Getting back into the swing of things

I apologize if this topic has came up before or is an exhaustive topic. I have been away from the game for a long time (I stopped playing right before Heavensward came out).

In doing so, I am way behind. I recently started playing again, and trying to find the best way to start off. I am not a big fan of dungeons and raids, I generally like to Solo. Right now, I am level 41 WAR working on leveling up. Is it possible to solo the entire game? I am doing main scenario quests, but I am currently at one that is taking me into a dungeon. Without having played the game up to this point with partying in mind, I am not sure how effective I will be in the dungeon, as I generally have quest level gear and some basic crafted gear, and haven't really set up rotations and play-style to accommodate playing with others. (Not that I don't like others, I just don't have the time and devotion to learning to play the character completely efficiently, and instead just enjoy playing the game by myself).

No, it's not possible to play solo. You will eventually have to get into a dungeon with other people in order to progress the story. Don't worry, tho. None of them should be too difficult, regardless of what your gear is like.

As for rotations, there really isn't much when it comes to play Warrior. Enemies in dungeons are often bunched up in small groups, so just walk up to them with Defiance on and use Overpower twice, and then just use your standard combo. You don't have to do anything fancy, or take on more than one group of enemies at once. Just work at your own pace and eventually you'll be done.

I normally don't use any type of combo. I usually pull with Tomahawk and than from there it's usually just a random smashing of whats on CD until the mob is dead. I did a couple of story dungeons before when leveling, and the groups I was with were being obnoxious. They kept threatening to kick me out because I wasn't pulling fast enough, wasn't pulling enough mobs at once, and because the Pugilist they had in the group kept getting mobs attacking him because he was doing such high damage and I wasnt able to keep hate on them.

Is it acceptable to explain to the group before entering that I am only in there to complete the story, and that I don't have much experience playing in dungeons, so if they are looking for a quick clear or an easy dungeon, they won't find it with me in the group?

I think it would definitely help your case if you explained where you're coming from at the start of the dungeon.

And I hope the "random smashing" that you're doing goes along the lines of Heavy Swing -> Skull Sunder -> Butcher's Block. Seriously, those are pretty much the only 3 attacks you need. Don't bother with Tomahawk - use Overpower instead. You'll have to walk up to them to do it, but it'll make things a lot easier for you, trust me.

Sorry to be a little out of your questions, but, what are you expecting in an MMO ? Even if most of the game can be made solo, it's usually played to play with other people as it is the main purpose of the game.

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Originally Posted by BluexBird

I think it would definitely help your case if you explained where you're coming from at the start of the dungeon.

And I hope the "random smashing" that you're doing goes along the lines of Heavy Swing -> Skull Sunder -> Butcher's Block. Seriously, those are pretty much the only 3 attacks you need. Don't bother with Tomahawk - use Overpower instead. You'll have to walk up to them to do it, but it'll make things a lot easier for you, trust me.

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This is literally all I do. I only use tomahawk so that I can do some additional damage to them before they are in range of attacking me. I find it easier to drain them once they come at me with 3/4 life.

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Originally Posted by ex0r

This is literally all I do. I only use tomahawk so that I can do some additional damage to them before they are in range of attacking me. I find it easier to drain them once they come at me with 3/4 life.

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My rule of thumb for newer tanks or returning rusty tanks, is overpower X amount of times, when X is the amount of enemies in a pull. So lets say you tomahawk and pull 3 enemies to you, overpower AT LEAST 3 times before you start single targeting things. This ensures you've got yourself a generous enmity lead on all targets. Even two targets, overpower once or twice. Once you get a feel for the job again, this wont be as important.

Felorr that's great advise and easy to remember! The only problem I can think of though, is overpower consumes a LOT of TP. It seems though that with the new expansion, TP generation is really quick now as I remember doing overpower numerous times before and ran out of TP, but it appears now it's not draining so fast.

Also, when mobs 'link' (As in, you pull one and multiple ones come), do they share hate, or do you have to build up the hate on each one individually? (Using Overpower as an AOE for example)

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Originally Posted by ex0r

Also, when mobs 'link' (As in, you pull one and multiple ones come), do they share hate, or do you have to build up the hate on each one individually? (Using Overpower as an AOE for example)

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Separately. When they "link" it only adds you to the other enemies aggro tables by giving you the minimum amount of agro, similar to as if you had gotten too close to them. You then have to build agro on each of them, hence why Overpower was suggested, because it is an AoE agro ability and can hit entire groups in one go which is important because it keeps up agro on the entire group which is needed since heals from the healer will build agro on all the mobs in the pack and the DPS will most likely be using AoE attacks and also be building agro on all the enemies they hit.

Abilities like tomahawk or only really good for tossing out one as you move to engage a mob for that smidge of extra agro before you are close enough to engage fully or if you are doing a multi-pack pull and need to tag a mob from range to agro them as you run past to head to the next pack.

Also, if you are not using combos and are just mashing abilities, I highly suggest you look over guides and ability tooltips for your job and get trained up on the basics at the hall of the novice in game.

Lastly, this is not an exploration-centric MMO, sort of like GW2 or some older MMO's, it is a straightforward "theme-park" MMO based around team content like dungeons and raids. While there is some amount of solo content, the majority of the content is going to require you to group up to play.

Actually, I am level 41 and up to this point, I have only had to team up twice (one for each of the two previous dungeons I had to do), so I am not sure how reflective that statement is of actual game-play. That may deem true at end-game or for getting all the possible gear you can get, but as far as the story goes, soloing over half the levels so far has deemed that not always true. (At least for the main questline and the job/class questlines I have done so far, not reflective of higher levels or content I haven't came across yet). I think for as much as I have solo'd it, I am satisfied with the content I have gained access to. Once I hit max level, and can invest more time into focusing on the player and not the storyline, I'm sure my wanting to group up will change.