Hi guys, can you help me with a research paper?

1. Are you male or female?

Male

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?

I don't really have a preference, but for the sake of research I'll say Dominators. Why? I love the ability to crowd control as well as do enough damage to solo effectively.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?

Mainly Blueside.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?

The Freakylympics is always a fun one. The clone arcs on redside are great as well because they give you some fun choices, like how many clones to fight and whether to save your double or not.

5. What makes you like this game?

Three things keep me coming back here. One is the creative tools this game offers you. The ability to design so many unique characters and even build your own missions is something no other MMO can offer. Secondly, is the community. I've never felt quite so welcome, engaged and encouraged then by the people I've met in this game. Thirdly, the flexibility of play time. Life can get kinda crazy around here and It's nice that I don't have to plan out 2 hours of gameplay just to get something done.

6. What other games do you play?

At the moment? Not much. Dabbling with Civilization 5 and modding the free steam game Alien Swarm when I feel the urge.

7. How long have you been playing?

69 months according to my badges. I actually started playing the month after the game was released, but I've taken several breaks from the game due to lack of money or just general life getting in the way.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

Oh lord. Alts? Um, lets say 25ish? I kinda rotate though a lot. deleting ones who didn't turn out like I wanted and remaking old concepts. My average level range is probably about 35-40. I have 11 level 50's at the moment.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

Not much. I spent some time outfitting my namesake character but I still with general IO's mostly. Difficulty depends on who I'm playing. Most of my characters like the standard set since I like to take my time leveling.

(Good luck on your project! Hope you get a good grade!)

I wonder what the odds that every post mentioning other games played will be flushed....?

An open letter to NCsoft

1. Are you male or female? Male

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)? Warshade, flexibility. Brute/scrapper damage plus durability.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above? I play everywhere

4. What are your favorite story arcs? Any Westin Phipps, any Television, Return to Vampyr Mountain, and War of the Fir Bolg

5. What makes you like this game? Flying, mayhem missions

6. What other games do you play? none really other than Bejewled whatever on Facebook

7. How long have you been playing? Since May 7, 2004

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50? 147 characters, 14 at 50, average level range is 20-24.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use? Not softcaps. I like set bonuses though I am not sure they really help me as much as they amuse me. I am usually at +0 or +1 though some I run at +2 or at x3/+0.

Sure, I've got a few minutes.

1. Male

2. A healthy dose of everything, by numbers, but probably mostly Scrappers in terms of playtime; I like self-sufficient characters as a general rule.

3. Primarily blueside; I'll probably drop Praetoria once I see all the plotlines through. Some redside, too.

4. Arcs? I like "Ubelmann the Unknown" (wicked awesome souvenir for that one) and even though I've only seen it twice, "Bane of the Heart" stuck with me--maybe I'm a romantic deep down. "Operation: World Wide Red" and Dean MacArthur's new arc are both memorable because of the personalities of the contacts.

5. From the time I was in middle school, I've daydreamed up fictional characters with larger-than-life abilities. For years, this game wasn't an MMO to me; it was a really expansive single-player game that let me breathe life into some of my creations.

6. I play a lot of console games. Noteworth series include Metal Gear Solid, Suikoden, and--of late--Mass Effect and BlazBlue. The trend there is "detailed worlds with memorable characters."

7. Playing CoX? 2004. Playing video games? Let's say "elementary school."

8. I haven't taken a headcount of my alts lately, but I probably semi-actively play about 12 or so in the 20-50 range. I have 4 50s and one more character that will probably get there "Soon."

9. As long as I feel powerful or clever while playing the game, I don't care very much about hard number-crunching. My difficulty varies from 0x1 to something like +2x4...not quite "extreme," but I'm not terribly interested in powergaming, either.

1. Are you male or female?
Female

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?
Blasters, Controllers, Scrappers, and Tankers mostly.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?
Blueside

4. What are your favorite story arcs?
I like lots of them, but my favorite are several level 20-25 range arcs: Durge of Chaos, Crown of Glory. The Striga arcs that help me earn the Atlas Medallian. Freak Olympics.

5. What makes you like this game?
The devs are competent and talented. Grouping is better in CoX than any other MMO I have played ever.

