No longer feeling special.

I have been playing CoX for several years now. I love the game and this is not a rant.

I have lots of friends in the game both pve and pvp. And I love to hang out with them in game doing various teaming and pvp.

But by far the most fun I have is when I join Pugs (pick up groups). I love meeting the awesome and sometimes truly weird people of CoX. I do not roleplay but roleplayers crack me up I could eavesdrop on them all day.

But the absolutely best thing about pugs for me is that i can show off with my uber build. I love being able to make people say wow. I am not conceited but I guess I like to use the game to stroke my ego. This for me, is the escapism I derive from the game.

Now however with incarnate powers everyone can be impressive and bad-***. I am happy everyone is getting stronger.
But I guess I am just mourning the loss of feeling special amidst the throng of incarnate AoE's and Dot's.

Thanks for letting me vent I love you guys.

Get thee to the Tier 4s, Xinner. Then you'll have the new toys, too... And the build you have backing them up will *still* be better than most.

An amazing build that is well played + incarnate powers is still better than an average/poor build that is not well played + incarnate powers.


You can find a way to stand out.

I'm a lot like you xinner. I would rather be the most important person on the team than the least important, even if the latter would mean tons more XP for me.

That said, I have not had any problems standing out. I guess it depends on your AT. My main is a tank, and it's not that hard to stand out. I am usually the most aggressive tank, so I'm the one jumping into spawns first. I'm also usually the one pulling the AV's in BAF. Stuff like that makes you stand out, even if there are other tankers on the team. Of course, the actions of others can help too. If another tank tries to pull the AV and gets 2 shotted, and then you go and pull him without any problems, you look pretty good

Another way of standing out is to be a buffer on a team without many buffs. In fact, that's probably the easiest way of feeling special. For example, take a team of 15 damage toons. Add just one kin to it, and it becomes a completely different team, where the kin will clearly be the MVP.

In summary, you can still stand out by doing the same things you've always done to stand out. Play a good toon, and play it well.

Don't worry, I think there will still be room to feel good about your build. First of all, not all the incarnate powers for a given slot are the same, and you still have the opportunity to differentiate yourself by choosing the powers that go best with your powersets and (presumably) IO sets. Second, even for directly comparable powersets with the same Incarnate choices, a tricked out IO build is still going to be dominant. The gap will close to be sure, but the difference is real and noticeable, IMO.

So you'll still get your joy, I'm pretty sure.

Honestly I'm glad to see that the game has pulled away from the marketeering, however slightly.

It makes me shrug. There is such a big difference between wanting to feel important and being important.

In my limited experience,
people who qualify for the latter don't bother with the former,
and people who achieve the former are seldom the latter.

And so another snowflake melts.

/sad

One thing to realize is that your teammates might notice your playstyle as well as the uber build.

I've been on PUGs where one player, not the most powerful or most aggressive, stood out to me. Not the character, but the player. He's the one who always says GJ when someone levels or lets others get the glowie or says 'Hey I found a badge! Anyone else want it?' etc. He contributes to the team through his play style, not his toon.

Someone like that can add to ANY team no matter what they play. If their build is uber too then all the better.

I used to help fledgling MM players when I first started Redside. I started an all-MM event called MasterMind Mondays and even had a Dev show up once. I helped other MM players who were having trouble and I felt great doing it. I still team with some of them on occasion and we still chat about those days.

Having an uber character is only part of being recognized and remembered. The greater share come from how you play, not what you play.

Before I did the trials, I thought you can only choose one Incarnate ability at one time (much like how you can only slot one Alpha at once) so you need to plan your build to take advantage of Judgement's nuke or Lore's pets or team buffs/debuffs.

I didn't know you can use all of them.


I can see how the OP feels this way.

My God, Syndrome won after all.

Anytime you think you are amazing and awesome and the best Hero on your team... Remember the other folks might be Fire Fighters, Teachers in the Juvenile Justice System, or Pediatric Oncologists in real life...

/facepalm

Oh my.

It's easy for superman to be a hero because he is practically immortal but for guys like green arrow or batman things are different. I'll always appreciate those who have to do more with less far, far more ingame and in real life too.

I am not going to race my way through or the incarnate system because I am in no hurry to be god like with my characters. Nor be envious of others.

Disclaimer: this post is unusually long, so feel free to ignore it. I just wanted to take the time to express something that had been on my mind and felt that the OP's viewpoints might resonate with my own.

I think I actually agree with the OP. What I liked most about this game was the separation of the ATs, the uniqueness of every AT. Let me explain. I'd roll builds that, when I played them on a team, I felt unique like I was doing something that everyone would notice and appreciate my presence on the team. I.E. having a ridiculously survivable tank, a kin/sonic to best maximize damage, a plant dom to best control groups, or a fire/fire blaster to be a true glass howitzer. Every AT had its weaknesses and strengths. In a team, others would appreciate my unique strengths and would help cover my weaknesses. The whole experience could be summed up in compliments from others such as, "great buffing" or "your tank can take quite a beating".

