well.

I love GW2. The world, the classes, the gameplay, puzzles, graphics..all that was A grade material. So why have I quit playing?

The answer was easy for me. After bringing 2 characters to 80 and having no PVP interest I found there was no progression (and by this I mean horizontal) for me that felt worthwhile. Why? You failed to understand something important.

I am a soloer, yet I enjoy playing in a live world. I want something to work on. Dungeons are my favorite thing to do yet you didn’t scale them to solo play. Shame on you. I would have accepted 24 hr lock out timers to keep group play stable yet still give me something to do other than farm Karma. That simply wasn’t enough. You should have known that. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.
As a game that may have evolutionarily changed MMOs you stuck to an old (and maybe you thought tried and true formula) mechanic and one that I simply won’t support any more. You cannot force me to be a grouper. I will be a grouper on my own terms or not at all. If you don’t give me as a soloer enough to do I will find a game that does.

See ya at the 1 time events and any free content expansions but that’s it as far as I can tell until you make this much needed change IMHO. Adios.

TLDR: No solo scalability on dungeons was a fail. Lock-out timers for control would have sufficed. Not enough to do as a non PVP soloer in GW2.

Have you tried Skyrim?

Jokes aside, you’re asking for solo content in a massively multiplayer online game.

Good Luck OP. I hope you find a game that suits your playstyle.

Rift is doing a very good job of scaleable/soloable dungeons, maybe a free trial is worth a look for you.

Good luck friend.

Seinvan.2190:

Have you tried Skyrim?

Jokes aside, you’re asking for solo content in a massively multiplayer online game.

Did you miss the part where I prefer a LIVE world?
I really don’t understand this mindset but I know devs have been thinking this for years (think Everquest at least). I came from solo RPGs where I soloed dungeons with no problem. I have grouped to my heart’s content, even was a Guild Master and Raid Leader once. Now I am back to where I started and where I prefer. Solo with the option to group (rarely). You cannot fight your nature and by nature I’m a lone wolf (or tiger as is may be).

It’s all about scalability. There’s no reason it cannot be done except if developers don’t want to do it. Take DDO for a good example (although I consider it B grade graphics..). Tons of dungeons you can solo. It’s not like it hasn’t or can’t be done.

Bring in dungeon-only hirelings if you need to for balance.
Especially since all classes have healing abilities, the balancing would not even be as hard as in a classic fantasy MMO.

So please enough with the idea that you cannot solo in a massively multiplayer online game. And I do it because it’s hard to do, not because it’s easier. If anything, grouping makes MMOs easier not harder.

I have a feeling many soloers have already left over this..honestly it can be done without interfering with anyone else’s sacred playstyle in my opinion. Just have to find a way to mesh it all together.

I like to make partys and groups……but I agree with you, I would like to make solo dungeons, and other solo events.

The problem with dungeon only hirelings is that it will cause a bigger outcry from the player base. And the only reason for the outcry will be this: fractals.

Hirelings have to work across the board in any dungeon. And if a guy can grab 4 hirelings and run fractals solo, there will be even less people in the open world. And there will be people with full ascended infused gear within a couple of weeks.

Mmos cannot cater to all the players. Some will definitely slip through the cracks. That is the nature of the beast.

I hope you find a game more suited to your needs!

I believe alcedonia and the OP each have a good point, the key is to find what is possible and make it happen, although having some solo dungeons probably wouldn’t hurt. But ideals still remain and you can always hope that they’ll grant your wishes. Good luck OP.

I too wish for a game designed for me and me alone, but until I have millions of dollars to waste on hiring a team of developers to make it for me I will settle for GW2, which comes pretty close sometimes.

GW2, is by far the best mmo since Everquest. I haven’t played much of EQ back then, but i heard that at the time it had set a certain standard. GW2 takes rpg ideals, and makes them a reality, that is what all devs hope for in the end to achieve.

That is also saying a lot, because Everquest was essentially the mmo to play. The little I played of it, I was playing in first person and the scale and size of the worlds in EQ were tremendous (think names like Planes of Power). Everquest was the definitive rpg and also the monsters took forever to kill :/.

GW2, is by far the best mmo since Everquest? ????I disagree.

