City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Why do you (not) hide from searches?

Ad Astra

By Ad Astra,
Posted on: 2010-07-20 10:00 in CoH and CoV General Discussions

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Peacemoon View Post
If I can make a serious point though, CoX strikes me as a game where sections of the community are light years apart in their knowledge, partly because the game itself is not very good at explaining itself and thus people have to research it themselves or be lucky to find a helpful player willing to explain. Due to this we have a large section of the playerbase which is ignorant to a lot of the mechanics. (Defence, Resist, Accuarcy, ToHit, Control, IO Set bonuses, etc).
Oh, I make it a point to answer newbie questions sent through tells or asked in broadcast even if I'm hiding. I may be busy at the market, or working on an AE arc, and unable to take the time to join your team, but I can always take the time to respond to a few tells.

I've actually had quite a few people look at my powersets while I'm AFK at the train or doing market stuff and ask me questions about them. Helping those who are willing to learn makes for a better playerbase.

Quote:
Don't get me wrong, this is a huge reason why I think the game is so great, but it is also a strong reason to be more tolerent of the large section of the community who might not have the knowledge to immediately identify what these sets do. Unfortunately though, many veterens I think don't have time for this, and sometimes it frustrates me too (see previous rants), but if we shut our doors and windows and only team with people from our global channels then we are doing this community a huge disservice. Just my 2 inf.
In my experience the ignorant veterans who think they know everything due to their veteran status far outnumber ignorant newbies who want to learn. YMMV.

Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper

Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World

 

Posted

Quote:
Why do you (not) hide from searches?
I hide from searches because I am doing something on my own, either basing or playing an arc for a story and/or merits. I like playing at my own pace too so I'd rather not try explaining it so I remove myself from searches which cuts out 99% of random tells too. It's easier that way. I did have a few bad experiences with telling people 'No, I don't want to team thanks' which is apparently close to killing kittens for fun to some players.

But then I have global channels to watch for teams, mainly badge-related, but it's enough for me.

Tyger (50), Mutation-Controller Mind/FF - oldest Mind/FF on Union
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dispari View Post
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Street_Wolf View Post
Also, I usually take a few seconds when I log on to change my status to "Looking for Any" in case anyone actually uses that.
I've been remarking on a NOTICEABLE reduction in the number of players using the "Looking for Team"/"Looking for Any" flags.

Used to be worthwhile to set my Search filter to show those ONLY, first, when building a team. Heck, I used to be able to build a full team using ONLY LFT/LFA-flagged players!

Now I'm LUCKY to find 4 flagged players when I'm building/adding to the team!

FYI players! If you enjoy joining PuGs, we team-builder/leaders REALLY DO check with the LFT/LFA-flagged players FIRST!!!

 

Posted

For better or for worse I'm always in the open. Good PUG. Bad PUG. It's all the same to me. If **** goes wrong it can be hilarious, and if things go just right it's like magic, ya know? I enjoy the experience of teaming even if things are mind numbingly awful (that, and my odd sense of humor combined with my easily amused self adds for a delightful combination). I mean I always have the option of declining if I don't feel like it, right? Just a simple no if it's a tell, or a simple decline if it is a blind invite.

 

Posted

I never hide unless Im inciting open riots in global channels.

I PuG too much and make teams constantly, it also helps for people who want to avoid teaming with me.

More than once Ive been declined because some got the boot from my team and didnt like how my shoe landed.

 

Posted

I never hide. I enjoy PUGs, meeting new people. I generally am not interested in TFs or SFs, but everything else is fair game, and if they're recruiting for the former it's easy enough to say "Nah, thanks though, good luck."

I do not get spammed with blind invites or rude tells. I've been harassed precisely once ever, and it was long long ago. This is a good community. There's no reason for me to hide, and if there WAS reason I'd stay visible to rub it in their faces.

 

Posted

I don't bother to hide, mostly because I won't remember to turn it back off.

If I don't want people bothering me for some reason (soloing, working in AE, respecing, etc.), I just put up the red "not accepting invites" flag. I'm on a slower server so that's usually plenty. I hide from the multitudes of blind invites on Freedom and Virtue by...not going there.

Dec out.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Decorum View Post
If I don't want people bothering me for some reason (soloing, working in AE, respecing, etc.), I just put up the red "not accepting invites" flag. I'm on a slower server so that's usually plenty.
That's the other reason why I hide. It doesn't help that by default you AREN'T looking for teams and even switching to 'Not looking' I used to get the odd tell. Now I might actually be away from the keyboard too or I play with the sound off so if I miss the tell-tale beep so it's easier to just hide completely as a way of not wasting time or giving the wrong impression because I didn't reply.

Tyger (50), Mutation-Controller Mind/FF - oldest Mind/FF on Union
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dispari View Post
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

 

Posted

I always am visible and have a LFT flag up because I run in PUGS mostly.

Back in the day I never, or rarely, would as I got wayyy too many random invites. I don't care what anyone else says, but now I can keep a LFA flag up for an hour and not get a bite. On Virtue. In prime time.

Only fairly sure way to get a team now is to pimp in server chans + Request + BC in a couple zones and hope for a non AE team.

Edit: come to think of it the only time I might /hide is when I am going for Shivans.

Masterminds annoy everybody, sooner or later. Heck, Masterminds annoy themselves.
-ShadowsBetween

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison View Post
This thread was sparked by Bill Z's "Hide from searches?" thread, in which he cleverly asked participants to not describe why they do or do not hide. It made it easier for him to count and lessened the chance of threadjack.

I'm creating this thread so people have a chance to explain their choice.

I said why in that thread, and got neg-repped for it by some anonymous
thread nazi (Bill said "I do not need to know why" NOT "you cannot say why").

Anyway, To sum up:

1> It started with the massive rash of Blind Invites and RMT spam that led
to the feature being added in the first place way back when - I switched
it on immediately and thanked the devs profusely and have done so on
every toon ever since that time.

2> I'm a solo player - I don't team. If I get to feeling I need a team for
something (ie. Kill Scrapyard) - I start it myself to do just that task.
Otherwise, there's no need to be visible.

3> I'm not socialable - I can count on 1 hand the people I talk to in game
and still have enough uncounted fingers left over to fight the next group
of mobs without skipping anything in my attack chains using that hand.


Cheers,
4

I've been rich, and I've been poor. Rich is definitely better.
Light is faster than sound - that's why some people look smart until they speak.
For every seller who leaves the market dirty stinkin' rich,
there's a buyer who leaves the market dirty stinkin' IOed. - Obitus.