So Obsidian Devs basically give the finger only to solo-players

[Nukenin]

Doing the Triple Crown Solo right now (when you don't necessarily have the acquired/meta knowledge to plan your run optimally) is going to be quite the exercise.  Someone else posted (and I concur) that the best approach may be to run two identical games, only one without Trial of Iron.  Use the non-ironman play to test and probe and figure out the path your ironman play will follow.  Copious notes will help as well, should you need to redo your ironman work after a failure point.  It's a laborious effort, but it's not supposed to be easy, is it?

 

The item was a potential part of your toolkit.  The raise in price is harsh early on, but since you're soloing, you have 5+ less companions on which you will be squandering your hard-earned coin.

[revjwh]

Varana, you miss the point.  

 

Your logic is this:  the devs want people to be able to steamroll the game on hard and lower difficulty.  Because that's what I and others can do with a party..... it's not fun.  I can have 6 characters and walk into a room and win.  No tactics.  No item management.  No careful study of the terrain.  Nothing.

 

So, to compensate, I like to play with a small party or solo - also b/c I enjoy it as well... micromanagement is fun but not with 6 (which I don't have to micromanage b/c with 6 I can do all kinds of mistakes and still win).... if the game was hard - that's great.

 

BUT the devs are clearly watching the solo threads and changing things just to make it harder for solo players - they don't seem to mind people steamrolling with a party.  It's like they don't know how to balance large party combat so they punish people who can play through the game with one character as if that proves how hard and good the game is.... it doesn't.... it just forces people who were having fun with a harder form of play to give up b/c the devs have made it sadistic.  It seems a very all or nothing way to approach allowing us to play the game instead of a curve.

[Osvir]

@Nukein: You also have Notes in your Journal. So you can write notes where you can go. If you get into a stump, just Note "Will return to this place later". If you turn on dead ends everywhere, then you'll have to restart, make a new build, try again.

EDIT: @revjwh: You want a challenge, you have it. If you don't want a challenge, maybe you're shouldn't try Solo? Save the game often, try different paths if you end up at one road that is a dead end (you can always return later). And if you dislike it, make a new character and start over.

Or, make a duo-team, of 2-4 characters. Because you want to summon an "animat" or whatever, why not just make a second adventurer instead? And if you truly are hunting for that Solo Achievement, play on Easy, that'll be easier to and less of a challenge (as compared to, say, Hard).

The Chanter can summon skeletons, try that instead?

Edited April 4, 2015 by Osvir

[revjwh]

Doing the Triple Crown Solo right now (when you don't necessarily have the acquired/meta knowledge to plan your run optimally) is going to be quite the exercise.  Someone else posted (and I concur) that the best approach may be to run two identical games, only one without Trial of Iron.  Use the non-ironman play to test and probe and figure out the path your ironman play will follow.  Copious notes will help as well, should you need to redo your ironman work after a failure point.  It's a laborious effort, but it's not supposed to be easy, is it?

 

The item was a potential part of your toolkit.  The raise in price is harsh early on, but since you're soloing, you have 5+ less companions on which you will be squandering your hard-earned coin.

 

Does that sound fun?  That sounds like work.  I just want to play and know that if I'm smart and careful and patient (all things a party of 5 or 6 doesn't require - the game becomes a cakewalk) I have a chance at doing well.  Without spreadsheets, weird playing (like having two concurrent games) .... the devs seem to want it their way or the highway bc they are clearly focusing on nerfing things that only affect solo play.

[Caerdon]

I love the smell of tears in the morning.

[Ninjerk]

If your build was bad, the animat horn wasn't going to save it.

[Emptiness]

They just increased the amount of xp that solo and small-party groups earn.  I don't think that it is fair to say that they are trying to punish or deter solo play.  My guess would be that they looked at the item and determined that the benefit it gives is significantly better than the original cost, and changed the cost to be more in line with the power level of the item.  I don't think that's unfair.

 

Also, with all the coin around in this game, 6000 coppers is not such a huge sum.  All they did was push back how soon you can afford it.

[Blovski]

I noticed the animat horn, which is useless to a party, and only viable somewhat to a solo player now costs 6000 instead of 600.

 

There is no reason for this except to screw with someone trying a solo run.  Looks like Josh and the rest demand we play with a party or else.....

 

Thanks Obsidian for the big "f u" to solo-players.... right back at you, Josh.

Um, the summoning items are all extremely powerful gadgets (obviously). You save a *lot* of money by only equipping one character and not spending a couple of thousand on getting custom NPCs at the start and by being able to sell everything but the kitchen sink. Don't see how this screws over solo play.

[Supreme]

 

This isn't bg/iwd, solo'ing isn't even remotely in the train of thought.

