What SOLO difficulty level do you use?

[KC4800]

I only have one alt that I feel can safely handle +4/8 solo all the time, and that is my Fire/Savage tanker. My other tankers are +3/8 most of the time.

2 controllers I usually run at +3/5, not because they cannot handle an 8 person spawn, but because the spawns are sometimes too close together and too much chance of chaos. I have an incarnate stalker that runs at +4/2. And a level 30 ish stalker that runs at +2/2. One incarnate dom runs at +3/3. All the rest of my blasters, corruptors, defenders run at +2/2 (no bosses). My incarnate MM's can run at +3/6. Or +4/4 if incarnate missions. I don't run many Brutes or Scrappers.

 

Although I could focus on min/maxing more to get more alts to handle +4 baddies, I don't really see a reason for it. How do you handle the solo difficulty settings? Do you only have fun when you have a real chance to faceplant? I play most alts with a self imposed restriction that if I die in this mission, I go back to the base and log out of that character, at least 24 hrs.

[cranebump]

When solo (and I assume you're meaning content here), I don't fiddle with the setting switches at all, save for tanks or brutes I feel can handle it (and even then, it's a max of +2/3-4). I don't like slogging too much when I'm running solo content, especially since I don't run a lot of optimized or crowd control toons.

[DougGraves]

I only play lower levels so my power is not much.

 

And I like the tactics of a larger fight rather than the slog of more hit points.

 

So I normally run on +0/x1 but once my character can take it I play +0/x2 for larger spawns.

[Astralock]

I run at -1x2 from levels 2 through 20.  I generally do a *lot* of content and turn off XP often, so I don’t want the low levels to take forever.  Levels 21 through 30 at +0x3 or x4.  31 through 40, +1x4 or x5.  41 through 49 at +2x4 or x5.  50 at +3x5 to +3x8, depending on character.

[lemming]

Really depends on what I'm doing or feeling.

I don't run much solo at +4/x8 if it's not for power leveling some other character since it's more of a slog usually.

 

At lower than 50 stuff while solo, I tend to run it at basic level just because I'm either doing it for the story, or just to do it.

 

Once I get Incarnate Level shifts, +1 for almost all non-incarnate and matching the shift with incarnates.  I'll often make sure bosses are on, maybe beef up the numbers though.

[SeraphimKensai]

Most of my toons can handle soloing +4*8 albeit at differing paces. I fall under the category of being  a min-maxer myself, but I tend to team more often then I solo. So I often contribute decently to my team's efficiency.

 

That said I don't like carrying a team, so if there's people that are often dying or sitting on their ass, I usually don't hang out.

Edited February 27, 2023 by SeraphimKensai

[Black Talon]

KC4800, thank you for the topic introduction; this is something that, if I ever had thought of it, was doing basically a Pluto-distance orbit in terms of considering, "Hm - wonder how other people handle the solo-level stuff?"  For myself, after having spent several hundred million (probably closer to a billion) on various purple/red recipes, my 50s guys (Scrappers and Tankers, at least) are able to handle themselves with moderate challenge on +4/1; one of the reasons that I haven't pushed things past this point, at least to date, is that I've stayed well and away from the whole Incarnate thing.  Regarding larger villain groups - while, yes, it would jack up advancement rate, I'm really not too much into the idea of turning every police scanner mission into an afternoon's marathon.  My Defenders and Blasters are at +3/1; while, again, they could handle the +4 with a touch more difficulty, I do like having a few random bad guys that prove a bit more manageable, especially when it comes to the boss and the wave attacks when escorting the hostage to the exit.

 

Perhaps I will start altering the multiplication rate one day, but right now I'm perfectly okay running things on a, "I've got to watch my butt," level rather than constant panic.  The Boys have still been taken down in various situations (often due to the damn Sappers), so it ain't a cakewalk regardless of what the villain numeric appearance level is.

