Level 50 Snobs

I have a LONG history of forming and leading my own PuGs, usually with TFs but sometimes on just mission teams. And I always send a polite /tell with all the pertinent details. This has become a common part of my gaming experience.

I've learned that level 50 heroes just LOVE to team no matter WHAT they are doing and no matter what level they have to exemplar to. They just love to be doing SOMETHING other than sitting around. I found this out after forming a few TFs and getting tells from level 50 friends of those already on my team asking if they can join.

After running a few TFs with a mix of people at varying levels, I've also gotten used to sidekicking/exemplaring people quickly after team formation.

So I've decided to try out the new super-sidekicking system the other day for the first time because hey it should make it THAT much easier, right? I start sending out my tells and inviting people around my level or lower first and then level 50s next.

Well I run across something strange...

For the first time level 50s are sending me response /tells saying no with the SPECIFIC reason that they "don't have access to all their powers" at that level. So basically, as I call it, level 50 snobbery.

But this is new... I've been forming and leading PuG teams for about a YEAR now and never ran into this "problem" until just this last week. All the 50s that actually responded to me in the past just LOVED getting invites doing anything, because they make the same influence no matter what level they fight at.

Has anyone else seen this "snobbery"? Anyone have any clue where it's come from? Because I'd never seen it before I16.

hmm, while i love pugging at any level, particularly with new players, i can see a reson for the access to powers thing. they are used to a playstyle with certain powers (stamina comes to mind instantly) and dont want to go back. Now with endreds thats not an issue with me, plus at lower levels the extra slots tend to allow me to go through the enemies like a wood-chipper through chipmunks, but i noticed some of people wont slot them post stamina. as for why now, no idea, bad luck on your part?

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

Today I attempted a MSTF run with a PuG. I had about 7 people, and found a kinetic controller, so I invited her. I was a stone tank, and was just about to start when I got a text from her saying:

"Im only going to be SB'ing you, and nobody else on the team" I asked why and she said "Because Earth is my primary and I don't want."

So in team chat I warned that the kinetic defender did not want to SB anyone else. She quit the team, and sent me a tell saying "You shouldn't have done that"

She was level 50 too. And she was a kinetic defender who took speed boost, but didn't want to use it. Irony..

I'll team at any level - I don't really have a fixed play style

With SSK, I'm far more willing to exemp/mal down. Most of my characters probably have some sort of lower level they'd prefer not to go under (i.e. sometimes I respec the character in a way that's really broken at lower levels... like only having 1 attack on a melee AT until the mid-20s), but I'd probably be willing to go down to any level above that, and if the cause was worthy (i.e. good content, friends, good reward, bored, etc) I'd probably join anyways... even if I was on a 49

We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.

What odd responses. Do you think that some of these people only just realized that they lost powers from exemplaring? I mean, perhaps they weren't very observant, but now that there's a popup to inform them they've realized it.

Depends on the situation really and on what AT im on. If im on an offensive character im more likely to say no thanks than say if im on a controller/defender who do jump at any chance for a team.

Might be a US server thing but on the EU servers i have rarely come across level 50s exempin down onto a PUG just to do something [apart from badges/tfs obviously].

See now im not sure whether i fall into the level 50 snobs bracket either since on my 50s im 99% certain i would say no to a random PUG asking me to exemp down. Not because of the fact that i would lose my powers, but when i play my level 50s i expect the chance to earn a higher rate of reward than my lower levels. Ok saying it like that does sound snobbish.

I suppose I'm a reverse 50 snob, since I deeply dislike teaming with exemp'd 50s on low level teams. I'm not saying they all do it, but I've been on a number of lowbie teams where an exemp'd high level has tried to run the team, or tried to play the low level game as if it was the high level game (Tank must go first blah blah...) or dropped their exemp the minute things looked remotely dangerous and wiped half the map while the rest of us got no xp.

One incident in particular stands out. I was running a team in KR, doing radios, and in response to one of my LFM broadcasts we picked up a 50 who said she was happy to exemp down. Fair enough, though personally I can't see the fun in running lvl 10 radios at lvl 50.