Except of course for the solo achievement and the triple crown solo achievement.

 

Why do you think it's a picture of Josh with his smug grin?

[santanzchild]

 

Doing the Triple Crown Solo right now (when you don't necessarily have the acquired/meta knowledge to plan your run optimally) is going to be quite the exercise.  Someone else posted (and I concur) that the best approach may be to run two identical games, only one without Trial of Iron.  Use the non-ironman play to test and probe and figure out the path your ironman play will follow.  Copious notes will help as well, should you need to redo your ironman work after a failure point.  It's a laborious effort, but it's not supposed to be easy, is it?

 

The item was a potential part of your toolkit.  The raise in price is harsh early on, but since you're soloing, you have 5+ less companions on which you will be squandering your hard-earned coin.

 

Does that sound fun?  That sounds like work.  I just want to play and know that if I'm smart and careful and patient (all things a party of 5 or 6 doesn't require - the game becomes a cakewalk) I have a chance at doing well.  Without spreadsheets, weird playing (like having two concurrent games) .... the devs seem to want it their way or the highway bc they are clearly focusing on nerfing things that only affect solo play.

 

The fun of that type of run is supposed to be the work,  thats where the sense of achievement comes from.  You CANNOT balance a game for both a 6pc party and a 1pc party at the same time its just not feasible. 

Edited April 4, 2015 by santanzchild

[Volourn]

"This isn't bg/iwd, solo'ing isn't even remotely in the train of thought."

 

It wasn't even a train of thought for the IE games either. In fact, it was more in mind for PE than  those games. All through KS  there was a bunch of 'can i sols this game pretty please." BG series was made with party of 6 in mind. The fact you can beat it solo through cheese and sneaky tatics is happy coincidence.

[sterrius]

Also remember the fact the achivement exist don´t mean its 100% possible. 

They dont actually made one char and finished the game alone to test if it was possible!  Games like this they just hope someone will find a way.  Players are know to do incredible things that no one even thinked about while the game was in development.   

Never underestimate millions of people trying the same thing. (Definition of insanity? ) 


Also i remember BG1 to Throne of Bhall solo was not easy and needed tons of hours, planning and things could get wrong. (tons and tons of reloads). 

And now they are asking you to do it in iron man mode.  Well, good luck with that . 


 

Edited April 4, 2015 by sterrius

[Blovski]

Also, @OP:

'Raised the bonus for having fewer than six party members from 5% per character under the limit to 10% per character under the limit.'

How exactly do you think this patch is the devs trying to screw solo play?

[lazyman]

This should shows how limited PoE is compared to old IE games. BG2 could be played in many ways, some of them not intended by developers, but they didn't actively try to block them. With sufficient knowledge of D&D rules and location of some useful items in game (wands, scrolls), you could solo whole game with almost any class if you wanted. My favorite was always solo wizard *without* Staff of Magi.  

Compared to that, PoE seems like "my way or highway", everything is restricted to one narrow path we have to follow or else ...

[Concordance]

They nerfed the Animat Horn (which had many solo strats relying on a single item) and instead doubled the XP bonus for solo (which opens up many new strats). It looks like good balancing to me.

[Klice]

 

Pro-Tip:

- Play on Path of the Damned with Expert Mode

- Learn, Practice, Map, Research, Quest, See what you can do and what you can't do Solo (And maybe even get the Expert Achievement and the Solo Achievement)

- Make Walkthrough for yourself.

- Play Triple Crown Solo.

- Publish Success.

 

I have no desire to do all that.... I just want to have a fair chance that if I play carefully and with tactics I have the freedom to solo instead of making an uber party and steamrolling the game on normal or hard but with less thought and patience and roleplay...... 

 

Think about it, if you can play solo carefully and finish the game on the first try, which point would people have to get a full party ? This is still a party-based RPG, so um yeah, soloing IS supposed to be hard and to require a lot of meta-gaming knowledge before going to achieve that.

 I can't see why you can't role play with a full party. And I can assure you some fights require patience and thought to overcome it.

 

Edit: From what I understand, the item you are talking about allows you to get one more party member temporarily to help you during tough fight. So why not get one more full time party member ? Or a full party for that matter ? Any way, the item is more expensive you just have to play a bit more before getting it, I guess.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Klice

[Luj1]

So basically another sawyerism is responsible for backpedaling from yet another promise. And yet again Obsidrones are defending their mothership because keeping promises its not a big deal.

 

As much as I love this game (flowers about to grow out my arse) I'm starting to dislike sawyer. Mainly for the fallen promises and indulging irrelevant hipsters over non-issues, instead of fixing spell/class balance and game-breaking bugs. I'm so glad I didn't back this game on Kickstarter.

