Textilian's Commonsense Solutions to Everyday Problems
Originally written 4/5/2008
Here are some of solutions I've found and the resources I use to keep from getting frustrated and keep the game fun. Your mileage may vary. Although I play both heroes and villains, I'll be using heroic terms, but the same solutions apply to strike forces v. task forces, etc. I will be using a conversational tone.
Section 1: Teaming
The Problem: You don't know how to set your team flag.
The Solution: Look at your chat widow. In the upper right corner, you will see "team." Click on it, and a widow will come up. You type your team message here, then use the drop down menu to set your "looking for team" status. Explanations are included in the tab, and it always defaults back to "Not seeking" if you join then quit a team or log-out.
The Problem: You want to be on a team. You're not sure how to go about this.
The Solution: First, ask yourself these questions. Do you want to be on a team, any team, or would you rather have more control over the team, what you do, who's on the team, etc? Do you want to gain experience, or are you looking for a specific badge, task force, etc? Have you have terrible experiences with PUGs (Pick Up Groups) in which they stole your lunch money and made fun of your sneakers?
Now that you've answered those questions, you have a better idea of what you want in a team. If you just want a team, any team, you can easily set your status flag to "Looking for Any" or "Looking for Missions" and type in a message like, "Looking for anything, just send invite." You will now receive invites from people forming teams, but it may take a while depending on other factors. If you want to get a tell first, add "No blind invites" rather than "Just send invite." If you're looking for something specific, include that in your search comment. I always add todays date to the end of the message, so people know the message is current. If you need a badge or a specific message, try asking in broadcast a couple of times, the request channel, or your server's badge channel.
If you've had bad experiences with PUGs and you're a little soured on them, try forming your own team. There are some great guides out there about forming and caring for you team, so I won't reiterate everything here. But in general, I've had good luck sending clear tells to potential teammates about level/difficulty of missions and size of team. Some people won't reply. It's not personal. Just move on to the next person. Add those interested, set a mission (not always yours), and set out. Be clear if you have a plan ("Textilian, please pull that minion. Everyone else, around the corner.") and don't be afraid to kick people who camp by the door soaking up xp, afk. All you have to do it demonstrate basic competency, some funny remarks if you can manage, and keep things rolling. You'll be fine. And read those other guides.
The Problem: You team stinks.
The Solution: Leave the team.
If you want more of a solution then this, ask yourself, why does this team stink? Do you know? Do you think the people on your team would be open to gentle suggestions via tells or would this be as useful as spitting in the wind? In my experience, it's not worth it to try and correct others in-game or on the boards. Either it's just a difference of opinion or playstyle, or they know they're wrong/stink and are too defensive to listen or don't care. If you do take the simple solution of just leaving, do it with
style. Say "Thank you for the team, but I have to get going." Don't make up reasons, if you wait until the current mission ends, good, but don't take the parting shot of "You all stink!" because probably, everyone on the team doesn't stink, and you may want to play with these people at a later time on a better team. You don't want them remembering you as "The jerk who insulted us then bailed." If one person in particular was just a jerk you felt you had to leave, /ignore them then /gignore them. Petition them if think it's appropriate. Then go do something else for a while, until you're less frustrated with the game in general.
The Problem: You want to run a particular task force, but you don't know enough people to form one.
The Solution: I can think of two easy solutions here. First, join your server's badge channel. You can find a list of available channels by right-clicking in your chat tab and selecting "browse available channels." Find the one for your server. If there's more than one, I usually choose the one with the highest population and see what it's like for a few days. If it stinks, I try the other one. If someone I do know and trust has had bad experiences with it, I'll usually chose a different channel. But assume you've found one, you join it, and you add it to a tab and it's great. You can now use it to find people who want badges and are usually willing to form teams to get the harder-to-get ones, like Task Forces. You will have an easier time getting teams for some task forces v. others. It happens. If you have not run the task force in question before, it is important for you to research it. Try
paragonwiki first and also look at some of the guides on leading teams in game. You want a clear plan, the ability to communicate the plan, and a willingness to try and lead, even if you're not sure how.
The second solution, which I favor, is to join your server's message board. If you're a known person already, all good and well. Otherwise, introduce yourself. Then post clearly what you want to run, when, any team requirements you may have, and the general strategy you have for success. If you haven't fun the task force or trial before, go ahead and be upfront about that, it's more important you're honest and have a plan than trying to bluster your way through it. Sometimes more experienced people, who have run the task force before will sign up, and help you lead. This method provides the following advantages: You have more control over who joins and sometimes what character they bring, you know everyone on the team is aware of the general plan, and you know everyone has cleared the time, so you're less likely to lose half of your team halfway through.
