Crazy Thought/Question/Wish on Pledge Dungeons - for lone wanderer types...

geonsocal

It's not that i don't like people...i just prefer to play eso alone...i mean i like pvp - particularly the zerg versus zerg versus zerg stuff...kind of reminds me of being in a city where your surrounded by people, but, still able to interact how you wish and go in whichever direction you like...

some of my most favorite content in the game outside of cyrodiil are the public dungeons...really enjoy the environments and story lines...

i've gone solo (on normal) through some of the pledge dungeons...unfortunately though - after about 20 to 30 minutes or so my thumbs are absolutely aching from the overwhelming number of enemies, and, the amount of hp assigned to some of the bosses...

just wondering - how feasible would it be to scale the pledge dungeons based on the number of players grouped inside that instance: three players, two players, solo player...

would that require an obscene amount of code and updating...is it something which would basically be near impossible for zos developers to incorporate?

would absolutely love to have a public dungeon type format for the pledge dungeons...or, a pledge dungeon instance, which scales based on the number of participants, available to folks whom prefer to play alone...

i want a chance to enjoy that particular game content...

i know, i know - eso is an mmo...i get it, sort of...

not interested in acquiring monster gear (the golden has helped enough already in that respect), or, looking for any special achievements...

i don't hate people; and, i've been very fortunate to have some really excellent and fun pug adventures through some of the undaunted pledges...t's just that for the most part - eso is my quiet time...

just wondering about the technical aspects of making something like this a reality - and, wondering if there are any other like minded folks when it comes to these pledge dungeons...

Taleof2Cities

I could be on board if the rewards are a tier lower ... since the content would be easier than soloing it currently in the game.

But, you said it yourself:

geonsocal wrote: »

i know, i know - eso is an mmo...

geonsocal

well mister dickens - thank you very much for your input - i appreciate it

okay then, looks like for the most part - this just may have been a me thing...i'm gonna disappear now...

Imza

Nooooo..... don't disappear.....


I agree with you

AcadianPaladin

@geonsocal I agree with you also. Completely. What I love about group dungeons is that you can take your time - because the darn foes don't respawn right on your head if you linger a bit (like happens in public dungeons). Would love to see group dungeons scale based on the number of players in the group - from 1 and increase up to 6 as far as I'm concerned.

I love dungeons for the adventure and will never farm them for loot so I could care less how loot gets handled.

And like you, I enjoy sometimes grouping but mostly like solo for two reasons: Quiet time with my character and no need to try and coordinate my schedule with others. Play when I want and exit the game on a moment's notice if I feel like it.

The closest I find the game offers at the moment are the 7 group delves in Craglorn. They are kind of a hybrid between public and group dungeons and suit a single player or duo looking for a fun but manageable challenge wonderfully. And, like group dungeons, they are a 'private instance' with only you (or your group) inside.

MehrunesFlagon

You realize some solo vet dungeons for the challenge though. A toggle would have to be applied on this.

AcadianPaladin

Best of all worlds would be the ability to set the dungeon upon entry to your desired level - regardless of the size of your group. Perhaps better than 'autoscaling'. That way a solo player or group could play the dungeon scaled for 1, 2, 3, 4 or perhaps even more players independent of the size of their group.

That would allow loads of flexibility regarding challenge and, as I said above, I could care less what happens regarding loot scaling.

Ruckly

I wouldn't mind a solo version of the dungeon so I could take in the story. I wouldn't do it repeatedly though. It would be like dragon age without allies and a lot more aoe.

Rainraven

It would be nice for a number of reasons, and you're not alone in wishing for it. Generally it gets shouted down by people who seem to take it very personally, or have kind of vague philosophical problems with it along the lines of "kids these days."

So that's the forum, usually. I've never seen anything from the devs one way or the other. There are people who would like a higher tier of difficulty they could choose, too, and that would also be a nice addition.

Linaleah

I have a lot of problems with swtor, but one thing i genuinely like is ability to play story heavy dungeons in solo mode. they don't really drop loot, and in case of ESO it could just not count towards daily pledge, but if what you are after is an ability to experience the story and the environment at your own pace, without being rushed, getting to listen to all the dialogue etc? its a great option.

I think if they let the quest still count towards the skill point completion, but NOT count towards pledge and NOT drop set loot? I cannot see any negatives in creating this option.

