Best ways to KEEP an SG ACTIVE?

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You mention wanting to be in the "top 10" and I just have to ask ....why? The ranking system is based purely on your prestige numbers, and I have to say, that literally means diddly-squat to me if I were a prospective member. In fact, I usually point this out to people who advertise their SG as being "Number 27 in the server" so the people they're trying to pick up aren't confused about what it means. Now, I'm not saying you're trying to use this meaningless ranking as a tool to get new players, but it's what I see most frequently on Champion. With the changes to base pricing, the amount of prestige your group has for a base means even less than it did before.


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You may feel that way, but the vast majority put stock in it.

Also, if a SG goes from say, #50 to #25, in a short time, it shows that they are active (especially on Freedom; where it's hardest).

The fact that you call out recruiters like that is kind of rude...and something you might want to reconsider. You're talking to people that have worked hard to get it, and they have a right to be proud.

Shooting them down simply because it doesn't matter to you isn't right.

Still reading the rest of your post

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I'd like to know who this "vast majority" is. In my experience, the only people that put any stock into it are people that don't know how it's calculated, don't know what it actually means, are unaware that it really doesn't mean anything regarding the quality of a SG (and to me, it just means the group cares more about prestige than having quality members), or they're trying to use it specifically as a recruiting tool to grab some ignorant newbies to fill out a roster. I'm willing to entertain the idea that this is probably restricted entirely to Atlas Park recruitment spam, which isn't a good way to get members who will stick around regardless.

All I mention when the "top X on the server" is announced is what is actually used to calculate it. Quite a few people aren't even aware that it's based solely on your gathered prestige numbers, including those who are using it to advertise their SG. I've rarely gotten into "broadcast fights" about it because I don't announce it in a "matter of fact" or "condescending" manner. It's purely informative and most people appreciate the explanation and clarity.

The only reason I say it doesn't matter is because what required a lot of prestige to maintain (large impressive bases) requires significantly less now.

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Main Hero : Annilixxion -- Lv50 Blaster
Main Villain : Menkaura -- Lv41 Mastermind
@Laxx
"You will bend to my will, with or without your precious sanity." --Dragon Mage

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what's a Strike Force?

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It's exactly the same as a Task Force, but for villains.

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Main Hero : Annilixxion -- Lv50 Blaster
Main Villain : Menkaura -- Lv41 Mastermind
@Laxx
"You will bend to my will, with or without your precious sanity." --Dragon Mage

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You mention wanting to be in the "top 10" and I just have to ask ....why? The ranking system is based purely on your prestige numbers, and I have to say, that literally means diddly-squat to me if I were a prospective member. In fact, I usually point this out to people who advertise their SG as being "Number 27 in the server" so the people they're trying to pick up aren't confused about what it means. Now, I'm not saying you're trying to use this meaningless ranking as a tool to get new players, but it's what I see most frequently on Champion. With the changes to base pricing, the amount of prestige your group has for a base means even less than it did before.


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You may feel that way, but the vast majority put stock in it.

Also, if a SG goes from say, #50 to #25, in a short time, it shows that they are active (especially on Freedom; where it's hardest).

The fact that you call out recruiters like that is kind of rude...and something you might want to reconsider. You're talking to people that have worked hard to get it, and they have a right to be proud.

Shooting them down simply because it doesn't matter to you isn't right.

Still reading the rest of your post

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I'd like to know who this "vast majority" is. In my experience, the only people that put any stock into it are people that don't know how it's calculated, don't know what it actually means, are unaware that it really doesn't mean anything regarding the quality of a SG (and to me, it just means the group cares more about prestige than having quality members), or they're trying to use it specifically as a recruiting tool to grab some ignorant newbies to fill out a roster. I'm willing to entertain the idea that this is probably restricted entirely to Atlas Park recruitment spam, which isn't a good way to get members who will stick around regardless.

All I mention when the "top X on the server" is announced is what is actually used to calculate it. Quite a few people aren't even aware that it's based solely on your gathered prestige numbers, including those who are using it to advertise their SG. I've rarely gotten into "broadcast fights" about it because I don't announce it in a "matter of fact" or "condescending" manner. It's purely informative and most people appreciate the explanation and clarity.

