Soloability and End Game

I seem to have missed this thread for the longest time.

I see this thread keeps going into and out of statistics, drop rates, expected values and so forth. Personally, as a player rather than a mathematician, there's only one thing I want to say on the subject:

The "soloability" of the end game, if one can even use that term, does not exist, because all end game activities I'm aware of are team-only. That in itself rings major alarm bells for me, and future content does not seem to alleviate any of my concerns. I firmly believe that in ALL content, be it early game, late game or end game, solo CONTENT should exist, at the very least as a counterpoint to group content. When it comes to the Incarnate system, this is currently not true, as the only content which is written to take place after one acquires Incarnate abilities is restricted to the Tin Mage TF and the Apex TF, both of which are team-only as Task Forces tend to be. Making those soloable is a fool's dream and isn't the point, but providing counterpoint solo, or at least soloABLE content to add to those is definitely something that should be on the agenda, yet doesn't look like it is.

When it comes to Shard drop rates, I'm not going to discuss numbers. Instead, I'm going to give my impressions as a casual (in terms of character power and gameplay "zeal") solo player and say that the drop rate is terrible. Not only is the drop rate terrible, but having Shards be drops is a bad idea in general, as it fosters the feeling that any content you play through that, due to random number generator malice, does not drop a shard is time completely and utterly wasted. Going a full day without seeing a shard is going a full day while having made ZERO progress and pretty much equal to going a full day sleeping in bed, or going out with friends, or working an actual paying job. One of the things City of Heroes used to pride itself on was the fact that you could log in for half an hour, kill some stuff and leave feeling like you accomplished something. Not much, mind you, not much at all, but SOMETHING nonetheless. Logging on for half an hour to look for shards will, unless you are particularly lucky, result in no progress at all.

I don't want to get into the maths and mechanics of it all, since I'm not qualified to make these decisions, but I will say this - when I run mission after mission after mission and get nothing at all, I'm demotivated to keep trying. When it takes me weeks to achieve even the basic Boost when I can go from 49 to 50 in a couple of days with the same playstyle, and then thinking ahead at how EXPONENTIALLY more costly future Boosts will be is very demotivating. Then turning around and realising that if I'd just gotten on a kill-all ITF, I'd have gotten right around 15 Shards in an hour and a half makes me REALLY demotivated, because... I want to run missions by myself. What's the point of playing if the only meaningful progress to speak of is found in content I don't like?

As far as I'm concerned, the gap between solo and team gains is far too great, at least concerning shards. I'm of the opinion that both a cap and a floor need to exist. A cap so as to let team events still have vastly better rewards without letting their rewards spiral out of control and a floor so that slower, weaker and above all MORE UNLUCKY players are never shafted going day sand days never even seeing a shard at all. I know it's not based on time but on kills, but even so - people are going to measure their gaming experience based on the time they spent playing, and if it feels like they're taking ages and getting no progress, they will give up.

As far as the rest of the game goes, I'd say content is soloable enough, if for no reason other than because content which can be soloed exists. It can't be soloed by everybody, granted, but I consider that a weakness of AT balance and a different story for a different day. Point is, if a person chooses and builds for solo play, then almost everything which isn't a TF is soloable, and there's enough of that to bring a person from level 1 to level 50 without forcing that person to re-grind the same content over and over again. On the grand scheme of things, I can't ask for more than that.

*edit*
Just for reference, I created (rather, recreated) a character around New Years, and she's level 40 right now. I checked with an M-name citizen, and I'm told she's been "on patrol" for 114 hours. Everyone on my global is constantly congratulating me on my swift progress, though I don't know how "fast" this is considered. But that's my "speed," more or less.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Rikti invasion: Defeated: Twice

Okay... Samuel and Power_Play have hit the subject right on target with my feelings.

If all the content for my 'end game' characters requires either 'grinding' or 'teaming'... I am likely not going to be seeing it until most players have it all figured out, mapped out, published walk-throughs, etc.

I loved Going Rogue! 20 levels of NEW content. I could finish my latest 49 off to 50, and then put them on the shelf and go play new characters. And with all the arcs to play, I have had a blast. Those 20 levels seem throughly geared to the solo player. Play them in a team and you will see that for sure. The spawn groups are almost overwealming, even on +0x1 for the owner. 8 Players means HOARDS of mobs, many with overlapping area effects, secondary effects, end drains, resistance debuffs, etc... For a solo, they seem just about right (though, of course, the people that regularly are bored when playing the old content at +0x8 or +2x1 or even +2x6 will still get bored with +0x1 in Praetoria).

If we had another 30 levels of Praetorian grade non-incarnate content, I would be completely willing to let the TF-Players and Raid-Players play their incarnate end game stuff to their joy. And I would play it, too. On team nights. With friends.

As it stands right now... I am grinding shards. And playing less of the game when it is not team night. And I have yet to play an Apex TF or Tin Mage II TF... but then, I have not played the Statesman TF, or Cathedral of Pain, or Lord Recluse Strike Force... not onces in all the time I've played the game. Lady Grey's TF and our team night team didn't get along. We really didn't like being KO'd that much. I have never done Hamidon. We did do the ITF once... and finally beat it on our second night of trying to complete the final mission.

I left that other War-filled World of Blizzard's because I couldn't find people to team with in order to play their end game (before they raised the level caps) that I was WILLING to play with. I do NOT do well on Pick-Up Groups.

So, if the City of Heroes End Game becomes all raids and team play OR all slow grinding I am likely to participate in said end game only in a minor way. Will it mean I will stop playing the game at all and rage-quit or the like? No. But I might stop playing the game as much as I do, and try other games out, or read a book. Or go back to routinely watching TV (something I have not done as much of since CoH came into existance and my wife found out she liked playing, too).

Please, Devs... Yes, an end game is important. But don't forget to throw us Solo-game fans some more bones. We're almost done digesting the last one (Going Rogue - the T-Bone steak of solo content).