Remember when hitting 50 was actually an accomplishment?
By
Aggelakis,
Posted on: 2009-08-03 07:02 in Player Questions
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Originally Posted by Oyasumi_Nasai
On topic, my first 50 took three months and 500 hours to hit.....
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Side q: how does one find out how long you've been playing a character? (I know in WoW, it's /played....)
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I just got my first 50 a couple weeks ago, after a bit less than two full months of pretty focussed playing. Regular story arcs and radio missions for ~95% of it.
Didn't step in AE this past weekend, either. Did radio missions and Frostfire/Midnighters to get a few alts into the mid-high teens.
(And, yeah... it was kind of depressing to think that I could play a couple hours to get an alt to 16, or I could have just jumped in one of those mega farms and had them at Stamina in one or two missions. /sigh AE is cool from a "make up custom stories" standpoint, but the PL potential seems tuned a bit high.)
/shrug
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Find a pedestrian with a name that starts with M. Click on it. They'll tell you how many hours you've played that character.|
Originally Posted by Kiralyn
Side q: how does one find out how long you've been playing a character? (I know in WoW, it's /played....)
----- I just got my first 50 a couple weeks ago, after a bit less than two full months of pretty focussed playing. Regular story arcs and radio missions for ~95% of it. Didn't step in AE this past weekend, either. Did radio missions and Frostfire/Midnighters to get a few alts into the mid-high teens. (And, yeah... it was kind of depressing to think that I could play a couple hours to get an alt to 16, or I could have just jumped in one of those mega farms and had them at Stamina in one or two missions. /sigh AE is cool from a "make up custom stories" standpoint, but the PL potential seems tuned a bit high.) /shrug |
To the OP, last night I made the following statement to my server's badge channel: "I know it doesn't mean squat in the days of AE 1 to 50 in 4 hours, but my main brute reroll is now at level 38 with 48 hours played."
The reason I stated that was because I was also remembering just how long it had taken me to get my very first character to 50.
A lot has changed since then. I don't think any of it is bad. I'm soloing my old/new brute back to 50 just like I did the first time around. Once he's done and tweaked up as hard as my main hero is, I'll start using the AE to powerleveling all my lowbies to 22.
And then I'll turn around and give them a billion inf each because my mains will be filthy stinking rich from soloing paper missions at 50 on the 4th difficulty set for a team of 8.
Be well, people of CoH.
I started playing in January of 2008 and it took me 14 months to get my first 50 blueside and 15 months to get my first 50 redside. I don't farm AE missions or any other kind of missions, and I'm an incurable alt-aholic, so getting those toons to 50 was definitely an accomplishment for me. Both hit 50 last month and both were on the first two successful ITFs I've ever been on.
(Sometimes, I wish there could be a Dev thumbs up button for quality posts, because you pretty much nailed it.) -- Ghost Falcon
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That's certainly an interesting way to do it. |
Originally Posted by BillZBubba
Find a pedestrian with a name that starts with M. Click on it. They'll tell you how many hours you've played that character.
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Thanks.
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Obviously, you two live in a black and white world. |
Originally Posted by SunGryphon
Exactly my point, but with more eloquence, thank you.
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You can't hold responsible all the players farming if the game provides the farming tools. There's a reason there are laws in this country that prevent the toy companies from selling a bag a of glass shards as toys. First time a disastrous event happens you can't say "it's not my fault those toddlers were irresponsible with their broken glass".
Do I remember when hitting 50 was an accomplishment? Yup, easily. I've played for three years and have one, (count em, ONE) fifty. So,for me at least, it still is an achievement. 
Friends are just enemies that haven't betrayed you yet.
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The broken glass is not the problem, the toddlers aren't the problem. The parents buying it and giving it to those kids are the problem. The analogy is the problem in this situation. I don't care about farming, had to do it to get several badges, even use it to get over a few level humps.|
Originally Posted by Bad_Dog
Obviously, you two live in a black and white world.
You can't hold responsible all the players farming if the game provides the farming tools. There's a reason there are laws in this country that prevent the toy companies from selling a bag a of glass shards as toys. First time a disastrous event happens you can't say "it's not my fault those toddlers were irresponsible with their broken glass". |
In the case of AE, the players are part of the problem and the tool (AE) is the other part. The path of least resistance is often taken by most people. This is where the tool needs to be adjusted. In time I believe the devs will be able to even the field and make both paths have similar resistance.
I use AE as a tool as well. I play regular content, run TF's, badge hunt, and play AE content. It is what you make of it and my world is plenty colorful thank you.
Badging in a PvP zone?
If you are treasure hunting on a battlefield wearing an enemy uniform, there is a high probability that you will be attacked.
This is an enjoy-the-ride game. "50" is only a number, not the goal of the game. - Noxilicious
Can I have some?
Badging in a PvP zone?
If you are treasure hunting on a battlefield wearing an enemy uniform, there is a high probability that you will be attacked.
