RemianenI

Fulmens, you do realize that this entire post is almost the very definition of 'increasing accessibility', yes? And anyone who has played more than one MMO over the last 15 years will know that accessibility is the yellow brick road to profits. This is a for-profit enterprise running this thing, isn't it? Now, some people equate accessibility to 'dumbing down' and they might be right. But they're not cashing larger checks as a result of that dumbing down. So as long as 'easy mode' creates more revenue than 'omgz, so hard', it's going to be the path developers take. So yeah, if standing with that group produces more revenue for the developers (which, by its very nature, increases the life cycle of the game itself), I'll live with it. The alternative is, well, you are familiar with Auto Assault I'd wager?

So true. It seems like every time the devs try to stamp out some type of farm, they graze the people using that farm and light up the people writing real story arcs (whether good or bad). It's like using a Street Sweeper in a mall. Sure, you might hit the person you're aiming at but you'll take down far more people you aren't even trying to hit.

That is an awfully cynical point of view. It has the ring of truth to it, but it's still really cynical.

Wow, you are awfully naive if you truly believe this. Go back and look at AE's history up to this point. Is your point of view supported at all by it? Here's my prediction: the new farm type has already been worked out and is being used (VERY sporadically, since folks know how much datamining is done in this game). Once that change goes live, that new farm will be used more often until the "unwashed" (the munchkins as Venture puts it. The folks who don't know or care how a farm works, just that it gets lots of xp/tickets fast with little effort) catch wind of it. Then they'll use it to the exclusion of all else, creating a data point for Marty and starting the whole sordid cycle over again. For like the twentieth time in 3 years.

What's Einstein's definition of insanity again?

That's just it though. Did this game not exist prior to F2P? I have two accounts and with each one I've purchased all of the booster packs released except two (animal and steampunk) on the second acct. My primary account still has a 'buy' button next to the booster pack parts I bought YEARS ago.

I think it's annoying and takes away from what is generally a good feature. But now, I'm not buying anything from the cash shop except costume slots, storage expansions, and power sets. All three of which have hard coded limits in place that prevent me from buying what I've already bought and no longer need.

Fixed. You still get one to two bars per run in the early 30s, which is preferable to standing around trying to find a team for many. DfB is probably the most accessible content in the game since you don't have to have a strong (solo) build to do it effectively and it takes next to no time to complete.

Hi Forbin. I've been here since June of 2004. Both of my accounts are paid up until deep into 2012. I'm not going anywhere, and I tend to use the trial to get to at least 22 (Talos/Sharkhead range) since I pretty much hate the levels prior to that. But on a few occasions, I've taken characters into the 30s. I've also done the CEBR thing once. I tried it, it was cool but then I went back to doing whatever I had been doing before. Basically what I'm saying is, your brush is too broad.

It's possible to do the trial to 50 but it'll slow to a crawl starting at around 38 or so. When I say 'slow to a crawl', I mean like half a bar (probably far less) per run, if my projections are anywhere near the mark.

Would you go to college so you can work at McDonald's flipping the proverbial burgers?

What I mean to say is, if the method you describe requires practice, care, precision, and the oft-misused "skill" to accomplish the same thing the path of least resistance (i.e. the "usual method") does, how can you blame people for wanting to go with the latter option? There are many people who believe this game starts at 50 (boy, what a departure from previous years. But I digress...) and with all of the "farming" (trials, etc) that "has to be done" to fully kit out a character, there aren't many who are willing to spend the time necessary to learn how to effectively use the tactics you allude to. Easier to roll up a class that levels fast or supports really well and jump into teams and do things "the right way" (i.e. the easiest way/the way it's always done/etc).

The people who think RMTers use AE as a primary means of inf generation don't know any RMTers (from ANY game) and/or are so naive as to believe AE is the single most profitable activity in CoH. It's not, by any stretch of the imagination. Go look at the ever escalating market value of purples and PvP IOs. Now, consider how often salvage and recipe prices spike (especially after double xp weekend and/or an issue that rolls out new powersets). Freedom is making these people drool at the prospects of all those fr00bs descending on the game with ZERO clue on what the 'market value' of anything is. Some of those people will be PL'd up (often for prestige purposes) which will lead to even more "NAO!" type buyers.

