Is this game moving more and more into becoming soloable?

Zombocalypse · October 16

Is it? Considering how they added Companions in one of the recent DLCs.

I'm not complaining, but I want to know if it really is the case.

And aside from Companions, are there other things added in the game over the years that makes it more and more soloable?

Thanks.

joergino · October 16

Judging by recent chapters and their world bosses this doesn't seem to be the case.

Erickson9610 · October 16

Most content in this game is meant to be picked up and played by players of any skill level, with or without the assistance of other players. Your stats and PvE enemies scale with your level, so you're free to tackle any content in any order without requiring another player. However, some content (such as 4-man dungeons/arenas, 12-man trials, and PvP) are best played with other players.

This is because The Elder Scrolls Online is both an Elder Scrolls game (and most of those have been single-player experiences) and a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) that allows players to play together. Players can treat ESO as an MMO, or they can treat it as a single-player TES game.

Warhawke_80 · October 16

I look for it to move that way...it would be cheaper to open up group content rather than create new areas...but who knows.. we could all wake up tomorrow to a Raid or Die ESO with full loot PVP...the last time we asked for anything they gave us ToT...

Elsonso · October 16

No.

While they have a lot of solo material, a lot of stuff, including some of the new stuff, is intended for multiple players to participate in. Solo housing tours seems rather pointless. Also, don't even get me started on solo battlegrounds.

Zombocalypse · October 16

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Most content in this game is meant to be picked up and played by players of any skill level, with or without the assistance of other players. Your stats and PvE enemies scale with your level, so you're free to tackle any content in any order without requiring another player. However, some content (such as 4-man dungeons/arenas, 12-man trials, and PvP) are best played with other players.

This is because The Elder Scrolls Online is both an Elder Scrolls game (and most of those have been single-player experiences) and a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) that allows players to play together. Players can treat ESO as an MMO, or they can treat it as a single-player TES game.

Thank you.

I guess one of the things that worry me is needing to do new dungeons for the sake of my Undaunted skill line XP, only to find no players because of the time of day and the day of the week, leaving me by myself who can't solo any new dungeon. Or... I am asked to join a guild if people help me in a dungeon, only to realize for the thousandth time that there are toxic people in MMOs just like in real life...

Can you speak about that? I just wanna boost my Undaunted Skills and Fighters Guild Skills.

Necrotech_Master · October 16

Zombocalypse wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Most content in this game is meant to be picked up and played by players of any skill level, with or without the assistance of other players. Your stats and PvE enemies scale with your level, so you're free to tackle any content in any order without requiring another player. However, some content (such as 4-man dungeons/arenas, 12-man trials, and PvP) are best played with other players.

This is because The Elder Scrolls Online is both an Elder Scrolls game (and most of those have been single-player experiences) and a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) that allows players to play together. Players can treat ESO as an MMO, or they can treat it as a single-player TES game.

Thank you.

I guess one of the things that worry me is needing to do new dungeons for the sake of my Undaunted skill line XP, only to find no players because of the time of day and the day of the week, leaving me by myself who can't solo any new dungeon. Or... I am asked to join a guild if people help me in a dungeon, only to realize for the thousandth time that there are toxic people in MMOs just like in real life...

Can you speak about that? I just wanna boost my Undaunted Skills and Fighters Guild Skills.

you dont technically need to do any dungeons to increase undaunted, you can do bolgrul dailies for undaunted xp

doing dungeons and trials will increase undaunted faster though

old_scopie1945 · October 16

Zombocalypse wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Most content in this game is meant to be picked up and played by players of any skill level, with or without the assistance of other players. Your stats and PvE enemies scale with your level, so you're free to tackle any content in any order without requiring another player. However, some content (such as 4-man dungeons/arenas, 12-man trials, and PvP) are best played with other players.

This is because The Elder Scrolls Online is both an Elder Scrolls game (and most of those have been single-player experiences) and a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) that allows players to play together. Players can treat ESO as an MMO, or they can treat it as a single-player TES game.

Thank you.

I guess one of the things that worry me is needing to do new dungeons for the sake of my Undaunted skill line XP, only to find no players because of the time of day and the day of the week, leaving me by myself who can't solo any new dungeon. Or... I am asked to join a guild if people help me in a dungeon, only to realize for the thousandth time that there are toxic people in MMOs just like in real life...