6. What other games do you play?
At present none really. But if a new games comes out I might try it out for a few months (I played WAR for 8 months). but I always come back to CoH and have never let my subscription expire.

7. How long have you been playing?
Right from the start.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?
I have about 30 alts only 3 of which are 50 after all these years. I have a tendancy to get my characters to level 49 and savor the idea of getting them to 50 but hold off doing so for months.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?
I IO out at 25, but don't really put energy into set bonuses. I like getting the Atlas Medallion and the Freedom Phlanx accolade on all my characters.

1. Are you male or female?

Male

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?

Controllers and Tankers mostly, followed closely by Defenders and Dominators. I like being able to control/manipulate vast numbers of enemies at the same time... to the point where I have a problem playing ANYTHING single-target heavy.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?

Almost exclusively blueside. There are a few arcs or SFs I like villainside, but I can't stand the atmosphere.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?

Anything that feels out of the ordinary. The Eden Trial, despite being relatively simple story-wise, has a HUGE scale that I really love.

5. What makes you like this game?

The ability to create my own characters and story and to interact with others who love to do the same.

6. What other games do you play?

Mostly FPS's on my PC and one-on-one fighters on the PS3.

7. How long have you been playing?

6 years

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

20-30 alts, about half of which are at L50, the rest are 30-ish.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

Yes, yes, and yes... sometimes. It depends on how invested I am in a character and if all of that work will actually pay off. I DO love to theoretically IO out a character in Mids though, just to see what COULD be possible. My difficulty settings depend on the character, but my tanks all run at +1/x8

1. Male

2. I play everything, but tend towrds support characters like Defenders, Controllers and Corrupters due to the wider variety of their powersets, and the power they can achieve in larger groups.

3. Redside mainly, because the content's newer to me

4. Television (and villains in general), Rikti War Zone arc, Praetorian power arc, Tips missions.

5. The high degree of character customisation is a huge draw. Its easy to play with enough depth in character creation via the invention system to keep me hooked.

6. Don't play any other games

7. 4 1/2 years

8. 8 current characters, ranging from 20 to 37 currently. 17 level 50s who are mostly retired.

9. I buy invention sets as I level up, and plan out builds for soft-cap etc. I play at +2/x1 mostly.

All right, my paper is rapidly coming together, thanks in a large part to you guys' wonderful cooperation. Thank you all for the help and kind wishes!

1. Are you male or female?
Male

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?
Scrappers, Masterminds, and Blasters, with the occasional Stalker, Tanker and Controller (I have a test toon for each of the HEATs and VEATs). Since I’m more or less a casual player these days, I tend to stick to ATs that can solo relatively well. I enjoy DPS, tank, and shield support types, but I've never been one for strict "healer" roles.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?
Blueside, primarily, with a couple of redsiders. I’m trying out a couple of goldsiders as well these days, and while I like a bit of PVP ordinarily, I've never gotten into "purpleside" in this game.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?
To Save a Thousand Worlds; Ouroboros Initiation; Revenant Hero Project; The Radio’s Hit List; Echo Down the Aeons (I’m also enjoying the final morality missions in the alignment switching system, though I don't have a particular favorite yet).

5. What makes you like this game?
Character customization (both in terms of appearance and builds) and player-created content are the primary reasons. Super sidekicking and level pacts are also important, since it's all too easy in other games to find one's progression is out of sync with friends'. (Although you didn’t ask, what I dislike about this game includes the heavily instanced content and the lack of player impact on/interaction with the virtual world.)

6. What other games do you play?
Age of Conan currently, though I expect to let my subscription lapse at the end of the month. Previously among MMORPGs, I’ve played World of Warcraft Lord of the Rings Online, EVE Online, Champions Online, Myst Online, and the improbably named Dofus (a independent French MMO). For occasional “instant gratification” gaming, I play StarCraft II and Team Fortress 2.

7. How long have you been playing?
I joined in February 2009, played regularly for about 8 months, dropped out for 4, and have since returned casually (I'm getting back into the game following Going Rogue's release).

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?
I've let myself get distracted among far too many alts after making concept chars and server sightseeing (call it two dozen), with the average level around 12, and only 1 level 50 from my first phase of dedicatedly playing CoX.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?
While I'm not a confirmed min/max'er, I do try to keep my builds somewhat efficient with IOs (it's unfortunate Mids is not available for OS X). I tweak my corresponding levels and hero-equivalents on a case-by-case basis, but on average, it's just +1 level, 1-2 hero equivalent.

