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Any MMO with Challenging And Rewarding End Game Single Player?

learis1learis1 Member UncommonPosts: 169
Hey, I know this sounds nonsensical. Why play an mmo if you just want to play single player? But I genuinely enjoy the mechanics of MMO's. Technically, the only mmo I've played is WoW, but I've devoted 10 times more time to that game than any other game in my life.

I enjoy leveling up a character, customizing their skills, and having a large skill tree (yes 2 out of 3 of these are a shell of their former glory in WoW). I enjoy being in an open world with many other people. I even enjoy casual multiplayer such as doing some regular dungeons.

But that's where it stops for me. I don't like raiding. I'm anti-social and prefer only small low-commitment doses of interaction with other humans in my game. 

Unfortunately, WoW's endgame is near entirely devoted to heavy multiplayer. Interestingly enough though, from what I've heard they've had some excellent single player challenges in the form of the Mage Tower. I've never experienced this since I think you needed to do a bunch of multiplayer stuff before you could begin to have good enough stats to do it though.

So now for my actual question. Do any mmo's exist that have challenging and rewarding end-game single player aspects to them? By this I mean there should be actual difficulty and skill involved. I don't like single player rewards that involve non-stop mindless grinding, even if those rewards are competitively similar to multiplayer rewards. 

Mend and Defend

UngoodHariken

Comments

  • Slapshot1188Slapshot1188 Member LegendaryPosts: 17,770
    “Hey, I know this sounds nonsensical.”

    That was probably a sign that you should have stopped there.  But I thank you for leading with that as it saved me from having to read the rest.
     ;) 
    UngoodCryomatrixKyleranVelifaxcmacqMensurTorrsksumdumguy1Harikenvandal5627and 2 others.

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  • learis1learis1 Member UncommonPosts: 169
    “Hey, I know this sounds nonsensical.”

    That was probably a sign that you should have stopped there.  But I thank you for leading with that as it saved me from having to read the rest.
     ;) 
    Haha, Ba-Zing! You got me bro! I just got pwned.
    Mensur

    Mend and Defend

  • TheDarkrayneTheDarkrayne Member EpicPosts: 5,297
    It might not be for you, I don't know, but...

    Guild Wars 1 can all be done solo with the help of the hero system. The absolute endgame and hard mode is very challenging on your own or with other players. There's a new complete edition available now.

    You'll end up customizing a ton of hero characters that will travel with you, not just your own character. Level cap is low but the game is more about earning the, literally, thousands of skills and building an awesome hero team.

    When adventuring, the instances are private, completely. You will be playing on your own. Mobs don't re-spawn unless you leave the area. It's not an open world and you won't see other people outside of the hubs (I know that's something you like). The zones are large though.

    GW1 is kind of like... the smaller heroes missions you get in games like Starcraft or Command and Conquer where there's not base building.. but all the time... and with loot and all that.

    There's like a 10 hour trial.. you can see if you like it but that short intro isn't a very good example of what the game is like overall.

    If you do pick it up, start with Nightfall (although that campaign is the weakest story out of all four, but still decent) and put some Paragon class run speed buffs on your heroes so they passively increase your run speed all the time. The slow travelling is the most off putting thing for new players.

    Or start with the Prophecies campaign and head to Nightfall as soon as you can to get some hero characters...
    mmolouKyleranAmathesumdumguy1Elaland
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  • UngoodUngood Member LegendaryPosts: 7,535
    learis1 said:

    So now for my actual question. Do any mmo's exist that have challenging and rewarding end-game single player aspects to them? By this I mean there should be actual difficulty and skill involved. I don't like single player rewards that involve non-stop mindless grinding, even if those rewards are competitively similar to multiplayer rewards. 
    Ignore Slapshot, it will be better for your overall mental health.

    Your request is not unreasonable at all, a lot people like to play MMO's but want to keep the social part on their terms. 

    With that said, the only MMO I know of off the top of my head that you can do all of it solo, is Trove. It's voxel graphics, so, that might be a deal breaker for some. But all the content is the same for solo or group play, which you can chose to get involved in at your own pace and in small doses if you like.

    Since it is Free to PLay, It is well worth a go see to check out if it fills the need for you.

    Slapshot1188Kylerancmacqsumdumguy1HarikenGdemami
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  • Octagon7711Octagon7711 Member LegendaryPosts: 9,004
    I've heard a lot of WoW players have gone over to ESO.  So ESO, GW2, FFXIV.