Can you speak about that? I just wanna boost my Undaunted Skills and Fighters Guild Skills.

If you want to just level up just do base game dungeons. You will level up Undaunted by doing base game pledges. Over time you will find that you can solo these pledges. I only do DLC dungeons if I need the gear. Doing the Fighters Guild quest will get you half way along the skill line. Also do the Fighter Guild dailies plus killing Undead, Daedra, Vampires, and Werewolves and that's it. Like everything it is part of the grind.

colossalvoids · October 16

It is already soloable but some newer stuff as always require bit more skill to do so. Moving forward we already know solo dungeons are coming next year most probably, so it factually becoming more soloable to the point only raids would be left strictly group content, for now.

Erickson9610 · October 16

Zombocalypse wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Most content in this game is meant to be picked up and played by players of any skill level, with or without the assistance of other players. Your stats and PvE enemies scale with your level, so you're free to tackle any content in any order without requiring another player. However, some content (such as 4-man dungeons/arenas, 12-man trials, and PvP) are best played with other players.

This is because The Elder Scrolls Online is both an Elder Scrolls game (and most of those have been single-player experiences) and a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) that allows players to play together. Players can treat ESO as an MMO, or they can treat it as a single-player TES game.

Thank you.

I guess one of the things that worry me is needing to do new dungeons for the sake of my Undaunted skill line XP, only to find no players because of the time of day and the day of the week, leaving me by myself who can't solo any new dungeon. Or... I am asked to join a guild if people help me in a dungeon, only to realize for the thousandth time that there are toxic people in MMOs just like in real life...

Can you speak about that? I just wanna boost my Undaunted Skills and Fighters Guild Skills.

So, you don't need to join a guild to run a dungeon. You can use the dungeon queue to have the game put you in a group for any dungeon of your choosing. And, as others have mentioned, one of the Undaunted quest givers will offer Undaunted XP for clearing certain delves in the base game.

Fighters Guild can be leveled without needing to clear Dolmens, but if you are inclined to, just run beside the group in the Alik'r Desert zone — you don't even need to be grouped with them. It'll be trivial to clear those Dolmens with so many people there.

SilverBride · October 16

No it's not. World Bosses, and Public Dungeon group event Bosses, and zone story Bossses, and Incursions have all gotten progressively more difficult since High Isle. This is having a negative effect on a lot of players and should not continue. I would go so far as to say all of these things should be looked at and adjusted to be more in line with the previous zones.

This increased difficulty is not in alignment with what One Tamriel introduced, which was the ability to play how we want. These more difficulty zones are excluding a lot of players from being able to complete all the content and in any order they choose.

Erickson9610 · October 16

SilverBride wrote: »

No it's not. World Bosses, and Public Dungeon group event Bosses, and zone story Bossses, and Incursions have all gotten progressively more difficult since High Isle. This is having a negative effect on a lot of players and should not continue. I would go so far as to say all of these things should be looked at and adjusted to be more in line with the previous zones.

This increased difficulty is not in alignment with what One Tamriel introduced, which was the ability to play how we want. These more difficulty zones are excluding a lot of players from being able to complete all the content and in any order they choose.

Encounters in DLC zones (such as World Bosses) are designed to be more difficult than base game zones because now players have Companions to assist them.

alpha_synuclein · October 16

It is.
Whether they would put them in DLC or chapter, the very introduction of companions have no real use outside of solo play.

The amount of dedicated group content released yearly was significantly reduced (from 4 to 2 dungeons per year) and we are getting more and more combat adjustments to support solo playstyle over groups (in PVE at least). Buffed base stats and hybridization made it much easier to survive and sustain, and doing damage is way more accessible than it was ever before.

Then there is ToT. Whether one likes to play it or not, it's not exactly an activity that promotes teamplay and any grouping outside of looking for an adversary in finder. And the biggest piece of content we got recently, the IA, is for up to 2 players, with one that can be replaced with companion.

So it feels like the stuff that was designed for doing in teams is in decline, while we are getting more and more content that can be done solo (but doesn't have/need to).

