Challenge Mode Solo Instances

Solo instances are (imo) some of the most memorable parts of FFXIV's MSQ. It's a shame we can only do them once (without NG+). But what if we could? What if every week, there were a selection of a few solo instances from previous patches with various modifiers and a constantly updating leaderboard?

Imagine doing the Raubahn savage instance from 4.0 with an arcade style scoring system. The faster you finish, the less avoidable damage you took, the better you utilize your kit etc etc, the higher your score. The modifiers could be things like every few seconds a tiny AoE spawns under you. Or when you down an add it spawns a tower on itself, or maybe job specific ones like you have to dance partner at least two NPC's. Things like that wouldn't be required to finish the instance, but would give bonus score. And of course, every job would be ranked only against itself. Reward wise these could be tied in with wonderous tales or faux hollows or could be an entirely new thing. Idk about you guys but I like the sound of it.

Some of them can actually be quite rough at their minimum item level, too, but people's experience greatly varies depending on how geared they were when they did them. But it is common to still do them in whatever MSQ gear people have.

Would be nice for the people who want more hard solo content, the fights are also already in the game, might as well use them.

IMO, I think it would be nice if SE considers making more dynamically scaled content. Looking at our criterion savage for example, savage solo mode lol. I would make the comparison to Delves that are coming to WoW next expansion. It would be nice to have more solo content, I don't really like hard group stuff given that it becomes, imo, un-enjoyable and forces me to make the game as if it was school or work but I do enjoy hard solo content. If well designed dynamically then people who want to do it in groups can too, adding a bigger audience that wins.

It would be neat to see a more 'world space player' have a solid quality content for progression, as is the attempt with Delves. I am curious how they land, I hope SE is watching and can learn anything from it- if it goes well or not.

Not that I'm opposed to what is essentially solo unreal content, just that I imagine a lot of bang for the buck and ability to keep it going with good rewards if it was dynamic in some regards.

Dynamic scaling by the way does not mean pitiful face bashing against a wall where attrition and perfection are the only solution, meanwhile under other circumstances it's not 'that'. It would be 'attempting' to provide similar difficulty under a variety of circumstances. Like you can solo many dungeons as a tank, synced, but that would not be dynamic scaling lol.

It's fairly easy to make a lot of the old instanced fights harder... Just remove the Brilliant Conviction buff (which basically just gives more damage done, less damage taken and health regen).

Sounds fun, let's do this!

Also, I want a whole "Metal Gear Thancred: VR Missions" game mode with a bunch of stealth missions please.

The biggest missed opportunity in regards to solo duties imo is how that one solo duty near the end of 6.0 (you know the one) is narratively presented as an "optional" fight, but is really just a required normal-difficulty solo duty like the rest. I would've loved for it to actually be an optional fight you could avoid, but was a nice challenge for those who really wanted the "thrill of it", kind of similar to how single-player FFs put superbosses in the final dungeon or whatever.

I would like to see challenge mode solo battles, though I think they might eat a significant chunk of dev resources so I dunno how likely it is to see as its own type of content. Bozja duels + variant dungeons (less so, but still require you to think if you're doing them solo) show at least that they're able to make good single-player mechanics, that don't rely on the typical party mechanics like stack/spread/etc, so I could see it happening.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CaptainLagbeard

It's fairly easy to make a lot of the old instanced fights harder... Just remove the Brilliant Conviction buff (which basically just gives more damage done, less damage taken and health regen).

---

This isn't really the same thing, though. Changing numbers wouldn't make them much more challenging, it just makes it a test of your itemlevel. And if it actually is tuned tightly for a DPS check, that'd be a lot harder to balance around every job that could potentially do em. To make good challenging single-player content you'd need to add a lot of abilities to the typical solo duties.

Solo deep dungeon If you want solo challenge. It is already there.

Rotating sets of challenge solo instances and dungeons with modifiers would be very welcome, so long as there's actual reason to do them, and that means rewards that aren't just one-time unlockables like mounts/minions/titles. Mounts, minions, EXP, materia, etc., and tomestone and other currency rewards (and of course glam) would mean content like this would have staying power, and there's a desperate need for more of that right now. So I'm a fan of this idea.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eastwall

Solo deep dungeon If you want solo challenge. It is already there.

---

PoTD has been copy/pasted two additional times now, and I fear we're just going to get "PoTD 4" in Dawntrail. It hasn't evolved in any meaningful way, and has only leaned into the 'solo' challenge content identity to extend it's lifespan. Frankly, I'm sick of the current DD formula. If it doesn't evolve, I won't be doing it, and would rather have another piece of content to do in it's place.

Related, but they should add duels. Like imagine being able to duel Lyse on the statue's palm in Rhalgr's Reach or dueling Sadu again in the Azim Steppe.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eastwall

Solo deep dungeon If you want solo challenge. It is already there.

---

The difficulty of deep dungeon comes from the annoyance of the multiple hours you waste if you die, and pomander management, which is a DD-specific skill that isn't really what I imagine when I think of playing XIV. There aren't any legitimately difficult fights in DD, if it wasn't for the time waste factor on a death, you would see a ton of Necromancers running around.

When people ask for challenging solo mode instances, I imagine they aren't thinking of 5+ hour long RNG-based meme runs.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Akonyl

The difficulty of deep dungeon comes from the annoyance of the multiple hours you waste if you die, and pomander management, which is a DD-specific skill that isn't really what I imagine when I think of playing XIV. There aren't any legitimately difficult fights in DD, if it wasn't for the time waste factor on a death, you would see a ton of Necromancers running around.

When people ask for challenging solo mode instances, I imagine they aren't thinking of 5+ hour long RNG-based meme runs.

---

Yeah.. I would put DD solo very close to poorly dynamic that I was insinuating in my first post. It's not zero dynamic but it was clearly not designed to be commensurate in value. Farming DD solo is 'eh' okay, and the achievement is just attrition plus luck.

Not zero dynamic but not what id consider intentionally designed for solo fun.

I'd like to see something like the WOW Mage Tower, a super hard challenge fight to test your mastery of your class, rewarding... idk some cosmetic or another. If it were up to me, it'd unlock alternate 'skins' for certain class abilities (eg change Rampart on DRK to Shadowskin, Edge of Shadow to Power Slash's animation, etc) but that'd take some extra engine work. So, weapon glamour, armour glamour, mount, title, the usual, probably

And the best part is, unlike WOW's Mage Tower, this one could be made like an Ultimate, ie, you cannot outgear it. You'll always be synced at X ILVL and the only way to do better is to do better (or wait for SE to blow potencies up further in the next expansion, I guess)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mallleable

Related, but they should add duels. Like imagine being able to duel Lyse on the statue's palm in Rhalgr's Reach or dueling Sadu again in the Azim Steppe.

---

Look at how enjoyable the Bozja Duels were as fights, ignoring the nuisance of actually getting into them. More stuff like that would be great