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  1. #1

    Anyone playing WoW like a solo game? What's your endgame?

    Hi.

    (Sorry for the long text, skip to TLDR if you don't feel like reading the intro.)

    I am a solo player (it's pretty standard - I have nothing against groups, but have to be able to stop playing and go offline at every minute due to real life priorities such as work and family).

    I also am a completionist, so for a long time I was seriously bothered by the fact that so much of WoW short-circuits into group content. I have to set a goal for myself and then work towards that goal, this is just how my mind works. Regretfully, with WoW I find that goals like "get _all_ achievements" or, say, "get _all_ mounts" -- which are juiciest to a completionist, because they have the word "all" in them! -- don't work, since all such things eventually lead to current raids, which aren't soloable.

    I looked around, tried other games, but... WoW seems to have made me immune to everything else. :-)

    So, that was kind of a tough catch. I was oscillating between "but I can't play WoW, because I can never complete anything in there" and "but I can't play anything else, because that's not WoW [followed by lots of rationalizing, like - not enough quests, combat not responsive enough, etc]". Some of you might have been in the same kind of state.

    Then it occured to me that maybe my biggest problem in WoW and the reason for saying that I can never complete anything in there, is that I simply limit the range of acceptable goals to traditional goals, most of which are coming straight from the in-game achievements dialog. There is nothing stopping me from defining my own set of goals, completely orthogonal to the traditional ones, and perhaps that set could be both soloable and interesting.

    --- TLDR ---

    So, I have been looking for such a good set of goals for solo play. Obviously, I can do, and have already done -- all quests, all soloable instances and raids, all soloable reputations (99% of them), lots of pets and mounts, lots of PVP achievements on BGs. I do these things every expansion, and obviously I will continue doing them, that's good content. The problem is that even playing casually I am running out of such traditional solo content quite quickly (I'd say solo content is just about 30-35% of all content now, the rest is raids), so what I need is something beyond that, something which I could use as my solo _endgame_. Some of my ideas for what that could be:

    (a) keep one char of every class, when new expansion comes, bump all chars to the new max level and try getting the best gear that can be obtained solo (ok, add some LFG and scenarios, maaaaaaybe LFR, but that's likely too much time for too little),

    (b) keep all professions, when new expansion comes, level all professions to the new max level, chase all new recipes,

    (c) max gold, farm materials, find sweet spots in professions, camp the AH -- might run into big problems with AH bots though.

    Anyone played like that? Was it good / boring / something else? Any other ideas for a solo endgame? I'd appreciate your thoughts and experiences.

    Thank you.

  2. #2
    Deleted
    I'm in a similar situation since I've resubbed but no longer in a raiding guild or interested in raiding, just playing with a few RL friends. I don't have the patience to maintain that many alts, but I'll probably just try to collect as many solo/LFD/LFR achievements as possible. Many scenarios if they can be done with me and a few friends.

    Atleast with the existence of LFR I can view the raid content as well.

    Speaking of which...
    Is it difficult to get into LFR for the non-Siege of Orgrimmar raids? I'm not even max level yet or in any big hurry, but I don't want to miss them entirely. On the other hand a new expansion hasn't been announced yet so I assume I have about atleast a full year before the next one?

  3. #3
    I'd say it depends on your personality - if you're a lone wolf, you can be just fine doing stuff you named, but if you play a multi-player game to play with multiple other players, you will get bored - just as I was, when I decided to start over on a new realm. I ended up doing LFR, random dungeons and scenarios and battlegrounds - with people who do their best to avoid any kind of communication.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tamerlane2 View Post
    Speaking of which...
    Is it difficult to get into LFR for the non-Siege of Orgrimmar raids? I'm not even max level yet or in any big hurry, but I don't want to miss them entirely. On the other hand a new expansion hasn't been announced yet so I assume I have about atleast a full year before the next one?
    Yes, people run old raids quite often, as far as I know. Thanks to the legendary quest - which is pita if you are on it, as it takes weeks, but keeps people interested in queuing for old stuff.

