Going Solo in World of Warcraft: A Hero's Journey

[Doomcookie]

I read a lot of inane/insane comments on here, but you sir are a special one. Yeah Blizzard sneakly introduced a bug in a 10+ year old system, so that your auto loot has a 2% (30% is ridiculous) to fail. That's the most tinfoil hat explanation since flat earth. It's a bug and it'll get fixed.

Also you try to play the game in a very special (and not intended) way. Most of an MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER game is, shocker, group content. If there is enough content for a month of gameplay (for you specifically), that's great. It only cost you 15 bucks (as you don't play the most recent expansion as I gather) so it's an absolut steal. Why complain? Just play something different for the rest of the 23 months.
There is tons of solo content in this game, but you choose to not do it and whine about not having something catered to your very specific tastes (that you don't even can describe yourself). "I don't like the reward, so the feature they implemented is not geared towards me" is an "L take", as the youths would say.
Runescape is your example of an MMO that has tons of solo content, which is true. But it has the exact same "problem" as WoW. I don't care about having a skill of 99 in something, so I don't do it. See, it has zero content for solo players all of a sudden!
You don't want to do achievements, don't want to do pet battles nor dragonriding, don't want to farm mounts, transmogs pets, or reputation/renown and probably not mage tower (I guess). Also queable content you could do without chat and treat the players like NPC (and sadly you'll fit right in). WoW is definitely solo friendly (if you enjoy easy content at least), it's nothing for you. Go on play another game. It just doesn't make sense. I don't play Fifa (or whatever it's called now) and complain about all the football shit.

The odd thing is that he says he refuses to play current content, but insists on saying that current content that he knows nothing about, is bad. He also makes up all sorts of stories about older solo content, and that it's too difficult. It should be pointed out that he created his username 9.5 years ago, and the longer he insists on talking about the game he swears is dead, the more wrong he becomes. His every comment is a tribute to his bad faith.

[WowIsDead64]

Then, don't farm renown. Don't do it. You are whining that the solo content is too difficult, when it's not. You are whining that there's nothing to do, when you just started the previous expansion a month ago. You keep saying you want things to be like they used to be, but they were NEVER like you claimed... not in the 20-year history of the game.

If the content of a game is too difficult for you, then don't play it. If it's not rewarding enough, then don't play it. But, it seems silly to just make shit up. All of things you have been challenged on to actually back up, and you failed. I have even challenged you to name the class/spec that was supposedly too weak to do basic content, and I'd have my wife prove it can be done. I picked her to do it, because she's terrible at the game, and has almost never done group content.

So, name the class/spec that you cannot solo old solo content on.

Your claim about loot is absurd. There's no way you'd ever be able to back it up. It's also absurd that you keep claiming there's no content, when you literally refuse to play the solo content that is the topic of this thread.

It's actually very simple, so competent devs should understand it. If they don't - they're incompetent. It's simple thing - motivation. Yeah motivation is mostly subjective. And it's mostly about reward/effort ratio. For me it's combination of "fill the bar" and "power for comfort" things.

"Fill the bar" is obvious. It's something about getting accessible enough BIS gear. Well, not real BIS, but one, I can actually reach while playing solo. Or sometimes transmog set, if it's good enough. Again. Better collection of transmogs you have - lesser motivation to collect "just another recolor" is. Raid tier set is good enough. Quest greens? Nah. Accessible enough means, that things like WF/TF, that are about 6% chance to get +3ilvl, aren't worth doing.

Player power is little bit different. We are casual players. We don't care about competitive content. Therefore we don't need player power to have access to harder content. But it doesn't mean, we don't need it at all. Cuz at the end we want game to be more comfortable for us. But you should clearly understand, that it doesn't matter, what our power is, if game is already comfortable enough. Therefore player power matters only if boost is good enough. But devs should be very careful here. If they would try to make gear more "important" via content overtuning - players wouldn't do it due to it being not fun to do. Content should be easy enough to obtain gear itself and gear should grant access to some shortcuts, such as killing rares or elites instead of ordinal mobs. That's how Tanaan Jungle worked.

If BIS grind is too easy, sometimes I try to make it harder. To collect all gear for offspecs for example. To get all weapons. All trinkets. Even to collect WF/TF trinkets in ZM, that was almost impossible, lol. Etc.

Example? Difference between 460 for solo dungeons and 467 for weeklies. Yeah. These two have different base levels. 460 has 454, i.e. equal to quest greens, and 467 has 467. Therefore if I would fully upgrade them - they would be different. But as 4th season has ended and upgrading doesn't seem to be available - then that's it. It's 460 and 467. Do I have motivation to do very problematic weeklies, if this gear is almost the same, as 454 quest greens, I can get for free? Nope.

