How do you solo content?

[DougGraves]

I rarely solo, I play for the teaming.  But this past week I have been soloing a stalker.

 

I got to level 5, turned off XP and did all of the blue side level 5 content.  Then leveled to 10, turned off XP, did the content.  I am currently at level 15 and there is a ton of content.

 

But I just grabbed all of the contacts and am doing whatever mission is convenient.  So I am not getting any stories out of it.  It works well for just having stuff do to at hand, but I feel I am missing out on the stories.

 

So when you are leveling and doing content, are you doing it for stories, just fighting through missions, or what?

[Without_Pause]

Fighting through missions. Challenging the build to see what it can do. A lot of times I get to do content most groups aren't doing. Some of the times, I just want to log on and not deal with other people. If a build can handle larger mobs, then why not all of the rewards come to me? 

[Zhym]

Here are two excellent guides on one way to solo through the blue side and red side content.  These aren't the only way, and they favor the "newer" (and, IMO, better designed) story arcs over the "classic" arcs, but overall I think they lay out pretty good plans for touring the CoH content via the slow path.

 

 

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by Zhym

[Six-Six]

I suggest you stick to one or two contacts at any given level range and see the arc through before moving on to other contacts. accommodating each contact will confuse you as your priority will be getting similar-level missions done instead of the arc flow. If you want, you can disable XP every now and then (like around level 9, 15, 21, etc. if you don't want to miss out on ALL of the arcs as some of them are really good (cough, redside and goldside, cough). Alternatively, you can keep earning XP and do the ones you missed through the ouro pillar which you can access at 15(???) or something.

[gamingglen]

Just now, Six-Six said:

. Alternatively, you can keep earning XP and do the ones you missed through the ouro pillar which you can access at 15(???) or something.

 

Or, make an alt with a different origin and take a different path of contacts.

[Six-Six]

what glen said 😃
 

 

[Haijinx]

I solo by waiting for the rest of the team to get inside the mission door then charging ahead like crazy killing everything I see until the end of the mission. 

 

I think the team does other stuff or something, idk I dont pay attention to them.

[Miss Magical]

When I soloed, I looked up the Homecoming wiki, choose a level-appropriate zone, and looked at contacts in it. Then I would do storyarcs from contacts that seemed like people my character would personally associate with. I personally found it interesting to add a roleplaying element of choosing stories thematically appropriate for my character, and when I look back at my list of souvenirs, I can see not just a list of random missions completed, but a hero or villain's career as they rise through the ranks.

 

1 hour ago, Zhym said:

Here are two excellent guides on one way to solo through the blue side and red side content.  These aren't the only way, and they favor the "newer" (and, IMO, better designed) story arcs over the "classic" arcs, but overall I think they lay out pretty good plans for touring the CoH content via the slow path.

 

 

I initially used these guides, but quickly abandoned them in favor of my own research on the wiki. They leave out plenty of good content.

 

Case in point, the hero one omits:

• The entirety of Who Will Die? (10-50)
• The entirety of Pandora's Box (30-50)
• Keith Nance, Jenni Adair & Roy Cooling, which cross-reference each other (all 20-29)
• Agent Watkins (20-29)

 

I would personally suggest these over Synapse, Moonfire, or the Shadow Shard in the very crowded 15-30 and 40-50 ranges.

 

The villainous guide doesn't direct you to contacts that are somewhat out of the way and may require prior setup to access. For example, to be able to do the Slot Machine's 2nd arc (which is mechanically uninspiring, but has a cute twist near the end), you need the Gangbuster badge by level 34 or less. Neither guide mentions narrative elements that could be problematic; for example, in the middle of the First Ward story, there is one mission where your character very unambiguously kills people to progress. That could be a deal-breaker for certain characters but isn't mentioned. These are the kind of tips I'd personally find useful in a "good missions guide".

 

That's not to say that all the suggestions are bad; a lot of them are well-deserved. Just be aware that plenty of info is missing from these guides.

Edited October 2, 2021 by Miss Magical

[Coyotedancer]

I just tend to go contact-to-contact, finishing everything one will give me before moving on to the next one in the chain. I have a few favorites I always tend to run, and I do basically treat every mission as a kill-all. I don't turn off XP or any of that. I like to let the leveling happen organically, even if that means not finishing the complete content of every contact I get. 

[Snarky]

I regularly feel the call to solo content.

