Guild Wars 2

I’m not making much progress, getting to my current mastery 12 has been painfully slow. With it at that state I can’t even progress in the storyline.

I’m not on allot and play solo so I usually miss the experience trains. Even when I do make them, it becomes hours of play at a time.

Running an part ascended part orange beserker geared s/a reaper with scholar and ascended accessories. It can take on a few normal mobs and a veteran at best.

The experience is like walking through wet concrete and im not getting anywhere… I get on, kill a few mobs, hope that I run into an event and then get off.

I’m not a hard core PvEer nor do I have time to pretend to be one so am slightly at a loss on what to do.

Thoughts?

Don’t solo,. Seriously. There are generally enough people in the zones where you can make a bit of progress at a time, just by calling out in map chat that you need help with something and being a bit patient.

Yesterday I came across a guy at a hero point. He was frustrated because he couldnt’ solo the champion. I said hang out.

I called out for help in map chat, linked a way point and we had three more guys there in less than two minutes. Then we killed the boss. If you have a mentor or commander tag, you can also pop that, it doesn’t hurt. The mentor tag is particularly easy to get.

You don’t have to group with people to follow a group and you don’t have to stay with a group as long as the group is together.

I follow people and leave and follow different people all the time. It’s really not that hard. If you don’t know where to go, odds are someone around does. Just follow them. It’s like having a group.

Edit: Btw, I’d be happy to help show you around the new zones if you like.

Berserker gear is a bad idea until you know the fights better. I know you’ll do even less damage if you give up some of your stats to survive longer, but think of it as taking it slower and steady until you know your opponents well enough to make berserker work for you. Seriously, HoT foes are way more challenging than core world foes.

Also, fight everything. Seriously, don’t try to run past stuff if you’re solo. It will chase, something else nasty will be ahead, and suddenly you’re reviving at a waypoint far away from where you were. Only run if you don’t think you can beat it, as you then have nothing to lose.

Finally, don’t try to totally explore the maps yet. In VB, aim to get to the waypoints. In Auric Basin, you want to get to the center (the city), and then lower right waypoints. When you get to Tangled Depths, you’ll want to curl up into a little ball and cry, but don’t. When the story takes you there, you’ll finally be able to earn the ability to use the wallows (think of them like the secret tunnels in the game Clue, to take you to other parts of the map). Once you have that, bouncing mushrooms, and updraft gliding, go back and NOW start filling out the maps better. Until you have those three skills, map exploration is very limited.

Look at online event timers, they’ll tell you what’s going on in which map, then find a LFG to taxi yourself into an active one.

If it’s MPs you need, there’s a variety of communes, adventures and achievements that you can do solo
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mastery_point_unlocks
Check on dulfy.net for guides to reach the trickier ones.

If you need to HPs, best time to ask map chat is towards the end of a meta, there’re tons of people around, and there’s always someone else who needs the same thing.

It can be done, but it’s much harder now. With the first push and zerg moving to new pastures, some events will be impossible solo. This, sadly, will include some hero points and the like because of timers.

Unfortunately, ArenaNet went the way of Silverwastes with events that required a zerg to complete in coordination. Again, now that the rush is dead, so are any attempts to do certain content without said zerg. Dragon Stand is the prime example because even mapping will need zergs to complete because content is locked behind quests. In order to gain access to more of the map, those quests must be successful . . . unless you’re clever with some climbing over the environment.

Personally, I expect an overhaul of this situation in the future. But for now? You’re not going to solo certain content.

Sorry.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Dragon Stand is the worst because even mapping will require zergs to complete because they’re locked behind quests. In order to gain access to more of the map, those quests must be successful . . . unless you’re clever with some climbing in the environment.

Agreed, if you’re patient with mobs and clever you can map DS or just the LFG tool and go with the zerg.

Nova.7261:

I’m not making much progress, getting to my current mastery 12 has been painfully slow. With it at that state I can’t even progress in the storyline.

I’m not on allot and play solo so I usually miss the experience trains. Even when I do make them, it becomes hours of play at a time.

Running an part ascended part orange beserker geared s/a reaper with scholar and ascended accessories. It can take on a few normal mobs and a veteran at best.

The experience is like walking through wet concrete and im not getting anywhere… I get on, kill a few mobs, hope that I run into an event and then get off.

I’m not a hard core PvEer nor do I have time to pretend to be one so am slightly at a loss on what to do.

Thoughts?

In terms to your gear, you can solo HoT but right now you’re glass cannon. You’ll need a lot of combat experience to survive with your current gear. What you can do is swap out some of your pure dps accessories for gear that has toughness. Or change your traits to include death magic to make you more tanky. Right now, I’m running around HoT solo in Viper’s gear. But I do have one rabid ring, that has toughness to help some.

