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Are all classes suitable for solo play?
Kryogenic
Member Posts: 663
My first character was a Champion, but then when I finished the initial tutorial I saw 3 other characters in the first little town... all three of them were champions.
I thought to myself, "Ok... everybody wants to duel wield. Time to pick a new class."
I deleted my Champion and I was wondering if the Captain was a solid choice for soloing when you can't find a group or don't feel like being in a PuG.
Also, what exactly does the "pet" look like that Captains can summon at latter lvls? Basically, if you can gimme a run down of how a Captain plays I'd be greatful.
Do Guardians seem to be a lesser played class as the tank class is in almost every other MMO?
Comments
Well, from what I understand you can pretty much solo with anything if you play to your strengths. As in, Burglars have to use their crowd control and sometimes sneak around. My potentially outdated beta 1 answer is yes.
Champions recently got denerfed and became more popular. Captains I think got nerfed recently are hence pretty unpopular. The outdated beta 1 answer is that Captains were probably the second best solo'ers in the game.
The Captain's Herald has been the subject of various complaints, so the answer from beta 1 isn't completely outdated. Before, everyone claimed he looked like a Cabana Boy because he was blond and clean shaving, now everyone claims he looks like a Bum because they gave him black hair and a beard. He's got 4 looks though, I hear you can get them later on, so his look isn't exactly a constant.
In B1, I usually had a Herald following me around. I'd start attacking something with a shout skill which allows you to use two other skills, one of them being a double-attack (which was good because you usually ran around with big, slow 2-handers). The other Captain combat specials weren't very exciting (hit with a small armor buff to the Captain and a hit+ very small DOT). Once something was defeated, you could use an AOE attack, a team heal, or a weapon speed buff. Captains had or have fewer really useful special attacks and they had longer recycle timers than Guardians and probably other classes. Its good if you don't want to be constantly pecking at the hotbars but may feel less than interactive, most of all outside a group.
I don't think Guardian is the least played... It isn't as widely played as the ever-popular hunter but it isn't the least played either. In beta 1 it was easy to solo things with too.
Ok not sure I like the Captain.
I tried a Burglar and I didn't like the fact that you can't dual wield and I had no stealth to begin with.
I'm thinking about playing a Guardian, but I hate shields. Can you play a 2 handed sword wielding Gaurdian?
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
No I just want to play a class that's fun from the get go not a class that dangles shiny carrots in front of you to lvl.
I know this concept may be hard to understand, but I play games to have fun.
That's right, I know it sounds wierd, but I guess I'm just old fashioned or something.
I play Burglar
And while i have no intention of switching class , i can tell you it is not to easy to solo as lille ol burgle
A mob of same level as me , reduces me to half health. Two mobs ... i have to use evasion that is available only every 10 minutes.
On other hand i seen BARDS going solo trough elite areas...
Regardless, play class that best fits your play mentality
, forget about solo no solo capability
"Before this battle is over all the world will know that few...stood against many." - King Leonidas
Let's say every class is going to get X skills/moves/buttons-to-press. The classes differ in that some of them have a higher percentage of group-related skills than others. So one could reason that those with the least number of group skills and more skills towards killing something or staying alive or sneaking around might be better at soloing. IF that reasoning is viable, then the following four classes would be about the same at soloing (just considering the base-3, tank-healer-dps):
hunter (range dps)
champ (melee dps)
guard (melee defense)
minstrel (self-heal)
So what about the other 3 classes then:
burglar (group conjunction starter, sneaks (makes many quests doable solo), etc.)
lore-master (cc mostly, i think, haven't played on yet)
captain (lots of group buffs)
Given those concepts, polls show that the top 4 above will be the most played.
But my experience so far in this game (lvl 20ish hunter) is that it's NOT going to be like WoW. In wow, as an experiment, I played a hunter to lvl 56 without EVER joining a group... to see if it was possible, and to see if I could break the 10-days-played mark. At 10-days I was at 56, but probably because it was a new server.
