Did this game get slower?

So I've returned from another hiatus and I don't know about you but it seems to take a heck of a lot longer to level in CoX than it used to. I could get 2-3 levels or more in the teens an hour but now I feel like I'm lucky to even get 1 level an hour, and teams just seem more and more scarce.

I'm sure it's because more and more people are turning to AE farms to level and I'm sorry but I simply refuse to ever touch an AE farm unless under extreme circumstances. For one, I hate farms in general because I just find them mind-numbingly boring. I did one farm on a lvl 50 once and that's all it took for me to realize I hated them with every fiber of my being.

But yeah, it just seems to take twice as long to find a team and three times as long to level, but perhaps I'm just unlucky. Plus I've been trying to play on redside for once but it seems nobody wants to team over there at all unless it's AE.

Anyway, just needed to vent because I think this game is really fun, but it's just been pretty frustrating lately...

Welcome back

There's going to be an xp boost for the early levels in I16, and they recently gave an xp boost for the later levels too - so the game should actually be a little faster now

teams may indeed be harder to find but the leveling speed has only been increased

If you are a team oriented player and have been unsubbed for a while, teams may indeed seem harder to find.
I-16 is in open Beta, so a number of folks are on the Test Server.
If your hiatus was long, it may have been before the new, expanded /hide feature. People are able to Hide from the Search menu without being hidden from thier Friends and SG. (The Search Menu is thought to be a main method the RMT Spammers use to populate thier "mailing lists")

I recommend joining one of the Global Channels for your server. It may help you meet new folks, and usually quite decent, knowledgable players. I imagine that if you were on Virtue and said on VU2009 "Hey, relatively new player here. Can anyone use a Level <level> <Archtype>?" you might get a bite.

Ah, well that explains it. Hardly a hiatus at all, so you're either starting to enter a normally "slow" period of the XP curve or you just misremember. If you had said a year or two you'd have to be crazy to think things were slower.

Broadcasting is the least optimal way of going about finding a team, if you truly wish to optimize your ability to find teams, hop on to you server's Global channels (TF, GM's, Badge, etc.)

I took me 9 months to get my first 50, 5 months to get my second, my third is coming up (just hit 45 last night), and it will probably be about a year for that one. I play a lot with friends I've made in the game and here on the forums, so I tend to hop around quite a bit and it seems that we all suffer from altitis.

I've done some AE farms, but it gets boring quickly for me. My friends and I will typically search the AE thread in the servers section, and hunt down story MArcs to try that way.

Opt for a 'wide-angle lens' when looking for teams, the more avenues you take, the more likely you will be successful in finding teams.

Oh, and welcome back.

Like I said, my issue isn't with the XP required it's with getting teams. I hardly ever solo, especially in the lower levels where it's just a pain in the butt.

Standard teaming recommendations:

• Use the team search tool to set your flag so others will see that you are LFT.
• Join & monitor your server's global channels.
• Form your own teams.
• When you find other players that have compatible play styles, add them to global friends.
• Join an active SG.
• Look in your server's section here on the forum for events (this is also where you can find global channels and possibly an SG)

Ok, I'm not some noob who's just started playing the game and doesn't know how to use all the tools. I didn't make this thread to ask how to find teams, I just wanted to vent about my hatred of AE farms and how they impede on my leveling.

Ah, venting. Well, I just wanted to be helpful if I could.

If it makes you feel any better, there are plently of folks who feel as you do, particularly with the paragraph that you ended with ".....Makes me want to vomit."
Well, maybe not all feel as vehemently about it as you do, but some do.
You can find and join some of the AE Rant threads already in progress, if you like.
Cheers!

[quote=Neg_rogue;2184510]I know, sorry. It's just I usually play only with my brother and some other RL friends but they're all higher level than me so I'm having to play catch up and it's really frustrating.[/quote

Sidekicking exists since early on in the game. use it.

[QUOTE=Zekiran_Immortal;2184556]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neg_rogue Thus... Why speed?

I guess you missed the part where I said I'm trying to catch up to my friends?

[quote=Neg_rogue;2184560]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zekiran_Immortal I guess you missed the part where I said I'm trying to catch up to my friends?

Sidekick, and then SOLO some. It's not that hard. Make your OWN teams. Dont' just stand there broadcasting. Find the right level area, open your "find team" tab and start sending tells politely. there are teams.

[QUOTE=Zekiran_Immortal;2184566]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neg_rogue Sidekick, and then SOLO some. It's not that hard. Make your OWN teams. Dont' just stand there broadcasting. Find the right level area, open your "find team" tab and start sending tells politely. there are teams.

I tried soloing on my elec/elec brute. I think I'd rather go through a root canal without the use of pain killers. I can barely take an Lt and two minions and I have to rest after every other fight. Plus the XP compared to teams is garbage.

And I tried making my own team last night, but if I'm the only one broadcasting it doesn't matter if I'm looking for a team or trying to put one together if I'm the only one even interested.

But please, continue to talk down to me and be condescending...

It's never been faster to level in this game playing normally than it is now, even solo.

Soloing an Ice/Kinetics controller is a painful process.

I've just got him to level 20 a day ago, and during the grind from 1 to 20 I was on a total of three teams that lasted more than a single mission.

Every other team I've been on takes upwards of fifteen minutes to assemble. Then a single mission is completed. Following that, two players will immediately notify the team that they are leaving. From that point, there is a 75% chance the rest of the team will immediately dissolve after those two players have left. In the small 25% chance, the team continues with less than half of its original starting number, and will fall apart in the middle of the second mission.

Thankfully I have yet to particpate in an AE farm, and I never wish to do so. Perhaps some people find it enjoyable, but I'll be staying away from it. Hopefully the changes coming in I16 will make it so that the farmers don't have to consume the majority of the playerbase to do their farms.