1. Use more tankier gear.
2. Find people to do events together: lfg; tags on the map; or just try different parts of the map for someone doing meta.
3. To level up masteries play Tag Wars 2 in Dragon’s Stand with some xp boosters.
3. To get masteries points – explore all the maps.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

It can be done, but it’s much harder now. With the first push and zerg moving to new pastures, some events will be impossible solo. This, sadly, will include some hero points and the like because of timers.

Unfortunately, ArenaNet went the way of Silverwastes with events that required a zerg to complete in coordination. Again, now that the rush is dead, so are any attempts to do certain content without said zerg. Dragon Stand is the prime example because even mapping will need zergs to complete because content is locked behind quests. In order to gain access to more of the map, those quests must be successful . . . unless you’re clever with some climbing over the environment.

Personally, I expect an overhaul of this situation in the future. But for now? You’re not going to solo certain content.

Sorry.

People keep saying it’s much harder, and yet people do it every single day. People in my guild are working on it now.

Saying it’s hard doesn’t make it hard. What makes it hard is people insisting on playing one way and never changing what they do no matter the situation.

That’s what makes it hard.

Vayne.8563:

Ardenwolfe.8590:

It can be done, but it’s much harder now. With the first push and zerg moving to new pastures, some events will be impossible solo. This, sadly, will include some hero points and the like because of timers.

Unfortunately, ArenaNet went the way of Silverwastes with events that required a zerg to complete in coordination. Again, now that the rush is dead, so are any attempts to do certain content without said zerg. Dragon Stand is the prime example because even mapping will need zergs to complete because content is locked behind quests. In order to gain access to more of the map, those quests must be successful . . . unless you’re clever with some climbing over the environment.

Personally, I expect an overhaul of this situation in the future. But for now? You’re not going to solo certain content.

Sorry.

People keep saying it’s much harder, and yet people do it every single day. People in my guild are working on it now.

Saying it’s hard doesn’t make it hard. What makes it hard is people insisting on playing one way and never changing what they do no matter the situation.

That’s what makes it hard.

Great post

mbhalo.1547:

1. Use more tankier gear.
2. Find people to do events together: lfg; tags on the map; or just try different parts of the map for someone doing meta.
3. To level up masteries play Tag Wars 2 in Dragon’s Stand with some xp boosters.
3. To get masteries points – explore all the maps.

What the heck is Tag Wars 2?

And I don’t need points just xp for unlocks.

Also something seems off for even with full stacks of bloodlust, my damage is still weaker then other players.

Vayne.8563:

Ardenwolfe.8590:

It can be done, but it’s much harder now. With the first push and zerg moving to new pastures, some events will be impossible solo. This, sadly, will include some hero points and the like because of timers.

Unfortunately, ArenaNet went the way of Silverwastes with events that required a zerg to complete in coordination. Again, now that the rush is dead, so are any attempts to do certain content without said zerg. Dragon Stand is the prime example because even mapping will need zergs to complete because content is locked behind quests. In order to gain access to more of the map, those quests must be successful . . . unless you’re clever with some climbing over the environment.

Personally, I expect an overhaul of this situation in the future. But for now? You’re not going to solo certain content.

Sorry.

People keep saying it’s much harder, and yet people do it every single day. People in my guild are working on it now.

Saying it’s hard doesn’t make it hard. What makes it hard is people insisting on playing one way and never changing what they do no matter the situation.

That’s what makes it hard.

Agreed. I had a bit of trouble early on, but a few adjustments to skills and traits and things became a lot easier quite quickly.

I remember when I first got my Scrapper and started doing non-hero point group content. It was a disaster. Once I played with some hybrid stat set ups and adjusted what utlities I needed best against Mordrem, he now happily charrges around barely taking any damage and carving up Mordrem.

It’s a steep learning curve compared to core GW2, but once you adjust your playing style and skills, it becomes a lot easier.

You’re playing reaper, right? I don’t have the most experience with the class, but here’s my advice:

- Use “Rise!” for -50% damage taken and as a decoy to distract enemies.

- Use reaper shroud to escape when the going gets rough or to avoid damage when your heal is on cooldown.

- Even if you player reaper with greatsword, carry a ranged set and learn when to use it.

Don’t be afraid to take on group challenges. If you can hang in there for a bit, usually other players will happen along and lend a hand. Or you can just hit “Rise!”, shroud up, and walk away if things are going downhill and no help is evident.

Unfortunately, beyond that I think it comes down to learning the finer points, which takes practice you say you don’t have the time to put in. There’s really not any good way around that. The jungle enemies are designed to punish you if you don’t pay attention and counter their moves. Until you know what they can do, their attack pattern, and how to counter it, you’re going to have a tough time.

So, have patience. You aren’t alone. When I first started out in the jungle I was completely unprepared and ended up dying repeatedly just on my way to the next WP. Now I play on my glass thief and absolutely dominate all the things that used to force me to run away (or die!). It’s really a dramatic shift and I think you can get there, too!

If you’d like assistance some time, feel free to contact me in game. I’m always glad to lend a hand in the jungle and we might be able to figure out some strategies that will make your life easier.