[Prime-Mover]

↑ Mind elaborating on what promises Josh Sawyer has broken? And further, why this should be on that list?

 

 

 

 

[Odd Hermit]

They buffed solo XP gain.

 

Gold is easy enough to get.

 

Net gain for solo players. 

[Sleazebag]

 

So basically another sawyerism is responsible for backpedaling from yet another promise. And yet again Obsidrones are defending their mothership because keeping promises its not a big deal.

 

As much as I love this game (flowers about to grow out my arse) I'm starting to dislike sawyer. Mainly for the fallen promises and indulging irrelevant hipsters over non-issues, instead of fixing spell/class balance and game-breaking bugs. I'm so glad I didn't back this game on Kickstarter.

 

Yeah, Sawyer made a mistake in making the default clothing for everyone a flannel shirt and cap, work boots and worker jeans. And come on, pabst blue ribbon as an off-hand item for backers? Ridiculous.

[Luj1]

↑ Mind elaborating on what promises Josh Sawyer has broken?

 

No I don't mind, Tom Seleck

 

 

Eliminating the RPG trinity of tank/dps/healer i.e. no party restrictions. Now you pretty much need gimmicks to play this game. It feels like playing a MMO.

 

 

Balance between professions. Case a, you take Cipher/Chanter/Druid/Fighter and faceroll the game on hard, case b, taking Monk/Rogue/Ranger/Barbarian gives you cancer.

 

 

Over-engineered the combat mechanic. This wasn't a promise but w/e. There is a dozen combat conditions, each boasting 4-5 effects no one can memorize.

 

 

Making every stat important, I'm happy to say this was fulfilled. Now intelligence matters for my Barbarian , while Might can be important for a Wizard.

 

 

+  half of the spells are inferior and have a low impact on most combat situations

 

+  at least one game breaking situation i.e. crash that cannot be avoided unless tampering with the game files (Raedric's Hold). Consider yourself lucky if you haven't run into it

 

+  serious glitches like the Sanitarium (everyone goes hostile, NPCs frozen mid animation, unavoidable reputation loss in the biggest ingame town)

 

etc. etc.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Luj1

[Prime-Mover]

 

↑ Mind elaborating on what promises Josh Sawyer has broken?

 

 

Eliminating the RPG trinity of tank/dps/healer. You pretty much need gimmicks to play this game. I feel like playing an MMO actually.

 

 

Balance between professions. You take Cipher/Chanter/Druid/Fighter and faceroll the game on hard, while taking Monk/Rogue/Ranger/Barbarian gives you cancer.

 

 

Over-engineered the combat systems. This wasn't a promise but w/e. There is a dozen combat conditions, each boasting 4-5 effects no one can memorize.

 

 

Making every stat important, I'm happy to say this was fulfilled. Now intelligence matters for my Barbarian , while Might can be important for a Wizard.

 

just some off the top of my head

 

I'm sorry, perhaps I was not clear - entirely my fault. Let me clarify: what promises has Josh Sawyer Broken?

[Sleazebag]

 

↑ Mind elaborating on what promises Josh Sawyer has broken?

 

 

Eliminating the RPG trinity of tank/dps/healer. You pretty much need gimmicks to play this game. I feel like playing an MMO actually.

 

 

Balance between professions. You take Cipher/Chanter/Druid/Fighter and faceroll the game on hard, while taking Monk/Rogue/Ranger/Barbarian gives you cancer.

 

 

Over-engineered the combat systems. This wasn't a promise but w/e. There is a dozen combat conditions, each boasting 4-5 effects no one can memorize.

 

 

Making every stat important, I'm happy to say this was fulfilled. Now intelligence matters for my Barbarian , while Might can be important for a Wizard.

 

just some off the top of my head

 

MMOs in general use the RPG trinity so I have no idea how getting rid of it makes the game feel like a MMO for you.

 

And you are doing something extremely wrong if monk, rogue and barbarian are weak to you. Why do you think people are running those exact three classes for PoTD solo? And they're even better in group play. 

 

You know you can hover over the status effects and see what exactly they do?

[Katarack21]

 

 

Over-engineered the combat mechanic. This wasn't a promise but w/e. There is a dozen combat conditions, each boasting 4-5 effects no one can memorize.

 

 

What? You mean *you* can't memorize. The system isn't that complex and is really only there if you want to go that deep. Using and manipulating that knowledge (along with the various buffs, debuffs, damage types, etc.) will make the game easier but isn't needed to play or to win.

It's the very definition of optional depth. Reading that line comes across as you complaining because you can't understand it and therefore expect that nobody else can, either.

[Luj1]

 

I'm sorry, perhaps I was not clear - entirely my fault. Let me clarify: what promises has Josh Sawyer Broken?

 

 

The first two off my list