PuG: Purple is better?
By
Arctic_Princess,
Posted on: 2008-12-15 09:38 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
It's a misperception around rate of XP.
Purple mobs give more XP. Some people assume that this means that you earn XP faster by fighting them. They seem to ignore the fact that you hit them less often and for less damage, so it takes longer.
The wisdom of Shadowe: Ghostraptor: The Shadowe is wise ...; FFM: Shadowe is no longer wise.
; Techbot_Alpha: Also, what Shadowe said. It seems he is still somewhat wise 
; Bull Throttle: Shadowe was unwise in this instance...; Rock_Powerfist: in this instance Shadowe is wise.; Techbot_Alpha: Shadowe is very wise *nods*; Zortel: *Quotable line about Shadowe being wise goes here.*
Let me tell you a tale of Final Fantasy XI.
A game where PuG's were determined to fight the incredibly tough ranking monsters as they 'gave the most exp'. Of course, the risk of death was higher, and you blew all your MP on that fight, meaning it was rest after each one. If any adds came along, you were in trouble. Between taking ages to fight the mobs and ages having to rest, you had high XP per mob, but low XP per minute.
By fighting lower ranking enemies, you'd get less XP per mob, but more XP per minute, and be able to chain kills to get an XP bonus too.
It's the same in CoH. People see Purples as giving more exp, so have to fight them. Sure, you fight them much slower if you're team isn't optimal/working together, and pick up more debt and thus level slower when one of you dies, but it's more exp per mob!
Instead of, y'know, going through mobs at a good balance of xp per mob/per minute and getting to the mission reward faster, plus less debt meaning you level faster.
It's the 'Bigger is Better' mentality. Even if a big car guzzles more gas, costs more to run and is harder to find spaces to park in.
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It's a misperception around rate of XP.
Purple mobs give more XP. Some people assume that this means that you earn XP faster by fighting them. They seem to ignore the fact that you hit them less often and for less damage, so it takes longer.
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Exactly this. It basically comes down to people being bad at maths and unable to work out that taking down 5 red bosses in 2 minutes is worth more than 1 purple boss that takes 10 minutes.
If it's any consolation, I've been on teams just like this as well. 
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
My friends have this view too, unless a mob is as high as possible its not worth doing.
And as out groups are normally half PuG, it means at least two people on any team are SKs who have no hope of hitting said mobs. Great XP for them but not especially fast XP.
TBH I'd rather be useful and level slower than be of no use and gain stupid amounts of XP.
i say there too side to a story here
1 people want more xp/ing and stuff for they want to level faster
2 people might have they toon setup to a way where it don't seem challenging anuff for them and they want to have fun and not get bored
There's also the misconception that setting your difficulty to "Invincible" is just... better. Pff to that, I say! It's all just a false economy. Fighting higher mobs just means slower XPPM, and a far higher ratio of deaths, which further slows XPPM due to debt...
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Purples are scary. Why get scared?
'Pick on someone your own size (level)'
I'll stick with whites/yellows/oranges 
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One tactic that my wife uses for running our regular Tuesday "'Fender Frenzy" evening on Defiant is to start the team off on Tenacious, then after one mish bump it to Rugged, then up to Unyielding, which is the level at which we usually run missions, but the slow ramping is done to give everyone the chance to get used to their toons again, and used to working on the team. We absolutely rinse through spawns this way, with the odd poor tactical choice being the only thing that results in a death on the team. We've not tried running at Invincible, yet, but I think that's on the cards for tomorrow's run, and we'll see how it goes, and if necessary we'll drop down to Unyielding again.
The point of this being that every team needs to find its level, and while that level should stretch the team, guaranteed wipes on a boss, struggling to hit, and barely doing damage shouldn't happen, and is a waste of time.
The wisdom of Shadowe: Ghostraptor: The Shadowe is wise ...; FFM: Shadowe is no longer wise.
; Techbot_Alpha: Also, what Shadowe said. It seems he is still somewhat wise ; Bull Throttle: Shadowe was unwise in this instance...; Rock_Powerfist: in this instance Shadowe is wise.; Techbot_Alpha: Shadowe is very wise *nods*; Zortel: *Quotable line about Shadowe being wise goes here.*
Teams should always try and balance what they can handle. Missions where all the mobs are purple to the entire team can be a dissaster, and if the team is struggling with them, they should tone the level down. Will accomplish more then trying to battle the purples for hours when reds/oranges will go down easier and hence the team will get more missions achieved.
