How soloable is this mmo?

kingfet · February 2009

So how much of DDO's content is soloable? I know the original game was not very solo friendly but have heard that strides have been made to undue this. With the addition of hirelings, how much can I solo? Can you solo all the way to level 16?

curiousdaoc · February 2009

Not sure about all the way to 16, but I've personally soloed 1-9 without issue.

Last time I played was just after Mod6 released.

mindspat · February 2009

Originally posted by kingfet

So how much of DDO's content is soloable? I know the original game was not very solo friendly but have heard that strides have been made to undue this. With the addition of hirelings, how much can I solo? Can you solo all the way to level 16?

A large portion of the content can be solo'd although that doesn't mean it's easy or quickly done. I have a guild member who solo'd most of their way to level 12-14 with a pure Rogue and without hirelings.

While I solo at level 16 there's too many sistuations where I would rather have others in my group regardless if they are guild members or random players looking for something to do.

If you are going to try this now you're also going to want to be sure to try it after Module 9 goes live. From what I hear there are a LOT of additions and alterations which are going to improve the game across all spectrums.

Dr.Rock · February 2009

The trouble is the definition of what is soloable, a lot of MMOs solo content is painfully easy, DDO quests soloing often isn't, so yep a lot of DDO can be done solo, but it is a slower route to level and involves some real challenge.

Sarr · February 2009

That's right. So, concluding, in my opinion DDO is soloable indeed. Especially with the new hirelings system, which get's improvements with every updated.
But if you come to DDO to solo, you better prepare for a challenge starting on mid levels.
Also, if you want to solo, be sure to pay attention in the character generator which class has good solo ability. It's a great new "feature", and if we consider pure classes, it's really good information.
For example, while you can solo playing as Paladin, and it could seem very easy at the start, it's not the same with a Wizards or Sorcerer. Rogues are difficult to solo to, but maybe not as difficult as arcane spellcasters.

But if you insist to play a wizard or sorcerer or some rogue/bard, I would suggest taking "Toughness" feat and a good Constitution score. Of course, read also all explanations in Char generator (not much to read, but very useful).

Thillian · February 2009

There's a huge difference between a good DDo player and a bad one or a newcommer. Hence, there are many opinions on the soloability in DDo. While a good player will say sorcerer and bard are best solo classes in the game, a newcommer will not be able to do anything with these two even on normal difficulty. Nevertheless there's always something to solo, even as a bard not knowing full potential of that class, you can still do lower level dungeons on solo or normal difficulty for lower experience.

Definetly DDo has solo options, but if you care about the leveling speed and loot quality, group play is far far far far more rewarding.

chrisleko · February 2009

While I never really solo, I do tend to wander off from the group on my bard semi-often. I would have to say that the warchanter is rather easy to solo. Self-healing, self-buffing, dps machine.

Other than that, I really recommend grouping. It's not too difficult to find a group often, sometimes I have to wait a few minutes (think the longest I waited was about 10 minutes before i convinced the group to pick up a pally and go without the cleric. It wasn't an easy time, but we ended up completing).

Grouping is so much more fun and so much more entertaining than soloing.

That being said, I do solo rarely. If i can't find a group, or want to do a short quest for some quick xp.

Sarr · February 2009

Originally posted by Thillian
There's a huge difference between a good DDo player and a bad one or a newcommer. Hence, there are many opinions on the soloability in DDo. While a good player will say sorcerer and bard are best solo classes in the game, a newcommer will not be able to do anything with these two even on normal difficulty. Nevertheless there's always something to solo, even as a bard not knowing full potential of that class, you can still do lower level dungeons on solo or normal difficulty for lower experience.
Definetly DDo has solo options, but if you care about the leveling speed and loot quality, group play is far far far far more rewarding.

That's true. But in such cases it's safe to assume that if someone don't know it already, he/she's a newcomer. And thus, sorc/bard can be too difficult. Especially if this new player came to DDO from "kindergarten" games like WoW, WAR or even Guild Wars, to some extent.

I think that former Ultima Online player won't have trouble with DDO though. It's much closer experience to that game than WoW, in my opinion. Of course, graphic aside, etc.

