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Role Playing (Games) Games

World of Warcraft Will Now Let Players Do Solo Raids (arstechnica.com) 56

Posted by BeauHD from the solo-friendly dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: After 20 years, it's now possible for solo players to finish storylines in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft that previously required a group to do an intensive raid. That's thanks to "Story Mode," a new raid difficulty that was added for the final wing of the first raid of the recently released The War Within expansion. Over the years, developer Blizzard has expanded the difficulty options for raids to meet various players and communities where they are in terms of play styles. The top difficulty is Mythic, where the semi-pro hardcore guilds compete. Below that is Heroic, where serious, capital-G gamers coordinate with friends in weekly raid schedules to progress. Then there's Normal, which still requires some coordination but isn't nearly as challenging and can typically be completed within a few tries by a pick-up group. The most accessible difficulty is Raid Finder, where you're matched with random players automatically to complete a vastly easier version of a raid. Now Story Mode has been added to the mix, and it's even easier than Raid Finder.

In Story Mode, you fight only the raid's final boss, which has been scaled back in stats and complexity so that it's beatable for a single player or a very small group of friends. Challenging encounter mechanics have been removed, and the whole fight has been retooled to focus exclusively on the narrative aspects. There are some rewards, but they're not the same as those on more difficult raids; the goal was to avoid cheapening the experience for those who do want to go all the way. So far, Story Mode is available exclusively for the newest raid, which is called Nerub-ar Palace. It hasn't been made available for other encounters yet, but Blizzard has hinted that this could be the long-term goal.
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World of Warcraft Will Now Let Players Do Solo Raids More

World of Warcraft Will Now Let Players Do Solo Raids

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  • Still collecting 20 bear asses (Score:3)

    by Zarhan ( 415465 ) on Friday September 20, 2024 @08:16AM (#64802513)

    I played quite heavily through the first three expansions or so, and went on a hiatus for the Pandaren. Then came back for the next two, but ever since then...whenever I have tried to get back into the game, I'm always miffed after the Grind with collecting 20 bear asses begins. Especially from the special species of assless bears.

    Yes, they have done lots of improvements over the years to get rid of most of the annoyances (like the drop rate issue), but whenever a new expansion lands and I pay for one month of playtime, I just have gotten bored so damn fast that haven't bothered. Happened with Battle of Azeroth, Shadowlands, and Dragonflight.

    At least I'm glad that my guild is still around.

    • Shadowlands time and grind gates got too much for me

    • Re:Still collecting 20 bear asses (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Brain-Fu ( 1274756 ) on Friday September 20, 2024 @09:45AM (#64802773) Homepage Journal

      World of Warcraft is one of the most expensive video games on the market. You must pay to buy it, pay for each expansion, pay 15 bucks a month to play it, and on top of all that there are optional things you must pay even more money to buy in the game.

      Of course, they get away with this by virtue of being one of the most popular games on the market. The king of its genre. Despite many criticisms of its formula, they are clearly doing something right, at least from a business perspective.

      Personally, I prefer Guild Wars 2. Also a MMO, but with a much more engaging combat system, much more available to solo and group players alike, a HUGE storyline built up over many years of expansions, no monthly fees, (you need to pay for each expansion that you want to play through, for 30 bucks a pop or less when on sale), and the option to grind to earn the ability to buy in-game extras if you don't want to shell out more cash for them.

      Guild Wars 2 really should have been the WoW killer. I don't know if they simply fail on the marketing front, or if the greater engagement of the combat system is a bit of a put-off for players who like to settle in to a simple combat role and just do that repetitiously. Or maybe something else I am not thinking of.

      • I quit it when I realized every expansion is just a reset with the same exact grind repeated every time. "Oh boy, they replaced elves with leprechauns, now they are replaced with lemurs..."

        • 1. Take an existing combat, race, class, weapon, armor, spell, creature, boss system
          2. Change the artwork, sound and textual descriptions
          3. Release a whole new game every other year with the exact same underlying stats
          4. Profit

          No, consider an expansion pack
          1. Same
          2. Same
          3. Add one or two new 'features' which are a combination of 2 long existing features
          4. Release the expansions every year
          5. Profit

          Mindlessly grinding to get max level race/class/profession over and over for each combination of race/class/prof

      • and on top of all that there are optional things you must pay even more money to buy in the game.

        The game must be purchased as well as a subscription but I am not sure about optional things that must be purchased.

        • There is nothing that you 'need' to buy other than access. I've played too long, but only on very rare occasions have I purchased anything else. And you can even pay for the monthly fee with in game currency if you're good at farming/earning that (though the expansions will still always cost IRL money).

          The extras are all (that I've seen) cosmetics with little or no function in game except 'looking cool'. Mounts, pets, outfits, things like that. They're not cheap, but they're not at all needed or even he

      • When it comes to MMOs, I think the glory days are behind us ... which is why "classic" (ie. fan-made emulated re-creations) MMO servers are where it's at.

        If you want to play WoW you can do so for free (albeit without the latest expansions) on many different servers, such as Whitemane (PvP) or Mankrik (PvE). Each has thousands of players.

