Have him do the pizza missions for hollows, the field analysts, and the pvp zones.
I think it's sad there are so many people who seem to think MA farming in Atlas is the only point to this game. On the other hand who are we to judge what someone else seems to think is fun about playing?
I understand your intent behind level gating the MA to "force" people to realize that it's not the entire game. But at this point I think all that would do is slow down the MA farmers, not stop them.
All things considered it might have made some sense to limit the MA only to level 50s. Sure people might have had problems with that idea, but at least it would've forced people to play the actual game -before- they played the MA.
Loth 50 Fire/Rad Controller [1392 Badges] [300 non-AE Souvenirs]
Ryver 50 Ele� Blaster [1392 Badges]
Silandra 50 Peacebringer [1138 Badges] [No Redside Badges]
--{=====> Virtue ♀
I'd be happy if the guy would get outta my active contacts list...I'm never going to talk to him, too much effort for someone who doesn't care about MA.
The off-beat space pirate...Capt. Stormrider (50+3 Elec/Storm Science Corruptor)
The mysterious Djinn...Emerald Dervish (50+1 DB/DA Magic Stalker)
The psychotic inventor...Dollmaster (50 Bot/FF Tech Mastermind)
Virtue Forever.
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I'd be happy if the guy would get outta my active contacts list...I'm never going to talk to him, too much effort for someone who doesn't care about MA.
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/this.
As well as a way to remove, for instance, Willy Wheeler. Yes, I know, he doesn't give his arc immediately on getting him as a contact *any more,* but I still have characters with him - and since I'm not particularly fond of his whiny, "we've been suckered" arc, well...
As for the original suggestion, there's some discussion going on elsewhere about this as well. 50 I think would be too late. 10-15 before AE "opens up" ("Hey, you've started to prove yourself to the city, now how about a way to relax!") would be great. (As well as pulling the buildings from Atlas, Galaxy, and Mercy.)
I know the feeling, MB...I've been staring at Captain Petrovich's cycloptic mug since the mid-20s...Level 42 and I still don't care what he wants. Ditto for a slew of other contacts whose names I have conveniently forgotten.
The off-beat space pirate...Capt. Stormrider (50+3 Elec/Storm Science Corruptor)
The mysterious Djinn...Emerald Dervish (50+1 DB/DA Magic Stalker)
The psychotic inventor...Dollmaster (50 Bot/FF Tech Mastermind)
Virtue Forever.
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I understand your intent behind level gating the MA to "force" people to realize that it's not the entire game. But at this point I think all that would do is slow down the MA farmers, not stop them.
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If I'm reading the OP's post correctly, he isn't mentioning farming, rather there are new players who think that the AE building and Atlas Park are the entire game and do not know of any other zones or content.
I personally get all sorts of questions like "how did you get that cape" or "how do I change my costume" ... from level 40+ players with only AE badges in Atlas Park.
Sure, some of them are farmers, but every now and again I run across someone who truly doesn't know there is more to the game. For this reason, I could get behind the AE contact showing up after level 15. If it were me, I'd make the AE contact level 30+.
Shard Warrior - 50 MA/Regen/BM Scrapper
Founding Member and Leader : Shadow-Force
Co-Leader: Council of Heroes
"Whatever evils come this way... we will be there to stop them."
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I understand your intent behind level gating the MA to "force" people to realize that it's not the entire game. But at this point I think all that would do is slow down the MA farmers, not stop them.
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If I'm reading the OP's post correctly, he isn't mentioning farming, rather there are new players who think that the AE building and Atlas Park are the entire game and do not know of any other zones or content.
I personally get all sorts of questions like "how did you get that cape" or "how do I change my costume" ... from level 40+ players with only AE badges in Atlas Park.
Sure, some of them are farmers, but every now and again I run across someone who truly doesn't know there is more to the game. For this reason, I could get behind the AE contact showing up after level 15. If it were me, I'd make the AE contact level 30+.