  4. #4
    When you say "solo" do you include that you don't participate in LFR etc? I consider myself a solo player and I partake in LFR and have dabbled with the thought of trying flex out too. Essentially, "solo player" for me only means that I avoid scheduled raiding. Maybe I am not what this thread is about.

  5. #5
    Elemental Lord Rixis's Avatar
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    I do quests, heroics, scenarios, lfrs, level alts, work on professions, piddle about on timeless isle, run tk, voa, ssc, bt, hyjal etc, collect mounts and mini pets, level mini pets, farm rep.

    So unless you discount the queueing up to kill shit with random people who barely ever talk, there's loads to do as an unguilded solo player (though I do have a guild, some random 25 guild for perks )

  6. #6
    My guild broke up at the end of Cataclysm. I was in the guild since Burning Crusade. For 5+ years, those people were my social circle in the game. We did everything together. When it fell apart, some people quit. Some people xfered servers. Some went to join other guilds. It was a huge mess. Some I'm still in contact with on RealID but most have just quit all together.

    Anyway, after the breakup of that particular guild, I floated around, joined different guilds, etc. But nothing ever really stuck. Nothing ever really felt like "home". I decided I was done with the social aspect of the game.

    It was during this time I became a hardcore solo player. I pushed my limits to see much I could solo in old raids. I tried to see how much gold I could make on the AH. I tried to see how many mounts I could get through no other effort than my own. I found farming spots. I maxed out all professions. I leveled one of every class to cap. I bought a level 25 guild so I'd have the perks without having to deal with other people. I just did everything alone.

    But, after a couple years of playing in an MMO without many friends and doing the whole solo thing, I'm kind of wanting the social aspect again.

    It was fun for a while, but lately I've really been craving that social aspect again. Trying to get more social and reach out.

  7. #7
    LFR is my endgame. Zero fuks given if I can't raid heroic or flex for that matter.
    I just chase achievements, that's my solo game.

  8. #8
    I'm going to start off by saying that I have a few biases regarding solo play and wow/mmos. For one, mmos in general do not do a very good job at solo content, although WoW in particular has been doing a better job this expansion with the addition of battle pets, brawler's guild, proving grounds etc. But that is in comparison with other MMOs. I usually recommend that solo players try an RPG instead if their goal is solo play and have zero interest in group content. I usually also recommend that solo players that are interested in playing an MMO, but casually, try a quality f2p/b2p mmo like GW2, Rift, and SWTOR, because shelling out $15/month can be expensive for a player who is only interested in playing a few hours/week, and that $15/month (or whatever your subscription plan may be) adds up over time.

    BUT, if you are happy with WoW and what you are getting out of your gameplay each month, then by all means you should keep playing. A lot of players play the game similarly to the way you do. Besides AH, professions, alt leveling, and achievement hunting, other things you could consider doing could include battle pet collecting/achievements, mount farming, gearing your alts in 496 gear from Timeless Isle farming, Brawler's Guild, Proving Grounds, soling old raid content, and hunting items for use for transmogrification. Have some specific goals for each, such as completing Gold for your role in Proving Grounds, or amassing enough gold to obtain all of the crafted/purchasable mounts in the game, and/or reaching gold cap on your account.

    You won't run out of things to do anytime soon. Have fun and good luck

  9. #9
    Herald of the Titans velde046's Avatar
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    Been playing the way you mention mostly since late Cata. Am in a great guild but we were unable to fill raids on a weekly basis. We merged raiding with another guild, but was just not it for me, so I only do LFR or an occasional FLEX. Apart from that it's mostly about achievement hunting and getting things at max yes. Enjoying it though. Althoug I must admit that levelling toons has never felt more daunting that previous expansions, mostly because you do not get flying for alts before max level.... was very active as altoholic in previous expansion, now only have 7.....

  10. #10
    Try leveling a new Toon and soloing old instances with him.

