How solo friendly is this game?

[The Great Ricktator]

So I never played this when it was out, but I had some friends that keep bring this game up to the point where I think it's haunting me so I'm downloading it right now and since I got some time to kill might as well ask this question.

 

You see I prefer playing solo, teams are just less fun for me unless it's with people I already know, so that will be how I prefer to play. So with that in mind, can one play solo in this game without having to rely on teaming up and still have a good time, or is it going to be a hellish slog without a team?

[Apparition]

It depends on which archetype you play.  Defender?  Yeah, you're going to have a bad time soloing.  If you want to solo, go Mastermind or Brute and never look back.  Not that other archetypes can't solo (I soloed *two* Force Field Defenders from level 1 to 50 before sunset, which I strongly advise against), just you'll have the easiest time of it on a Mastermind or Brute.

 

Welcome to the City!

[PaxArcana]

Any Archetype with a Defense primary or secondary - Scrapper, Sentinel, Brute, Stalker, Tank - is going to be very, very solo-able.

 

Masterminds, also, because you can usually avoid being in personal danger (until all your pets die, but, well, nothings perfect).

 

Once you learn the gameplay a little better, you'll find that almost any archetype can be played solo - some are just a bit slower, and need to be played a bit more cautious, than others.

 

...

 

OTOH, it's not hard to find teams.  This MMO does not cater to the Holy Trinity; you can have a team of nothing but Scrappers, and succeed.  A team of nothing but Defenders, and succeed.  A team of nothing but Masterminds, and suc- ... well, okay, for that you need a pretty good computer to not crash to desktop, but if you have that, you can succeed.  :D :D

 

But seriously, any number of characters of any class can group up and do most content very well.

[Shazzie]

This game is absolutely solo friendly- and it always has been- regardless of level! I spend a vast majority of my time soloing, though I do enjoy teaming for certain things. Task/Strike Forces are, for me, best in groups, but they were originally intended FOR groups, so I guess that makes sense. There are some archetypes that might have a rougher time of it, but it IS possible for all of them. It's easy enough to figure out, though, because say if your primary skill tree is 'Support', it's expected that you'd be supporting others. And if you're a Blaster, it's easier to go crazy blasting damage if you have others willing to stand in the way of whatever you're blasting. Regardless, you CAN make anything work. Start off with something easier to solo out the gate, perhaps: a Brute, a Mastermind, perhaps a Scrapper or Sentinel.

 

Welcome to the game, I hope you have at least as much fun here as I have always had, which is a lot!

[malonkey1]

In short, very.

 

In long, like people have said, the archetype determines how easy soloing is. Generally, archetypes with good damage and good defense do best (e.g. Brutes, VEATs, etc.)

[chase]

Welcome to the game!

 

The game is very solo-friendly.  Some archetypes- like defenders- are practically made for grouping as they act as "force multipliers" for their team, but the devs made an effort to make these rather solo'able.

 

I'm mostly a duo-er (my wife and I play) so what we've found:

• 
  Virtually ALL "story arc" content in the game is solo-able or solo-friendly.  Some of the arcs will have warnings that you may want to bring help- this usually indicates an "archvillain" that would require a team to take it down.  Fortunately, the difficulty settings in the game will let you set many of those down to "elite bosses" - still no pushovers, but possible with some smart planning, patience and a lot of inspirations.  Story arcs really are the bulk of the content here, and it's all effectively open to you.
   
  
• Standard City Zones have mobs that are meant to be do-able by a solo player.  Some mobs are close enough to others that you may have to be clever in your approach, but you won't be oerwhelmed
  
• "hazard" zones have mobs that are more conducive to at least small team play.  Consider them places where teams can street hunt with a little more challenge.
   
  
• TASK FORCES AND TRIALS require groups.  You'll hear people talk about solo'ing them.  I don't recommend even trying as a newcomer.  This can be somewhat disappointing as- for example- many of the zone-based stories (hollows, striga, faultline, croatoa, etc) have a task force associated with them.  In some, like the hollows, it's the culmination of the story and you may find it almost feels like something's missing.  In others, they're more of a "side story" that contributes to the zone's narrative, but isn't required.
   
  
• There are zone events (zombie attack, rikti attack, etc) and giant monsters associated with each zone.  Giant Monsters generally require multiple teams to take them down.  The zone events though, scale with the surrounding population.  a solo'er in a corner of the map during a zombie attack will get a mob reasonable for a solo'er, but a mob of heroes gathered at some designated place- even if not teamed- will make an EPIC effects-laden encounter that will tax even modern video cards.
   