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Well I suppose I am using the term "MA farmers" a bit loosely. 
But honestly to my mind people who are only "playing" this game by leveling up characters in AP via the MA are effectively farming whether they realize it or not. Let's just say the difference between a person doing it "on purpose" or "by accident" is relatively insignificant in this case. Either way it's questionable for people to go from 1 to 50 in AP regardless of intent.
Loth 50 Fire/Rad Controller [1392 Badges] [300 non-AE Souvenirs]
Ryver 50 Ele� Blaster [1392 Badges]
Silandra 50 Peacebringer [1138 Badges] [No Redside Badges]
--{=====> Virtue ♀
I agree with this, though maybe level 10 is a better unlock point. Additionally I think the AE building should be moved out of Atlas and Mercy so it isn't in the starting zones.
But it's MY sadistic mechanical monster and I'm here to make sure it knows it. - Girl Genius
List of Invention Guides
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I understand your intent behind level gating the MA to "force" people to realize that it's not the entire game. But at this point I think all that would do is slow down the MA farmers, not stop them.
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If I'm reading the OP's post correctly, he isn't mentioning farming, rather there are new players who think that the AE building and Atlas Park are the entire game and do not know of any other zones or content.
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This is exactly what I meant. I don't care about farmers at all. If that's what they want to do, it's fine by me. The problem I have is the new players that log into Atlas Park for the first time and the first thing that pops up on their screen is the Architect Engineer saying "Hey, come over here and talk to me". Which is made even worse by the fact that he replaces your initial contact when the window pops up. I'd even like to see that changed. Set it up so your initial contact remains in your nav bar after the AE guy pops up. Then in the course of wandering a new player will notice the arrow leading them to City Hall and their first contact.
Sometimes a new player will get curious about what else is in Atlas Park and may stumble across the train, discovering for themselves that there is more to do. Other times they will spend all their time in the AE building because no one in there ever mentions that you can do other stuff.
The people that spend all day in the AE building in Atlas are, intentionally or not, giving new players the impression that AE is the entire game. Notice I didn't say "farmers". It is entirely possible to spend all day in the AE building without farming. There are almost a quarter million arcs to play, and they can't ALL be farms.
Putting a level requirement on AE (10 or 15 would be good)or removing the building from Atlas Park would go a long way toward new players not getting bored with CoH and quitting after one month because they don't know that there is anything else to do.
The farmers will scream bloody murder if the building is removed from Atlas, but they'll shut up eventually and move somewhere else. (I mention farmers here only because people who want to run story arcs and not farm tend to avoid Atlas because it's so crowded nowadays.)
I've resigned myself to the fact that it's probably not going to happen, but maybe if enough people show concern the devs will look into the issue.
It's sad when I see a high level Kheldian who doesn't even know what an enhancement IS, let alone how to go about properly slotting them. There are a LOT of players that just recently started because of the new box on store shelves, and unfortunately, a large percentage of them know next to nothing about the game. And most of what they don't know is knowledge that you would gain from just playing. Since enhancements don't drop in AE missions, they will never have a full tray drawing their attention to the word "Enhancements" and remain blissfully unaware of their existence.
They don't know what a Task Force is. I first discovered Task Forces because I was curious about who that guy in the gold armor was who was standing in Steel Canyon. I asked someone what the "Task Force" he was talking about was and they explained it.
If a new player never leaves Atlas Park they will never encounter a situation where they will learn something on their own. And they won't be able to ask people about things because they don't know the questions to ask.
All I'm really saying is that new players should not be shoved toward AE first thing when they log into the game. Give them time to figure things out before exposing them to it.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
Level 5. By then you've finished your initial contact's missions (and if you're new to the game that's probably what you'll do first unless you get sucked into a farm somehow). You will have been sent off to your secondary contact and maybe a few will actually go and explore the other zones before getting sucked into a farm.