I have unlocked all HoT masteries in solo.

- for the mastery points, you’ll find many videos on youtube to help you. A number of very easy achievments can also be done (like mastery chests) to increase your points

- for the experience, do adventures daily. That’s how I got 80% of my experience, easily. I was doing (cannot remember the exact names): bugs in branches, tendril scorcher, salvage pit and flying circus in Verdant Brink; on wings of gold and is the floor lava in AB; the ley line run and drone race in TD (the last one’s availability is highly dependent on the meta). You can net around 60k xp for each, for a total of roughly 500k xp per day in 20-30 minutes. I mention these adventure as they are fast to reach and gold is easy (especially after you get used farming them). It will also reward you with at least 8 rare items and some mats from salvage.

If you do that every day, your mastery will steadily increase with little effort and in solo. In terms of xp, running these adventures 1 time each provides more xp than a full DS meta of 1h30.

Hope it helps

First, I would listen to the zerk crowd on here, but only as a reference. These folks tend to speak from experiences, and those tend to move in groups where zerk defensive woes are negated. Yes, you can solo HoT content in full zerk, but is 3-4 seconds less of killing time worth the countless times of being downed? I solo’ed every class through HoT, each one on Zerk/scholar. Some of them were painful, then i swapped out a couple of pieces of zerk for other stats/runes on some of them (like ele) and my enjoyment skyrocketed.

That being said, as a reaper (my main), you should be able to go full zerk with scholar as its a bit more forgiving on a reaper. But don’t be afraid to swap out a few pieces if it helps (you can always swap the zerk pieces back in when you become more comfortable). I usually run around with full zerk/scholar, with blood (2-3-1), spite (1-1-2) and reaper (2-3-3). utilties are rise (for extra toughness/aggro), SoS, and Well of Suff (fleshy for elite, mainly for break bars). What’s nice about this build is, you can hot-swap out Spite for Death (1-1-1) and solo any champ if you need the extra toughness. The death swap is also useful if you run into situations where condi removal is needed, as the minions remove condis with a hit.

I switch utils and weapons out depending on what i’m fighting, my preference is to drop ‘rise’ for WoC. Generally run around with dagger/WH and GS, although when solo champs i sometimes drop GS for staff if i need to kite/make distance.

Biggest thing for reaper when soloing champs: break the breakbar asap and keep it broken on champs. Fleshy, wh 4, DS 3-5, staff 5, etc. as a reaper, a champ should not ever have a full breakbar…

Nova.7261:

mbhalo.1547:

1. Use more tankier gear.
2. Find people to do events together: lfg; tags on the map; or just try different parts of the map for someone doing meta.
3. To level up masteries play Tag Wars 2 in Dragon’s Stand with some xp boosters.
3. To get masteries points – explore all the maps.

What the heck is Tag Wars 2?

And I don’t need points just xp for unlocks.

Also something seems off for even with full stacks of bloodlust, my damage is still weaker then other players.

I think he means tagging/hitting as many mobs as possible (without necessarily killing them) so you get the xp when they are killed by someone else.

Regarding your damage, your traits and rotations have just as much bearing on your DPS as your equipment. Have a look at metabattle.com . You don’t necessarily need to copy those builds, but it will give you an idea what is effective.

Nova.7261:

Also something seems off for even with full stacks of bloodlust, my damage is still weaker then other players.

What weapon(s) are you using? You said S/A in your first post. Is that Scepter or Staff? Axe? A Staff and Axe weapon swap?

If you’re in Berserker gear as a Necromancer/Reaper, you want your primary weapon to be either Dagger or Greatsword. Axe can be used as a ranged backup, but you primarily want to get in close and brawl. Do that and you’ll start seeing better damage numbers. Of course, you’re also going to have to learn enemy tells to be able to survive in melee, but at least you have a super-forgiving health bar and Reaper Shroud to help out.

Nova.7261:

Running an part ascended part orange beserker geared s/a reaper with scholar and ascended accessories. It can take on a few normal mobs and a veteran at best.

What do you mean by “s/a”? Staff and then just axe as your other weapon? That’s not a good combo for wanting to do good damage. Axe is fun and gives a nice semi-ranged option, but it’s damage isn’t nearly as good as a dagger for a berserker/power build. I’d opt for dagger/dagger or dagger/focus, and then either use greatsword (most preferred for me), followed by scepter/dagger or staff (depending on if you think you’ll need really far range or if you’re uncomfortable with that much melee at first). What kind of trait set up are you running? What utility skills are you using? Are you using food or utility buffs?

I used to exclusively run a power necro build, but since condi necros are actually pretty good now (particularly for raids and fractals), I switched to the meta condi build; it works really well for me in HoT. In the open world I also sometimes just combine the two trait builds (and switching between my condi and zerker accessories and weapons, usually) just so I can have the passive 25% running speed boost while carrying a dagger. Both the full condi build and the hybrid work very well for me in all HoT content.

