Journal of a first-time MMORG player

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Oh, thank you forever for the respec, devs! I shed Assault like it's a dirty streetwalker, and ditch Warrior's Challenge as well.

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What a beautiful line -- gotta love that! Look me up sometime on Freedom, I'll run with ya!

I like this thread too.

I'm not totally crazy about how so many people seem to just not realize that his scrapper is level 44 as he's writing all this, though. Too many "don't let it get you down" (or whatever) comments when he has already not let him get him down (or whatever).

Good thread. And you can see from when he registered back in September that he's been around a while. I wish I had a collection of my early impressions to the game. Reading his entries reminds me a bit of what I went through. Although I joined the same week with two real life friends, so I ended up sticking with one character quite quickly so the 3 of us could all stay together. After my long trek to 50, now I have 13 alts I'm working on.

Anyway, keep up the entries. Looking forward to more. And I have to totally agree with the group descriptions. Seems like most teams break down into those 3 categories. Bad team that falls apart, good team that is all buisiness, or great team that is chatty and kicks butt at the same time. My sg is full of the latter type of people, and they are why I stuck around on the grind from 40-50 and why I'm still around over 2 months later playing alts with them.

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I like this thread too.

I'm not totally crazy about how so many people seem to just not realize that his scrapper is level 44 as he's writing all this, though. Too many "don't let it get you down" (or whatever) comments when he has already not let him get him down (or whatever).

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yeah but I know what its like. The first time I sked a friend of mine's alt I found myself trying to give advice like he was a newbie even though he had been playing the game as long as I had. I felt pretty dumb doing that.

Sill though, great thread. definitely a fun read.

All I can say is BRAVO.....an excellent read, we need more threads like this.

I concur, great reading! more, more , more!!

This is interesting stuff.
I echo the sentiment of others. Keep it going!

Regards,
PM

Bumpitty Bump and a pie for you sir.

I want entry 9! Very nice Journal. I look forward to more.

I thank you all for the very nice compliments. Every time I get such good feedback like that, I feel compelled to post faster. So: Flashback - On occasion, I'll remember an important item or two that I experienced earlier chronologically, and I will post about it. These are most likely things that I enjoyed immensely, but happened months ago, so I may have skipped over the event in my earlier entries.

Entry 9

FLASHBACK (to around Martial Master lvl 19)

I'm juggling several of my alts, logging on a couple in a night, to test different power sets. I take Klarion on Triumph server into Perez Park and get in a team of people who are basically grinding. At one point, I propose we tackle the two purple Bone Daddies. One of my team thinks I'm crazy, but I think we can take them. Still, she's pretty adamant, so I don't engage. Another team member, our tank, thinks we are about to dive in, so he takes the first shot. The protester screams out "NO!" but it's too late. We all dive in to help him out, me explaining that we were just talking about it. We get them both down to about half health before we're all wiped out. I still think we could have taken them if we had all concentrated our fire on one target first, but in our rush to bail out the tank, we didn't coordinate our actions. This is one of the teams where I am not the leader, I was trying to just be one of the pack tonight, but there is no true direction here, just some random grinding. I decide to log and try out another character.

I've created a Mind Control/Empathy Controller called Tamysyn, , also on Triumph server, my first female character. I think she looks cool! After a few levels of playing around with her powers, I'm in King's Row spamming alternating holds on yellows and oranges. This is my first clue that controllers have definite potential. When my scrappers and blasters were at a similar level, orange cons would usually get the best of me. A guy about ten levels higher than me comes by and stops to watch me take out some Lost. He waits silently until I finish, and then sends me a tell. "You're pretty good. Do you have a higher level character already?" I smile and let him know I've got a couple on another server. He simply repeats that I handle myself well and takes off. No teaming with Tamysyn tonight, but when I'm done blasting and scrapping, I plan to control my way to the top! I make a mental note that since the Controller Secondary and the Defender Primary are mostly the same choices, I realize I have three different characters with Empathy, while there is no overlap of similar powers with any other alt.

The next night, I take the Grand Champion out for a test drive on - where else - the Champion server. A Natural Invul/War Mace Tanker, he joins a group in Perez that is grinding, but with much more speed and purpose. Just like with Slice ‘N' Dice earlier, we develop a nice rhythm, few deaths, lots of jokes and everybody levels at least once. I get invited to a super group, too!

