Monk Soloing?

[Judah Monk]

is it possible for me to solo the whole game as a wandering monk?

[MasterPrudent]

Maaaybe? I think it would be very difficult but while monks aren't the most obvious solo character (hello chanters) they are pretty solid all rounders. I wouldn't try it on your first play-through unless you're a really good rpg player - the game is designed for, and balanced around, a party.

Edited March 8, 2015 by MasterPrudent

[Sensuki]

So far the best solo build is a defensive kiting Chanter, because you can summon creatures to do damage for you while you run around in circles. AI is still borked at the moment though.

[Doxy]

I doubt you can even play solo monk on easiest difficulty. 

Unless you cheat

[ManifestedISO]

I'm guessing druids are the secret master race class of solo desecration. 

[Odd Hermit]

I'm guessing druids are the secret master race class of solo desecration. 

 

I've tried it, and no they are definitely not. They put out crazy damage but they can't take much themselves. You can sort of kite around with Heart of the Storm against some enemies, but to cast most of their spells they have to stand still which = getting mobbed and dying. Even if fairly defensively build.

 

I imagine it could be doable with a druid but you'd be doing a lot of reloading and experimenting. And a lot of resting.

 

Chanter is easily the best because they're super mobile and have infinite summons as long as they keep in combat.

 

 

Thing is though, we start @ level 4 in the beta, facing groups of enemies around that level. Maybe more classes could do it if given time to gain a bigger level advantage via extra XP. Though there is a cap and you also don't gain nearly as much extra XP as in IE games if you go solo. It's like +25% XP.

Edited March 8, 2015 by Odd Hermit

[Elerond]

My experience with beta say that best solo classes are Chanter, Fighter, Monk, Wizard

 

Chanter: Has summons that give them quite edge in hard fights without risking own health, their chants are quite flexible as you can de/buff or even do raw damage depending on your needs and addition to summons their invocations over all are very powerful.

 

Fighter: Can take hits and is able to give them back, and they also have ability knock down enemies in every fight which helps them against badder enemies.

 

Monk: Their Wound mechanic lets them take insane amount damage if used right and their active abilities are quite useful when fighting solo.

 

Wizard: They are most flexible class in game which means that you can make them work in any situation. 

[Karkarov]

In my experience if you want to solo the game (good luck) you want to use a chanter.  No other class is likely to be able to get away with it and even doing it with a chanter is dicey and you have to seriously game the system with kiting and summon spam.  This game is really not meant to be cleared by one character, they didn't balance for it, and they never tested it.  They just aren't stopping you from attempting it.

[Falkon Swiftblade]

One thing I've learned since the inception of this game over the past two years that I didn't consider initially but I will for my own projects going forward. If I make a game that lasts many dozens of hours and I'm going to be killing hundreds or thousands of thing's, I'm going to create a lot more fighting animations and stances. I kind of get the impression even though you get a few new skills, the monk's going to have the same 2-3 or so attacks the whole friggen game, and that is not fun at all to me. I love these kinds of games, but I think maybe they should have stuck with 4 man group and added more variety because I also wanted to solo as a monk, but I'm actually feeling like I might have to play with some other folks just to get some variety in the combat.

[Sonntam]

One thing I've learned since the inception of this game over the past two years that I didn't consider initially but I will for my own projects going forward. If I make a game that lasts many dozens of hours and I'm going to be killing hundreds or thousands of thing's, I'm going to create a lot more fighting animations and stances. I kind of get the impression even though you get a few new skills, the monk's going to have the same 2-3 or so attacks the whole friggen game, and that is not fun at all to me. I love these kinds of games, but I think maybe they should have stuck with 4 man group and added more variety because I also wanted to solo as a monk, but I'm actually feeling like I might have to play with some other folks just to get some variety in the combat.

 

The game was built for a party of six characters. When playing such a huge group, there is a lot of variety possible. When you narrow it down to one character, obviously your choice of spells, animations and equipment gets narrowed down a lot.

 

It's like playing a game and then deciding to use none of the spells, except Fireball. Sure, it may get you through and it may be fun to roleplay, but combat will get awfully repetitive and difficult. The game was not built around a single spell, it was built around using many tools. 

 

Same with Pillars of Eternity. 

[Karkarov]

The game was built for a party of six characters. When playing such a huge group, there is a lot of variety possible. When you narrow it down to one character, obviously your choice of spells, animations and equipment gets narrowed down a lot.

Only good point to be made about this subject right here.  It still amazes me that anyone would want to play with less than a full party.  It is like going to build a house and when you get there and open your tool box you throw out everything except the hammer.  Sure you might be able to get it done but it would have been a lot easier and more effective if you just used all your tools.

[Elerond]

 

The game was built for a party of six characters. When playing such a huge group, there is a lot of variety possible. When you narrow it down to one character, obviously your choice of spells, animations and equipment gets narrowed down a lot.

Only good point to be made about this subject right here.  It still amazes me that anyone would want to play with less than a full party.  It is like going to build a house and when you get there and open your tool box you throw out everything except the hammer.  Sure you might be able to get it done but it would have been a lot easier and more effective if you just used all your tools.

 

 

According to BAdler there will reward you with at least one achievement if you do so in expert mode and trial of iron switched on and play on Path of Damned difficulty level.

 

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/70785-steam-achievements/?p=1577988

"There is one achievement that I am not sure is really possible (without using some sort of exploit). It is called the Triple Crown Solo and requires that the player play the entire game solo, on expert mode, with trial of iron (party wipe deletes save), with Path of the Damned difficulty."  