The question is: How does one solo HoT?

And the answer is: Overall . . . you can’t. It’s not hard. In some cases, it’s impossible. But, by all means, please post a video showing you soling the assault on Tarir or taking on all three towers in Dragon Stand to solo the Mouth of Mordy.

Otherwise, please take that ’It’s hard only because you think it’s hard’ nonsense somewhere else. Heart of Thorns is built on the concept of massive zergs working together to accomplish certain tasks in all four zones. To tell anyone it’s not hard to solo is not only misleading, but an outright lie.

As I said before, some content can be done solo. But, with the laxing of the population, some content will be much harder or impossible.

Nova asked for our honest opinions and observations. He didn’t ask for a rah, rah, rah with pom-poms. Your opinions may differ, but I keep in mind I have facts to back mine up.

No, you’re not soloing some of the content in Heart of Thorns without the zerg.

No one is.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

The question is: How does one solo HoT?

And the answer is: Overall . . . you can’t. It’s not hard. In some cases, it’s impossible. But, by all means, please post a video showing you soling the assault on Tarir or taking on all three towers in Dragon Stand to solo the Mouth of Mordy.

Otherwise, please take that ’It’s hard only because you think it’s hard’ nonsense somewhere else. Heart of Thorns is built on the concept of massive zergs working together to accomplish certain tasks in all four zones. To tell anyone it’s not hard to solo, but it’s also misleading if not outright a lie.

As I said before, some content can be done solo. But, with the laxing of the population, some content will be much harder or impossible.

Nova asked for our honest opinions and observations. He didn’t ask for a rah, rah, rah from someone with pom-poms and an obvious agenda and axe to grind against other posters.

Kindly keep that in mind.

This is deliberately taking what someone is saying out of context in order to prove some sort of point.

He’s not asking how to do everything by himself, any more than someone is asking how to take temples in Orr all by themselves. He wants to get through content without grouping. That’s all.

You want to use solo literally but that’s not what the OP is asking. He’s asking how to do the content when he doesn’t play that much. He’ talked about groups and said they stay on too long, so he can’t stay with them. So he’s obviously not talking about that kind of soloing.

He’s talking about getting stuff done without grouping.

How can you solo a temple in Orr. You can’t solo most of them and almost never have to because there are other people around. Same with Claw of Jormag or anything else.

Getting through hot solo is what people are generally asking about, rather than say soloing a champ.

I’m pretty sure most people understood is question that way. Seems that most people answered his question the way I believe it was intended.

Vayne.8563:

Don’t solo,. Seriously. There are generally enough people in the zones where you can make a bit of progress at a time, just by calling out in map chat that you need help with something and being a bit patient.

Please choose which opinion to stand behind: Don’t solo? Or it’s not hard to solo? Otherwise, you’re being argumentative for the sake of being argumentative . . . as usual.

And I see it’s time to go back to ignoring you again.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Vayne.8563:

Don’t solo,. Seriously. There are generally enough people in the zones where you can make a bit of progress at a time, just by calling out in map chat that you need help with something and being a bit patient.

Please choose which opinion to stand behind: Don’t solo? Or it’s not hard to solo? Otherwise, you’re being argumentative for the sake of being argumentative . . . as usual.

And I see it’s time to go back to ignoring you again.

Actually I’m not.

The OP is clearly asking for strategies to get through HOT while playing by himself. You can’t stand HOT for whatever reasons you have, but I assure you no one solos most of the world bosses in this game, but no one says you can’t solo the open world. You’ve misinterpreted what the OP is asking, or you’re deliberately ignoring it.

I can name 20 things in this game easily you can’t solo that aren’t in HoT, but no one is saying you can’t solo the open world core game.

There’s a difference between someone wanting to solo a skill point as some sort of challenge and someone who’s playing solo who wants to get the skill point and would be happy to if other people were around.

I’ve been in HOT every day this week, on alt characters, getting their elite specs unlocked and I can assure you, there are plenty of people in HoT, doing hero points, getting stuff done.

And yes, I was soloing it. I wasn’t grouped. I wasn’t playing with the guild. I’d come across a skill point and join other people doing it, or ask in map chat and people would come. I didn’t party.

This is what the OP is asking about. He wants to progress in HOT without grouping. You can do that easily.

Whether or not you can solo the Tarir meta.

And on that topic, there are SO MANY people doing the Tarir meta right now, it’s not even funny. Guy in my guild came back today and got the Tarir meta without even knowing it was a thing, because he was in the zone and other people were around doing stuff.

Read and/or watch some guides at Dulfy about Hero Points, Masteries Insights and Strongboxes, they are really useful if you’re not familiar with HoT maps. Adventures are good for exp and mastery points too.