The OP has no idea how creative farmers can be (and exploiters are 10x more creative than farmers - and no, they're not the same group of people). It took Giant all of a couple hours to find a solution that beats the so-called nerf and might be even better than the original solution was. That dev change was like trying to solve a clogged drain by turning off the water (hint: the drain's still clogged).

I do think Venture's analogy was awesome though (true too).

The slower, more casual style is typically reserved for solo. When teaming, you have to consider the goals and playstyles of all the people in the team. Not everyone is okay with suboptimal XP (often less than solo) in a slow moving group where everyone's reading the dialogue and having coffees between every mission.

If it helps any, look for me. My villains are also on Infinity and I have characters from 50 down to 6. I'm usually open to teaming but PUG experiences from the past have made me kinda leery.

I love people like you.

Blueside it's especially heinous. Sure, the merging of the tram lines has made it a little easier but it still sucks to get a mission from a contact in Founders and have the mission be in Kings Row. Or worse, those legacy contacts that make you do eleventy billion missions (half of which seem to be fedexes) before they give you their phone number (I'm lookin' at you, Agent Six! Amanda Loomis too, in the buttcrack of IP). It's just not worth the hassle when you have scanner and tip missions which benefit the entire group (advancing them toward safeguard/mayhems in that zone and alignment).

Yep. I've seen 'em on Virtue, Infinity (Cap ffs!), and Victory. On a Saturday night in Talos on Victory, it's not all that rare to have one of them posted in WW running their script though Atlas is far more common a location, it seems. It's just one of those things you just have to deal with (much like taxes) and I don't think the devs can really do anything substantive to put a stop to it. Or, they could, but it would come at a great cost that can't be justified.

Yup, leaving out the part where their momotard behavior made them persona non grata.

The OP makes me glad I don't play any of my kins in PUGs.

That'd be kinda hard since Sleeper was in Velious and that expansion didn't come out until like late 2000 (and no one was in ST until March or April of '01....because it was launched broken). Furthermore, they weren't killing Kerafyrm. They were exploiting on the warders (Ventani is the one they got busted on, if I remember right). And that case has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion btw. In fact, there are people here who wish Paragon Studios would do to people here what SOE did to the people who exploited the warders, or exploited Ssra Temple (zone crash! Raid mob reset!) or exploited Grieg (pre-leashing) or PoJ trials or exploited pathing in PoTime and so on and so forth. Blue diamond dupe bug? BANS! Cheese "exploit" (due to some dev setting the resale price of a craftable item wrong)? BANS! We don't tend to see too much of that here.

Removing XP from AE would be a clear message from the devs that they've given up on ever keeping pace with the exploiters and that they've given up, for all intents and purposes, on the Architect feature. That would be unseemly considering how many copycats are being produced right now (I'm looking at you, STO's Foundry).

Preach!

But for the stunning chica in my avatar, Ravenna: Rah-VEHN-nah. Most of my heroes' names are easy since they end in -shrike so (in the sig, Diamond, Flame, and Swift)....

One character that no one even tries to pronounce (no idea why) is Aridania. Derr, AH-REE-DAHN-YA.

4 is wise.

I start slotting sets at 27 (L30 IO sets). The reason for that is kinda odd. Back in the day, I stockpiled sets that weren't in vogue at the time (especially Thunderstrike and Detonation). I'd stash the recipes on rarely played alts and keep on keepin' on. Fast forward a couple years (AE was what, issue 14?) when I logged one of those characters in and realized their recipes were full. OMG, building spree. So with around 18 full sets of Thunderstrike (all level 30) left now, I've still got some time before I have to worry about buying any more. Plus, for me, why I do sets at such an early level is the same reason why I eat halibut, steak, or the like or spend money playing online games when there are people who can't get the ends to within an inch of each other (much less make those ends meet): because I can. I don't believe in depriving myself or deferring enjoyment when it's not necessary to do so.