    Usually with a tank full heirloom you can solo instances of your own level. It's really fun and sometimes quite challenging, you should give it a try.

  11. #11
    High Overlord Ifrica's Avatar
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    You could also create a new character and level it all the way to 90 in white statless gear (or even naked). I remember there being these 'ironman' contests, with certain restrictions and when you die you have to start all over again. (abit like hardcore mode in diablo)
    We did it in SWTOR before expansion and it is fun to do, and gives a feeling of achievement. Leveling a character up to 50 (swtor) in starting gear, i remember people even doing it without a companion.
    Setting these kind of challenging goals freshen up your leveling experience and are fun to do, learns you how to play your class better

    Found a link to the rules:
    http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3269547347#1
    Last edited by Ifrica; 2013-10-30 at 10:08 AM. Reason: link

  12. #12
    Deleted
    Since I have no time for spending more time for raiding i'm in the same situation. In MoP I just slowly reached 90 lvl and leveled professions, then hunted for rares and other creatures(like lobstmourne mobs).Sometimes I spent long time doing pvp(but in MoP all random pvp was so imba and one faction easly bashed opponents :/) or world pvp .I was rly disappointed with lack of 5man(normal and heroic) since Scenarios was too short and too easy for me :/. 5 man was always coolest thing for me when I didnt have time for raiding. Ofc they added the challenge mode but it was all about doing everything in the fastest way and the most effective so no time to talk with others or have some fun :/

    End game? reach 90 lvl, level professions, explored whole land, found most of secrets and beeing bored by dungeons and pvp.


    MoP had the fastest end game for me. All new features didnt rly make me stay longer.

  13. #13
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Grand Crusader Absalom View Post
    LFR is my endgame. Zero fuks given if I can't raid heroic or flex for that matter.
    I just chase achievements, that's my solo game.
    Same here.

    All of my guildmates quit with Cata, and I never could be bothered to find a new guild/new players I'd play with.
    LFR/farming reps/achievements/soloing/collecting pets and mounts etc. - for me, there are plenty of things to do without having to deal with others on a regular basis.

  14. #14
    Great to see I am not alone!

    Some quick response:

    Quote Originally Posted by Niku View Post
    When you say "solo" do you include that you don't participate in LFR etc? I consider myself a solo player and I partake in LFR and have dabbled with the thought of trying flex out too. Essentially, "solo player" for me only means that I avoid scheduled raiding. Maybe I am not what this thread is about.
    Yup, I do LFR. I treat LFR as a solo activity, precisely because, for better or worse, people frequently drop out of it and so I am not feeling too guilty queuing even though I know I might have to suddenly drop, too. It is just that LFR as of late has been feeling as too much effort for too little value. I liked ToT LFR more than SOO since ToT allowed you to earn rep, which provided you with ilvl 522 items, and these items were as good as items from normal TOT (save for tier bonuses). Ah, well...

    Quote Originally Posted by Celista View Post
    Besides AH, professions, alt leveling, and achievement hunting, other things you could consider doing could include battle pet collecting/achievements, mount farming, gearing your alts in 496 gear from Timeless Isle farming, Brawler's Guild, Proving Grounds, soling old raid content, and hunting items for use for transmogrification. Have some specific goals for each, such as completing Gold for your role in Proving Grounds, or amassing enough gold to obtain all of the crafted/purchasable mounts in the game, and/or reaching gold cap on your account.
    Thanks!! That's exactly what I am looking for here - lists of things to do for a soloer. I have been doing most of the things in your list, but I wasn't doing anything with transmog - that's a very promising area. That and the gold cap / enough gold to purchase every pet or mount I can.