P.S. make the quest available as a repeat for those of us who already did the quests, but didn't actualy get to experience them

geonsocal

I remember going through the vault of madness about a dozen times farming a set of rattlecage...

after the first two groups tried to kick me (fortunately I was in there with a buddy so that wasn't gonna happen) for trying to listen to the dialogue and look around a bit - I gave up on the story, or, really visually taking in the whole dungeon...

run like hell...

what really drove this point home to me was when i stepped in the bloodroot forge just to check it out - it was beautifully rendered...

soon as i read about the new "dragon bones" dungeons I got a little bummed...good chance I'll never experience them...

still have never beheld velidreth...

one of the things that turned me on the most when I first started playing gta, fallout, and then skyrim - was the open ended nature of those games...

maybe it's simply my maverick nature - but, I feel forced to play a certain way to enjoy those pledge dungeons...

and no, the thought about exploring the trial areas have never come to mind...not really interested at all...

just those 20 or so pledge dungeons, which i imagine will only be getting even cooler as time goes on...

I guess if I had one true quality of life improvement in eso - this would be it...

Bhaal5

This is a mmo right? though i do find it really weird eso is the only mmo that I've played that has the "soloist" mentality.
Dont know if its because people really like skyrim and wanted the same thing from eso or what. But i do believe mmos SHOULD be played with others, hence the "mmo" tag

Osteos

A story mode would be nice. That way you could listen to dialog and read notes at your own pace. Because lets face it the current meta that is supported by most people and present in every mmo I have played is to run through content like your ass is on fire. Its quite tiresome.

They could even offer an Undaunted companion to accompany you at the beginning to help you through. Healer, tank, or dps depending on what you need/wanted.

Linaleah

Bhaal5 wrote: »

This is a mmo right? though i do find it really weird eso is the only mmo that I've played that has the "soloist" mentality.
Dont know if its because people really like skyrim and wanted the same thing from eso or what. But i do believe mmos SHOULD be played with others, hence the "mmo" tag

CAN be played with others. not SHOULD. I don't know which MMO's you have been playing but vast majority of the more stable MMO's specifically offer up players a nice selection of solo content. WoW blew up the way it did in huge part because it moved away from forced grouping.

and to reiterate what so many have been saying. people would just like to be able to enjoy the story and environments. there would still be group modes that give you rewards etc. its just.. so much work went into creating these quest experiences.. and vast VAST majority of people just skip right over them. so why not create an ADDITIONAL mode that would allow people to experience the story that developers worked so hard to create at their own pace?

geonsocal

Bhaal5 wrote: »

This is a mmo right? though i do find it really weird eso is the only mmo that I've played that has the "soloist" mentality.
Dont know if its because people really like skyrim and wanted the same thing from eso or what. But i do believe mmos SHOULD be played with others, hence the "mmo" tag

yeah, run like hell

menedhyn

Linaleah wrote: »

... to reiterate what so many have been saying. people would just like to be able to enjoy the story and environments. there would still be group modes that give you rewards etc. its just.. so much work went into creating these quest experiences.. and vast VAST majority of people just skip right over them. so why not create an ADDITIONAL mode that would allow people to experience the story that developers worked so hard to create at their own pace?

This.

To be able to run with a group OR to wander off by yourself and enjoy all the subtle nuances, little details and breathtaking scenery at a pace that better suits exploration would certainly make me venture into dungeons more often. I'm not even bothered by rewards, just a chance to see the game in that way would be a pleasant change.

Tasear

It's mmo

Pele

If you're not after monster sets or achievements, why are you running pledges? You don't need a pledge to enter a dungeon.

As for scaling dungeon difficulty, I'd be for that if the rewards were also reduced for anything that's not the intended difficulty (4-man team). For instance, I would be against awarding pledge keys for normal and vef dungeon runs that are set to any difficulty that's not designed for a full 4-man group. And I'd be against vet dungeon runs awarding monster helms and motifs for sub 4-man difficulty. Top tier rewards for top tier difficulty only.

bitels

Just join a guild, makes some friends go with them into dungeon and say up front- i want to do exploration/quest run. It isnt that hard tbh.
You must understand- when you PUG dungeon you might get very exp ppl, for who that is XX time they are doing it. After year, two or three of running dungeon it is just boring for some ppl, so they want to go in, be done with it and move to the things in the game they are finding intresting.

Im not against your idea, i would not care about it tbh, if not for a fact that would took a lot of time for developers, time that could be spend on many other things that need to be adressed. Just think for how long they worked on one tamriel and dynamic scaling.

Mazbt

I like your scaling idea based on number of players are in there.

Magdalina

Try finding like minded people to run dungeons with. Normal pretty much is story mode with full group, but 9/10 people are in there to farm so all they want is run run run(and on run 24759, can't really blame them much). However there are people out there who enjoy storylines as much as you or at the very least are chill waiting while you enjoy them. The issue here is different expectations, so just make sure your expectations are the same - "hey guys, my first time here and would really love to experience the story"(ideally before the run too).