        But personally I'd recommend going back even farther, to the real classics like EverQuest (check out the Project 1999 server, which brings back the game as it was from 1999

      • Yeah, Blizzard double dipping for WoW is pretty obnoxious. I don't know how Blizzard shills tolerate it.

        +1 on Guild Wars 2 to everything you said. I would also add the dynamic events are amazing! The "Hero Point Trains" are just an example of the community being great.

        > Guild Wars 2 really should have been the WoW killer.

        It failed to overtake WoW for quite a few reasons:

        1. WoW's low-poly toon art style had universal appeal. While GW2 artwork is beautiful the stylistic GW2 water painting wasn't for e

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by msk ( 6205 )

        In 2021, I stopped paying for WoW, and basically took a year-long break from MMOs. Like others, I'd grown tired of Blizzard resetting the grind back to zero with each expansion.

        I picked up Guild Wars 2 in late 2022, after successfully getting it running under emulation on both macOS and Linux. I also prefer GW2 now.

        I was a WoW subscriber for most of 16 years. If they want me back that much, they'll drop the subscription fee.

      • World of Warcraft is one of the most expensive video games on the market. You must pay to buy it, pay for each expansion, pay 15 bucks a month to play it, and on top of all that there are optional things you must pay even more money to buy in the game.

        In other words, this is why twenty years after launch it is still updated, still supported, and still played.

      • I'm in lord of the rings online for 16 years, but with a lifetime account. Which is sort of like having golden handcuffs. If I was playing the normal $10 a month I'd have dropped it ages ago, or dropped to the free to play account just to occasionally connect with friends there. The main thing that saves it, other then LotR, is the non-toxic chill fanbase than you normally see in MMOs.

      • Yeah my issue (I haven't played in probably 12 years now - since Cataclysm) was that I was in a guild that did raids. I could kinda find the time for the actual raiding (though it was difficult), but the required equipment repairs, potions, etc meant that I had to grind in the game pointless quests over and over just to generate in-game revenue . . . to cover the in-game cost of a game that I was already paying $15 per month to play.

        Honestly equipment damage shouldn't have been a thing (might not be anymor

    • I used to do this when I was briefly there, just by being higher level. Just go back to a mid level raid to see what happens in that instance you never managed to get a group for. Really only works though on instances that don't require complex dance moves (pull these three levers at the same time).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      I was playing WoW since its public beta until before its Burning Crusade expansion came out. The game was too grindy and expensive since I rarely played it. I don't have time to grind in virtual lives since I grind a lot IRL. :P

  • a brand new gaming experience we call it boutique mode, it provides every single player a unique experience, all by themselves.

  • Very wise decision (Score:3, Informative)

    by CEC-P ( 10248912 ) on Friday September 20, 2024 @08:37AM (#64802567)
    Pokemon Go's new dynamax system is oriented towards solo play as well. Game makers are losing money left and right to anyone with irregular work hours, on-call status, or a family because they can't schedule precise time to for-sure be online and available. It starts to feel like just another responsibility or job. The get in, play, get out, no pressure from others group of players is HUGE and has some serious money as well. This is a smart business decision!
    • that is exactly my usecase, I get in when I feel like it/have time and then play until I feel like leaving/have something I need to attend to. That's why I have never played this game prior, because it always seemed to require guild play

    • Those idiots made shadow raids in person only so only organized groups ever do the ones beyond the soloable levels. Half of the gyms seem to be clogged up with these damn group shadow raids. The dynamax raids seemed to be soloable until beldum so back to hoping you run into a group by luck.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by CEC-P ( 10248912 )
        I tether to my old phone and run 2 accounts. I don't care if it's against the rules. Their rules suck. I can beat all but about 3 raids.

  • So, doing single player is cheap and not going all the way?

    With an attitude like that, why would I be interested in playing at all?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sinij ( 911942 )
      WoW used to be a MMORPG, the entire point is to play with other people.
      • The problem these days is finding other people to play with, especially people who can play at the same time. And they usually need to be your friends because playing with that "random teenager on the internet" is just asking for trouble.

        • Hah, when I was there one of my characters was an Undead female. Ie, no lower jaw, no knees, etc. One random teenager from the internet I grouped with said "I bet you're hot in real life!" :-)

      • Whole reason I quit the game years ago. The game is playable as a solo player in a world filled with other people UNTIL you hit the endgame. Then it suddenly becomes about politics, social standing, nepotism, schedules, responsibilities, team projects, and trying to get promoted / not screwed over. That's not how I want to spend my free time.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by sinij ( 911942 )

          Then it suddenly becomes about politics, social standing, nepotism, schedules, responsibilities, team projects, and trying to get promoted / not screwed over. That's not how I want to spend my free time.

          Correct. I don't play poker, because I don't like gambling aspect of it, but it shouldn't be turned into solitaire.