The only reason I say it doesn't matter is because what required a lot of prestige to maintain (large impressive bases) requires significantly less now.

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Very good point on the bases.

Personally, I use to play on Champion, and I have to say things are a little different on Freedom.

On Freedom, Atlas Park is now constant spam...I mean constant. You can't even have a conversation there anymore unless you have a seperate tab for local, SG and team chat.

Also, the Top SGs have well over 300 million Prestige, whereas Champion has well under 100 million I think. So accomplishing it on Freedom is a greater challenge.

The truth is, Ranking is the ONLY reason I care about Prestige at this point. And once we hit the Top 10, I'll probably stop requiring it at all. It's just a matter of the challenge to get there.

We've earned about 90 million so far...which if we were on Champion would probably make us #1.

Edit: I was wrong about the Champion amount. It's 364,811,360. I guess the Prestige refund boosted it a while back.

Will update the freedom amount in a minute.

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what's a Strike Force?

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It's exactly the same as a Task Force, but for villains.

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Me = Redside noob lol

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I don't know how much prestige a really big SG has these days. 1 billion inf is, what, 2 million prestige? Is that a lot?

I could make a billion inf at Wents if I had a reason to.

Not that I'm suggesting rigging your numbers or anything, it's just that the prestige:inf ratio has gotten skewed and I don't know if the high-prestige SG's really noticed. I don't know if there's a lot of overlap between market players and base (or SG) builders.

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Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.

So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.

I would rather be in an SG with 10 great friends and zero prestige than a group with 100 perfect strangers and 20 billion prestige.

Rank only shows how good your SG is at getting prestige. It doesn't actually say anything about the group itself.

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Well, that will teach me...

#1 SGs Prestige Amounts:
Champion: 364,811,360
Freedom: 360,101,989

So Champion now actually has more prestige in the Top spot. Interesting. This wasn't the case when I left Champion 2 years ago.

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I would rather be in an SG with 10 great friends and zero prestige than a group with 100 perfect strangers and 20 billion prestige.

Rank only shows how good your SG is at getting prestige. It doesn't actually say anything about the group itself.

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Base must not matter to you then?

Actually, for us, we have enough Prestige that base edits won't be an issue for a couple years or so. So I guess sg mode actually does not matter as much at this point, other than rank.

Right now, we have 53 mill prestige laying around...working on editing the base, but it's already full sized secure as it is. Truthfully, I could free up even more by going with a standard plot, but I like hte idea of dual power supplies and dual controls.

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I would rather be in an SG with 10 great friends and zero prestige than a group with 100 perfect strangers and 20 billion prestige.

Rank only shows how good your SG is at getting prestige. It doesn't actually say anything about the group itself.

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Base must not matter to you then?

Actually, for us, we have enough Prestige that base edits won't be an issue for a couple years or so. So I guess sg mode actually does not matter as much at this point, other than rank.

Right now, we have 53 mill prestige laying around...working on editing the base, but it's already full sized secure as it is. Truthfully, I could free up even more by going with a standard plot, but I like hte idea of dual power supplies and dual controls.

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You can make a fully functional base with very little prestige, thanks to the pricing revamp. Even if my SG did not have a base of its own, we're in coalition with enough people who do that it wouldn't be an issue if we didn't have any prestige. My point still stands.

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Many other have given very good advice.

Be involved. You HAVE to have an active presense in your SG to make it work. The more people see the top leaders on the more they think that there will be players to help them and things to do.

The theme nights/events is a great idea. Before RL intervened my SG's MasterMind Mondays was a big hit even on a slow server. TF/SF nights, Lowbie Nights, Hero/Villain nights are all good ideas.

Now that Base Permissions can be set by Rack instead of at a general level you can set aside a rack or two for new members to use without fear of theft. I set all of my storage to accept and several of them to allow everyone to remove as well. Remind the new guys that the racks are open to everyone so they need to be responcible for their own stuff but not having to wait 90 days for Base Permissions seems like a big draw right now.

Assign officers to do things. Nobody can do it ALL, even players with no job and tons of free time. So pick some friends and/or close players and assign offices for them like Recruiting, Events, Base Maintanance and so on. Make sure they WANT the job and are capable of doing it of course but never be afraid to ask for help. Then when things come up and you can't make it for some reason you let your Officers know and they can carry on for you in your absense.