Other than that, I really suggest checking the "solo ability" if you intend to solo as a new player. "Very good", or maybe "good" is the safe choice.
But if you're up for the challenge, take a Wizard like I did, heheh .

almerel · February 2009

You can indeed solo a lot of this game. It's a lot more fun to dungeon crawl with a group imo though

Thillian · February 2009

Originally posted by Sarr

Originally posted by Thillian

There's a huge difference between a good DDo player and a bad one or a newcommer. Hence, there are many opinions on the soloability in DDo. While a good player will say sorcerer and bard are best solo classes in the game, a newcommer will not be able to do anything with these two even on normal difficulty. Nevertheless there's always something to solo, even as a bard not knowing full potential of that class, you can still do lower level dungeons on solo or normal difficulty for lower experience.

Definetly DDo has solo options, but if you care about the leveling speed and loot quality, group play is far far far far more rewarding.

That's true. But in such cases it's safe to assume that if someone don't know it already, he/she's a newcomer. And thus, sorc/bard can be too difficult. Especially if this new player came to DDO from "kindergarten" games like WoW, WAR or even Guild Wars, to some extent.

I think that former Ultima Online player won't have trouble with DDO though. It's much closer experience to that game than WoW, in my opinion. Of course, graphic aside, etc.

Other than that, I really suggest checking the "solo ability" if you intend to solo as a new player. "Very good", or maybe "good" is the safe choice.

But if you're up for the challenge, take a Wizard like I did, heheh .

Yes, definetly. I wouldn't dare to recommend a sorcerer or bard to a new DDo player even if he would know D20 rules from A to Z.

DrWalnut · February 2009

Do you have to repeat a lot of the solo quests to get the next level, or are there a lot of solo quests so you won't have to repeat?

Dr.Rock · February 2009

Originally posted by DrWalnut

Do you have to repeat a lot of the solo quests to get the next level, or are there a lot of solo quests so you won't have to repeat?

There are a fair number of solo quests in the lower levels, but you would have to repeat them or grind mobs in explorer areas to level. Grouping is DDOs thing, it would be unfair to suggest soloing a lot is viable other than as a challenge once you are experienced with the quests.

mindspat · February 2009

Originally posted by DrWalnut

Do you have to repeat a lot of the solo quests to get the next level, or are there a lot of solo quests so you won't have to repeat?

I would not say "have to repeat a lot" but more of "might prefer to repeat some". Repeating content is fun and with each successful completion you get to open up a more challenging situation with increased rewards in EXP and loot; also grants additional Favor. What might have been a plain and boring walk through on Normal or Solo could very well provide a memorable experiance requireing help from a full party if done on Elite.

Any and Every MMO that allows players the ability to solo involve killing many of the same content over and over again - DDO's take on this would be how the Adventure Areas increase their EXP rewards at the varrying tiers. The out door Adventure Areas are purely repeatable with exp rewards being granted upwards of 5k-7.5k in some. For instance, completing 5k slayer in an Adventure Area might net 30k-45k exp not including the previous teirs of rewards which would greatly increase the total gained. This should be a decent example of repeating certain content.

That being said, there are also a lot of quests which you'll probally never repeat while there might even be some you've never done by the time you've hit the max level. My main character has something like 20 quests I've never done - I wonder why that is...

If you want to expriance the game to its fullest I highly recomend joining a group on an Elite quest and communicate with them what you're level of understanding of the quest is beforehand. This would help identify if everyone plans on zerging through it or playing slow. More times then not, if a party is a few levels below the Elite quest (elite plays like a quest 3-4 levels higher in some regards) they will go slow and focus on teamwork and group synergy.

ToKu · March 2009

First you must define what you look for in the term solo. Do you want complete independance at a pre-raid level from grouping? Do you want to explore dungeons or just rush them?

Yes you can solo in this game, in that you can take a quest solo, and complete it solo. Often this requires stealth or rushing objectives, which personally is not very appealing. I try to run as many of my own groups as possible and while I am guilty of rushing some dungeons I will t ypically at least go for bonus exp mods such as ransack/conquest/etc when possible.

Casters solo well in this game, though with the advent of hirelings most classes can solo decently now. Splashes give classes versatility that is usually not found wanting until later (such as wiz/sorc/cleric splashes, monk and ranger splashes are often build with end game in mind.)

Bennyblyfot · March 2009

It all depends on what playstyle you have, if u are a experianced player who know his/hers way around questing in any MMO then you have a good starterground, but yes you can solo alot in this game.