And ZM is completely different thing. "Naked" character has 180ilvl. So, 252 is big enough boost. Such gear is worth getting. Even 232 base gear is. But it was possible only due to cypher grind with flying allowing players to bypass playing overtuned content in 180ilvl gear, that was obviously impossible. That's why devs hate flying, yeah. If devs would remove flying and say "Grind dailies/WQs in your 180ilvl gear, lol" - nobody would play it.

So, what? We don't actually need group content rewards. Problem is - group content rewards are only rewards, that are worth getting in this game. Because all solo content is about putting too much effort into s**tty content for rewards, that aren't worth getting. Simply because devs hate solo players. Solo content in MMO games is used to punish players for playing solo and showing them, that group content is much better this way. It's just bait. You feel bad in solo content? Find friends (make them buy box and pay sub fee, yeah, network marketing, blah blah blah) and play good content then. That's it. I don't think devs are incompetent. If they aren't - then they make trashy solo content intentionally.

[Doomcookie]

It's actually very simple, so competent devs should understand it. If they don't - they're incompetent. It's simple thing - motivation. Yeah motivation is mostly subjective. And it's mostly about reward/effort ratio. For me it's combination of "fill the bar" and "power for comfort" things.

"Fill the bar" is obvious. It's something about getting accessible enough BIS gear. Or sometimes transmog set, if it's good enough. Again. Better collection of transmogs you have - lesser motivation to collect "just another recolor" is. Raid tier set is good enough. Quest greens? Nah. Accessible enough means, that things like WF/TF, that are about 6% chance to get +3ilvl, aren't worth doing.

Player power is little bit different. We are casual players. We don't care about competitive content. Therefore we don't need player power to have access to harder content. But it doesn't mean, we don't need it at all. Cuz at the end we want game to be more comfortable for us. But you should clearly understand, that it doesn't matter, what our power is, if game is already comfortable enough. Therefore player power matters only if boost is good enough. But devs should be very careful here. If they would try to make gear more "important" via content overtuning - players wouldn't do it due to it being not fun to do. Content should be easy enough to obtain gear itself and gear should grant access to some shortcuts, such as killing rares or elites instead of ordinal mobs. That's how Tanaan Jungle worked.

If BIS grind is too easy, sometimes I try to make it harder. To collect all gear for offspecs for example. To get all weapons. All trinkets. Even to collect WF/TF trinkets in ZM, that was almost impossible, lol. Etc.

Example? Difference between 460 for solo dungeons and 467 for weeklies. Yeah. These two have different base levels. 460 has 454, i.e. equal to quest greens, and 467 has 467. Therefore if I would fully upgrade them - they would be different. But as 4th season has ended and upgrading doesn't seem to be available - then that's it. It's 460 and 467. Do I have motivation to do very problematic weeklies, if this gear is almost the same, as 454 quest greens, I can get for free? Nope.

And ZM is completely different thing. "Naked" character has 180ilvl. So, 252 is big enough boost. Such gear is worth getting. Even 232 base gear is. But it was possible only due to cypher grind with flying allowing players to bypass playing overtuned content in 180ilvl gear, that was obviously impossible. That's why devs hate flying, yeah. If devs would remove flying and say "Grind dailies/WQs in your 180ilvl gear, lol" - nobody would play it.

So, what? We don't actually need group content rewards. Problem is - group content rewards are only rewards, that are worth getting in this game. Because all solo content is about putting to much effort into s**tty content for rewards, that aren't worth getting. Simply because devs hate solo players. Solo content in MMO games is used to punish players for playing solo and showing them, that group content is much better this way. It's just bait. You feel bad in solo content? Find friends (make them buy box and pay sub fee, yeah, network marketing, blah blah blah) and play good content then. That's it. I don't think devs are incompetent. If they aren't - then they make trashy solo content intentionally.

If you want BiS gear, then play the newest expansion. It's not difficult. Play the newest expansion, play the hardest content. You kept saying old content was too hard, but can't back it up, no matter how many times you are challenged on it.

What you claim to want has never been a thing in WoW, so the fact that you insist on continuing to play a game that was never what you wanted, is silly. Go play a game you actually want to play. There's no need to keep making up fake bugs and stories. You claimed WoW was dead a decade ago, how is that working out for you? What compelled you to play a game that was never, ever what you claim to want?

The devs added solo content, and you said it was bad, without ever playing it. You have been doing that for years, without ever playing it.

