AE-ing....dead or alive?

Ok. I'm kinda confused. Is the world of AE slowly dying? Or is it my imagination?

I remember about 7 months ago, the world of AE was slowly building up. Not many peeps were AE-ing(of course, i had a different account and played on a different server). Then 3 months ago, I went into the Cap AE building and it was ALWAYS packed. It lagged ewverytime I went in there, unless of course it was Sunday or Monday. Now, when I go in there, there's hardly anybody in there, and this saddens me...deeply.

Why? Why is the world of AE slowly dying?

I blame the twin weapons of Nerfbat and Banhammer.

I appreciate the changes to AE so that people actually play the game instead of AE.

Head hurts from attempting to read OP.

It's pretty telltale due to how quickly it died. Just goes to show that when 95% of the crowd disappears, 95% of the crowd was blatantly farming and trying their damnedest to skip as much content as possible, rather than experience alternative player-made content.

I'm disappointed in the players more than anything. Is it so hard to play through something interesting instead of a bunch of bosses named in all caps and on the same outdoor map day in and day out?

If people "quit" AE due to the changes, they didn't belong in it anyway. Get out of my way so we can try and make a real AE community for once.

You mean that AE wasn't meant to powerlevel, and it's sole purpose that it was designed for was players making their own story arcs in order to play and tell stories? Say it isn't so!

</sarcasm>

I am glad to enter Atlas and not be bombarded with broadcast spam looking for AE farms, or boss farms. I actually can find stories in the architect again, where players tell stories. The balancing of architect has really improved the game. I know that people will return to PI farms and TV farms, but at least Atlas and Cap au Diable won't be bombarded with requests to party for AE

Hold on guys.

It's what? 2-3 days after the issue release?

A lot of the farmers are doing what you're doing right now. Rolling new, respec'ing, playing in the costume editor. Also, some of them are seeing how, exactly, their farms are "broken", and looking to optimize for their new set of parameters.

Also, some of them are off BY THEMSELVES farming now on +4x8.

Methinks reports of AE's death have been grossly exaggerated.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

I kinda wish I could reach through the screen and punch you in the throat, OP.

Use normal colors and stop crying about AE farms being nerfed. Crying won't bring it back anyway.

AE will never die, but at least we don't have to listen to people looking for boss farms. It was nice to see people calling for sewer teams again...

Tsooooooooooo!

Gasp It can't be! People will have to play the GAME content now! OH no the Horror of gaining extra temp powers! The Nightmare of Earning Badges that will count for something like Atlas Medallion! It's so wrong that people are forced to face all the different types of foes and go to all the cool zones!

Just in case like many I'm being... /e Gasp... sarcastic.

AE farming dead.

Tyrantula happy.

Move along.

Im still farming and happily so , its even more exciting and fun for me now that im able to set up for a 8 person spawn and be the only one on the map .

done the content on bothsides repeatedly as well as the various TF's , have a 50 of each AT done the old fashioned way by running the content (also have a 50 of each AT done the x2 exp /farm way , just saying for full disclosure ) , have made billions playing the market , working on master of badges to round out my crapton of badges on my main Dragonberry , IOed out about 5 characters fully including rares and purples and such , done hami raids till hami goo spilled out from my ears , spent months in the pvp zones ,run in pugs put together via channels im on , built a giant base and im sometimes seen roleplaying ...

so im not sure what content im missing when im off farming but im sure i'll get to it eventually



with all that said im always happy when extremely exploitive farming is fixed, but the current changes haven't diminished my joy of killing hordes and hordes of bad guys repetitively .

AE is alive, and never died.

You can still power-game with the thing, but power-gaming in COH is like peeing on ant hill. Sure it appears like power, and certainly you get visible results - but it is pretty boring, and rather unimpressive, and really a child could do it and produce the exact same result.

You always could create delicious RP with AE. I find, that my best RP in AE, is usually deeply connected to just one or two players I treasure. I like the personal touches you can put in AE, that can reference adventures in the past, character names and places that have meaning in your RP circle and make the game seemingly "come alive".

I've felt more like a super hero, in a real super group, playing AE than anywhere else in game. I can make our imagination come to life with the tool. It's awesome, and people have focused too much on the power-gamer exploits rather than give the tool its full due.

