Solo'd to level 80... confused as to why some people say its hard.

[Lucread]

I guess that really says it all, doesn't it?

Let me clarify, I have mostly only played solo since I got the game.. I am a part of an extremely active guild, but for the most part, I've just been trying to level myself so I could join in some of the stuff they do at higher levels, however, there have been three points when I was in a party.

The first was when I first arrived in the Fields of Ruin around level 34 and a guildmate asked if I wanted to go on an adventure, partied up, and proceeded to take me through an event chain, where I gained like 2 levels... the next was during a guild meeting, which doesn't really count since we weren't doing much of anything, but we did kill the alpha drake four or five times, since the event was right next to our meeting (not that the experience was remotely significant by that last kill, lol)... and the last time, I was level 61, and I teamed up with a couple guildmates to do AC... which we had to give up on when the pugs we got to fill out the group decided to leave (one before the first chest, and one after the second), so I only got 1 level from that.

But here's the thing... I've read countless statements on various boards where people say things like "The last ten levels of story missions can't really be solo'd," and "From 70-80 you'll have to group up anyway," or at least "You can't run around Orr alone." But I did... and it wasn't difficult.

Yes, Orr is infested with a ton of Risen that respawn quickly, but to get from point A to point B isn't all that hard if you look at the map to find a path, and then run, fighting only when you have to (which isn't often)... and with the groups you're given in each mission, I can't imagine having a party would make it much easier at any given time. Granted, I did have some difficulty with the first level 80 mission, but that's because I didn't want to wait and ran it at level 79... and I beat it (it actually gave me my final level)... yeah I died a bunch of times, and my pre-80 gear was mostly shattered by the end, but I still beat it solo.

Really, the only difficulty I found was getting the daily Kill Variety since all Risen just count as Risen... but once I got everything else, I'd just warp back to Mount Whatsamacallit (the area before Fort Trinity and the first part of Orr) and get my Variety right quick... but that's entirely beside the bottom line, which is that this game can easily be solo'd from 1-80

So I don't get the criticism of Anet's claim to such.
I mean, could it just be because I'm a Guardian?

[bokiz333]

I think it depends on the profession. I solo'd to 80 and only grouped up to do the last story dungeon since you have to.

But, I didn't solo EVERYTHING in Orr to get 100% zone completion...some of them you have to fight champions to get the skill point with multiple mobs around...if you solo'd every single skill and everything possible in Orr then congrats to you man. I consider myself pretty good and I needed at least one more person there for at least 3 skill challenges along the way. And the final dungeon; if you do that solo, I am beyond impressed.

[Versoffen]

How many champions did you solo?

Yeah Guardians are bulletproof.

[Zorac]

On my mesmer I soloed everything in Orr, well minus the meta events that I jumped into (but I didn't party with anyone). As for those skillpoints where you have to get around a guy to get those are easy, stealth ftw. As for the couple of champions you had to fight for skill points, well not so much, but with the exception of another person showing up and helping randomly I pretty much did those solo too. And honestly the champions aren't difficult once you learn their movements and when to dodge they are a peice of cake, what was hard was when other mobs spawned nearby and you'd have to fight them too, yeah those killed more a few times

[Lucread]

I think it depends on the profession. I solo'd to 80 and only grouped up to do the last story dungeon since you have to.

Yeah Guardians are bulletproof.

On my mesmer I soloed everything in Orr

I guess the profession thing seems to be the biggest issue, then. Perhaps those complaining about the difficultly of making it in the last few areas for the last few levels alone are all in less defensible professions.

But, I didn't solo EVERYTHING in Orr to get 100% zone completion...some of them you have to fight champions to get the skill point with multiple mobs around...if you solo'd every single skill and everything possible in Orr then congrats to you man. I consider myself pretty good and I needed at least one more person there for at least 3 skill challenges along the way. And the final dungeon; if you do that solo, I am beyond impressed.

I haven't gotten 100% on any of the 3 Orr zones, yet (the first, where Fort Trinity is, is around 95%, the second is at like 70%, and the third is only at about 40% right now), but map completion isn't really what I was talking about.

How many champions did you solo?

