Revisiting the AE power-levelling issue
By
Avani,
Posted on: 2009-06-16 10:03 in Suggestions and Ideas
IBTL/D
I understand the arguement for patrol xp only and respect the way you presented it. However, that just cannot fly with the advertised purpose of MA and the features therein.
Frankly, you can get just as much learning done doing MA missions as you can doing regular PvE missions and just the opposite can be true depending on the individual.
I don't think that you change and entire feature based on a small portion of players that don't like it.
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
[ QUOTE ]
So, we all know the problem with AE farms, auto-sidekicking Lv54 PLing runs, and so on and so forth, for Arachnos etc etc, for lord Recluse, etc etc. It's also apparent that the measures to date, while alleviating the absolute worst issues, still failed to reduce the problem to at least manageable levels. With that in mind, I figured I'd take a stab at a plausible solution.
The first step in preventing any given situation is to analyze the conditions that enable it. In this case:
1) Go play the game the way you want and leave the rest of the playerbase alone.
[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I think the system is in place because it borrowed from the TF code...
Also, do we really NEED another thread about this? There is, after all, an official thread for these types of conversations.
[/ QUOTE ]And it's dominated by the Anti-Positron Pro-Unlimited-Powerleveling crowd, making actual discussion in that thread all but impossible.
[/ QUOTE ]
Now, now Tripp. 
[ QUOTE ]
That would work for me. My perma 46 will start getting a lot of use again.
[/ QUOTE ]
/e golf clap
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I think the system is in place because it borrowed from the TF code...
Also, do we really NEED another thread about this? There is, after all, an official thread for these types of conversations.
[/ QUOTE ]And it's dominated by the Anti-Positron Pro-Unlimited-Powerleveling crowd, making actual discussion in that thread all but impossible.
[/ QUOTE ]
Now, now Tripp.
[/ QUOTE ] 
I didn't say "completely impossible". You and I had a perfectly civil discussion just today. But it is impossible to discuss anything that is perceived as Pro Dev or Anti MArch Powerleveling, due primarily to the behavior of several of the Anti-Dev Crowd.
/unsigned to the OP's suggestion. I don't think AE power-leveling is a problem.
I think what they should have done is make it so that an account must be a month or two old before a character on it could use the AE features. This would force new players to actually learn about the game, while not affecting any of the veterans.
In absence of that restriction, I think removing the auto-sk feature would probably be a good idea. Veteran players already have their own powerleveling tactics and don't really need AE. New players, on the other hand, can so easily get AE-powerleveled that I'd find it difficult to avoid it happening. You're new, you're in Atlas or Mercy, you get an invitation to join a team, and the next thing you know, you're in AE and level 30 and don't even know how to leave the zone.
Arc ID#30821, A Clean Break
The only problem with defeating the Tsoo is that an hour later, you want to defeat them again!
"Life is just better boosted!" -- LadyMage
"I'm a big believer in Personal Force Field on a blaster. ... It's your happy place." -- Fulmens
[ QUOTE ]
I think what they should have done is make it so that an account must be a month or two old before a character on it could use the AE features. This would force new players to actually learn about the game, while not affecting any of the veterans.
[/ QUOTE ] I disagree, CoH got a lot of press from this, and without a doubt a bunch of new players to try the game. How many would have tried the game if they read they wouldn't have been able to play AE for a month or two(well after the free trial ended).
[ QUOTE ]
In absence of that restriction, I think removing the auto-sk feature would probably be a good idea. Veteran players already have their own powerleveling tactics and don't really need AE. New players, on the other hand, can so easily get AE-powerleveled that I'd find it difficult to avoid it happening. You're new, you're in Atlas or Mercy, you get an invitation to join a team, and the next thing you know, you're in AE and level 30 and don't even know how to leave the zone.
[/ QUOTE ] I'm ok with removing the auto SK feature. I have a perma level 46 that could use the work. I'm also ok with faster powerleveling this would cause since I don't think it's a problem in the first place.
Mmm, removing auto sk...
Removing auto-sk, will not solve it, it would simply increase the inconvenience. That is, level 46s permas are back in business as a result of this, and the time to put a team together increases as you try to balance the numbers of high levels (workers) and low levels (leaches/PL babies).