Power-gamers are deluded fools. If they have fun, with their endless repetition of simple, risk-free patterns, then I wish them well; but I won't let their intrusion ruin my own experience. One of the great things about AE power-gamers, is they all congregate in one zone. Leaving almost all other AE buildings, deliciously empty. I can openly roleplay with my small group in some of them, knowing I am not disturbing anyone, and nobody comes along to spoil the mood. Wonderful. It's like all the dumb power-gamers have put into a single box, where they perpetuate their strange repetitive drudgery ad-infinitum without ever bothering me. I have indulged in boss farms myself, so I am not blame less, but it is usually just for an hour or so, to get some tired character a tasty enhancement treat, a small carrot for squandering hours in the game without one iota of XP to show for it. I consider the whole experience utterly OOC.

Meanwhile, AE is slowly building more and more strength as a story tool. We don't sing AE's praises enough. We think the masses dictate whether AE is useful. We judge only the worst distortion of AE's usage. We forget to judge the sharp, simple and effective personal content it can create for ourselves and friends.

I have screen shots of battles, that took place in AE, that for me - sing. For they represent some of the best RP moments I've ever had in this game.

What bothers me is, the general negative use of the feature (and the subsequent vehment criticism of it), will ensure COH won't augment the tool beyond what we already have. Sad, because this tool, could be the greatest RP tool I know of, if taken one or two steps further. Sadly, what I think we'll see is just see more Nerf-Catting with the thing.

I use the tool constantly. I love it. I wish I had more time to iron out every bug that comes up with the one's I make, but sometimes those bugs create RP moments on their own. When I didn't spell $target correctly, for example, it has created this in joke as to who the mysterious $targte is.

We each take turns being GM with the thing, sometimes writing another chapter of each other's stories or ideas, which takes stories in new and unique directions. Wonderful stuff, I only wish we could convince the stewards of COH to augment it more, it's a gem of a tool. Under-developed just a bit, but its concept is sound - and it thrives - it always has.

I'm not a farmer, so I don't think the AE is "dead". In fact, there's been no change whatsoever for me and my friends, who use the AE to make special plots that we run through each week.

For us, it's alive. If it's dead for you, maybe you weren't using it right.

First, the issue of farming is transparent, largely because it parallels the tabletop gaming world in that you have Munchkins and God-Modders who think that you can "win the game". As far as I know, City of Heroes has no such measurable mechanism except perhaps being the top ranked SuperGroup.

Second, even the most hardcore XPers (the better, less insulting, and more inclusive term than farmers) want to have fun. If they can see that RPing is not ego-stroking but the creation of drama and can feel included in it, even most Munchkins come around eventually.

Third, eventually those players who run AE or are heavy XPers... those players just run out of instant coolness after a while, roll up a different set of stats, rinse and repeat. This drives the fundage for the designers to continue to improve the game. So, I say let 'em play Super-WoW. For then, eventually that well runs dry. But it generates new content for those who can build on the game with their own imaginations instead of being satisfied with being spoonfed content.

Fourth, there will always be exploitable XP or influence mechanisms as long as the MMO is based on a system of numbers that can be easily analyzed and maximized. After all, without powerlevelling, who'd man those Chinese Internet sweatshops that generate those lovely emails in-game we love so?

Finally, if we really want other players to be introduced to a broader, more immersive and personal experience than an automated world can provide (which, after all, is what RP is for), more people need to realize that XPers access this Virtue forum far less than RPers do. I personally teach RPing in Atlas Park from time to time. Why fight when you can teach?

That's all I've got. Long live AE, because it's the farmers that eventually through their spent money grow the real fruit for us RPers. Don't hate the playa, hate the play.
- @ZaxOmegaverse, OmegaVerse Editor-in-Chief

Wait, do we actually need to be politically correct about farmers and power-gamers and adjust our terminology to avoid hurting their feelings?

Are we really that fragile a society now?

Common courtesy is one thing, but if you can't tease an obsessed power-gamer, we've lost all sense of humor. Heck KOTD made an entire industry out of mocking power-gamers, gamers of all types really.

I say, mock away, it's all part of the tapestry.

And yeah AE is a great tool and very much alive.

Farming is for Peasants.

That is all.