I16: Super-Sidekicking Explained

From my understanding, the 5,7,8 will be sk'd to 9, the 10 will be 10 still, the 11 will be exemped to 10 with xp gain, the 15 will be exemped to 10 with access to all their powers (since their level is 5 above 10. If a lvl 50 was to join in the fight, they would be exemped to 10 also but have access to any powers they took up to 15 and still gaining XP.

Also from my understanding, anytime you are exemp'd now you have your powers up to 5 above your exemp'd level. So for instance 8 level 50s running Positron's TF will be running with powers up to level 20, but will be level 15.

Can anyone confirm that my understanding is or is not correct on both the team dynamic exemplaring, as well as task force exemplaring?

If they make it optional then it won't "cure" bridging, which I suspect is the main thing driving this change.

Well, I'd edit that to say if a lvl 49 were to join in, they would be exemp... etc.

A level 50 would not, of course, gain XP. No use for it.

The way I read Posi's post is that you will have the choice of earning xp or not (but get xtra inf) while ssk'd. The ssk itself is still automatic. 'Course you can always turn off xp in your options anyway, but you would loose out on the xtra inf that the "old way" offers, hence the choice:

a: earn normal xp & inf while in auto-ssk
b: earn no xp, but xtra inf while in auto-ssk

Least, that's how I see it...

Edit:.... oooooorrrr, Posi was actually referring to the option to turn off xp.... ?...

Don�t say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. - R.W. Emerson

lol.... I totally failed seeing that I insinuated that 50s would get xp.... other than that insinuation, was everything else correct?

Oh, yeah, I'd say so.

This is not the worst of things to come.

1/ Teams will be totally unbalanced,
2/ The SSK'ing system will bring PL all over the place, in every mission, every zone, every streethunt team.
3/the broadcast will soon be filled with "lvl 1 is LFT", even in Talos,PI...
4/it will be time consuming for team leaders, the lobies will still die 1st, and numerously, this will slow everyone's pace.
5/It wont remove farming, as in : 'farming for purps, drops, badges,and lvls'.

So yeah, nice idea, PL all over, not just in Atlas anymore.

I don't like I16, i want content, i get none.

1) Unbalanced how? If you're talking about classes, it's up to the team leader to make that balance. If they can't do it when i16 hits, they can't do it now. With MORE people to pick from, if anything it'll be MORE balanced. I don't have to pick people just in the 30-32 range. I can reasonably pick people at any level. That doesn't mean I'm FORCED to bring along level 1s and make the experience awful for everyone. It means I can take someone who's 25, or 35, and not have to settle for what's available in my range. If I need a Controller, I can broaden my range, instead of having to wait for one to log on.

2) How? At worst people will just be SKed to -1 the leader. We can already do this.

3) This already happens, so nothing will be changing. Level 1s will still go try to get easy levels in PI, and be ignored. Meanwhile, the rest of us will enjoy the ease and freedom of a larger pool to pick up teammates from.

4) How will this make it take LONGER? I will much more easily be able to form a team out of the classes I need. And again, I'm not FORCED to bring people that are so low that they can't help. If the team leader is running a 40ish team and invites level 5s, that's their fault, not the system. It will only slow teams down if they're poorly-built, which is the LEADER'S fault.

5) Nothing will ever remove farming. But nobody ever claimed the SSK would eliminate farming.

Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.

You indirectly proven me right: nothing in this issue is news, as you say.It allready exist.
Oops, one major point you made: we can broaden the team range...
And can have black imps on top...

Sorry, but this is just my opinion, and i still believe its not a serious new Issue.

The whole point of the SSK is to make teaming and leveling easier for regular players. So we can all access the content of which you speak without as much hassle.

Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.

What exactly is content in your mind? Content from a programmer's PoV is addition of code. As In the contents of the current game are X. The Dev staff will be adding the game the following; SSK (Only taking out a bit of code on how the old way works in exchange for many more features such as exemping getting xp, auto sk, +5 level powers, etc); Customizable challenge rating far beyond 5 descriptors; Mostly customizable power colors; Pet zoning; Rebalance of MA features to fit current non MA risk/reward; etc; added to the total content of the code I.E. the game.

Content is a very broad term. You are getting plenty of new/modified content. You don't like it which is fine, but asking for content is like saying "I want food" when someone hands you a jar of peanut butter.

Are you asking for more "content" in terms of PVE mish's, enemy groups, TF/SF, Co-op, PVP, Flashbacks, actual new powers, perfect polif (any two sets on a toon), when talknig mishes what level ranges do you want more of, what about level 50 raids, what abotu 50 only zones, IO's, IO's in general, or specific quality of them, custom enemy groups becoming cannon, MA mishes that are actual gameplay (like holodeck on the fritz and the 5th col is using them to brainwash stateman), more costume pieces, a flashforward system, more rikti plotlines, what abotu more Nem plotlines.... I can keep going. Untill people stop begging for "food" and start asking for "ham and swiss on white with added pickles and olives" the devs will keep making what they want as they want.

Also remember it takes about 2 years for an idea the devs/players have to be implemented, and that 2 years is from the time they start working on it. It has only been about 2 years that Cryptic's rights to the game were bought by PNC, Cryptic being a large chunk of the company that didn't seem to really care what the players wanted. The new Devs are working their tails ff to give us what we have been asking for since launch.