On the other hand, you will find me an avid supporter for auto SK, and most of my feelings come from the developers original intent for having SK in the first place. Sk was instituted so friends with lower leveled characters could play with friends with higher level characters, and together have a good time. I have always like this feature; auto sk, is for me, the next evolutionary step of the standard sk. I say next evolutionary step, for it no longer force a balance of lows and high characters; as we know each lowbie has to have a mentor in contemporary CoX, also lowbies have the furhter restriction to make sure they remain close to their mentors or real bad things happens to them. Auto Sk, does two nice things for us: 1) I don't have to find mentor for my other friends; 2) If I go too far away from them, go to hospital, Disconnect, I don't negatively impact them, or at least not much.
So while I see and issue with auto-sk as some folks have mentioned, I also have seen some player friendly benefits from it.
If we feel PLg is been abused thru SK and auto SK, perhaps there is a way to mitigate the damage. Have them auto SK to the same level of the highest level character in the group, that in itself has two interesting results: 1) maximises their contribution (a level 50 fighting a 51, as opposed to a 49); 2) Exp is greatly decreased, to a point that the lowbie has no great benefit to be a nurfed 50 fighting stuff, while he could be a full whatever level character fighting mobs tha has been designed to be challenging for his level.
Hugs
Stormy
[ QUOTE ]
If we feel PLg is been abused thru SK and auto SK, perhaps there is a way to mitigate the damage.
[/ QUOTE ]
I think this is an important statement that nicely sums up the "issue". Certain "players feeling" something is being abused is not the threshold for change regarding the auto-sk "feature".
"If" auto-sk is being abused the devs datamining tools/hooks "will" catch it and the "devs" will then decide what to do about an issue "they" see.
At this point the myopic focus of some players related to this feature is what is blinding them to the actual benefits overall of having the auto-sk system. The devs are smart enough to recognize the benefits and in the end that is all that really matters.
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
I am not against farming or plvling... but I will say this... I made an alt and at like L3 got a random invite to a L54 farm which in turn was run by a few 50's... after 1 run I was L17... I feel that is a bit extreme... I mean they have to tweak it back just a bit imo...
I am not sure if this is really true... but I have heard and read rumors that people go from L1-L50 in a few hours (definitely under 1 day)... again... I have my 50's and really dont want to have to do the same old mish's over and over... for my alts... but if we are gonna get auto 50's, might as well buy them from the coh store for $9.99 and be done with it...
just my .02 obviously people will disagree... but I would rather see nc get the money than people that pay plevlers $50 or whatever it is for 50's
Do you realize that you can get 1-50 in less then 24 hrs easily without PLing in the MA?
[ QUOTE ]
I am not against farming or plvling... but I will say this... I made an alt and at like L3 got a random invite to a L54 farm which in turn was run by a few 50's... after 1 run I was L17... I feel that is a bit extreme... I mean they have to tweak it back just a bit imo...
I am not sure if this is really true... but I have heard and read rumors that people go from L1-L50 in a few hours (definitely under 1 day)... again... I have my 50's and really dont want to have to do the same old mish's over and over... for my alts... but if we are gonna get auto 50's, might as well buy them from the coh store for $9.99 and be done with it...
just my .02 obviously people will disagree... but I would rather see nc get the money than people that pay plevlers $50 or whatever it is for 50's
[/ QUOTE ]
Ok so you let some people pl you 1-17 killing BOSSES that were plus 4 to everyone in the group. Unless these bosses are giving out more xp/inf than a PvE plus 4, I don't see it as an issue. Someone still has to risk fighting a plus 4 boss and as long as the xp/inf is not outta whack that is WAI.
You have to remember this is a choice issue, nobody made you go from 1-17 "you" decided to do that, "you" could have just as easily decided not to do that mate.
I really do not see any real issue to be addressed here for the devs.
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
[ QUOTE ]
I think the system is in place because it borrowed from the TF code...
Also, do we really NEED another thread about this? There is, after all, an official thread for these types of conversations.
[/ QUOTE ]And it's dominated by the Anti-Positron Pro-Unlimited-Powerleveling crowd, making actual discussion in that thread all but impossible.