Being a low level again

So, I got a burr under my saddle to make a Crab Spider, but bring him over to Hero Side on Guardian. Can't make a SoA in Praetoria (which makes sense), so need to start Villain side and work my way over. Got a character idea, wifey made a level pact character to go with him, and we are fleshing out the relationship nicely (he's ordered to protect her, she doesn't like it and isn't fond of taking orders - you get the idea).

With the Praetoria characters we've done, I definitely agreed that there were too many ambushes (or too many that seem to go on forever). Running at -1 also helped there.

But this low level SoA reminds me of a probably bigger issue. +1 spawns at low level. 3 +1 minions at lvl 6 HURT. A lot.

Now, I have my 75 month Vet Badge. No, I'm not saying this to waive my e-peen around. I'm saying that because I have 3 Vet attacks and a pet that buffs me slightly, and acts as a DAOC Warden 1 shot shield. And folks, those advantages help a lot.

Frankly, I'm not sure how the actual new players are doing it. When I have to deal with an EB with my SoA, I have a lot of tools to use - I also bought a temp pet and 2 lvl 2 Red inspirations off the market. Also helped a lot. New players don't know about that. New players also wouldn't know to lower the difficulty.

So, get a team. I can hear that already. Tough to do when there are 6 (yes, 6) villain players on Guardian. On the bright side, there were 27 when I left.

I also don't want to hear about how tough it was at release and how easy new players have it. I was here then. I know how tough it was. You want to know what the toughest thing I have ever done in this game was? Wasn't the ITF, or STF, or Khan, or a Mothership raid when they first came out, or soloing an AV with a Tank, or Duoing Giant Monsters. It was getting a Science Invuln. Tank to lvl 10. Vahz HURT back then. A lot. Why did I put up with it? 2 reasons. #1 - I was a DAOC vet and that's just the way MMO's were then. #2 - I was a FREAKING SUPERHERO. Was I really, well, no, but I looked the part!

Back to the actual point - +1 spawns at low level. Yeah, I know tons of people have complained about it. Sam jumps out at me as one. So, couple of questions that I suspect wont' be answered by a Red name, but no harm trying. Is this working as intended? If somebody runs at the default difficulty, do you intend them to often (not saying everytime) get +1 levels? If so, is Paragon OK with people quitting because of it? Because, you know they do.

Which is a shame, as this game has grown mightily from release.

Edit - wow, that is a wall of text. TLDR version - +1 spawns at low level on default difficulty suck.

Set your difficulty to -1.

The thing is yeah, we always had enemies spawning as +1 to the current difficulty, but ever since the difficulty setting revamp, that system was borked.

For example, you could have three minions at +0 or two minions at +1, or a minion and a lieutenant at +0 but just a lieutenant at +1. The +1 mobs were smaller to make up for their increased strength.

With the new difficulty system though, we get three minions at +1 or a minion and a lieut at +1. This is what makes the whole +1 code noticably harder.

Not THIS again.

Praetoria isn't significantly harder than any other part of the game.

Being a Vet has nothing to do with it. I practically never take vet powers(mostly because they generally don't match my concepts).

Since GR went live, I have played through its content with nothing but squishy toons. A nin/nin stalker, a DP/Traps Corruptor and an elec/elec dominator. No Vet reward powers on any of them(with the exception of the shield drone pet on my corruptor because of the tech theme...and even then only once I hit level 16).

If you have trouble dealing with Praetoria content at standard difficulty levels(and I turn bosses on as soon as I can hit a Dispatcher btw), then it seems to me all your years as a COX vet have been wasted.

+1 spawns at level 6 are nothing to get excited over. If you have an ounce of common sense and approach the game with something other than a 'If I did it this way once, then it should work this way all the time for all enemies' mentality, that is.

I had someone in another thread tell me that Praetoria was impossible to do with an elec dominator. Turns out they thought skipping their single target immobilize was a good idea...it's really not. So they were trying to go through all the missions with a single hold as their only means of mitigation.

Praetoria is fine if you keep your head and understand the enemies you are facing...it doesn't take Vet powers or special temp powers to get through. Please stop spouting this nonsense.

i remember front-loading, sometimes the enemies were +2 or worse. then the named boss would con grey.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

Back-loading was a pain in the butt, too. You'd fight a sea of green-cons and then get smacked down by the red boss in the back. Of course, back then you fought bosses solo by default. Many were the newb characters that got smacked down by Bonefire, with the Hellion and Skull boss spawn.

I think there are still a couple back-loaded, sorta. One of the Port Oakes missions has green Hellions at the start, anyway.

As for +1s in low-level missions, I wouldn't mind seeing them go away. There could be a Pop Help message at level six or so that says, "Now that you've gotten used to the game a bit, you'll begin to see enemies one level above you in missions."

That way they get a feel for things before facing +1s, and don't think it's a bug when they do.

In my experience, as you get closer to the next level you start getting +1 spawns. I presume that is so when you level inside the mission the enemies stay even-con to you instead of becoming -1s.

I don't recall any times I was only a bub or two into a level and was getting +1s. Every time I ever encountered it I was 7 or more bubs into the level.

A +1 spawn is meant to be during missions i think and should stay. If we go by the AE which IIRC the devs said they used a similar tool to design arcs, there is an option for the mob difficulty to increase/decrease/level out during the single mission.
This is more than likely the case i think and myself personally agree with the system. As you go deeper into a mission the enemies should be more powerfull and not just your standard entrance guard enemy.

It is tough on a new player i agree, but i think what you've done is compared vet attacks and powers to what it'ld be like without any. When i made a NA account i quickly realised just how much i used those powers in the low level and i thought i'ld die a lot more often. Truth be told . . . . i died less because i was less reliant on the big hitters and more reliant on the fast charging powers that i get at those levels and the buffs/debuffs that are available at that level [backup radio ftw!].
Could you put this down to skill or just luck? I dont know but my point being is that i wish these level differences within missions were more wider. I'ld like the entrance to be guarded by -1s and +0/+1s around the map with +2s/+3s at the final encounter personally but i dont think there is an option for this?