Content Idea: Solo Bounty Hunts

[Mimilu]

This is just an idea I had for something fun to do. I was inspired by XIV's Maps/Map Chambers, hunts, and O5S's passenger cars, XII's hunts, and XI's Battlefields/Burning Circles.

Bounty Hunts would be a weekly hunt that max level players can do for a client (maybe the hunting clans or Grand Companies) that would involve tracking the target down on the open world then fighting them in an instanced area by themselves (essentially role-based solo maps).

The type of hunt you get will be determined on the role of the job you were playing when you signed up: Tank, Healer, or DPS.
Tank hunts will focus on using your cooldown effectively to survive, Healer hunts will focus on balancing healing yourself and/or someone/thing else and dishing out damage, and DPS hunts will focus on dealing big damage.

Once you accept the hunt, it will direct you to somewhere in the open world to start your search (like the last place the hunt had been seen), similar to a map. The hunt will stay in the same zone they started.

Once you reach the area, you will search the area, and find an interactable marker. When you click on the marker, a random, trash fight will begin. Once you defeat the trash and click on the marker again, you will be presented with options on how to proceed.

For example: “There are multiple tracks in the area but there are only two you take note of, one heading East, the other West. Which tracks do you follow?”

Like with Map Chambers, choosing the wrong path will lead you to a dead end (usually with a trash mob) and choosing correctly will let you continue. However, also like Map Chambers, you may randomly find that there is only one way to go or you might be able to find something at the dead end that will help you get back on track.

You’ll continue this for 3 to 4 markers until you find where your target is hiding. Once you click on the marker, you will be teleported to an instanced arena with the target inside. Like a boss fight, the fight won’t start until you pull (so you can get ready). If you lose the fight or time runs out, you are kicked from the arena and the hunt ends in a dead end. Once you do defeat your target, you then return to who issued the hunt and collect your bounty.

If you end up at a dead end, the hunt ends, for now. You can pick up the hunt again after a certain amount of time (maybe like 20 hours) and with each try, you get an increased likelihood of automatically finding the correct trail. You can also switch to a different roles’ hunt. However, you can only do one Bounty Hunt a week, so once you complete one, you have to wait til reset.

Difficulty-wise, it should be on par with maps and map chambers, with the main hunt targets being where the real difficulty lies.

[Goji1639]

Something like this, or just more SOLO content in general is something I would really like to see in this game.

I'm one of those players who's willing to min/max and gear/study up for tough fights with cool rewards, but I'm not willing to join a static and rework my life around it's schedule. I do wish the game would add SOMETHING in the way of challenging and rewarding progression based solo content; whether it be hunts, gauntlets or just stand alone boss fights.

[Kyuuen]

Could build it off of the Hunt Board as this is what it sounds like to me, just with additional steps and difficulty. Would whole heartedly disagree on the instanced portion though. It's already getting a little dicey with instances and the current population, throw a new expansion on top of that and you windup with Rhaubahn extreme all over again.

Could make it so that other people simply can't attack your target, but then it opens the door to it being cheesed through people buffing/healing you.

[Calevr]

Participating in the hunts is fun and can be immersive. I really would like future content to continue expanding on the hunt system but with solo and group content in mind. Making friends and enjoying regular patterns of killing monsters together is important to me. I'm old fashion but I still miss open world monster battles (like in parties in FFXI and FFXIV 1.#).

[kaynide]

I would rather they take the current solo-able monsters (B ranks?) and give some kind of ability that allows you to track and/or locate them. The main reason I never do them is because it's a lot of time running around the map just to try and find them.

I wouldn't mind if they were more worth while, but for instanced? Probably better kept to things like Bozja.

Alternatively, a new activity that is similar to treasure hunts would be good. (Essentially beefed up group-wide leve quest: Some kind of consumable -> Track monster -> fight monster that is restricted to you and your party)

[Calevr]

I like your comments everyone. What about a repeatable quest (reset every 4hrs) from the hunt scholar that gives you more experience points for tracking the mob and killing it within a timer (30mins). Of course its not difficult because you can gain assistance from other players finding it but it's something else to do if you wanted to take part in. Could you expand on this idea?

[Ayuhra]

Something like this, or just more SOLO content in general is something I would really like to see in this game.

I'm one of those players who's willing to min/max and gear/study up for tough fights with cool rewards, but I'm not willing to join a static and rework my life around it's schedule. I do wish the game would add SOMETHING in the way of challenging and rewarding progression based solo content; whether it be hunts, gauntlets or just stand alone boss fights.

I wish for this too. Challenging solo hunts, solo duties etc.

I'd be cool with these things only offering aesthetic rewards like glamours, titles, mounts, minions too then people who do extreme content pushing wouldn't feel like they HAVE to do the solo things as part of the gearing process.

[Adeacia]

This...actually doesn't sound bad. I'm used to seeing terrible suggestions on these forums but I don't view this as one of them. I know I'd certainly be willing to do this kind of hunt.

Seems like you'd have to know how to play your job in order to kill the target. Sounds like a good thing to me.

[Calevr]

I would have suggested this before but what would also be good is a seasonal hunt leaderboard system. These can create competition amongst players (fighting for top spot in their public leaderboard) and interest them in comparing their progress to others. Rather than just have a single leaderboard with the whole player base, instead each player must enter)(hunt season) and then they are match made with others at similar level/skill/progress as seen fit. Rewards can be distributed amongs players in their leaderboard at the end of a season (e.g 2-4 weeks).

[DrWho2010]

I would rather they take the current solo-able monsters (B ranks?) and give some kind of ability that allows you to track and/or locate them. The main reason I never do them is because it's a lot of time running around the map just to try and find them.

They have added this now. If you fly around the map you will get the message "you sense your mark to the (direction)."