Is soloing viable anymore?

I really like to solo. I am a L42 SMN and have only grouped when the game forced me to, ie: the first 7 or so dungeons. All the rest has been solo questing.

I really liked (notice past tense) the SMN class with a tanking pet which could tank 3-4 adds np with me keeping SUSTAIN up, spending my time keeping DOTs up on all mobs, and only throwing the occasional PHYSICK when absolutely necessary.

Now after the nerfs my role seems to be "pet healer" if we end up with 3-4 mobs, and once I am spamming PHYSICK (a pathetically small heal on a 3.1K HP pet) to keep pet alive, no one is killing the mobs that are busy killing my pet.

So, it seems to be that SE has decided to force players to group. I am not sure soloing is still viable.

Are there other soloers out there who are having success with their classes, or even some SMNers?

I have not ordered the next expansion yet, and probably won't unless soloing becomes fun again.

well although I can understand the complains bout the Titan slap becoming more or less useless... it's a mmo typical it's the concept to grp up for progress... have you tried your chocobo as healer for soloing? Aside of that... ya it's getting tougher for solo-player : /

You can solo anything that isn't a dungeon. My advice for soloing as a dps is forget about healing your pet just try to burn everything down before it kills you. Healing potions might help you a little as well

Stop pulling 4 mobs at a time. If you pull more than you can handle, run away.

It's really not rocket science; sustain was very strong for soloing before, so of course you are weaker than you were, but that doesn't mean you can't do it. Not many classes take on 4 mobs at a time by choice that aren't tanks.

I never pull multiple mobs. Usually two are linked but if a third wonders by and joins in it's an issue. Don't think healing pots would make a difference healing my pet.

BTW, can you setup the chocobo to heal your pet? That would help a lot.

And yes, I am most familiar with the "run away like a little girl" survival tactic. What I might try is to SWIFTCAST a new pet when existing one is at 25% or so. Not sure if new pet establishes enmity quickly mid fight tho.

Thanks responses... :)

Lots of dungeons are mandatory for the story - none of them are intended to be possible to do solo (at least not unless you outlevel them by a lot.)
Outside dungeons, on the landscape, almost everything is supposed to be soloable, and what little is not soloable is optional.

Nothing has changed in this regard. Players being forced to group for dungeons has been a thing ever since the launch of ARR (and maybe back in 1.x as well.)

Well its actually a combination of things that removed this.

You can still solo normal overland mobs, put pretty much all jobs can do that, but you can't solo the really strong stuff and/or multiple mobs anymore. It's really a combination of losing Sustain, and the major DPS nerf for SMN pretty much all around.

Before you could hit Spur, hit Sustain, then use Physick to bring the pet back to full and then switch back to Damage mode on the boss mob. It took a long time, but you could actually do it.

You can't anymore... SMN lost its real soloability that it had over other jobs at this point. And the things it contributed to Dungeon groups (namely its AoEs) have been severely nerfed or removed.

So it doesn't surprise me at this point that you can't do... well... really anything you used to be able to with SMN. Especially at the levels you are talking about, Scruffies.

It's the classic case of overnerfing something.

I've been out soloing as much as I can, since I can't get past Cold Steel. Topaz Carbuncle, me, Attacker Chocobo - same as before 4.0 dropped. No issues other than the !@#$ Lesser Gagana don't drop enough skins!

But, if I pull more than 1 mobbie at a time, it's by mistake - I have always pulled 1, killed one; repeat. So yeah, I can't speak to wanting to pull multiple anything, on purpose, in the over world

Yeah it's still possible if you are bit more careful - you just have to avoid overmobbing, that's all ^^

Not sure but i think if u setup your chocobo to heal-only he trys to protect everyone in your party - I used my to lvl itself in fate-mobs for the weekly chocoagenda exp.

Thanks responses.

I never pull multiples. The issue for a soloer is what to do when you do end up with 2-3 mobs. Before.... np. It's only been a couple of days now, but seems like SWITFCAST new pet might work pretty well when pet gets over whelmed. I just hit L42 so now have ROUSE which will also help pet survivability.

I will look more carefully at using the chocobo in combat. What I read about "training" the chocobo seemed like a huge hassle and frankly I didn't need the assistance, but I may have to revisit that idea.

I also have not looked into Housing which seems to be a requisite for training chocobo.

I have only been playing the game for about 6 weeks, so still learning....

Thanks again for your ideas.... :)

Housing helps for chocobo exp but not necessarily - the most exp u'll get for your bird are the two chocobo agendas (kill 10 mobs and kill 100 mobs with your chocobo in party). Sadly they patched the agenda requirements - only fate mobs are taken for the killcount now but that still works fine.

If you are more the "soloist" you should give your bird some serious love - he'll be a great help. Jupp. :3

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Originally Posted by scruffies

I will look more carefully at using the chocobo in combat. What I read about "training" the chocobo seemed like a huge hassle and frankly I didn\\'t need the assistance, but I may have to revisit that idea.

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Chocobo training isn\\'t really a hassle unless you\\'re tying to get a specific color or something. It does take a LONG time to level it, though. However, they made it easier to use now because you can have them out while in dungeon queues and don\\'t have to dimiss them to ride a mount, both of which you originally had to do.

My chocobo is only Rank 7, but with all points put in healing and set to healing stance, I can solo most FATES my level unless its one of the super bosses.

You don't need housing to get a chocobo. You got them before housing was even introduced. There's quests in Bentbranch Meadows once you hit a certain level (15-20 I think).

Well I thought chocobo leveling takes long too - but I wanted to get my to max lvl (20) before SB and tried that daily/weekly agenda stuff. The 100 kill agenda provides 300k+ exp compared to the housing feeting which provides just 18k (36k if a buddy helps out) per hour on lvl 19 it's a very hugh plus. You should do this agenda everytime it's available to speed it up by far. ^^

If you main caster or range I would recommend healing skills > tank skills > atk skills but after all thats just a personal opinion. ^^

lol I never used sustain when soloing most things. Titan could tank most things without it with the exception of mini bosses. I usually burned down everything before he got low health, and still do.

try a boss mob now... there you go.

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Originally Posted by scruffies

but seems like SWITFCAST new pet might work pretty well when pet gets over whelmed.

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Thanks for your honest and sincere post about a REAL over nerf to the SMN Job... I agree completely with you. As a level 70 smn, I can honestly say, its problematic; whereas before you could pretty much solo (using appropriate job abilities such as Sustain on Titan-egi) NM Fates with minimum problems... now, it's not reasonable to expect to Physik your way through since it would seriously drain your MP, while at the same time trying to compensate for the DPS drop in dots... your suggestion to "swiftcast a new pet when the first is overwhelmed" sounds solid, except for the aggo you'd generate during your heal spam/dps phases and Titan-egi apparently has a serious handicap when it comes to getting aggro back... never noticed this PRE-4.0...so I'm assuming this was another ninja-nerf...resulting in a dead pet, and you furiously kiting mobs while hoping you don't die before/if your new pet gets aggo off you... so yea.

I don't know if it was removed but if you're fighting a lot of melee you can use Tri-Bind and focus down one at a time. I do that sometimes when I play my Red Mage it tends to help mitigate the damage you take.