DEBATE: Solo-Farming

orick-rithmal

Academy Page

Join Date: Sep 2005

W/E

I dont think it is bad that monks can solo UW, you could put a solo monk up against something 100 times stronger than an aataxe, and it couldnt kill it, people just solo UW becaus of best drops

Silver Thread

Silver Thread

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Dec 2005

In a Corn field, near thr scarecrow.

Leader of Random Annoyances

A/

I'm all for solo farming. I may be part of a dying breed, but i like to farm hydras just cause its fun to farm them. The drops i get every now and then are cool, but mainly its just fun to kill them. If you have fun farming uw, i say go ahead and do it. Also, people like me who have beaten the game and dont want to start over, or already have there max char amount, farming is fun if you wanna just go and do something, without dealing with a bunch of clueless guys in a group.

Ken Dei

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jan 2006

W/Mo

I read through the first page of responses.

I too am for solo farming.
This bias of course, because I am a solo farmer. My farming is decidedly mostly for challenge. The gold is decent, and only is so out of a group as stated. And most Gold Drops, runes or otherwise, are garbage anyway.

You can never stop solo farming completely, even if you increase drops for teams, so people just want the thrill of a challenge. I love fighting Titans because it's dangerous, even though I'm very good at it I still can die if I make a mistake.

However, that's no excuse for the appalling drops for teams. Now, while understandable that A.Net wants gold to be "worth something" there are other ways to increase drops. For each member in a party, there should be a marked increase in items dropped, but gold remains the same levels as usual.

That way members of a team get more chance to score a decent item worth selling, but gold remains limited and thus, not "worthless"

I think soloing UW/FoW is a bad thing though. Before arguing "well you farm titans", answer, Titans don't drop Ectos, lots of gold runes admittedly, but again, those are mostly worthless because of the stupid -Hps.

And finally, like any real solo farmer, not the micro army of bots, I encourage A.Net to hunt down the Farming Army.

P.S. Besides, if you nerf solo farming, you take away the one thing a W/Mo is great at. HAVE MERCY!

generik

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vaga
If this cant be done. There need to be dungeons that are very hard with very good rewards, rewards that are better than almost anything people can solo farm.
How good or impressive can these godly items get?

20/20?
20% +1?
+30 hp?
+5 energy?

Oh, all in the name of "pvp" and "balance"!

To date I still don't understand why they allow PvE weapons in the arenas. Just have distinct weapons and we'd be beyond all these worries.

Rayne Nightfyre

Rayne Nightfyre

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Dec 2005

Acolytes of Lyssa [AL]

Me/A

I'm for it, I do it occasionally when I have nothing else to do. It's a simple fact that it is profitable. Another thing, a motivating factor is that it is fun to me, having the satisfaction of seeing 15 Minotaurs drop around you. But I feel it is wrong that people feel it is better to solo than to group together, such as in FoW/UW, Tombs and so on. So initially, it would be a disappointment if ArenaNet chose to somehow eliminate it altogether, but it would also be a relief. I can't stand those who only play for themselves, so forcing those people into actually playing with others, and helping others would be a good thing.

One last thing that came to mind is that Guild Wars is said to "reward skill, not hours played". Solo farming pretty much conflicts with that claim. The more you farm, the more gold you make. A simple fact. So those who have more time on there hands are simply going to have more gold, and more opportunities at better items than someone like me, who has obligations like school, work, and so on.
So my point is that I will be fine either way, with or without solo farming.

MinaDrakul

MinaDrakul

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2006

Houston, TX

Arcane Nexus

N/R

I'm for solo farming in the lower areas. The higher areas ( Droks and UW and FoW and etc) are meant to be teamed and should be. This game is not a meant to be played alone, thus why it is a MMORPG. No matter how "solo-friendly" this game is, it is still meant to be played with a team, especially in the higher areas, where you need strategy and balance. One person cannot be balanced enough to do Thunderhead Keep alone, they should not expect to farm alone in the areas around that mission. I take a team of henchies when I wander around Droks to help me out. Why pay $50 for a MMO game that you are going to play alone?

