Goblin Squad Member
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We've been told if we try to solo, we will die. Which is like throwing the gauntlet down in front of me. :-)
I figure it is better to die early and often when I don't have much stuff to lose than die later and often when I do. So I'm planning on one of my characters soloing around the closest hexes to my settlement on day one.
Any other brave/fool-hardy/gutsy/crazy/fearless/stupid/ etc. souls out there planning to try the same thing?
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Goblin Squad Member
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I'll likely be spending my first few days in game being solo. I find the best ways to learn the basics of the game is to throw yourself into situations you really shouldn't be in. The best way I can do that is solo (cause I know I won't start whinging about leading myself to my death).
So long as the CR is adjusted for a smaller group, and resources are spent in healing (Cure potions, or wands if UMD skill is used), almost any class can solo with mixed results.
At low levels, martials tend to fare better.
At high levels, full casters tend to fare better.
The advantages to solo campaigns is that the GM can predict the capability of a lone character rather than a group. With groups, there's always the question of how well the individual PCs work together (are they greater than the sum of their parts, or do they actually impede each other?).
The biggest disadvantage with a solo campaign - one death is a TPK.
Still, classes that I find easiest to solo - Summoner, Cleric, Oracle, Ranger, Bard, Druid, Witch - in about that order.
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Goblin Squad Member
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So long as the CR is adjusted for a smaller group, and resources are spent in healing (Cure potions, or wands if UMD skill is used), almost any class can solo with mixed results.
At low levels, martials tend to fare better.
At high levels, full casters tend to fare better.
The advantages to solo campaigns is that the GM can predict the capability of a lone character rather than a group. With groups, there's always the question of how well the individual PCs work together (are they greater than the sum of their parts, or do they actually impede each other?).
The biggest disadvantage with a solo campaign - one death is a TPK.
Still, classes that I find easiest to solo - Summoner, Cleric, Oracle, Ranger, Bard, Druid, Witch - in about that order.
You're talking about the tabletop, not the MMO. The MMO intends to make it hard to solo if not impossible and won't be making any such CR adjustments.
Even harvesting is an action you'll want to do as a group.
And only now did I realize that I was thinking tabletop, not MMO.
Ah well.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I'll definitely be a bit of a loner, not looking for any sort of long-term grouping. If I can play solo I will, but I'm guessing that I'll hook up with suitable characters for many adventures.
My long-term plan is being a crafter, which will involve being a soloist most of the time, but I'll want to go and kill stuff occasionally.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Yup. I expect to become very familiar to Pharasma in the first few days. (whether I solo or not, but my schedule doesn't mesh well with my company)
That's a great turn of phrase. Beautiful.
I think this is the sort of emergent stuff that makes these games interesting when players end up taking on specific roles it brings the ame alive (or they're dead meat).
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Goblin Squad Member
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I just hope there is a skill to improve moving backwards faster. 'Cause I plan on shooting something, that will probably be with other somethings and running backwards while shooting whichever something is closest until I either kill them or they kill me.
Planning to use a melee weapon if you plan to solo seems crazy to me. Shoot and Scoot! Repeat as often as needed! :-)
We've been told if we try to solo, we will die.Ryan's also told us that if we play, we will die. Levels the playing field nicely...sorta.
Your post made me think of this.
...<snip>
My long-term plan is being a crafter, which will involve being a soloist most of the time, but I'll want to go and kill stuff occasionally.
Hmm, sounds like you need a place to hang your hat, but be an independent crafter. Yes? If so, check out Talonguard settlement perhaps?
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Goblin Squad Member
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So long as the CR is adjusted for a smaller group, and resources are spent in healing (Cure potions, or wands if UMD skill is used), almost any class can solo with mixed results.
At low levels, martials tend to fare better.
At high levels, full casters tend to fare better.
The advantages to solo campaigns is that the GM can predict the capability of a lone character rather than a group. With groups, there's always the question of how well the individual PCs work together (are they greater than the sum of their parts, or do they actually impede each other?).
The biggest disadvantage with a solo campaign - one death is a TPK.
Still, classes that I find easiest to solo - Summoner, Cleric, Oracle, Ranger, Bard, Druid, Witch - in about that order.
You just took all the fun and pride out of soloing. Even in tabletop, if the GM is adjusting the CR for a small groups/soloers, that is the GM basically admitting you're weak little kittens.
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If players can reliably solo anything more than a handful of weak monsters, or defend themselves during a mining run I will VERY disappointed.
TTop RPGS are NEVER meant to be solo adventures, even if some are fudged to make it work they are basically just 1 person tailoring single fights for their friend, and I don't see GW marketing to solo playstyles outside the "safe" zones inside towns.
Chief Technical Officer
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We've been told if we try to solo, we will die.Ryan's also told us that if we play, we will die. Levels the playing field nicely...sorta.
If you saw the screenshots of Ryan playing Alpha, you will know that he died a *lot*.
Early on, he joked (or maybe half-joked) about making you die as part of the game's tutorial, in the hopes of helping diminish your fear of death. I actually still think that's a good idea.
