Soloing

The only use I have for AE is soloing. Finding teams can be tough, at times, on any server. Finding good teams is truly a matter of luck some days. Those who farm, er play, AE are even less likely to 1) run PUG groups 2) Be a decent team if a PUG group. In my opinion. Just my own belief.

So I was using AE to level my strange creations. A few hours invested, a few levels. Could do it even with tanks, although it took longer.

Now, however, the latest nerf has made the rewards in AE less than the rewards for regular gaming. I know that was the point. I know there was massive abuse.

However, I would like it if I could find a way to regularly solo toons for decent time investment to reward ratios. This is easy for say my brutes. Just run regular missions. Brutes eat everything. For tankers, not so much. Same with dominators (especially at low levels). Also true with blasters. In fact, I find it easy only to solo with Brutes and Corruptors. Maybe I am just not great at the game. Still, I have been playing almost 3 years straight. I wish I could solo with toons designed more for support roles. AE seemed like the logical place for this to happen.

It seems like I might be able to tailor missions for support toons. I have tried my hand at it once, and have yet to publish an actual mission. Its almost like you need someone to show you. Talk about counterintuitive setup for the thing. Also, now with extra nerfs, if I happen to add something the devs do not like, my mission goes to almost no experience. In essence what I am saying is AE is complicated to write on for the uninitiated, and even if you manage to get something written there is a good chance the Devs hate some part of it and it will net you almost no rewards. So, no, I do not plan to write missions.

The missions I have been using have all been nerfed, of course. All the standard "Devs Choice!" and "Favorite of Everyone"!!!! missions are almost exactly like the missions already in the game. For me, these are very hard for non-heavy melee toons. I have soled the entire redside every story/arc on a brute. I have soled to 20 every story/arc blueside on a blaster. Gave it up there, way too hard to even unlock some missions.

In essence I am complaining that AE, the one shot at custom missions for odd characters, has been shut down.

One thing that I have found helps my tanks and defenders is to play very, very low level arcs and be sure bosses are turned ON.

A level 1 boss has 108 HP, a level 2 has 122
A level 1 Lieut has 73hp, a level 2 has 81

Very small difference and yet bosses are worth much more than double the exp of a lieutenant. At low levels they don't really have the nasty powers either.

Look for things like the sewer run clones and other fixed at level 1-5 arcs, turn on bosses and go. If you avoid the custom critters and allies there are missions that still give full exp.

However if you find them boring then the best thing is to try and create your own. But I recommend using the above setup as much as possible. It will make things a lot easier on your low-damage characters. Kind of frustrating if you like your fancy powers, but it is much faster.

I can level a toon to 20+, usually to 30 pretty easy even on mediocre/bad PUGs. I mean, these days you can sewer run to 10. it is after 20 that things get really slow if you cannot find the "dream team" that is smooth and playing all day. That is the hole AE used to fill for me. Sad panda.

I've leveled a defender from 27 to 43 using level 1 AE missions with the settings I mentioned above. You get full exp while exemplared so it's just a matter of whether or not you can enjoy the missions.

Thanks Gavin, I will try this. As long as the rewards are reasonable I will be fine. With as many alts as I run I am very comfortable running 1st levels lol. Love the supernatural reference also. My wife has been wandering around since that episode played randomly saying "Sam, of course, is an abomination." and busting out laughing.