Verdant Brink and Auric Basin in general always have a good amount of people playing so you will not need get into a taxi/squad/group to do the events (simple follow what people was doing like in Central Tyria events). Tangled Depths while have people doing events too, the map is too confusing without at last Updraft, Bouncing Mushrooms and Lean Techniques at last. Dragon Stand is a huge chain event in map format, aside some Hero Points and almost all map exploration, if you want to do it simple try to get into the map 15-10 minutes before the reset, don’t worry people always explain what you need to do there if you ask – see the timers here https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Event_timers

Finally, since you play as a Reaper play with a minion master build, they will tank anything for you. If you have already unlocked “Rise!” use it for more minions and damage. You can solo way more things than most professions as a Reaper, but you can’t solo everything.

Nova.7261:

Also something seems off for even with full stacks of bloodlust, my damage is still weaker then other players.

Necro, even Reaper, does not do as much damage as some other classes. The good thing is that even as glassy and DPS as possible, reaper can sustain very well. If you are playing alone, try to get as much might as possible and as much vulnerability as possible. Someone mentioned full zerk with runes of scholar. That is good advice. You can use shroud and Rise for defense. Even as glassy as possible you aren’t going to be able to do as much damage as an ele or thief though. But glassy reaper can facetank 80-90% of even HoT content. I used something like this when I was going through HoT on my reaper.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBhQD7kZTocTsbTwyGgeTsgLYxVxuYYE6qFAaBUnh2wzC-T1RBwA5U/hyFBwsSQAPAA86GkcEAuu/o8LcQAwQCYVlMA6jB-w

Vayne has given good advice too. It is much easier to do most of HoT with other people, not necessarily grouped up but rather just doing the same stuff at the same time. Watch map chat and look for commander or mentor tags. Check LFG to switch maps. This is typically how I play as well, just jump in a map and do whatever is going on. Next thing you know you have more experience than MPs.

I still struggle with certain aspects of HoT maps (finally got into running around Auric Basin), but I can say that it is possible to explore the map and get from one end to the next solo. Groups are only necessary for, as is in the name, group events (meta, Champs, HoT Hero Points, etc.). For surviving HoT in general, even the non-Vet mobs, it just depends on your build and so forth – have not only a damage-increasing spec, but also one that may help with health, or other survivability stats. Also have to learn when and where to pick or battles or avoid them entirely. If such a HoT noob like myself, who was voicing my struggles in these forums only a week ago, can find a way to survive general HoT, then you can, too! Still a struggle, though, I will never lie about that.

Vayne.8563:

Don’t solo,. Seriously. There are generally enough people in the zones where you can make a bit of progress at a time, just by calling out in map chat that you need help with something and being a bit patient.

Yesterday I came across a guy at a hero point. He was frustrated because he couldn’t solo the champion.

This truly. I have said it before and you get the people who are simply so good that they can molo most of the hp’s themselves. They laugh and just tell you to get better. The truth is, HoT was never meant to solo through. There is a strong emphasis on group oriented goals. After getting 3 toons through Hearts and Minds I really just stopped going there unless I have to. If you don’t find a few folks doing what you want also, the frustration builds like a rocket and then you simply stop playing.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

The question is: How does one solo HoT?

And the answer is: Overall . . . you can’t. It’s not hard. In some cases, it’s impossible. But, by all means, please post a video showing you soling the assault on Tarir or taking on all three towers in Dragon Stand to solo the Mouth of Mordy.

Otherwise, please take that ’It’s hard only because you think it’s hard’ nonsense somewhere else. Heart of Thorns is built on the concept of massive zergs working together to accomplish certain tasks in all four zones. To tell anyone it’s not hard to solo is not only misleading, but an outright lie.

As I said before, some content can be done solo. But, with the laxing of the population, some content will be much harder or impossible.

Nova asked for our honest opinions and observations. He didn’t ask for a rah, rah, rah with pom-poms. Your opinions may differ, but I keep in mind I have facts to back mine up.

No, you’re not soloing some of the content in Heart of Thorns without the zerg.

No one is.

No. You’re taking a far too literal interpretation of what other players are saying.

When someone asks how to “solo” HoT, I imagine most players read: “How can I zone into the HoT maps on my own and make progress on objectives without getting killed constantly?”

That seems to be the question myself and others are answering here, not “How can I solo the assault on Tarir?” So, can I solo most of the HPs including champions? Yes, I can. Can I solo most of the events (outside of DS, which is really the only map that is a full on zerg!)? Yes, I can. And can I navigate the HoT world freely without feeling like I’m running for my life? Also a yes.

By that definition, I consider HoT a great place for solo players. And I think the expectation that the entire event cycle from start to finish should be solo content is ridiculous. Nobody expects that! So what are we even talking about now?

mulzi.8273:

First, I would listen to the zerk crowd on here, but only as a reference. These folks tend to speak from experiences, and those tend to move in groups where zerk defensive woes are negated. Yes, you can solo HoT content in full zerk, but is 3-4 seconds less of killing time worth the countless times of being downed? I solo’ed every class through HoT, each one on Zerk/scholar. Some of them were painful, then i swapped out a couple of pieces of zerk for other stats/runes on some of them (like ele) and my enjoyment skyrocketed.