It's a given that you will die—that's not the problem with soloing. The problem with soloing is that one of the primary goals of the game is maximizing useful human interaction. Goblinworks is pouring everything they have into making that part of the game as fun as possible. So if you are trying to avoid that, you will be missing a huge percentage of the things that we are doing to make the game fun. Your experience will be very limited, and if you don't find it fun, that's on you, not us.
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Goblin Squad Member
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We've been told if we try to solo, we will die.Ryan's also told us that if we play, we will die. Levels the playing field nicely...sorta.If you saw the screenshots of Ryan playing Alpha, you will know that he died a *lot*.
Early on, he joked (or maybe half-joked) about making you die as part of the game's tutorial, in the hopes of helping diminish your fear of death. I actually still think that's a good idea.
You could work it into the storyline a bit where your character's death is how you learn of the mark of Pharasma
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Goblin Squad Member
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We've been told if we try to solo, we will die.Ryan's also told us that if we play, we will die. Levels the playing field nicely...sorta.If you saw the screenshots of Ryan playing Alpha, you will know that he died a *lot*.
Early on, he joked (or maybe half-joked) about making you die as part of the game's tutorial, in the hopes of helping diminish your fear of death. I actually still think that's a good idea.
It is a spectacular idea. If you ain't dyin, you ain't tryin.
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Goblin Squad Member
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The problem with soloing is that one of the primary goals of the game is maximizing useful human interaction.
[emphasis mine] I will be interested to find out what this means beyond settlements battling each other. I'm sure in a few- to six months this will be clear. Looking forward to seeing the game evolve and mutate according to the player's combined and individual actions.
I don't think soloing will be an effective strategy for longevity. ;)
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Goblin Squad Member
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Whenever I see a post about soloing I quote one of my favorite quotes from Stephen: Town Players
Especially the type 3 player will hardly ever leave town. Now I will admit right away that you need to be a certain kind off player for that, i.e. the heavy crafters/traders. Folks who love to PvE and kill monsters will already have a harder time soloing.
Even so, I expect there to be Settlements/parts of the world where it will be pretty safe to harvest, or even PVE in the hexes adjoining the settlement. As I understand it, escalations will sprout from specific monsterhexes and these will probably be contested(dangerous), however I think monsters will also simply spawn in more regular hexes if I am correct.
And then there is the fact that NPC-towns will provide all(I think) Tier 1 training and part of Tier 2 training. The NPC-patrolled hexes will also garner a large amount of Tier 1 resources, which will always be needed because they will also factor into crafting the higher tiers.
So I feel there are a lot of possibilities to go about it alone. And if you can be happy with being a Tier 2 with specific skills you may not even have to leave the safety of NPC-hexes, ever. This may sound silly, but it is not that you get thrown into PvP right away and can not avoid it.
I think part of the attraction of the Political PvP game is learning which areas are currently relatively safe. Keeping a pulse of the political landscape will become a valuable skill in PFO imo. I can see PvE minded solo players relocating to more safe regions to suit their needs.
I think GW intends to make such migratory behaviour possible, by the fact that you can be a free member of a settlement so that you are not locked into a sponsored company; and the fact that you can belong to more then 1 company also(maybe an unsponsored company that roams the lands, looking for safe PvE). I am sure many players will be incredably loyal to their settlements: but I also think we may see a large contingent of players who will use settlements more to fit their (safety) needs. And I think this is totally acceptable. If anything, it will be an incentive for Settlements to create a safe environment.
Goblinworks Executive Founder
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I just hope there is a skill to improve moving backwards faster. 'Cause I plan on shooting something, that will probably be with other somethings and running backwards while shooting whichever something is closest until I either kill them or they kill me.
Planning to use a melee weapon if you plan to solo seems crazy to me. Shoot and Scoot! Repeat as often as needed! :-)
Learn how to strafe efficiently! Run forwards (well, actually sideways) while shooting backwards! Or learn the art of the jump-shot (which was, and maybe still is, a thing WoW hunters did).
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Goblin Squad Member
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Learn how to strafe efficiently! Run forwards (well, actually sideways) while shooting backwards! Or learn the art of the jump-shot (which was, and maybe still is, a thing WoW hunters did).I just hope there is a skill to improve moving backwards faster. 'Cause I plan on shooting something, that will probably be with other somethings and running backwards while shooting whichever something is closest until I either kill them or they kill me.
Planning to use a melee weapon if you plan to solo seems crazy to me. Shoot and Scoot! Repeat as often as needed! :-)
I love sniping.
[Spots enemy in the distance]
[Pulls bow string back] *TWANG*
[Yells] "Yo mama is so ugly that she turned a Medusa to stone!"
[Starts back peddling back into the woods as the angry bandit charges for him while laughing]
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Goblin Squad Member
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They haven't addressed attacks of opportunity specifically but I don't see how a pathfinder game could totally leave it out.
My hope is for the spastic jumping bean technique to be the fastest way to die in pvp.
Also, double-tap in a direction should count as a 5-foot step.
Attacks of opportunity are replaced with a mechanic called "opportunity", which is sort of covered in the blog You've Got the Brawn, I've Got the Brains. Basically a lot of melee basic attacks will have additional effects if the opponent is running around in melee, and fighters in particular can specialize in punishing opponents who give him the Opportunity.
Dunno about jumping though.