Nope, they are not changing AV mission, ever. *ever*
Most of the time mission text *tells* you that you are going to fight an av (the PCWK is an exception, and so are a few others) but it should be known by now that certain contacts are going to give you nothing but AV missions.
So, no you can't solo av's, and i don't expect to either. That game content should not be soloable, imo. Plain and simple if your soloing, run into a AV (which you'll only see post 38 i belive) look for team, or a 50 to help you out, they are on, they are board often times, and will gladly team up with you ot fight an av.
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Plain and simple if your soloing, run into a AV (which you'll only see post 38 i belive) look for team, or a 50 to help you out, they are on, they are board often times, and will gladly team up with you to fight an av.
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Right on. Also, look for level 38 and 39 heroes and ask if they will help. Since there's a mission slump at those levels, some will likely be glad to help you just to get the xp. 
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Right on. Also, look for level 38 and 39 heroes and ask if they will help. Since there's a mission slump at those levels, some will likely be glad to help you just to get the xp.
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It's been my experience that most 38 and 39's respond to mission invites with the phrase "nope, hunting Krakens". And who can blame them? A single Kraken is easier than an AV, and worth at least 5 times the XP.
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"We will be making it so that a Boss will NEVER show up on the mission for a solo player at the lowest Reputation level (Hard-Boiled, though were changing that to Hero). Instead, any named villain will be a Lieutenant."
Has this been put in place already? I've been doing solo missions a lot the last few days, and all the named Archons I've seen have been Lts, not Bosses.
NewScrapper
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On a simmilar note I an archvillian in one of my missions on
the "heroic" level whats an archvillin doing in a liutenat capped diffculty setting.
A Boss or even a EliteBoss I understand but an ArchVillian on the lowest settiing.
Shouldnt they be reserved for only trials, taskforces and the higher difficulty setting.
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Archvillain missions are archvillain missions, dude. What, you want to capture countess Crey without having to actually fight her? Dream on!
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NO and I repeat no av mission should have a timer on it because of the fact sometimes depending on what time zone you are in can be very difficult to find a team to take out the av. Specially since the ShadowHunter av mission is now timed due to the people farming this mission. I think this was a mistake and should be corrected, or at least have it so thay when you log off the timer is stopped so you may choose another time to do this mission when you log in.
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On a simmilar note I an archvillian in one of my missions on the "heroic" level whats an archvillin doing in a liutenat capped diffculty setting. A Boss or even a EliteBoss I understand but an ArchVillian on the lowest settiing. Shouldnt they be reserved for only trials, taskforces and the higher difficulty setting.
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I feel the same way as you. As a casual player and not an altoholic, I find myself in the post 40 game constantly hitting AV Roadblocks..... While many will tell you, grab a team or get a level 50 hero to help you out, this has drasticly impacted my "casual" playstyle. I can no longer "just log on for a couple of missions" and enjoy the GAME for what it is but rather now have to waste time putting together teams just so I can complete the mission to get access to more "new" content.
I couldn't agree more with the Elite Boss cap for the Heroic difficulty setting. Who does this hurt? Let the SG's and Teams have their AV fun and let the casual solo players have theirs.
However, there are SOME badguys, in the game, that SHOULD be AV's no matter what difficulty setting is used. Some that come to mind: Requiem, Tyrant, Nemesis, Countess Crey, Dreck, etc. These are the leaders of their respective organizations and should always be "bada$$es". And for these "rare" encounters I firmly feel team action is required, or at the very least grab a friend and go to it.
Another point I'd like to make. Some of the Post 40 AV's don't make sense at all to me.... Madame of Mystery for example. Why is she an AV again? She isn't the leader of the Carnies (won't post spoilers here) and the fact that she is one of the hardest AV's to beat down (that I have faced to date) is mind boggling, to say the least. If ever there was a badguy that deserved Elite Boss status it would be her. Many of the Praetorians really need downgrading as well. What is so amazing about Bobcat (Mynx's evil alternate) that she deserves AV status? Sometimes I question the devs decisions....
On a final note, why was the alternate dimension Adamastor a stealthed "timed" mission with no badge while Behemoth's mission was not only properly noted as needing friends but had no timer and gave the "Demon Slayer" badge. Again I really hope the dev's smooth out some of these wrinkles and make post 40 missions more consistent.
Don't get me wrong. I love this game. Looking forward to issue 4 and CoV and whatever the future brings BUT I feel the casual players are at a severe disadvantage post 40.
Flame away I guess... 
QF
Edit: fixed a few minor typos etc.