I've run Bloodroot for the first(and only so far because I more or less quit the game soon after that XD ) time on vet with friends who were much more interested in mechanics, completion and achievements than story but they not just waited for me but also informed me of every single note/book/whatever they found so I could read it - there're actually quite a few there

I just wish dungeon stories were repeatable, kinda not fair that if for your first time you get a run run RUN group you get no chance of ever hearing the story unless on another character. Technically a story mode wouldn't hurt I guess but at the same time...the point of group dungeons is to encourage people to group, even if these people are generally into soloing only or whatever. Who knows, perhaps after being forced into a group for the story at first they will actually like it and start running dungeons daily? I know a lot of people for whom this is their first MMO and they were very self conscious about grouping at first but they ended up living in the dungeons pretty much, me being one of them. Should we really give this chance up?

FrancisCrawford

Bhaal5 wrote: »

This is a mmo right? though i do find it really weird eso is the only mmo that I've played that has the "soloist" mentality.
Dont know if its because people really like skyrim and wanted the same thing from eso or what. But i do believe mmos SHOULD be played with others, hence the "mmo" tag

LOTRO scaled its skirmishes for 1, 2, 3, 6 or 12 players.
LOTRO also had plenty of non-scaled instances, but in most cases you could go back to them when you were overleveled.

Guild Wars gave you NPC allies you could take in lieu of human players.

Guild Wars 2 had no instances when it came out EXCEPT the solo ones.

geonsocal

oh, i'm about to come off as a serious knucklehead...

here's the deal - I don't wanna be in anyone's group...i don't wanna have anyone in my ear or sending me messages...me time is me time...

f*** crown and stay out of my head...i just want to relax, follow the story and enjoy the sights...

I absolutely love the scaling concept based on participants, and, or some difficulty setting (sub normal )...

but hey, open it up some way as a public dungeon and that would be cool by me too - go at your own pace...chill and wait for a boss to re-spawn - I wouldn't mind...

it's not about loot...just want to enjoy the content...

if I had mad skillz and titanium digits like @Vaoh - wouldn't need to even think of asking zos to dumb down the difficulty for me...but, I don't...

Noggin_the_Nog

Bhaal5 wrote: »

This is a mmo right? though i do find it really weird eso is the only mmo that I've played that has the "soloist" mentality.
Dont know if its because people really like skyrim and wanted the same thing from eso or what. But i do believe mmos SHOULD be played with others, hence the "mmo" tag

Coming from Skyrim I knew ESO was an MMO, but after over two years of the "run, run and run" mentality in Pledge Dungeons and Trials I really want to take my time and enjoy the scenery. Lots of lore/stories and areas to explore.
Last night I was collecting Treasure Chest maps and Node Surveys on my crafter in Rivenspire, and one was right next to Crypt Of Hearts. Far too tempting to ignore. CoH 1 - in I go.
Nearly an hour later and one death from the Llambris Twins I was happy. I had taken my time, explored at my own pace, and had FUN.
We play this game for the enjoyment of playing - sometimes that means solo.
I need to level some alts in Undaunted - does anyone know if I collect a Pledge and complete it solo, does that count towards the Undaunted skill line or keys?

Grimm13

Would also like to see some solo options or even designed for. I do like to take in the story content and have yet to be able to do so as someone always wants to rush you through to get to the next dungeon.

I disagree that reward should be a tier down, cut back on the number of items maybe. Randomize which boss grants the main loot to keep from having players bypassing all just to go for the best loot.

These solo dungeons and trials should still be a challenge but still doable as solo.

Dawnblade

Scaling instanced content (both by difficulty and size) makes a lot of sense - mostly because it can extend the life of existing content by allowing more people to experience the content in more ways.

Some examples I've seen include:

Solo modes for dungeon content (I've seen some scaled for a solo player and some that use an NPC for support).

Multiple scaled difficulty levels for dungeons (WoW even has a 'keep increasing the difficulty until you can't complete it' mode for dungeons) and raids (many games offer more than two dificulty settings).

Variable group size scaling for raids (I haven't seen solo raids, but I have seen raids that scale based on the number in group so if your team is one short or has an extra person, you can still all group together for the content).

AcadianPaladin

There is room for all kinds of play. I primarily play a healer. She is optimized when in a group and when this is the case, her world is focused on four health bars, cranking out support and not standing in red. Loot, quests, scenery - simply irrelevant distractions from her passion to keep her team up and strong. Summed up much more concisely by the original poster is that grouping is 'run like hell'. Lol.

While she truly enjoys her vocation of healer with a passion, it is a wonderful change of pace to try and spend most of her time solo so she can chase butterflies, listen to and enjoy quest nuances, admire scenery and music etc.