 

My most traditional way is to solo every contact Redside.  I stop experience at 4 (Kalinda and Burke), (there are a couple that outlevel at 7 Kuzmin, Weber, Harris, at 8 Dr Creed and Mongoose, then stop at 9, 14, 19, 24, 29, 34, 39, 44, 50 .  Any contacts are completed at the TOP of their arc.  if you are a 20-29 story arc I run at 29.  25-50?  50!  

 

For low levels ensure you have your four DFBs to 22 then four DiB to 30. Those buffs help.  SOs are better until about 29 than sets, other than a few globals.  

 

The temporary buffs from P2W are real cheap at low level.  get 8 hours for as long as you can keep affording it.  The enhancers from P2W are also real good until 21.  

Edited October 2, 2021 by Snarky

[mcdoogss]

I don’t like necessarily the long solo level experience anymore.  So I use the 2x XP and do The Faultline arc (17-24is), croatoa arc (25-34ish), night ward (34-39ish), tina mcintyre(40-44), maria jenkins (45-49ish).

 

then sprinkle in other arcs or TFs

[Doomguide2005]

      Usually skip the tutorial (red or blue) and enter the game.   From there the first fork will occur.  Have I played this pairing before and plan on a 'normal' build then likely grab a bunch of p2w stuff which might include xp buffs, might not but it will include pretty much everything else.

      If a new set, especially if a new pairing I'll skip pretty much all the p2w stuff.  Maybe I'll grab a vet attack and/or origin power.

     From there head for a contact, likely taking on any foes (i.e. street sweep enroute) along the way and do the contacts content/arc.  Not too concerned if I outlevel I'll pick it up later in Oroborous if I like the arc.

    Hadn't had a chance yet to build up a list of AE mission content yet on HC, but on Live I had several I'd run as part of leveling as a change of scenery from Dev/game content.

Along this line I'd also vary which zones I'd use blueside.  Hollows for one then KR on another and continue as levels rose.  That said I favor The Hollows, Faultline, Talos, Bricks over their counterparts.  Though I'd say King's Row is pretty split with Hollows.

    Rarely fund one character from another pretty much tend to keep them as separate financially.   This is much less true if it's my bazillionth time playing an AT pairing and much more strictly true if it's the first time running the pairing.  With shades of grey in between ... I've done a lot of Empathy, SR, Earth, Storm and Cold so ...

 

[Aurora_Girl]

That's something...is there an existing list of quality and level-appropriate AE arcs for supplementing the largely garbage heroside old school arcs?

[Doomguide2005]

3 minutes ago, Aurora_Girl said:

That's something...is there an existing list of quality and level-appropriate AE arcs for supplementing the largely garbage heroside old school arcs?

    Not really sure hadn't gotten around to checking it out in AE yet when my computer died.  Probably a thread or two created in the Mission Architect forum.  Certainly there were on Live.  The ones I did on Live haven't been recreated at least since I was able to get online.

[nightroarer]

How do I solo content? Usually by myself.

[Chrono-Bot]

I like to solo a lot - what I tend to do is get to level 15, then start doing everything via ouro and just choose arcs I think would be good for that particular character to have done in their history. I meander, I read all the clues and dialogue, just have a nice chill time at my own pace. That's why it's solo - I don't think it's fair to expect anyone else to put up with my pace.

[Spaghetti Betty]

I just grab some missions and start doing them. I usually have more of a focus on my dedicated badger, but if I'm just playing a random alt, it's pretty directionless. I enjoy my toons for the way they feel gameplay-wise. I do have a few key story arcs I like to hit during progression, but that's about it. Lately I've been taking lvl 1s and levelling them up by doing missions at x8 with amplifiers. That's been interesting so far.

[Li_Sensei]

One minor point, if you're planning on doing all theblueside content, then turn off your xp at 1 below a multiple of 5 (9, 14, 19 etc.).

 

You get more powers and slots to use for that level band, because the next lump starts at multiples of 5.

 

Also, dear god it gets busy blueside from 15+.  All the normal contacts, Faultline, Striga, Croatoa, First Ward, Night Ward, RWZ, remembering to do a Safeguard in each level band for the explorations, etc. etc.

 

I spent about a fortnight at 34 working through it all, and now I'm starting on the 35-39 band...

[Yomo Kimyata]

Why:  I almost always solo.  That's mostly because of constraints (and I almost never have the luxury of a solid block of time where I can do nothing but play play with others), but I enjoy it.  I have no problem playing with others (and frankly some of the teaming complaints baffle me), but since I probably will play solo I build my characters to be self-sufficient.  That's pretty trivial; this is a forgiving game.