This is an enjoy-the-ride game. "50" is only a number, not the goal of the game. - Noxilicious
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dumb analogy is dumb, saying people can't be held accountable for their actions is extremely dumb.|
Originally Posted by Bad_Dog
Obviously, you two live in a black and white world.
You can't hold responsible all the players farming if the game provides the farming tools. There's a reason there are laws in this country that prevent the toy companies from selling a bag a of glass shards as toys. First time a disastrous event happens you can't say "it's not my fault those toddlers were irresponsible with their broken glass". |
this is more akin to a child taking a cookie from the cookie jar when their parents told them they're not allowed to have one, but yet, you took one anyways because it was there, then you want to cry because you got punished.
I solo a lot these days, or duo with my wife. Occasionally we'll team with those we have found to not be idiots and whose company we enjoy.
AE contributed to that slightly. I actually amuse myself sometimes by seeking out AE babies to team with, just to see how dumb they can possibly be.
So far the winner was the tank that demanded my REGEN SCRAPPER stop fighting and spend all my time healing him. He said I was being selfish with my heals. I told him he obviously knew nothing about regen. He told me I was a healer and I wasn't healing, and kicked me from the team. I had a good laugh about that one.
My first 50 (the aforementioned regen scrapper) took me about 7 months to hit 50. It felt like an accomplishment then, and it still does when I hit 50 on something now.
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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. |
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Now that's a better analogy.
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Originally Posted by Mr_DJ
dumb analogy is dumb, saying people can't be held accountable for their actions is extremely dumb.
this is more akin to a child taking a cookie from the cookie jar when their parents told them they're not allowed to have one, but yet, you took one anyways because it was there, then you want to cry because you got punished. |
Badging in a PvP zone?
If you are treasure hunting on a battlefield wearing an enemy uniform, there is a high probability that you will be attacked.
This is an enjoy-the-ride game. "50" is only a number, not the goal of the game. - Noxilicious
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Originally Posted by SunGryphon
AE is NOT the problem. The people farming it are the problem.
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This.
I reluctantly formed an 8-man AE team after trying, repeatedly and unsuccessfully, to find an AE team running a non-farm arc or mish.
Thought I'd try an arc recommended here on the forums: Have a Blap, Blap, Blappity Day!
Enter first mish, 5 members start wailing HEY - THIS ISN'T A FARM! and Quit.
One of the 3 remaining says "you really should have specified that this wasn't a farm".
???!!!!????WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA??????!!!!!?????
Now *I* have to specify that it's NOT a farm?
Simply ridiculous.
And y'know - I don't have a problem with FARMS, persay, but I LOATHE the city-block map, same farm map the farmers have been using for YEARS.
I ran a "farm" mish a while back - it may have been my first AE experience - that was a very well-designed actual Farm layout - like you'd find in Croatoa - tilled fields, scarecrows, farm machinery, haystacks, etc. It was a BLAST!
So why only the city-block map?
And if anyone can point me back toward that great farm-map (actual farm), I would appreciate it. I might actually venture back into AE if I could track that down.
Ive seen people level just as fast not doing AE stuff, I dont complain about people doing Newspaper missions, or constantly doing TFs. Its all the same really. The only reason its *quicker* now than "back in the day" is you have more sets to use, and IO sets to help out. You can make 50 within a week just doing newspaper missions on the first setting if you wanted to.
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...and in doing so, have learned how to get around Paragon City, how to find and talk to Contacts, how to use your Contact list, how to select a mish, how to use the Nav Bar and Map to find your mish, etc. etc. etc.|
Originally Posted by Zanthar
Ive seen people level just as fast not doing AE stuff, I dont complain about people doing Newspaper missions, or constantly doing TFs. Its all the same really. The only reason its *quicker* now than "back in the day" is you have more sets to use, and IO sets to help out. You can make 50 within a week just doing newspaper missions on the first setting if you wanted to.
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Leveling up via Radios, TFs, PI farms, WHATEVER, is simply NOT the same as leveling up via AE-only.
One way, you learn how to play the game as it was intended to be played, the other, you learn how to AE. Period.
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But this analogy requires that the players are toddlers, infants with no sense of the world.|
Originally Posted by Bad_Dog
Obviously, you two live in a black and white world.
You can't hold responsible all the players farming if the game provides the farming tools. There's a reason there are laws in this country that prevent the toy companies from selling a bag a of glass shards as toys. First time a disastrous event happens you can't say "it's not my fault those toddlers were irresponsible with their broken glass". |
And that those who know better must intervene in their actions for their own good.
Lots of entities - like the State itself, come to that - like to play Big Papa/Mama and do just that, of course. And even charge for the privilege - again, like the State itself.
But I would be loathe to see it become a model for the relationship between a vendor and a customer.
Look, if you just want to say "NCSoft should not have made AE available because players (other than myself) are not to be trusted with such power" then just fragging say it. Don't dress it up in some moral trumpery about infants and broken glass and laws about consumer safety. If you want to say "Playeras who don't know what I think they should know or play as I think they should play bug me, and therefore it is the vendor's job to change the way they behave, " come out and say so, dont ***** foot around making it look like you are actually concerned about the poor, infantile players who helplessly used the game's tools the way they wanted to, like the little children they are.