It is very possible to find another single player with the same desire to 'smell the roses' as a duo, but a group of four to do a pledge? Good luck with that.

DirkRavenclaw

geonsocal wrote: »

I remember going through the vault of madness about a dozen times farming a set of rattlecage...

after the first two groups tried to kick me (fortunately I was in there with a buddy so that wasn't gonna happen) for trying to listen to the dialogue and look around a bit - I gave up on the story, or, really visually taking in the whole dungeon...

run like hell...

what really drove this point home to me was when i stepped in the bloodroot forge just to check it out - it was beautifully rendered...

soon as i read about the new "dragon bones" dungeons I got a little bummed...good chance I'll never experience them...

still have never beheld velidreth...

one of the things that turned me on the most when I first started playing gta, fallout, and then skyrim - was the open ended nature of those games...

maybe it's simply my maverick nature - but, I feel forced to play a certain way to enjoy those pledge dungeons...

and no, the thought about exploring the trial areas have never come to mind...not really interested at all...

just those 20 or so pledge dungeons, which i imagine will only be getting even cooler as time goes on...

I guess if I had one true quality of life improvement in eso - this would be it...

Im one of the players who enjoys the stories in Dungeons. Yeah, there are Times, when i run Pledges where i just wanna get on with it but a tip from me is, just go in with a Guild created Group. I always ask, even in PUGS, right at the beginning if anyone needs to do the Quest for a Skillpoint or anyone doesnt know the Story. And i personally cant solo them yet on CP501, im still working on mechanicks. Would be nice to have a Solo Version but we already have Public Dungeons and Delves where Delves are really a Joke when you are CP 100 and above and Public Dungeons get really easy at cp200 to 250 so another solo dungeon content at cp400 and above would be welcome

Shantu

I absolutely support the idea of scaling dungeons and WB's for solo. It's done very will with dolmens.

While I love the game, what disturbs me the most is being forced into group mode, with people with bloated attitudes who can't finish anything fast enough, to get to experience and complete this content. While running with a group of like-minded players is fun, it's an ideal, and in reality it gets time consuming and tiresome putting these groups together. Sometimes I just want to relax and run solo and have access to more challenging content without being killed 50 times trying to take on a dungeon solo. For experienced solo players the challenge gap is pretty huge between delves/public dungeons to group dungeons. What a joy it would be to take on normal dungeons with less than 4 players and a flexible difficulty level.

kringled_1

Magdalina wrote: »

Try finding like minded people to run dungeons with. Normal pretty much is story mode with full group, but 9/10 people are in there to farm so all they want is run run run(and on run 24759, can't really blame them much). However there are people out there who enjoy storylines as much as you or at the very least are chill waiting while you enjoy them. The issue here is different expectations, so just make sure your expectations are the same - "hey guys, my first time here and would really love to experience the story"(ideally before the run too).

I've run Bloodroot for the first(and only so far because I more or less quit the game soon after that XD ) time on vet with friends who were much more interested in mechanics, completion and achievements than story but they not just waited for me but also informed me of every single note/book/whatever they found so I could read it - there're actually quite a few there

I just wish dungeon stories were repeatable, kinda not fair that if for your first time you get a run run RUN group you get no chance of ever hearing the story unless on another character. Technically a story mode wouldn't hurt I guess but at the same time...the point of group dungeons is to encourage people to group, even if these people are generally into soloing only or whatever. Who knows, perhaps after being forced into a group for the story at first they will actually like it and start running dungeons daily? I know a lot of people for whom this is their first MMO and they were very self conscious about grouping at first but they ended up living in the dungeons pretty much, me being one of them. Should we really give this chance up?

If they were repeatable (from a story point of view) I'd be fine with trying to occasionally find a group to experience the story on normal; as it is on my main I have been on rush groups for the first time through just about all of the 4-man dungeons and really only got a sense of the story from the written dialog that I can skim quickly the first time and whatever spoken dialog I happen to hear over and over.
At least some dungeons try to introduce some of their boss fight mechanics in earlier stages with low consequences for not following them (RoM, FH are the ones I'm thinking of) - of course those introductions tend to go by the wayside also when groups just run through.

Colecovision

I get blue jewelry and no monster helmets when I solo 4 man normal. I have lots of undaunted keys but no helmets. That’s frustrating.

As for making it easier to solo, there should be a story mode. No set gear drops at all, smaller mobs and reduced hp on bosses. Bosses do use their full mechanics so people can learn. The easy version could also be furniture mode with a blue or purple furniture plan dropping from the final boss. I’d actually prefer that to more blue jewelry anyway. Either way running the normal dungeons solo is probably my favorite part of the game and it’s the only way to enjoy the missions imo.