Huh... So now what do I do?

Personally I think you should wander from zone to zone joining random teams and exempting down with them. Lots of fun to be had there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StratoNexus You have as much fun teamed or solo. What if you almost never teamed? Do you think the soloing would still be as fun to you without the regular teaming interludes? On that same character that you mostly soloed all the way to 50? The one who has already soloed almost all (or maybe even all) the story contacts? Still having fun solo now? Of course, you cannot answer that question, because you enjoy teaming too.

I probably solo 80% of the time and have been here for not quite 4 years. Pretty sure I have soloed most if not all of the content by now. Blue side that is.

And yes I do still have fun soloing.

I would like to point out before someone gives me the standard 'Well why are you playing an MMO then if you solo' rant that I spend my time yapping with friends as I solo.

UberGuy, it seems my play pattern is identical to yours.

Nice Troll post.

Actually, I've done some thinking about exactly what it is that's burning me out, and I'm starting to spot a few telltale signs. I took a very SMALL break away from City of Heroes, playing "other games" and watching 1989's Leviathan (of all things), as well as trying and failing to be engaged by the Darker Than Black anime (intentionally depressing stories are not interesting), and which seems to have given me a broader view of fiction and entertainment in general, or at least I think so. The result?

I simply seem to have made some characters that I genuinely do not enjoy playing. Dark Melee characters seem to be at the forefront of this, not because it's a bad set (far from it), but because it really doesn't have anything that excites me. It's simple punches with black smoke around them that just happen to deal a lot of damage.

That's in contrast to, say, my literal cow girl who constitutes a tall, heavy-built fighter swinging around a war mace as long as most people are tall and with a spiked ball bigger than most people are wide at the shoulders. I don't even need a story behind this, it's just COOL (to me, at least). I did some writing for her, and I'm just about to send her through Praetoria and into the career of a big, strong hero. Just the thought of seeing her fight gets me motivated to play her.

In the same vein, I have something even more relevant to the question at hand: "So now what." Brutticus - the character I entered into that contest, is one of my favourite 50s, and I've actually had multiple urges to just log her in and run paper missions if I had to. I've held off on that, since there are as of yet no Judgement powers that fit her in a way which makes me excited to work for them, but the enthusiasm is there.

I think the solution to burnout is to try and stick to the characters I like and level them up in big steps while doing only brief stints with those I don't and crawling them up to 50 a little at a time.

I'm actually just about to log into City of Heroes now, and I'm enthusiastic about it, even though I'm about to repeat the Praetorian Warden arc for, like, the fifth time. I can quote the contact dialogue at this point, but the character should be worth it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

"Burnout."
In the inimitable words of wisdom from Movie lore,
"You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means."

All due respect, but I believe the cure for burnout will likely not be "to try and stick to the characters I like and level them up..."

If you are truly burnt out (which I agree as a diagnosis based on the thread so far), I think a significant break will help a lot. It's very hard to get perspective from inside the thing you are trying to get ... perspective... on. (terrible sentence.)

The problem seems to be that your expectations are heightened, and it will take a lot to meet them - high standards are great, but when you expect too much, a disappointment can seem even larger without context.

I hope you get through the difficult phase, but I fear that intensfying play, even with a character you love, might do more harm than good at this point. A 'break' is really a 2-week to 1 month idea at minimum, imo, totally away from the game. The fact that you listed watching one movie in your qualifications for 'taking a break' - even a 'SMALL' break - gives me the impression that your idea of taking a break is different than that of most people.

Trust me, I didn't spend seven years playing this game without having ways to deal with burnout Having a concrete explanation on what the primary cause for it is (sorry, but it IS Dark Melee) gives me the opportunity to look for other things to do which might inspire me, and I have the distinct feeling that I have something.

The thing is, I haven't played City of Heroes for the amazing gameplay in probably five years now. It's always been about the cool characters for me. The kind of characters I look at and think "I cannot believe I'm actually playing this in a real game!" I've had that quite a few times, and it's just a question of looking for that sense again. Knowing what I'm looking for makes finding it substantially easier.

I could take a large break, but the truth of the matter is I don't really have much else to do for entertainment, not something which could last me a month, anyway. The mods will probably frown at me for saying this, but I managed to play through Half-Life 2, then Episode One, then Episode Two, then Portal 2 about four times, then the original Portal about twice, all within the span of give or take four days. And that's really pretty much the extent of all the good games that I have available to me right now. Buying new ones every month is out of the question. Too expensive, too crappy, and the ones that I already own I can run through beginning to end quite easily.

I'll get this sorted out

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Aaand... I was right. The right character makes all the difference in the world. The game's is once more so much fun that I have trouble tearing myself away from it. And I owe it all to a few simple things:

*A cow head
*A large mace
*Clobber

In fact, I've put together a neat compilation of all three factors in play:



I wanted to watch Virus tonight, but at the rate this is going, I might overshoot my actual bedtime, let alone leaving time for a movie. It's almost 3 AM right now, so I still have time... If I can resist running another mission or two. But Clobber makes such a nice, alluring sound and takes things down with such fervour I may fail to resist its siren's song. Man, I made SUCH a huge mistake not playing my Mace/Shield Brute more often. He was a lot of fun!

If anyone ever wondered why I kept bugging BABs about bigger weapons, this is the reason: They make me giddy with anticipation of the next mission, and then the next one after that Also, the sound effects guys of old deserve much praise, too, for picking such a satisfying sound to most of those powers. Spot on!

And, yeah... I intend to let this thread die now. I built up a list of things to do when next I play my 50s (and I will, eventually) and I found a pretty good way to beat burnout. Just in time, too, since I'm going back to work the day after tomorrow, and I won't have the opportunity to experiment with my entertainment time. So I'd like to thank (most of) you for giving me a hand in figuring this out. All's well that ends well, after all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.