Good for Solo?

[neogunhero]

Is this game good to play solo? I don’t mind playing with strangers but would rather take my time and not speedrun the levels, that’s my usual experience playing games like this with randoms. I don’t have a group to commit to playing all the time so solo would be the best.

Is it good to play solo? How are the AI teammates? Is progression slowed/hindered in any way due to playing solo? Thanks for the info!

[MrSupHermann]

Yes it is good.
You need to level and gear bots individually for them to be efficient in later difficulties. They sometimes have strange behavior tho, like chasing specials or facetanking Warpfire Throwers. Check mods if you want to improve them.
When playing solo you can't have the Quickplay Bonus at the end of a mission, but the bonus itself is not guaranteed to give you maximum tier lootbox, it's fairly RNG dependant.

[Ing. Ithiridiel]

Progression is easier to optimize when playing in a group, but bots are capable enough.

The problem here is that you need to level up the character the bot is playing, so at the start bots are very weak.

You can expect people on legend and above to go at a faster pace because 1) it is the optimal way to play and 2) they already have enough playtime to have explored the maps.

[neogunhero]

Thanks for the answers guys. I haven't played since June 30th 2020, how has the game changed in the past 4 years? Any new major updates I should be aware of?

I liked the game back then but also didn't have a group interested in playing this specific game. Only played for about 2-3 hours total gameplay, but it didn't hook me then. I've been wanting a nice game I can play solo where I'm able to knock out a few missions and I've been seeing lots of news lately about this game, so I thought i'd check it out again.

And yeah, I get people with lots of hours wanting to speedrun, and its hard to matchmake with only people with as much playtime as you, but that has always been an issue to me in these online coop games. Even back when L4D2 was still relatively new, I found it so annoying when a player sprinted the entire map, barely killing any zombies, and me and the rest of the team were still at the beginning of the level lol.

[Ing. Ithiridiel]

There have been some rebalances but nothing that would alter the gameplay in a major way.

Except the two new game modes: versus and chaos wastes.

Chaos wastes is what you could call a roguelike and its a lot of fun. It kept me entertained for a few hundred hours.

Versus is versus.

[MrSupHermann]

Originally posted by neogunhero:

Thanks for the answers guys. I haven't played since June 30th 2020, how has the game changed in the past 4 years? Any new major updates I should be aware of?

New content (careers, weapons) with free DLC maps
Major updates of Chaos Wastes game mode (weeklies rewards and new boons)
Slight changes to Weaves (ranked ones are playable with bots)
Balance updates
Progression rework to level up faster
PvP mode (with challenges and rewards)

[Ing. Ithiridiel]

Originally posted by MrSupHermann:

Originally posted by neogunhero:

Thanks for the answers guys. I haven't played since June 30th 2020, how has the game changed in the past 4 years? Any new major updates I should be aware of?

New content (careers, weapons) with free DLC maps
Major updates of Chaos Wastes game mode (weeklies rewards and new boons)
Slight changes to Weaves (ranked ones are playable with bots)
Balance updates
Progression rework to level up faster
PvP mode (with challenges and rewards)

The whole chaos wastes were added in 2021

[MrSupHermann]

Originally posted by Ing. Ithiridiel:

The whole chaos wastes were added in 2021

So long after WoM release ? Didn't realize it.

[Veliopag]

I play solo with bots only, always and forever, and I don't regret anything! I'm too old for multiplayer.

Bots are acceptable, yes, but dire needs proper fix and improvment. Because we know how really good bots can be. I played with «Replicant Bots - Different Bots Experimental Branch» mod (now abandoned and dead) once; after that playing with vanilla bots is like eating paper to not die of hunger, but instead of delicious food.

Originally posted by MrSupHermann:

Check mods if you want to improve them.

There is only one mod for bots here that has been ever sanctioned for Official Realm — «Bot Improvements - Combat». BUT! More than a year ago, after the Necromancer Update, this mod is considered as broken and officially de-sanctioned! (although it was vital but even in better times it was partly broken, partly ineffective). Because Fatshark promised to fix and improve bots themselves. A year has passed, though...

Originally posted by MrSupHermann:

When playing solo you can't have the Quickplay Bonus at the end of a mission

You can get Quickplay Bonus if you start your solo quickplay games as a host. Use the «Host Your Own Game» mod, it helps a lot. After the loading screen you can make your game completely private (except for Weaves Quickplay, you can start as a host, but you can't make it private) using the party checkbox in the TAB menu.
I always do this and have no regrets!

[unterzod]

Originally posted by neogunhero:

Is this game good to play solo? I don’t mind playing with strangers but would rather take my time and not speedrun the levels, that’s my usual experience playing games like this with randoms. I don’t have a group to commit to playing all the time so solo would be the best.

Is it good to play solo? How are the AI teammates? Is progression slowed/hindered in any way due to playing solo? Thanks for the info!

Over time, your win rate with bots will be higher than with players. However, to achieve this, you’ll need to level up your characters, optimize their builds, understand the strategies for fighting bosses and special enemies, and also know the advantageous positions on the maps.

[Bodean Abernathy II]

Since you already own the game go ahead and play it but please don't give them any more money for anything. They have been very greedy with a lot of stuff lately, don't be persuaded to buy anything from them.

With this game you actually get a "Quickplay" bonus for playing with randoms and there is a server browser you can use to find matches if you don't like hosting. This is one of those games that is just fine playing solo. Obviously it's better with friends but what game isn't. Bots generally suck no matter what really but also there seems to be a LOT of low IQ players in quick play too. 1/10 times you'll get a guy that is actually pretty incredible. It's one way or the other usually with players skills. I'd stay away from versus unless that's your thing. That is really only good with a 4 man that you know. That and versus mode has no real matchmaking so you get pinned against people who have 2k hours and get totally REEMED.

That's about all I can say. Good luck homie.

[Elthrael]

Depends on what difficulty we're talking. Legend or even Cata is possible, but it does take quite a lot of time to level all the characters to 35, even if you just focus on the "best for bot purposes" ones like Ironbreaker. Then you need to gear them out, which takes even longer.

That said, when you do spec out every bot - my Bardin Ironbreaker bot is more reliable than 90% of randos in Legend. It's pretty nice to have your own little (admittedly slightly dim) bot team slaughter through Legend with you.