[WowIsDead64]

If you want BiS gear, then play the newest expansion. It's not difficult. Play the newest expansion, play the hardest content.

What you claim to want has never been a thing in WoW, so the fact that you insist on continuing to play a game that was never what you wanted, is silly. Go play a game you actually want to play. There's no need to keep making up fake bugs and stories. You claimed WoW was dead a decade ago, how is that working out for you? What compelled you to play a game that was never, ever what you claim to want?

Ehh, you've answered before I could clarify it. Not real BIS, but that content's BIS. Is Baleful gear BIS? Is ZM gear BIS? Nope. BIS means I wouldn't stop after filling all slots with some random epic gear. It means I want all slots to be 252. And therefore BIS is relative. If 502 is DF's current BIS, that is accessible to solo player - then I want 502. Well. No longer accessible. 467 is the best and it isn't worth getting, cuz it's not much better than 454.

[Doomcookie]

Ehh, you've answered before I could clarify it. Not real BIS, but that content's BIS. Is Baleful gear BIS? Is ZM gear BIS? Nope. BIS means I wouldn't stop after filling all slots with some random epic gear. It means I want all slots to be 252. And therefore BIS is relative. If 502 is DF's current BIS, that is accessible to solo player - then I want 502. Well. No longer accessible. 467 is the best and it isn't worth getting, cuz it's not much better than 454.

So, play current content if you want improved gear.

Why do you insist on playing a game you swore was dead 10 years ago, and that has never, ever been what you claimed you want? Otherwise, tell me exactly when WoW was the game you claim to want.

[MrLachyG]

If you want BiS gear, then play the newest expansion. It's not difficult. Play the newest expansion, play the hardest content. You kept saying old content was too hard, but can't back it up, no matter how many times you are challenged on it.

What you claim to want has never been a thing in WoW, so the fact that you insist on continuing to play a game that was never what you wanted, is silly. Go play a game you actually want to play. There's no need to keep making up fake bugs and stories. You claimed WoW was dead a decade ago, how is that working out for you? What compelled you to play a game that was never, ever what you claim to want?

The devs added solo content, and you said it was bad, without ever playing it. You have been doing that for years, without ever playing it.

Even if he did play the newest expansion, he would still complain. The only way for him to get gear would be from Delves, which he’s already said sounds boring despite not experiencing them.

- - - Updated - - -

Ehh, you've answered before I could clarify it. Not real BIS, but that content's BIS. Is Baleful gear BIS? Is ZM gear BIS? Nope. BIS means I wouldn't stop after filling all slots with some random epic gear. It means I want all slots to be 252. And therefore BIS is relative. If 502 is DF's current BIS, that is accessible to solo player - then I want 502. Well. No longer accessible. 467 is the best and it isn't worth getting, cuz it's not much better than 454.

“467 isn’t worth getting because it’s not much better than 454” - that’s just ridiculous. You’re tying your hands behind your back after shooting yourself in both feet with this attitude. Also I don’t remember what gave 502 gear but was it the weekly in Emerald Dream? Or did you need to upgrade it? I don’t know if you still can upgrade but you know what would solve literally all your problems? If you played the new expansion!!

[Doomcookie]

Even if he did play the newest expansion, he would still complain. The only way for him to get gear would be from Delves, which he’s already said sounds boring despite not experiencing them.

The ironic thing is, Blizzard looks like they are actually trying to make it more friendly for solo players. But, it was never about that. It's all about wanting to complain. the second someone offers a solution, they cry about the solution. You can see that the poster has been doing the exact same thing since 2015. They have never been playing the game they wanted.

[WowIsDead64]

So, play current content if you want improved gear.

Why do you insist on playing a game you swore was dead 10 years ago, and that has never, ever been what you claimed you want? Otherwise, tell me exactly when WoW was the game you claim to want.

Again. Another player, who tries to convince me to buy new xpack, just because new xpack's guest greens are better, than previous ones. Are you paid for doing it? What we want is very simple - FUN GAME. And fun game - is combination of good content and good rewards. That's it. Not that hard. If Blizzard make trashy solo content with trashy rewards - then why would they expect us to love it?

Ehh. I guess, I just need to wait for WOD Classic. But reason I don't like Classic - is because I want to play my favorite xpacks forever and Blizzard don't even leave just one old xpack server after releasing new one.

- - - Updated - - -

“467 isn’t worth getting because it’s not much better than 454” - that’s just ridiculous. You’re tying your hands behind your back after shooting yourself in both feet with this attitude. Also I don’t remember what gave 502 gear but was it the weekly in Emerald Dream? Or did you need to upgrade it? I don’t know if you still can upgrade but you know what would solve literally all your problems? If you played the new expansion!!

