Double XP Downer

Does anyone else get depressed by double XP 'reactivation' weekends?

I find that a lot of folks come back to the game, and for a few glorious days the servers are bustling, teams are easy to find, and the game is fun again!

..and then we go back into the 6 month lull between weekends and everyone goes off to play other games. Good teams become hard to find and the grindfest nature of the game becomes self evident. The office buildings and warehouses that seemed so full of life and danger with a team of 8 suddenly feel bland and empty solo.

Everyone wants to be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Noone wants to be there three days later.

I play Virtue exclusively and am on VU2009. I see team broadcasts in channels and globals alot lately (even before 2xp weekend). I have logged into characters to check auction slots or logged into a low alt to dual box a mission or two and every time I do, I recieve tells for teams.
I have been turning down teaming with others because I do not want to join a team with my dual box follower (not really fair.) If I team like that it will be a team i put together.

But between I16 launch through wednesday, I have had no problems with teaming. I just do not get where the whine is coming from on this.

Some people are attracted to easy gains and new shinies. What can be done? You can't hold these people's attention for more than a short while unless you have an enormous staff, are willing to wreck the normal rate of progression (or let them do it), or both.

I'm a hardy old salt from the way-back-then. I was here when the servers ground up, and I'll be here when the servers grind down. DXP means nothing to me.

The reactivation, mmm...tempting to see who shows up--but yeah, the "happy" of seeing old friends is oft tempered by the bittersweet of knowing they aren't here to stay. Or maybe they will--I have no control over that.

See you out there--

just to clarify reactivation is one month...so might be amonth of fun if u ever want to find teams ive had lots of luck on virtue lfg alpha,ROBO KiTTY,vu2009,etc all good channels....

I would stay and try to keep the server happy if I could!! Its just... 8 months without a job makes playing ... difficult


on the plus side I am taking online courses at least to keep myself from going insane.

It's weird, when there's DXP weekend it's the hardest time for me to find teams. I have a single player SGs now and I haven't established any new in-game friends of late. So now, at least to me, players are teaming with their SG members more because of the gains in XP.

While I don't get depressed about double XP weekends, neither does it excite me. It is nice, though, to have the free reactivations, so I can see people again who have left the game for whatever reason before.

I think it's not all that bad. People like me who haven't played in almost a year come back to see if the changes made by the latest Issue or two have made the game interesting enough to resubscribe. I probably will resubscribe, because WoW endgame is actually a worse and more mind-numbing grindfest than the rest of WoW ever was, and I like the look of the various quality of life tweaks that were just made over here in CoX.

Do some people not have supergroups with people they team with regularly? I team with the Knights every evening I am on, double xp or not. If you have trouble finding teams when there is no special event going on, perhaps you need to look at changing they way you social network in-game.

[Warning, this post is practical but finds itself optimistically littered with " 's" near the end. ]

Hart, are you referring to a decline in your social circles or the general populations?

People do come and go. We tend to be affected when it's folks we know, have known for some time. It's a game. People come and go. I spend a few extra seconds when meeting "new" people and have kept my lists active because of it.

As for general population, well yeah.. it won't be as active between events, issue releases, and DXP weekend. So the question is, how much of a decline is there from a special week/end to "average" weeks? No one has those numbers, all I know is that I don't see a ghost town. If it was, I doubt those folks would come back each event. I still see a healthy amount of people still teaming (form my own) and hopping about (global lists). Just don't expect to physically see every body nestled inside of an instanced mission map or hidden from local or global search.

So here's the nauseating Hello Kitty part of my post.

1. Make a new acquaintence or friend for every recent one who has left the game.

2. Invest in a good SG/VG or better yet.. global channel. Some global channels help you meet like-minded people (badge channels, PvP channels, various clubs) and do all the work of bringing them to your door. It's a beacon.

3. Enjoy the moment. When you're on a team or taskforce or holiday badge-fest... exchange a few kind and helpful words with the folks (new and old) you're teamed with. Compliment that really standout biography if you see one. There's been many times that the company of one other have made me think, "Wow, this game is FULL of the nicest people." because I keep meeting others.

[edit/add] 4. Use those playernotes. While it's not likely you'll get any clear picture of another player from one team experience, you can pretty much tell if you'd be inclined to "just team" with them again. Say you're on a team of 8 and 4 are good, experienced players.. maybe quickly right click to tag them with stars. If one is a standout, social and knowledgable, add a note: "Genius on builds." Over time, you'll see a new layer of the city. A constellation of "2 star - good teammate" and "3 star - good teammate with note added because they brought something special to the table" along with your "4 star friends" and "5 star SG mates on different alts". Think of it as night vision. Then, don't be afraid to turn to someone starred on the tram next to you, greet them and offer an invitation to whatever you're doing next.