Getting nostalgic for my main already, I haul out Martial Master and go on the Sister Psyche Task Force, if I remember right. We exit a mission, and even though we were warned at one point, when Babbage comes around the corner, I literally freeze in real life and gape. Time freezes. A second later everyone is scrambling to dog-pile on him. A teammate laughs and admits he froze too. I'm thinking it is so neat for the devs to have thought of a situation early on in the game, where we know how to use our powers, but we're still relative rookies. It's the perfect place to catch us off guard if it hasn't been spoiled, and make us freeze like the rookies we are. I enjoy that experience better than any other in the game for a solid month. That was almost as cool as flying! I genuinely enjoy experiencing situations like these, mostly because I'm such a comic fanboy, and it feels like I'm living out what has now become a timeless tradition: gazing up in awe at some monster or villain coming out of nowhere to threaten everything around you. It's like I'm in my own comic book! Several months later, I will have a mission in the same area, and see a group of others tackling Babbage, look on with fond nostalgia, and look upon the neophyte heroes almost as if they are young children of mine.

Speaking of children, my younger cousin comes to town with his parents for a visit, and I hook him up with a character. We mostly run around in the Tutorial, as he likes to right-click on his fellow heroes and read their background, if they have any. Too many do not, and we both start making audible sounds of mock-disappointment when our target has not provided us with an entertaining story to read. Losing pudwhackers! Don't they realize every hero has a secret origin? They are betraying the ideals of the game! I figure a lot of them are alts or young kids who don't know too much about it, or adults that are too busy for it, etc. But we keep clicking, teasing the losers who do not have origins (just between the two of us, we don't send irritating tells to them or anything), and laughing at some of the uproariously funny stuff others have managed to come up with. A couple have written what look like novels, but we read them anyway. It's the least we can do! If you want to laugh more out loud while playing this game, get your younger cousin or brother or sister to play around with it, you'll find more things to get excited about and laugh over as they help you see it through their eyes.

Wow, great post, keep it coming. I was on way to sleepy land and thought I would take a quick looksy here in the forums. 45 minutes later and I have read through it all.

I am looking forward to reading more.

Must sleep.

Great thread! I was o my way off to bed as well and took a look in here on my way out. Rea itall and al I can say is keep it coming.

I can truly empathize with you ont he whole babbage thing. I had been palying on a lan at my friends comic book store (yes about 10 or so of us paly(ed) CoH from a comics store, ironic neh.) Well some of us were doing that tf and stepped outof the builkding and started on our merry little way to the next part of the tf when lo and behold this behemoth comes crahing through. Stunned is not the word for what we were. the tf had disentigrated from a full team down to thre of us all sitting within 10' of eachother and all we could do was gape and make sounds of astonishment which were quickly followe by oh sh*t that things gona kick our A$$! But we managed to pull it off, my Blaster: Shadow-Fire, a friends controller: Rt. Click Mouse and one of the absoute best emp defenders on guardian: Retriever. We pulled it off and left that monstrosity a pile of wires and spare parts. It was a tense few minutes and we pulled some great tactics out of our hats (Mainly 2 on babs while one healed then switch repeat till done) Thanks for reminding me of that.

Ahhhh....the good'ol days....taking me back to noob dom! I love it when I start an alt and people try to tell me what to do. Sometimes I will dork around and do something wrong because they are treating me like a noob. Keep'em coming! Great read!

I wish I could find the time to Post something like this... It's entertaining, and yet... it all sounds so familiar to me.

I've been playing since the Beta (on a roomate's account until recently), and I have to say, that CoH is the frist MMO I've ever played and stuck with. You're "Adventures" are very entertaining... and give me something else positive to look forward to besides Dev's posting replies.

See you in the Future,
—Huntermun

I'm enjoying this as well.

By the way, regarding your desire for a Sell All Button: there is a trick you may not be aware of: right click on the top enhancement you want to sell, then type "s". Instantly sells that enhancement without you having to move your mouse! You can spam this very quickly to sell a lot of enhancements in a short time rclick-s-rclick-s-rclick-s... Works with buying too ("b"), but be careful not to buy too many!

JM

Nice thread tpull. Keep em coming!

The best part about this is the OP's amazing memory. To be honest, I'm not sure if he is writing in hindsight, or this journal was something he did all along, and is now just posting.


