Level 50 disenchanted - turbo levelling

Conversely, would doubling the time it takes to hit 50 really help retain such a player? And would doing so be worth the potential loss of other players who find the leveling to slow?

I'm sorry, but this makes no sense. If I choose to crank up the difficulty on my character to give me a challenge then the fact that others are playing at a different level of difficulty has zero impact on my enjoyment. For example I like to play my blaster at +0x4 since at that level I can chew through hordes of minion/LTs at an enjoyable rate without to much chance of dying (unless I go in against Malta at that setting). The fact that others choose to solo at anything between -1x1 and +4x8 doesn't change the fact that for me +0x4 is the most enjoyable. Similarly if you want to turn off XP to experience more content without exemping because you enjoy it the fact that others choose not to shouldn't lessen your enjoyment.

So basically you're talking about the people who (at least subconsciously) decide that they are going to level X characters to 50 and then quit? Now there are some people like that (in fact I did this myself in WoW, I got my Dwarf Hunter to level 78 then quit to return to CoH due to a disinterest the in end game content). Besides the fact that these players probably comprise a small portion of the player base the fact is that they're players who are going to quit anyway. Yes slowing down leveling might retain them for a little longer but eventually they'll quit anyway and potentially slowing down leveling would make them quit sooner since they get fed up with the grind before reaching 50, not to mention that you're making things worse for all players just to try and retain people who are quitting anyway for a little bit longer.

Maybe people will level to quickly to truly appreciate the game and in fact we did see that somewhat with the AE babies but I don't see any proof that the current rate of leveling it to fast to allow people to appreciate the game.

Finally I'll note that people have been proclaiming DOOOOOOM!!!! for 5 years and CoH is still around so clearly the devs are doign something right.

But playing at a higher difficulty is a very viable challenge. Plus you can say and be proud of that you are playing at a high difficulty. You can hardly say "Oh, but I turned off XP gaining for about 2 hours every day, and still made it to this level. It was much more of a challenge than your levelling."

As opposed to "runs crummy blue side release content>is alienated by slow leveling pace>finds game is lame>leaves"?

The mythical "end game" isn't the only content dead spot in this game.
The faster new players get past the junky low level hero content, the better the chances they'll stick around.

Leveling speed has nothing to do with "harder" or "easier", it has to do with pace.

I've been here a LONG time and I've heard endless lamenting about how leveling was too slow. The original design expected players to play 1 character to 50, so of course it was slow. You can see the vestiges of the whole "slow the player down" concept in the low level hero game.

But most players don't play that way, so slowing down progress with pointless busywork have fallen by the wayside.

Other people's painfully limited imaginations aren't my problem.

I don't know why.
It's measurably better than it ever has been by any reasonable metric, the discontent of the PvP'ers aside.

Not taking forever to hit 50 is a feature, not a bug.

Personally, i think that the idea of outleveling your contacts is just silly, No one will ever hear a police officer say "we do not want your help because you are too powerfull!!"
i will admit that i hate the fact that i have so many incomplete progress bars on the inactive contact list i wish we could still go to those contacts and fill in those bars i do not even care if i get xp for it or not

Am i the only one when i see your name i heard Capt. Picard saying "Shut up, Westley!"

:P


never mind - carry on....

Possibly. There's no T in "Wesley".

Yeah, probably, since you're spelling the name wrong. You're referring to WESLEY when his name is spelled WESTLEY and refers to someone else.

If most players had their way, they'd log in to the character creator and have the 50 already waiting for them.

A few? Sure.
Most? Nah.

This is so utterly absurd I fail to wrap my head around it. I've been subscribed to this game for 63 months according to my vet badges, and during this time, I have made 7 50s with over 20 other characters still waiting for their time in the spotlight and, from the looks of things, about half a dozen to a dozen characters that'll get made in-between now and the early days of Going Rogue.

I know Going Rogue will give me AT LEAST two new characters, proliferating Axe to Scrappers will give me at least one more, proliferating Dark to Blasters will give me one more, I still have yet to make a Pain, Thermal or Poison Mastermind, I only have Broadsword and Ninja Blade on my Stalkers while looking at least at Martial Arts and Dual Blades, as well...

This is insane. Are you saying I could just sit down and get no less than 30 characters to 50 by just snapping my fingers really hard? Because five years and change of trying hasn't got me even half-way through.

*edit*
Also, why is everyone talking like you can log into the game and be 50 within a few hours? I mean, yes, you can probably powerlevel all the way up there in a short amount of time, but I haven't seen people tugging at my sleeves to powerlevel me. Regular gameplay very much does NOT permit ultra-fast levelling. I just checked, and...

My first 50 right now has 922 hours of gameplay on him, but he hit 50 in January of 2005.

One of my latest 50s right now has 307 hours put into her, and that's with me essentially skipping all the 35-40 game Via three ITFs over a weekend AND getting her from 45-50 during a double experience weekend.

