Guide to Super-SideKicking (SSK)

Guide to Super-SideKicking (SSK)

Introduction

SuperSideKicking is a feature added to the City of Heroes in Issue 16. It is a lot like the old, regular SideKicking and Exemplaring system except that now one person on the team can now be both the Mentor and Aspirant for the entire team.

Aspirant? Well, yeah, that’s not an often used term; so, let’s get the terminology out of the way: For Heroes, a Mentor 'sidekicks up' a Sidekick to one level lower than the Mentor; and an Exemplar is 'exemplared down' to the level of an Aspirant. For Villains, a Boss 'lackeys up' a Lackey to one level lower than the Boss; and a Malefactor is 'malefactored down' to the level of the Minion.

For the sake of this guide, I will call the person to whom everyone else on the team is exemplared/malefactored or sidekicked/lackeyed the “Anchor.” And I’ll use the Hero-side terminology of ‘sidekicking’ and ‘exemplaring’ to refer to having one’s combat level raised or lowered to the Anchor.

And so, with SSK’ing, one person is the Anchor. Everyone else who is the level of the Anchor or higher is exemplared to the level of the Anchor. Everyone else who is lower than the level of the Anchor is sideckicked to one combat level lower than the Anchor. (The exception to this is in PvP zones where everyone is locked to the combat level of the zone, just as it always has been.)

And so, if a team of five players have the Security Levels of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50; and the level 40 is the Anchor, then the combat levels of the team will be: 39, 39, 39, 40, 40. If the level 10 player is the Anchor, then the combat levels of the team will be 10, 10, 10, 10, 10. If the 50 is the Anchor, then 49, 49, 49, 49, 50.



Who is the Anchor?

If there is no mission selected, the team leader is the Anchor. So, if ‘the star’ is passed around the team, you’ll immediately see everyone’s combat level change to sidekick or exemplar to the new Anchor.

If there is a mission selected, the Anchor becomes the owner of the mission. Note carefully here: The Anchor level is the level of THE OWNER of the mission and NOT the level of the mission.

So, let’s say you pick up a mission from a contact while you’re level 20. That mission is now locked at a base level of 20. If you go into that mission, the foes will be level 20 (give or take a random +/-1 spawn here and there, and provided that your mission difficulty slider is not adjusting the level of the mission). In this case, if your mission is selected while on a team, then with SSK’ing, you and your exemplars will be Anchored to your level (20) and will see the foes in the mission as even level to themselves and your sidekicks will see the foes as +1 level to themselves. Now, let’s say that you ignore that mission and level up to level 23, that mission will still be base level 20. If, in that case, that mission is selected, you and your exemplars will see the foes as -3 and your sidekicks will see the foes as -2. Of course, if you adjust your Difficulty Level to +4 combat levels, then that level 20 mission will spawn foes at level 24, in which case, you (at level 23) and your exemplars will see the foes as +1 and your sidekicks will see them as +2.

If during a mission the Anchor leaves the team (or disconnects or exits the game), everyone remains at their SSK level for the duration of the mission.



Automatically?

Yes, it all happens automatically and you can’t opt out of it. Everyone on a team is subject automatically to SSK’ing. However, in order to prevent you from suddenly losing a lot of combat levels while you’re travelling by or fighting high-level foes and insta-dying, or flying and losing your power of flight; you can set an option so that you’ll be warned with a pop-up screen. You’ll be able to set, from 1 to 50, how many levels you’ll allow yourself to automatically be exemplared or sidekicked without the pop-up warning, and if the level change exceeds that threshold, you’ll get the warning. Both the exemplaring and sidekicking thresholds each have their own slider.

The pop-up warning gives you 30 seconds to accept the change in combat level or not. If you chose not to accept the change, then you’ll be kicked from the team (which, in itself, might change your combat level since you’ll lose your current SSK status). If you do nothing, then after 30 seconds you will be automatically SSK’d to the new Anchor. During the 30 second countdown, you’ll gain no XP or drops so that the 30 second grace period can’t be exploited for high level toons to take care of a low-level task with little effort or no risk.



Special Exemplar Rules

With SSK’ing come two changes in how exemplaring works. In fact, these changes to exemplaring affect all exemplaring: Exemplaring because of SSK’ing; exemplaring in PvP zones; exemplaring in Task Forces; exemplaring in Flashback missions; and exemplaring in Architect missions.

