Pro's and Con's of the solo farmer?

I have been playing on and off for the last 3 years. I just over the last few months came back and noticed that farming seems to be just as heavy as it was a year ago. Tons of broadcasts looking for more people and such.

I could understand it before, as you needed at least 6 on a team to get the map's mob size up. But now, with the new difficulty settings, you can set that same map yourself without help. The pro seems to be that you don't share the loot with anyone else. It is all yours. The con would be if you aren't quite strong enough to clear a map, but then you could just get one more and at least then you are only splitting loot with one person instead of 5 or more.

Then there are speed runs, which I would assume are being split up as to clear the map faster. But again, it is the sharing of the loot that makes even this seem illogical. If a fire/kin can clear a map solo with incredible speed, and a team of 8 can do it, say 3 times faster, but the fire/kin is keeping everything, then why? You don't get 100% of the drops, you are wasting time trying to get more ppl and you have to do some coordination with the team. Plus there will always be chit chat which takes away from the game time.

The only thing I don't see anymore are the fill/bridge requests. Which is a good thing, I guess.

Overall, if the purpose of farming is to "farm", why isn't the solo act the ultimate way to go? And if it is, then why don't more folks do it that way?

Thanks,

Answer: Some Level of interaction can help alleviate the boredom if you are affected by such. OR Some people find it quite easy to make a 2 to 8 man team, enjoy the company, find it a bit faster, etc. OR Some Farm Builds are better or faster in combination with another Build, making it attractive to create a 2 person team for quick drops/time ration. OR There are Static Farm Teams of friends that are designed to maximize drop/time ratio. OR The list goes on and on. You already know the gist of it yourself.

Pure Farms or Friendly Farming? It is sometimes an either/or; not a neither/nor. I mean I prefer to Solo even in an MMO, but I do enjoy interaction, and sometimes that is all that it comes down to; interacting to alleviate the loneliness and boredom of just farming. YMMV

Boredom is my main reason i can only take solo farming so long before I want to pull my hair out but with others on the team people are cracking jokes and just generally having a good time, yes even farmers have fun.

There's another reason to farm, Perstige for your SG/VG. Any farming I do is for my VG's perstige, alongside the xp and inf of course. That's something everyone shares.

If farming solo is boring only because of the lack of interaction with others, why not join a Global channel or two?

If it's boring due to repetition, then that's a whole other thing, what with "boring" being a subjective thing.

To all who have posted so far, as it relates to boredom and playing with friends, I didn't really think of that as being a large part of farming. I guess my image of farming is more business like. It seems like playing the game, doing content, rolling various toons is the fun/friendly part and farming is business/serious. I guess my perceptions are off. I don't farm much at all. I have never hosted a farm and participated in very few. They seem stiff and not very fun. Perhaps if I incorporated a fun factor into farming my perceptions might change. Also I have been reading more on the boards about farming. I suppose I have had a preconceived notion about farming.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ironblade Really? I never see any such broadcasts. The only related thing I see is people looking for more for speed runs of task forces since those require you to have more people on the team.

To be fair, it is more AE farming than mission farming I see. For example, I have rolled 3 new toons this month and in AP, it is not uncommon to see a 4:1 ratio of AE farm requests to sewer team requests. Steel is the same way, but with a lower ratio. I haven't been to PI as much, but it is still more difficult to get a mission team that it is a farm team. At least to me anyway. If it matters, I am on Freedom.

Thanks, to all, for the perspective.

It makes a difference what you are farming for. If you are farming for drops, then yes, you are better off alone.

But if you are farming for XP, then the more the merrier. You get the same or more XP with a few people playing together and can earn it faster.

I solo everyday. I use 2 or 3 accounts depending on time. I farm in AE and PI. I use either a fire/kin or elec/sd.

If i'm in PI, I do this solo at 0x8 for drops. If i invite, it's only global friends. Mainly for noncompletion of the mish.

If i go to AE to PL an alt then i invite anyone at any level to join in the fun, xp, tix, etc.