  

 

 

 

[Apogee]

The game is extremely solo friendly. Yes, Controllers and to some extent Defenders will be slow going but it can be done. Scrappers, Brutes, Blasters and Corruptors tend to be the easiest for my play style (I dislike pet classes). Out of 30 characters so far this go around, the easiest and most fun for me has been an Archery/Tactical Arrow Blaster but ymmv.

[Hyperstrike]

Most of the content is solo friendly.

 

You can even do Task Forces solo now if you want (IIRC).

 

TFs are gonna be TOUGH solo though as they're actually built for teams.  So groups of enemies will be bigger and tougher.

But, with patience and some skill, they can be gotten through.  It just takes longer.

[TheOtherTed]

You'll level up much more quickly in teams, now matter how you slice it - but, IMO, it's often too fast, especially with a full team of 8.

 

That said, yes, it's mostly soloable, but certain AT combinations will have a really hard time of it.  For example, my Dark/Archery Defender and Illusion/Empathy Controller had no problems soloing content at higher levels, but my Kinetics/Archery Defender was useless on her own past level 40.  In my experience, if an AT combo lacks damage mitigation in the form of defenses, controls, pets, or enemy debuffs, and doesn't have the damage output to make up for it, it will become a rough ride.

[Xeres]

Very solo friendly.  Like other games, some classes are better at this than others slightly.  To give you an idea, I have (7) level 22 characters and (1) level 27 character.  That's 181 levels - all solo.

[Perverse]

I’m a level 47 Claws/Regen Scrapper. I created that character about 4 weeks ago, and I have never joined a team. The appeal of this game to me is that I can login for brief stints, completely solo and still advance at a fantastic rate. That said, I only play Scrappers and Brawlers.

[DoctorHugh]

Very soloable. Some classes have a slower start than others, although the P2W vendor bonus powers (Sands/Axe, Nemesis Staff, Blackwand) help a lot in filling out your early attacks for any archetype. The Prestige Enhancements help a lot too.

 

Typically a lot of people who solo games, do so because it's just not efficient for them to spend the time looking to team up with someone, deciding what they are going to do, getting everyone there, waiting for everyone to be ready, etc. etc.

 

One of the 'magic' things about CoH, IMO, was always the way that you could just jump on, type a quick 'Lvl 6 Blaster LFG' or even just say 'DFB forming pst for invite' and boom, 2 minutes later you have a group, people are teleporting/superspeeding to the entrance, the group slams in, starts to roll the content. Doesn't matter whether you have blasters or tanks or defenders or whatever, except in rare cases any team composition tends to work.

 

Team not working out? Thank them for the run, drop team, pop out another LFG. Boom 3 minutes later you're on another team. I often felt that CoH was the game where you could say "we're soloing fast, together".  :)

 

As others have mentioned, I often solo because I want to knock of some contacts and missions, and teaming just levels too fast. So just start a character that amuses you, give it a few levels, if it isn't working out try another. I generally find that in CoH, it is more important to decide how I enjoy playing, than to plan for solo/team play.

 

- Sometimes I just want to hammer whole groups. AoE and Control and AoE debuffs - Blasters, Sentinels, Controllers/Doms, Defenders can do this (with the correct power set choices)

 

- Maybe I want to just slamhammer single targets, BOOM you're down! Brutes, Scrappers, again Blasters though trickier.

 

- Sometimes I feel like just neutralizing entire groups of foes while I decide what to do with them. Controllers/Doms again, some Defenders (Dark/Dark), some Sentinels maybe.

 

- Other times I just want that earthshaking KABOOM of my powers. Superstrength, most Earth sets, maybe some of the newer melee sets (I haven't tried them all).

 

Find the style that entertains you just to be doing it, and you will soon find that solo, team, simply running around and helping other people without even teaming... it's all fun.

[jubakumbi]

I play almost exclusively solo because for the most part, 'people'.

I have 2 friends on my list, where my buddy that plays has almost 30.

Really, with a few exceptions to run a couple DFBs to get a few earlt levels, and not on all characters.

 

I have done it with pretty much every AT to 50 on Live, lots of powersets.

Some are 'better' at soloing, for sure, just pick 'selfish' powers for the easier ride.

 

Because of the ease with which great enhancements can be slotted now, IMO, it is even easier to solo the game now.

 

With things like temp powers and smart play, you can take out big bisses solo as well.

