Revolver

Wonderful guide, Brimestone. I've got a couple of concerns though, but first, a little background.

Lately I've been thinking about starting a controller, as it's the last AT I have no practical experience playing (highest is a 19 Mind/Emp). Every primary appeals to me in some ways, and turns me away in others. However, I think I've finally decided upon either fire/kin or fire/storm, and I'm leaning towards Storm. However, there are a few things I wanted to ask before I proceed.

The first concern is about the lack of endurance recovery, since I did notice many storm powers are on the expensive side. How did you deal with it? Was it a problem? I see you took Psi Mastery over Primal Forces, so I figured it may not be as bad as it seems.

The second concern was brought to me by a level 50 friend of mine who plays ill/rad, and he mentions that the lack of a self-heal is a problem because "controllers take little bits of damage that add up later on," to paraphrase him somewhat. Is this really a problem with Storm?

Holy crap, this is sweet.

And?!

My apologies. I still disagree with you bumping this old thread, but my comment was probably too harsh and unnecessary.

I just want to call to your attention that April Fool's Day doesn't make it appopriate to bump 6-month-old topics.

Within this very topic, I can find people who say they hate the wolf mission and they never do it. My argument has been used numerous times before, but I really agree with it: what's the point?

What kind of gamer does the wolf mission? The kind of gamer who'd accept any other "unfun" mission as long as it gave good exp. If somebody isn't happy doing the "fun" content, then I don't think it's worth the trouble of trying to force them into it.

Case in point: me. My first contact was Antonio Nash at level 1. My second contact was Colleen Nelson at level 32. And in between them is a long list of contacts with empty bars. But it's been nine months, and I'm still happy as a clam to be playing.

I love making alts, playing them, and examining each powerset and the way they relate to each other. I also love inventing concepts and imagining stories which nobody will ever read. I've seen most of the content through the eyes of my many alts, but to me, that's where the fun is. And at first, I felt somewhat resentful that Statesman came to the forums to tell me what's fun and what isn't.

Yeah, I know that I took it out of context, and that he didn't mean it that way. I'm cool with him trying to fix something that he thinks is wrong with the game. He is lead designer, after all. This is mighty big coming from a guy with an Invul scrapper. Nevertheless, what I'm not cool with is the collateral damage. All the people who'll fail the mission because of the timer, all the people who just want some quick exp to get out of a rough patch, and all the people like myself who actually found it fun.

Statesman, I understand that, as a developer, you want us doing the fun stuff. However, can you please explain how you're qualified to tell me what I consider "fun?"

Do you care about people bypassing the interesting content? Or just the part about gaining levels quickly? There is absolutely nothing you can ever do about the latter. It's built-in to the deepest part of the powergamer psyche. Rather than forcing them to do the "more interesting content," how about giving them a good enough reason to?

I'd bet dollars to donuts that you've noticed a trend regarding "unfun" missions and the reason why people do them. I'm just a nobody in the grand scheme of things, but, perhaps people are doing the wolf mission because the "more interesting content" isn't rewarding enough. Just a passing thought.

I remember when Ignite used to be good, when Caltrops was an AoE immobilize when slotted well enough, and when Super Speed gave a defense buff.

Sweet cherry molasses! Why won't this topic die? *sob*

The bizzaro Kheldians.

Comfort must be an incredible artist. Hire him immediately!

Actually, Issue #6 will be the smallest/lamest of them all, according to what we know about it.

Oooooh. I wanna be a gumshoe.

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Re: sorry, but the low end (1-20) is NOT fun now.

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It was fun before?

Statesman, I'm not sure if you're still reading this topic, but I'd like to chime in anyway as I was busy until now.

I *perfectly* understand how you want the size of the reward to equal the size of the risk. But where does convenience fit in? I can log on, solo in Crey's for an hour, and make far, FAR more progress than a controller who spent 30 minutes looking for and/or assembling a team.

This is why I believe that solo exp should be kept as it is, but group exp needs to be much higher. "Bigger spawns" and "increased difficulty" are all fantastic, but the exp we currently get for these activities are nothing because of the group penalty. I.e., A group of one gets 100% exp per kill, a group of two gets 50% per kill, etc. (Not exact numbers).

I believe these penalties need to be downgraded, or removed entirely. Yes, if a guy who isn't on my team kills a Carnie, then he gets half and I get half. But if we're on a team, there's no reason for our *team* effort's reward to be half as much. And if you plan on increasing mob difficulty, then the exp bonus needs to be adjusted accordingly. Unless, of course, slowing down progress is your intention...

A troll would be someone who intentionally creates a topic with stupid or inflammatory content simply for the thrill of having people get upset. For the most part you seem genuinely concerned about the "negative effects" of power-leveling. But comments like these may lead people to believe otherwise:

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Smug people that think they are intellectual feel that they can somehow spin that I am wrong or bad make me laugh. It is a simple cover for their inability to acknowledge that they cheat and whatnot int the game. Its such a male stereotype.

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5 stars for you. Sitting in traffic is exactly how I would describe the lower levels. And I do feel the need to drive on the shoulder, get off the pavement completely and drive on the grass, or any other "skipping in line" metaphore you can come up with.