Problem is - even if 480-502 gear would still be available, DF still wouldn't be fun xpack for me, cuz scheduled AFK events - are terrible content. Yeah. May be I would do them. May be I would get all tier sets via catalyst. But I wouldn't be happy. That's why I'm not sure about TWW. I don't see any radical changes there.

[Doomcookie]

Again. Another player, who tries to convince me to buy new xpack, just because new xpack's guest greens are better, than previous ones. Are you paid for doing it? What we want is very simple - FUN GAME. And fun game - is combination of good content and good rewards. That's it. Not that hard. If Blizzard make trashy solo content with trashy rewards - then why would they expect us to love it?

Ehh. I guess, I just need to wait for WOD Classic. But reason I don't like Classic - is because I want to play my favorite xpacks forever and Blizzard don't even leave just one old xpack server after releasing new one.

- - - Updated - - -


Problem is - even if 480-502 gear would still be available, DF still wouldn't be fun xpack for me, cuz scheduled AFK events - are terrible content. Yeah. May be I would do them. May be I would get all tier sets via catalyst. But I wouldn't be happy. That's why I'm not sure about TWW. I don't see any radical changes there.

You avoided the questions.

The game has NEVER been what you claimed you wanted in the past. You have hated the game for a decade, yet insist on playing it.

When are you actually going to answer the questions? Why do you insist on playing a game you have hated from the very beginning?

You hates WoD, remmember?

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...s-own-mistakes

[WowIsDead64]

You avoided the questions.

The game has NEVER been what you claimed you wanted in the past. You have hated the game for a decade, yet insist on playing it.

When are you actually going to answer the questions?

Funny thing. This game always gives new hope, exactly when you think, that it's already dead and you will never play it again. If there wouldn't be 4.3, I would never play Wow after Cata's disaster. If there wouldn't be 6.2, I would never play this game after WOD's disaster. And ZM. It's a little bit different. It was place, I liked to return to. I decided to "just play it".

[Doomcookie]

Funny thing. This game always gives new hope, exactly when you think, that it's already dead and you will never play it again. If there wouldn't be 4.3, I would never play Wow after Cata's disaster. If there wouldn't be 6.2, I would never play this game after WOD's disaster. And ZM. It's a little bit different. It was place, I liked to return to. I decided to "just play it".

You have hated every expansion, and even the original, yet keep playing it, while complaining about all the content you refuse to play.

Here's the weird thing, you want Blizzard to do what you want, but you have shown you have no idea what you want.

I have you in threads saying you hate every expansion (even the ones you never played). I have you saying you will never play again. I have you making up lies to show why you hate the things you have never played.

You have spent 9.5 years lying.

[Hellfury]

Auto-loot fail literally means my character doesn't auto-loot in 30% cases, that forces me to either: 1) Reopen loot frame 2) Click on loot manually, as back in 2004. I discovered auto-loot not long ago and quickly realized, how great it is. No wasting time on clicking every item in loot frame, if I need all of them anyway. Looting every mob manually and clicking on items to do it - is obsoleted game design anyway, especially in content, where player just doesn't have time to waste on looting, such as in dungeons. It's especially great in combination with flying, when you can start casting your flying mount immediately after looting needed item. Looks like Blizzard just don't like such playstyle and start to silently nerf it. That's what I talk about. Implementing new feature just to regret it later and start trying to nerf or completely remove it?

Yeah. Solo dungeons not only have terrible loot droprate. They also plagued by exactly the same "duplicate" problem, as everything before. So, half of items, that actually dropped after completing dozen of dungeons - are duplicates, while my character needs almost any other items, yeah. Therefore I don't recommend this content for newbie solo players. They would be disappointed.

Auto-looot never failed for me since shadowlands, used very rarelyyy to when the latency was really bad on my side.

You might have a addon interacting with it, or have bad CVARs set, a new instalacion dont fix everything there are still some server side things, try to do a full cvar reset you can google it its pretty easy

[MrLachyG]

Again. Another player, who tries to convince me to buy new xpack, just because new xpack's guest greens are better, than previous ones. Are you paid for doing it? What we want is very simple - FUN GAME. And fun game - is combination of good content and good rewards. That's it. Not that hard. If Blizzard make trashy solo content with trashy rewards - then why would they expect us to love it?

Ehh. I guess, I just need to wait for WOD Classic. But reason I don't like Classic - is because I want to play my favorite xpacks forever and Blizzard don't even leave just one old xpack server after releasing new one.

