Age of Conan copied the SK system from CoH. A higher level could apprentice someone up to their level -1. Same as in CoH. The only diffrence was there was no limit on how many one person could apprentice. Which pretty much caused low levels to moan at higher levels to join their team so they could breeze thru content and get easy loots.
Same thing would happen in CoH, you'd see even more level 1's in Peregrine whining to join farming teams so they can get free xp.
SK system works fine atm. Sure there's been times where i wish i could sidekick two people.
The only thing i'd like changed really is removing the limit on exemplaring. It's already there for taskforces. Why not let one person exemplar down many people, no harm done there imo.
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Why not let one person exemplar down many people, no harm done there imo.
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I Agree, that makes sense.
Gotta say, I think the SK/Exemp design is fantastic, and should stay how it is.
You can introduce a friend to the game you've played for ages, drop to their level and help them out, or hoik them up past the early levels so that they can get flight sorted, capes put on, and generally won't have to suffer the hollows much. That final part, of course, is a sign of true friendship 
Keep sk-ing as it is.
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Oh hey flamebait.
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Isn't it always?
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"You know me.Ever the realist"
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And you really think a full team of lowbies with only one or two 50s in there are gonna stand up for very long in a 50s mission?
[/ QUOTE ]People like you, who (as you've said yourself) don't really care much about game mechanics and numbers? No.
People who know how to make efficient characters and play them well? Yes.
Iv had this idea go through my head before when im short of a sk for someone, but gave it up because of the obvious abuse.
1 fire kin and 7 lowbies getting pl'd.
Not that im adverse to that idea but i can see a lot who might be 
/Unsigned as it stands.
While yes it is a pain when a Mentor leaves its hardly the end of the world.
If there was ever going to be changes to the SK system personally i would like to see them follow the cryptic method and allow the mentor to SC multiple side kicks but there should be a down side to SKing more than one sidekick so i would suggest
1 side kick -1 to your lvl
2 side kicks -2 to your lvl
3 side kicks -3 to your lvl
of course this wouldn't stop power leveling multiple toons at a time so it far from perfect
What you say has never made much sense. Sidekicking is one of the most unique aspects of COH.
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But I work from a different angle to this.
To me I look at something knowing there will ALWAYS be a down side.
The first question I ask myself is: If I can achieve my goal and eliminate the downsides, will it be worth it?
If the answers yet, I take the concept, look at the downside and see if I can address that. If I can address the problems then we're on a winner.
So, in my mind, this idea works.
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The problems that have been pointed out by FFM and Feralyn are based on the psychology of players, especially MMO players, even more especially casual MMO players coming in from other games. They are used to MMOs such as WoW/LotRO/whatever where the game concept revolves around hitting level cap ASAP and then doing end-game stuff. And they are presented with a way of PLing their characters... they are going to take it, and then find that there's nothing to do except farm. I figure they could probably be in and out inside of the one month subs you get with the game.
Now, the downside of the existing system that you are trying to get around is one thing, but you are creating an alternative with just as big, if not a bigger downside, and claiming that it still works.
Fundamentally, the existing system isn't broken, and doesn't really need fixing. You are looking at it from a point of view of helping casual players, but actually, it was designed to help friends play together, even if one gets a bit ahead on the levlling stakes.
Alternatively, Champions Online will, apparently, allow you to SK up to 5 other players. So we'll see how it works, or doesn't, in the future. (Though the explanation of how it works in AoC suggests that it will just be a PLer's Paradise.)
I hope my summary meets your requirements for intelligent reply. It's been a while since I've been up this early and I'm not entirely awake yet.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
I'm just trying to think of an instance when a super-hero *had* more than one side-kick active at a time, and I just can't think of an example. Can anyone else?
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Yeah, as a casual player who always finds that most of my global friends (and some of my SG friends) level far quicker than I do, Ill admit to thinking about this on the odd occasions when there were six of us online in our SG and the levels were too different to allow SKing. At that point all we can do is run two different teams (and were all RL friends so that is, kind of, not as much fun).
I do agree with some of the other posters here, that there would suddenly be no point in doing the lower level stuff at all if one could SK many and this does especially play in to the hands of those who think its all about the end game and not about the levelling (and story) in between.
When Ive considered this before I even took it on step further and thought about having all content as level free, meaning that the mission was set to whatever level you are currently at. While this started to seem like a good idea and I did wonder if the major MMOGs had missed something by not having their games more free form, I thought about it again and realised that it would mean that all narrative in the game would be destroyed.
Also to throw in to the mix here is the fact that (I presume) higher level foes are designed with the idea that the PCs fighting them will have access to a larger set of powers. If five low level PCs are SKed up to fight foes twenty levels their senior it would mean they might not have enough powers to make the mission viable.
From an aesthetics point of view I also thought the SK system was there to help out a couple of friends who might get too far apart, and also to emulate the superhero genre. Four of us have just started playing Villains and as one of our the group was on holiday the others got to level ten while he was still level three. The SK system worked really well as he was still able to join us when he got back and a couple of months later we are now all the same level again.
