The Importance of Solo Play in DCUO

I dunno. It just seems like in the past there was more of a balance in the kinds of content we'd get with DLCs/episodes, but as time went on the raid/alert crowd got more vocal about having more of their preferred content. That kind of culminated in Halls of Power 1, which had no solo content included at all (even War of the Light 1 had a couple of solo missions, even though they're weekly and not daily). That particular DLC stood out for me because in terms of what it had, it was kind of a wash for me; past DLCs fit in because some had new powers, others had new weapons or things like the utility belt addition so even if it was a group content-focused DLC, there was at least something I could work with.

The focus on group content also may be why I'm sticking at Mark sweet spots for as long as I can. Right now I'm at a point where most of my characters can get a good amount of Marks per day via solo content while getting unattuned gear that will help me progress when I'm ready to move on (thank you Patrol Catastrophe lol). Thing is, I also know that once I do move on, the solo content starts getting few and far between after Halls of Power 2 and I don't know exactly how that's going to be affecting my progress once I hit that area.

Up to now I've been able to go through the tiers at a decent (but comfortable) pace using mainly solo content, and I've gone into it knowing that it's the longer path so I don't complain about it. But I'd be a liar if I didn't say I was at least a bit concerned about how the group content focus is going to affect my progress and make things frustrating once I move past my current sweet spot.

I think the solos is a kind of preparation. Its a place to know better your abilities, your strategies in the tier. I know that its already did in the 0-30 level, but the game really starts in level 30, so the first real preparation are the solos.

The problem is that it's tough to justify giving out Marks for that older solo content when you can blow through it like it was paper.

Even before the CR differential, it was little to no trouble to go through a T1 solo challenge at higher CRs and destroy it. Something like the Mannheim Theater instance would take about 3 minutes, and that's with taking down all the mobs. I mean, you're able to pretty much sneeze on the mobs and take them out. LOL

As much as I hate to bring it up, the only way I could see players being able to get Marks from old solo/duo content is if they had to run it clamped, otherwise it becomes difficult to say that a player actually deserves the Marks for so little effort. But knowing how the community tends to react to that dreaded "C" word, I don't see that as a possibility, so that just ends up being kind of a dead end.

No worries watched a video of Phantom Zone. Thanks Daybreak at least I know now I get the same junk in solos and duos that I would get in that alert

Remember how T4 did not have Duos until fairly recently??

That is because the Devs were planning to phase out duos and solo play at the time.

Their thinking at the time was that by the time people reached T4 they were ready enough to be able to play group content only.
Also an argument at the time was that it was as much work for them to make a solo mission then to make a 8 player mission.
So the argument was better to spend that time making new missions for 8 players then to make missions for only 1 player.

They tried to give us iconic Solo as some sort of compromise to still give us solos..... but the reception for those was pretty bad.

But with the reaction to OC.... they changed their plans and they gave us more small group content..... at least for a while.

But they are managing to find ways to go back to their original plans and make mostly Large group content.

I am sympathetic to those that enjoy solo content but I just don't see the point. The combat system is not designed very neatly towards 1v1. So in a solo one of two things happen: u overpower everything and just speed blitz through (lame) or spend have the solo being blocked/broken. Kudos to those that play these missions, more patience then me. I do enjoy open world stuff where u can still work together but can do solo but solo missions or iconic anomalies could never show up again and I would be fine.

If you do not play the vast majority of content, how do u still find enjoyment in this game? Since PB and PZ are too hard, u are left with like wastelands duo, loa duo, science spire solo and.... that doesn't seem fun at all nor can u really progress ur toon

It is a rather jarring experience. Personally the big obstacle is getting hold of a team, so solo content feels a lot more appealing than group content knowing that I'm going to have to go through a lot of effort to get a hold of people to work with. At the end of the day, this is a game, we play it for entertainment, not to have our souls destroyed spending an hour trying to assemble a raid team, then playing through the content.

I'll just throw something out for the sake of it. How does scaled down content sound? Can't do raids, do a four man equivalent for a four man reward. I'd have this kick in the loot lock, but provide a cheaper replay cost to compensate. The proper raids should always be the best option, but the alternative could be there to help out those looking for one, even if it makes life more awkward for them.

I agree with OP.

I especially agree with the OP these past days x.x i've slowed down and logged in a lot less (Is a lot less even gramatically correct?...i digress)
My point, i've slowed down because player's "quality" is in the sewers atm, rare is the instance where you dont see some clueless t7, a ragequitter, a "beast" player, etc. so somedays you don't really wanna put up with those guys, and the solo content is absolutely lacking, not to mention, mostly useless for meaningful character progression.

Makes one miss the old lvl1-30 arc...and i think for old players especially, we miss the old arc where your powers felt heroic, where you duked it out with iconics in a fast paced, non-1-2-3-4 way....