1. XP while Exemplared: The first is the ability to get XP while exemplared down. Actually, this will be a choice that you can toggle in the Option Menu (except for level 50 characters who will always get more Inf in place of XP). You can choose to go by the old exemplar rules and get extra Influence in place of XP, or, to choose to get XP as if you weren’t exemplared at all! Yes, this means at level 45 you can get XP and even level up while doing a Katie Hannon Task Force. Also note that you’re not getting less XP when exemplared down. For example, if you’re level 40 and a level 40 minion of a particular faction gives you 600 XP in a level 40 mission; then when you exemplar down to level 20, a level 20 minion of that same faction in a level 20 mission will give you 600 XP.


2. Availability of Powers up to +5 Combat Levels. The other change in exemplaring rules is that, when exemplared, you’ll have access to powers as if you were 5 combat levels higher than the combat level to which you are exemplared. The reason for allowing this is because the old system before SSK’ing allowed for a 5 level gap between Exemplar and Aspirant in which both could still be earning rewards. And so, the new SSK’ing system will simulate that with this mechanic. Let’s give a few examples:

Let’s say, like most players, you pick up a Travel Power, such as SuperJump, at level 14. This means you can exemplar down to a level 9 anchor and still have access to SuperJump. If you took Stamina at level 20, you will still have access to Stamina anchored to level 15 doing the Positron Task Force. If you took your ‘Tier 9 Nuke’ power at level 32, you’ll still have access to it anchored to level 30 in Siren’s Call. See Kheldarn's table of power accessibility.

Keep in mind that even though you're using a power from up to +5 combat levels higher, you're not using those powers at that +5 combat level. Your relative strength when using those powers is locked to the Anchor's combat level. E.g., in Siren's Call (exemplar level 30), your level 32 'nuke' attack will do the damage of a level 30 character, not a level 32 character.

Note that having access to those '+5 powers' doesn't change any of the rules regarding IO Set bonuses:

• If you're more than three levels under an IO that counts for a Set Bonus (or a Special IO that acts like a Set Bonus), then you'll lose the bonus (except for Purple and PvP bonuses which have always been exempted from this restriction);
• However, you'll still gain the benefit of 'procs' that are in those '+5 powers' that you have access to;
• The scaling rules of the enhancements of a power's aspects (ACC, DAM, Recharge, etc....) still apply to all exemplaring based on your Anchor's level. Click here for the Wiki article explaining the effects of exemplaring on IOs and Enhancements.

Also note that any attack you have access to while exemplared uses all of its enhancement slots. So, let's use the example of Siren's Call again where you are at exemplar level 30 but have access to a level 32 'nuke.' If you six slotted that 'nuke' -- even if the extra slots were added when you were in the level 45+ range -- then all those slots are active and count. The game doesn't keep track of when a slot was added. If you can use the power, then you get the benefit of every slot in that power.



What about “The Leash”?

Previously, you had to remain within a certain distance of a Mentor to retain one’s sidekicked level. That ‘leash’ is completely gone now. SSK’ing reaches out past zones. Once in a mission, the SSK level is set and remains that way for the whole mission. Your Mentor (Anchor) can go to the hospital and it won’t change your combat level. If a mission is started and your Anchor drops, you retain the SSK status until the mission ends.

If the Anchor levels in a mission, everyone’s combat level goes up one along with the Anchor.



How Will This Affect Task Forces?

First, it can’t be emphasized enough: The minimum level to join a TF is still in effect. Previously, you could not get sidekicked up into a Task Force if you were below its minimum level. And so, nothing has changed here, you can’t get SSK’d up into a TF if you’re below its minimum level.

As mentioned above, Exemplars can now received XP on TFs unless they’re level 50 or unless they’ve turned off the Option to received XP when exemplared and receive extra Influence instead.

?? Since the leader is the mission owner of a TF, the leader is the Anchor and everyone is SSK’d to the level of the leader. If the leader drops or disconnects, then at the start of accepting the next mission, the person who 'got the star' is now the anchor. If the team isn't happy with the level of the new leader, the only workaround, since the star can't be passed on a TF, is for everyone but the new leader to quickly log off and back on to force the star to pass to the new leader. ?? [Need more confirmation that this is the case.]






Levels and Restricted Zones

In order to make SSK’ing more effective Hero-side where there are many level-restricted zones, the restrictions of those zones are being removed. Note that this does not affect the Hamidon zones, PvP zones, Ouroboros, The Midnighter Club, or Cimerora. (Monster Island has always been accessible to Level 1+!)

