Best Way to Level Up? Active Teams?
By
Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2010-06-28 24:24 in Player Questions
Have you joined any of Protector's global channels? Jello Shooters, Protector Vigilance, Protector Watch, Protector TFs are all good places to start.
I just finished an 8 man Manticore (started about 11 am Pacific time) and moving on to a Citadel tf which looks like it'll also fill. And that's at a pretty slow time.
Global @StarGeek
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I have three pieces of advice:
1. Set your LFG tag and comment appropriately
2. Find and join LFG global channels
3. Start your own teams
1 and 2 make it easier for you to find existing teams. Using broadcast will occasionally get you a team but the search feature and global channels are cross zone which drastically increases the number of people who could potentially invite you.
3 is of course the best way to make sure you always have a team. Plenty of people want teams but don't want to have to start one so if you start one and fill it using some combination of broadcast, searches and global channels you'll find plenty of people willing to sign up. Someone wrote a good guide on how to form teams, I'm to lazy to look it up but I imagine someone will post a link to it soon.
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Oh, nice. Haven't even considered the global channels. I'll definitely give it a try.
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Originally Posted by StarGeek
Have you joined any of Protector's global channels? Jello Shooters, Protector Vigilance, Protector Watch, Protector TFs are all good places to start.
I just finished an 8 man Manticore (started about 11 am Pacific time) and moving on to a Citadel tf which looks like it'll also fill. And that's at a pretty slow time. |
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What's funny is, I've heard the same thing said by someone who had similar difficulties playing on a low pop server (Fenris) of a game that is by no means 'not so popular anymore' (you know which one I'm referring to). Your difficulty does not denote anything but your own difficulty. Anyone can tell you teams are probably plentiful all day and night on Virtue and Freedom. Not so much on Protector or Victory, for example.|
Originally Posted by RockHero
It's a shame that this great game isn't so popular anymore.
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Adeon's suggestion is an astute one. Another thing to do is keep track of people you see/team with around the same time of day frequently. It might be they're regularly on at around that time (they might be Euro or work "odd" times) and team with them a lot. If your idea of 'popular' (game wise) is 'I can find a team with the most passive methods imaginable', you need to be on Virtue or Freedom. Perhaps you don't like forming your own team or running from zone to zone to broadcast 'lft'. If that's the case, you need to be on Virtue or Freedom. High pop servers (in all MMOs, by and large, though I suppose someone can point out an exception) offer a wider selection of socialization opportunities (of which teaming is the big one) but you often pay for that with overactive public channels ("spam", in other words).
I'd say the best way to level up would be to always get xp as much as you possibly can. That doesn't necessitate teaming but teaming is generally the path of least resistance (so the defacto 'best' to many people).
@Remianen / @Remianen Too
Sig by RPVisions
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Actually, I have other characters on other servers and I've had the same problem; the only reason I'm on Protector is that I started my trial account on that server.|
Originally Posted by RemianenI
What's funny is, I've heard the same thing said by someone who had similar difficulties playing on a low pop server (Fenris) of a game that is by no means 'not so popular anymore' (you know which one I'm referring to). Your difficulty does not denote anything but your own difficulty. Anyone can tell you teams are probably plentiful all day and night on Virtue and Freedom. Not so much on Protector or Victory, for example.
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Also, I've played World of Warcraft (on a trial basis, not full account and I'm not a WoW addict) a couple of times and every town was full of people jumping and walking all over the place. When I go through CoH on all the servers, I rarely see another player on patrol or moving out and about. I just see a lot of NPCs that say, "Nice day, isn't it?"
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the game is unpopular because I'm personally having a problem with it. I'm just saying it as an observation. I want the game to be more... active. I can see why me saying the game is not popular can be construed as insulting or narrow-minded.
Try sending a polite tell to other players your level range that are already on teams and ask if you can join your team. Be polite, tell them your AT, powersets and Level.
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The game's mostly instanced so the majority of players are not out in the overworld. Once you get active in the global channels, I bet things pick right up. Just remember that you are far less anonymous on smaller servers and your earned reputation will preceded you, be it good or bad, so be cool |
Originally Posted by RockHero
Also, I've played World of Warcraft (on a trial basis, not full account and I'm not a WoW addict) a couple of times and every town was full of people jumping and walking all over the place. When I go through CoH on all the servers, I rarely see another player on patrol or moving out and about. I just see a lot of NPCs that say, "Nice day, isn't it?"
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My own advice is to start your own teams and use globals et cetera to fill them. Don't be afraid of the star. Advertising that you are forming a team is gonna get you way better results than advertising that you are looking for one.
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This is probably the most enlightening advice I've received so far. Thank you!
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Originally Posted by Emberly
My own advice is to start your own teams and use globals et cetera to fill them. Don't be afraid of the star. Advertising that you are forming a team is gonna get you way better results than advertising that you are looking for one.