1. Female

2. I play most ATs, particularly blue ones. Probably scrapper most, with defender and troller second (lately). I like being versatile, and I like to know I am contributing well on teams, while still being able to solo/duo very well. I also like the "badass" feel of being a scrapper tearing through large mobs solo or nearly solo.

3. Blue primarily, mostly cause thats where the people I know are, but I have played redside (and started there, almost exclusively there for my first 1.5 years). Been slowly soloing through yellowside stuff.

4. I dunno that I can really say I have any favorite arcs. If I like something, its more for the gameplay it provides than the story, and I still have yet to do a lot of the arcs in the game, or breeze through them without much attention paid.

5. I like the super hero aspect, I like the people, I like the "dress up" and character creation. I like the flashiness and faster paced gameplay.

6. Other MMOs? Not really any. I did CO for a month, from a christmas present. I've done beta tests for quite a few games. CoH is really my only MMO, and mostly my only game. Been a big fan of Batman Arkham Asylum this past year, and I played Left For Dead 1 quite a bit when it was new (and I could play with friends, some from CoH).

7. I started CoX with the fileplanet stress test for CoV. Played on and off for about a year, found my current SG and assorted longtime friends/groups, and have been pretty continuous since then.

8. Eek. 31 50s I think. I dunno how many alts. Probably 5-10 in the 30-49 range, that I'm playing very slowly, or not at all anymore. I have one lvl 10 that I'm playing slowly and intend to level to 50, but all my other lowbie alts haven't been logged in since creation pretty much, so I wouldn't really consider them alts at this point. The majority of my play time is on lvl 50s. Probably 5ish of them.

9. Only for toons I intend to keep playing. Soft cap is definitely a frequent target for me, and even if it isn't I like to make sure my toons I play get very good set bonuses, from a planned build. I don't do anything I consider difficult, or complicated or anything to get them to that point. It just sorta happens. Money making is easy, and since I play mostly at 50, and only *really* enhance toons I really like, affording it when I want it is rarely an issue I need to work for. Difficulty settings.... -1x1 if I'm going for badges, or to unlock something, 0x8 for my blasters and scrappers usually when I'm solo. I TF a lot, which is where my trollers and defenders see most face time, and those are basically 0x8 as well, though, obviously with a team to back me up. Times I go above 0x8 are somewhat rare I guess, but not really because it gets hard, because it gets slower... and probably 80% of my play time is on a TF so I don't control the difficulty settings (or at least I don't have sole input).

Hope it helps!

1. Are you male or female?

Male

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?

Tanker / Scrapper / Mastermind / Defender. ( I enjoy beating the missions using different playstyles )

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above? Mostly Blue. I just enjoy the missions / scenery better there.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?

I used to enjoy soloing the old version of Positron when I had the time. Portal missions are fun too.

5. What makes you like this game?

Wide range of unique playstyles.

6. What other games do you play?

Everquest / Everquest II / DDO

7. How long have you been playing?

CoH? a few years. MMO's, since EQ launched

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

At least 20 alts that I actually play. Only one level 50. Some of my most frequently played characters have xp disabled.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

Yes, I use all the numerical stuff. I love set bonuses. Difficulty is based upon the capabilities of the character, I turn it up high enough to have a need to actually think about what I am doing. (My level locked 22 dark / willpower tanker for example does not even take damage with difficulty less than +1/x3 for example)

1. Are you male or female?

Female

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?

Scrapper - I picked it because it seemed useful for soloing, and I didn't know how easy teming would be

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?

100% Hero

4. What are your favorite story arcs?

It's hard to pick a favorite one - it depends on what mood I'm in - like sometimes, the low level gang turf wars can be just as interesting to play through as the epic dimension-hopping higher level arcs

5. What makes you like this game?

I love superheroes

6. What other games do you play?

None, really - I don't have time for it

7. How long have you been playing?

March 2006.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

None - I have one avatar, cloned accross the servers

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

No - if the animation looks cool, or the description sounds useful, I'll pick it

1. Are you male or female?
Female

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?
Controllers - I like being able to stop anything from getting near me, while I dot them down...
Tanks - when I first ventured into the realm of melee, I chose a fire/fire tank and enjoyed it a lot. Beating on things is sometimes very helpful.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?
Generally blue side, but I am madly in love with Praetoria. I don't like redside that much, though the stories are really good ( much better than blue) I just don't like the dark atmosphere. I am a hero at heart.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?
Freakolympics, that one with the Seer and Ghost Widow which I have only done once and can't remember the name of, most if not all of the Praetorian missions.