LOTRO is not going to be like that i think. Levels 1-12 it looked like about 5-10% of the quests were fellowship quests, the rest were solo. But after that, it's looking like the reverse... 80-90% are group quests, plus with group quests you are getting better drops (more money ... got to repair your armor etc) and better quest rewards. Also, LOTRO has skewed the XP so that you get more from quests and less from just killing stuff (I love this btw).
So all in all, I think choosing a class for it's soloability in LOTRO is not the best move. Although I love playing hunter/rogue types, I'm afraid there might end up being a lot of LFG spamming by hunters and champs in their 30s.... so better get into a good guild / network of friends early if you want to play a dps class.... imo
Let's say every class is going to get X skills/moves/buttons-to-press. The classes differ in that some of them have a higher percentage of group-related skills than others. So one could reason that those with the least number of group skills and more skills towards killing something or staying alive or sneaking around might be better at soloing. IF that reasoning is viable, then the following four classes would be about the same at soloing (just considering the base-3, tank-healer-dps):
hunter (range dps)
champ (melee dps)
guard (melee defense)
minstrel (self-heal)
So what about the other 3 classes then:
burglar (group conjunction starter, sneaks (makes many quests doable solo), etc.)
lore-master (cc mostly, i think, haven't played on yet)
captain (lots of group buffs)
Given those concepts, polls show that the top 4 above will be the most played.
But my experience so far in this game (lvl 20ish hunter) is that it's NOT going to be like WoW. In wow, as an experiment, I played a hunter to lvl 56 without EVER joining a group... to see if it was possible, and to see if I could break the 10-days-played mark. At 10-days I was at 56, but probably because it was a new server.
LOTRO is not going to be like that i think. Levels 1-12 it looked like about 5-10% of the quests were fellowship quests, the rest were solo. But after that, it's looking like the reverse... 80-90% are group quests, plus with group quests you are getting better drops (more money ... got to repair your armor etc) and better quest rewards. Also, LOTRO has skewed the XP so that you get more from quests and less from just killing stuff (I love this btw).
So all in all, I think choosing a class for it's soloability in LOTRO is not the best move. Although I love playing hunter/rogue types, I'm afraid there might end up being a lot of LFG spamming by hunters and champs in their 30s.... so better get into a good guild / network of friends early if you want to play a dps class.... imo
from my experience level 1 - 30 is extremely soloable as it stands. Levels 30-50 are still getting solo content still added every patch. By release they should have it tweaked in all the way or almost to 50 and I doubt anyone except a power gamer will even have so much as a hiccup and just in my opinion power gamers will never be happy anyway so I could give q damn.
I have played Minstrel, Hunter, Guradian, and Burglar into the low to mid 30's now. Burglar is really one of the if not the best solo classes and pretty popular in groups also, it is just that stealth classes have never been all that popular in any MMORPG that I have played. The best all around class in my opinion is minstrel, popular as heck in groups and still a excellent solo class.
Also I have gotten into the habit lately of grinding mobs for traits, it is a excellent way for extra cash and also the traits really seem to have a very noticeable affect past lvl 20.
I miss DAoC
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
To the original poster:
Want fun from the begining that only gets better as you progress? Play a Hunter.
Dual Wield, Faster Running Speed, High DPS, Zone Teleport (to 4 major cities)
This class does well solo or in groups.
Do NOT choose a Captain if you like to solo. They are primarily a group buff bot.
"Don't corpse-camp that idea. Its never gonna rez"
Bladezz (The Guild)
I came into the beta expecting to play a champion and after all was said and done, I prefer guardian.
but quite frankly, I think it's ridiculous that people won't play a class because others want to play it. Just play what you like. As it stands, it seems that hunters and champions have a lot of people but that other classes (except burglar) are almost evenly played.
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I came into the beta expecting to play a champion and after all was said and done, I prefer guardian.
but quite frankly, I think it's ridiculous that people won't play a class because others want to play it. Just play what you like. As it stands, it seems that hunters and champions have a lot of people but that other classes (except burglar) are almost evenly played.
lol I did end up going back and playing a Champion. I've played it up to lvl 8 and it's alot of fun. I've thought about trying out Hunter for a few lvls, but I'm having a ton of fun playing my Lute with people out on that porch in Combe.