While I love the game it lacks progression in a profound manner, this is ok for people who dont play alot but for some who like the hard challenge some games offer this game doesnt hold up. It has the BEST leveling experience I have ever found!!!! But at max level the games is either FALLS HARD the dungeons are very bad, and all that is left is grind or do map complete for pve player.

Although WoW has its pitfalls it is the KING OF MMO, bar none. You can flame n disagree but player base doesnt lie.

Seinvan.2190:

Have you tried Skyrim?

Jokes aside, you’re asking for solo content in a massively multiplayer online game.

massively multiplayer does not mean PvP (though it can)
massively multiplayer does not mean group play (though it can)

massively multiplayer simply means many people in the same game space

I agree OP, I’d love solo,duo, trio etc. content – if all the dungeons scaled that would be sweet indeed. Farming for karma gets old…especially considering it is really not used for much of anything fun.

elkirin.8534:

Good Luck OP. I hope you find a game that suits your playstyle.

Rift is doing a very good job of scaleable/soloable dungeons, maybe a free trial is worth a look for you.

Rift have soloable dungeons? What did you smoke? oO

What is this Kirito-fail sob story about not being able to solo every part of this game? lol
I want to play a mmo but I want to play alone. Darkness is the only thing that hugs me!

Seinvan.2190:

Have you tried Skyrim?

Jokes aside, you’re asking for solo content in a massively multiplayer online game.

Ya OP- it’s massively multiplayer, so you and 4 others go run fractals over and over

Massive

I would also like to see solo-mode dungeons, even at reduced rewards.
Some poeple like myself enjoy going it alone, even in a LIVE world.
GW2’s open world events are great, most are soloable, but are fun even when people join in. The key part is that there is no commitment or stress to perform, which is usually the case with 5mans. I work hard and deal with jerks all day, I don’t want my game time to be the same.

wookie slayer.4259:

GW2, is by far the best mmo since Everquest? ????I disagree.

While I love the game it lacks progression in a profound manner, this is ok for people who dont play alot but for some who like the hard challenge some games offer this game doesnt hold up. It has the BEST leveling experience I have ever found!!!! But at max level the games is either FALLS HARD the dungeons are very bad, and all that is left is grind or do map complete for pve player.

Although WoW has its pitfalls it is the KING OF MMO, bar none. You can flame n disagree but player base doesnt lie.

You could train millions of chimpanzees to fart in unison but that doesn’t make it pleasant to experience. WoW wasn’t a bad game, but I wouldn’t call it the King of MMO’s. That title really does belong to Everquest and it has nothing to do with the user base. It has a lot more to do with being ground-breaking and doing things nobody’s really done. EQ made the MMO popular. WoW merely capitalized on that popularity, by taking the package and making it easier to play, prettier and less group-intensive.

So, I would have to agree based on what I believe to make an MMO ‘great’ that Guild Wars 2 is the best thing since EQ. Guild Wars 2 takes convention and in a lot of cases, turns it up on its end and gives us a new way to play the game. This really isn’t a WoW flame either. It was a good game, great even at one point. But there’s really nothing ground-breaking about it.

As for the OP’s decision, well that’s sad to hear, but I find it ironic that he would evoke Everquest. Because, let’s face it, EQ for all its ground-breaking stuff, you couldn’t take a pee behind a tree without a group. Soloing in that game was nearly non-existent unless you had either the very best gear for your class, or played certain classes that could solo.

As somebody who prefers soloing, most of the time grouping isn’t bad in GW2. You get the occasional groups that just die no matter what happens, or are run by elitist pricks, but I would still say you should step outside your box and try grouping. The worst that happens is you’re out a few silver for repairs and you’ve added some jerks to the block list.

Most of these folks are pretty OK if you give them half a chance.

Seinvan.2190:

Have you tried Skyrim?

Jokes aside, you’re asking for solo content in a massively multiplayer online game.

I have seen a trillion trillion trillion time when player brought up about wanting to do solo stuff in MMO and some dude will come in and say what are you doing in a MMO game then since you prefer solo play.

To prefer a solo playstyle is NOT EQUAL to not wanting to playing with other players (or in group). There is a DISTINCT difference. I gave you my experience with WoW.

Before WoW introduced automated LFG (Looking for Group) features, the only way to do dungeon is to get a regular playgroup most likely having to join a guild group. Before you even enter the dungeon entrance, you have to play politics to position yourself as the ‘preferred’ player in your guild group. Many players played healer and tank not because they enjoy tanking or healing but because it is what give them the ‘preferred’ status in their guild group.