I never need to be forced into teams to gain Incarnate abilities, which rocks.

Once tricked-out, you can solo most task forces.

 

So yeah, from my point of view, this game rocks playing solo!

[chigiabelo]

The game is very solo friendly, more for some ATs over others and certainly much more solo friendly now than it was at launch.

 

My first character at launch was a defender I tried to solo with and it took two weeks to get to level 13 on him. He would die just crossing the street because he aggro'd the wrong group and Siphon Speed would miss just when he needed it to get away. he finally made it to 50 after 565 hours of play.

 

A few years later, my MM's were routinely hitting 50 in much less time and today (I mean, actually "today" as in THIS day), I hit 50 for the first time in 10 years on my Beast/Thermal MM after about 100 hours of 100% solo play (according to some random NPC). I don't min/max and I choose some powers for concept and keep my difficulty settings at a leisurely level, so I'm sure there are people who can solo in much less time.

[Erydanus]

It depends on which archetype you play.  Defender?  Yeah, you're going to have a bad time soloing. 

Only if your definition is play must be fast. Lots of people enjoy a slower paced but safer combat. Defenders solo even get a 30% damage buff (they're normally team support so they get a little buff for themselves when alone). I personally enjoy soloing Controllers though I admit in the mid-20s it gets to be a real slog because by then their lower damage is really more apparent and they don't have their pet yet.  But it's do-able.

[Oubliette_Red]

I enjoy playing Defenders/Controllers/Corruptors. Solo'ing can be slow, sometimes painfully so, but team with another like-minded player... oh boy...

 

A team full of Defenders especially with 2 or more Kins and it's epicness goes through the roof.

[OEM61]

As everyone else has said, very solo-friendly, though the AT you choose will determine how things work.

 

Some ATs can solo just fine at a pretty brisk pace.

Other ATs can solo just fine, but may take things more slowly.

And finally, there may be an AT or two that just do not mesh with your style.  Whether some people can solo with them or not doesn't much matter if you do not enjoy playing them.

 

Powers also matter.  I have seen some people advise against a /force field controller as a solo character, for example, and I would expect that /empathy controllers would be in the same boat.

Those secondaries might help you stay in the fight longer, but they will not be really helpful in helping you finish off the enemies.  There are other secondaries much better for that.

 

Those secondaries are fine for teaming, but solo they may not be so great.

[justicebeliever]

Welcome to Paragon City, “We judge you not by your race, creed, religion, gender, or disability, rather we critique you by your Archetype, Build, Witty Banter, and Forum Posts”

 

Just kidding mostly, we seriously welcome you!

[Konru]

City of Heroes uses a rather clever system to adjust difficulty according to your needs.  While there are city and hazard locations shared by everyone in that particular area, most of the hunting you do happens in instanced "mission" areas that are shared by only you and your team.  That means by you alone if you don't have a team.  The size of enemy groups and the frequency of big guys like lieutenants and bosses are determined by the size of your group when the mission area is created. Also, when solo you can actually choose to make yourself worth 2 or more heroes if you feel like what spawns for a solo player isn't challenging enough.  You can also control within a reasonable range what level your opponents are compared to your hero.  You can decide if you want to fight bosses as actual bosses or nerfed to lieutenants solo.  You can also decide to nerf archvillains to simply elite-bosses solo.

 

The default settings are just one notch away from the easiest settings.  You fight even to your level, usually 3 minions or 1 lieutenant and 1 minion, who in total aren't likely to have more HP and DPS than you do.  So soloing almost everything might even be easier than trying to get a team to help you.  Mostly teaming up doesn't usually make things easier, but does give you slightly more rewards.  However, big teams are still really easy most of the time.

 

But there is still a catch in that "almost."  Elite bosses are very rare, but won't get nerfed by the difficulty system, and Archvillains won't get nerfed below Elite Boss levels.  So some archetype and power combinations may have no choice but to seek help if they want to complete that particular mission.  But the good news is that unless you're the type that just can't skip the occasional paragraph of story, you can simply auto-complete or drop that mission and so something else for a while without any real penalties.  (Auto-complete is a feature that allows you to complete a mission that you otherwise can't or don't want to do properly once every few days.)

 

All added up, soloing anything to level 50 and beyond isn't that hard.  Some archetype and power combinations can do it easier or quicker than others, but all of them can get the job done.  Builds only become "good" or "bad" when you start comparing them to others.

