Where are the casual players?

^^ This. Just play. Let people get to know you. A lot of my friends use the comment/note system and will often form TFs based on their list. Other friends create their own private channel and invite players who work well in TFs. When they need to fill spots, they ask in their private channel first before broadcasting in global channels.

Much the same reason that I built my necro/dark MM up to being able to solo GMs, pre-Incarnate. Had beaten 7 (incuding 2 Paladins at once) before Incarnates happened, and stopped trying after that. There were bigger, cooler challenges to move on to, at that point. And yes, while I play quite a bit, I'm still a "casual player". I sell the drops I get, I cash in on A-merits across several characters, and my top three inf earners fund every other character on my account, starting with the 42 characters I have on Justice alone.

It may all seem daunting, but with a regular group, you adapt, and a lot of this just happens naturally.

Then you misinterpreted me because that's not what I meant. I'm also not really sure how build choices might limit someone on a Speed Run unless they happened to not take a travel power, in which case someone will probably have Recall Friend or ATT and it's not a big deal

Look, this is what I was trying to say: You join a clearly-stated Speed TF. The rest of the team races to the AV, while you slowly work through mobs at the start of the map. You're not lagging behind because of power choices or because you didn't know it was a Speed Run (unless you missed the announcement somehow), you're just working against the rest of the team at that point. Once you get to the point where the rest of the team has asked you to join them at the AV and you don't, it's time for a kickin',

And if every run is a Speed Run, then that's a problem. That had certainly become a problem with the ITF pre-Alpha Slot before Shard Runs started to become a thing. And by the way, sometimes I get frustrated with only Speed Runs happening because sometimes I just want to play, not try to race around the map (especially on a MM...hate Speed Runs on a MM).

The team has a leader for a reason. If you're not at least making an effort to contribute to what the rest of the team is doing, you don't belong on the team. Simple math. (Caveat: This does not apply to Scrapperlock or BROOT SMASH. There's no stopping either of those forces.)

you just "nailed" the way to earn inf , by playing "casually" ... farming is not needed, neither marketing (although they will help u to get more inf faster)....

I've been known to play the market when I wanted the cash for some specific project, like finishing an IO set, but it's hardly a regular thing for me.

I hear ya.

However, my initial impression of things upon returning after three years away from the game came from looking around Atlas Park with new toons, not from these forums (that came later when I tried to investigate Scrapper vs. Brute opinions).

What I observed was that "ordinary" L50s and those with "50 (+1)" seemed to outnumber the lowbies hanging out around City Hall and the Atlas statue. When I did an Info check on these toons (in the hopes of getting a clue as to what the +1 was referring to), the list of Set Bonuses was typically so long that I had to stretch the Info window to a surprisingly large size just to see it all. This wasn't an isolated incident, it was what I routinely saw every night (and weekend day) for the 2-3 weeks prior to Head Start.

I have since learned that the game is not dominated by 50s with most of the Incarnate slots filled and builds stocked fully with set IOs (purple or otherwise) after all, but one could be forgiven for getting that impression based on what I experienced those first couple of weeks.

Well, I've been there, but I live within jogging distance of Waikiki beach, so this is a relative thing.

Ohhhh -- very nice! Okay, admittedly, I've never been there, but I have a good friend who grew up nearby.

I'd love to live there too, so I can totally see how that particular little intangible would be worth QUITE a bit of money! (I think they should offer to let you work from home, but what do I know?) Enjoy the surf and sunshine for us!

Well, some players got bored and instead of rolling up something new spent the time pimping out their Level 50 characters with IOs and then when Incarnates dropped in I19 so they then played that content exclusively.

And in between when Going Rogue came out, everyone started new characters in Preatoria and/or shifted their characters from one side to the other and back.

Oahu's nice enough, I suppose, but for my money, nothing beats California, and this area is some of the best CA has to offer. I think we can agree, though, we both have it better than most (at least in our opinions).