Winner of Players' Choice Best Villainous Arc 2010: Fear and Loathing on Striga; ID #350522
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I agree with this, though maybe level 10 is a better unlock point. Additionally I think the AE building should be moved out of Atlas and Mercy so it isn't in the starting zones.
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I agree with this 110%.
And this has nothing to do with farming.
It's about new players learning that there is more to the game than 1 zone.
It's about learning the basics. What enhancements are, What contacts are, What a door mission is, How to use the train . . .
It's about new players learning what the game actually has to offer so they don't get bored in two months and quit because they are tired of the AE.
A less serious alternative came to mind. Make the holocontacts force all those missions other contacts force on us! You know, go talk to Wincott, go talk to the PvP liasons, talk to Temblor, etc. etc. Make these unavoidable. Then MA players will have no choice but to leave the AE to talk to these people.
Not a good idea and not seriously suggested, but it WOULD work.
No it wouldn't. You don't have to leave the AE building to be able to drop PITA waste of time missions.
None of the characters I have made after we got the drop mission feature has Wincott or any of those other useless npc's on their contact list.
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I understand your intent behind level gating the MA to "force" people to realize that it's not the entire game. But at this point I think all that would do is slow down the MA farmers, not stop them.
[/ QUOTE ]
If I'm reading the OP's post correctly, he isn't mentioning farming, rather there are new players who think that the AE building and Atlas Park are the entire game and do not know of any other zones or content.
I personally get all sorts of questions like "how did you get that cape" or "how do I change my costume" ... from level 40+ players with only AE badges in Atlas Park.
Sure, some of them are farmers, but every now and again I run across someone who truly doesn't know there is more to the game. For this reason, I could get behind the AE contact showing up after level 15. If it were me, I'd make the AE contact level 30+.
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Nope. LVL 5 is fine.
Blazara Aura LVL 50 Fire/Psi Dom (with 125% recharge)
Flameboxer Aura LVL 50 SS/Fire Brute
Ice 'Em Aura LVL 50 Ice Tank
Darq Widow Fortune LVL 50 Fortunata (200% rech/Night Widow 192.5% rech)--thanks issue 19!
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No it wouldn't. You don't have to leave the AE building to be able to drop PITA waste of time missions.
None of the characters I have made after we got the drop mission feature has Wincott or any of those other useless npc's on their contact list.
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True, but you know how sometimes you drop a mission and then the contact gives you another junk one in the same vein. Besides, how many players who don't know about enhancements would know they can drop a mission?
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No it wouldn't. You don't have to leave the AE building to be able to drop PITA waste of time missions.
None of the characters I have made after we got the drop mission feature has Wincott or any of those other useless npc's on their contact list.
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True, but you know how sometimes you drop a mission and then the contact gives you another junk one in the same vein. Besides, how many players who don't know about enhancements would know they can drop a mission?
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At this point probably slim to none because it doesn't do it.
However as soon as they implemented it the people that are PL'ing them would tell them to just drop it and explain how so they wouldn't have to stop farming.
The only thing these new players are being told is how to maximize their farming/powerleveling.
Now I'm not bashing farming or PLing. If new players prefer that playstyle that's fine with me. I just want them to see their are other choices they might want to investigate before committing themselves to that playstyle.
Making them go to other zones and learn basic game mechanics will also make them better players in the long run.
Someone that filled all his character slots with PL'd 50's and still doesn't know what enhancements are is going to get disgusted with the game when he can't play it on his own and quit.
/unsigned.
The intention behind the mission architect is for any character to use it as an alternate leveling path from 1-50. Anything that restricts the ability to do so is a bad idea. And yes, it's still a bad idea even if you think it will reduce farming.
Nothing that has been suggested would restrict new players from using the AE to level from 1 to 50 as an alternative to running regular content.