As I said, solo farming is cool in the lower levels because they don't have the same problems as said above. In fact, I do some farming with my lvl20 warrior around Beetletun. But again, I can travel alone in that area fairly easy. It's not as hard as say, Sorrow's Furnace. But, that is my own humble opinion.

/edit/ Rayne, I just saw your post and I agree 100%. I think you said what I wanted to better then I did!

*steps off soapbox for the next person to use and bows*

Xue Yi Liang

Xue Yi Liang

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2005

Northern CA

Outlaws of the Water Margin

Mo/Me

I don't understand how anyone could be so passionately against solo farming. ...i.e. how does that affect their gaming experience?

I don't buy the argument that solo farmers unbalance the economy, or that it's not fair. Some people can solo farm ... other people can win HoH and get even better stuff.
The only difference is that many people can learn how to solo farm, but there are only a few people who win HoH ... and when they do they dominate.

I'm a solo farmer. I never won HoH. The only way I got a celestial sigil was to farm up enough money to buy one.

There's no one way to play Guild Wars. Should I be against people who only play PvP since they're ignoring the whole campaign aspect? or be against people who dominate HoH?

Long live the Solo Farmer!
(BTW Does anyone know where I can unload 1383 Frosted Griffin wings?)

T1Cybernetic

T1Cybernetic

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Sep 2005

Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Uk, Nr Earth

Alternate Evil Gamers [aeg]

N/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xue Yi Liang
Long live the Solo Farmer!
(BTW Does anyone know where I can unload 1383 Frosted Griffin wings?)
While prices are up, salvage feathers and the trader will love you!
other then that, the merchant absolutely loves my griffon wings, ...

EternalTempest

EternalTempest

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

United States

Dark Side Ofthe Moon [DSM]

E/

Anet's View of farming - http://www.guildwars.com/press/inter...e-friday61.php

Quote:
Because Guild Wars does make extensive use of a player-driven economy, we at ArenaNet have a responsibility to manage the economy, and we take that responsibility seriously. You might ask: what exactly is our responsibility? Is it to keep prices within a certain range? Is it to maintain price stability? We think that, expressed in its most general terms, our responsibility is to keep the distribution of wealth as fair as possible, so that normal players can afford to bid for items in a player-driven economy. We need to avoid situations where a small subset of players can earn orders of magnitude more gold than the average player, thus driving up prices of rare items to a level where normal players could never hope to afford them.

There are three ways that certain players earn more gold than the average. The first and most obvious way is that, because everyone plays the game differently, some players are able to find unusually profitable areas to hunt in, or tricky strategies for killing a lot of monsters quickly. The search for the most effective way to play can be a fun part of the game for everyone -- we all like to see how well our characters can do, and whether we can tweak our characters to be better than they were previously -- and so we at ArenaNet don’t consider this a problem unless it’s extreme. Although a very knowledgeable or tricky player may be able to earn gold twice as fast as the average, this tends not to create a significant problem, because prices for items in the player-driven economy will still stay at levels where normal players can afford them. But sometimes differences in the distribution of wealth can be extreme; a group of players can find ways to earn gold ten times as fast as the average player. In this case, prices can rise to a level where normal players can’t afford to trade for items anymore. Then we have a problem, and we need to adjust the game to bring wealth distribution back into normal ranges. We constantly monitor the game, so we know when a certain place or technique is being heavily exploited. When an issue like this becomes too severe, we make tweaks as necessary to bring things back in line.

The second way that wealth distribution becomes a problem is when players use bots to farm gold around the clock. This is obviously unfair to the vast majority of players who play the game normally. We have no tolerance for bots. We constantly monitor for bots; we have tools that help us to easily identify them; and when we find people using bots, we permanently ban their accounts. This whole process is largely invisible to the average player, but behind the scenes, we’re regularly banning accounts for using bots.