@Snow.
Defiant: Snow + many other alts
Arc ID 61069
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There's also the misconception that setting your difficulty to "Invincible" is just... better. Pff to that, I say! It's all just a false economy. Fighting higher mobs just means slower XPPM, and a far higher ratio of deaths, which further slows XPPM due to debt...
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if you got a high death rate either there a flaw in team setup or if it slow then you got a poor damage output
but the main thing is fun for me
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There's also the misconception that setting your difficulty to "Invincible" is just... better. Pff to that, I say! It's all just a false economy. Fighting higher mobs just means slower XPPM, and a far higher ratio of deaths, which further slows XPPM due to debt...
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if you got a high death rate either there a flaw in team setup or if it slow then you got a poor damage output
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IIRC, this was about PuGs. PuGs are a team in a flaw.
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but the main thing is fun for me
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And being dead isn't fun. Nor, really, is spending twenty minutes hacking away at some mob for little reward for the time spent.
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.
Actually, I will add a small caveat to my earlier comment: some teams can easily slice through purple mobs but they are few and far between. They also tend to be teams where there's a lot of -Def and +Dam buffs/debuffs which go some way to countering the effects of jacking the difficulty up too high. However, these tend to be rare.
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
If you can kill it then fight it. Mathematics do not need to involved in a game thats designed to be fun. Some people may think that they get more exp for fighting higher lvls, and in some cases they're right. I've been in a few teams that have cut through +3s at the nearly the same rate as same lvl/+1s. If its not the case of they're actually getting more exp, then leave them to it. They are still having fun doing what they want to do at the end of the day.
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If you can kill it then fight it. Mathematics do not need to involved in a game thats designed to be fun. Some people may think that they get more exp for fighting higher lvls, and in some cases they're right. I've been in a few teams that have cut through +3s at the nearly the same rate as same lvl/+1s. If its not the case of they're actually getting more exp, then leave them to it. They are still having fun doing what they want to do at the end of the day.
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That is what we eventualy did, left the team and went for our own mobs and settings.
Due my very unregular playtimes, i rely alot on 'whats available' at that time (often late/midnight). Some mobs are easier on red/purple, others i just dont wanna see (longbow, tsu, some degree council). But i fail to see the 'fun' in nonstop death, debt and spamming 500 powers on 1 mob to get it down (lol @ WoW).
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I actually prefer PuGs that are fighting above their weight, as long as they are semi-competent and making headway without people dropping dead too often.
But then, I enjoy the fights, and don't care about the xp.
However, it turned out that Smith was not a time-travelling Terminator
I have a bit of the opposite problem with some of my characters, you know?
With my Dark/Dark defender (lvl 50) I love to fight the tougher enemies on a PuG. Otherwise they are dead because of all the AoEs BEFORE I can debuff them.
So, purple enemies can be, sometimes, the only challenge that provides fun. Because absolutely steamrolling enemies without any kind of challenge is not my definition of fun... unless I have had a very bad day. 
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unless I have had a very bad day.
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Well, I know that's every day for me so... 
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.
Personally maths doesnt enter my head when playing. I work on the bais of 'if i feel comfortable, run with it'. To me a fight is a fight - as a level 50 tanker attempting to solo purples doesnt worry me but I do know that a mob of lvl 54 Bosses/Lieuts is too much to handle. I think a lot of the thinking behind this could be down to relating back to when you were a lowbie who wouldn't go within 100 yards of anything above Orange for fear if instant death. As you level up and gain power and confidence you know you can handle the higher level mobs and don't want to be seen as weak among peers by fighting mere orange/red mobs.
On the basis of 'inf is inf' I will fight whatever is in front of me and enjoy the ride however hard it is!
Golden-Phoenix - Lvl 50 Fire/Fire Tank
Oodja Nikabolokov - Lvl 50 SS/WP Brute
Baby-Phoenix - Lvl 50 Peacebringer
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could Chuck Norris?
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I think a lot of the thinking behind this could be down to relating back to when you were a lowbie who wouldn't go within 100 yards of anything above Orange for fear if instant death.