It would only make them go to a different zone to do it. And before you even try to put forth that lame excuse that new players won't want to risk travelling to a higher level zone in order to use the AE, I'll simply point out that those same new players had no trouble getting to Peregine Island before I14 was released and flooded that zones chat channels with farm and PL requests.
Putting the AE building in Atlas Park and Mercy was an absolutely TERRIBLE idea to begin with anyway.
- Im Not Talking Fast, You're Just Listening Slow.
- To Each His Own
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/unsigned.
The intention behind the mission architect is for any character to use it as an alternate leveling path from 1-50. Anything that restricts the ability to do so is a bad idea. And yes, it's still a bad idea even if you think it will reduce farming.
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Good job on that reading comprehension, don't hurt yourself on your way out of the forum.
OP:
Sounds like a good idea. It doesn't restrict anything, just helps give new players a better breadth of the game rather than stuffing them right into the AE fresh out of the tutorial.
Infatum on Virtueverse
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/unsigned.
The intention behind the mission architect is for any character to use it as an alternate leveling path from 1-50. Anything that restricts the ability to do so is a bad idea. And yes, it's still a bad idea even if you think it will reduce farming.
[/ QUOTE ]
Good job on that reading comprehension, don't hurt yourself on your way out of the forum.
OP:
Sounds like a good idea. It doesn't restrict anything, just helps give new players a better breadth of the game rather than stuffing them right into the AE fresh out of the tutorial.
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That's the only argument thay have. The big "you're just against farming" rant.
This isn't about farming, it's about retaining customers that are getting bored and cancelling their subs because they have made the erroneous assumption that this game consists of one zone and one AE building.
There are farming/PL opportunities in every zone. The thing that changes and keeps us interested is the scenery.
The farming comment wasn't necessarily directed at the OP. It's been brought up in this thread though.
And removing the AE building from Atlas WOULD restrict characters from using the AE as an alternate path from 1-50. Notice I didn't say prevent, I said restrict. As in it would restrict them to only being able to use it if they went to galaxy, or another zone other than Atlas Park.
I should have made it clearer that I wasn't really responding to the OP. His suggestion isn't all that bad. I'd be just as happy if the AE guy, and admissions officer lenk, and all the other random contacts that you only really need to do once didn't contact you at all.
I like the OP's suggestion, the current system can be misleading to new players. Although, I'd prefer if the arc still opened at level 0... except you only got notified about it at level 15... which I'm not sure they can do.
I also don't think it'd hurt to scale back AE's presence some... they did go a bit crazy with the number of places they added.
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Originally Posted by ShadowNate
;_; ?!?! What the heck is wrong with you, my god, I have never been so confused in my life!
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The farming comment wasn't necessarily directed at the OP. It's been brought up in this thread though.
And removing the AE building from Atlas WOULD restrict characters from using the AE as an alternate path from 1-50. Notice I didn't say prevent, I said restrict. As in it would restrict them to only being able to use it if they went to galaxy, or another zone other than Atlas Park.
I should have made it clearer that I wasn't really responding to the OP. His suggestion isn't all that bad. I'd be just as happy if the AE guy, and admissions officer lenk, and all the other random contacts that you only really need to do once didn't contact you at all.
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OK, with that clarification I can see what you mean but I feel the benefits outweigh the "restriction". I think that when they go to the train to go to the AE in KR they'll see there are other zones available and curiosity will tempt them into checking them out at least once.
I honestly believe that when they see more of the zones they'll want to keep their account active longer. Even if they only look around the zones inbetween running AE missions.
Simple suggestion, just so we don't have so many players with multiple level 50s that have never left Atlas Park
Have the AE director guy contact you at level 15 instead of being the very first thing that pops up when you log in.
So many new players follow the prompt to see the AE director and never leave AE because they think that is the entire frigging game, because there is no indication in AE that it isn't.
Read an account of someone asking which expansion includes the hazard zones because they thought all they got with the Architect Edition was AE.
See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately.