Wicked_Wendy

Yeah you are NOT going to get to face lower level enemy groups no matter where they let you take radios.. Plus, hate to mention it, but in the zones you mentioned radio missions don't even exist for the appropriate levels. Radio missions don't exist in AP or Galaxy since you don't get access to them until level 5 in Kings Row and Croatoa has never had radio missions. One possible solution is the Ouro system .. you can't get radios but you can find short arcs in those zones and run them solo for numerous Time travel badges along with being able to face old foes once again!

Don't forget this varies depending on where you log off. If you have you character sleep in the Police station you can add an additional 25% to your XP but again that does not apply in any AE mission you run and that 25% is time sensative so before losing the chance to earn 175% XP outside of AE for up to 2 hours its better to run missions elsewhere until that runs out. Also while you don't use Patrol XP in Ae missions, aside for erasing debt, it doesn't increase as you level so if you have 10 bars of Patrol at level 10 and then increase to say level 15 or 20 you can watch the blue bars disappear since you earned X amount of XP creidt and at the higher level that doesn't equate to as many bars. I have seen my patrol XP vanish completely this way during double XP weekends since I was leveling so fast I simply outleveled the amount I had on hand.

This is probably one of the best things you can do.. As mentioned on some teams even as you approach 50 healing is appreciated with the new trend to to go +4 X 8 but your biggest assets at higher levels are your buffs. Clear Mind recharges quickly anyway so little is required there but enhancing your Fortitude with a couple Recharge Reductions will enable you to recover it faster and use it on more teammates. Your Recharge and Recovery aura come in handy too so slot a recharge there so you can use them more often. And use them once you get them .. nothing upsets a team, and its leader, more than checking your powers and KNOWING he/she has Fort and CM why doesn't he/she use them? Of course you are always going to find that one teammate that doesn't quite understand that the only player on the team you can't hit with CM is YOU. I had on gut screaming for CM against the lost.. I finally got sick of it and replied "Well as soon as I wake up from being mezzed I can try do that if I don't get held/put to sleep again first!"

Oh and for goodness sake take and enhance your attacks... Sure you can't do as much damage as a Controller and no where near as much as a Blaster but damage is damage! I've had team leaders send tells thanking me for my work when I play my Emps and that always comes up. A level 49 Emp that has almost no attack chain and tries to play HEALBOT is looked upon as just leeching XP. Even at lower levels where healing can make a huge difference I always took and enhanced attacks viewing it as preventative medicine.... If nothing is left standing to damage the team then they don't need to be healed and we can move on to the next mob. No you don't need to ignore your primary powers for attacks but don't ignore them either.

When you hit your Epic Powers you can either go for added damage or look into holds and or debuffs that will help a team .. or skip the Epics and pick up the Leadership Pool to further BUFF the team.

As mentioned advertsing yourself properly can also be a key. If your going to stand around in PI shouting "47 level H3AL0R LFT" you may find yourself standing for a long time. If you advertise 47 level DEFENDER LFT heals, rez, buffs and ____" you may find a team a whole lot quicker.

My biggest suggestion to you... find a good group of friends to play with as regularly as possible. That cuts down on hunting for a PUG that will actually take you since EMP seems to be the "Let's pick on this powerset" list at the moment. My friends know who I am and what I can and will do and I never have a problem getting an invite to any team they form or even one's that one or two of them have joined.. having someone to vouch for the fact that you KNOW how to play your AT is always a huge help.

Yeah I hate those too. Latest one I saw was during a Synapse TF in Steel Canyon. I rounded a corner and found myself stairing at level three level 48 Nemesis minions. Sad part is these days with everyone using Ouro portals the "owner" of said ambush probabloy doesn't even realize what they have left behind. Their contact sends them to Steel or even Atlas for one mission, they complete and when they emerge get the next mission which spawns the ambush. They toss down a portal and are gone by the time the ambush arrives and then it stands around waiting for them.

