Solo Content

Share an idea or post some constructive criticism for the server.
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Khaela Mensha Khaine
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Solo Content

Postby Khaela Mensha Khaine » Wed Apr 05, 2017 8:31 am

Without too much of a preface to this, I'd like to get the opinions of the playerbase on solo content. It's my belief that most would like it in some form or another, and that it would help motivate people to log in of their own accord and not just when they see those brave souls who log in alone and get the ball rolling.

So, this is your opportunity to speak up about solo content. What you would like or prefer to see, the rewards you might expect from it, and if there was just one thing that could be added to the server in terms of solo content, what you would choose.
The team has talked about it, and suggestions have been made, however the more voices, opinions, viewpoints and creative ideas are brought in, the better the team has of assessing what would not only offer more fun but would assist in perhaps bringing new players into the fold.

I should point out that this is no promise that anything will be done, nor is this a post that was initiated by the team as a whole. However, it should generate discussion for the team about what could possibly be implemented. Simple ideas may be more realistic to implement in the near future, more complicated ideas less so.

Make as many suggestions as you like, and of course let's keep the discussion civil and amicable.

Ostheim
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Re: Solo Content

Postby Ostheim » Wed Apr 05, 2017 12:37 pm

Lots of ideas coming, so strap in.

The easiest thing I can think of is for rangers primarily; gathering supplies such as meat, wood, and pelts during their hunting and gathering. Placeables that act as gathering points for foraged materials such as timber, berries and plants would have to be sprinkled about the forest and wild areas, and this would give incentive to shoot all those beautiful furry critters we constantly see spitefully vanishing. Those pricks. Anyway, this could provide both modest amounts of coin (preferably of a better amount than provided by the @work system...) and a bit of XP for each thing provided. Maybe easy things such as foraged berries could be worth less than, say, a bear's pelt.

Martials (fighters, paladins, barbs) are trickier, as they lack stealth options for the most part if they get in over their heads. Hunting monsters witcher style for coin and XP could still potentially work for them, though, and while it can be done solo, such a system could easily accommodate multiple characters to take down the baddest monsters... for reduced pay, of course, per head. Naturally these monsters would have to be new mobs, so that you wouldn't just run a bog standard dungeon to get extra coin and experience. I've seen this system of bounty monsters (and NPCs) work well on other servers, though those will always require multiple characters to reliably take down. A sliding scale of toughness to allow for some solo content would be best, here.

Adding NPCs that give out bounties for escaped criminals would also be ideal for this. A bounty system would encompass the easiest and most inclusive alternative to dungeon content, as it can accommodate both parties and solo characters who are willing to take a risk for a bigger reward. Martial classes are just better at that, soloing such content, than any other class.

I think if NPCs were added to various taverns around the server, such as in Filur, Vlasta and Sarshel, these could be made to accommodate bard characters that are looking to play for a night or something. Not exactly riveting, tense stuff, but it does play to their chosen strength, and it'd be a more lucrative option than relying on @work. We could even roll this into a sort of automatic @note or @rep system that sends out a message every time a bard does this, so DMs can react accordingly if a bard shows up in Vlasta after playing there a few nights in a row. This system would need to be time-based, so as not to be spammable. Maybe a max of two 'nights' (in total, in any combination of taverns across the server) per reset, or some other time based thing.

Rogues are weird here, and due to the fact that they can be so diverse, it's hard to narrow down the best catch-all solo content idea for them. On other servers, I've seen things like Bilby's trap maze on EFU that forces the rogue to navigate a trapped warehouse, finding dummies that force a skill check that a rogue is liable to have in order to collect gems, the amount of which you collect dictating your reward at the end. As this is a strictly gamey thing (though it worked in EFU's context), this probably wouldn't work out on TER.

Other ideas include basic breaking and entering zones (randomized, maybe) that could hold hostile or unfriendly NPCs that the rogue needs to sneak around in order to engage in some wholesome larceny. Accommodating thief-oriented PCs has always been a dream of mine in such a way, and it's something I've rarely seen done on an actual server. The only issue is, again, rogues are very diverse, and some wouldn't or couldn't engage in this sort of thing.

And then there's mages, which I'm frankly sort of stumped on, as the phrase 'solo mage on a level 8 max server' isn't a string of words I generally want to read. Something that plays to their potentially wide breadth of knowledge might be a better solution; trips to Songhall to research magic, perhaps, could give them a reliably safe way to get a spell crystal of random quality. Songhall in itself should generally be the place where lore-oriented PCs come to do something similar to my bard idea, though it's hard to justify them getting paid for this monetarily. XP, sure, but not money.

Unless we let such PCs put on lectures and such, thus giving Songhall's long neglected lecturing halls have a purpose. The knowledge requirement could shift every reset or so, so someone like Wynna wouldn't always be dominating in that field. So long as the PC has A) positive charisma (you wouldn't want someone like Aryen running a class about nature, for example, poor guy) and B) at least 4 ranks in the given knowledge skill (possible from even level 1), they can get an amount of XP and coin based off how well they roll on a subsequent forced check. This would accommodate a wide variety of PCs, not just certain scholarly rogues and wizards with too much knowledge arcana. Again, my idea about a forced @rep or @note message would also apply here.

No idea what monks would do. Be zen, I guess? They work best in groups that cover their weaknesses, which are more obvious than say a fighter's lack of trap perception. Monks would need some brain storming to figure something out, as they're liable to have a wide variety of philosophies, religious faith, and even fighting styles.

Speaking of faith, priests would obviously need something that plays to their potential for proselytizing to the masses. Similar to bards and traveling knowledge-monkeys, they should be compelled to travel about the server to preach the good word. This is tricky on TER, however, given the Triad's preeminence in Impiltur. If there was ever a time for other faiths muscling in, though, it's probably now. Rather than making money, also, priests would work the opposite; they should be tithing to their churches in exchange for benefits, which should be brainstormed. Most of these benefits should be RP-related, but to take the load off DMs, something item-based might be considered. Improved holy symbols, maybe?

Finally, druids should also have the incentive to travel about the wilderness in search of places of power that they would need to defend from monsters. I've seen a system on other servers (COA, EFU) where druids would claim areas as their domain, which would give them a certain amount of influence and power. There's a wide variety of benefits this could have on TER, ranging from better knowledge of the surrounding area, passive buffs when in your claimed domain, being able to boss around other druids and horrible city-dwellers when they pass through, etc.

Of course, such places shouldn't just be free buffs; they should be preyed upon by monsters and other baddies. Upkeep of these areas, these circles of power that a druid claims, should be necessary, and would primarily be the means through which a druid gets XP in successful defense of their domain. Similar to priests, druids might be afforded an item or two that would scale in strength depending on how good of a druid they've been, and how active they've been in ridding the lands of corruption.

This would also, finally, perhaps allow for some conflict to brew up between druids as they butt heads over the best lands to lord over.

As an aside to all of this, all of this content should be locked depending on what class is the most dominant for any given PC. A multi-classing rogue who takes a bard level or two shouldn't be able to go from tavern to tavern like a pure one does. All solo content should be a reflection of their primary class. I'll also note, that for the purposes of things where I've mentioned @rep and @notes, such as for bards, priests, and mages and the like, that they should be required to actually roleplay and type things out when they go and do these things. We shouldn't cultivate an environment where you just cynically run from NPC to NPC to get your free experience and money. When you actually talk to your NPC of choice and get your reward or whatever, roleplaying out what your lecture is about, what your performance is about, or what your sermon is about should be the most important part, and the best ammunition that DMs can ask for.

Anyway, there's a bunch of ideas, feel free to digest and spitball.
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Brindisium
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Re: Solo Content

Postby Brindisium » Wed Apr 05, 2017 4:42 pm

Interesting subject KMK - and suggestions Ostheim :)

I did once wonder if the @work system (or some other solo content) could be setup to provide skill bonuses instead of xp. Or perhaps as well as xp, I don't know. The bonuses could build up to be quite significant with repeated @work (or the some of the activities Ostheim suggested) but also expire after a while.
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Feronius
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Re: Solo Content

Postby Feronius » Mon Apr 17, 2017 10:23 am

I would welcome it. Especially for servers with a small playerbase, some form of solo content is a great way to kill time when there are no other players around or online. It encourages players to log in and stay online more, even when other players and parties are scarce.

Of course the gain from solo content, in whatever shape or form, should always be (far) inferior to the rewards from group efforts.

At the moment the only solo content seems to be exploring, which can only be done once. And a select few 'baby dungeons' (excellent way to describe them by the way), but those only keep you entertained for a few hours at best and then go on cooldown for a week.
I personally would not put the @work feature under solo content, because it still needs other players for it to really work. Otherwise you are basically writing to yourself, with exception of the off chance a DM happens to be watching. A great server feature nonetheless.
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Kerstman
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Re: Solo Content

Postby Kerstman » Mon Apr 17, 2017 11:42 am

Reaching level 2 without getting in trouble is easy thanks to the exploration xp. However, this only really goes for those players who know the layout of the server relatively well and know where not to wander off to. There are some baby dungeons, but a few more could be nice. Perhaps also the stuff that can be solo'd by a class without much combat affinity at the lower levels. I am thinking of wizards, sorcerors, bards and possibly rogues.

When levels are gained I find that there is plenty of soloable content regardless of class. However, I also like Ostheim's suggestions. The only 'issue' I see with it is that it'll take the team quite some efforts to implement while E8 and more is also still in the works.

Something I'd like to see removed is a xp / loot reward cap linked to level. With that I mean is that there are lowbie dungeons that shall stop netting any loot or xp gain worth mentioning when levels are gained. However, in my experience some of those are still very tough even at level 6+, but they shall provide a fraction of the reward of a small place with some kobolds in it. Obviously these dungeons should always be more rewarding for lowbies, but xp drops of 10-20 rather than 1-2 and a little more loot will help a lot.
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Danuvis
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Re: Solo Content

Postby Danuvis » Mon Apr 17, 2017 12:57 pm

I don't have much to add in the way of suggestions, unfortunately, but I do echo the sentiment that the server could only stand to benefit from solo content; I'd most definitely want to see some form of it implemented, if not several, not only for our sakes, but also for new players who are inevitably going to suffer for the lack of other low level characters as well as due to the general struggle of it.

A crafting system and quests of sorts are what come to mind in regards to potential candidates, but I imagine the former is far too demanding a project in tandem with everything else the server has lined up. I'm sure someone with more mechanical and coding panache could come up with something doable.

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Penegal
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Re: Solo Content

Postby Penegal » Mon Apr 17, 2017 2:36 pm

I would like to see a line of new consumables, such as plants and flowers that have special properties. They can range from medicinal to special effects, much like potions. Sources for these plants can be found in the wild, way out of the normal path, and would require some specific skills to spot, identify, and successfully harvest. This offers something new for people to do and an alternative to potions without displacing either.

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Poisonous
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Re: Solo Content

Postby Poisonous » Mon Apr 17, 2017 4:02 pm

I'm all for these ideas.
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