307 hours with taking shortcuts is very much more than any non-MMO game I've played. I got through the entire campaign in Torchlight in about 10 hours, and I could probably do that again with the two remaining classes. I suppose I could make new characters and build them differently, but I built my pistoleer as I did because I liked how she played. I've no reason to build her differently. Currently, Dragon Age: Origins boats 60 hours of playtime or thereabout, which I've seen called "absurd" in several reviews. I know two things about Baldur's Gate games - I can probably double their game time if I try really hard, and once the game is over, I'm GLAD it's over and I would never bring myself to play it again from the start. I've played City of Heroes entirely from start to finish 8 times right now, and I've never faltered, because the game goes fast and it's easy to play. Very much unlike practically any other MMO.

That's the big thing about City of Heroes for me - the game doesn't bog you down with hard tasks and complicated challenges, inciting you instead to replay it. Because a hard game is fun once over, but a hard game over and over and over again just grates and grinds.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

There's a medium ground in between four days and forever, mind you.

If people wouldnt want to invest even a few weeks into a character, it would be a poor game indeed.

Not everyone that posts on this forum wants to only bend the game for their own personal good.
Hard to understand too, I know.

I am sorry that all of you veterans of course know all the ropes and the content by heart and thus most would rather like their new character concept to be 50 instantly, but new players do not know all that. I didnt find the low level content boring or annoying when I did it the first few times. And I didnt find the content repetitive until it took you like 20 cloned standard missions for one level in that around-level-30 grind phase back then. But that slow stretch in the leveling curve has been fixed years ago, and even with it in place I only wished for more maps or friends that do PvP and more TFs to join (didnt know of LFT channels back then) and not for less content during my leveling.

edit: And I am talking about now. Not "But I've been playing a character for a year and he only made 40". "For a year" is not now. I dont know if its only at the highest level but all I said was I find getting the 2 missing levels on characters I have played for over a year too suddenly went super fast now. In the second week of November 2009 precisely. In case they patched it already yesterday.

Name one way to level to 50 in four days without powerlevelling or working 12-hour shifts in-game and then we'll talk. Because the Scrapper I made on Monday is sitting at level 12 two and a half days in, and I don't envision myself getting her to 50 by Friday.

Ideally, people wouldn't need to INVEST in a game. In my ideal world, a game would be solely for fun and recreation, and never work, an investment or a project.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

"Sorry bucko, but CoH and CoV are the same game." -BackAlleyBrawler
"Silly villain, CoX is for Heroes!" -Saicho

After I14 and 16 hit it is a joke to say this game is too easy. You fully have the options to make it harder and take longer for yourself.

This argument is no longer relevant.

EDIT: Also VERY surprised to see that coming from Venture, since he is one of the prime users of AE.

Yeah, I don't get this idea that games have to be work.

If YOU (in general) want to make it slow as molasses and work, you can.

With Orobororus, XP Off, Possibility to make/play AE missions with mobs that take forever to kill, Difficulty options that can potentially give you bosses in every other mob, I don't take any discussions of a) I outleveled this or that b) game is too easy c) game is too hard seriously anymore.

Folks have all the options they need now to move at any pace or difficulty they want.

Hell there are even options to make the game EASIER than heroic (and thus even less xp) if you want.

*scratches head*

I'm . . . confused.

EDIT: If folks are concerned that there are less players around sure that makes sense. Going Rogue should help with that.

But then again those folks leveling slow or fast are not guaranteed to want to team with you. In fact if those folks want to level slower, they WON'T be teaming, and shouldn't be, as that would in fact speed up their leveling speed and speed to burnout rate.

In the words of Yahtzee;

"Remember fun? That thing that games were before they became our second jobs?"

I just tried to it, trying to be fast once, and 10 minutes after hitting 2, at level 3.2 from street swiping, got indeed invited to a sewer team. We had a level 50 come with us that buffed us all to invincibility. When we stopped 1 hour and 11 minutes after the invite, I was level 10 and four pips. From then on I sucked a bit at trying to be fast, having a hard time finding level-appropriate mobs in the Hollows where I went to, and just did the missions there. Still took only 1:06 more to get to 12, 2:46 total to 12 and one third when it was dinnertime.

Not saying that that is normal or turbo or the time is too fast (while the amount of content you see that way is imo), but
two and a half days for it? Clearly not. That would be too slow indeed. I always make 12 in one afternoon even if I stick with normal content and try to take along all the contacts and badges. And I am sure with sewers and TF it can be done MUCH faster.


Again, its not about myself (or him) but more about potential new players that hit 50 the turbo way, think this was it, and find the game is pointless if max level is reached like that and all content is like what they saw.

Its still not about me or any particular seasoned player who already knows the game.
And its about leveling speed and not difficulty. Higher difficulty also means more XP and thus faster leveling per mission. (and new players likely dont know about the option)

...

I give up.

If a solo player is playing the highest difficulty and surviving they deserve to level fast.

Go take that new level whatever you said earlier into a mission and set it to +1, with your solo player set to being equal to 3 players and on the level before invincible. Tell me how well you survive.

That's not even the highest difficulty.

If folks want to play at the highest difficulty, cut off their xp gain, or slow down, their are options to.

Glad you gave up, because as I said before, your post is no longer relevant as of I16.

Does double XP weekend count? Double XP before last, I rolled up a brand new Ice/Stone tanker Friday afternoon, and dinged 50 Sunday evening. No powerleveling (unless you count playing and participating on 8-man teams turn double XP as powerleveling), and I'm pretty sure I didn't have any 12-hour shifts