Remember, if you want to continue to lead task forces like this, you need to do an acceptable job, so go read up on leading, communicating, and the specifics of what you want to lead people in. Do your best and be neither a jerk nor a pushover, and you'll probably be fine.
You can also just set your flag and team message to "Looking for TF" or advertise in broadcast, or form a team in the standard way, but you have far less control about the team with these methods and really, who's better qualified to lead a team of heroes or villains than you, dear reader and shouldn't you get the best?
Section 2: Mission difficulties
The Problem: You can not complete a mission due to the difficulty of the mobs or the boss at the end of the mission.
The Solution: There are several possible solutions here. First, check the mission difficulty. Just bring down your mission tab, and see what it says next to your name. "Heroic" is the lowest difficulty setting and the default, "Invincible" is the highest, everything else is in between. If it's higher than Heroic, try adjusting down then resetting the mission, this will make the mobs smaller or lower level. Second, you can form a team to help you with this mission. Sometimes, another player will make all the difference in the world. Third, you can drop the mission. You can drop one mission every three days. Fourth, you can stock up on useful inspirations and/or temporarily increase your might and protection at your SG's empowerment station. This helps a lot.
Finally, you can always hold onto the mission until you level up, then go fight the now-lower-than-you mobs. This works better at the lower levels, obviously.
The Problem: You can not complete a mission because you can not find the mission objective, ie, the glowie.
The Solution: First, is your sound on? Sometimes, I can hear the glowies and hone in on the sound more easily than I can spot them. I do have hearing problems, so this doesn't always work, but often it does. Next, are you sure are you found all of the rooms, levels in the room, cleared the map? Some of those maps are tricky. Speaking of tricky, the glowies are sometimes up high on the wall, hidden behind crates, or small and easy to miss. Try a systematic sweep. Another solution is to have a friend come in and find it for you. Finally, if you still can't find the glowie, try resetting the mission so the glowie might spawn in an easier-to-find location, doing another mission then coming back to it, or just trying again later. Sometimes fatigue will cause me to miss the obvious. You can also drop the mission, or, if you've tried the other solutions and you just can't find it, you can send in a support ticket. I've had to do this once, and the game master was there within five minutes and found the glowie for me. I remain convinced it was a very tricky or bugged one, and feel no shame.
The Problem: The NPC you have been sent to rescue or kidnap won't stay with you.
The Solution: The NPC is a little stupid. But you can help them overcome this by turning off your stealth so they can see you clearly, turning off sprint so they can keep up, maintaining line-of-sight with them as much as possible, stopping and waiting for them to catch up, going back and getting them if they get lost, and if they get stuck on geography, making a wide arc around the problematic rock, crate, etc. You can also drop missions, check paragonwiki to see if the mission is bugged with no NPC spawning (some are), or come back to the mission later. Often, trying again when you're fresh will make things easier.
Section 3: Playing with others
The Problem: You want to join a supergroup. You don't know anyone.
The Solution: As with teams, you first have to ask yourself what you want. Do you just want teleporters to other zones? Do you want easy access to enhancement storage, empowerment stations, a crafting table, a hospital, people to play with, do you want to be able to edit the base and do you want to be the only one to do so? Once you've determined what you want, you can start to look for it. Many supergroups have information on the group and how to join in the supergroups thread on the appropriate server board. Others use the "Super/Villain Group" forums. Some advertise in broadcast. Be clear on what you want, ask if your needs will be met, and if you find a group who says they can meet those needs, join them. If it doesn't work out, leave. In my experience, the supergroups who did not advertise in broadcast have had higher standards of recruitment, meaning I'm more likely to like my SG mates. They're also more likely to trust me. Some SGs have been burned by people joining, emptying out the enhancement storage, and selling it all, right before quitting. They may restrict access to the enhancement bins. This is their prerogative, but they should be clear on how you can earn access. Earn a certain amount of prestige? Lead a number of missions? Is it always restricted to the top leaders?
Remember, there's no one way of running or belonging to a supergroup. Just find what works for you. If you want, you can even form your own and have it just be you and your alts. There are guides on how to do this, too, you might give them a read.
The Problem: You keep getting SG invites and you don't want to.
The Solution: Go under "options" and set yourself to "Always decline SG invites." Refrain from sending the inviter tells detailing what jerks they are. This is rude and being abusive is against the EULA. It's also foolish to assign malice to the invite. Maybe you have a name similar to their friends name, maybe they saw you around and thought your concept was cool, maybe it was a mistake. Just decline, set your options, and move on with your life.