5. What makes you like this game?
Everything. It's like a second home to me. I love the visuals, the ambient sounds, the music, and of course being a hero. I love the costume generator, and have many characters that I made purely to see my old creations from other pen and paper games come to life.

6. What other games do you play?
Half life 1 and 2, Portal, L4d, many stupid online flash games, recently got into knights of the old republic.

7. How long have you been playing?
Since July of 04, daily, except for a break without money for a few months earlier this year.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?
I have 4 fifties, and I have well over 200 characters spread across 4 accounts. Only one account is active, it's the only one with the 50s. Most of my characters are under level 10, though many on Protector on my main account are in the 20-40 range now.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?
I only look at set bonuses if they are already on sets that I need the raw effects from. I typically fight as either +1 level or +2 heroes, with bosses, no AVs (because I generally solo), though sometimes that's too much for a character I'll drop it back to normal.

1. Male

2. Traditionally, I've played mostly Scrappers and Tankers, but recently I've been playing more Controllers and villain ATs. I prefer melee, as I like getting in the middle of the battle and doing some damage.

3. Blueside (low level) for the sunny, more upbeat zones; Redside (high level) for the better missions

4. FreakOlympics, all 4 Faultline storyarcs, the Wretch storyarc

5. I like the process of leveling up, earning new powers and abilities, and accomplishing my goals. IOs have added a lot to this, as there's no longer one "best" way to slot any character.

6. Champions Online and Star Trek Online. I've been playing video games since before Atari came out. I prefer strategy PC games like Sim City, Age of Empires, Railroad Tycoon, etc. I was a HUGE Doom fan back in the day.

7. 73 months

8. I have 45 alts, ranging from lvl 13 (a Dom stuck in Praetoria) to 5 lvl 50s (Scrapper, Controller, Corruptor, Tanker, Bane). Average level is 30. I've only deleted about 10 characters over 6 years. I come up with the character concept first, then the powers, so each of my 45 characters is completely unique. I have alts of every type except for Kheldians (no interest whatsoever).

9. I get into IOs after level 30 for characters. I've gotten more into softcapping and things over the last couple of years. It's added more fun to the game for me. I usually play at +0/x1 until a character proves tough enough to handle more, although I never go really high on any (constantly dying is no fun!). I think +1/x2 on my Bane, +2/x1 on my Stalkers. My Fire/Rad Controller is currently at +0/x3.

10. Here's an answer to a question you didn't ask: Of my 45 alts, 10 are female. I have a black female, a Hispanic female, and an (American) Indian male. I also have 2 trolls, a werewolf, a couple of robots, a fire lizard, a demon, and some corpses as characters. Some of my characters are heroic, some are well-meaning, some are crazy, some are truly evil, some are creepy, some are "funny villains", and some are just jerks. Variety in this game is great!

Quoting so I have the questions. Responses in this color.

Quote:

Originally Posted by flashrains 1. Are you male or female? Male. 2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)? Tank or Tankermind or Warshade. I like being self sufficient and able to hold a team together. Notice that all three of these can tank. 3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above? All over, primarily blue and co-op zones. 4. What are your favorite story arcs? I'm going to go with Westin Phipps. 5. What makes you like this game? The community, hanging out with friends. 6. What other games do you play? League of Legends. 7. How long have you been playing? Since 2004, but a few breaks while I was in school. 8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50? 15 characters, 8 I play regularly, 3 50s at this point. Two alts are in the 40s, the rest are all under 20. 9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use? Good $deity, yes. Most of my enjoyment is getting the most out of a character, or turning a character that shouldn't do well into one that does very well. See my Dark Armor Sucks video for reference. I run on the highest setting a character can handle. I try to run TFs at +2.

I hope to see a summary of your findings and your paper when you're done.