One thing I liked is allowing SG members above a certain rank to have some say in the decorating of the common Base areas. My Medical Bay was done very nicely by one player, the Control Room by another and the Meeting Room by a third. Some rooms (like Teleport Bays) can be a bit tight and should probably be done by the Base Officer but letting the SG members have input on other areas lets them feel like they have a say in the SG. If one member wants something really special tell them that if they earn X portion of the Prestige for it (alone or by organizing teams of SG members) then they can have it.

Keeping a SG active takes a lot of work but you don't have to do it all alone. Trying to do so will likely drive you nuts. Get some help from those you trust and things will go a lot smoother.

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"Comics, you're not a Mastermind...you're an Overlord!"

If you've got a crapton of prestige laying around, which will suffice for rent and upgrades for at least a year, if not many years...why do you care about generating prestige? All you're doing is making the hoard bigger, and anyone worthwhile isn't going to care about the list of SGs at the registrar.

Personally, I haven't looked at it in years. I don't even really remember if it's two years or three years since I've looked at it. Almost everyone I know doesn't look at it either.

Seriously, stop caring that much. Are you generating enough prestige to pay rent and afford upgrades? Then you're doing JUST FINE and shouldn't put so much emphasis on prestige earners.

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Paragon Wiki: http://www.paragonwiki.com
City Info Terminal: http://cit.cohtitan.com
Mids Hero Designer: http://www.cohplanner.com

Hmm, after reading all of the posts, I'm left wondering something. What do your SG members get out of being in your SG? How does it benefit them? What are you doing for them?

All I've seen is talk about getting your ranking up, and it seems like your SG members are just tools to get you there, instead of people you actually like/respect and enjoy playing with.

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Lvl 50 fire/rad troller Wantonya - Infinity
Too many other alts and servers to bother counting

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The truth is, Ranking is the ONLY reason I care about Prestige at this point. And once we hit the Top 10, I'll probably stop requiring it at all. It's just a matter of the challenge to get there.


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Then your stated goals are in conflict. You can either be a prestige mill, or you can be an SG that tries to keep active members and have fun. The two are almost mutually exclusive.

My advice is give up on the meaningless rank stat. It's not relevant to having a good game experience. All it is is ego stroking, and for people who know, it doesn't really say a lot about you other than you know how to grind and get other people to grind for you.

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"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill

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Hmm, after reading all of the posts, I'm left wondering something. What do your SG members get out of being in your SG? How does it benefit them? What are you doing for them?

All I've seen is talk about getting your ranking up, and it seems like your SG members are just tools to get you there, instead of people you actually like/respect and enjoy playing with.

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My guess is "A bunch of teleporters and a medstation". There may be some open chests full of generic IO's, or there may not.

Building generic IO's for your SGmates is definitely a good idea.

Edited to say: not everyone who plays the game is good at, or cares about, making inf. Helping those people out is not really bribery in my brain. So I don't see this as "Bribing people for prestige" but as "helping out your mates." By all means DO help your SGmates out, with time, inf, and knowledge.

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Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.

So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.

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Hmm, after reading all of the posts, I'm left wondering something. What do your SG members get out of being in your SG? How does it benefit them? What are you doing for them?

All I've seen is talk about getting your ranking up, and it seems like your SG members are just tools to get you there, instead of people you actually like/respect and enjoy playing with.

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My guess is "A bunch of teleporters and a medstation". There may be some open chests full of generic IO's, or there may not.

Building generic IO's for your SGmates is definitely a good idea.

Edited to say: not everyone who plays the game is good at, or cares about, making inf. Helping those people out is not really bribery in my brain. So I don't see this as "Bribing people for prestige" but as "helping out your mates." By all means DO help your SGmates out, with time, inf, and knowledge.

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Actually, our base is really nice (well most of it is, got some construction happening).

Also, I've been gining out rewards for earning influence.

And we try to team as much as possible.

All that said, the posts here have helped me gain some insight. Afterall, sometimes we can fail to see things clearly when we're inside a situation...and getting outside advice helps.

I decided to leave the SG Mode question up to the group members to decide. Created a poll on our forums and they are voting on whether to keep or not.