    "We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa      "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."  SR Covey

  • BruceYeeBruceYee Member EpicPosts: 2,556
    edited February 2019
    What is your definition of "challenging and rewarding"?

    Pvp, crafting, PVE?

    Most MMO end game with challenge and no grind requires other people to complete goals. If you enjoy crafting there are a few options that I consider "rewarding" isn't skill based but involve grind which you said you don't want.

    Off the top of my head all the games with skill based PVE end game at the least requires two people. PVP is another story entirely if you want to be a solo ganker or crafter in a game like Albion or LoA.
    Post edited by BruceYee on
  • UngoodUngood Member LegendaryPosts: 7,535
    BruceYee said:
    What is your definition of "challenging and rewarding"?

    Pvp, crafting, PVE?
    Solo PvP might be a trick.. I imagine you beat the hell out of yourself doing it tho.
    Octagon7711KyleranMensur
    Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.

  • AmatheAmathe Member LegendaryPosts: 7,630
    Alts are the soloers end game, really. 
    [Deleted User]

    EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests

  • NorseGodNorseGod Member EpicPosts: 2,654
    Amathe said:
    Alts are the soloers end game, really. 
    I'm an alt-o-holic. I think you might be right.
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  • aummoidaummoid Member UncommonPosts: 82
    I thought BDO had a pretty good return on solo challenge vs. reward, even at the higher levels--at least for PvE and crafting. PvP there was rubbish unless you were in a high-tier guild, though.

    For PvP, Blade and Soul has one-on-one PvP matches and some interesting combat dynamics that make for a good play challenge. I never did well enough in them to bother getting too familiar with the reward structure, though.

    It's been about a year or two since I played either one, but you might want to check them out.
  • ookibakaookibaka Member UncommonPosts: 38
    Problem for the OP is that FFXIV forces you to do group dungeons to progress the main questline.. unless things have changed since I played last.
  • HarikenHariken Member EpicPosts: 2,680
    sergann said:
    Why this trend? Companies found out that catering to the casual playerbase is easier, better and makes more money than catering to a 1-2k hardcore playerbase and living on the bare minimum, devs working from home on minimum wage and the studio is always almost close to being shut down. Redtube Beeg Spankbang
    And they are finding out that the hardcore player base is a bunch of fly by night players that switch games after they get bored in a month or two.
  • ScorchienScorchien Member LegendaryPosts: 8,914
     OP .......... play UO
  • CaffynatedCaffynated Member RarePosts: 753
    learis1 said:
    Hey, I know this sounds nonsensical. Why play an mmo if you just want to play single player? But I genuinely enjoy the mechanics of MMO's. Technically, the only mmo I've played is WoW, but I've devoted 10 times more time to that game than any other game in my life.

    I enjoy leveling up a character, customizing their skills, and having a large skill tree (yes 2 out of 3 of these are a shell of their former glory in WoW). I enjoy being in an open world with many other people. I even enjoy casual multiplayer such as doing some regular dungeons.

    But that's where it stops for me. I don't like raiding. I'm anti-social and prefer only small low-commitment doses of interaction with other humans in my game. 

    Unfortunately, WoW's endgame is near entirely devoted to heavy multiplayer. Interestingly enough though, from what I've heard they've had some excellent single player challenges in the form of the Mage Tower. I've never experienced this since I think you needed to do a bunch of multiplayer stuff before you could begin to have good enough stats to do it though.

    So now for my actual question. Do any mmo's exist that have challenging and rewarding end-game single player aspects to them? By this I mean there should be actual difficulty and skill involved. I don't like single player rewards that involve non-stop mindless grinding, even if those rewards are competitively similar to multiplayer rewards. 
    Other than not liking to grind, BDO sounds like your dream game.

    >Open world
    >Solo heavy
    >World bosses that don't require you to group or coordinate. Just show up and fight.
    >All gear is obtainable without grouping
    >They just added new rifts that are open world bosses that must be fought solo and have nice rewards.
  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 44,249
    ikcin said:
    learis1 said:

    I enjoy leveling up a character, customizing their skills, and having a large skill tree (yes 2 out of 3 of these are a shell of their former glory in WoW).

     I enjoy being in an open world with many other people. I even enjoy casual multiplayer such as doing some regular dungeons.