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Yes, but you've drawn the wrong conclusion. People don't spend much time outside of instanced missions. A typical mission arc might have one street hunt and a dozen missions that take place indoors. As far as traveling between missions, people will often exit the mission and someone will immediately drop an Ouroboros Portal and people will use that as a shortcut to the next mission.|
Originally Posted by RockHero
Also, I've played World of Warcraft (on a trial basis, not full account and I'm not a WoW addict) a couple of times and every town was full of people jumping and walking all over the place. When I go through CoH on all the servers, I rarely see another player on patrol or moving out and about.
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Aside from super-high traffic areas (like around City Hall or Wentworths) or role-playing locales (Pocket D), you just won't see many people standing around. It's the nature of this game.
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
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Globals will definitely be a big help on Protector. We have a very active community, and there is nearly always something going on. From regular TF's to GM hunts, to themed TF's (all controller/dominator, all defender, etc.), there is plenty of activity.|
Originally Posted by RockHero
Oh, nice. Haven't even considered the global channels. I'll definitely give it a try.
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Protector TFs and Protector Vigilance are both great places to start.
Protector has been my home since I first started playing, so feel free to look me up at anytime.
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Originally Posted by RockHero
This is probably the most enlightening advice I've received so far. Thank you!
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For some reason, the majority of players just despise the idea of having the star and running the team. I can sympathize to a certain extent. It can be a bit of a hassle having to juggle playing your own character, keeping the team moving so there is little downtime, and also looking for new team members when others leave. But, it's really not all that difficult.
A few small suggestions when forming teams that pay big dividends:
1: Send tells to other players, not just blind invites.
2: Give them an idea in the tell of what you're doing. Something simple like "Running lvl 25 missions in Sharkhead, would you like to join us?"
3: Have a mission(s) ready to go when players join the team. Few things are worse when joining a team than having no idea what is going on, and getting the impression that the team leader has no idea what is going on either.
4: Welcome new players to the team. Being greeted with silence when joining a team sucks.
5: Be prepared to adjust difficulty up or down on the fly depending on how the team is doing.
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Global Channels are really really important.|
Originally Posted by RockHero
Oh, nice. Haven't even considered the global channels. I'll definitely give it a try.
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Starting own teams works most of the time too.
Welcome to the game and the forums! 
One bit of advice I like to offer all new players:
The only way to guarantee you're always on a fun team is to form one yourself...
Leading a team requires some minor effort on your part, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes, and can be very rewarding.
It's not hard at all to put a full, 8-member team together in less than 5 minutes without using annoying Blind Invites.
Here's how.
Just wanted to report back and thank everyone, once again, for the wonderful advice. I played about 5-6 hours worth of CoH and every moment of it was full of back-to-back missions. It was much more enjoyable. I joined the Protector Vigilance global channel, sought teams and jumped right in naturally.
I do know about forming teams, but the only reason I don't do it often is primarily due to laziness, but I have formed teams quite a few times in CoH.
However, I just wanted to mention to Ironblade that you're right, not seeing a bunch of people on the streets is simply the nature of the game (for all the reasons you mentioned). However, I have to say that I've frequently visited all the places you mentioned and I don't see a lot of people there... well, except for city hall, of course (i.e. city hall in Atlas Park).
I've been playing the game for about two weeks now and once I play it some more, I'll see what you see, Ironblade. Until then, I'm not seeing it, but I'll keep looking.
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Well, you mentioned that you were running back-to-back missions after joining the global channel. |
Originally Posted by RockHero
Just wanted to report back and thank everyone, once again, for the wonderful advice. I played about 5-6 hours worth of CoH and every moment of it was full of back-to-back missions. It was much more enjoyable. I joined the Protector Vigilance global channel, sought teams and jumped right in naturally.
I do know about forming teams, but the only reason I don't do it often is primarily due to laziness, but I have formed teams quite a few times in CoH. However, I just wanted to mention to Ironblade that you're right, not seeing a bunch of people on the streets is simply the nature of the game (for all the reasons you mentioned). However, I have to say that I've frequently visited all the places you mentioned and I don't see a lot of people there... well, except for city hall, of course (i.e. city hall in Atlas Park). I've been playing the game for about two weeks now and once I play it some more, I'll see what you see, Ironblade. Until then, I'm not seeing it, but I'll keep looking. |
Just to put it in perspective for you: Every time you entered a mission door, anyone looking for people would no longer see YOU either. Since people spend a lot of time running missions, that's a lot of time they aren't visible in the city zones at large.
I've noticed that traffic tends to be sporadic, and often consisting of 8 people at a time as people finishing up TFs go to WW to sell off their stuff or to a trainer to train up the levels they gained.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
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I hadn't really thought of it from that perspective, but it's very true. It's easier to be a bigger fish if the pond is smaller. |
Emberly notes: Just remember that you are far less anonymous on smaller servers and your earned reputation will preceded you, be it good or bad, so be cool
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Dec out.
Also by running your own team , you gets some nice badges as well 
Also welcome to the game
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Another one that hadn't crossed my mind...do team leaders get credit towards the mentoring badges for everyone on the team they're sking now?
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NovaFactor triggers a thought: Also by running your own team , you gets some nice badges as well
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Dec out.