[Doomguide2005]

Pretty much only ran one character, my main a scrapper, consistently at +4/x8 on Live and the remake here on HC is not up to that speed yet.  Currently she's set around +2/x8 for most content.  None of my other HC characters can solo yet at +4/x8 but some of the Live versions did from time to time specifically an Earth/Storm and an Emp/Sonic.  Many of the rest rarely solo once they've reached the 20's on anything at which point just about everyone sees some upward increase in difficulty for solo work from the baseline of+0/x1.  At least one at this point has a second build for solo work (Emp/Fire/Dark) with every intent of being able to handle the majority of +4/x8 content.  Where they 'cap out' on difficultly in the long run really depends on AT and pacing.  One thing I did discover while soloing my main through various AV's on Maria Jenkins arc back on Live was I do not like battles with a single foe such as an AV that I know I can win but it will take me a long, too long, time to defeat.  I'd much rather take on a large spawn than a single foe 90+% of the time regardless of the notoriety.  I'll save the single target, end of arc, boss fights at max difficulty for the times when I really want it.  

[Luminara]

[Greycat]

Depends entirely on:

- the character

- Their level

- What they're facing

- How much of a hassle I feel like dealing with.

- If it's a mission I've outleveled slightly or not

- Sometimes just the mission itself and the end goal.

 

I'll take the same character at +somethingxsomething one day, get a new mission, drop the level, run like that for a bit, get another mission against a different group, up the level, run (say) Ramiel's arc where the point is the slot and all the ixp between start and end is wasted, drop it to -1x0 and rush the objectives, finish, up th elevel again, etc.

 

Personally I tend to find +4x8 annoying more than fun. Unless maybe it's a farm, and even then a bit tedious.

[tidge]

Level shifts:

 

I will (almost) always run normal content at +1 after unlocking+slotting Alpha (and typically keep this for solo low level content); I (almost) never run solo at +4; I simply don't find the rewards to be worth it.... although if I am running Incarnate content (which I rarely do) I do turn up the difficulty to match Incarnate shifts, otherwise some content would be too boring,

 

Spawn size:

 

I'm almost always slotting sets as I level, so usually by level 40 I will turn up the spawn size to x3 or x4, depending on if I am getting bosses that count for badges and if I want faster XP. More than that and I find it is a bit of slog pre-incarnate. With a full kit and incarnates, I will happily run +1x8 (or +0x8) and do solo "defeat alls" to farm drops. The drop rates don't care as long as the enemies don't con gray.

 

If playing with others: I am happy to turn up difficulty and spawn size, no matter the level content.

[Yomo Kimyata]

I will build my characters strong from the very beginning, so I prefer to push the envelope.  When I make a new alt, one of the first things I do is put settings to +1/x1, bosses, no AV.  From there, it'll depend on the AT, but generally for melee characters I'm targeting +3/x8 sometime in the 40s but I'll hold off on +4 until I ding 50 and catalyze and respec in the HOs and purples.  Sometimes I will +4 earlier, but as you know that results in +5s half the time, and I don't always build for accuracy that early.

 

On an aside, this is one reason why I level like mad!

 

I'll usually shift to AVs at some point, but it depends on the character and the AV.  Usually my builds are good for +4/x8 mobs but not necessarily for +4 AVs, which is something I need to think about.  If I'm soloing a TF/SF with AVs, I will probably downshift to +2/x8 for missions that I know will have AVs in them.

 

 

[MoonSheep]

1 hour ago, Greycat said:

Depends entirely on:

- the character

- Their level

- What they're facing

- How much of a hassle I feel like dealing with.

- If it's a mission I've outleveled slightly or not

- Sometimes just the mission itself and the end goal.

 

I'll take the same character at +somethingxsomething one day, get a new mission, drop the level, run like that for a bit, get another mission against a different group, up the level, run (say) Ramiel's arc where the point is the slot and all the ixp between start and end is wasted, drop it to -1x0 and rush the objectives, finish, up th elevel again, etc.

 

Personally I tend to find +4x8 annoying more than fun. Unless maybe it's a farm, and even then a bit tedious.

 

i agree - even if i run a kill most ITF i tend to go for +3 (which at incarnate is just +2) than +4, i’ve learned to accept that you can enjoy the game without having to crank everything to max all the time

 

i prefer fighting oranges, a good mix of difficulty and reasonable pace

 

edit: i also enjoy running +1 TFs with enemies buffed, it gives a classic CoH feel

Edited February 27, 2023 by MoonSheep

[Captain Fabulous]

At most +2/x8, at worst -1/x0, depending upon the character and what I'm doing. Anything higher than +2 I find too difficult to hit consistently and takes too long to kill for my tastes. More often than not if I'm soloing I'm paying attention to the story so I choose to run thru the missions as quickly as possible in order to advance it.