    But that's where it stops for me. I don't like raiding. I'm anti-social and prefer only small low-commitment doses of interaction with other humans in my game. 
    Now try please rationally to explain why you need all that people and the open world?  Can you :)
    Er, I believe they said to interact with other humans in small, low commitment doses, right? 

    Most single player games I know of don't offer this, though many can have pretty vast open worlds.

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  • ElalandElaland Member UncommonPosts: 40
    I look for the same kind of games for the same general reasons as the OP.  I agree completely with comments TheDarkrayne made about GW1.  It was/is a great game but the graphics are definitely dated now.  From there I moved to SWTOR; lots of good solo content there that kept me engaged for years with many alts I created due to the completely different story lines for each class until you reach level 50.  I then moved to ESO which I've been enjoying a lot.  So much content in this game it is unbelievable.  As far as soloing goes my tank character in ESO is capable of taking down the majority of world bosses in the open zone areas, but its nice when others join in to assist and it doesn't require grouping.
  • cheyanecheyane Member LegendaryPosts: 9,435
    edited March 2019
    learis1 said:
    Hey, I know this sounds nonsensical. Why play an mmo if you just want to play single player? But I genuinely enjoy the mechanics of MMO's. Technically, the only mmo I've played is WoW, but I've devoted 10 times more time to that game than any other game in my life.

    I enjoy leveling up a character, customizing their skills, and having a large skill tree (yes 2 out of 3 of these are a shell of their former glory in WoW). I enjoy being in an open world with many other people. I even enjoy casual multiplayer such as doing some regular dungeons.

    But that's where it stops for me. I don't like raiding. I'm anti-social and prefer only small low-commitment doses of interaction with other humans in my game. 

    Unfortunately, WoW's endgame is near entirely devoted to heavy multiplayer. Interestingly enough though, from what I've heard they've had some excellent single player challenges in the form of the Mage Tower. I've never experienced this since I think you needed to do a bunch of multiplayer stuff before you could begin to have good enough stats to do it though.

    So now for my actual question. Do any mmo's exist that have challenging and rewarding end-game single player aspects to them? By this I mean there should be actual difficulty and skill involved. I don't like single player rewards that involve non-stop mindless grinding, even if those rewards are competitively similar to multiplayer rewards. 
    Nothing strange about what you're asking. People thankfully are molded as individuals with different needs and wants. No need to justify or explain yourself.

    I found the gathering of potions and other consumables for raiding in WoW intolerable and not to mention an absolute drain and waste of time. I would log in and then stare at my inventory dreading the grind for stuff to raid for a few hours a week. I quit. The rest of the game I loved.

    Same thing with raiding in Everquest although that one you had an initial output of platinum to get the jewellery to raid then you kept it in the bank and used it for whatever dungeon or raid dragon you were facing. The hours and hours I put in waiting and organizing though wasn't so bad because I was chatting away with friends.

    You can try P99 the Everquest private server or may be one of the time locked ones so you can just play on new characters or on new servers as they come. You experience the world and the multiplayer aspect and then leave before the raiding. Any way no hope in raiding in P99 so you are kept out of the end game by force.

    Sorry reread your post you want an end game single player. Then perhaps PvP would be best for you.You can engage in single player PvP by being like a infiltrator or lone assassin or play EvE where you can mine and do other stuff solo and dangerously while being in a multiplayer game.

    Or try one of those new finagle survival games.
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  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 44,249
    ikcin said:
    Kyleran said:
    ikcin said:
    learis1 said:

    I enjoy leveling up a character, customizing their skills, and having a large skill tree (yes 2 out of 3 of these are a shell of their former glory in WoW).

     I enjoy being in an open world with many other people. I even enjoy casual multiplayer such as doing some regular dungeons.

    But that's where it stops for me. I don't like raiding. I'm anti-social and prefer only small low-commitment doses of interaction with other humans in my game. 
    Now try please rationally to explain why you need all that people and the open world?  Can you :)
    Er, I believe they said to interact with other humans in small, low commitment doses, right? 

    Most single player games I know of don't offer this, though many can have pretty vast open worlds.

    But you do not need OW for that. Any kind of multiplayer game will provide some interaction. 
    I dunno, perhaps he enjoys "living" in them, I know I do.
    Sovrath

    "True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde 

    "I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant

    Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm

    Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

    Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™

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