Over the years I’ve had many intensely exciting moments while playing MMOs. The majority of those moments where in the company of others doing group content. Highly scripted instanced content is for the most part, designed for group consumption. I include PVP adventures in this category even though they certainly aren’t scripted but because much of the excitement takes place during the mass clash of wills. While one-on-one heroic encounters do happen in PVP, in my experiences, it doesn’t happen very often.
The more vocal members of the zany, “I solo MMOs” club, have asked about solo or at least duo designed encounters without much success. Age of Conan’s Destiny Quest was the first explicitly solo content I encountered in MMOs. I think Destiny Quests are a shining part of AOC's design but in comparison, they represent a small part of the overall content.
Wizard101 (W101) is not different in having designed its instanced content for groups. However, where W101 varies greatly from other MMOs, is that the group size they had in mind seems to be much smaller – trio size seems to be critical mass for most encounters. It makes sense that a game targeting children would take into consideration, the difficulty in them managing large groups and maintaining attentions spans long enough to complete instanced encounters. In fact, that being the case, I’m really surprised at how many instances there are in W101. More importantly, like attunements in World of Warcraft, this content must be completed to progress. Unlike WOW, where it’s optional raid content, it’s pretty much required content in W101. You can't freely access the next world's content to progress without completing these quest chains that include the instanced content.
Back on point... For the above reasons, I believe KingsIsle kept the “designed for group size” very small in W101, which opens up the opportunity to solo these encounters. The instanced content is easily managed with three people. It’s difficult with two. It becomes E-P-I-C when soloed. I mean epic on the scale of soloing Molten Core or Onyxia when the WOW level cap was 60. The probability of failure is extremely high and the consequences of failure dire. If you die, you are ported out of the instance and the whole thing resets. EVERYTHING is reset – every boss is resurrected, all the trash mobs return, puzzles un-done, chambers relocked and you cannot reach the boss without re-doing everything all over. When an instance takes two or more hours to complete depending on how many people were in your group, failing to the point of a reset, is devastating.
When I get to the point of having to complete an instance, especially one that is a cock-block to the next content world, I know that I’m looking at two to three hours of continuous play, where my mistakes are amplified and bad luck feels catastrophic. I know not to start that journey until I can give it my full and undivided attention. While the cost of failure is hugely inconvenient, the exhilaration of success is indescribable. The way your guild group felt went Rag went down or Illidan fled, is how I feel but with the added pride of having done it solo.
I started soloing out of convenience and temperament. Now in W101 I solo these things to see if I can. I’m testing the question of how far I can go soloing instanced content. I don’t mind if I try and find out that it just can’t be done alone at the appropriate level range, like Sunken City. I don’t mind enlisting the aide of friends when I reach that juncture. Tipa from West Karana had to help me do Sunken City, and even with two it was a struggle. This was content I could have skipped. It didn't unlock a new zone. Completing this instance was a personal choice. I wanted to complete my quest log and unlock the title, Sunken City Savior, which I did with her help.
I believe that other solo players would love opportunities to experience scripted and instanced encounters on their own too. I hope other games start adding a larger percentage of this content designed as trio or duo encounters, both of which open the door to someone attempting it solo.
My most recent encounter – which inspired this post, was soloing Katz Laboratory in Marleybone. After receiving access to the instance, I delayed attempting it for a couple of days. I just didn’t have the time or the mindset for the battle ahead. I was more in the mood to farm some unique pets and got one in under an hour’s worth of farming, and I wanted to close all other straggler quests before starting the instance.
The whole sequence was a white-knuckle ride. On more than one occasion, I almost gave up and fled the instance. If you keep going you inevitably get to the, “I might as well keep going until I die,” decision. Until you cross over into the zone of having gotten so close, that to die now will be heartbreak. That’s when your palms start sweating, your hands start shaking and you second guess every move. Unlike the fast paced button mashing of real-time combat, turn based is like watching a slow motion replay. You see every one of your actions play out and the result in high detail. None of that, it happened so fast you didn’t know what hit you stuff – you’re gonna see it coming in graphic detail.
Given the content reuse treadmill and grind the popular MMOs use to stretch content, I see no reason why duo encounters aren’t being created. It’s a few more dungeons and those dungeons don’t require new assets. Similar to the difficulty settings that Blizzard is slowly incorporating into World of Warcraft, you can use the same functionality to identify the number of players entering the instance and change the loot tables accordingly.
I think implementing solo instances is long over due, especially in games with wonderful scripted encounters. Most if not all, MMO developers are now trying to accommodate solo play in leveling progression. Solo players in MMOs isn’t a fad, it’s an increasingly growing trend. In fact, it’s time to redefine what Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing means. For millions of players, it DOES NOT mean group play. It means being in a world with massive amounts of people and electing to SOMETIMES engage in group play. So while you’re looking at making it convenient to level solo, it would be great if you start adding a few solo instances here and there. You can judge the success and popularity for yourselves. I predict they’ll be a huge success.
Wizard101 has lots of content and like Warhammer Online’s keeps, most of the assets reuse the same interiors within the same zone. I don’t find that at all off-putting. Sure it would be great if they were all unique but since the mobs are different, I’m fine with it. My point being, that adding solo content doesn’t actually mean developing new assets at all. People are already doing the same instances over and over, just implement a way to specify the party size and we’re set.
For people who’d say go play a RPG I’d say, “Give me a break,” it’s not nearly the same. There’s no economy. Crafting is pointless and uninspiring without real customers. The world is static without the unpredictable and ever changing element of other “real” players. It just can’t be compared. A love for MMOs can’t be satiated with a RPG unless you happen to enjoy playing RPGs. I don’t. Hardcore or old time MMO players might not like the idea but solo instances are coming. It's inevitable that they will be added right along side all the solo-friendly leveling content. And since I'm sure it's bound to happen in the long run, I'd just as soon have it now rather than later please. *Smile*
My adventure in soloing Katzenstein's Lab: Detailed post | Pictorial highlights