With the intro of automated LFG, I can be myself and at the same time able to get a group to play dungeon ANYTIME I wish without having to join guild and to engage in human politics.

So, feature like automated LFG has made WoW MMO solo-friendly. This is not to mean solo content to the exclusion of other players. Mark that difference.

papryk.6273:

elkirin.8534:

Good Luck OP. I hope you find a game that suits your playstyle.

Rift is doing a very good job of scaleable/soloable dungeons, maybe a free trial is worth a look for you.

Rift have soloable dungeons? What did you smoke? oO

Yeah they’ve had them for a long long time.

I think that individual enemies should be close to solo able; however, multiple enemies in a fight should require group play (when I say multiple I mean like 1 vs 5-6+; stuff like 1 vs 2-3 should be solo able. Then again that’s hard to scale properly as it would really depend on player skill which varies greatly, which I suppose means that content should vary greatly too).

I think having thinks that require players to split up in order to do multiple tasks at once in order to progress is good. The Fractals Dredge boss is a good example. Splitting players up in this way would be the easiest way to create good balance between solo skill and group play. Teamwork is always a good thing in that respect and I would like to see more of it.

Maybe they could add a “solo” path to dungeons; of course, with rewards scaled to the difficulty and time. I think a good “solo path” would be one with various challenges to get to the end; jump puzzles, exploration to find certain items (maybe a key or two to open a door or activate something, etc.), and then a few mini-boss fights to mix it up a bit.

MMO’s thrive on variation, especially if they don’t want to end up free to play (free to plays always seem to have a problem with variation and rely on crutch mechanic, usually combat, or a niche audience to survive). So, a few more things here and there oriented to solo play wouldn’t be uncalled for.

This is by far the most solobale MMO ive ever played, its one of the most annoying things about GW2. You shouldnt be able to reach 80 solo if you ask me, but then im from a different generation..

Reaver.9256:

papryk.6273:

elkirin.8534:

Good Luck OP. I hope you find a game that suits your playstyle.

Rift is doing a very good job of scaleable/soloable dungeons, maybe a free trial is worth a look for you.

Rift have soloable dungeons? What did you smoke? oO

Yeah they’ve had them for a long long time.

like which one?

The truth is that there are a lot of people who do a lot of soloing in MMOs. People who like the persistent world so you run into actual people and be able to chat with people in your zone etc, but just doing your own thing at the same time.

I don’t think GW2 is the most soloable MMO actually but you can solo to 80. I think for leveling this is important. I remember that in Aion some parts of the story on the Asmodean side where group quests and people actually got stuck there for ages not being able to progress. I don’t think that is good for establishing a customer base.

Reality today means that many different types of playstyles are out there and if you want a decent size player base you must have enough activities for various playing styles.

A lot of MMOs are too focused on one or two areas, or do a little bit of everything, which means it’s not enough for anybody.

I suppose one of the biggest surprises about GW2 is that there is so little variety in what you can do especially at 80, whereas there was plenty to do for max level in GW1. It just seems odd. Also the replay value is lacking.

In GW1 I had about 10 characters with full protector titles (title for completing the campaigns). In GW2 I got bored while leveling my second toon. It really was good the first time around but already with the second I got bored. So even though there are lots of zones to solo. A good number of events you need more people for, who aren’t always around and the tasks do get repetitious quickly.

No, I think even the solo content could be better. And it does get annoying when they constantly put mobs in the way which take longer to kill than in GW1 as it is, making exploring tedious rather than fun. Another solo activity that just isn’t what it could be to me.

So all in all, solo content doesn’t hold up over time. That’s the main reason I stopped playing myself even though I have done a lot of group content like dungeons, WvW and events.

So you’re mad because developers, after making hours and hours of game content that’s completely soloable, created specific content for groups…I’m sorry this is just pure stupidity. This is a mmorpg, if this is your first then I believe this just might not be the genre of gaming for you. What the majority of mmo players want, especially for late game gameplay is group content such as dungeons and/or raids…World bosses are another great example…Whats next? Do you want the event boss dragons to be soloable?…Seriously just go play Skyrim and ask a friend to sit in the room with you…there u now have a “LIVE” world with complete solo content…

This “solo play” is something I have only heard about with regards to MMOs in GW2, it is quite an interesting concept.