As for levelling the Undaunted, it did most of my characters through random basegame dungeons and some basegame plaedges. If new DLC dungeons are daunting on low level you can just skip them. Xp from the easier ones will be enough and there is a good chance that you will be soloing them at the end

sarahthes · October 16

SilverBride wrote: »

No it's not. World Bosses, and Public Dungeon group event Bosses, and zone story Bossses, and Incursions have all gotten progressively more difficult since High Isle. This is having a negative effect on a lot of players and should not continue. I would go so far as to say all of these things should be looked at and adjusted to be more in line with the previous zones.

This increased difficulty is not in alignment with what One Tamriel introduced, which was the ability to play how we want. These more difficulty zones are excluding a lot of players from being able to complete all the content and in any order they choose.

If you keep up with power creep by using the gear that comes from the new zones you will find that soloing the newer content should be easier.

Order's Wrath and Macabre Vintage specifically come to mind for this, as well as some newer mythics.

TaSheen · October 16

sarahthes wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

No it's not. World Bosses, and Public Dungeon group event Bosses, and zone story Bossses, and Incursions have all gotten progressively more difficult since High Isle. This is having a negative effect on a lot of players and should not continue. I would go so far as to say all of these things should be looked at and adjusted to be more in line with the previous zones.

This increased difficulty is not in alignment with what One Tamriel introduced, which was the ability to play how we want. These more difficulty zones are excluding a lot of players from being able to complete all the content and in any order they choose.

If you keep up with power creep by using the gear that comes from the new zones you will find that soloing the newer content should be easier.

Order's Wrath and Macabre Vintage specifically come to mind for this, as well as some newer mythics.

I'm definitely going to try out Macabre Vintage (easy, since ZOS GAVE it to us!), and I hope that will help me out some....

SilverBride · October 16

Erickson9610 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

No it's not. World Bosses, and Public Dungeon group event Bosses, and zone story Bossses, and Incursions have all gotten progressively more difficult since High Isle. This is having a negative effect on a lot of players and should not continue. I would go so far as to say all of these things should be looked at and adjusted to be more in line with the previous zones.

This increased difficulty is not in alignment with what One Tamriel introduced, which was the ability to play how we want. These more difficulty zones are excluding a lot of players from being able to complete all the content and in any order they choose.

Encounters in DLC zones (such as World Bosses) are designed to be more difficult than base game zones because now players have Companions to assist them.

We didn't have Companions back when we first started getting DLCs. Companions weren't introduced until Blackwood and by then dolmens were already taken over by Harrowstorms, and World Bosses were more difficult, as well as the DLC dungeons.

SilverBride · October 16

sarahthes wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

No it's not. World Bosses, and Public Dungeon group event Bosses, and zone story Bossses, and Incursions have all gotten progressively more difficult since High Isle. This is having a negative effect on a lot of players and should not continue. I would go so far as to say all of these things should be looked at and adjusted to be more in line with the previous zones.

This increased difficulty is not in alignment with what One Tamriel introduced, which was the ability to play how we want. These more difficulty zones are excluding a lot of players from being able to complete all the content and in any order they choose.

If you keep up with power creep by using the gear that comes from the new zones you will find that soloing the newer content should be easier.

Order's Wrath and Macabre Vintage specifically come to mind for this, as well as some newer mythics.

I do fine because all my characters are well geared with decent builds. Although the long tedious World Boss and Incursions are a turn off for me so I don't even go to West Weald any more because of it.

And what about players new to ESO? Or new characters? Can a player new to ESO really start playing on the lastest expansion with their friends, as it is advertized that they can, and do well?

Necrotech_Master · October 16

TaSheen wrote: »

sarahthes wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

No it's not. World Bosses, and Public Dungeon group event Bosses, and zone story Bossses, and Incursions have all gotten progressively more difficult since High Isle. This is having a negative effect on a lot of players and should not continue. I would go so far as to say all of these things should be looked at and adjusted to be more in line with the previous zones.

This increased difficulty is not in alignment with what One Tamriel introduced, which was the ability to play how we want. These more difficulty zones are excluding a lot of players from being able to complete all the content and in any order they choose.

If you keep up with power creep by using the gear that comes from the new zones you will find that soloing the newer content should be easier.

Order's Wrath and Macabre Vintage specifically come to mind for this, as well as some newer mythics.