Here’s the thing: they’re not making a game just for you. You’re the 1% of the 1%, the extreme outlier. You will never find this game fun because nothing about it satisfies you anymore. Which is fine, it happens to everyone but most people don’t keep doing activities they hate. I’ve seen your ideas on what would make the game fun for you, like removing combat, and they’re never going to be implemented - so again I ask why do you keep playing something you hate

[Doomcookie]

Here’s the thing: they’re not making a game just for you. You’re the 1% of the 1%, the extreme outlier. You will never find this game fun because nothing about it satisfies you anymore. Which is fine, it happens to everyone but most people don’t keep doing activities they hate. I’ve seen your ideas on what would make the game fun for you, like removing combat, and they’re never going to be implemented - so again I ask why do you keep playing something you hate

Not only that, he has hated the game from the beginning, yet still pays them money. So, they simply have no incentive to actually listen to him. They are laughing all the way to the bank.

[Ereb]

The ironic thing is, Blizzard looks like they are actually trying to make it more friendly for solo players. But, it was never about that. It's all about wanting to complain. the second someone offers a solution, they cry about the solution. You can see that the poster has been doing the exact same thing since 2015. They have never been playing the game they wanted.

This is the truth of the matter. It's never been about the game, it's always been about complaining and attention-seeking.

[WowIsDead64]

Wow's history seems to be long, but it isn't that long. It takes time to find what you actually love to do. Not what is more or less tolerable, but is 100% enjoyable. It's like watching videos, when you start to watch reviews, then unpacking no talking and then you realize, that what you actually want - is ASMR. You always experiment with things first. That's why I tried almost all content back in old times. But then I started to slowly focus on what I actually wanted. I just needed to find proper name for it. Solo content.

I started to play actively in WotLK. WotLK was mostly about PUGs and LFD runs for badges. So it was very casual. Cata is well known for Crab's "Heroics/raids aren't for casuals". So it was disaster till patch 4.3. But I was very inert back in that time. I thought, that everything could be fixed at any moment, when devs would realize, that they were losing subs rapidly (1 player every 30 seconds, lol). That's why 4.3 gave me some hope, that MOP would be better. But it wasn't. It was much worse. And WOD was even worse, so I decided, that I would never play Wow again. But 6.2 and 60% of Legion were SO GOOD, that I decided to return. It was new hope again. And again. Every time, Blizzard announce new xpack - you hope, that they've realized their problems. That's why it takes some time to realize, that they haven't. 1 or 2 xpacks. But situation is even worse this time. 3 xpacks in a row were bad. Situation is critical.

[Doomcookie]

Wow's history seems to be long, but it isn't that long. It takes time to find what you actually love to do. Not what is more or less tolerable, but is 100% enjoyable. It's like watching videos, when you start to watch reviews, then unpacking no talking and then you realize, that what you actually want - is ASMR. You always experiment with things first. That's why I tried almost all content back in old times. But then I started to slowly focus on what I actually wanted. I just needed to find proper name for it. Solo content.

I started to play actively in WotLK. WotLK was mostly about PUGs and LFD runs for badges. So it was very casual. Cata is well known for Crab's "Heroics/raids aren't for casuals". So it was disaster till patch 4.3. But I was very inert back in that time. I thought, that everything could be fixed at any moment, when devs would realize, that they were losing subs rapidly (1 player every 30 seconds, lol). That's why 4.3 gave me some hope, that MOP would be better. But it wasn't. It was much worse. And WOD was even worse, so I decided, that I would never play Wow again. But 6.2 and 60% of Legion were SO GOOD, that I decided to return. It was new hope again. And again. Every time, Blizzard announce new xpack - you hope, that they've realized their problems. That's why it takes some time to realize, that they haven't. 1 or 2 xpacks. But situation is even worse this time. 3 xpacks in a row were bad. Situation is critical.

You wrote multiple threads about how much you hated those expansions.

You are lying.

[Zardas]

But 6.2 and 60% of Legion were SO GOOD, that I decided to return.

What was "SO GOOD" in 6.2 and Legion that isn't in DF ?

[luciano]

I still don't understand people who play an MMO single-player. WoW is pretty trash if you omit all the multiplayer content. There are so many other better single player RPGs out there.

That's ok. We can all play just fine without you understanding what we enjoy or why.

[loras]

So much "You think you do but you don't" type inane of chattering about solo play.
Is it so terrible that you and others are made optional to other players?

Voluntary cooperation / competition (which does not need incentives) invariably produces the best social dynamics.