That being said, as a reaper (my main), you should be able to go full zerk with scholar as its a bit more forgiving on a reaper. But don’t be afraid to swap out a few pieces if it helps (you can always swap the zerk pieces back in when you become more comfortable). I usually run around with full zerk/scholar, with blood (2-3-1), spite (1-1-2) and reaper (2-3-3). utilties are rise (for extra toughness/aggro), SoS, and Well of Suff (fleshy for elite, mainly for break bars). What’s nice about this build is, you can hot-swap out Spite for Death (1-1-1) and solo any champ if you need the extra toughness. The death swap is also useful if you run into situations where condi removal is needed, as the minions remove condis with a hit.

I switch utils and weapons out depending on what i’m fighting, my preference is to drop ‘rise’ for WoC. Generally run around with dagger/WH and GS, although when solo champs i sometimes drop GS for staff if i need to kite/make distance.

Biggest thing for reaper when soloing champs: break the breakbar asap and keep it broken on champs. Fleshy, wh 4, DS 3-5, staff 5, etc. as a reaper, a champ should not ever have a full breakbar…

Not exactly. I think what you’re overlooking is the fact that dead enemies deal no damage and no enemy deals damage at a consistent rate. In particular if you don’t match your cooldowns to your specific needs, you may inadvertently decrease your chances of survival by swapping out damage for survival stats.

For example, maybe you find an enemy tricky because it has some sort of nasty stun attack that frequently ends up getting you killed. So you add a stun break to your bar (Good idea!). But if your stun break has a 30 second cooldown and the attack you’re trying to avoid has a 15 second cooldown, you may be in for some trouble if you can’t finish the enemy off in time!

Also, consider that you don’t always fight enemies one at a time. Each enemy you take down leads to faster/easier kills against the remaining enemies and less damage mitigated. You’re forced to avoid/block fewer attacks with each enemy removed from the fight, which translates into more damage and quicker kills on remaining targets and less opportunity for things to go wrong.

I’m not saying that berserker gear is a survivability upgrade for all players and classes. But I don’t think it’s as simple as stacking toughness and vitality. I think it’s true to some extent for any player: the best defense is a strong offense!

AliamRationem.5172:

No. You’re taking a far too literal interpretation of what other players are saying.

When someone asks how to “solo” HoT, I imagine most players read: “How can I zone into the HoT maps on my own and make progress on objectives without getting killed constantly?”

That seems to be the question myself and others are answering here, not “How can I solo the assault on Tarir?” So, can I solo most of the HPs including champions? Yes, I can. Can I solo most of the events (outside of DS, which is really the only map that is a full on zerg!)? Yes, I can. And can I navigate the HoT world freely without feeling like I’m running for my life? Also a yes.

By that definition, I consider HoT a great place for solo players. And I think the expectation that the entire event cycle from start to finish should be solo content is ridiculous. Nobody expects that! So what are we even talking about now?

Sigh. Context is key to the question. Please note Nova also said:

Nova.7261:

The experience is like walking through wet concrete and im not getting anywhere… I get on, kill a few mobs, hope that I run into an event and then get off.

I’m not a hard core PvEer nor do I have time to pretend to be one so am slightly at a loss on what to do.

The key word here is events. By no stretch of the imagination am I saying it cannot be done. Ironically, I soloed as much as I could myself. But I’m also not blind to the fact one cannot solo certain events without other people due to timer requirements or coordination.

And with less people in the those maps? Yes, it is harder given that circumstance. This is not brain surgery. This is saying the initial zerg is now gone and certain events cannot be done without them.

We’re not talking the pitiful beginnings of a chain quest event, but the ones that end it and open certain portions of the map.

Why this obvious situation is such a point of contention is beyond me. He even stated he missed the ‘experience trains’, therefore he wants to know if those events can be soloed without them.

And the answer is no. You cannot. He didn’t ask if he could solo the mobs. He also stated he can do that and a select veterans.

Please don’t tell me I’m taking a “literal interpretation” or some other nonsense. I answered the OP’s question from my experience and point-of-view. And then, one of our special posters decided to split hairs on the topic.

Yes, as I said originally, it can be done, but it’s harder without the massive amount of people from the original release. Yes, some events can still be soloed. But some events you are not going to solo no matter how good you are.

And there’s no getting around that.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

AliamRationem.5172:

No. You’re taking a far too literal interpretation of what other players are saying.

When someone asks how to “solo” HoT, I imagine most players read: “How can I zone into the HoT maps on my own and make progress on objectives without getting killed constantly?”

That seems to be the question myself and others are answering here, not “How can I solo the assault on Tarir?” So, can I solo most of the HPs including champions? Yes, I can. Can I solo most of the events (outside of DS, which is really the only map that is a full on zerg!)? Yes, I can. And can I navigate the HoT world freely without feeling like I’m running for my life? Also a yes.

