When does the game get good? (or Do you like lvls 1-20?)

One of the (many) unanswered questions about Going Rogue, and by far the biggest for me, has to be will Praetoria only cover levels 1 to 20 (and some 'endgame' ?)

Right off I'll say I won't mind (much) if it does. I love the low level game, and spend most of my time on it, but I sometimes suspect I'm in the minority in this, especially as far as forumites go, and I admit that I wince at the thought of the reaction if it is confirmed that the new shiny is only the first 20 levels.

But this isn't intended as a GR speculation thread as such. I'm just wondering if the impression I get is correct, or if it's skewed by a vocal minority?

So do you like those first 20 levels, or do you regard it as a tiresome pre-travel power, pre-stamina, pre-interesting enemies grind?

It depends on the powerset for me. Some, I can't wait to get some number of levels under my belt - rarely for stamina, usually "so I have SOME freaking powers to use." Others are great from the get-go (my Mind/Fire dom was one of these. Hopped down from the fort in Mercy, took on a large spawn down on the beach - or pair of spawns, we're looking at a good 10:1 fight - and cranked up the difficulty at level 3, the level she was at when that finished.)

See my Guides and Tutorials

I like 1 to 20 for the first 5 or 6 times through it, after that I pl my alts because A) It gets old fast and B) No stamina = endless grind and C) hate hitting rest.

YES I KNOW I WILL BE DISAPPOINTED!

I am holding on to hope that this expansion will NOT just be 1 to 20...

Takes me under 3 hours to play through those levels solo... 3 hours.

Having played for a while, I prefer getting to 22.

However, give me new story arcs and I won't care so much. So, give me new places and arcs to lvl, and I won't pl the new characters up.

For me, on the most part, the game starts to really pick up at 22. Thats when I'm out of the 'stamina gulch', as I call level 14-20 and have SOs slotted, and can really start to get a better idea of just what the character is capable of. Unfortunately, I seem to be the odd-ball out of the forumites, many of whom keep saying 'Early levels go to fast' or 'You spend barely any time 1-20'.

Well, I dont know how they do it. What the secret little trick is. Or wether these people sleep. Because I can spend quite a long tim going from 1-20. Maybe Im just unlucky.
Part of it doesnt help being thoroughly sick of low level blueside content (where the majority of my current lowbies are atm). I hate the ammount of fedexes and hunts I get given. I despise being told to go see another contact, three freaking zones away. Once I hit 14 its usually not so bad. But then we hit Stamina Gulch. Where its not the movement thats the chore, but combat. Again, I seem to be 'Doing it Wrong', because the most vocal people never seem to have 'any endurance problems at all'.

/Rant
I like parts of the early game. But not as much as I enjoy the mid-late game. Im looking forward to the GR 1-20 content, and I hope that I was right in thinking that the brief mention of 'new low content' was actually tutorials and low levels incluced (i.e. I17 stuff, not GR, bar Praetorian tutorial, obviously)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

The 1-20 grind sucks primarily because of no stamina.Some of the contacts are fun,but,seriously no stamina just kills it for low levels.

I'd rather be pl'd to 20 and avoid the pain that it is,actually this is really the only thing that really bothers me about this game is the reliance on almost every AT to get the fitness pool.

Hopefully if it just starts out and it is only 1-20,it will be expanded upon in future issues.

Depends on the powerset and if I get a good regular team.

I rarely bother to take stamina. I like the first 20 levels because xp comes pretty quickly - at least one level a week, sometimes two. The game starts slowing down in the 20's, and it can feel very grindy by the mid 30's no matter how much endurance I have.

i personally dislike the pre-lvl 20 game (especially on VEATs, since everything they do before 24 is basically worthless because of the forced respec)

but the pre lvl 20 game, yes it is fast, but after you do it oh say 5-10 times, its just too repetitive (i currently have 31 toons and ive deleted at least 5-10 toons, so yeah, i rarely even do the pre lvl 20 game anymore)

another reason i hate the pre lvl 20 game is because i cant tell if i like a toon until they are in the 20s because before 20 you have very few powers to do anything with to see how the toon will play, lvls 20-30 is usually where i usually decide if i want to keep a toon or not

another thing i hate about pre lvl 20 is that you cant get SOs until 22, so i just rather save my money instead of wasting them on TOs and DOs that do so little it almost doesnt even matter.