The third issue, which is quickly becoming the biggest threat to the game’s economy, is companies that farm gold and items professionally and sell them for real-life cash. These companies hire large teams of people, often working in sweatshop-like conditions for very little pay, to play Guild Wars for many hours a day in order to rake in gold and items. The workers aren’t bots but they farm gold in similar ways, using very specific character builds to kill very specific monsters, running the same path and killing the same monsters hundreds of times each day, doing whatever exact sequence of actions their employer has determined is currently the most effective way to earn a lot of gold per hour. They then turn over what they’ve farmed to their employer, who sells the gold and items to other players for cash.
Anet is fine with with farming unless you find a method that's unbalance things, botting or part of the do it for real money. They will change things to stop the latter parts.

I make 2-3 plat at most in a 2 hour period which is then in turn used to buys skills, gold sink armor.. It has allowed me to unlock things much quicker, not sell things back to the "market" to cause money issues.

Mark of Rodgort

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Aug 2005

E/Me

For me solo farming is a challenge. Even though you copied a build, it takes practice and time . That challenge is the only thing i can do right now since ive done everything in the game.

Big_Iron

Big_Iron

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Dec 2005

The Edge

Tormented Weapons [emo]

I only solo farm for 30-45 mins a day...if that. If I really need some gold bad, I'll farm a little longer. But I find it boring and I'm pretty ADD so I couldn't imagine doing it for hours. Then again, it's not so boring when you see that rare gold item drop. Emphasis on the "rare." But then if you do pick up something good and want to sell it, you have to spend time trying to find a buyer, which I find extremely boring. But yeah, I farm and I'm for farming as long as it's not abused as noted by EternalTempest above

Pro-Monk

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2005

Interesting how the thread starter says not to go on about nukers then takes a swipe at Monks - LOL.

I don't smoke, so nobody should. I don't drink, so nobody should. I don't farm, so nobody should. (I don't farm with a 55HP Monk, so nobody should). There's always somebody that wants to control how everybody should act or think based on how they act and think themselves.

This debate is as old as Guild Wars, has been beat with a stick, and will never get resovled one way or the other. Let Anet worry about the game economy and the effects of farming. Players should just play the game as they enjoy it and quit trying to tell others how to play.

You want to spend hours and hours farming, feel free. Don't like to farm at all, then don't. Enough said.

freddo

Academy Page

Join Date: Aug 2005

France

N/

beautifull answer, pro-monk, you read my minds !

Guardian of the Light

Guardian of the Light

Forge Runner

Join Date: Sep 2005

Radicals Against Tyrants

W/

(YAWN) what the how'd this topic get back alive. O well still viable carry on.

manitoba1073

manitoba1073

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2006

ManitobaShipyards Refit and Repair Station

(SFC)Star Fleet Command,(TDE)The Daggerfall elite,(SOoM)Secret order of Magi

well i am so completely for solo farming. UW/FoW solo farming definately, because i am still one of the few who accidently found one of those thousand types of 55 monk of UW. i think i was prolly the first to use prot spirit before the GREAT NERF cause i didnt know about prot bond trick lol so when the nerf on that came never really bothered me much. not only do i solo UW still i even take all kinds of others with me. because this is my normal build on my monk. been that way since 2 weeks after the game came out. i farm all the time mostly when im on and noones asked for help. ive given countless items away mostly sell at a disadvantage to myself. not always the amount u get for an item but the use someone else can get outa it. oh yeah and 1 day ill finally get my FoW armors for all 8 my chars. granted as now its still barely enough for 1 item but working on it. there is absolutely no reason why u shouldnt be able to solo a high end area, Anet did not say this specific area or not is for this many ppl. we really have no idea how they intended FoW/UW was truely meant for other than a place for lvl 20 chars, mostly ie my old lvl 12 45hp monk. for its 2 trips to UW lol. the gave us a game to play our way as we individually see fit to play. says that on box by the way.

hell ive even taught ppl free how to do UW, taught many more ppl ins and out of FoW with my war who has 2mil exp points from not farming. as far as the one guy said about if u cant use the build u play with well i play all the time with my builds i use the same no matter what i do. on the rare occasions i may change a thing or 2 depending if im in a group.