I spend most of my time solo running around explorables, and group with friends to do dungeons and considered that the norm. But Guild Wars 2 WAS marketed to be solo friendly, and you can group up only if you want to. I can see the appeal to a certain degree, specially when you make the comparison to single player RPGs.

I say OP has a right to say that GW2 did not deliver on it’s promises (a promise not related to the VP fiasco as well!)

Maybe Anet should be adding some solo oriented dungeons that you cannot group for? Instead of making the current group oriented dungeons solo friendly. The personal story was very solo-centric, maybe they could expand on some of those ideas – instancing certain areas of a map and putting in a small story for it.

This response apply to all you QQ’ing people .

Dont like game? Dont play it! Do us as favor.

GuildWars2 is great game. Yes it has it flaws and ways to be improved , everything does.

Explore map, do events , craft , jump puzzless , go pvp , WvWvW , talk to npcs, listen their stories .. this game so so so much to offer and yet there are people who complains what they dont have what to do on lvl 80.

Go Play WoW then. They release new armor and adds + 10 levels every month , you will be happy there at lvl 330.

Original GuildWars had great community because it didint attract wannabe 14 old whinners . I was really hoping to find same great community in here. It seems i failed.

papryk.6273:

elkirin.8534:

Good Luck OP. I hope you find a game that suits your playstyle.

Rift is doing a very good job of scaleable/soloable dungeons, maybe a free trial is worth a look for you.

Rift have soloable dungeons? What did you smoke? oO

That is what I was wondering. If it changed from raid or die at level cap, I hadn’t heard it. If they ever do allow players to solo instances AND have gear parity from it, I’ll buy the expansion in a heartbeat and make that my new home, though. Especially since they put in housing. If I hadn’t heard it was a very group-centric game I would have already bought it. Go Trion, go! Scoop up some solo player GW2 defectors, do it!

Anyway, yeah, in case no one can tell, I agree with OP. And putting in lockout timers would be perfect for keeping people in both open world and doing various instances. I’d love to have henchmen or heroes back for it.

But sadly I don’t see it happening. This game has been determined to thwart my unwillingness to group at every turn. Don’t group in Orr (and probably other zones) no loot drops. Don’t group in WvW? No loot or badges drop. I quit WvW over Ascended gear, but truth is I was thinking of quitting before that because of how stupid it is to require manual grouping to get loot, and that goes for open world PVE, too. It completely defeats the purpose of not having to group with the people around you to participate in content!

And to the cretins saying MMOs are supposed to be social experiences, I was in Teamspeak when I did WvW, how was that not being social enough for you?

I think the best compromise would be for ANET to add a dungeon finder tool. Personally, I’m predominately a soloer, but would like to do dungeons. However, I haven’t done any dungeons yet because I hate sitting around in towns in chat window doing LFG or GLF. I’m not a very active guild member nor is my guilds very active.

I just think a dungeon finder tool would help cater more to the “soloer” type of player. I’m not really sure what the downside is for that tool to be added.

FLFW.3105:

This response apply to all you QQ’ing people .

Dont like game? Dont play it! Do us as favor.

Fans of crappy games have been saying this for years.

Be careful what you wish for.

papryk.6273:

elkirin.8534:

Good Luck OP. I hope you find a game that suits your playstyle.

Rift is doing a very good job of scaleable/soloable dungeons, maybe a free trial is worth a look for you.

Rift have soloable dungeons? What did you smoke? oO

They are called chronicles and they helped get you over the hump at 50. They weren’t that great though imo.

But they were there and some people do like them. Choices are good.

MajesticMofo.4203:

What is this Kirito-fail sob story about not being able to solo every part of this game? lol
I want to play a mmo but I want to play alone. Darkness is the only thing that hugs me!

The jokes on you, i can easily solo all content in this game except for WvW, that’s when you need mindless drone zergs like yourself to achieve victory, so kudos for the kittenery on your chin fanboi.

The problem with this game is that good players have to make up for crappy casual players i.e babysit, but as we all know all the ‘hard’ content like champions that one hit you and don’t telegraph properly aren’t soloable at all and you’re ‘forced’ to group up with drones who don’t even make decent meat-shields, i call for solo content too OP because i’m tired of playing babysit wars 2.