I'm definitely going to try out Macabre Vintage (easy, since ZOS GAVE it to us!), and I hope that will help me out some....

for most overland questing, i dont know if you will notice a difference

how the set works is it just adds a bunch of dmg bonuses (2-5 pieces) and the added bonus on the 5th piece only happens when you kill an NPC (it explodes and damages other NPCs)

so in some ways it might help kill larger mobs faster (such as a public dungeon), but it wont help much on a solitary world boss

AnduinTryggva · October 17

Zombocalypse wrote: »

Is it? Considering how they added Companions in one of the recent DLCs.

I'm not complaining, but I want to know if it really is the case.

And aside from Companions, are there other things added in the game over the years that makes it more and more soloable?

Thanks.

A few stuff that has not been possible to solo a few years can now be solo'ed with a more sturdy build.

However some stuff will never be possible to solo due to the mechanics however easy the foe might become to burn down.

The first boss in DSR comes to mind as does the Orphidic Shard in Luminit Citadel. You imperatively need several players to play the mechanics alone there.

AzuraFan · October 17

Companions don't make the game more soloable. Their combat AI isn't good enough to do so.

I agree with those that have said that the WBs and PD events have become less soloable in the last couple of chapters.

So no, the game isn't becoming more soloable.

SkaiFaith · October 17

Zombocalypse wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Most content in this game is meant to be picked up and played by players of any skill level, with or without the assistance of other players. Your stats and PvE enemies scale with your level, so you're free to tackle any content in any order without requiring another player. However, some content (such as 4-man dungeons/arenas, 12-man trials, and PvP) are best played with other players.

This is because The Elder Scrolls Online is both an Elder Scrolls game (and most of those have been single-player experiences) and a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) that allows players to play together. Players can treat ESO as an MMO, or they can treat it as a single-player TES game.

Thank you.

I guess one of the things that worry me is needing to do new dungeons for the sake of my Undaunted skill line XP, only to find no players because of the time of day and the day of the week, leaving me by myself who can't solo any new dungeon. Or... I am asked to join a guild if people help me in a dungeon, only to realize for the thousandth time that there are toxic people in MMOs just like in real life...

Can you speak about that? I just wanna boost my Undaunted Skills and Fighters Guild Skills.

On my alternative characters I grab only the Fungal Grotto 1 Undaunted quest when available as Pledge and complete it in Veteran Hard Mode since it's the most soloable 4 man Dungeon VHM. Even just doing that gives a ton of Undaunted XP every 12 days (1 full level for the first 2 or 3, and half a level from 4 to 10 think). If you are not in a hurry you can do this and just the Undaunted Daily Delve; months will pass and you'll have all your characters at Max Undaunted with little effort. Other Skill lines thou... They are definitely more tedious.

sarahthes · October 17

SilverBride wrote: »

sarahthes wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

No it's not. World Bosses, and Public Dungeon group event Bosses, and zone story Bossses, and Incursions have all gotten progressively more difficult since High Isle. This is having a negative effect on a lot of players and should not continue. I would go so far as to say all of these things should be looked at and adjusted to be more in line with the previous zones.

This increased difficulty is not in alignment with what One Tamriel introduced, which was the ability to play how we want. These more difficulty zones are excluding a lot of players from being able to complete all the content and in any order they choose.

If you keep up with power creep by using the gear that comes from the new zones you will find that soloing the newer content should be easier.

Order's Wrath and Macabre Vintage specifically come to mind for this, as well as some newer mythics.

I do fine because all my characters are well geared with decent builds. Although the long tedious World Boss and Incursions are a turn off for me so I don't even go to West Weald any more because of it.

And what about players new to ESO? Or new characters? Can a player new to ESO really start playing on the lastest expansion with their friends, as it is advertized that they can, and do well?

Given that the sets that I mentioned are either crafted or cheaply acquired from questing or guild traders... probably. With Oakensoul for survivability if needed, or just 2 heavy trainee pieces.

Erickson9610 · October 17

AzuraFan wrote: »

Companions don't make the game more soloable. Their combat AI isn't good enough to do so.

Companions are surprisingly good if you know how to build them. I've had multiple Companion builds solo world bosses while I remained in stealth. If the Companions can clear world bosses by themselves, then as long as they don't waste their heals on the player, they should enable the player to defeat world bosses that they perhaps couldn't before.