The Rikti War Zone also had its level restriction (previously 35+) removed so that low level toons can join in the zone missions and so there can be low-level cooperative AE missions. However, the Lady Grey TF will remain locked at 45+ as all TFs retain their minimum level requirement. Also, the Vanguard badge, which allows a character to start earning Vanguard Merits, is only awarded to the mission owner of an arc that is locked to level 35+ characters (Levantera). So, no Vanguard Merits until you’re level 35+, and no shopping at the Vanguard Invention Workbench, either, since you don’t have any Vanguard Merits. This makes joining in the Mothership Raid not so attractive to anyone under 35, since the Vanguard Merits are the real draw of the Mothership Raid. Considering that the Rikti at the Raid are level 54 lieutenants, bosses, elite bosses, and a Giant Monster… survival for a low level sidekick is doubtful and probably going to mean more debt than XP. Don’t be surprised if people running a Mothership Raid intentionally exclude anyone under 35 – don’t take it personally.

The lifting of the level restriction on the Shard Zones means that a low level Hero can go there and buy a Flight Pack (10,000 inf) just like a low level Villain has been able to go into Grandville and buy a Flight Pack.


Unexemplaring to Power-Clear

It used to be that sometimes, when the team is in trouble, the high level Exemplar will un-exemplar to return to their high combat level and deal with the big baddy, or simply and quickly clear the mission. Or, a high level character is invited into the mission to do the same. Of course, you lose the ability to gain rewards when this happens, but for some, the expediency of a high level teammate clearing things is worth it.

SSK’ing does not allow that to happen. Ever. Teammates are always and automatically SSK’d. So, what do you do? Some solutions:

• Reset the mission at a lower difficulty. The new difficulty slider can in many cases demote the Arch-Villain or Bosses. Or, make all the foes -1 level. Or, come back to the mission later after you've gained a few levels and the foes are -2 or greater.
• Have the exemplar quit the team. The exemplar will then lose the SSK exemplar status and help the others as an independent deus ex machina.
• Invite more people onto the team. If the mission is already spawned, more players mean more help. Rather than invite one high-level player to help with an ArchVillain, you can invite three low level players who are available and, because of the SSK system, you can Mentor all three at once! And then the four of you can finish off the AV.
• And don’t forget the 5-level stretch mentioned above in which Exemplars have available to them powers as if they were 5 levels higher than their exemplared level. This should allow Exemplars to be more of a team savior and major force than if they were just simply exemplared as it was previous to Issue 16. Exemplars have their tier 9 power available at level 27 and all their epic pool powers by level 45 – that should surely turn the tide!
• One of the reasons that players would want to jump into someone’s mission where it’s ‘all grey’, is to farm for some grindy badges that are a pain to get. The good news here is that with Issue 16, the requirements for a lot of notoriously grindy badges are being lowered to reduce the farming of the greys.

Bridging

Since SSK’ing is automatic and not optional, ‘bridging’ is no longer possible. Bridging was the process of leveraging the game mechanics where, e.g., a level 50 would team with a level 46 and invite a low level toon who would SK to the level 46 and wind up being combat level 45. This 5 level spread between the level 50 and the sidekicked level 45 allowed the maximum sharing of XP with a lower level toon. The level 50 would clear missions while the level 45 stood by the mission door doing nothing… in other words, powerleveling.

Regardless of how ‘bridging’ has been regarded by players, the Devs did not think that this leveraging of the game mechanics should be allowed to continue. The new SSK does not allow for ‘bridging’ and that’s been explicitly stated as being OK with the Devs, a side effect of SSK’ing they like – a killing of two birds with one stone. Thus, any requests to the Devs from players to allow some sort of level spread for any reason would be seen as an opportunity to bring back bridging, and so, the likelihood of that suggestion being enacted is very, very, very slim. (It won’t happen.) The fact that Exemplars can still use powers as if they were 5 levels higher than their exemplar level is already the compromise for asking for a level spread.

And with the addition of the new difficulty sliders, the Devs acknowledge that the sliders can be used for powerleveling: allowing one to spawn a mission for a team of 8 when there are only 2 of you on the team. Only this time, the lowbie will be sidekicked up to a level in which they can participate and actually play the game instead of standing by the door (so, they play, and they help with their own powerleveling) and there will be no need to find a bridge. No bridge means cutting down the time wasted looking for a bridge, and cutting down on spamming the channels and bothering other players with tells, and cutting out a middleman who soaks up a share of the XP. The new difficulty slider also means no time wasted looking for fillers/padders and no bothering others with that search. So, maybe… powerleveling just got easier?

During this past double XP weekend, people were starting the Posi TF (level 11-15) at level 13 and finishing it at level 21!