FLFW.3105:

Original GuildWars had great community because it didint attract wannabe 14 old whinners . I was really hoping to find same great community in here. It seems i failed.

ArenaNet drove that great Guild Wars community away back in November. They are catering to a different kind of player, now. Unless they make some major changes to their direction quickly, that community will be nothing but a fond memory.

MrThebigcheese.2014:

They are called chronicles and they helped get you over the hump at 50. They weren’t that great though imo.

But they were there and some people do like them. Choices are good.

Chronicles =/= real dungeons
Chronicles are more like instanced story quests.

papryk.6273:

elkirin.8534:

Good Luck OP. I hope you find a game that suits your playstyle.

Rift is doing a very good job of scaleable/soloable dungeons, maybe a free trial is worth a look for you.

Rift have soloable dungeons? What did you smoke? oO

Rift had personal dungeons. They were easy, short, and there were only like…4 or 5, but they were there.

Tomkatt.1684:

papryk.6273:

elkirin.8534:

Good Luck OP. I hope you find a game that suits your playstyle.

Rift is doing a very good job of scaleable/soloable dungeons, maybe a free trial is worth a look for you.

Rift have soloable dungeons? What did you smoke? oO

Rift had personal dungeons. They were easy, short, and there were only like…4 or 5, but they were there.

Rift had personal dungeons, even WoW had to give in to this demand or lose players because not everyone can be on at the same time for 5 mans or raids. It’s just impossible so they added a system of smaller dungeons. I think the first ones to do it out of a AAA title tho was possibly LOTRO tho that’s complete conjecture on my part not knowing if some other lobby dungeon-only vertical progression AAA title before LOTRO did this or not.

It’s part of what we saw go wrong for SWTOR even with lfg there just wasn’t enough people.

It’s also why many people flocked to this game because:

1. it was supposed to be all about open world events rather than dungeons
2. dungeons were supposed to be a fun alternative side play not the focus
3. dungeons were supposed to not have gear that trumps the gear in open world
4. dungeons weren’t supposed to have all of the drops rather then the open world

I think unless something changes we’ll see more people drop off of this title until they get the message at HQ that people don’t like to be manipulated nor do we like to play games that don’t reward us for our time and there always should be a series of solo-able activities end game for those of us who log in at odd times when there aren’t enough people to do much. The bulk of my guild only gets on on weekends for example, I am disabled and can’t work, so what do I have to do, play games browse the net all day, so what happens when I can’t progress? I guess the point is this game was supposed to be all about choices…

@BTIGER, sorry you didn’t find what you were looking for here. I wish you the best of luck in your next game.

As to my thoughts on being able to solo dungeons, I don’t honestly think a lot of time and effort should be put into scaling the dungeons, but I don’t see any reason they shouldn’t be opened up to smaller team sizes, or even soloers. I have a couple of friends who I’d definitely try to 3-man (or 3-woman) a dungeon that was intended for 5 with. Maybe we’d get our butts handed to us, but that’s on us if it happens.

I am intrigued by the idea I’ve seen some people float though of adding henchmen to dungeons to fill in for missing team members. They had talked about a companion system when the game was in development. Not sure if it ever got as far as implementation, but maybe they have some framework in place that might make this feasible. (Note that this wild speculation on my part. I have no special knowledge of the GW2 codebase. For all I know scaling dungeons might be much easier than implementing a henchman system).

Having said all that, despite being a mostly solo player, I really don’t see any necessity for 100% of the game’s content to be soloable. The only really glaring error I think they’ve made in that regard is making the last mission of your personal story be a dungeon. That makes no sense to me, conceptually. But that’s also a different topic.

GW1 was all soloable, even towards the end, all dungeons were soloable…and it KILLED the game. No one plays with anyone any more, why would you with Heroes around? I don’t think the answer is to make GW2 more soleable, I think the OP has the right answer, go find a game better geared for him. Skyrim is a great RPG. I haven’t played other MMO’s so I can’t advise on those.

I think the OP would like LotRo skirmish missions. They can be scaled in both difficulty and group size. Good gear rewards that span all level ranges too. I found them fun when I used to play it, but got bored after a while. Though as a player who normally likes to solo, I have to say I have more fun here on GW2 than any MMO I have played yet.

Hi everyone,

Btiger, thanks for your feedback and sorry to see you leave. We will forward the feedback to the team.

This thread is closed. Thanks