It doesn't feel this way to new players because they don't know any better. But for me, creating an alt is like flying in first class, then getting stuck back in coach. I really want to play that Ice Tank (seriously), but the road to 30 looks like a sun-parched highway in the middle of the desert.

Now I can choose between crawling down this highway, or driving down it in a sports car. For most people, the decision is easily made.

He's discouraging it because it isn't fun, not because it's considered cheating.

What I would like to know is: if Statesman is so concerned about discourging boring behavior, then why put us in the position of having to choose between "boring street grind" and "boring standing-around-in-the-train-station?" Statesman and the rest of the devs are far from stupid, and I'm sure they realize that people engaging in this boring (and controversial) behavior is only a symptom of something much worse. By making the mobs more difficult, what exactly are they going to accomplish besides making the game slower?

Wow, this topic just keeps on truckin'.

This is something I mentioned earlier. What about those of us who aren't going to be a liability to any team we enter? And those of us who can't dread the thought of playing through level 20 again? Would the OP care if I PLed an alt, even though I have a level 50 I worked on myself? What if I want to play with my SG? Would that be against his code of ethics?

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After reading this thread, one might think hoardes of people were buying CoH, then getting insta PLd the moment they opened the box.

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That's the impression I seem to be getting too.

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the PLers tend to be the ones who have already experienced the game content and would be quitting without a shortcut to the higher levels for their Alts.

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Thank you! I'm done debating this topic, as too many people continue to conjure up horror stories about how their neighbor's sister was killed in a power leveling accident. But I would like to know how the OP feels about those who have done all the hard work already once before.

I can't believe this topic exploded so much. It seemed dead back when I stopped reading it.

So I'll concede that you're genuinely opposed to power leveling for ethical reasons. That's really cool with me, you've got your opinion and I've got mine. But throughout the course of this topic, you've gone from sounding like someone with a moral objection to someone who's on a serious high horse. In specific, I'm referring to all your comments about "the cheaters," "the liars," and how "we're all seeing their liar sides." If you don't agree with us then fine, but if you don't like people calling you jealous when it isn't true, then how do you think the opposing side feels when you call them cheaters and liars?

So far, nobody has said how it is exactly that power leveling is a crime. Comparisons have been made to real-life crimes which actually do harm, such as lying to get a welfare check. This is robbery of tax payer money. But there is no exp tax that heroes pay the major of Paragon City. I think most people just took my "it doesn't affect you" line way out of context.

Truth is, if it affected anybody I would be opposed to it as well, but so far, nobody has shown me how it is PL'ing is a crime, or how it affects their lives. I would really like to see how many people are PL'ing, versus how many people are leveling up themselves. Because this whole "it skews the results" idea doesn't really hold that much water unless there's a HUGE percentage of people doing it, and two guys you saw on your server one day doesn't qualify as huge.

And as me and others have said before, experience gain between members of a team has been repeatedly looked at. If they considered it a crime or a bug, it would have been fixed already. They're well aware of these "crimes" and they've chosen not to do anything about it. In my book, that alone disqualifies PL'ing as a crime.

So in review: Power leveling does not exploit any mistakes in programming, not enough people are doing it to skew any results, it does not affect you or anyone else, it does not put you in any sort of disadvantage, and the devs have done nothing about it despite being aware of the issue.

You can be morally opposed to it all you want, and I personally applaud your higher moral standards. But I'm gonna have to remain on the other side of the fence on this issue.

Because maybe they've already leveled several characters into their 40's, and now they've got a great idea for a character concept and don't want to go through the horrible grind, and the low- to mid-level content that they've seen so many times before.

Never having joined a supergroup, I lack the resources to power level myself. But I can certainly relate to the feeling of wanting to play a new toon with new power sets, and having to drudge through the thick mucus that are the low levels.

If you're referring to the one where you get a high level, a level 2, and a mid-level hero, and it distributed the exp in a way where the middle guy got buttloads of it, then that was ner--- fixed a while ago.

All I can say to you is that the devs have already decreased the amount of exp people in the same team get if they're too far apart in levels. They also fixed the "put someone in between the highest and lowest members of the team" bug. I'm sure if they considered it a problem, they would be looking into it by now; especially if it was a bug, which it isn't.

They're not exploiting any bugs, they're just taking advantage of intentionally poor game design. It may not be fair, but it isn't cheating.

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They cut enemy xp more than half, they are smarter, and the hp is raised too. So it will take longer, not much reward, and increase in risk.

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None of that is true.

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Being ethically oppossed to cheating is not a from of jealousy. After working hard I do not like to see people stealing the same thing that I earned.

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What exactly are they stealing? Is there a big safe at City Hall with all the exp everyone can ever earn? Did they pick-pocket your wallet which had 3 million experience points? What are they stealing? I see you're upset because they got a free ride and you didn't (I'm trying real hard not to call it envy), but as I said before, it has no impact on you whatsoever--that is, unless you let it.

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it doesnt negatively impact your ability to play your character in the slighest.

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That's all there is to say on the subject. Besides jealousy, there's really no reason for you to care.