 

What:  I make new alts for a variety of reasons, but mainly I like to try out new powersets and combinations.  I try to experiment with every power to at least see what I feel about the animation, although sometimes I just skip the weak T1 attack.  Respecs are cheap and easy, so I have zero regrets about choosing a bad power as I level.

 

Where/How:  Red, blue, gold.  I generally follow a rough path that differs from color to color.  Ex:  redside I will generally go double xp, do paper missions until the mayhem, get a new contact,  run their arc until completion and then if I've gained five levels do paper missions again and repeat.  I'll alternate the contacts I choose based on what feels most fresh.  I rarely halt XP anymore.  To me, one of the reasons I'm playing is to get the progression, and honestly none of the content is so mind boggling that I feel I need to run it all with one character.

 

[Shred Monkey]

When I solo content, I always do story arcs.  I usually look for story arcs I "less familiar" with for variety.  I read the descriptions (something it is inconvenient to do when teamed).  It appears to me that there's an overlap of 1 level when you move from one contact group to the next, so there's rarely a situation where I'm out leveling an arc before it's over.  I should back up a minute and say I start this at level 22 after I do a respec into IOs.  I generally race to 22 using 2XP, DFBs, and Positron TFs, with a little street sweeping mixed in.  Before 22 you probably do out level some story arcs with just the XP in the arc itself if you don't turn of XP.

 

The stories are interesting, but I am also always tweaking/testing builds and powers, so that's another aspect of the game that holds my attention.  Also, I usually play in short sessions these days.  Logging in for 20 minutes to run 1-2 missions is pretty normal... and getting pulled away mid-mission is common as well.  I prefer not to do that on a team, which is another reason I solo a lot.

[ForeverLaxx]

I solo because I like to take my time. I'll go through missions at whatever pace I want, frequently stepping away to go do something that needs doing, or just sit inside a mission afk while I do something else entirely for an hour. I also like to solo because I can read all the clues and other story bits without holding a team back. Despite being here since 2004, I still like to read just about everything. The other advantage for soloing, for me, is that I get to more effectively pick and choose which contacts and which arcs I want to do that would seem most appropriate for that particular character's story. Things like a DE-inspired character tending to favor missions that feature them, or a "rogue agent" of an enemy faction going out of their way to disrupt their old organization. It lets me craft a story, at least in my head, of a more unique and fleshed out character.

 

I'm not the kind of soloist that turns off exp just to experience every single arc on a particular character. Sometimes I'll turn off exp if I'm going to go past a contact I want for their relationship to my own character, but never to "see everything the level range has to offer," so to speak. Frankly there's just so many contacts in the game that repeat the same kind of missions over and over, particularly the old contacts, that sometimes it doesn't even feel like you ever changed contacts at all. Multiple "defeat 50 dudes on patrol" in a row can be exhausting.

 

A small, but important reason that I also solo, is that I like experiencing the character and what they can do under their own power. I will team for things like TFs, but it's hard to gauge just how "good" your character is when everyone else is flying around, blowing up spawns four blocks away. My definition of "good" is usually different from others' though. I value the concept much more than the clear speed when soloing.

[Techwright]

Solo for the stories, in my case.  If it was just to run up XP, I'd be doing radio missions.  Though I prefer to PUG everything (the only game I prefer pugging), the team format generally just does not leave times to read the story.

[twozerofoxtrot]

When levelling I usually only solo on Red or Gold because those sides have the better story lines, and honestly the only reason to solo (for me) is to read the stories, rather than any mechanical benefit.

 

It has nothing to do with the fact that I'm all alone in the zone on Red and Gold.

 

....

Honest.

 

[DougGraves]

On 10/2/2021 at 4:11 PM, Aurora_Girl said:

That's something...is there an existing list of quality and level-appropriate AE arcs for supplementing the largely garbage heroside old school arcs?

 

I was going to work on a list for that but got side tracked.

 

I did create 2 arcs for levels 1-9.  Snakes from the  Isles 41022 and Infection from the Isles 40195

 

The content is better than the names.  Suggestions for better names gladly taken.

 

Both are heroic arcs but one is with Snakes and one with Infected so you can face different foes than you normally blue side.

[Techwright]

On 10/3/2021 at 1:37 AM, nightroarer said:

How do I solo content? Usually by myself.