My scrapper doesn't need an AoE. She IS an AoE.
Good news doc! While all these newbies can get 50s easily, it's MUCH harder for them to get the fancy vet badges that you have!
They are pretty pricey on eBay for the oldest accounts, and there's only so many that can be sold!
It's still an accomplishment to me, and most of the people I know. I gained exactly one level on Double XP Weekend because I was playing a 50 most of the time.
I had a character hit 50 about two weeks ago. I was excited about it. Part of the excitement is what to make next, since I usually semi-retire my toons once they hit 50.
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
I joined in the opening days of Issue 4, and it took me quite a while to get my first toon to 50.
It seems like the road to 50 is much shorter than it used to be. Most of my toons never get outside of Patrol XP once they hit the 20's and up just thanks to me having alts. I don't think I've seen the Debt Bar's color in months.
Then again I've noticed the trend of gaming length to be cut more and more as time goes on. Fallout 3's story is shorter than Oblivion's, which was shorter than Morrowind, which seemed smaller than Daggerfall's. I completed FEAR 2's single player storyline in just a couple days, while FEAR 1's took be about a week. Compare that to several months worth of play out of Deus Ex. Fable 2's story was pathetically short compared to Fable: The Lost Chapters (and even the original Fable too)
I sit in my zen of not being able to do anything right while simultaniously not being able to do anything wrong. Om. -CuppaJo
It is by caffeine alone that I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning. It is by caffeine alone that I set my mind in motion.
I'm there with you, Doc.
It's pretty sad and a bit pathetic as far as I'm concerned.
There is no honor among thieves. A stolen level 50 isn't really a level 50.
Once having a level 50 was a sign that you knew how to play the game (at least to some degree), now it means that you can play an epic archetype on the same day that you started playing.
Not much of sense of accomplishment there.
In a game that is about the journey, those players have just ignored the bulk of the game. I've seen plenty of posts about how there is nothing to do once you get to level 50, and there go tons of new players PL'd strait to 50 the first day and they run face first into the wall.
Sad.
It's a great game if you actually play it.
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You'll enjoy it more if you do.
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Originally Posted by Jophiel
I can't promise I'll hold so firm for my 2nd, 3rd, etc real run up to 50.
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It is not the same. If you think it is, you really don't have a clue.|
Originally Posted by Zanthar
Ive seen people level just as fast not doing AE stuff, I dont complain about people doing Newspaper missions, or constantly doing TFs. Its all the same really.
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AE Boss farms, AE LT farms, and other exploits are just that.
All the other content you mentioned have balanced groups with minions, lts, and bosses.
They are not the same.
Running multiple police missions and running a tf are also not the same as running the same mission over and over again.
I don't run tf's that often because they are long, but I do run police missions - mainly because the team doesn't have to run from zone to zone. There is more time spent playing than there is getting to the mission.
I've been on plenty of "normal" arc teams where there was more time spent getting to missions than there was actually running them.
There is a definitely difference in wanting to fight crime quickly instead of running around all over Paragon and wanting to farm/pl.
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This.|
Originally Posted by Kyengen
...I am overall not happy with what AE has done to the game. It is a brilliant concept, but needs a bit of work.
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Another poster also mentioned that the PL-quotient of AE seems "tuned a bit high." I agree.
Also, that a whole slew of new players appear to have been drawn into the game, but aren't seeing the game beyond the MA suggests something is broken to me. Removing the AE building from starter zones might be an idea. Some of the anecdotal stories are truly shocking, like the level 50 tank who thinks a /regen scrapper was supposed to heal. Good grief.
The genie's out of the bottle though, and I'm not sure it can be stuffed back in. Not easily, anyways.
Q. Just wondering Posi, where are the new dance emotes we were told would come with GR?
A. Positron: Whoops, my bad.
1387 badges, and counting
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I'd just like to point out that the physical box for the Architect Edition doesn't talk about anything else aside from a brief blurb about bases. It doesn't mention the game at all outside Architect. I think some of the problem lies in marketing.
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Originally Posted by Spatch
This.
Another poster also mentioned that the PL-quotient of AE seems "tuned a bit high." I agree. Also, that a whole slew of new players appear to have been drawn into the game, but aren't seeing the game beyond the MA suggests something is broken to me. Removing the AE building from starter zones might be an idea. Some of the anecdotal stories are truly shocking, like the level 50 tank who thinks a /regen scrapper was supposed to heal. Good grief. The genie's out of the bottle though, and I'm not sure it can be stuffed back in. Not easily, anyways. |
If i'm on team and hit 50 it is more exciting.
The real fun is when i'm on team and someone else hits 50.
<--qft.
Writer of In-Game fiction: Just Completed: My Summer Vacation. My older things are now being archived at Fanfiction.net http://www.fanfiction.net/~jwbullfrog until I come up with a better solution.