SkaiFaith · October 17

SilverBride wrote: »

sarahthes wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

No it's not. World Bosses, and Public Dungeon group event Bosses, and zone story Bossses, and Incursions have all gotten progressively more difficult since High Isle. This is having a negative effect on a lot of players and should not continue. I would go so far as to say all of these things should be looked at and adjusted to be more in line with the previous zones.

This increased difficulty is not in alignment with what One Tamriel introduced, which was the ability to play how we want. These more difficulty zones are excluding a lot of players from being able to complete all the content and in any order they choose.

If you keep up with power creep by using the gear that comes from the new zones you will find that soloing the newer content should be easier.

Order's Wrath and Macabre Vintage specifically come to mind for this, as well as some newer mythics.

I do fine because all my characters are well geared with decent builds. Although the long tedious World Boss and Incursions are a turn off for me so I don't even go to West Weald any more because of it.

And what about players new to ESO? Or new characters? Can a player new to ESO really start playing on the lastest expansion with their friends, as it is advertized that they can, and do well?

In defense of Zos: Mirrormoor Incursions are a bit slog-ish BUT they are miles better than the Bastion Nymic they were coming from. Sure things can improve, but they already did to be fair.
Also - Dragons are an old World Event and soloing them takes ages. Still, I wouldn't modify Dragons since they are probably the most satisfying enemy to slain.

Note: I understand and agree that a scaling system for these events so that the difficult adapts depending on number of players would be appreciated. I would not only lower health for solo players, I would also increase health/difficulty for huge groups since during events you can barely give a hit.

SkaiFaith · October 17

I am 2.000+ CP and when I happen to see someone asking for help with Prime Cataloger WB in Apocrypha I always jump in because I know I can handle it - I don't see why the difficulty of this boss should be the same for me and for a level 10 player: we would need a system that, for example, adds or removes "stages" of the fight, mechanics, mobs and such.
1 low level player alone should not face the same threat as a big organized and experience group.

The counterpoint to this is: if nothing ever kills you, where is the feeling of achievement? While, if you die when weak and return months after and finally take vengeance it is more satisfying.

Both arguments are valid.

sarahthes · October 17

In other MMOs being able to tackle world bosses and other similar content is part of the progression. You don't try to do them until you're leveled and geared and have a decent understanding of how to play your class and spec. ESO isn't any different.

SilverBride · October 17

"SkaiFaith wrote: »

I don't see why the difficulty of this boss should be the same for me and for a level 10 player

Because One Tamriel scales low level players to CP160 so they can quest any zone in any order along with their friends.

"SkaiFaith wrote: »

if nothing ever kills you, where is the feeling of achievement?

Being beat down and struggling doesn't give me a feeling of achievement. I get satisfaction from being able to defeat these enemies.

mdjessup4906 · October 17

I don't consider the game soloable until they adjust dungeon mechs that require more than one player to get past, like pad mechs or secret boss activators that are too far apart to streak or sprint to in time. They do seem to be going in the right direction at least. Theres coral aeri, and I haven't seen anything in the 2 newest ones that will give me issues.

CrazyKitty · October 17

ZOS has moved ESO in a direction that radically favors the casual players over the last six years or so. Everything is easier now, except Cyrodiil and trials because we can't stay connected long enough to complete challenging content anymore. Everyone I know who favors the challenging content ESO has to offer is deeply concerned for ESO's future viability.

Varana · October 17

I'm not sure why world bosses and incursions should be solo-able esp. for newer players. They're literally intended to be group content. As in designed to be dealt with in a group.

Elsonso · October 17

SilverBride wrote: »

"SkaiFaith wrote: »

if nothing ever kills you, where is the feeling of achievement?

Being beat down and struggling doesn't give me a feeling of achievement. I get satisfaction from being able to defeat these enemies.

To extend that, after a while it gets tiring to be writing an epic life and death tale of heroism after encountering a pack of wolves.

That said, there aren't a lot of epic life and death tales of heroism in this game to start with.

Mainly a selection of dungeon, trial, and world bosses.

It is hard to make a single boss that is challenging for both a group of four very experienced players and a single very experienced player attempting it alone.