First mission in she starts going on about how our tank should go in first - with predictable results since a lvl 10 tank will die when hit by a full team alpha strike. I end up with my scrapper running in alongside the tank to dilute the alpha and we get through the mission... with a few faceplants, but many bad guys are beaten down and much xp is gained.

Then comes the next mission - Get the device from the Skulls. We enter the mission, and this exemp'd 50 stealths to the end of the map. The following conversation ensues:

50: I'm at the glowie. Tell me when/if you want me to click it.
Me: Huh? This is a radio mish, not the ITF. We're not speeding it. We want to fight these guys, for the xp.
50: Well I'll wait here.
Me [looking at the Bone Daddy and his buddies in the first spawn]: Well to be honest I'd rather you were here with the rest of us.
50: Get a healer then I'll join you. I don't want to die over and over again.
Me: Then don't.

*Kick

We exited the mission to reset and I did another LFM broadcast. While I was doing so I got a tell from the 50:

"Enjoy dying. I hope you get stuck in there all day."

As it happens we recruited another couple of heroes and waltzed through the mission without a single faceplant. And we STILL didn't have a 'healer'

Let's face facts... the recent AE boss farming environment has made people used to door sitting... in fact it's trained them to do just that... we have a whole "generation" of level 50s who did not have to earn their character's level.

It doesn't surprise me at all that people are not wanting to lose their powers to run a TF. That might actually take an effort... or involve a risk of some sort.

All the veterans of the game often say they thought ED was bad.... IG is much, much worse. IG being Instant Gratification.

I've run more low lvl tfs and sewer runs AFTER i hit 50 than before. I like helping folks out, particularly in atlas, in a noninvasive way (play mostly defenders with helper-friendly powers).

There have been times when I psted a 50 to join a katie or manti tf and got the "why are you buggin me? I'm a 50" response. then i make the little note: "current n00b status: very high" and move on.

one reason i stay wiht the game is i meet 20 cool people for every n00b. So lvl50 snobbery has not been a common occurrence for me.

I suffer from this to a certain extent - not that I decline to join teams (I don't team with strangers anyway, but there are times when my friends' characters are lower-level than the character I'm using), but it always makes me slightly irritated when I realize, "Oh yeah, I'm only level 38 now, I don't have that." It doesn't make me unwilling to play, but it's annoying, breaks the rhythm a little, like reaching for the cruise control and then remembering that you borrowed your mom's car and it hasn't got it.

I think at its root it's the same sort of instinctive annoyance as I always feel when someone goes on the S&I board and bleats about wanting all content to be levelless like the Rikti invasions. I didn't claw my way all the way to level 48 so that a Hellion in Atlas Park could pose a threat.

You're right, Steelclaw. The AE babies whose teams steamrolled them to 50, just using brute force don't understand how to work with some powersets, or how to actually play the creations they have.

I prefer not to exemplar my characters because they are more fun for me to play with all of their powers. I could play with them at a lower level. After a bit of adjustment, I would do just fine. It wouldn't be as much fun for me, though, as doing content of their level or switching to a different character for the TF.

I am not against the exemplar system at all. I think it is a great idea. A lot of people I know love it, and I'll use it if I need a particular badge. Other than that, though, I prefer to avoid it.

Some people probably do refuse to exemplar for the reasons that have already been stated here. I suspect that a lot of them feel the same way that I do, though.

I don't see anything wrong with wanting to have fun while playing a game.

I have different characters that exemp differently. My fire/kin controller or corruptor are happy to exemp, but I won't with my SS/Shields brute. I have him pretty pimped out so he's softcapped and has a ton of recharge bonuses. But he goes from demigod to pretty wimpy without all those set bonuses, so I won't exemp with him.

I blame AE

If you think of it they can no longer farm at AE so now they play with there lvl 50s and im sure some are not willing to lose there powers, and im sure some player might think that they will stay that lvl if they join you -_-