[ISC]

 

The game was built for a party of six characters. When playing such a huge group, there is a lot of variety possible. When you narrow it down to one character, obviously your choice of spells, animations and equipment gets narrowed down a lot.

Only good point to be made about this subject right here.  It still amazes me that anyone would want to play with less than a full party.  It is like going to build a house and when you get there and open your tool box you throw out everything except the hammer.  Sure you might be able to get it done but it would have been a lot easier and more effective if you just used all your tools.

 

 

There you have at least one reason - soloing is a challenge. 

[Sonntam]

 

 

The game was built for a party of six characters. When playing such a huge group, there is a lot of variety possible. When you narrow it down to one character, obviously your choice of spells, animations and equipment gets narrowed down a lot.

Only good point to be made about this subject right here.  It still amazes me that anyone would want to play with less than a full party.  It is like going to build a house and when you get there and open your tool box you throw out everything except the hammer.  Sure you might be able to get it done but it would have been a lot easier and more effective if you just used all your tools.

 

 

There you have at least one reason - soloing is a challenge. 

 

Yeah, but complaing about it being a challenge (or maybe not fun) is not really reasonable. 

[Karkarov]

 

There you have at least one reason - soloing is a challenge.

The game has plenty of tools to make it challenging without having to create false self enforced limitations.  If that is what the "soloist" is after there are still better ways of doing it.

[h3st]

Imagine if after the game ends, it shows your conduct, e.g.

• hest never commited genocide
• hest never hit with a wielded weapon
• hest never had any friends

Oh wait, those're called achievements now, aren't they?

[ISC]

 

There you have at least one reason - soloing is a challenge. 

 

Yeah, but complaing about it being a challenge (or maybe not fun) is not really reasonable. 

 

I agree, I was commenting on why "anyone would want to play with less than a full party"

 

 

There you have at least one reason - soloing is a challenge.

The game has plenty of tools to make it challenging without having to create false self enforced limitations.  If that is what the "soloist" is after there are still better ways of doing it.

 

False self enforced limitations you say? I think that's irrelevant to the point, because some people sometimes like to create false self enforced limitations simply because they enjoy the specific challenge or is tired of the regular challenges, and it is actually quite common in RPGs. I don't see why that is amazing, but I agree that the efforts of the developers should be focused on a full or nearly full party.

Edited March 8, 2015 by ISC

[alb1221]

One thing I enjoyed througly about previous cRPGs was on the lesser difficulties (or with modifications) solo play was viable, or even challenging--and was often my favorite mode of playing. If Obs doesn't add this sort of functionality/tuning the community will most certainly have something, if they already don't, to make it a more viable path through the game.

I'm really looking forward to tinkering with these sorts of things myself with my limited experience. I can't wait to see what the community does and I know Josh and co. are really in support of this kind of thing.

[Dongom]

I like being able to solo BG1, BG2, IWD, KOTOR, etc.   

Yes they were designed around parties, but with the right min-maxing solo was actually quite achievable and fun.  Difficult, but in an enjoyable way.

 

Did they really tune this game for such an option to be near impossible on most classes and super frustrating? 

Edited March 19, 2015 by Dongom

[TrueMenace]

I like being able to solo BG1, BG2, IWD, KOTOR, etc.   

Yes they were designed around parties, but with the right min-maxing solo was actually quite achievable and fun with multiple classes.

 

Did they really tune this game for such an option to be virtually impossible?

They balanced the game around having a 6-man party. 

[Dongom]

 

I like being able to solo BG1, BG2, IWD, KOTOR, etc.   

Yes they were designed around parties, but with the right min-maxing solo was actually quite achievable and fun with multiple classes.

 

Did they really tune this game for such an option to be virtually impossible?

They balanced the game around having a 6-man party. 

 

Well so did those classics, yet it was doable.

 

It should be very hard, but not impossible.  People want these new crpg's to be like the classics after all, right?

Edited March 19, 2015 by Dongom

[TrueMenace]

 

 

I like being able to solo BG1, BG2, IWD, KOTOR, etc.   

Yes they were designed around parties, but with the right min-maxing solo was actually quite achievable and fun with multiple classes.

 

Did they really tune this game for such an option to be virtually impossible?

They balanced the game around having a 6-man party. 

 

Well so did those classics, yet it was doable.

 

It should be very hard, but not impossible.  People want these new crpg's to be like the classics after all, right?

 

I'm not saying it's impossible. But it's not their goal to design he game to be beaten with any # of party members (e.g. solo runs), they balance around the norm which is a 6 man party. Up to the player to figure out how to solo the game or run with fewer party members. Nothing wrong with that.

 

Devs can't balance every encounter depending on how many members are in your party. That would take tons of man-hours to balance. That's up the players.

[Halsy]

Puncha-puncha-puncha!

[gkathellar]

 

 

I like being able to solo BG1, BG2, IWD, KOTOR, etc.   

Yes they were designed around parties, but with the right min-maxing solo was actually quite achievable and fun with multiple classes.

 

Did they really tune this game for such an option to be virtually impossible?

They balanced the game around having a 6-man party. 

 

Well so did those classics, yet it was doable.

 

It should be very hard, but not impossible.  People want these new crpg's to be like the classics after all, right?

 

 

There are two big differences:

In the classic games, XP was evenly split between all of your party. In these games, it's just a 5% penalty per companion, so you don't advance nearly so quickly.

A lot of soloing relied on preparation and moving in and out of combat - but in PoE, combat is a binary state, making this kind of manipulation very difficult or impossible.

[Scottfree6000]

can anyone solo this game at their own risk? those Beetles man