By that definition, I consider HoT a great place for solo players. And I think the expectation that the entire event cycle from start to finish should be solo content is ridiculous. Nobody expects that! So what are we even talking about now?

Sigh. Context is key to the question. Please note Nova also said:

Nova.7261:

The experience is like walking through wet concrete and im not getting anywhere… I get on, kill a few mobs, hope that I run into an event and then get off.

I’m not a hard core PvEer nor do I have time to pretend to be one so am slightly at a loss on what to do.

The key word here is events. By no stretch of the imagination am I saying it cannot be done. Ironically, I soloed as much as I could myself. But I’m also not blind to the fact one cannot solo certain events without other people due to timer requirements or coordination.

And with less people in the those maps? Yes, it is harder given that circumstance. This is not brain surgery. This is saying the initial zerg is now gone and certain events cannot be done without them.

We’re not talking the pitiful beginnings of a chain quest event, but the ones that end it and open certain portions of the map.

Why this obvious situation is such a point of contention is beyond me. He even stated he missed the ‘experience trains’, therefore he wants to know if those events can be soloed without them.

And the answer is no. You cannot. He didn’t ask if he could solo the mobs. He also stated he can do that and a select veterans.

Please don’t tell me I’m taking a “literal interpretation” or some other nonsense. I answered the OP’s question from my experience and point-of-view. And then, one of our special posters decided to split hairs on the topic.

Yes, as I said originally, it can be done, but it’s harder without the massive amount of people from the original release. Yes, some events can still be soloed. But some events you are not going to solo no matter how good you are.

And there’s no getting around that.

This is from the OP:

“I’m not making much progress, getting to my current mastery 12 has been painfully slow. With it at that state I can’t even progress in the storyline.

I’m not on allot and play solo so I usually miss the experience trains. Even when I do make them, it becomes hours of play at a time."

What in that context makes you think he won’t do something other people are doing at the same time they’re doing it. He’s talking about his mastery points being at 12. He’s talking about how slow they’re going. He’s talking about not being able to progress in the story line.

All of these things really have nothing to do with soloing big giant dynamic event chains.

If you need mastery points, there are things you CAN get solo, and you only need maybe 2-3 people to solo most event chains, with the exception of the metas.

There are almost always people around if people would go to a map that’s during the timer phase and even if those people don’t stay long, they can make progress in the map.

Now if you’re only playing for half an hour a night, obviously you’re going to make progress slower than someone who can play for hours, but you can make progress. Yes, even by yourself, because there are other people around._

Think of someone who needs to kill the Karka Queen who has half an hour to play between spawn times. That person couldn’t do the Karka Queen. That’s already in the game.

But they can make progress on leveling by doing other things. There’s a very easy spot to get XP for example in DS, right as you enter the zone for the first time, during the day time hunting quests. People can do that solo and there are usually people around doing it anyway. It’s farmable. It’s easy. I showed a few people in my guild. They like to solo and they’re happy doing that to fill in experience bars and get loot.

And suppose, in the above example, he could get on at the karka queen and he was the only one there? Could he solo it?

You’re taking the question out of context. There’s no other way to say it.

Vayne.8563:

If you need mastery points, there are things you CAN get solo, and you only need maybe 2-3 people to solo most event chains, with the exception of the metas.

And this is where your diatribe and logic fails. Two or three people helping is not soloing an event. Soloing anything, much less an event, is you and you alone.

How does one solo Heart of Thorns? You don’t. Yes, you can solo some mobs, mastery points, and champion events if you’re good. But overall? You’re not. Period. And even in your attempt to defend this indefensible position, you admit it.

Two or three is not one. It’s not soloing. And no amount of your attempts at spin is going to make it so.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Vayne.8563:

If you need mastery points, there are things you CAN get solo, and you only need maybe 2-3 people to solo most event chains, with the exception of the metas.

And this is where your diatribe and logic fails. Two or three people helping is not soloing an event. Soloing anything, much less an event, is you and you alone.

How does one solo Heart of Thorns? You don’t. Yes, you can solo some mobs, mastery points, and champion events if you’re good. But overall? You’re not. Period. And even in your attempt to defend this indefensible position, you admit it.

Two or three is not one. It’s not soloing. And no amount of your attempts at spin is going to make it so.

It doesn’t fail because he’s not asking if he can do an event alone period. It’s not the OP’s question. He wants to make progress. He doesn’t CARE if there are two other people are there.

He’s saying:

1. I want to make progress.
2. I can’t hang out with HP groups because they’re on for too long.

What in that sounds like he minds if 2-3 other people are around?

Edit: You can’t take the title and ignore the post because titles don’t always match posts. The title is a yes or no question. The question being asked in the OP describes what is meant by the title.

What part of ‘solo’ do you fail to understand?

Ardenwolfe.8590:

What part of ‘solo’ do you fail to understand?

