Macro_Ninja

Originally Posted by Sentry4

Beating a good player behind anything is hard, espically an easy button like a Thug/Pain MM.

That's why i created my ele/therm. To balance.

When an easy-button thinks he's special, i break out mine, so we can truely see whos better....because they usually don't wanna switch for some stupid reason.

The battle was hard, espically because heal decay was on, and thugs do a ton of damage even at ranged. And even if i got his pets end low, which i could only do in melee range, the bruiser with painbringer would KoB me. I'm just lucky the old build had 2 KB IOs stuck somewhere in it.

I'd use inspirations if i needed them, i'm not that weak

Originally Posted by Digital_Synapse

Why not just make the Sidekick level selected at an NPC, just like the Difficulty setting? If you don't want everyone having access to PL'ing, then make the NPC accessible via a veteran's badge, like say at the 36 month mark have the NPC open up to set your SK level. That way only experienced players earn the right to PL.

example:

Yes, I would like to change my Sidekick level to:

-1 Normal
-2 Rough
-3 Difficult
-4 Nearly Impossible
-5 Power Level

*gasp* did I seriously just suggest that "Power Level" be a choice?!?! Why yes I did.

I fail to see why there is such an outcry against this practice. Why does it matter to player A that player B power leveled? One of the more common reasons I have heard is the so-called "PL Noob". I guess my characters lack the super vision required to tell the difference between a PL'd player without a clue, and someone who is just plain STUPID. Honestly, I fear Stupidity is far more rampant than PL'ing, and a whole lot less manageable.

I pay my money too, I should be able to have the gameplay that I want just like everyone else. You're against power leveling? Fine, DON"T DO IT. Leave it to the experts... I have played many characters up on my two accounts. I have done every story arc, every mission, every TF/SF/Trial. I really don't like playing a lowbie, nor am I alone in this. The mechanic currently exists that let's me avoid this. Let me play MY game, and you can play YOUR game.

Then there are the people who say, "With this, maybe the AE missions will be more story oriented, instead of all these farm missions". Well, I briefly waded into the pool of AE missions just to see... maybe 1 in 50 was actually worth my time... maybe. Yes, I know they are "rated" to help better arcs rise to the top... but you're idea of "good" does not always coincide with mine.... obviously... In actuality, I have seen very few missions in the AE that I would consider "PL Missions", mostly what I found were... well... dull, crappy stories lacking in originality and creativity.

Oh and for those of you that say, well just raise the mob levels to 54, then you get your 5 level gap... the 5 level gap was between the players, not the players and the mobs. It was in this that maximum xp can be gained with maximum speed. Making the mobs 4 levels above the person doing the killing... excuse me, "arresting with extreme force", makes it WAY more difficult to clear a mission and significantly slows down the XP per hour... and just to clue you in, that would be the "power" part of "power leveling"....

Originally Posted by TrueMetal

If it doesn't seem like the right way to go, there's a simple solution: Don't do it. Really that's all there is to it. I really don't get the moaning about this sort of thing.
I still play regular missions with friends and PuGs, the same way and the same amount (well maybe a bit less since I fit in a AE arc every now and then) I did before AE was released. And I16 wont change anything about that either. It'll only make things easier since now I can get a wider spread of levels on my team making iet easier to get it filled up.

Originally Posted by Rodion

There were already people who did this before AE: they invited "padders" or "fillers" to the team, then entered the mission and ran around to spawn the mobs. Then they kicked everyone off the team. The worst of these guys would spam everyone on the server multiple times. AE made this go away.

Because AE has no drops but tickets, AE's auto-SKing feature meant they don't lose anything by keeping the padders on the team, who often do nothing but stand by the door.

Seven doorsitters and a 50 soloing the spawns for 8 doesn't really constitute a team: I don't think the real teaming opportunities will be greatly reduced. The people who want to solo 8-man spawns will no longer have to bother the rest of us. Since they value their booty more than our company, it's no loss for them or us.

I've noticed that a lot of people think that you have to be on a big team to enjoy the game and reap good rewards. You don't. It's perfectly fine to have just two or three players. You can do 99.5% of the content that way -- including the AV missions (if you choose the challenge level properly AVs are scaled to EBs).

"But I'll get less XP that way!" you cry. Well, maybe not. I've seen all too many team leaders spend 20 minutes trying to fill that last spot on the team -- through a variety of mapserver disconnects, bio breaks, boredom, SG emergencies, etc. You're getting zero xp/minute while you stand around waiting for a full team. Since pickup teams have huge attrition rates, you typically wind up wasting a lot of time filling the team again after each mission. (A competent pickup team leader will not waste your time -- he'll keep things moving no matter what -- but that's an exhausting job and leaders of such caliber are hard to come by. I know I don't have the patience for it.)

Also, if you're playing with competent people that you know, you generally steamroll missions with no team wipes and other ugly surprises. Which means you can run at a higher challenge level and earn more XP. You can easily do twice as many missions an hour with a competent team of three or four regulars than you can with a pickup team you're trying to keep at eight.