M C H A M M E R

M C H A M M E R

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Dec 2005

Drunken Rangers [DR], Sig of Ultimate Doom [SiG]

W/

I think, Solo farming is completely fine. It takes skill, time, and loads of cash to just make a solo monk, but then to solo UW...think about the 1k every time you die. There is nothing wrong with it. People don't realize the full potential of the 55 hp IW mesmer though. FoW, right now is unsoloable by any class, except for a few spots.

A Leprechaun

A Leprechaun

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Feb 2006

W/

i am for it and i wish i could do it
but i cant .....yet

Count to Potato

Count to Potato

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2006

Imagination Land

I Swear She Was Eighteen [Gwen]

W/

With the current environment i am for farming, besides look at Ractho Demini, all warrior skills and he farms anything he wants... also if anyone finds a solo build to the Tombs Underworld with Chaos thing they aer more than brilliant

Cirian

Cirian

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2005

European Union

The Amazon Basin

For me, it's a nice way to relax. I occasionally get a few unlocks as pleasant bonuses for my efforts.

I spend the money on dyes, armours and skills. I keep some of the materials I salvage and sell the rest to the material trader, and I sell the runes to the rune trader too.

Currently I'm using my necromancer to solo ettins as a N/R, and previously I've done a lot of the desert and a bit of UW/FoW as a N/Mo, and charcoal farming as a N/Me.

I'd farm Dunes of Despair with my ranger as a R/N vampire. I do a lot of solo exploring with him.

I used to farm with my warrior too, mainly Gates of Kryta (for glittering dust, needed for making velum, elonian leather, damask and deldrimor steel) and Elona Reach. Since deleted and rerolled as a mesmer.

My mesmer I play as a Me/W fencer and I kill tengu and fire imps with her. Mostly fire imps for charcoal (from which I make deldrimor steel).

Mostly I just relax and try things out. Soloing areas is a nice way to try new ideas, although I quite like that new training ground on the Zaishen islands too

Age

Age

Hall Hero

Join Date: Jul 2005

California Canada/BC

STG Administrator

Mo/

I am not agaisnt solo farming as it has more of meditating feel to it.I am now fineshed game on 1 of my accounts so I will probably go to some 55 farming.The UW was soloable but it is not now unless some can do it.This where you need to team up with a SS Neco.This board is filled full of solo builds and it is home of the 55 Invinci Monk that Jelly Samwich created up.
How else is someone suppose to make money in this game for the gold or green weapons and 15K or Fow armor?That is what we are really after as well as runes.

audioaxes

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2005

i dont farm because i think its useless (why spend 100s of hours doing boring stuff just to get items that dont even do anything more than cheaper ones?)

but i do think that the highest areas that drop the most valuable stuff should be impossible to do alone, heck even two man groups
its a pity that there isnt any area that really requires an entire 8 person party, let alone allow ppl to solo them

EternalTempest

EternalTempest

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

United States

Dark Side Ofthe Moon [DSM]

E/

For those that are against Solo Farming.

Anet has designed guild wars that if you go through the game in the "Traditional Way" do every quest, every mission in order you will have enough money to get the armor as you go in the game, including Draks (Max Stat armor). If you keep 5 of every monster type drop when your in that area , you will be able to trade to the npc trader in those regions to keep upgrading your weapons to near perfect weapons (at your area) at no real cost.

If your in to pvp, you can know do all unlock with faction (if you ignore Pve) and you start with max uber items available to you.

Again with post I did earlier (interview with lead developer on farming, see page 10 of this threed), Anet is fine with farming (unless your using bots or acting as a human "bot" for selling gold online) unless things are out of wack. If they find that people / group found away the will tweaking things.