Would you find "enjoyment" in PB and PZ wiping on the first boss for 3 hours??
sadly when you PUG 8 player missions.... more often then not that is what will happen.

Yes...... it would be more fun to have MORE solo alternatives.
But sometimes you take what you can get.
So you take your fun where you can.

Yes... the progression is much slower playing solo then playing group content....
but so far..... you can still progress doing mostly solo stuff.

My toon is at 158 CR and working on SP's at this time. Some of us find enjoyment in other places or level another toon. It's not that they are too hard, they are great, just seems that most people like myself have found the "no in play instance" option and don't go into half done instances with people who have been there forever. I find many things in this game enjoyable and I have 2 solos, 3 alerts that i can play. My comment is more directed to the fact that if it is a matter of gear well the only thing left to do is craft rings and for me 2 cr points really don't make alot of difference. So now I save marks until new content buy an armory for dps/tank and get better in my role while chasing feats? What isn't fun about that. Sarcasm is added at no additional cost. The point is the way it's going it alienates alot of people especially those who don't join leagues. If I can ever find a league that is up when I am up then I will be right there in the thick of it with them. Until then ehh solo's, duos, and pug alerts it is.

I don't agree with the progression part. I was 158 three days after episode 22 release. The only reason I figured out the 160 trick was on test and realistically who wants to scrap that much junk. I actually just sold it went to the broker and spent a million or so getting collections, lol.
Oh and no Replay Badges

But the issue is that older players were able to run this content, get easy marks to get better gear or to complete Iconic styles. Now, completing the iconic styles is all but impossible because all marks earned now have to go to end game gear meaning completing those styles was easier for older players than it is for newer players meaning they won't be able to get those skill points. The only fair thing to do is to either re-open those instances to get marks or to re-institute MoT for content lower than T5.

Let's consider the following factors:

A. Some of the solos we do during 1-30 are as solo instances after 30.
B. They have a Duo mode variation.
C. Some of the 4-player instances have a hard mode variation
D. Outer Caverns have a 4 and 8 player variation.
E. Players always wanted teleporters to do some of the raid stuff.

Then why don't they:

1. Buff up the challenge level of the current solos to raise them up one tier?
2. Bring whatever instances we did during 1-30 as solo instances?
3. Make 1-man variations of raids, either easening them up or giving us the "Novice" variation?
4. Turn all duos into solos with an extra option to "Queue as duo" OR add an extra option for duos to "Queue solo"?

I had a couple of paragraph to talk about some things mentioned here, like "high CR players doing low level content costing us players", which I don't believe in at all, or how in a MMO you should only do group content, which is BS since every MMO has solo content in every tier.

I will say this, replay badges speak louder than player numbers, if Devs keep seeing how easily 5 players are willing to spend 100 dollars each on replay badges on one single instance per month, because yeah only 1 instance per month actually matters, how can we convice them that it's better to have 10 players spending 50 dollars each on things like marketplace items, episodes, subs and yeah even replay badges, but not at the extent of 3,650 a month, but rather 5 to 6 hundered. It's one of those things where quantity actually means more quality, but quatity of the right thing, players, and not just more replay badges. And with more solo content means more players actually playing their own way, learning their roles and getting better skills (not SP) along the way, as opposed to waiting for 30 minutes for a raid, doing it in 20 and waiting again for 30 minutes, speding 86 replay and doing it over and over, the same thing day in and day out, ignoring 99.9% of the game. Give us more solo content, more things to do on our own, and please stop putting the best gear on raids and alerts, finally bring a real gear crafting system like I suggested months ago, that would make us play everything, not just the monthly single instance (some clamping is involved in this, but it's a lot more fair than just taking away your work on your toon).

PS : If everything gave marks, that means vendor gear prices would sky rocket, meaning the solo players would be screwed even more then.

they already fixed this by adding the iconic vendor for 10 marks a piece.

I do like the ability to enter duos as solo, but making solos into duos pretty much eliminates the whole idea of doing solo for new players since it would be too hard at that level to solo which, and the whole point is to make more solo content.

Which is why CR differential needs to go. It discourages players from playing certain types of content.

Based on how things are goin now.. It's not looking good for the game a year from now I'm not saying the game will be dead but I'm saying it might go into abandon mode... If they don't do something fast to tryin and bridge gaps

And pump out better quality...

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. Marks are at a premium now. I can't afford to waste marks on styles when I need every last mark to keep my gear up, keep my generator mods and trinkets up, utility belt slots up, etc. In short, I need every last mark I earn to keep up with the game. I can't waste them on styles. Why is this so hard to understand?

I'd like to see walkins for everything but realize the futility in that.