I like how my characters perform when they're IO'd. I like not having to worry about enhancements from 27 to 47 (ish). I like being able to sell pretty much every drop I get on that character, thus preparing them for when they'll need a bankroll (47ish). Whether it makes sense to others is immaterial. I have one of every modern console....and I don't even LIKE console games (PC 4 LYFE, y0). To many people, that doesn't make sense. Besides, it's not like making inf is hard. No use hoarding it.

Seems easier to do with Energy Melee and Super Strength but yeah, generally speaking, this is right on point.

I'm taking Kick on all my characters who get the fighting pool, for these reasons:

Yes indeed!

I have fighting on SS and EM characters (as well as dual pistols and archery blasters) so the kick is better since I already have enough punches (SS/EM) or it fits the set better (DP/Arch). I didn't slot them (not even as mules) so they're only good for effect, for me.

Wow, lot of assumptions in this post. First off, I have never had difficulty putting together a team. Then again, to me 'a team' doesn't mean '8 people' like it does with many other folks. I'm a team all by myself (2boxing). I recruit in a global channel I frequent and can add anywhere from 1 to 7 more people (dropping one of my boxes if necessary), pretty much at any time of the day (right JD? ).

Secondly, you're assuming that adding the features you favor would be some kind of panacea for the problems you perceive with grouping. Look, teaming has issues that many people (myself included, with the exception of folks in the aforementioned global channel) don't want to deal with. For example, I don't want your (general 'your', not you specifically) real life impeding on my free time. Crying baby? Your real life. Having to constantly go afk makes you a drain that isn't really contributing as much as a person who'd be there full time. Yes, I understand quite well the issues that come with things like that. It's one reason why I won't join or make a team if I'm going to be distracted constantly (or at all).

Thirdly, while you get more xp by teaming, you do not get more drops. Thus, you level fast but are often poor (at least for those not initiated enough to mitigate that). So people get to 50 and then complain about IO prices because they haven't made any scratch along the way. This is one reason (perhaps not the biggest though) AE missions remain somewhat popular. EVERYONE on the team gets tickets. Everyone is rewarded in kind for contributing. That's not the case with teams in "normal" content.

All that said, the autogroup thing would be a good idea if it was opt-in (not opt-out, like in STO). My niece loves PUGs to death for the sheer carnage and chaos that often occurs in them (she says, "It's like watching two Japanese bullet trains collide. All you can think to say is, OMG"). I can't say I share that view. But an autogroup mechanic would be awesome for those passive types who don't like making groups (which takes time, especially if you're one of those 'group = 8 people' types) or don't like global channels.

The devs' efforts fell down and went boom the day I9 went live.

I completely agree. Even as a primarily solo player, I have team oriented characters that I use for that purpose (even if that purpose is only served as being the caddy for characters on my other account).

Not exactly. Anyone who remembers 'City of Blasters' would know that. Groups often slowed you down without providing anything necessary to improve your XP per time....unless the group was all AR/dev, that is. What would you need a group for with Smoke Grenade? You're already pretty much unhittable and that defender isn't going to do any damage worth mentioning and their buffs are largely unnecessary. Use them to pad, hit cloaking device, and superspeed through the map to set spawns then drop the dead weight ("Thanks!").

My primary issue with teaming in CoX (for reasons other than socializing) is trading inf/income for XP that may or may not exceed what I could do on my own (depending on the team). So I'm literally paying for that XP, which is a fair trade for me (because I regularly interact with the market) but may not fit for most players (who don't, quite frankly). I do recall struggling to afford SOs at 22 whereas now, I can afford that by level 10 (if not sooner). Or maybe that's just the difference between the 'leave it overnight' types and the 'GOTTA HAVE IT NAO!' faction. But I do have several friends who zoomed through the levels jumping from team to team and wound up with lint in their pockets (figuratively speaking) at 40+.