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I am not 100%, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't make a difference whether you have one or seven team-mates, as long as you have fun.|
Originally Posted by Decorum
Another one that hadn't crossed my mind...do team leaders get credit towards the mentoring badges for everyone on the team they're sking now?
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Also relevant is that when a mission is set, the mission holder gets credit towards the mentor badges, even if the mission holder isn't the leader.
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Well, duh, but that hardly answers the question.|
Noxilicious is from Rhythm Nation: I am not 100%, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't make a difference whether you have one or seven team-mates, as long as you have fun. |
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| Also relevant is that when a mission is set, the mission holder gets credit towards the mentor badges, even if the mission holder isn't the leader. |
**trundles off to the Wiki to research**
Dec out.
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But once a mission is selected, everyone is SK'ed to the level of the mission holder, not the team leader. It is only when there is no mission selected or the mission is also the team leader's that the team is set to the team leader's level.
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Originally Posted by Decorum
Well, duh, but that hardly answers the question.
You sure about that? Because that makes little to no sense. The badges are for SKing people. That has nothing to do with the missions. **trundles off to the Wiki to research** |
I'm finding that out. I guess I never noticed because the teams I've been on, the mission holder was always (to my knowledge) the leader as well.
Dec out.
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Comparing WoW to CoX is a bad comparison. In CoX, almost all of the mission content is instanced. There are the occasional, "Go Kill 20 Skuls" missions, but the bulk of missions are run in instances. |
Originally Posted by RockHero
Also, I've played World of Warcraft (on a trial basis, not full account and I'm not a WoW addict) a couple of times and every town was full of people jumping and walking all over the place. When I go through CoH on all the servers, I rarely see another player on patrol or moving out and about. I just see a lot of NPCs that say, "Nice day, isn't it?"
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On the other hand, WoW does the opposite. Most of their quest content is open world. Instances there are pretty much strictly team content.
Now personally, I like the instanced content of CoH. Yes, it can make the game appear less active and less social, but it also means you don't stand around a small area with a dozen or more other players all trying to get the same spawn. It also spares us the dreaded "Go Kill These Guys Until you Collect 20 Of Their Heads (but keep in mind they don't all actually HAVE heads)" quests. I do seem to recall a CoH mission that called you for you to go collect blood samples from a particular group, but it at least assumed they all had blood, so it was really just a "Go Kill 10 of These" mission, worded a little differently for story purposes, which is all good.
- Garielle
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Originally Posted by Frosty_Femme
I said "ur" which is not a word. It's a sound dumb people make when you ask them to spell out "you are".
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It's definitely a leader perk. I know that when I lead, I almost always just do my misisons and reap those reward merits for completed story arcs.|
Originally Posted by Decorum
I'm finding that out. I guess I never noticed because the teams I've been on, the mission holder was always (to my knowledge) the leader as well.
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The rare times a member asks me if we can do their mission though, I have yet to say no. 'course, they always asked politely, and I would be less inclined to set their mission if they were more demanding.
In regards to hunts/item collection quests, while I am not fond of hunts, I definitely have to say I vastly prefer CoX's approach over other MMOs, though. There's just something so frustrating about item collection quests when you never know when you'll be done. You could get lucky and get your quest items quickly, or the numbers conspire against you and you'll be stuck for all eternity.
I had the worst time with this when I tried Final Fantasy 11. It seemed like every quest item was a super-rare drop, and every time I attempted those quests, after an hour or two I got so immensely frustrated I just said hell with it and bought them from the auction house. Well, and quit the game, but that's another story.
Meanwhile, at least with CoX's approach, you'll know when you're done. The random number generator will never screw you over. There'just something very comforting in knowing when you're done with a mission of this sort, which makes doing it a lot less frustrating.
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Oh, sure, when I'm leading, same thing. And I'm usually have similar leaders when I'm not because I mostly team with my SG. I think I didn't notice mostly because I was gone from July '09 until Jan '10 with a broken computer right after I16 gave us SSK and my teaming has been sporadic since returning. So I'm still learning little details. |
Noxilicious plays fair: It's definitely a leader perk. I know that when I lead, I almost always just do my misisons and reap those reward merits for completed story arcs. The rare times a member asks me if we can do their mission though, I have yet to say no. 'course, they always asked politely, and I would be less inclined to set their mission if they were more demanding. |
Dec out.
I've spent about a week looking at numerous leveling guides. Many leveling guides insist that people need to assemble teams to go on several missions -- and it's true that leveling up is faster when you're in a team. The problem, however, is finding one on relatively unpopular servers like Protector.
People who have lamented about the game's slow pace of leveling solo have received responses from people who say things like, "Finding a team depends on the time of day (i.e. people come home from work in the evenings and are mostly available on the weekends)," and "Broadcast the letters 'lft' in popular areas," but I've pretty much tried everything. The best I could find are teams that pop on maybe once every two days -- and I'll tag along with them for a few hours, go up about 1-2 levels and then people log off for bed.
It's almost as if the game is more enjoyable to play in the evenings.
Is there any database, any place online I could post about looking for teams?
It's a shame that this great game isn't so popular anymore.