Of course I have also been attacked on the Train platform in brickstown where I saw someone streak past me and jump on a train and i was left to deal with the ambush that was chasing them ..which of course had managed to avoid the police Drones!

LOL I have been on PUGs like that all Controller or nothing but controllers and defenders and your right they breeze through missions. It's been quite a while ago but I even joined an all controller Katy Hannon TF and we completed in a little over 19 minutes.

Oh and Ben I agree there are certain TFs that don't necessarily require a mandatory line up but do go a whole lot smoother when you make sure you have at least those one or two ATs that are necessary. I personally would never think of doing an Imperious TF without a tank or a good Brute and the same is true of Statesman's TF. Of course anyone that has ever done a Hamidon raid knows the leaders there have that down to a science and while Rikti Mothership raids don't necessarily require individual teams with the precise lin up they do DAMAND 2-3 teams to even attempt attacking the Pylons and the ship if you want success. Oh and of course most of the Shard TFs go a lot smoother and faster if someone on the team has flight as their travel power along with recall friend for those that don't fly.. since the geisers can be a real pain to deal with.

Well how about Earth 1940s? A good deal of the game lore revolves around the 5th Column and the Council so why not send us back to say Germany 1939 or so and have us battle 5th Column trying to overthrow Hitler and the Nazis and change history? I realize including HITLER in the game would be considered very Politically Incorrect but just leave him out altogether and focus on some Field Marshall or whatever that is siding with the Column to become the new leader of a Facist Germany.

I don't think the Midieval theme is completely farfetched either since so much of the game revolves around magic. How about a zone where COT have discovered a way to travel back in time and are attempting to destroy King Arthur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table and obtain the magic that Merlin posssed?

Then again its not like we HAVE to time travel backwards is it? Lots of comic books have series where a hero from our time travels to the future. Maybe come up with a whole new alien race that have defeated the Rikti and now plan to conquer every world the Rikti ever controlled or tried to including the earth. Could even allow us to have Rikti survivors in missions as (OMG) allies!

Oh yeah I forgot Striga. Yeah that's pretty empty these days too and I am sort of a temp power junkie and Striga has some good ones. But every contact insist that you go street hunt at least once during their arc. To make matters worse.. I have teamed there recently, well a few months back, and the contacts don't give their missions in any order so if a 3 or 4 man team are trying to sync missions so they all get the Wedding Ring or their Warwolf Whistle you end up doing the same mission several times just so you can all get to that ONE you want to run for the temp.

Yes and so does every other player on these forums that is disagreeing with you. We all pay our fees to be in game. That hardly seems like a valid arguement for any situation involving the game

Everyone has that right here. Or are you now saying I pay and I have been here longer so ONLY I have the right to an opinion? In the "Real World" if I walk into a store and find the service horrible but it's only my first visit do I have any less right to complain to the manager than someone that has been shopping there daily for 10 years?

Just getting a character to level 50 does not automatically earn respect. As pointed out here numerous times there are far too many easy ways to do so. You want respect earn it. I respect my friends, regardless of their skill level, for their ability to play the game well. That includes friend that have 63 months in game and new friends that have 6.

I have been involved in a number of "flame wars" here on the forums before but never one that was so lopside. I have read every post and unless I missed one the only person here that feels the way you do.. is you. Many of the posters here have been with this game since Issue one, most have numerous 50 level on one side or both and none of them, Myself included, seems upset by this decision. If this was an election that is what ios known as majority rules. I have a friend I recently brought to the game, under 6 months, and like most brand new players the lure to try different ATs has him with one Villlan at leve; 42 and a Hero at 38. We formed a small Villain Group and I don't care if he gains access to Widows and Soldiers by reaching 50 before I-17 or gets them with nothing higher than a 42 level when it hits. We enjoy playing together and I know he'll enjoy playing one or both "Epic" ATs.