DON'T say it. I know of four people who spend money from their unemployment checks, on their MMO subs and I can almost guarantee there are thousands more (in, oh let's just say, another game).

But no, not in that boat. I bought GR for one account but will buy the box set (Complete Collection or summat?) for the other maybe next month.

For the OP, maybe sign up for the various contests they run for a free copy?

Um, yeah. I would imagine most everyone has at least a few on queue. I'm planning to max out on slots on my main servers (Virtue, Infinity, Victory) just so I don't have to decide which server to put which characters (outside of side restrictions - i.e. my villains are on Infinity, exclusively, with heroes on Victory and Virtue. That setup's not going to change).

You do realize that if the above is true then your argument is moot, yes? If a "significant amount of the player population" wants something (reasonable), they get it, as they should. Few people actually care what you (or I or him or her) think in this regard. Personally, I've been clamoring for energy melee for scrappers since Issue 4 because, as you allude to, there are things I could do with that set's secondary effect (even after it's been gutted like it has) combined with a prodigious regeneration rate (and now, IOs). But I think the devs see that as well so I'm not holding my breath. But the whole "it doesn't fit thematically for me" argument is the sign of a very self-absorbed persona. Bottom line, if it'll make a 'significant amount of the player population' happy and can be done in a way that doesn't turn the game on its ear, do it.

Oh and BrandX, sorry, Martial Arts doesn't come close to being a suitable stand-in for super strength. Tenzhi's right, MA doesn't have nearly the same 'feel' as super strength, by design. Tell me where I can find the foot stomp-esque animation for eagles claw. Haven't seen that one yet.

Newp, but I can telecommute and honestly, CoX doesn't require full attention most of the time. I only take time off for double xp weekends (since wasting time during those is a SIN) or expansion releases in other games.

Made 24 on an ill/rad controller and bought generic IOs for every slot on her (even the prestige sprints) and still had 104m left over. It's not all that hard. You just have to pay attention and spend half your time soloing. Actually half. Teaming is great for xp but horrid for loot. This concept is almost universal in MMOs.

I haven't slotted a single SO (or DO, for that matter) into any character of mine since I10. There's just no need to do so.

I disagree. I buy crafted generics for less than half the crafting cost every single day (and that's no exaggeration). While the above might be true for set IOs, it's not for generics. But patience is a virtue that not many seen to have anymore.

You'd have possibly an order of magnitude more "money".

I'll admit, I'm spoiled. There's no way I'd even bother playing a character with empty slots beyond level 12 (though I did do an experiment with no enhancements until 22). My typical path is L10 generics at L7, L15s at 12, L20s at 17, L25s at 22 then sets at 27+. With proper planning, I know from experience it's possible to have even the "big ticket" sets (like Obliteration, Kinetic Combat, and Basilisk's Gaze) fully slotted by 39. MA tickets for some uniques (Kismet, Karma/Steadfast Protection, etc) and typically merits for others (Regen tissue, Numina, Miracle, LOTG), in addition to selling the "crap" I get in between typically has me well over 100m by level 40. By 50, it just gets downright silly. With some luck, it gets to the point where going for Field Crafter is basically a given since the inf coming in is like a flood compared to the trickle of inf going out (even paying ridiculous prices for salvage).

The hardest part of all of this is starting out. But every journey begins with the first step. My situation is somewhat different since I probably have way more playtime than most. I've done Fury Flechette's method successfully (to the tune of 679m by level 42) and I've done Nethergoat's with intermittent play at work (wipe a spawn, hide and minimize window, return whenever and repeat). I've even done Fulmens' "get rid of inf by converting it to prestige" thing. It also helps that I like doing this sort of thing (I can go from dead broke in the newbie zone to the gold cap in WoW before I hit 70. 60 if I fixate on it). I also prefer to solo (or 2box) since it offers me the best reward per time. I've seen the wages of 'fast leveling without taking care of your gear/overall development' in other games and never wanted to wind up in that situation.

It just requires a bit of care and planning, really. The single person SG thing is a good idea too (and one I've followed since I6 ) but that's just for convenience and autonomy.