The most efficient way to progress your character in Ashes of Creation is by playing in a group. Regardless of if that means gaining experience to level up your character, or crafting the best gear in the game, playing within a group is hands-down the easiest and fastest way to progress.
However, it’s only natural that there will be times where you are playing alone. Maybe your friends and guild mates are offline, or you only have an hour or two to jump online. Regardless, you will find yourself in situations at times when you’re playing solo, and you’ll want to make sure you’re being as efficient as possible (and not slowing down your character’s progression while playing.)
Below are 7 tips on activities and best practices on what you should consider when playing alone in Ashes of Creation.
1.) Gather Resources
The launch of Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Phase Three completely revamped the importance of gathering resources throughout Verra. As of today, you can gain an extremely high amount of experience simply by gathering resources. As the quality of the resources you gather increases, so does the amount of experience you gain. In some cases, you can gain over 10k experience from simply gathering a single resource node (if it’s legendary)!
Additionally, you will gain some gathering experience within that specific profession, eventually allowing you to upgrade that profession to Apprentice, Journeyman, or even further (allowing you to gather new resources).
If you find yourself having an hour or two alone, consider gathering resources around Verra. Not only can you make some gold by doing so, but you’ll also be surprised by how much experience you’ll gain!
2.) Store Items Often
When you’re playing solo, you’ll likely not have another player there to help you defeat mobs, provide you buffs, or even heal you to help make sure you don’t die. With that being said, if you’re playing solo, you have more responsibilities on staying alive – and you’ll want to make sure you’re aware of your surroundings as you can easily get overwhelmed by mobs and defeated.
If you die in Ashes of Creation, you not only lose some experience (via XP debt), but you also lose 50% of the items within your Materials section of your inventory. Yes, you can pick up half of those if you walk back to where you died and collect your items from your ashes, but it’s still not a great situation.
To minimize the overall risk of death as much as possible, be sure to be prepared with a handful of consumables and store your materials within your storage often so you don’t lose much when it does happen!
3.) Flag for PvP Cautiously
If you’re playing alone, then chances are flagging for PvP is not a good idea. Many players within Ashes of Creation typically play in groups (and in some cases raids), and even if you see a random pile of ashes that you can loot, player that may be flagged off in a corner, be cautious, as there’s a good chance they have friends that are close by looking for a fight!
If you’re feeling confident though, don’t let us stop you! Loot those ashes if you see something you want, or challenge that player to a 1v1. Just be prepared to adjust your strategy if others show up!
To help make sure you’re prepared for the fight, check out our Ashes of Creation PvP guides that cover each available class!
4.) Use Your Surroundings
In many cases, you may be fighting mobs or named enemies near a body of water, or a hill, or even a large rock. By jumping up the hill and dropping down, it could cause the enemy you’re fighting to have to take a long walk to get to where you are, providing you with more time to charge up your next attack, regenerate some health, or even get away safely.
5.) Choose Your Artisan Professions Wisely
If you plan on playing solo for a majority time you play Ashes of Creation, then you’re going to want to make sure you choose your artisan professions wisely. This is primarily because you can’t rely on others for every role, meaning you need to be selective on what you want to focus on.
The limitations regarding artisan certifications for professions are the following:
- Novice: 22 Professions
- Apprentice: 5 Professions
- Journeyman: 4 Professions
- Master: 3 Professions
- Grandmaster: 2 Professions
6.) Prep Your Mount
When playing solo and fighting aggressive mounts, you may want to strategically summon your mount off to the side. Just far enough where mobs won’t attack it but also close enough where you can quickly run to and ju mp on to run away if things get too dicey!
This simply allows you to get away from mobs and to safety a little bit quicker and will also take away the action of actually summoning your mount (which in the current state of the game could add an extra second or two).
7.) Go Your Own Pace
If you’re playing solo – enjoy the adventure. Don’t be discouraged if a full group of high-leveled players walk by, or if you’re not progressing as fast as others. Playing solo is a choice, and if you decide to play solo (or start solo to make friends along the way), then that’s totally fine. Ashes of Creation allows you to play the game any way you’d like – so make sure you do so!
How to Play Ashes of Creation
If you are interested in joining in on the fun and playing Ashes of Creation, then create an account here and visit the “shop” section of the Ashes of Creation website to purchase your key. Upon purchase, you will receive access to play the rest of Alpha Two, along with a key for Beta 1 and Beta 2. Additionally, you will receive your one month of gameplay for Ashes of Creation upon launch, and $15 worth of embers (in-game marketplace credits).