1. Are you male or female?
Male.

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?
Scrappers, Brutes, Dominators, and Masterminds. Mostly because I find these particularly fun to play.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?
Lotsa Purpleside, with a bit of redside chucked in.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?
I'd have to say Leonard Silman's arc as my most favourite. Running up on them would be the arcs of Hatchet, Mr. G, Ricochet, and Neuron.

5. What makes you like this game?
It's different from most MMO games out there these days. It's not a full-on fantasy setting and... well... I was drawn in by the promise to play as the bad guys.

6. What other games do you play?
The Left 4 Dead games, Team Fortress 2, big admirer of the Total War strategy titles too.

7. How long have you been playing?
About three years.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?
I only have 3 level 50's. Two villain, one hero. The rest of my alts are all between the level of 15-35.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?
I never ever bothered to do anything enchancement wise in my three years of playing the game. I've got one slightly slotted Mastermind, but that's it. I usually just keep the difficulty settings at their default level, not too hard and not too easy. Just right.

1. Are you male or female?

Female

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?

Defenders and trollers I like buffing/debuffing

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?

Usually Blue

4. What are your favorite story arcs?

don't really have one though i do like the wretch mish red side makes me giggle when he kills everything in his path

5. What makes you like this game?

The community

6. What other games do you play?

Lotro

7. How long have you been playing?

about 3 years I guess

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

alot and 90% are lvl 50

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

Yes for PvP toons
other toons only sometimes

1. Are you male or female?
Male

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?
Brutes, Masterminds, and post GR I've started playing Scrappers. I like AT's can dish out and take damage with a relatively straightforward playstyle.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?
I'd say about 60% red, 30% gray, 10% blue.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?
Off the top of my head,
Mr. Bocor - The Book and the Burning
The Radio - The Hit List
And pretty much all of the Power Loyalist storyline. Haven't played the others the whole way through yet.

5. What makes you like this game?
I'm a huge fan of superheroes and RPGs.

6. What other games do you play?
Action and RPGs mostly. Among others, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Morrowind: Oblivion, Overlord, if you need names.

7. How long have you been playing?
5 years on and off with breaks primarily due to technical problems.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?
30some alts on my main server, Virtue. Average range is about 20-34. Four level 50 characters.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?
I don't bother with softcapping.
I mostly stick with SOs and don't go out of my way to start slotting IO sets until the upper 30s. Don't slot base IO's until 47.
Difficulty setting depends on the AT. If it seems like I'm breezing through content, I start raising it. If I'm struggling along, I don't.

good luck D.B.B.

1. Are you male or female?

Male.

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?

I prefer Defenders, Corruptors and VEATs. The pattern is: they're all team support oriented, but can still do some damage and debuffs. I'm mostly a support-type player, but I tend to pick the hybrid sets like Dark and Radiation. I hate stuff like Empathy. I'm happiest when I can heal or buff teammates, but I also like having useful tools when I'm solo.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?

Mostly blueside, though this is more a function of where my group spends most of their time. They play blueside more, so I play blueside more. I am building an increasing stable of purplesiders.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?

I like the ones with creative twists and writing, which really push the boundaries of the MMO text narrative format. The redside arcs from the Radio and Television are probably the best examples. Automatic Villainy from Technician Naylor is brilliant as well, because it plays with your mind and expectations.

5. What makes you like this game?

The storytelling, rich in-game lore, the community, and the folks at Paragon Studios - they succeed pretty well in coming across on the forums like actual people, rather than corporate drones. Frankly I don't really like the actual gameplay in CoH all that much.

6. What other games do you play?

Mostly RPGs and puzzle games on a variety of other platforms. I am currently playing Champions Online and Star Trek Online as other MMOs.

7. How long have you been playing?

A little over five years, since 2004. I realise 2004-2006 is a six year time span, but I have not been subscribed for all that time.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

26 characters, levels between 8-50. Average level around 32. 7 characters are level 50.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

Yes. I construct IO builds, though I only do this for characters I play frequently (such as my 50s). Not all of them. If solo, I typically play on higher difficulty settings, usually level-bumped a notch or two, spawn sizes between 2 to 4 players. If teamed, I go with whatever the team leader sets. If I am the leader, I ask what people feel comfortable with (though my own preference, as noted, is to crank things up).