Last night on The Jethal Silverwing Show, we has a discussion with Dellmon about how he feels there is too much solo content in RoK and not enough Heroic encounters in the overland areas. I had to disagree with him, up to a point.
I agree that there is a vast amount of solo quest through out RoK, but as you move through and into the higher level zones that changes. We did a quick down and dirty averaging of heroic quest to mostly solo ones in the Fens of Nathsar and came up with about 12% that were heroic in content.
Heroic quests are ones where you just can’t solo, you need either a few friends or a group. We included those which take place in the mines, which for the most part are not solo-able.
I know that as I moved into the Kunzar Jungle I have many more quests in my book which are marked heroic, though a good portion of them take place in Sebils, the rest are for City of Mist. I am just now working in the Jarsath Wastes, but I am sure I will more heroic type quests as I work through this area.
Personally I am enjoying the solo quest, though it does create a few minor problems. Since it seems everyone is moving through the content at their own pace, people that I know tend to be at different stages and coming together as a group to tackle this quest or that, you either have those who are not at that stage or are now past it. You lose that ” working together” good feeling when everyone is on the same page. It scatters my mind a bit trying to remember who needs what when we go hunting together. It just takes a bit more planning before making a trip through the zone to eliminate having doubling back or jump all over the place. Finding out that a person needs a type of mob only found at the start of a zone when everyone is at the other end is worth a groan or two.
At one point in the life of EQ2, it became impossible to progress further in the content without being in a group. It is not that I dislike grouping, I enjoy a good group. What I dislike is being forced into having to find a group or I don’t play. At least with the mix of solo/heroic quests, I can keep my eye out for a group while I go and do other things in the area.
So maybe if they had added more heroic content to Kylong Plains, making this starting area more of a challenge to his great ubar dwarf cleric, the Dellmon would have been happier person. Though I belive that if the Dellmon take a good look at the over all progression through the zones he would see that the amount of heroic content does increase. Maybe next time Dell, they will throw in a few extra heroic’s just for you!