[Extor Prime]

Soloing as a Brute or a Scrapper is generally considered EZMode, from 1 to 50. Brutes and scrappers regularly solo/duo task forces, GMs, AVs and pylons.

 

If you want something less of a blunt instrument (and want to stay at range), an Illusion controller provides you with an unkillable "pet tank". Corruptors are another solid option, and Sentinels too (though the latter's damage output is unimpressive and may prevent you from making headway against stronger enemies).

[Zep]

I soloed to 50 on a controller in time to play a PB when they launched in issue 3.

 

Any class can solo. Some are just easier then others - well, no, solo as a controller is extremely easy -- some just take longer then others.

 

With all the balance changes, defender solo buffs etc, play what you want. Almost all content in the game - except task forces and raids are able to be soloed.

[Erydanus]

Honestly the easiest thing to solo with is a Stalker. If Brutes and Scrappers are the A-rank for soloing then Stalkers are S-rank.

 

This mission only requires killing the boss and his guards in the last room of the mission? Sure just sprint there and be done in 2 minutes and on to the next mission. Unless it's Knives of Artemis (level 46+) nobody will see you.

 

This mission only has low-value minions? Skip them.

This mission has a lot of high-value lieutenants & bosses? Assassinate them.

 

Run on x2 so you get the lts and bosses, but go to x1 for defeat-alls. You'll never have a problem traveling anywhere other than zones with special hazards like First Ward.

 

Even elite bosses are pretty easy. Just stand behind them, eat several inspirations, hit build up and use Assassin's Strike. Start the fight with their hp already reduced 33% or more.

 

[Legree]

You'll never have a problem traveling anywhere other than zones with special hazards like First Ward.

 

Yup.  Hide is the best travel power of all.

 

I'd agree with most of what you say, with two exceptions.  Most of your XP comes from combat rather than mission complete bonuses and if you ghost too much - especially early on - you run the risk of being severely underpowered for the fights you can't avoid.  I've been running a Stalker through 1-20 Praetoria and once I realised this I started doing kill alls (or at least kill most) so I'd fill up on new powers for the essential fights.

 

Likewise, and especially in Praetoria, ambushes that home in on you are not a Stalker's friend.

 

[Locsmith]

But there is still a catch in that "almost."  Elite bosses are very rare, but won't get nerfed by the difficulty system, and Archvillains won't get nerfed below Elite Boss levels.  So some archetype and power combinations may have no choice but to seek help if they want to complete that particular mission.  But the good news is that unless you're the type that just can't skip the occasional paragraph of story, you can simply auto-complete or drop that mission and do something else for a while without any real penalties.  (Auto-complete is a feature that allows you to complete a mission that you otherwise can't or don't want to do properly once every few days.)

 

I just want to clarify the comment ‘do something else for a while’.  Missions will not level with your character.  So if you get you backside kicked by an elite boss at the end of a story arc, don’t abandon or complete the mission.  Run other missions or street sweep for a level or two and then go back an you should be able to handle him.

 

For example, if at level 14 you can’t beat the final boss, leave him until you get to level 15 or 16 (or more).  Then when you go back he is still level 14 and you should be able to beat him.  I solo a lot and use this trick often.  Obviously it won't work at level 50.  ;D

 

[Solarverse]

To answer the OP's question, this was never truly meant to be a solo game. In the early days of City of Heroes, going at it solo was hard. No one AT with the exception of a Scrapper could Solo very easily. Tanks took forever to kill anything, Blasters were extremely squishy, Trollers took ages to kill anything and Defenders had the true crappy end of the stick. Only Scrappers had the ability to solo with relative ease.

 

Since that time, the game has been made a bit easier to solo with many changes that were made since those days, however, in my opinion, it's still not really a solo game.

 

Is it solo friendly? I guess you could say it is now, but your content will be limited. There will be much you cannot do as a solo player. You also miss out on the XP buff for playing on a large team. The bigger the team, the more XP. So players have every reason to team, and a couple of discouragements to solo.

 

It can be soloed just fine if all you want is to reach the max level. However, it will be a very slow process and much of the content, such as Task Forces, Trials and what-nots will be something you won't be enjoying, which also means you will miss out on Badges and Accolades.

 

A huge part of what makes this game so unique, is that it promotes teaming, which also promotes a strong community.

 

If solo is something you seek, Champions Online and DC Universe are more along those standards. Even though you *can* solo this game, I strongly urge you to at least give teaming a try...I think you just might find that it is a highly enjoyable and enlightening experience.