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This is partially true. I remember the first time I came across a purple boss in a kill all mission. He had to go to complete the mission. So I waded in. Huge confidence boost taking him out. I now had a new upper limit I could deal with.
However, that purple colour does mean something statistically. Statistically, it means this mob is getting hard to actually land attacks on, but, in turn, will be hard to defend against. I find missing boring. So, by preference, I'd rather fight reds and have an enjoyable time ripping them into sushi than fighting purples because someone else thinks it's fun to spend a long time doing that.
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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There's also the misconception that setting your difficulty to "Invincible" is just... better. Pff to that, I say! It's all just a false economy. Fighting higher mobs just means slower XPPM, and a far higher ratio of deaths, which further slows XPPM due to debt...
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I'm tired of arguing that on skype. Some people even think that, if the mission owner has got Invincible reputation and you don't, you'll get less XP bonus upon mish completion. Amazing how people who have been playing for years are totally deaf to some basic facts, it's easier to blame everyone else upon team wipes.
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There's also the misconception that setting your difficulty to "Invincible" is just... better. Pff to that, I say! It's all just a false economy. Fighting higher mobs just means slower XPPM, and a far higher ratio of deaths, which further slows XPPM due to debt...
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If you suck, sure. 9/10 times Unyielding gives the best risk/reward ratio for me - and yes, both XPPM and IPM.
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There's also the misconception that setting your difficulty to "Invincible" is just... better. Pff to that, I say! It's all just a false economy. Fighting higher mobs just means slower XPPM, and a far higher ratio of deaths, which further slows XPPM due to debt...
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I'm tired of arguing that on skype. Some people even think that, if the mission owner has got Invincible reputation and you don't, you'll get less XP bonus upon mish completion. Amazing how people who have been playing for years are totally deaf to some basic facts, it's easier to blame everyone else upon team wipes.
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The popular and delightful misconceptions people hold to be true in MMOs really would make an excellent book. It might even be amusing for a game developer to start incorporating some of these ideas into games so that you do get more XP while wearing a red shirt, or while the moon is full, or when the mob is standing in a river, or...
The really funny thing is that, even when a developer posts something explaining why some popular myth is rubbish, you still get people arguing until they're blue in the face about it. 
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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The popular and delightful misconceptions people hold to be true in MMOs really would make an excellent book. It might even be amusing for a game developer to start incorporating some of these ideas into games so that you do get more XP while wearing a red shirt, or while the moon is full, or when the mob is standing in a river, or...
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Ah, Shadowhunter.
Heh.
That one makes me chuckle.
I think we're about due another "Misconceptions in CoX" thread, actually.
The wisdom of Shadowe: Ghostraptor: The Shadowe is wise ...; FFM: Shadowe is no longer wise.
; Techbot_Alpha: Also, what Shadowe said. It seems he is still somewhat wise ; Bull Throttle: Shadowe was unwise in this instance...; Rock_Powerfist: in this instance Shadowe is wise.; Techbot_Alpha: Shadowe is very wise *nods*; Zortel: *Quotable line about Shadowe being wise goes here.*
I always go by how often the team is dying - if everyone is comfortable with their death rate, then the setting's fine
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
The past few days i noticed whenever (if im lucky
) i get in a PuG, the more purple mobs they see the happier.
Are we doing 'easy mode' on yellow/orange the first start to whine its 'too slow/easy'. Eventualy we end up with basicly red/purple/purple mobs, taking 5 minutes to take down a purple boss and death is pretty much the case every group of mobs we encounter.
So whats this about? I rather slice 'n dice through easier mobs and gain alot on mission bonus/no deaths, then doing 1 hour on 1 stupid purple mission and eventualy end up not even having half of the exp i would have gotten if i would do my own solo missions.
Specialy my MM has serious issues on this, purple meanse 1hit-wonders, AoE means all pets gone. At lvl50 i could understand wacking +3's, mostly since you are 'uber slotted'. But we're talking lvl20-38 here, not often the easiest lvls around.
Now i was lucky few times that others in the team were fed up also, so we left and made our own 3 party doing yellow/orange/reds, easier, safer and eventualy more exp.
So, whats up with this 'Purple is better'?
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(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
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