Roll up a Warforged paladin focus on two handed fighting and off you go, there is alot of adivce on both U.S and European froums on builds etc so if u consider starting a new character, my advice is to read thoose 1st.

And waiting for module 9 may be a fair option but atm nothing has been heard about when the mod is supposed to be released, my guess is end march for the U.S and earlie april for EU .

uncus · March 2009

Soloing is difficult if you are just learning the quests - some give you enough information before starting about what you should prepare for, but many do not [STK 3 especially! I've never personally found, nor seen in the AH, a construct-bane weapon! They may exist, but in my 6hr/wk I've never seen one]. Failure will happen often - just learn to learn from that failure [89 pts of falling damage from falling off a box - jumping onto a box and "missed", hanging from box and then releasing caused this "fall" - I'll be sure to finish the climb all the way to the top of that box i can see over before I fall so far off it next time ]

If you like a challenge [and I usually do], soloing or semi-soloing with hirelings is a lot of fun.

Try a Warforged wizard for your solo class - mithral plating to give you some AC but a 25% failure on spells, or basic plating for 5% [goes to zero with an enhancement at either 2nd or 3rd level]. You can heal yourself, buff yourself, summon, nuke - you have it all! I've made it to level 7 on my "main" elf MU1/T 1/CL 5, but have advanced much faster/easier on my WF Wiz 5 [STK3 semi-solo...henchman, summoned steel dog as distractions while I Lightningbolt/Melf's Acid'ed him to death...potions to heal]

Another suggestion: Don't level when you qualify for even levels [unless you are close enough to the next odd level to be ''pinned" - don't waste xp!]. That way you get more xp for completions and get your new spells just in time for new challenges. Also, find out which dungeons give good risk vs reward - I personally want to complete all the quests, but more than a few have had to wait until I was a level or 2 or 3 above them to succeed solo [again, STK 3 at level 7; Proof in the poison also at 7].

Cannabissen · March 2009

Originally posted by Dr.Rock
Originally posted by DrWalnut Do you have to repeat a lot of the solo quests to get the next level, or are there a lot of solo quests so you won't have to repeat?

There are a fair number of solo quests in the lower levels, but you would have to repeat them or grind mobs in explorer areas to level. Grouping is DDOs thing, it would be unfair to suggest soloing a lot is viable other than as a challenge once you are experienced with the quests.

yea i agree. soloin is fun and often a ok fast way to level up in many mmo's but with D&D the very concept is build on grouping, else it wouldnt be a real dungeons and dragons gaming experience.

Bluefish · March 2009

Originally posted by Dr.Rock

The trouble is the definition of what is soloable, a lot of MMOs solo content is painfully easy, DDO quests soloing often isn't, so yep a lot of DDO can be done solo, but it is a slower route to level and involves some real challenge.

That sounds good. My biggest issue with solo-content in MMO's is, like you say, that it's painfully easy. Some of the best solo content is stuff that's designed for a small group.

Unknown · April 2009

Originally posted by DrWalnut

Do you have to repeat a lot of the solo quests to get the next level, or are there a lot of solo quests so you won't have to repeat?

If you want to level at a reasonable speed, don't solo. Not unless you plan on buying a whole lot of consumables and getting the tip top of gear at every level. Even then it will be slower.

DDO offers a fun and challenging solo expierence. But if you want to level at anywhere near a reasonable pace you need to group. Also some dungeons are just crap for solo. Certain spells are simply instant death as a soloer that would simply be kind of bad if the cleric or some other party member is not paying attention otherwise. For example if you try to do certain level 4 or 5 dungeons that have Hobgoblin witch doctors you need to be able to account for Otto dance. Even with really good will saves some of them are long enough and have enough of them that you will fail that save eventually and then you will die and there will be nothing you can do about it. Especailly in the lower levels where items that might make you immune are unattainable due to level restrictions.

Also don't be fooled by the "solo" mode for dungeons. That is significantly less xp and usually not much fun since its so neutered or in some cases does not help much at all and gives crap xp too.

Hirelings can help to some degree. But Soloing should not be looked at as a particalary practical or profitable way to play. Its just for fun and often will lose you money unless you pick your spots just right. And some dungeons will just hand you your ass almost no matter what.

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