Guild Wars 2

I mentioned this earlier in another thread and some people liked the idea so i’ll throw it out there in its on thread.

It was as the title suggest a way to solo dungeons with a team made up of your alts, the alts being AI controlled.

I’m not suggesting that the dungeons have the same rewards as the standard all player ones but maybe a reduced number of tokens or something.

I know that this is not a single player game but there are times when you cant commit to a full run or find people to run with.

The AI would obviously pose problems, it is a bit dim atm, but that can be something to work towards, maybe have logic rules like in FF11 ( was that the one?) that can be unlocked with progress so your alts get better and more versatile as you go (maybe even a separate exp bar for alts that are guesting with you)

Fire away.

GW1 mercenaries anyone? <ducks/>

I would rather just have solo dungeons designed for 1-2 players or more mini-dungeons. The mini-dungeons in this game are brilliant, there should be a mini dungeon for each of the main dungeon themes.

I would be okay with this as long as it offered decreased awards. -20% drop rates, coin, and tokens for each person under 5. This means 1/5 the awards while soloing. Otherwise, what is the point of forming a group if soloing is more reliable for a skilled player?

Dungeons and Fractals are the last bastion in this game for PvE players looking for a challenge snd teamwork, and even now it is barely that. Honestly if the game lost its only group-required content, I would quit.

Toxyn.9608:

I would be okay with this as long as it offered decreased awards. -20% drop rates, coin, and tokens for each person under 5. This means 1/5 the awards while soloing. Otherwise, what is the point of forming a group if soloing is more reliable for a skilled player?

Dungeons and Fractals are the last bastion in this game for PvE players looking for a challenge snd teamwork, and even now it is barely that. Honestly if the game lost its only group-required content, I would quit.

The loot should be the same but the difficulty for a group should scale. If you want to party then party. If you want to solo then solo. Some of the most fun PvE experiences I had in this game aside from Jumping Puzzles was completing the mini dungeons solo style. Figuring out the mechanics to get past a certain part is half the fun. Doesn’t happen in a group because someone always knows how already and often times how to glitch out each area. By far the most annoying and frustrating times I’ve had playing this game were in dungeons and fractals with dumb group members.

The main reason I play MMO’s is to play against other players not particularly with them. Also it’s really hard to enjoy a dungeon because if you stop to watch the cut scenes you’ll certainly get yelled at by someone in the group and possibly even kicked from the party. Not my idea of fun. You’re forced to speed demon through it with people who can barely play their class.

Difficulty scaling doesn’t fix the issue I detailed. Like I said, if the difficulty scales depending on the amount of players, then a skilled player will be more efficient playing solo unless all five players are skilled. This would near-kill group content.

The only way to avoid setting the drop rates at -20% per less player would be to have the difficulty remain the same while soloing, meaning it would be hard as hell to solo (this is the current way that people solo – for the challenge of it).

Toxyn.9608:

The only way to avoid setting the drop rates at -20% per less player would be to have the difficulty remain the same while soloing, meaning it would be hard as hell to solo.

My earlier kidding aside, was the end-game GW1 content solo-able with mercs? (I never tried and, as a decidedly mediocre player, I certainly never got past the start of any of it with companions/heroes…) Point being that it may already be sufficiently hard for a solo player disadvantaged by A"I" bots. (Those heroes had to have been on drugs, I swear.)

Toxyn.9608:

Difficulty scaling doesn’t fix the issue I detailed. Like I said, if the difficulty scales depending on the amount of players, then a skilled player will be more efficient playing solo unless all five players are skilled. This would near-kill group content.

The only way to avoid setting the drop rates at -20% per less player would be to have the difficulty remain the same while soloing, meaning it would be hard as hell to solo (this is the current way that people solo – for the challenge of it).

I don’t understand. You’re saying that people wouldn’t want to group if they didn’t have to group in order to get loot they desire? So all of those people complaining about why are solo’ist even playing an MMO if they don’t want to group only care about loot and don’t really care about group content?

Thing is, my answer solves all of the problems. If you want to group then group. If you want to solo then solo. The difficulty should scale to the size of your party whether 1 or 50 and the reward should be the same. It’s all in how people prefer to play. Let them play how they want to play and let them get the loot that they desire. I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. It’s actually pretty simple really.

i would really appreciate the experience to run some content with an army of me! me and the other 4 toons of mine i mean… it would be fun as hell to see their Ai actually better than my RI (real intelligence)^^

I’ve never seen an mmo cept STO that had a hireling style minion with you everywhere you went, accept maybe SWTOR but that was only in the worlds I think. LOTRO could have used hirelings and Frankly I’m hoping this game gets them in the future and Neverwinter has them at launch. However, they seriously need to fix the AI on this game so your pet is actually smarter and more resilient then the level 1 mobs you see at the beginning of the game.

Staff have commented on the idea of AI companions is various parts of the game.

It all ends with a resounding “HELL NO”.

Why? Because GW2 is meant to encourage social gameplay, and AI companions do the complete opposite by making grouping up obsolete.
The game’s social mechanics might have flaws, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to start discouraging grouping up.

I would love for this to become a reality. Granted, it would take a really long time to get all my alts to a an appropriate level for each dungeon — though not so bad if 2 or 3 is enough. It would certainly be a great incentive to play alts more often, and experience more professions.

also i would finally see the cinematic in a dungeon (i usually skip them because i fear dungeon runner rage)… on a side note and off topic can anyone mail me a link to youtube video where the cinematic are played so i can see them?

Cardstar.1963:

The AI would obviously pose problems, it is a bit dim atm, but that can be something to work towards, maybe have logic rules like in FF11 ( was that the one?) that can be unlocked with progress so your alts get better and more versatile as you go (maybe even a separate exp bar for alts that are guesting with you)

It was FF12, and I loved that system. I don’t know if it would work in GW2 the same way, though. You could easily tell it at what percentage of HP it should heal, and during what conditions it should use which skills, and who to target. However, since this is partly an action-based combat system, there is a sense of real-world awareness a character needs that can’t be scripted through a single snippet of logic.

For example, “If you’re standing in an AoE, then move X distance” — okay, in what direction? They might very well run from one pool of fire and into another, and then keep moving back and forth between them until they die.

And how good are they at dodging? Do they dodge every single attack that comes their way, so long as their endurance allows? How “good” are they at it?

How can you tell an AI to take advantage of combo fields? How much should they prioritize that kind of behaviour, when there is personal safety, and possibly more important situational conditions, at play?

I don’t know, they could also just as well ignore all that stuff and just concede that AI characters will always be dumb, and take that into account when designing the solo dungeon.

One of the advantages is that you would have more of an incentive to level alts and kit them out in better armor. You would also then create a better balanced set of characters which would mean that when a player goes in for a ‘normal’ dungeon the would be able to fill any role needed.

The dungeons could be cut down and the rewards reduced, it should never replace the multiplayer aspect but it would be a fun idea.