Section 4: Other frustrations
The Problem: Your messages in broadcast keep getting lost in all of the other broadcast. It's interfering with your messages, you're feeling frustrated and maybe even judgmental of how these other people are using broadcast. "Darn those powerlevelers, clogging up the channel, how am I supposed to find a team now?!"
The solution: Try finding another way to get your message across. Switch to tells, the badge or teaming channel for your server, request. You can also ignore the people who's messages you don't like, with a simple "/ignore" If you strongly disagree with their message and feel they are spamming the channels, use "/ignorespammer" If you're having problems finding teams in general, you might want to find a more active supergroup. Many servers have guides to active supergroups on their message boards. For special events, like Giant Monster sightings and task forces and trials, your server's badge channel is an excellent resource. You can also schedule things in advance on the message boards, just by setting a time, date, and being clear on what you're doing. If you haven't run a particular event before, there are other excellent guides available and paragonwiki is an invaluable resource.
Now that you've changed your tactics, it's time to change your attitude. Are you the only one with the right to use the publicchannels? No, you are not. Does everyone else pay the same money you do? Yes, they do. Are you feeling frustrated with the game? Maybe it's time to take a break, step away for an hour or two, until what is supposed to recreation is fun again. Surely you have laundry which needs doing, homework, cookies to bake, a garden to weed, new shoes to buy? Sometimes, too much of one thing makes me crabby and I doubt I'm the only one.
The Problem: You need a badge with PvP requirements and you hate the very notion of PvP.
The Solution: First, let's talk about attitude again. You don't need the badge. You want the badge. That being said, there are a number of ways to get the location, timed and non-PvP accomplishment badges located in the PvP zones with minimal PVPing on your part. There are some great guides out there, I recommend "The Harsh Truth about PvP" by BuffyASummers and "The PVEers Guide to PvP" by Memphis Bill. You can go into the zones at non-peak hours, you can set yourself on a TF or Flashback and wait out the badges in the hospital, you can work on other badges, you can allow yourself to die, then let your body hang out in the zone. You can form a team. Others have said it better, so go read them then meet me back here.
You're back. Let's talk some more about attitude. I, personally, don't get a lot of joy out of PvP for the simple reason I'm bad at it. But when I go into the zones, I go in ready to fight. There are people who love PvP and they have as much right to play and
PvP in the PvP zones as I do to go in looking for badges. When I go into a zone, I go in expecting to have to PvP and probably
die, even though I hope I won't. I take inspirations, check on /whoall to see who's in the zone and not hiding, because I need every edge I can get. I place an invisibility buff on myself at the empowerment station, I run the zone missions, I /hide and /ghide and at all times, I'm ready to PvP. I won't do it well, but I'll do my best. And when I get frustrated, I leave the zones.
There is also a PvP committee, run by fellow players, who will organize PvP events if you want to try out any type of PvP. You can find them here on the boards and they'll help you out. I've had fun at their events, in spite of my lack of PvP skills.
Try the strategies outlined above and in those guides, and, as with any recreation, when it stops being fun, stop doing it.
The Problem: You want a badge you have outleveled.
The Solution: You can flashback to the badge mission via Oraborus or you can ask on your server's badge channel if anyone has that mission and is willing to invite you along. At this time, you can not flashback to Safeguard or Mayhem missions, so to get the exploration badges from those missions, you will need to go in with another player who has the appropriate mission. Just be patient, keeping looking, and it will work out. With villains, if you miss an unlockable contact, you can obtain the appropriate badge, then flashback to them.
The Problem: People are being mean to you on the boards
The solution: First, are they really being mean to you? Or are they disagreeing with your idea or assertion. Are they arguing with your arguments, examining your claims logically, or are they attacking you, the poster? If it's the former, time to adjust your attitude again. There's no tone in text, and what you might be reading as "mean" wasn't meant that way. Also, it's the nature of boards, of public discourse, that people are going to agree. Be happy people are reading and thinking critically.
If it is the later, however, if the attacks are personal, don't reply in kind. Report the post to the board moderators, ignore the poster, and move on to something else. Take some time to feel superior if you want, just don't post that you are, because then you don't be.
The Problem: You're not having fun.
The Solution: Go do something different. Do something different in game, like street sweeping, badge hunting, a task force, teaming, crafting, etc. Or go do something away from the game. It will be fun again, and this isn't mandatory.