Also if you remember the survey from about 2 years ago, alot of features of GR are gonna bring in new zones/mishes/lvl 50 specific "content." Until GR comes out, we wont see alot of zone changes because they are putting effort into making GR about as robust as CoV (since GR is the second pay for "expansion" to the game). Be patient. If you can't be, play something else for 6 months, then come back. By then there will be enough new stuff for you to toy with.

P.S. as far as story content.... Have you heard, there is war happening on most city maps. This means there is more stuff to come.

When I hear "content" I think mainly of fresh/new Dev-created missions that I can play through with existing characters - more arc-based than TF/SF-based, but admittedly that's my own preferential spin on it.

More missions/quests/areas/zones/contacts is what the word "content" has meant - and has been used by Devs to mean - in most of the old school MMOs I've played, so that is what I think of first when I hear the word.

To my mind a lot of the things being added in I16 (and in most of the past half-dozen issues) are "systems" - or are tweaks to existing systems (which I think most of us would term "quality of life improvements" not "content").

Sure, it's semantics and I can see how any addition of the code/gameplay can be argued as "content", but I think many players see it the same way I do, perhaps coloured by their experiences in other MMOs with other Dev teams.

Will the mobs of Hazard zones adjust somehow, or will the lowbies have to either be SK'd or VERY careful?

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

The turn off XP and the earn Inf instead of XP while exemped are separate options.

Originally Posted by Frosty_Femme I said "ur" which is not a word. It's a sound dumb people make when you ask them to spell out "you are".

You have full control over who you team with. If you don't like a team you are on, leave and find another. You can also simply start a team yourself and ask that everyone be a minimum level.


I am not sure this is accurate. WIth the SSK, the additional XP you get being SKed up to a 50 is gone (or at the very least has been lowered to the point of being basically unnoticeable). You still get the same XP per kill as if you were fighting at your own level.

Along the same lines, if you are exemplared down, there is no noticeable XP penalty. I verified this on test by using a level 42, running my own missions, then running low level flashbacks, then running level 50 missions. In all three cases, the XP gain was about 1300-1400 per kill (which included some patrol XP in the mix).


So, what you are saying is that this is gonna actually make people leave the AE building. I am not so sure that this is a bad thing. As for Peregrine Island... Ummm... prior to popularity of MA farms, PI used to always be filled with broadcast spam of lowbies looking for farms, farms looking for fillers, etc. So this changes things, how?

Finally, if people are broadcasting for teams EVERYWHERE instead of in one zone, it spreads it out so that it is LESS spammy and annoying.

All of these things being true, I fail to see how this is a bad thing. If you disagree, please explain.

As I said earlier, the solution is simple. If you don't want to team with someone because of their level or for any another reason, just don't team with them. Problem solved.

At no point has anyone in any way implied that this would remove farming. Will it curb power leveling? Yes Will it remove bridging? Yes.

Farming and power leveling are not the same thing.

Before you make statements like this, based purely on assumption, and having absolutely nothing factual to back them up, perhaps you should try logging into the test server and seeing how it works for yourself. As I already explained above, the new form of sidekicking yields pretty much the same XP per kill at your own level, sidekicked up to a higher level, and exemplared down to a lower level.

Additionally, the removal of bridging, goes a long way to hamper currently used methods of a power levelling.

I16 is very much a "Quality of Life" improvement. When they first announced it and talked about Power Proliferation and Power Customization, I was sorta like, "Well, that's cool", but was... shall we say... under enthused. Don't get me wrong, I think both are great, but I find some of the other things being done are much more exciting. Among them are the changes to the difficulty settings and the SSK system.

Would some more content be nice? Sure, especially some new villain-specific content, but not every issue includes new zones or zone revamps. I would, however, love to see the construction workers in Port Oakes end their strike and finish up road extension, or at least finish the ramp going up.

Originally Posted by Frosty_Femme I said "ur" which is not a word. It's a sound dumb people make when you ask them to spell out "you are".

If they are on team with a leader whose level is appropriate to the hazard zone, they will automatically be set to one level below the leader. This should make it nearly as safe for them as anyone else. I say "nearly" because they will still have a smaller arsenal of powers to utilize.

Originally Posted by Frosty_Femme I said "ur" which is not a word. It's a sound dumb people make when you ask them to spell out "you are".

Yes... But at the same time it makes it less relevant that he HAS to catch up, because he's NEVER Odd Man out.

Or they could enter a Level Pact and have the other half offline all the time, so you level at half speed all the time.

Oooh.... lvl 1 Death Race around the Pylons then!!!

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

It's in Issue 16. Actually there are five different ways to set it up...

• Only Supergroup Mates
• Only Friends
• Both Supergroup Mates and Friends
• No Email
• Allow Anyone to Email

Originally Posted by Frosty_Femme I said "ur" which is not a word. It's a sound dumb people make when you ask them to spell out "you are".

Not sure how what you said relates to what I was talking about, but okay.
The question I was answering was whether or not you could earn Inf instead of XP while exemplared or not. Had nothing to do with slowing down leveling or leveling pacts.

Originally Posted by Frosty_Femme I said "ur" which is not a word. It's a sound dumb people make when you ask them to spell out "you are".

Your post reminded me of something that was on my mind. Not directly related, but on my train of thought. Sorry.