Should a solo run be possible

[Erik-Dirk]

I'm sure this topic has come up before but it is something thats been bugging me. 

In pillars 1, why were people complaining about stun lock preventing a solo run? Shouldn't the issue really be that the game isn't challenging enough when using a party?

If it's possible to solo on the hardest setting I'd argue that the devs have failed to accommodate the most skilled players. If its possible with 3 perfectly complementing characters then fine but demanding mechanics that allow a solo run rather then a higher difficulty setting seems kind of absurd.

[Heijoushin]

Hmmm... I hear what you're saying. The difficulty and mechanics should primarily be aimed at party play. But if you want a game to have replayability, it's a good idea to accommodate a variety of playstyles.

 

Also, keep in mind that solo characters aren't necessary 6 times weaker than a party. They suck up all that EXP, so they should have some advantages in that they get advanced abilities earlier. 

[Jojobobo]

I wouldn't be playing Pillars if solo play wasn't viable, as I massively lean to playing games solo as a route for extra challenge, but you're right people shouldn't complain that the game doesn't cater for solo play - but I haven't heard anyone complaining about that in a long while. I think the difficulty is fine currently as it is, as for party play you can run greater risk-reward strategies than you can on solo play - in that way I think it's balanced as I don't believe most people want to be playing a game where to manage the highest difficulty every character has to be a tank.

 

The great equaliser as always is Trail of Iron. If PotD Expert with a party isn't enough of a challenge, then ToI helps to rebalance as you can't easily make a single mistake. Expert PotD is balanced because it's not intended to be the highest difficulty, Expert PotD ToI is - and I don't think many people would call that not difficult enough. If someone isn't happy about using ToI to up the difficulty in party play, then that seems more or less as arbitrary as a small number of solo players complaining about things being too difficult for them.

 

I also think it's important to appreciate that one person's difficulty preferences are not representative of the player base as a whole. The game is always going to be too easy for someone, even solo Expert PotD ToI Upscaled, but it would be wrong for a dev to market their difficulty settings at that 0.1% of their fanbase.

Edited December 19, 2017 by Jojobobo

[Belfaldurnik]

In pillars 1, why were people complaining about stun lock preventing a solo run?

 

Complaints like that have come from people, who didn't know better. No stun-locking prevents a solo run.

 

 

Also, keep in mind that solo characters aren't necessary 6 times weaker than a party. They suck up all that EXP, so they should have some advantages in that they get advanced abilities earlier. 

 

Solo characters only receive +50% of the XP compared with a full party. XP in this game are not divided by number of companions, but multiplied by number of companions and with an extra bonus of +10% per missing companion.

[Tigranes]

POE Solo is obviously possible with almost any (all?) class, which is a great point in its favour. 

 

Actually, I'd have liked it if I had an option to disable the increased XP gain - it was a bit too strong.

 

The stunlock thing was just a few players complaining, usually about a specific kobold in a specific map. Maybe that kobold should be there, maybe he shouldn't, *shrug* it really isn't a big deal. The kobold wasn't put there to prevent soloing and it didn't prevent anyone soloing.