    Quote Originally Posted by Gwhorn View Post
    Try leveling a new Toon and soloing old instances with him. Usually with a tank full heirloom you can solo instances of your own level. It's really fun and sometimes quite challenging, you should give it a try.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ifrica View Post
    You could also create a new character and level it all the way to 90 in white statless gear (or even naked). I remember there being these 'ironman' contests, with certain restrictions and when you die you have to start all over again. (abit like hardcore mode in diablo)
    Perfect! Putting that on my list as well. I once leveled a character doing all quests of the appropriate levels without skipping (so, all quests in all starting zones, then all quests in all 10-15 zones, then all quests in 15-20 zones, etc, all the way to Pandaria). Yes, I was 65 or 66 when I first stepped in Hellfire Peninsula, etc, and leveling did take some time, but it was very fun. I guess I might try doing something similar using instances instead of regular zones, it should work all the way up until Cata at least.

    In general, I wish Blizzard did something that would unlock more of the content for soloers. I think there is a way to do this without alienating those who raid. Here's how - and this is my biggest wish for Blizzard:

    I wish they started adjusting _old_ raiding content - that is, raiding content from expansions other than the current one - so that all of it (bosses, achievements, everything) would be soloable. Maybe with some skill (eg, on the level of proving grounds gold), maybe only with tanking specs, but soloable. Right now we are half-way there - instances that are one expansion old and raids that are two expansions old are more or less soloable - but there are encounters and achievements that require having more than one person _by_mechanic_, and this really gets in the way.

    I am looking with hope to Blizzcon. :-)

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Grand Crusader Absalom View Post
    LFR is my endgame. Zero fuks given if I can't raid heroic or flex for that matter.
    I just chase achievements, that's my solo game.
    Pretty much. I've help "defeat" Gary, so I feel like I've won the game at this point, now it is just collecting the Timeless isle pets, farming some rep etc
    Quote Originally Posted by THE Bigzoman View Post
    Meant Wetback. That's what the guy from Home Depot called it anyway.
    ==================================
    If you say pls because it is shorter than please,
    I'll say no because it is shorter than yes.
    ==================================

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by ItachiZaku View Post
    I've help "defeat" Gary, so I feel like I've won the game at this point
    reminded me what a friend i used to go to school with once said:

    You win the game by logging out
    You complete the game / 100% it by quitting for good.


    My own endgame? As long as i'm having fun, i don't care. Be it Pvp or Pve
    I like my coffe like my mages.

  17. #17
    I am Murloc! Terahertz's Avatar
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    I'm sort of a solo player in the sense of not having a lot of people to play with. Which means I usually find ways to do certain things on my own (like soloing dungeons for exp lol). Most of the time other players are an obstacle to me rather than beneficial.

    But when I do meet people who are on the same level as I am, the game becomes a lot more fun

  18. #18
    Herald of the Titans Chain Chungus's Avatar
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    My endgame is everything minus raiding. Which is all they seem to care about now.

    And that is the real reason MoP is negative. Not the Asian feel, not the pandas, not kung-fu, not Pokemon, not Farmville: FUCKING SHIT RAIDING!

    Enough is enough. Spread that development around and get rid of this priapism for raiding, Blizzard.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Telomerase View Post
    My endgame is everything minus raiding. Which is all they seem to care about now. And that is the real reason MoP is negative. Not the Asian feel, not the pandas, not kung-fu, not Pokemon, not Farmville: FUCKING SHIT RAIDING! Enough is enough. Spread that development around and get rid of this priapism for raiding, Blizzard.
    Hear you. It has been my impression that Blizzard spend more time on raids than on everything else combined as well...

    There was a post recently that showed that about 54% of the characters have completed ToT (including LFR) and about 76% completed MSV (including LFR). Granted, that's characters, not accounts, but the numbers are still pretty large, so... One question that we might not ever know the answer for, however, is:

    Is it that more than half of the players really want to raid, or is it that they raid because they think / feel that they have no other options?

    I guess we can safely assume that most of the large numbers above are generated by LFR, not other raiding modes, which makes the question even more actual.

  20. #20
    Wow is solo game now why would you want to search for friends u can do everything by yourself just QU to pvp QU to Dungens QU to raids i can experience everything alone i cant wwait for when they put solo qu for arena so i dont have to bother talking to other peoples

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