I also wonder what if we did it so all quests had to be on elite but could be done at +3-4 would that encourage or force some more grouping or would people still just be able to roll through the content.
You would likely have more grouping, but +3-4 levels on Elite is an easy roll-through for most content.
id love to have a season with the hounds level of difficulty back minus all the bugs of course but that was the most thrilling season of all of them to me.
I enjoyed the challenge the hounds brought, too, but it made the HCL season a "play or don't" choice for a lot of folks splitting their time with other real-life events, like families and work. I know a few folks who "watch the kids" or "work" (me) while playing DDO. Generally, if you have to leave your toon in a safe spot for a few minutes, that's okay. With the hounds, that was usually an all-expenses-paid trip to the LoLS.
Edit: Stickier Mimics might be a solution. They can suppress spell casting and SLAs for 6 seconds (Levels 1-10), 12 seconds (L 11-20), and 18 seconds (L21+). They can increase ability cooldown timers by a similar amount, in addition to slowing characters. Players could still solo quests, but opening chests without a group ready to kill the mimic and heal your butt would be a significant risk.
Edit 2: We can even mix the hounds and mimic ideas by evolving mimics to use different elements. Normal mimics do acid damage and are sticky. Loud Mimics do sonic damage and stun (DCs are high). Frost Mimics do cold damage and freeze (paralyze effect with high DC) or slow on a failed save. Shocking Mimics have a no-save 6-second stun for the character opening the chess, but that character also gets a +1000 Diplomacy check (the Mimic's strategy is to ignore the stunned enemy and seek other threats). A Flaming Mimic casts a blinding Wall of Fire.