The problem with 1-20 IMO is that you burn through the levels quickly. Later on you have lots of missions to do, early on you have a small number you always do if you're doing missions. That's also the problem with the idea of new early content, you don't need early content quite quickly.

I like the low levels, for the most part. I don't mind running around for a few levels, then getting a jetpack to fly.

I am getting tired of the fedexs, running to meet a "new contact" (especially the Field Analysts & PvP reps - I know about them already, thanks, please let me skip them or take something else).

The fast pace (levelling almost every time I play for more than a few minutes) is what makes it attractive. Above the mind 20s, it slows down, and then it depends heavily on the powerset & AT whether I want to play a character for any length of time. That's probably why it took me over 2 1/2 years to get my first level 50 and why I only have 4 other characters above level 40 (including my second level 50 about a month ago).

But I am really, really looking forward to something different to do....

I love the game 1-10ish and then again 22-50, but the teen levels make me want to scream. It's not the lack of end that's the big issue, not every character has trouble with the blue, but EVERY character has horrible accuracy during that time period, and the ways to ameliorate it (slightly) are almost as annoying for me as just gritting my teeth and getting through it already. I don't PL, teaming's the best way to endure it. If I'm unlucky with getting a team, the only way I can make it is by playing until I start swearing, then it's time to play a higher-level character or something else entirely.

My major complaint for a long time has, and will be until its changed a bit, been level 14-20. Endurance starts vanishing like rum around a sailor, and my accuracy goes out the window faster than Casannunda with an angry husband chasing him.

Which means being stuck fighting +0 x1 missions. Which means slower levelling. I play odd hours these days, thanks to the Uni nets firewall settings and my own workload. I have plenty of SGs. All of them are RP and, when people have been on a lot of the day, evening tends to be a bit more sedate. Which leaves me in the rut.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I find that high damage ATs like Blasters and scrappers are usually pretty good to play through 1-20 without too much issue. Because they have enough damage to keep themselves going without much need of enhancement, you can go through and slot your powers entirely for accuracy and end reduction without much concern until you get to 22 and Stamina/SOs.

With lower damage ATs, though, I find I'm constantly trying to juggle end reduction, accuracy and damage (or hold or immobilize). At the lower levels, I prefer to keep my attacks slotted to something like 1-2 acc, 2 end reduction. When you have only 3 free slots in a power, and you need damage, accuracy, and end reduction in it, something's got to give. Either I skip damage and slow fights down, skip accuracy and whiff every other attack and slow fights down, or skip end reduction and find myself sucking wind at the end of every fight and slow down the mission.

When we were given that XP curve adjustment to the low levels a few patches back, the cynic in me figured it was probably because the devs were getting too many complaints about the low end game and wanted the players to skip through it faster so it was less of an issue. Probably not true, but there's a new conspiracy theory for you.

Ideally, I would like for them to simply scrap Stamina and have it replaced with something else, then go through and then totally rebalance everything without the assumption of +recovery (except where it might exist within a powerset, such as regeneration). It's a pipe dream, I know, and a lot of work for a system that is ostensibly WAI. Alternately, buff the end inspirations to 33% for a small, 50% for a medium and 66% for a large. That way, you can fight a bit longer on one small and get in another one, or maybe 2 attacks.

We agree that "to each their own" is a style of play for this game?

Well, last few times I wanted to actually play through the content offered in this game at this point, I just dual boxed the content... and not really how that sounds.

I log on a 50 with recall friend... and eliminate the travel time in the low levels... Nothing makes me feel LESS super than being slow as hell. Just because I am a low level super hero doesnt mean both of my legs are submerged in mud.

So, simply by removing the slow-butt travel I shave ALOT of time off the leveling pace. (I DO NOT have the 50 play the content thoe, unless is a badge mission)

Also, I tend to team alot, and my teams dont usually mind getting ported to all the missions for times sake.

I personally don't have much trouble with the low level game. Most characters seem to have no problems except for end running out, but I always carry 3-5 blue inspirations so it doesn't slow me down too much.

There are also some lowbie contacts/arcs that I love to take and they never get old.