[Bionic_Flea]

All my guys start default at +0/x1 no bosses.  Then, depending on the character, I slowly ramp it up to where it feels challenging but not a slog.  So I might add bosses if I'm a stalker or go to /x2 in the teens, x4 in the 20s, x5 or 6 in the 30s and at some point between 35 and 50 I go to /x8 and leave it there unless I want to speed a badge mission or get exempted way down.  As I start getting incarnate levels I'll start adding +levels.  Most of my characters do not run at +4/x8 solo, even if they can, just because I find it too slow -- unless it's the DA incarnate missions with all 3 level shifts.  And then running at anything but +4 seems too easy.

[Spaghetti Betty]

All of my toons start the game at +0x8. Of course, this leads to some progressing way slower than others, but by the end I feel like I have a deeper understanding of how the toon plays. I have very few toons that can't handle +4x8 by the time they're 50+.

[MHertz]

I lean toward maximizing drop rate, not pumping up XP. Going for +3 or +4 enemies never made sense to me, because while you level faster, you defeat fewer enemies. That means fewer chances for a good drop, fewer enemies accumulated for badges, and so on. So usually go +0 or +1, with team size set one larger than the team itself.

 

Also, I multibox, so I don’t need the added challenge of tough enemies in a huge swarm when I’m managing 3 toons.

[biostem]

6 hours ago, KC4800 said:

How do you handle the solo difficulty settings?

It depends so much on a multitude of factors - do I want to knock out a few missions, but don't have a lot of time?  Drop the difficulty and team size.  Do I really want to challenge myself and test my build?  Up them.  Am I feeling like taking on hordes of enemies but don't want the fight to drag on forever?  Up the team size, but lower the level.  I also have several "concept characters" where their power choices are far from optimal, and in those cases, I will lower the difficulty accordingly...

[nihilii]

I run +4/x8 as default (+3/x8 while leveling, to avoid +5s), but I'm not shy about switching to +0/x8 if I'm getting my ass kicked.

It's rare I lower the player count below x8. I love fighting hordes.

[Snarky]

When I do a project toon (almost always  Brute) I run at standard +0/x1   I did all of Redside on my new Corruptor to learn the powers/rhythm.  -1/x1

[ZorkNemesis]

I scale up as I level.  Usually starting at the default settings then upping the challenge as I get more capable.  I'll usually turn on solo bosses before or around level 10 and almost always have x2 team size a few levels later.  It's AT dependent but my fast killers usually have higher team size settings sooner.  I'm pretty sure i'm usually at x4 or higher by level 40, and at level 50 i'm generally at x6 until Incarnate stuff puts me into x8 territory.  I usually won't increase levels until I get level shifts from Incarnates unless I level so quickly that my current arc is falling behing between missions (Laura Lockheart is a prime offender, not uncommon to get two levels between the final three missions and there's no checking in with her during that time).

 

When leveling in Praetoria, I never go above x1 unless I've finished my current storyline and can't move into the next part of the city yet, but once I can go to the next area I turn it back down..  I will usually enable solo bosses at some point though.

 

Edited February 28, 2023 by ZorkNemesis

[SaintD]

I put a character to 1/1 at level 22, so groups are 5 minions or Boss and a minion, and if they can't handle it I bin them as useless. The question becomes academic after that because usually at around 30 I've made something else and am playing that instead.

[Shred Monkey]

Just going to add, that even with may entirely maxed out 50s that can handle +4x8, I often run at +4x4 just to speed up the pacing to achieve a better flow state.

[Uun]

I generally run at +2/x4 or the equivalent with level shifts factored in (+3/x4 with a +1 shift). I drop it to x3 for squishier types or those lacking AoE and increase it to +3 if I find that I'm steamrolling. I'm usually trying to get through the story and I find that higher difficulty levels slow things down too much.

[Saiyajinzoningen]

my personal rule of thumb is a minimum of 2x8 on any character I have. Its easier with some than others but like OP said i like a challenge