Sadly I agree 100% with this statement and I have a Warshade at 47. I have never gotten a Peacebringer past 10 level without getting totally frustrated and just deleting. Hard to solo at lower level because you will ALWAYS find a Void Stalker ready to one shot you, on teams you spawn Shards that can mean a team wipe and frankly I never even used my contact for the Epic Story Line.. I hit the sewers in Atlas and then headed off to KR to run radios with other players that were willing to have me on a team. My own opinion is they seriously screwed up the ATs to begin with and made them a pain. They corrected their problem with the VEATS.. I actually enjoy playing my Archnos Soldier and Widow and people WANT you on their teams. Look at just a few of the inconsistancies:

My Soldier didn't have to go to Breakout and run through that mind numbing tutorial before landing in Mercy. It was assumed that "Hey she had to get to level 50 to earn this I guess she knows how the basic game works." Of course for those serious badgers, pre-Ouro, skipping Outbreak meant missing out on the easy way to earn the Isolator Badge but now flash back and get it.. also since the thing isn't required for any accolade aside from a real BADGE FREAk who cares? LOL

At level one my Soldier had a cape and using Halloween salvage quickly had two costumes and access to capes on both. NO special mission to earn one.. An actual PERK.. "hey you leveled a villain to 50 here you can wear a cape anytime you like!"

My Soldier will have access to Patron powers at level 41. My Soldier has access to any travel power she likes.. She doesn't have Teleport thrust on her and told "If you want to fly become a squid and both can take Recall Friend.. try doing that with a Peacebringer.

And of course lastly and probably most significant the VEAT ArchTypes don't have Voids and Shards following them around constantly. Makes you wander what the Dev that came up with that BRIGHT idea was thinking. "Congratulations you made level 50. Here you can now play these "special" ATs. Oh and just to make it fun we have a special alien that will follow you around and try to blow your brains out."

IS the decision to lower the requirement to 20 rather than 50 a little frustrating? Yeah Hey I had to work to get to 50 and earn mine and I'm sorry I don't farm or PL, tried the AE ones once just to see what the heck everyone was talking about, and regardless of some comments here feel that soloing and teaming any AT from level 1 to 50 while not incredibly difficult is still an accomplishment. But there are far worse things in game. I had a friend that spent hours, maybe days, farming Longbow in the RWZ, to earn that badge on her hero only to have them decide to take it away.. I think they changed their minds and gave it back but the point is they made a decision that upset a LOT of players that spent the time to EARN that badge. Same goes for the ones that had farmed Carnie missions for Illusionists, Spent heaven knows how long trying to take out 10,000 Rikti Monkeys, or in Port Oakes spent hours trying to capture 50 Pirate Ghosts and even the players that spent way too much time farming to earn Isolator.

I really don't see it as that huge of an issue. It's been mentioned before the nerf there were players bragging about going from level 1 to 50 in a few hours on AE farm and before that people farmed in PI.. took longer but they still leveled quickly. Level 50 is nice but it's NOT that hard. Heck I have 21 now and for the first two years I played my altitis was so bad the highest level character I owned was level 42. Two years later I have 21 between COH and COV and about 9 more in the 40s pressing toward it. That's just a little under managing a 50 a month and I don't JUST play one character exclusively. So realistically a brand new player with absolutely no Vet badges could easily have a 50 and access to EAT in a very short time anyway.

Supposedly they are working on some 50 level END GAME content. hopefully that will be something exciting and special to reward you for getting to the top. Frankly I don't see why they just don't make all of them available to everyone and be done with it. Your upset because they "GAVE" something to new player you feel you earned. How about the new player that comes in and see an Archnos Soldier running around and is told. "Oh sorry you can't touch those yet... play these other characters first and get one to level 50 then we can talk."