What part of context do you understand.

There are two ways to interpret solo. One is to do something alone. One is to to something without going with friends.

You can go solo to a party, but you won’t be alone at the party. You just didn’t go with anyone.

If I ask how to solo lupi, that means one thing. If I say I want to go through HOT without ever joining a group or organizing my play, it MIGHT mean doing it without anyone else around, but it most likely means I don’t want to group and I want to make progress.

Sometimes context is everything.

Oh. Splitting hairs again?

Nova.7261:

I’m not on allot and play solo so I usually miss the experience trains. Even when I do make them, it becomes hours of play at a time.

I read more than the title, thank you. And I’m not getting into hypothetical with you in some attempt at guessing what might be defined as solo. I’ll believe Webster over you: a person who works, acts, or performs alone.

Having two or three people help you is not soloing anything.

That said, Nova asked our thoughts and I gave mine. I don’t need to get into a tit-for-tat with you because you didn’t like my response.

He asked for our thoughts. I didn’t ask for yours about mine.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Oh. Splitting hairs again?

Nova.7261:

I’m not on allot and play solo so I usually miss the experience trains. Even when I do make them, it becomes hours of play at a time.

I read more than the title, thank you. And I’m not getting into hypothetical with you in some attempt at guessing what might be defined as solo. I’ll believe Webster over you: a person who works, acts, or performs alone.

Having two or three people help you is not soloing anything.

That said, Nova asked our thoughts and I gave mine. I don’t need to get into a tit-for-tat with you because you didn’t like my response.

He asked for our thoughts. I didn’t ask for yours about mine.

You’re the only one in the thread who took it the way you did. Everyone else answered a different question. That should tell you something.

He wants to make progress. He doesn’t mind getting help he’s just not on at a time when trains run. What is so hard to understand?

It’s not a popularity contest, but wrong again, Bob.

reapex.8546:

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Dragon Stand is the worst because even mapping will require zergs to complete because they’re locked behind quests. In order to gain access to more of the map, those quests must be successful . . . unless you’re clever with some climbing in the environment.

Agreed, if you’re patient with mobs and clever you can map DS or just the LFG tool and go with the zerg.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

It’s not a popularity contest, but wrong again, Bob.

reapex.8546:

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Dragon Stand is the worst because even mapping will require zergs to complete because they’re locked behind quests. In order to gain access to more of the map, those quests must be successful . . . unless you’re clever with some climbing in the environment.

Agreed, if you’re patient with mobs and clever you can map DS or just the LFG tool and go with the zerg.

Yes, we know, you got the right answer, everyone else in the thread is completely wrong. Your response doesn’t help the OP at all. Saying sorry you can’t do it isn’t helpful because it’s not true, unless you take it literally.

Everyone else has tried to help the OP by giving strategies and answers. You’d rather attack the game. So noted.

We’re done here.

OP you can play the new zones without grouping, but you do have to change the way you play to succeeed.

Once again, wrong. I said you cannot solo certain areas in Heart of Thorns. I said it would be harder to solo because the zerg was not as populated. And I have not attacked the game.

I offered my opinion and thoughts. You attacked my opinion and thoughts. Yes, my answer is right in my opinion.

In case you missed the memo, that was the whole point of this thread: to ask for our thoughts on whether it was possible.

The point of this thread was not to have a fit with me. If you don’t like my opinion, kindly stop quoting it, telling me I’m wrong, and then getting upset because I can defend my position better than you can yours.

And if it bothers you so much? Might I suggest you ignore it from here on out.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Once again, wrong. I said you cannot solo certain areas in Heart of Thorns. I said it would be harder to solo because the zerg was not as populated. And I have not attacked the game.

I offered my opinion and thoughts. You attacked my opinion and thoughts. Yes, my answer is right in my opinion.

In case you missed the memo, that was the whole point of this thread: to ask for our thoughts on whether it was possible.

The point of this thread was not to have a fit with me. If you don’t like my opinion, kindly stop quoting it, telling me I’m wrong, and then getting upset because I can defend my position better than you can yours.

And if it bothers you so much? Might I suggest you ignore it from here on out.

Then you’re factually wrong because it it possible to solo and make progress, and that Sir, is a fact. You may die a few times doing it, but it’s certainly possible. Even if no one else was on the map at all it’s possible.

My method of dealing with HOT is to wait on a safe patch until I see some people come passing by, and then jump in with them. I never have to wait more than a few minutes but progress quite well.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

The point of this thread was not to have a fit with me. If you don’t like my opinion, kindly stop quoting it, telling me I’m wrong, and then getting upset because I can defend my position better than you can yours.

We’re done here, remember? Your words. Not mine.

Vayne.8563:

We’re done here.

Minion-reaper seems to work with very little difficulty since they seem more durable than you are.

Might want to list any areas you have trouble in particular as some are not solo-friendly.

[This topic has run its course and gone off track. It is now closed, thank you.]