Overall I would be slightly tempted to allow one player to SK two others, but even then I think that might just be fiddling with a system that, on the whole, works very well. I do agree with the multiple exempting idea, although again, Im not sure how much this is actually needed.
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When Ive considered this before I even took it on step further and thought about having all content as level free, meaning that the mission was set to whatever level you are currently at. While this started to seem like a good idea and I did wonder if the major MMOGs had missed something by not having their games more free form, I thought about it again and realised that it would mean that all narrative in the game would be destroyed.
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They could, in one fell swoop, totally destroy PLing by giving ALL mobs GM/Rikti conning code. Make them ALL con equal to your character no matter the level, and just limit the number of powers available for their zone range.
But that also has problems too. Such as the uber powerful hero suddenly having problems with a couple of ordinary mugger types. 
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The option to take on 2 sidekicks maybe nice.
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I'm just trying to think of an instance when a super-hero *had* more than one side-kick active at a time, and I just can't think of an example. Can anyone else?
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Batman in the curent "the batman" cartoon has both batgirl and robin though both being there at the same time is still rair.
It could also be argued that batman (comic) has 3 sidekicks (robin, Damien, and nightwing) but the 3 of them are all established heroes in there own right and can hold there own against most foes without the aid of the bat.
Oracle has her birds of prey but again i'm not entirely sure they count as side kicks she's more the MM and there the minions
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I'm just trying to think of an instance when a super-hero *had* more than one side-kick active at a time, and I just can't think of an example. Can anyone else?
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only thing i can think of thats even close to that is the x-men but thats more a group mentoring a group as it were
There isnt a problem on earth that cant be solved with the proper aplication of hi explosive's
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When Ive considered this before I even took it on step further and thought about having all content as level free, meaning that the mission was set to whatever level you are currently at. While this started to seem like a good idea and I did wonder if the major MMOGs had missed something by not having their games more free form, I thought about it again and realised that it would mean that all narrative in the game would be destroyed.
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They could, in one fell swoop, totally destroy PLing by giving ALL mobs GM/Rikti conning code. Make them ALL con equal to your character no matter the level, and just limit the number of powers available for their zone range.
But that also has problems too. Such as the uber powerful hero suddenly having problems with a couple of ordinary mugger types.
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I'd love if they gave all mobs GM code would make travelling thru a low lvl zone semi interesting again and as long as it was done in the same way as the rikti code so that to a low lvl (pre 20ish) a lieutenant was a challenge but not impossible but to a higher lvl (post 25 ish) groups of Lieutents could be take it would work ok.
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They could, in one fell swoop, totally destroy PLing by giving ALL mobs GM/Rikti conning code. Make them ALL con equal to your character no matter the level, and just limit the number of powers available for their zone range.
But that also has problems too. Such as the uber powerful hero suddenly having problems with a couple of ordinary mugger types.
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That could be worked around if you include a few changes to the existing GM code - make it so mobs' levels are only modified if they're higher level than you; a level 25 mob would con white to a level 5 toon, but would still be very grey to a level 35 toon.
I think I'd be against such idea though, on the grounds that it would severely dent and concept of facing bigger and tougher mobs as your toon goes up in levels. As it is a newb wandering their level 10 toon into IP gets the fright of their life as all the deep purple mobs that could faceplant them with a dirty look come into view. Which leads to a real sense of accomplishment later when they've levelled a bit and can revisit the zone and hold their own.
If a level 10 could make their way to Peregrine Island and still be in with a fighting chance against the white mobs they come across, a lot of the sense of "scary place for the big boys" is taken away.
LeighB, You are right in that.
Every villaingroup is designed by the Devs with various powers. Take Hellions f.ex. They have a very very limited amount of powers, because the starting heroes have few. They dont have any mez powers.. cause only around lvl 16 etc will this become a bigger problem.
If a system was deviced to scale every mission to a certain lvl or scale players to that lvl.. in this instance.. upwards.
It would be a farmers heaven. Hellions with even less powers then the familiy to farm? The risk vs reward would not be proper.
Also I think BAB mentioned somewhere, that the max lvl for a villain group is set, sort of in stone. And will not changed.
Remember the Devs are very concerned about Risk vs Reward. Bashing Hellions as a lvl 50 is .. well not appealing. They would fall too fast. ;D
..
Sidekicking system is as mentioned in many posts allready, there to make certain friends can team up with friends, regardless of lvl. As such... love the sk/exemp system.
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Maybe they could put in level brackets for the GM code and apply it to mobs.
For example, in Steel Canyon the mobs would always con as no less than L11 and no higher than L19. That way an L5 toon would still be way out of his/her depth and a L30 would seek a higher level zone to progress.
As far as Sidekick restrictions are concerned I think it's fine as it is. Removing them would lead to PL abuse and scrapping sidekicks altogether is a terrible idea.
