CoE loot comparison - solo vs heroic

EQ2 has NEVER been that game, not ever. Heroic content has always been a cakewalk as long as you have a group of players each of whom has at least two gray cells banging against each other. Heroic content is only challenging when you're in a fail group, or when you're solo. Perhaps you've never grouped with capable players?

Ding ding ding!

You decide you want to do a zone, you either:

a) Do the solo version, 10min later you have loot all for yourself

b) Spend an hour or more forming a group for the heroic version, complete it hoping none of the people you invited mess up the script, and then have a small chance of getting any loot.

Which takes more effort? Seriously? Simply the act of forming a group is more time consuming and challenging than any of the solo zones.

Group should always be more rewarding then solo. If you put a solo boss next to the comparative group boss, the solo boss should be easier. Now solo there are issues when there's a dps check or some stupid mechanic such as the seer in Wurmbone End.

Now since they had to keep the gear stats below that of PoW, they haven't really given the gear much room for growth with regards to solo instances and heroic instances to keep making them worthwhile to run.

Of course, and I have completed the sig line. I've run a few dungeons, lost every roll for an obol, which sometimes has 5 drop on an instance, sometimes none. I did get a rare component, the only one I saw.

To me these things are far too rare. They can't be counted on, there's no guarantee like running UD for heads or SS for shards.

Anyway, you keep pointing me to the obol armour, which is a totally flawed system that will take forever for people to get upgrades through, based on RNG.

The more common stuff that most non raiders will be wearing for quite a while, is the + 160 stat stuff from chests. The same stuff you can get at random from solo instances. Still wrong, imo.

EQ2 has always been that game. The whole basis of the game is designed around a group of 6. Solo stuff is an afterthought. It's a multiplayer game after all.

I agree

Agree, it's a tough one making solo instances viable for people that group. In the past they weren't, and tbh I'm happy with that. If all you can do is solo/molo, farm the solo zones and here's your solo gear (140-150 base stats), if you can do groups, group up and here's your heroic loot (160-165 stats) with long term obol armour at better stats once farmed to death. If you can raid, well, you get the picture.

a) the solo zoens are easy to hard depending on your class and gear
b) the group instances are balanced around you having a group thus you need coordination and no some simple slash and burn idea.

getting a group is in no way 'hard' it's -just- time consuming also from my perspective at least it makes it easier for the devs to manage progression as it is a clear cut route to gearing yourself and a friend in the solo instances for heroics(if they need help)
rather then having to rely on a group to get you the gear you'll need for heroics.

heroics these days me thinks are balanced around the solo instances as the 'starter gear' with the heroic dropped pieces being slight to mild upgrades with the good stuff coming from a token vendor.

I'd rather prefer the gear as it is where you can get yourself, friends and ppl just starting the new heroics in a group with all having decent gear (rather then terribad stuff)

I don't know about that... I've already gotten two pieces of the faction gear and I only started on the heroic zones the day before yesterday.

And I already have enough obol coins from killing overland mobs to get a third, I just need another spirit or hopefully one of the rarer ones, I'd like to get a second ring with a green slot.

You're not the common case, Wurm. I run with the exact same group each day and I've only picked up a single piece of obol gear. It's purely about luck.

The main issue here was about solo gear being better than heroic or identical. My main issue is there being "best-in-slot" pieces dropping in solo instances. Why are we rewarding the lowest common denominator with gear that's better than what the 1% can get?

Obol drop rate is ok considering they drop from overland mobs too, however I would like to see a guaranteed drop off the final named of each instance, hopefully 1 for everybody in the group (and raid too maybe). The other parts need to be at least a 33% drop rate off the final named of each heroic instance. This way it will take 18 runs to get everybody in group one, and seeing as you technically you'd need around 20 each that should stretch the content out for a good while until the GU.

Solo gear dropping trash loot from x4s is kinda weird, would have preferred to see that from HM bosses (except Venekor who doesn't change at all going from em to hm), ethereals on the other hand are just stupid and should be taken out of solo content and added at the same drop rate to heroic loot tables.

You are talking about the new orange ethereal gear? Hey I wasn't happy about the first ethereals either, but you know what, it sure has people playing and running those zones trying to get lucky now doesn't it. That horse left the barn during skyshrine anyway with both the mythicals and then the ethereals.

And the solo zone fabled gear is a side grade to EM skyshrine x4 you know the zones that most casual raiding guilds were doing with little to no problem. Its nowhere near as good as the gear the 1% were and are getting or the new CoE EM x4 gear.

New Expansion pack new gear.

I thought only the final "boss" mob in the solo zones gave a chest, while every named in the heroic zones gave one. Is this wrong?

Nope, you're right.
But this kind of facts won't stop complainers

The solo zone work the same way as the solo skyshrine ones, the final boss drops a crate of goodies with the rest dropping heath/power/damage consumables for use in the CoE solo instances

I hate to break it to you, friend, but those ethereals are best-in-slot. So, yes, that would make them better than what the 1% are getting, since that means they are the...best....for...that...slot.

There's absolutely no justification for rewarding solo players with items that are better than any other item for that slot. There's little to no effort put into clearing a solo instance.

You aren't "breaking" anything to me. As I said in my post I dislike them as well. I've disliked them and the "Mythicals" from the moment they came up with the idea. But SOE said they are extremely rare and for the most part those who do get lucky and get one put them up on the broker for an insane amount of money. And they really aren't what this thread is about.

Oh and to be honest, what someone else has or uses has never mattered to me. Jealousy / Envy in a video game is stupid.

I like having a reason to run an instance, I gain alot of gear to pass to alts and mute the crap out of stuff so I can get adornments made.

The odd/off chance I get an upgrade is nice.

I would like to see an obol being in the final bosses chest as well, regardless of zone.

I could not agree more. So far I am very pleased with this expansion. Those of us able to run the heroic instances can do so and those that can not still have a chance to get some decent gear that will enable them to be able to attempt and maybe even be successful at the heroic content, for once.

Who the hell cares what somebody else has or how they obtained it? It's a video game. I think it's actually better that those folks of lesser skill and/or time commitment can go out and earn the gear on thier own this time around instead. Cuts down on the stupid SLR spam that we've been seeing over the last year or so. Hmm, perhaps it's the SLRers that are upset?

You get better at Condescending [9,403/450].

Maybe with KoS, EoF, and Kunark were group zones a "cakewalk that anyone with 2 brain cells could do". TSO, SF, Velious, Drunder, and CoE group dungeons are all scripted and require paying attention.

This ^^^

Well said Feldon.