MMOs with a strong emphasis on story typically do not try to tell that story in a group instance. Those who tried it quickly realize that it simply doesn't work because most players will just want to finish the instance for the rewards and have no time for players who want to actually experience the story -- talking to NPCs, exploring for easter eggs, watching scripted scenes and cutscenes, etcetera.
Major MMO's that have adapted their story telling are Final Fantasy XIV and Star Wars The Old Republic. In particular, we see how FFXIV's early story missions tried to lock the group into watching (long) cutscenes and offer rewards for playing it out, but players still find a way to sabotage that and move things along, at the expense of new players who are trying to experience it for the first time. So very quickly they moved away from this model, and rightly so because clearly they understand their player base play patterns.
Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) has failed to adapt their dungeons to the reality of player base play patterns. But without re-scripting their existing dungeons, there is a way to simulate a Solo Story mode for most (not all) dungeons.
"Solo Story Status" buff
Qualifying conditions
Dungeons that need additional work for a solo mode
No loot adjustment
"Solo Story Status" buff ("Solo Buff")
Instead of making a specific "solo story mode" for every existing dungeon, we can instead apply a generous optional buff to players who are entering a dungeon solo. This buff simulates a single player having to do the work of four and having to handle all roles of Tank, Healer, and Damage Dealer.
The buffs are:
Qualifying conditions
The Solo Buff is applied when a player enters a dungeon alone.
Dungeons that need additional work for a solo mode
Some dungeons have environmental mechanics that cannot be solved by this blanket solution. For example in the Imperial City Prison, separate players must pull levers set far apart at almost the same time. Simple additional work would have to be done (e.g., completely remove a piece of terrain that blocks access to the next area), but as most of the dungeons would be covered by the Solo Buff, this can be put off for later.
No loot adjustment
Despite the generous buffs, there is NO loot adjustment. This is because in a regular dungeon run, all four players get their own loot. This is "100%" of the available loot.
Right now, a player who solos a dungeon still only gets their share of loot. Therefore even though they did the work of an entire 4-team, they are getting only 25% of the available loot.
In a solo mode run, we are buffing the player to complete the dungeon alone but still with the same difficulty as a 4-person run. So they should get their normal share of the loot, meaning 25%.
Major MMO's that have adapted their story telling are Final Fantasy XIV and Star Wars The Old Republic. In particular, we see how FFXIV's early story missions tried to lock the group into watching (long) cutscenes and offer rewards for playing it out, but players still find a way to sabotage that and move things along, at the expense of new players who are trying to experience it for the first time. So very quickly they moved away from this model, and rightly so because clearly they understand their player base play patterns.
Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) has failed to adapt their dungeons to the reality of player base play patterns. But without re-scripting their existing dungeons, there is a way to simulate a Solo Story mode for most (not all) dungeons.
"Solo Story Status" buff
Qualifying conditions
Dungeons that need additional work for a solo mode
No loot adjustment
"Solo Story Status" buff ("Solo Buff")
Instead of making a specific "solo story mode" for every existing dungeon, we can instead apply a generous optional buff to players who are entering a dungeon solo. This buff simulates a single player having to do the work of four and having to handle all roles of Tank, Healer, and Damage Dealer.
The buffs are:
- Maximum possible Attribute Points for all of Health, Magicka, and Stamina
- A level 50 character normally allocates a total of 64 points across Health, Magicka, and Stamina. One of the problem for Tanks trying to do story content is they typically allocate most of their points into Health, resulting in very little damage output.
- The Solo Buff would grant the character the maximum possible allocation for all three attributes. So a level 50 character would have 64 Attribute Points to Health and Magicka and Stamina.
- Take only half damage from all sources, including monsters and environment
- Deal double damage
- Immune to all Crowd Control effects
- This is critical because in many dungeons, there are Crowd Control effects that the player cannot escape from themselves, and normally require another player to release them. Obviously when doing a dungeon Solo, there is no other player available.
With the Solo Buff, the overall difficulty of the run should feel like doing the dungeon with a full team of 4 players in the roles of one Tank, one Healer, and two Damage Dealers.
Qualifying conditions
The Solo Buff is applied when a player enters a dungeon alone.
- If they leave for any reason, the buff is removed.
- If they join a group for any reason, the buff is removed.
- A player can manually remove the buff by right-clicking it in their Character profile window, like any other non-permanent buff.
Dungeons that need additional work for a solo mode
Some dungeons have environmental mechanics that cannot be solved by this blanket solution. For example in the Imperial City Prison, separate players must pull levers set far apart at almost the same time. Simple additional work would have to be done (e.g., completely remove a piece of terrain that blocks access to the next area), but as most of the dungeons would be covered by the Solo Buff, this can be put off for later.
No loot adjustment
Despite the generous buffs, there is NO loot adjustment. This is because in a regular dungeon run, all four players get their own loot. This is "100%" of the available loot.
Right now, a player who solos a dungeon still only gets their share of loot. Therefore even though they did the work of an entire 4-team, they are getting only 25% of the available loot.
In a solo mode run, we are buffing the player to complete the dungeon alone but still with the same difficulty as a 4-person run. So they should get their normal share of the loot, meaning 25%.
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