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If a level 10 could make their way to Peregrine Island and still be in with a fighting chance against the white mobs they come across, a lot of the sense of "scary place for the big boys" is taken away.
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More to play Devil's Advocate than for any desire to see this implemented...
It is a bit illogical that the city is divided into chunks with increasing levels of threat, but actually growing civilian populations. (Talos Island is teaming with peddies, far more than you see wandering around Atlas Park.) With the GM code in place, the threat level remains constant, but as you gain level, the amount of XP you get in the higher level regions goes up. Of course, with the GM code in place, why not simply put level 50 mobs everywhere, and you might actually increase the population in some of the mid-range zones...
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
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It's a well thought out and elequently spoken argument to my suggestion. And it has stopped me in my tracks somewhat because I take your point.
But I work from a different angle to this.
To me I look at something knowing there will ALWAYS be a down side.
The first question I ask myself is: If I can achieve my goal and eliminate the downsides, will it be worth it?
If the answers yet, I take the concept, look at the downside and see if I can address that. If I can address the problems then we're on a winner.
So, in my mind, this idea works. (im only giving MY opinion.) ~Next I look at the brainstorming about what the negative side affects , such as you mentioned could be, then I try to find solutions.
So the fact that there could be negatives doesnt nessecarily prevent me from putting the idea on the table in the first place.
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Aaaah, now THAT's what I like - the person who takes hold of the problems put forward and works on solutions! 
I'm going to put my neck on the block now (bearing in mind some of the posts I've seen here) and say you had every right to put your idea on the table in the first place, whether people like/agree with it or not. After all, that's what this General Discussion category is for. And you're right, for every change that's made there are going to be winners and losers. That's why debate about them is good. What's NOT good is everybody shouting and screaming "You're an idiot..." "No YOU'RE an idiot..." at each other ad infinitum. Then nothing gets done - having worked for a while in a software engineering environment I know this to be true from bitter experience. (And please don't think in saying this that I'm pointing a finger at you, Lionsbane, I'm not singling anyone out in particular. This thread is long enough to show that there are PLENTY of contenders for Best Mr/Mrs Angry out there. )
I'll be interested to hear what you come up with in regards to possible solutions to the concerns put forward. If they seem like they'd work then, hey, maybe your idea's worth a go.
(Funny, I've got this weird urge to yell "Group hug!" now. But I won't, 'cause I'm pretty sure I'd probably get multiple 'sidekicks.' Right up the jacksie. )
It wasn't until after I posted that I realised Batman would be the first response. I think that by the time he was teamed with *both* Nightwing and Robin, Nightwing was less of a sidekick and more of a 'teammate'.
The X-Men, yes, are a mentoring team - and tend to have a 'young' team, rather than a lot of n00bs and one adult taking them into battle (this reflects low levels teaming together, rather than the discussed 'level 50 takes six level 1's to RWZ to die' approach).
The Avengers recruit the odd 'new' hero, but they are always mentor'd/side-kicked appropriately. I think it fails to follow the 'rules' of super-heroing if you have more than one sidekick...
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If a level 10 could make their way to Peregrine Island and still be in with a fighting chance against the white mobs they come across, a lot of the sense of "scary place for the big boys" is taken away.
[/ QUOTE ]It should probably be pointed out that all mobs with the scaling code still have a level, and while the damage they deal to a player of a lower level is scaled down, the damage a low level player deals to them is not scaled up. So a L10 character would still beat L10 mobs much easier than L50's.
Its also not scaled down that low so a lvl 50 mob could probably still dispatch a level 10 character with relative ease.
At worst we mite get returned to something like the days before there was the hole don't get XP from plus 5s and have mobs of low level characters descending on a higher lvl zones to have epic battles with lvl 25 outcasts
while soome people do think there is a problem with the current sk system you have to amdit that the majority think it works just fine the way it is the fact that i actuly cant rememebr a single thread complaning about it in the past and ive been registered to the forums since cov launch and part of the game since heros launch says to me the bulk of the forumites atleast dont have a problem with the curent system
now my problem with the auto mentoring is it would interfear with the difficulty machanic of the game this alows you to up the rep of a mission raising the oponant lvl of a mission to make it more challanging by increasing the lvl of the bad guys withing the mission the obviouse example being a lvl 50 mission with lvl 53 bad guys, the auto mentoring system you sugest would then override that tryed and testing method of play and either limit the bad guys to lvl 50 ot up everybody to lvl 52 if it didtn make those changes then you can be dam sure that auto mentoring would encourage pling because there would be no need to find 4 50s to make a decent pl team only 2 a granit and a kin is the most obvouse set up then the reast of the team could sit back and soak up all that lovely lvl 53 xp goodness
while at first thought it dose sound like a good idea when you sit down and go over the other existing game mechanics in placce as well as the general concept of the game you relise that it would coz more problems than it would solve and have a very good chance of anoying a very large amount of the player base
There isnt a problem on earth that cant be solved with the proper aplication of hi explosive's
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