End the war on solo gameplay in WoW (Part 1)

Eh, it likely varies from one person to another, for me though it tends to mean I can see both sides and, if I feel like it, argue both sides, like I can see the frustration solo players have with a lack of gear, a lack of content or both, but I can also see where there needs to be a cap for gear from solo content or it needs to be its own thing with a progression path, like Torgast if it provided gear that only worked in Torghast.

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Back in MoP, though, Normal was the equivalent to today’s Heroic in terms of comparative iLvl because there was no Mythic.

Normal raids were harder then now (somewhere between today’s Normal and Heroic), so getting even a few pieces from doing Heroic Dungeons, daily quests, and LFR felt like a privilege.

So do I get a few pieces of iLvl 291+ gear in Season 4 for doing LFR, Heroic dungeons, and daily quests? Nope!

No need to pretend that SL is this magical welfare loot piñata compared to MoP. In no season of Shadowlands were you ever physically allowed to get Heroic item level gear without joining pre-organized groups for instanced content.

LFR up to 5.3 was the equivalent of today’s Normal. So by today’s standards, you could not only earn Normal-level gear with tier bonuses, but at the same time you could earn a few pieces of Heroic gear with the Valor from completing LFR wings—all while progressing along in your cloak questline. World bosses also dropped the equivalent of Heroic iLvl, and even on the live game today this gear is labeled “Heroic”.

I don’t know what people have to gain by trying to twist around facts to make it look like things are so good for solo players these days, but if you look at the overall systems design of each expac, MoP was quite progressive in trying to reward solo players, while SL scaled back on a lot of progress that had been made in Legion/BfA. (In Cata, there was no legendary questline if you were solo!)

Just admit that SL is bad for solo players and you like it that way.

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solo players the largest player demographic. haha hahahahahahahahhaha

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The currently available cypher gear is all you need in terms of solo gear.

Yes the Ilvl didn’t increase, but that is because the open world didn’t change.

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That includes the world bosses, yet each drops higher hear when the corrisponding raid is fated, why could they not do the same for the other world content?

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I mean the game itself was never built for solo play
 they’ve added stuff over the years that may be seen as such
 but the delusional notion that solo gameplay should keep you in the loop and have the ability to gain any serious group worthy gear is just asking for a handout.

Players who ignore giant swathes of content really don’t have much of a leg to stand on when complaining about a lack of content.

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I’ll say that SL has provided outsize gear rewards for people who ignore the fact that this is an MMO and I don’t like that.

I disagree fundamentally with an entire raid tier’s gear being made obsolete by things like covenant sets and cypher gear.

I think that the maximum gear you should be able to get solo should be gear that is the bare minimum to get you into M+ and not an ilvl higher than that.

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Again because it wasn’t needed.
Why do you need higher Ilvl?
With the 255+ you get in ZM and from worldbosses you can do all the solo and “solo queue” content.

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We’re in a thread about solo players. Arenas, namely 2s are the closest you get to solo PvP.

Solo Shuffle being the actual Soloers dream PvP.

Sounds like M+ is perfect for you then.

Sure they can, but if it’s gear they want, they should simply do group content. Much less time, much less effort, much better rewards.

The problem is solo players have this completely distorted view of group content as something scary and toxic, when the truth is very far from it.

They literally get the best gear there is in the game for the content they do. Cypher Gear in ZM is the BEST gear to use in ZM at all times.

Instead of getting poorly itemized 522s worst off than the 502s from LFR. Oh and 522s were the highest Valor pieces you could buy in MoP, after repping up in the raid. After that, it was 535 tokens on Timeless Isle, poor man’s gear 5 ilvls lower than Flex raiding gave.

On top of that, in MoP, you could not get tier with solo play. SL literally gave you Tier for solo play.

SL had the better solo player experience, by far.

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You do not have the right to deny other people’s experiences. Just because YOU haven’t had a bad time in group content, doesn’t mean it’s a universal experience.

Social interactions with random people
 always have random results. You might get people who think and feel just like you, you might get a group to carry you, you might get a group who flames you and kicks you for accidentally pulling 1 extra minion, you might get a group who never speaks
 all random. Not all players can tolerate that.

LOL, No. I have one character with BiS ZM gear and complete Cypher research, and a character in Normal/Heroic raid gear with barely any Cypher. The raiding character has a way easier time in ZM. The ilvl difference is massive. I can literally 2-3 shot any minion in raid gear, but I have to actually “fight” them in ZM gear and Pocopoc is doing 90% of the job.

LFR gave you Tier, and Legendary Cloak. What are you talking about? Not “exactly” solo, but LFR is as close to solo as raiding gets. One of the biggest hurdles of group play is dealing with queues, rejection, and sucking up to leaders at the beginning of gearing until people just invite you out of ilvl or exp.

Anyway
 the game would definitely be much better if all players had an avenue on gearing that they like. You like rading, then you still get to raid and play with people that LIKE raiding (instead of a mixed bag of people who like it, and people who are there just so they can do other content). You like M+, then you get to also play M+ with others that like it. You like Solo, then you should be able to gear-up through solo content of similar difficulty to raids and M+.

You already have a toy you like, so why are you denying other people having toys too? Why do you feel the need to be selfish and gatekeep?

Note, I didn’t mention PvP
 because PvP should be exclusively about skill, not about gear.

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Of course I do.

If someone is saying the air outside is toxic to even breath and I step out and breath it just fine, I’m going to deny their experience. And I have a right to do it. Especially when it’s just a complete fantasy made up in their head.

Meaning move on if something bad happens once.

Then you picked the wrong cypher gear.

LFR isn’t solo play, there’s 24 other peeps with you.

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We’re in a thread about solo players. Arenas, namely 2s are the closest you get to solo PvP.

Solo Shuffle being the actual Soloers dream PvP.

Isn’t a rated version coming?

The problem is solo players have this completely distorted view of group content as something scary and toxic, when the truth is very far from it.

Some people have really low self-esteem and can’t handle any interactions that don’t go their way.

Yes, you do. I can solo ANYTHING in ZM with my raiding character; even the hard bosses like Mother Pheptis. I can’t do that on my ZM character, even though he has full cypher research.

The minions also take significantly longer to kill with my ZM character. It’s literally night and day. And that has always been the case in WOW, but it really shouldn’t be.

I remember when the “solo” challenges of the mage tower came out
 but 99% of the people actually completing them early were the ones in Mythic raid gear. Hence, you were forced to do group content, to be able to do solo content. By the end of Legion, when gear was finally more accessible, the challenges became more accessible too, but by then, they were also completely trivial for the raiding crowd.

In this case, it is not made up. Also, that’s not how it works either; you don’t tell a soldier with PTSD, “relax, your visions are not real, you are fine.”

Have YOU made this experiment? 25+ ilvl difference (which at this point is more like 50+ ilvl difference) is WAY stronger than any cypher upgrade. It is an undeniable fact.

Already explained in the other post why that’s not really the same thing
 and a lot of the solo player issues with group play could be slightly mitigated by queue systems for all difficulties, just like solo-shuffle helped solo PvPers.

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Not only is it coming, it’s up on PTR right now :

Doesn’t sound like something that requires game changes, but rather people changes.

As soon who pugs a lot, yes. Yes it absolutely is 100% made up in their heads.

ilvl is meaningless in the face of gear effects and bonuses. Has been since 2004.

You’re right, it’s even worse. LFR you don’t pick your team mates.

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This is my favorite part.
Most people don’t play MMOs standing up.

You would be an EXCELENT therapist
 excellent, I tell you
 everything is in your head so you might as well get over it, right?

Again, no. Just because it hasn’t happened to you doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened to someone else.

Sure
 go do Mythic+ using last expansion’s “gear effects and bonuses.”

Again, WHY ARE YOU GATEKEEPING OTHER’S FUN? Why? What do YOU personally get out of other people being unable to enjoy the game?

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Cause he cant control his ego <3

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Yes, the air outside is not toxic to breath, you can step out of your house.

Why would you want gear with effects that work in M+, when you’re a solo player who just does rares in ZM ?

2/4 of your examples are group content.