Okay first of all SHARKER i am not telling anyone how to play their character. Lemur My logic is NOT flawed and I never said it was totally impossible for anyone to have 600 or more Merits below level 20. I could take a 12 level character today, shut off XP, and do nothing but run a Positron TF every day for a month and in 30 days I'd have 1980 merits. What I am saying is SHORT of that it's not possible. And since the OP pointed out that he now has a low level (whatever that is to him) with 600 merits he has no idea what to do with.. WHY did he shut off XP to earn that many to begin with? I know people shut off XP for any number of reason.. to earn Influence to support their character, to ensure they don't miss content or a specific goal like a raptor pack (I did that myself with a character that left the sewers at level 9 and I wanted to be certain I did not outlevel the Atlas bank mission). In the old days I knew players that lived at the debt cap to avoid leveling until they had enough influence to but the SOs they wanted or so they didnt miss a badge mission. Remember back then you couldn't time travel so if you outleveled it you have to FIND someone with that mission to invite you to team to get it.

But the OP stated he had 600 merits he didn't have any use for and used it as a reason for wanting to be able to trade and email them. Now if he had NO use for them why shut off XP so he could earn them? Without taking semi extreme measure, which is perfectly within his right to do, it simply is NOT possible to earn that many merits at lower levels. If a 10 level character joined a Positon TF and then a Synapse, and did NOt turn off XP, he's going to wind up at or near level 20 with a grand total of 124 or 126 (WITH BABBAGE) merits. He's not going to get to do any story arcs because he just outleveled them all and he can't start doing time travel mission without help until level 25. Heck I could take an 18 level or even a 20 level, shut off XP, and do a Posi and a Synapse a day for a month and wind up with 3720 merits without doing anything else. In the end I still have a 20 level character that could be in its 40s or even 50 and I have a pile of merits that by the OPs "logic" I'd have no use for making me question why bother? If the OP shut off XP to gain Influence and salvage, ect .. FINE He claimed he had no use for 600 merits at whatever he considers low level.. Here's a idea, and my point, they don't go bad, they don't rot, and there is no law that says you have to use them by X date or they expire. Hang on to them until your low level is say 37 or higher, you'll add more along the way and by the time they ARE worth something to you .. you'll have that many more to spend. You are taking some what extreme circumstances and trying to turn that into LOGIC .... I have no proof but I'd guess the majority of the players out there almost never shut off XP at all. Let's call that playing in normal mode. You play the game, level, and continue to play until you reach level 50. At least that's what the Devs consider normal. There is nothing wrong with shutting off XP for how ever long you like for whatever reason but don't turn around and cry cause you aren't a 50 level yet and now you have all these merits you can't use. Then use that as a reason to add Merits and tickets to the list of things we can email one another.

Yes Lemur I am. But since you made the point that your lower level had no use for the 600 merits you say it has... and since most people cant stand content below 20 to begin with why are you shutting off XP? Most sane people try to get through those levels, get their travel power, Stamina if they want it, and move on to more interesting content. If you shut off XP so your say 15 level Blaster, or whatever, could accumulate 600 merits and still not be any higher than 16.. exactly why are you complaining that you now have a lower level charactrer with 600 merits and nothing to do with them? Try leaving it turned on and by now you could have a character in its 30s that could actually use those Merits for something.

Ummm No but I just did a Positron the other day with a character that started at level 12 and ended it at level 17. The Op said he had a LOWER LEVEL character with 600 merits. How many levels did you manage to get doing Posi three times? I did it with a 36 level that leftl close to 38. Plus while I do repeat TFs.. Not in the same day (for merit reasons) and certainly not back to back when I can move on to other and work on other badges and eventually the Task Force Commander Accolade. A while back I took an ILL/Thermal troller and did Posi starting at 10, that got her to 16 and then I hooked up with a Synapse that got her to 20. After completing her Costume and cape missions I got an invite to a a Sister Psyche at 21 and left that at level 25. Fifteen levels in one day and a total of 174 merits. That was back before players got to keep 5 powers above the TF max level and a our Posi, even with my stealth, took around 4 hours. Synapse was around 2 and Sister Psyche another 1 and a half. Even now... I just did a Posi with a good team and it took us about 3 hours plus to complete. I don't LIKE speed runs I do TFs for XP, Inf, and prestige first .. then Salvage, recipes and merits.