I'm really compelled to keep reading, but in a few journal entries, Martial Master will be of a higher level than my main, and I'll have to stop.

Oh, and if anyone deserves a guest spot in an upcoming comic, it's Martial Master, the Zen Chronicle of Paragon!


Five stars to you.

This is very cool. Wonder if NCsoft will use this in any way. I know if I were them, I would. Are you a writer by trade?

Anyways, you know it's good when you've pulled Jeremy Gaffney (aka Gaffer) out of hiding.

In my own defense, I'd like to say that I sometimes take several levels to write a background for a hero as I get 'into their head' and fill up spare moments while resting. I don't think I'm the only one - there is a much higher ratio of backgrounds at Peregrine Island than Atlas Park!

Great read, OP! Keep up the good work.

PS: I'm not sure why you'd want a 'sell all' button... enhancements sell for more at their relevant stores. I often make several stops when I'm selling stuff, myself. Of course not everyone is as busy scraping together influence as I am.

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PS: I'm not sure why you'd want a 'sell all' button... enhancements sell for more at their relevant stores. I often make several stops when I'm selling stuff, myself. Of course not everyone is as busy scraping together influence as I am.

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Well when you're on Peregrine Island or the Shard there's only one place to sell, so it'd make things easier in those places.

Well, I know this is written about past time and all, but I'm glad you got sucked in- like I did.

I never had tried a MMOG of any sort, short of watching someone run (and I do mean run) for about 10 minutes, die instantly, and run back to his corpse in Everquest. I also watched a bit of FFX and was under whelmed. I played CoH for 20 minutes and was irrevokably hooked.

I remember thinking slottting didn't mean much, wondering if I would ever get a travel power and it being the running joke in my group that the emp defender and emp controller wouldn't have -anything- to do if I stopped teaming because of how much they had to work to keep me vertical.

I remember Babbage, I remember a level 20 sorc leftover from an ambush leading me on a chase through Steel before wiping the floor with me (I was level 15 or so at the time).

I try to remember this stuff, because occasionaly I let myself get a little too serious, though my friends help me stay out of it. My SG isn't really about levels gained, and for a number of us this is our first MMOG or at least the first one we've tried with any seriousness. I try to make a point to help out anyone who's got questions, because I know I was there once.

Also, sane people sleep at the hours I play, so a lot of the people I play with didn't have a regular group before now.

Cool post, interesting stuff, glad you stuck with it. I know I'm happy I did. Keep up the posts!

Man, I find this thread highly irritating, cause well, there's NO MORE right now... REALLY looking forward to more posts about your experiences and very interested in what you're gonna post about your early 40s...

I really gotta thank you for this thread cause they're so much nostalgia running through my head right now. And this kinda thing really makes me want to post my own thoughts/experiences especially since I'm a shameless alt-aholic that likes to play famale chars (I'm male in RL) and respond as if it was my char responding rather than me.


PS The reason I can't wait for your low 40s on MM is cause we've teamed together a few times.

Just wanted to say what a great thread this is. This is my first MMO as well. I swore up and down I would never ever play one. Then my brother let me create a char on his acount when I visited him. I bought my own copy of the game that same day! I was lucky he had been playing since Beta, and had lots of words of wisdom for this MMO newcomer so I was able to avoid some common pitfalls. Even so, I find many of your experiences mirror my own. I look forward to your next entry.

Outside the Journal Commentary

Jumpman, thanks for the rclick-s-rclick tip, that works marginally faster. It's neat to still be learning new things (granted, I could have known that if I'd bothered to look closer, but let's just ignore that).

Dispatch, right now I'm writing from memory, but I've started writing my current adventures as I go, so by the time I get to 45, I'll have some stories "queued up" already. And I'll try not to spoil too much along the way, in case newer players are reading.

Pax, I love to write, but I usually only get printed in letters to the editor to newspapers and such.

Doctor Why, I usually sell all in one place, I can get more influence actually arresting bad guys than taking the time to go to a whole ‘nother store. Time spent shopping is time you could be saving a lady form a purse-snatcher!

LaFollet, you gonna tell me which of your characters I've teamed with, or do you want to keep me guessing and see if I write you in? Heh.

I do believe this is the first time I have ever enjoyed reading the forms to this extent. Great posts, great insight and wow, sounds alot like me in a few regards... I just wish my friends would quit disappearing.