    • Re: Excuse me? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by brunes69 ( 86786 ) <slashdot@keirstead . o rg> on Friday September 20, 2024 @10:28AM (#64802903)

      Lots of people hate the MM in MMORPG. All I want is the RPG, I have zero interest in playing a game with internet strangers. By doing this, Blizzard is expanding their audience.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by vanyel ( 28049 )

        Yup, I basically stopped playing WOW because I could only go so far solo; I may consider playing it again now

        • Last time I played (Battle for Azeroth) I had more fun solo grinding old dungeons and raids for mounts and transmog appearances and doing the pet battles than I ever had by doing actual group raiding... like, it wasn't even close.

          I liked collecting appearances. I liked the random nature of it - run a dungeon, hope that the mount or the item with the appearance you've been after finally drops. I liked optimising my strategies for running them solo, getting faster in each run.

          The only bummer was the mandatory

    • yep, fortunately it seems in many places they aren't making as many of them as they used to... Though I am sure they are still practicing to...

    • Nothing like being screamed at by an antisocial kid because you weren't born knowing a boss fight and you dared to make a mistake.

      • The social aspect is cool until you run into people who have no social graces. For example, I was in a WoW once where there are daily area quests like "Kill 15 Void Bears". How it works is everyone who moves into that area automatically gets the quest. They can ignore the quest or just leave the area without doing the quest. Players from different classes and factions would just collaborate in that kind of quest by gathering the bears together and collectively killing a group of them at once. It makes compl

        • Quite possibly a legit gripe, actually.

          While what you're talking about happens all the time, equally often, someone will do something called "training mobs." This is where they hit the mob once, then run it to someone else, who then picks up aggro, (and thus, the mob attacking the second person,) and then run off, leaving the second person to deal with the mob.

          People do this because as long as they've tagged the mob, they'll get credit when the mob dies. It's sleazy, because you'll have a person running aro

          • While what you're talking about happens all the time, equally often, someone will do something called "training mobs." This is where they hit the mob once, then run it to someone else, who then picks up aggro, (and thus, the mob attacking the second person,) and then run off, leaving the second person to deal with the mob.

            Except for the part where I described bring mobs to him and killing them with him? As well as everyone else in the area doing the exact kind of collaboration?

            • I wasn't saying you, personally, had ill-intent or were doing anything wrong.

              But when, 9 times out of 10, someone is getting mobs trained on them by some speed runner, it's pretty understandable for that person to assume you're doing the same.

  • Leeroy Jenkins (Score:5, Funny)

    by necro81 ( 917438 ) on Friday September 20, 2024 @09:20AM (#64802697) Journal
    Leeroy Jenkins [youtube.com] will finally not be able to ruin anyone's carefully laid strategy by charging in.

    • To offer a little context, the "plan" that the team was discussing wasn't just doomed, it was a farce. That specific room requires a lot of knowledge and coordination to beat, and there are several mistakes which, if made by even one player, results in the full party getting wiped out. Their plan was to deliberately make each of those mistakes.

      So the irony is that Leeroy didn't actually ruin anything, despite the fact that what he did would, under any other circumstance, ruin everything.

    • I won't miss the Onyxia wipes [youtube.com] =P

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by drnb ( 2434720 )

      Leeroy Jenkins will finally not be able to ruin anyone's carefully laid strategy by charging in.

      Will Leroy, solo, without numerous healers standing behind him, still charge in? I think all those healers were enablers.

  • Runescape has had story mode (actually called this) in quest lines for people to introduce them to a boss fight and let them finish the quest for a while now. Damage to the player is usually reduced and hp on the boss also reduced. Most bosses are soloable anyway.

  • The had the biggest and most successful game ever and decided to destroy it bit by bit. In a game very much about collecting things, they made often the best collectables purchasable by currency, and only purchasable via currency - boom half their user base gone purely from that. Then they decided they would do a weird rotation of class strength, where a single class is overpowered for 6 months or longer, then turns to garbage. Then they made the same collectables/armor/weapons available from smaller 10 per

  • Galaxies did this 20 years ago. Congrats on WoW for finally catching up.

  • WoW's end game content is already some of the most boring and easiest shit. Mythic wasn't even difficult and there are no such things as "semi-pro hardcore guilds".

  • I did this the other night.

    You pick up the quest, run into the instance on Story Mode, kill the last boss, who's scaled and running with reduced mechanics, and run out. All you get is credit for finishing the quest.

    It's a nice way to get that quest out of your log if you don't have the desire to deal with the kind of people who run LFR and don't have the time to be in a full time raiding guild. That's it. The value of actual raiding is in no way damaged by this.

  • Played for 16 years.
    I just got tired of it. Switched to D4 when it came out. I thought the grind was unbearable.

    Quit everything.

    Blizzard nerfed D4 a few weeks after. I still have not been back. Wonâ(TM)t be either.

  • PVP (Score:2)

    by armada ( 553343 )
    Cata classic World PvP is where it is at. The real fun is extorting farmers and boosters by destroying them and then taking their bribes to let them earn. Then you escalate after you develop some relationships to being paid to eliminate their competition. To me, WOW is a great MAFIA simulator with real players and real money. GTA has nothing on WOW. People grinding NPCs are missing out on the real fun.

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