Quantum_Flux ,
I have to agree with you. I have 2 heroes in their 40s and the consistant roadblock of AVs (and their are quite few missions where it does NOT tell you that their is an AV in it). I've run into numerous times where the only missions I could take were AV missions - and at the time no friends were on or those that were on were of too low a level and it was impossible to get a pickup team (too busy hunting wolves and looking for bridges I guess).
Had to log that hero off for a few days till I could arrange a time where I could team up with friends/SG mates of the appropriate levels and ATs.
I think other than some of the key AV fights (Tyrant, ect) their should always be a way to finnish the missions with AV without defeating them - like the Dr.Vahz or Nemesis Rex mission. And those key AVs should always be optional missions - ie you don't have to take them in order to get another mish from that contact. Obviously some AV are at the end of arcs and such but there needs to be some way to avoid these mission in the 40s.
I'm stuck in that same situation. The one I'm really steamed about is the Psychic Clockwork King. Absolutely no indication he was going to be there from the misison briefing and he is nasty as heck. He has a viscious PBAE psionic attack that basically wipes the entire group. Even the tank was shocked at getting one shot. I can't find anyone available with Psionic defense and what am I supposed to do while that person battles the King for me anyway. As regen scrapper even MoG is worthless against him. So the mission has sat there for several levels and I still can't clear it. Am I going to have to wait until cons green or grey to beat him?
The real problem is that this was the only mission available from this contact and there is no warning about it. If I had known there was an AV I would have declined it so at least I could get a mission from someone else. And if and when I finally do clear this mission, what the heck is the next one going to be like from this contact?
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I'm stuck in that same situation. The one I'm really steamed about is the Psychic Clockwork King. Absolutely no indication he was going to be there from the misison briefing and he is nasty as heck. He has a viscious PBAE psionic attack that basically wipes the entire group. Even the tank was shocked at getting one shot. I can't find anyone available with Psionic defense and what am I supposed to do while that person battles the King for me anyway. As regen scrapper even MoG is worthless against him. So the mission has sat there for several levels and I still can't clear it. Am I going to have to wait until cons green or grey to beat him?
The real problem is that this was the only mission available from this contact and there is no warning about it. If I had known there was an AV I would have declined it so at least I could get a mission from someone else. And if and when I finally do clear this mission, what the heck is the next one going to be like from this contact?
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You should have been able to FIND someone playing a /DA scrapper, side-kick them and let them tank the ClockworkKing until he drops his Psychic Wail, then back out.
/DA has a nice bag of tricks, PSI resist is only one of them.
Hello everyone who is anoyed by the AVs with psi PBAoE. You can get someone with PS and agro the clock king or babbage and they will use their wail (PBAoE). Then just attack him from the back and he is easy kill. You can disarm most psi PBAoE for any AV that way. Only the clocks are stupid enough to keep agro on the PSer though. The rest like Mother M is still something to worry about but a tank with a healer can easily tank up to her.
~my 2 cents
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I think other than some of the key AV fights (Tyrant, ect) their should always be a way to finnish the missions with AV without defeating them - like the Dr.Vahz or Nemesis Rex mission. And those key AVs should always be optional missions - ie you don't have to take them in order to get another mish from that contact. Obviously some AV are at the end of arcs and such but there needs to be some way to avoid these mission in the 40s.
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Exactly. One of the staples of the comic book genre is the would be hero "outsmarting" the villian or finding a "weakness" that gives him/her the upperhand in a battle they couldn't possibly hope to beat, one on one, under ordinary conditions.
I would love to see more "alternate" methods to completing missions (and still get credited with the AV's defeat) without having to resort to a slugfest. Who knows... maybe a dev may read these ideas and incorporate them into the game someday... 
QF
They could make AV's vulnerable to whining, but then blasters would be grossly overpowered.
The Titantic Tiberian Fiend
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They could make AV's vulnerable to whining, but then blasters would be grossly overpowered.
[/ QUOTE ]I really don't think that's particularly productive...
Anyway, it's great that this topic just happened to come up as it has, since I happen to find myself in a similar situation; I'm not really a casual player, but I prefer solo or duo heroing as opposed to being part of a large team. I find myself at the mercy of the Praetorian arcs, where every mission has at least one Archvillain and all of them seem to fall into the tank-mage category. Lucky thing for me that I happen to be friends with a level fifty who's willing to sacrifice her time to be my mentor!
I know that the idea behind AVs seems to be the encouragement of teamplay, but the most fun I've had in the game has been battling the Praetorians (level forty-four) while sidekicked to a level fifty. Sure, that may sound pretty cheesy, but I felt as if I was actually doing something heroic, taking on a villain who seemed my match... as opposed to throwing myself into an adamantium meat grinder, which is how these things usually end.