Things Anet has changed because things did go out of wack:
  • Removal of Normal Treasure Chests
  • Tweaking of some skills
  • Removal of Items / No more drops again (Hoh sword, 40% Bugged Axe)
  • Removal of having same monster drop same loot (UW Smite - Eternal Bows for example)
  • New areas (New Tomb Kings) with new monsters and abilities that making solo impossible.
  • Introduce Green Weapons as an alternative to golds (in addition to the collectors already in place)
  • Redesign of UW to make soloing much harder

Solo farming allows you to get skills, items, runes unlocked for PvP much quicker. It allows you to earn gold to pursue gold sinks such as 15k / Fow Armor or "ultimate" gold’s which are *slightly* better then green or collectors but not by much.

This is what I'm doing, buying skills, unlocking warrior 100% from my monk, out fit my ele with 15k etc. I also HATE standing for hours trying to sell stuff so I will attempt to get a perfect mode from an imperfect weapon for creating future perfect "gold" weapons, but most sell everything backt to the merchant, give away very nice but not that expensive items, etc.

Now if you are a farmer and Anet tweaks some more things that is causing problems, you should not complaining about OMG NERF NERF because the method you used was id'd by anet as having a problem and corrected it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by audioaxes
but i do think that the highest areas that drop the most valuable stuff should be impossible to do alone, heck even two man groups
its a pity that there isnt any area that really requires an entire 8 person party, let alone allow ppl to solo them
Gaile has said in a post the highest levels of the game were not meant for farming solo. Expect changes from Anet to make this harder but again you should not complain when they do change. The new pve Tombs is designed for teams and the skill the monster use wreck havoc with the existing solo builds.

Francis Crawford

Forge Runner

Join Date: Dec 2005

I'm weakly for solo farming.

What I'm really for is better henchies.

If you want to play by yourself, henchies should be a great option.

I really have played very little with players other than my wife, myself, and henchies, although in at least half the missions I've gone with largely non-henchie PUGs. Maybe the wife and I are no more successful in SF with a team of 7 (5 henchies) than a standard 5-person team, but so what?

True solo farming is an interesting challenge up to a point, but if it's really all about speed, then there always will be a few best builds. So it gets boring for me after I've done it a few times.

Spenser_For_Hire

Spenser_For_Hire

Banned

Join Date: Feb 2006

i think solo farming is boring, REALLY boring
i find farming in groups and having conversations is where its at, doesnt matter if i make less money farming in teams, its much more enjoyable

Dahman

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jan 2006

W/Me

To keep the thread alive.

I am for solo-farming as I wouldn't tell anybody how to play the game but it's insane that there are some builds generating more money than a mint. Even if I admire genius idea behind the 55 monk I can't get rid of jealousy.

I enjoy playing my W/Me very much but I can't solo UW where they say best drops are and it's hard to find players to go with (genuine monks mostly). I could go for the Necro SS or Invincimonk (just in a week, relatively short time compare how much you need to farm a dern million gold), but it's not my style and would admit all I care is gold.


..but If perfect fellblades were not so impossible to get or those friggin ectos..


I've been playing GW for four months now and started farming about a month ago. I hate it cuz it IS boring, but I can't get the Fissure Armor from playing missions or helping other players with quests.

I know I'm not writing anything that wasn't said. Mimi Miyagi (and many others), I couldn't agree more.

And it'd be nice if Anet's found a way to nerf those bots or whatever leaving the quality of drops alone [Nerfing drops hurts players not farmers, someone already have mentioned it]. Nerfing drops is the real problem of inflation.

Solution: More ecto and shard drops. It will not ruin the economy but lower the prices cuz nobody will have to buy them from a merch for griffons/hydras-blood-stained gold.

One last thing. Farming doesn't make prices go higher but decreases them. See the prices of the greens. Well, regular players indeed get something of it (see mm00re's post). The only thing that'll always be overpriced is a Fissure Armor, but would you love your Ferrari so much if everybody could afford one?