I think it's awesome that you can actually play real songs with the instruments. Me and 2 other guys had a "jam" session. We just started playing along with each other's improv. It was hilariously fun.
I didn't even know you could do it until I walked up on this guy playing a song off of the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album.
Is it essential that you get the drop on your enemies from Range with a Hunter or do you have alot of diversity in how you approach the fight?
I noticed that Champions are pretty much a one trick pony, but I've been pretty much invincible.
I also like how you can get titles for not dying. LoTRO is alot more fun than I thought it was gonna be.
I'm sure that the developers would like it to be as successful as wow, which is a game a great deal of people like even if you don't.
I don't care about advancing quickly, what I care about is being able to advance at all without a group, if it achieves that, i'm happy. I do like to group, but like a large number of people, I may only be able to go on for half an hour, so I want to be able to do something in that time rather than spend it looking for a group which I then have to leave. Or I may just want to do my own thing, either way solo content is very important.
{ Mod Edit }
Look...
I'm sorry that I brought the angry ruckus. I don't want any malice to be spread like butter on theese forums. I apologize for any ill will I have pressed in your general direction.
I value your opinion and I will do my damnedest to have an open mind in regard to all the posts that I read latr.
I still think it's an interesting and viable topic. How do the different LOTRO classes fair in regard to how well they solo?
I'm still of the opinion that the Champ is the best solo because they kill fast, and they have AOE moves, and they get heavy armor at 20. Hunters kill fast, but don't handle adds as well. Guards have great defense, but don't kill as fast as Champs.
As for the other classes: burgs are hard to tell because of the stealth... (can do quests solo others just can't). Then you got minstrels who can heal themselves (can they kill fast?). And lore-masters (cc skills doesn't match solo that well does it?) and captains (they got heavy but their skills are group buffs etc).
And also, I think the playstyle of soloing has been diminished in lotro in a very good way imo. They have decreased the XP for just killing stuff and increased the XP for finishing quests. So 9/10 times, I'm out doing some solo quest, I see someone else killing the same mobs, I invite and say "let's do this together" and they accept. We kill the stuff fast (splitting the kill - xp which is not much of a decrease to me at all) and we get the quests done quicker, and chat and become friends.
Yet I still run into some people who INSIST on soloing in such situations, but it's more rare in this game, and that's great imo. The only thing they need to do now is increase the money from quest rewards, and decrease the money you get from killing things. The only reason to just go around solo killing now is for the money (although groups of 2-3 kill 4-5 times faster so you end up getting more money in groups.... but most wow-culture peeps still don't understand that)... but anyway, financial might be the only viable reason to not group now.... this game just flows so much quicker when you are grouping imo.
Getting back on topic...
This game is indeed designed with soloing in mind. I'm not sure how you come up with a figure like over 50% of quests need groups. In fact, because I've tested the first 15 levels ad nauseum, I can tell you almost exactly how many quests in the Elven starting region require a group. That would be 2 quests out of over 24 quests. If you really want me to list them out I will...
The same is true for most starting areas. As you level, you do receive more group quests, but instead of being 2 in 24 (1 in 12), it becomes more like 1 in 8 or 1 in 6 are fellowship quests. At he highest levels 45+ it may approach more of a 50-50 balance, but I haven't done as extensive a study of those levels.
Likewise, 50% of the solo quests are not escort NPC quests. Again, in the first 15 levels of the Elf starter, there is 2 escort quests. When you get to Bree, there is 1 or 2 more...when you get to the Lone Lands, again 1 or 2 quests....see a design pattern here? They exist, but are by no means dominating and can be skipped if you prefer.
As for the best solo class...they all afford solo play. Some offer a bit more challenge than others, but that is good in my opinion.
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So far so good. Beta has been great.
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