Most of the Skill Challenges I've gotten have had no other players around... but actual roaming "event" Champions? I took one on mostly alone in the second Orr area (Malchor's Leap), with someone jumping in right a the end, which was admittedly fortunate as I fell to the "fight for your life" instance just after the dude showed up, so we were able to kill him before I actually got killed (which may or may not have happened otherwise, considering the Champion's life and the Guardian heal while downed abilities).

[Bogus Dude]

i don't think it relates to your profession as you hear complaints from people of all professions, its a skill thing. I know it sounds arrogant to say that but it is. Its not until you realise where your going wrong that you see it. Messing up aggro control, wasting AoE skills and defensive skills etc likely bad habbits brought in from previous hack n slash games where you just spam everything. I've done it all as Ranger where poor pet management is like fighting with one arm, pointless spamming trap skills when existing ones are still active leaving you short when attention switches from pet to you, throwing your foe out of AoE wasting it and messing up aggro causing it to come for you with your defensive skill and trap still on recharge when you should be saving them for when you need them. etc etc People just complain at the first sign of trouble and would likely remove their comments if they could further down the line once they've picked up a trick or two. I found the area before Orr much trickier to get around and complete.

[Cariad]

Yeah, on the whole I don't think it is too difficult to solo most of the content, besides dungeons, Grenth, some Champions and whatever else I am too lazy to think of. I would say the dragons but I actually solo'd Tequatl recently, lol. One thing I ran into earlier was a Veteran spider in um... I forget the area name. A skill point in an underground cave in one of the half green half snow 50-60 areas. I was tanking and kiting this beast for a good 20 minutes on my Exotics Warrior and it was hitting me real hard, like 2-3k and poisons. It had hella high hp, it really shouldn't be like that I think it is supposed to be a Champion not a vet.

Timberline Falls

[Tervet]

Soloing to 80 is not that hard.

I solo all the time and have 4 level 80s - ranger, Necro, Guardian and Warrior. Of course you play with others when there is an event and you all show up but I don't run around in a group.

I have yet to step into a dungeon and played very little WvW.

As far as getting 100% map completion solo - gave that up after my Ranger hit 80%. Too much like Mario for me - jumping to Vista's. Not my thing. So I have no idea if thats possible but if there are champions by some of the points then I would venture to say not a good bet. I see a Champion - I go around. LOL

[Vayne]

There's two different questions going on here, and they're being combined. You can't really solo Orr. Oh yes, you can survive solo in Orr. You can get experience in Orr and you can farm in Orr. But there are many events in Orr that can't be soloed. So if you like failing or ignoring events, that's fine.

Taking back contested waypoints for example. There's one area that could be soloed if it weren't for the multiple undead siege engines that knock you down and poison you. You not only have to rez engineers to rebuild pact siege weapons, but you have to keep them alive long enough to get the job done, while being bombarded by enemy siege. There are areas where you have to protect tanks or subs against armies of undead. Sure you can survive, but you can't protect everything by yourself. You can solo Orr, but you can't complete many events without groups.

Any profession can run Orr by itself, but some professions are more forgiving than others. Guardians are easy mode compared to others in Orr. Other professions have to use more specific builds or have to run away a lot more. That's because Guardians have a lot of damage mitigation.

I mean you can solo Orr as an ele quite easily but you'll die at the slightest mistake.

Orr was made to do as a group, because the whole POINT of Orr isnt' just leveling or surviving. It's keeping control of the temples so people can get to the last dungeon.

Do you realize if you want to buy obsidian shards for legendary weapons you have to own the Temple of Balthazar? Try taking that yourself.

It's one thing to walk around Orr and survive, it's another thing to claim it back for the Pact.

[jtook]

I mean you can solo Orr as an ele quite easily but you'll die at the slightest mistake.

My main being a human (incredibly sexy) staff ele', i felt the game really started to test me only when i got to Orr. I loved it, and still go down there for the odd node farm every now and again and try to aggro as many mobs as possible to see if i can survive them. A completely opposite experience was had by friends i'd met along the way, guards and warriors, who actually quit the game cause Orr was too hard.

Horses for courses, i guess!