But now, the devs are moving us toward a state where everyone is good at everything. And with Incarnates, everyone can be great at everything. In some sense, I understand why this would be desirable. No more weak classes being unable to contribute to the team. No one's going to yell at a /dev blaster anymore when they can pump out Judgment damage or Barrier buffs, both sufficient to cruise through 90+% of the game. You can roleplay any type of character and be effective on all fronts. But on the other hand, the dev's endgame moves have reduced the uniqueness of every class. Not to zero (we're not carbon copies), but by a significant amount. It's hard to feel wanted or needed or my practiced skill with a particular AT will be necessary for tough PVE content, when everyone is capable of ridiculous feats of buffing, dmg, survival, etc.

It's disappointing. I remember reading a thread, "Most Useful [Support AT]", filled with people's comments about how FF/ was dmg deprived but could alone turn a PUG into a powerhouse. I'm sure all of the dedicated FFers felt like they could do something that others couldn't match. Same argument went for other ATs. Wonder if they'd still feel nearly as useful now.

Can't say the writing wasn't on the wall. IOs allowed everyone to become def capped. Too bad for the DEF buffers. IOs allowed everyone to get insane global rech. Too bad for the SB kins. Now Incarnate slots normalize everyone even further. Everyone's powerful, everyone can do everything, and no one's unique. For everyone who played D2, same thing happened in Diablo 2 when they released runewords like enigma and everyone could do everything that was originally unique to one class. Sure it was fun in the beginning and so are IOs and Incarnates. But eventually, in games such as CoH and Diablo 2 where the majority of the experience comes in experiencing the different classes' play styles and powers rather than new quests/zones, the "sameness" grows old and damages the game. Now the experience of being a badass AOE spines scrapper or fire blaster, of being a rock solid stone tank, of being a super versatile rad debuffer, have been diluted. Now, on a normal team of incarnates, everyone will have massive judgment damage, be extremely survivable, and be capable of buffing. Hooray...

On a more constructive note, I think incarnates would have been less hurtful to the game if they had been designed to be used less often. Maybe if judgment and destiny weren't up every other mob, classes normally designed to fill those roles wouldn't feel so marginalized.

I know it sounds ridiculous, but imagine if we went back to SOs only (dev efforts instead went into creating new unique powers for each class and designing new quests/zones). Ignoring subpar powersets for the moment, nobody could compare ATs because each would fulfill a unique role. Sure, the traditional redside ATs will blur the boundaries, but not nearly as much as IOs and Incarnate slots have. Imagine building leagues for BAFs and Lambdas and other TFs with only SOs. You'd most likely want a little of everything. Everyone's character would be useful. Stock up too much on healers and tanks, there won't be enough control, debuff, dmg, or buff. Everyone would feel useful and necessary to their team. On the downside, traditionally "unfun" ATs such as healers or shield buffers would be in unusually high demand, but then the devs could just focus their attention on revamping the healing and buffing playstyles to make them more active and fun. People could still feel "super" at what they specialize in, just not godlike tank mages as is entirely possible now.

I dunno. Been thinking about this for a long time and thought I'd take the time to share my thoughts. If you managed to read this far, what do you think? Of course, this post is my opinion and as such, is full of value judgments and assumptions based only on my experiences. Any thoughts on yours?

If you're not feeling like the most important person when joining pugs anymore, then it's time to stop joining pugs and start making them. Be the leader. Get those people who say "I've never beat Marauder before" or "I can't get Master of the B.A.F." Find the people who don't know how a Molecular Acid is supposed to work, or where to stand for the 9CU ambushes. Set up the groups, give the instructions, teach people the instances. Lead them to victory, then do it again. Being remembered as "that tank who rarely dies" is nice and all, but being remembered as "that awesome guy who taught me all about the raids and led us to five speed victories in a row" is a whole new level.


...also, I don't care how much I've maxed out my IO global recharge; a speed boosting kinetics will always be the best thing ever.

Judgement powers are dumb. You heard it here first. This game is already ridiculously AoE happy, the last thing we need is to give everyone in the game a Tier9 style nuke.

I'm not wild about Lore pets either, to be honest. More homogenization = bleah.

I understand the Op's feelings, It is a great ego stroke to be the one who clears the mobs after everyone has been wiped, especially when you are on a scrap or defender. However, I think a good player almost always stands out above the inexperienced. Just in how they play their toons. They are the ones who get looked to when a team wipes, or is hopelessly chaotic. Be the one who steps up and yells " Ok lets regroup and do X and Y this time" or organize a Baf and rock the heck out of it. Cause after all, AE gives XP not Experience.