I don't really expect things to change, since the AVs seem to function as the devs intend them to. Just a bit of an observation, and my two cents on the subject.
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They could make AV's vulnerable to whining, but then blasters would be grossly overpowered.
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Im making a whine blaster right now!!! Cant wait to get my melee whine attack.....because im a blaster....i have melee attacks....
The shadow hunter mission, Few people that represent such a small minority of the community, complained on the board about it, Devs caved. So see, the devs have psi, The small minority has whine, and that my friends is game balance at its finest!!!
Psi attackers like that have the anti-kryptonite of Dark Miasma or /DA Scrappers.
Slotted for resists, a Dark defender can muzzle that wail to the point where the tanker won't faceplant like a Blaster does if looked at crosseyed.
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I would love to see more "alternate" methods to completing missions (and still get credited with the AV's defeat) without having to resort to a slugfest. Who knows... maybe a dev may read these ideas and incorporate them into the game someday...
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I couldn't agree more, and not just for AV missions.
I happen to like Controlling more than anything else, but when my blaster, scrapper, and tanker friends all outlevel me because they can go off on their own and get some xp from missions while I have to sit around with Seek Team turned on, I get kinda upset.
The obvious response is to pull together people to make a team and lead it myself. Often I do, but not by CHOICE (I seem to recall our star-studded head honcho making this a priority word...) and the people I choose aren't even people I know. I like to team with my forum pals and real life friends. If they aren't on, my Controllers either have to create pick-up teams they might not be able to trust, or I log off to go do something else for a while.
This is not how I want it to be.
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I can't find anyone available with Psionic defense and what am I supposed to do while that person battles the King for me anyway. As regen scrapper even MoG is worthless against him. So the mission has sat there for several levels and I still can't clear it. Am I going to have to wait until cons green or grey to beat him?
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Look for a Dark Miasma defender. With Shadow Fall slotted for resistance (psionic, energy and negative), the entire team can participate in the fight - provided everyone stays within Shadow Fall's PBAoE radius. I'm on Pinnacle, or I'd offer to help.
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I would love to see more "alternate" methods to completing missions (and still get credited with the AV's defeat) without having to resort to a slugfest. Who knows... maybe a dev may read these ideas and incorporate them into the game someday...
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I couldn't agree more, and not just for AV missions.
I happen to like Controlling more than anything else, but when my blaster, scrapper, and tanker friends all outlevel me because they can go off on their own and get some xp from missions while I have to sit around with Seek Team turned on, I get kinda upset.
The obvious response is to pull together people to make a team and lead it myself. Often I do, but not by CHOICE (I seem to recall our star-studded head honcho making this a priority word...) and the people I choose aren't even people I know. I like to team with my forum pals and real life friends. If they aren't on, my Controllers either have to create pick-up teams they might not be able to trust, or I log off to go do something else for a while.
This is not how I want it to be.
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I'll add my vote to the "defeat" without "slugfest" option - and not just for soloists! My husband, a couple of friends and I have a team of characters that we play only as a team. We're not optimal - one dark/dark defender and two or three blasters (energy/energy, AR/energy and fire/fire), with some odd power choices - but we've been doing fine. However, the Issue 3 bosses had us seriously considering canceling our accounts because even when debuffed (six-slotted SOs), various red-con bosses could two-shot any of us. Based on that experience, we really aren't looking forward to the AV levels, and we'd like the option of being the sneaky heroes who outwit the villain without going toe-to-toe with him/her.
well...i would say that regens have the best chance against psi using AVs i have a level 50 DM/regen and i soloed babbage and clockwork king with the missoin set to invince......if you are having trouble perhaps think of picking up dull pain. 4 slotted for perma it gives me the edge i need
I have just returned to the game and was very happy to see these comments about solo players. We may not be a large number of individuals but we do exist and our needs do need to be included.
Statesman is taking a very balanced and considerate view of the matter, w00t!
As a solo player I have found the game to not "easier" but more fun and exciting. I generally do not group, even though this is a MMO, but because of the balance of the game I have found my self taking advantage of the additional XP from grouping and enjoyed it also. However, I do 80% of the time continue to solo many of my missions.
Keep up the good work. And kudos to changing the missin UI to include deleting missions, it only makes sense to do so.
The Valiant Red Blaze
Pinnacle Server
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Hello everyone who is anoyed by the AVs with psi PBAoE. You can get someone with PS and agro the clock king or babbage and they will use their wail (PBAoE). Then just attack him from the back and he is easy kill. You can disarm most psi PBAoE for any AV that way. Only the clocks are stupid enough to keep agro on the PSer though. The rest like Mother M is still something to worry about but a tank with a healer can easily tank up to her.