The majority so far say remove it, "But I'll still play in it."

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By the way, Viva Las Vegas (one of my SGs- admittedly all just alts of the same ten or so people) has a standard 100K inf signing bonus and a 1 million inf retention bonus at level 22. "Live fast, die often, squander money." If you consider that 1 million inf -> 2000 prestige in a straight swap, it's cheap at the price.

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Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.

So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.

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The majority so far say remove it, "But I'll still play in it."

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That's been my experience. Making it optional makes people less resentful of it and more likely to actually do it than being forced to. Also gives them the option of not doing it if they need inf (although it's not as bad of a drain on inf as it used to be honestly)

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Global Chat Channel.

Seriously, with a GCC, you can always grab teammates from your SG no matter what server/character they're playing. Say, "Hey, I see that you're on. Can I get ElasticButtMan over here? We've got an AV that only elastic cheeks can handle."

Seriously, it's made things awesome for me.

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I started/ran two top 100 SGs on Freedom... and grew tired of it after a few years. Now... I run my own SG that only I am in; I like that much better. there is no drama... no recruiting... etc

My only advice to running a sg is:
1. Don't let it become a job. This is a frickin GAME!
2. Make sure you know/trust/like the people you promote up the ranks.
3. Try and play together as much as possible; if that means missions, tfs, contests, farming... you name it.
4. Look for people who play at allll times not just when you are normally on.
5. Don't be a spammer... Nothing worse than seeing desperate SGs spamming spamming spamming atlas broadcast. I HAVE NEVER joined a SG that has spammed Atlas that was actually trying to be good to their members and didn't focus on prestige.
6. Do not randomly invite people in atlas. Do not randomly send pretyped advertisements to people... it's generic.. it's rude.. and it's a sign of how you don't care about the players.

DO: Play in PUGs... Socialize with new people.. Try and help people.
Example: I help people to the tailor in Steels... help people with their cape mission, etc etc... Take time to be courteous; people remember that
Hold a costume contest... It's a great way to meet creative people
Assist low level sewer teams with buffs, heals, etc.... another great way to meet new players

In other words.. BE A NICE PERSON! Show GENUINE interest in people and don't just try to get people to make your SG bigger and earn lots of prestige.

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Don't let your SG so big that members get swamped by numbers, ignored and/or cligues form. I left a SG today for precisely that reason.

Don't offer ridiclous amounts of inf to the member that earns the most prestige in a given time. As most members starting date will surely vary and the oldest group members will get an unfair advantage leaving the newer members no chance of catching up, hence no chance of winning an unobtainable prize.

Always acknowledge members when they log on and encourage older members to start teams as and when the opportunity arises.

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There is always a lot to be thankful for, if you take the time to look. For example, I'm sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt. ~Author Unknown

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Sorry, I believe in euthanasia

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Don't let your SG so big that members get swamped by numbers, ignored and/or cligues form. I left a SG today for precisely that reason.

Don't offer ridiclous amounts of inf to the member that earns the most prestige in a given time. As most members starting date will surely vary and the oldest group members will get an unfair advantage leaving the newer members no chance of catching up, hence no chance of winning an unobtainable prize.

Always acknowledge members when they log on and encourage older members to start teams as and when the opportunity arises.

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On this note, I once had a contest...I recruited on a certain day in atlas and had a contest for members that joined that day and the following 3 days...

Generated a TON of Prestige that way.

Old members were permitted to create NEW toons to enter the contest.

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I've found one of the best ways to recruit for my SG is to spend a little time every evening standing under Atlas answering questions. Usually, the people I talk to will ask me if they can add me to their friends list, at which point I'll say something like "Sure, and if you ever need/want a SG, let me know. We'd be happy to have you!" Letting people know they're welcome and being polite and personable helps a lot.

Also, our SG has a rule that you must team with SGmates as often as you are able to and up for it. This has led to most of our members being online more often on the toons in the SG, because they're not just playing-they're playing with their friends. We also explain the sidekicking/exemplaring system early on, which makes it more likely for people to team up.

Running events is a great way to stay active, but mostly it boils down to the people. You have to like them and be willing to become friends with them and to help them become friends with each other.

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