solo- & self-found leagues - why penalize solo play?

If you haven't already seen it, there's a 39 page (so far) thread asking for this.

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/324242

"

fae76 wrote:

Have you ever tried to beat the game (in merciless difficulty) solo & self-found? You might be up for a surprise...

Ive beaten merciless with several characters, self found solo.

Its not that difficult, as long as you avoid melee. Even on merciless skeletons just eat Piety.

Although I do agree with you that crafting is a joke this way as youll probably never get the orbs together to try for godlike gear.

B.

"

Altnaharra wrote:

The game is Multiplayer, lets not bother to argue for a while about the M or MM missing when it is inherent.

Well then, let me rephrase my feature request: "GGG please add single player mode to PoE."
It doesn't matter how we call it, in the end I and a lot of other players would like to play PoE solo, self-found. We would like to use PoE's crafting system and we do not want to play Auction House Tycoon (I'm aware that PoE has no auction house but in the end in order to progress players are more or less forced to trade either via trading forum or through chat).

"

Altnaharra wrote:

"

Adding solo, self-found leagues even with adjusted drop rates will not take away anything form anybody

Just going to quote this again for a moment.

You can do this at anytime.
If you want to adjust your drop rate, invest in some gear, its how the game works.

To investigate in gear you first need good enough gear or currency to craft your gear. Today it's near impossible to get either of these when playing solo, self-found.

"

Altnaharra wrote:

what your asking for is already in game, anytime you want.

Agreed, but the balance is way off today. And this is exactly what new leagues could easily fix without impacting the rest of the game or players that prefer group play.

"

bredin wrote:

Ive beaten merciless with several characters, self found solo.

Its not that difficult, as long as you avoid melee. Even on merciless skeletons just eat Piety.

Although I do agree with you that crafting is a joke this way as youll probably never get the orbs together to try for godlike gear.

B.

- What kind of builds did you use?
- HC or SC?
- What was your approximate time investment per toon?
- Did you clear all the content or skip some of it?

I could rush to Piety and most probably beat her as well but what's the point? My gear afterwards would still suck and not allow me to clear maps.

Solo play is 'not enough' loot because the game is meant to be played in groups. You don't like it? There's plenty of people that do, and will continue to for a while. This would be like World of Warcraft implementing a solo campaign. The people that would benefit from this 'solo self found league' are the minority-

"

Vakirauta wrote:

"

Arrowneous wrote:

1. Solo play is not a penalty, it is the base drop rate.
2. Group play gets a 50% increase per player over solo. 150% for 2, 200% for 3, etc. to encourage group play.
3. Join public games.
4. It's more fun to play in groups.
5. Feedback indicates players want it this way.

1. And is not enough.
2. How does the game reward solo-play? Is that fair?
3. Thanks for the suggestion I guess.
4. This is subjective.
5. Where? There's a 40 pages long topic about Self-found league and there's not many people disagreeing.

I was pointing out that these are the kinds of responses we get whenever we post about our desire and need to have a Self-Found League for playing solo. I do not agree with any of these but the few GGG developers that post responses to any of our threads seam to always lean in this direction. Especially #5 where the PoE devs always like to state that there is plenty of feedback supporting the game as it currently stands. The hardcore PoE player that loves the way the game is now may be vocal but that doesn't mean that the millions of players that registered on Jan 23rd and have subsequently quit playing PoE but don't ever post here are not important. The daily statistics on number of active players bears that out that there is a major group of "want to play" arpg gamers that tried PoE and quit because the options for the solo player are non-existent and the rewards (good loot and crafting orbs drop rate) sucks donkeys.

I'm somewhat surprised and major disappointed that GGG has followed the D3 formula of "let's have players go for 100s of hours with no rewards in the high levels" or "let's not give the solo player any quantity of crafting orbs. That way it will encourage party play. This is a hardcore arpg for the hardcore player and we like it that way." It may work for a few players but looking at the numbers indicates just the opposite and mass player exodus will be the death knell for PoE or at the least relegate PoE to a could have been and should have been a major arpg game but for the narrow mindedness of the devs never broke out of the niche it started in.

It's not like the whole game has to be reforged. Far from it. All GGG has to do is create a few new permanent leagues that provide for "playing our way". A Self-Found league for the solo player who doesn't want to group play and doesn't have unlimited time to play. An Ironman league for the even harder hardcore challenge to satisfy the super elites. These 2 and many more are all possible with the current game structure and won't require a PoE lobotomy.

I also prefer solo play and I am about to quit playing. It's just not rewarding enough.
Leveling is slow. Finding anything decent is a pain and solo is more challenging to take on.
Give us solo hardcore permanent league.

"

Altnaharra wrote:

The drops are enough for people to get by and enjoy the game, though making each piece of gear amazing will take awhile.

Are you talking about solo-drops or group-drops? There is a big difference between the two. Do you actually have solo experience (not the occasional solo play with one of your toons you normally play in groups, I mean solo from beginning to end)?

"

Altnaharra wrote:

I run multiple characters and share my own stash between them, occasionally I'll trade for a unique that I've lost to death/HC.

How far (level & game wise) did you advance so far? I ask because my experience is that the game changes significantly somewhere around level 55 (merciless act 2/3). I do not have gear problems up to there, but once I pass this mark every single one of my toons hits a wall and its near impossible to find upgrades or even craft them. It's comparable to D3 when one first got to inferno (before all the patches).

"

Altnaharra wrote:

Level 55 merci is basically the Ledge or the Coves. Which both happen to be a great places to farm.

You're probably right level 55 is still act 1. But I feel it is there where gear problems start and from there it's only getting worse. I guess once you get your gear up on par with the content to beat merciless your really ready for maps though.

"

Altnaharra wrote:

*Should the game never slow its pace down a little? Should we just be flooded with amazing gear that amazing gear is just average and common?

Nope, I never asked for amazing gear. I asked for solo drop rates on par with full party play in special solo leagues where trading in any form is disabled. I put more than 400 hours into 4 toons, all are stuck in merciless a2/a3. The combined recourses of all 4 are not enough for even one toon to advance without skipping a lot of content. My first thought was that my builds simply suck so I tried a cookie-cutter-build and surprise surprise even with this one I'm stuck at the same place.

The thing is in a party your toon takes less heat and at the same time is normally heavily boosted (offense & defense) by additional auras. Hence less gear dependent. But at the same time party play is rewarded with better drops (+50% per player). So basically with 250-300% drop rates solo play would be on par with a full party, but still take all the heat of all the mobs (even if solo mobs have less HP, incoming damage for solo remains higher).