~my 2 cents
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get a warshade with the their PS like power to do this, as the warshades seem to have an odd aggro thing going on, as one of my sg mates has one with that power. Took on the PSI-clock king, and stayed aggroed on the phase shifted warshade the entire battle.
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Solo and Team Play
The recent change to boss difficulty has brought out a long simmering question: what does a solo player do in City of Heroes. Currently, some missions are for the lone wolf hero, but many are not. With the now sturdy bosses, even the most skilled player has difficulty completing these tasks. Worst of all, some players are surprised by the presence of a boss and defeated almost immediately.
On the one hand, this is a MMP. I believe that some of the best features of the game shine when players join forces with other players. On the other hand, Ive always believed that part of our games strength is the ability for a player to log on for a half hour, have fun, then log off. If a mission requires a team up, players spend a lot of time simply organizing. The quick fun element dissipates.
<snip>
Whats our goal? Simply put: if a player wants to do something solo, it should be CHOICE. Teaming shouldnt be required, but rather encouraged. If a player gets a mission with an Arch Villain, hell be able to drop it and get another.
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Thank You! One of the reasons I left Everquest was that I couldn't just log in for 1/2 hour and have some fun between other things in life. One of the things that I love best about CoH is that if I have 30-60 minutes before work to log on, then even though there are relatively few people on (6am Central time) I can still grab a mission and do it solo. Or go hunting. Or follow a blaster around and heal him while he hunts (I'm a lvl 10 Emp/Dark defender).
I play an Emp/Dark, because while I love to team, there's times when I don't have the time and I just want to have a little solo fun. If you take that away, CoH will lose a great deal of its attraction for me and those like me, who don't have several-hour blocks of time to devote to the game.
I really enjoy this game, and greatly appreciate the fact that you're putting so much effort into attracting/keeping/supporting the casual gamer. It makes those of us with full lives feel welcome and appreciated.
ZPE - Level 10 Emp/Dark Defender on Freedom
You could make it so that any time a specific mission requireing 2 or more players that a power much like the "warwolf whistle" be purchasable. Perhaps go through the missions, and one's that have bosses, or like the Hollows mission requiring 2 people to disarm the bomb, these could be marked for the allowed purchase of a familiar of some type. For the hollows mission, you could even add in a special power/skill type thing that would tell your purchased friend to disarm it. It'd be more profitable to team, but this way if you don't have the time, you can always do it the quick and gritty way.
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I'm stuck in that same situation. The one I'm really steamed about is the Psychic Clockwork King. Absolutely no indication he was going to be there from the misison briefing and he is nasty as heck. He has a viscious PBAE psionic attack that basically wipes the entire group. Even the tank was shocked at getting one shot. I can't find anyone available with Psionic defense and what am I supposed to do while that person battles the King for me anyway. As regen scrapper even MoG is worthless against him. So the mission has sat there for several levels and I still can't clear it. Am I going to have to wait until cons green or grey to beat him?
The real problem is that this was the only mission available from this contact and there is no warning about it. If I had known there was an AV I would have declined it so at least I could get a mission from someone else. And if and when I finally do clear this mission, what the heck is the next one going to be like from this contact?
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You should have been able to FIND someone playing a /DA scrapper, side-kick them and let them tank the ClockworkKing until he drops his Psychic Wail, then back out.
/DA has a nice bag of tricks, PSI resist is only one of them.
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Find a controller with Pets and SS, or some other no agro power.
Summon pets.
Controller runs past King, pets follow. Pets draw all agro on King, who blasts them with the big Alpha whammy.
Everyone attack.
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"We will be making it so that a Boss will NEVER show up on the mission for a solo player at the lowest Reputation level (Hard-Boiled, though were changing that to Hero). Instead, any named villain will be a Lieutenant."
Has this been put in place already? I've been doing solo missions a lot the last few days, and all the named Archons I've seen have been Lts, not Bosses.
NewScrapper
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On a simmilar note I an archvillian in one of my missions on
the "heroic" level whats an archvillin doing in a liutenat capped diffculty setting.
A Boss or even a EliteBoss I understand but an ArchVillian on the lowest settiing.
Shouldnt they be reserved for only trials, taskforces and the higher difficulty setting.
The Legendary Cosmological Prince Reigar 53rd Illusion Control/Storm Summoning/Primal Forces Mastery/Incarnate
It's a dark and story night. That means something bad is happening out there