Reports from a returner.
By
A Musing Mage,
Posted on: 2012-02-27 14:21 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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And the OP has a Widow which is a VEAT which is why I questioned the post I quoted.
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Originally Posted by Bosstone
Villain archetypes, as in Brute, Stalker, Dominator, Corruptor, and Mastermind. Not epic archetypes.
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Uhm, not trying to be a jerk but the hardest pre-20 content is in Praetoria not redside. Redside pre-20 isn't any harder than blueside just more linear. Blueside has a ton more options, and people.|
Originally Posted by Mental_Giant
Okay... but all the basic ATs can start on either side.
As for the OP, it seems like he's judging the game on the hardest part (pre-20s) and on the least populated side. I doubt this is the typical experience of a returning Premium player. |
Villain
Mercy 1-8
Port Oakes 7-12
Cap au Diablo 8-20
Ouroboros 14-50
Hero
Atlas Park 1-6
Sewer Network 3-10
Kings Row 5-10
Steel Canyon 10-19
Skyway City 10-19
Faultline 15-25
Talos Island 20-27
Ouroboros 14-50
Hollows 5-15
Perez Park 7-14
Tunnels of the Trolls 12-15
Boomtown 11-19
Midnighter's Club 10-50
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My point was that reside was harder than blueside pre-20, just that pre-20 is tough all over, and you are less likely to be teaming on redside.|
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Uhm, not trying to be a jerk but the hardest pre-20 content is in Praetoria not redside. Redside pre-20 isn't any harder than blueside just more linear. Blueside has a ton more options, and people.
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Pre-20 is tough because you have fewer powers, less slots, and even if you are slotted, the enhancements are non-SO strength.
Agua Man lvl 48 Water/Electric Blaster
"To die hating NCSoft for shutting down City of Heroes, that was Freedom."
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You are. Make a Corruptor! I started life here as a die-hard Defender player. They gave me some ranged offense along with tools that made me valuable to a team, but their damage was painfully low for the most part. It didn't help that I tended to pick low-damage sets. Soloing them stunk.|
Originally Posted by Bloodly
Not at Level 8(Widow), not at Level 15(Defender). I agree more powers mean more options. I have all my options as slotted as I can. I don't have the Infamy/Influence to slot more. Hitting everything as it comes up. Not taking on more than one or two guys a time. Simple, basic, sensible. Hitting everything at the right times. I do not understand WHY I am dying, but I am. It's part of why I'm asking 'What am I doing wrong'?
<snipped> Maybe I'm missing something. |
At any rate, I still played them very very offensively. When Corruptors were released, it was like an answer to my playstyle. They're just like Defenders, but their primaries and secondaries are swapped. They give you the blasting power to do what you need, while giving you enough support that you don't feel like you're missing much of the Defender's advantage in buffs.
I'd recommend them to anyone having trouble with Defenders, but who likes those concepts and combinations.
Ashley Hudson
Virtue - Rocker Girl; Justice - Cinnamon Spider; Protector - Sweet Venom
- Ashley
[Rocker Girl (Earth/Earth Dom); Sweet Venom (Plant/Time Ctrl)]
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Maybe it's because I prefer soloing but I find redside just as easy as blue and I find that the levels 1-20 are the easiest and quickest in the game outside of Praetoria. I just prefer blueside because it's better at providing the illusion that I'm not repeating the same damn contacts over and over on each new alt.
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Originally Posted by Mental_Giant
My point was that reside was harder than blueside pre-20, just that pre-20 is tough all over, and you are less likely to be teaming on redside.
Pre-20 is tough because you have fewer powers, less slots, and even if you are slotted, the enhancements are non-SO strength. |
No one seems to have covered this bit yet:
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Minions can attack while swimming. What I think you may have encountered is this bug. Occasionally when zoning into a map, pets get stuck. They appear by the entrance but won't move or attack or go away when dismissed. If this happens, use the chat command "/release_pets" to force dismiss them all. When you resummon them they should behave normally.
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Originally Posted by Bloodly
My minions won't attack when swimming and the map's nothing but water aside from a few ships.
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Thank you! This was driving me nuts.|
Originally Posted by A Musing Mage
What I think you may have encountered is this bug. Occasionally when zoning into a map, pets get stuck. They appear by the entrance but won't move or attack or go away when dismissed. If this happens, use the chat command "/release_pets" to force dismiss them all. When you resummon them they should behave normally.
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To refer to another of the OPs points, I too am a returning player (though I've gone VIP for the moment), and I too am having major problems dealing with difficulty level. It's gotten to the point where I've just bit the bullet and downshifted my difficulty level to -1/-1 because none of my toons can handle 3 yellow minions at once (except my blaster, if my initial sniper shot hits, because that weakens one to the point where I can drop it before it reaches me and beats the psychic snot out of me with his buddies).
I've done my respec and triple-slotted Health and Stamina, so I'm not sure what the problem is, unless I, like the OP, just suck at this game.
--
Pauper
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It might help if you post your build and how you have the powers slotted. That way our guru's can advise you on what actions to take if they spot any flaws.
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Originally Posted by Pauper
Thank you! This was driving me nuts.
To refer to another of the OPs points, I too am a returning player (though I've gone VIP for the moment), and I too am having major problems dealing with difficulty level. It's gotten to the point where I've just bit the bullet and downshifted my difficulty level to -1/-1 because none of my toons can handle 3 yellow minions at once (except my blaster, if my initial sniper shot hits, because that weakens one to the point where I can drop it before it reaches me and beats the psychic snot out of me with his buddies). I've done my respec and triple-slotted Health and Stamina, so I'm not sure what the problem is, unless I, like the OP, just suck at this game. -- Pauper |
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I'd say that triple-slotting Health is part of it. Health is a nice power and it does grant a good bit of regeneration, but for one, that third slot is barely helping you and, for another, those slots are better spent elsewhere altogether. I wouldn't mess with Health until your 40s when you had slots to spare and not much of importance to put them on.|
Originally Posted by Pauper
To refer to another of the OPs points, I too am a returning player (though I've gone VIP for the moment), and I too am having major problems dealing with difficulty level. It's gotten to the point where I've just bit the bullet and downshifted my difficulty level to -1/-1 because none of my toons can handle 3 yellow minions at once (except my blaster, if my initial sniper shot hits, because that weakens one to the point where I can drop it before it reaches me and beats the psychic snot out of me with his buddies).
I've done my respec and triple-slotted Health and Stamina, so I'm not sure what the problem is, unless I, like the OP, just suck at this game. |
Forbin has a point - posting your build will help, as would just outlining AT and powersets. That's really not not the whole story, though. Most builds can do well if you play your cards right, so what I want to know is exactly what you're doing to have such difficulty. I'd suggest recording video if you want to mess with Fraps and YouTube, but a basic text description will do, as well. Pick a fight, take note of what you're fighting, what you do, what your enemies do, and if you still end up very hurt, come back here and retell the story. We might be able to help then.
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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.
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Too late! What has been seen cannot be unseen!
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Originally Posted by Nos482
Don't. Remind. Me.
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Thanks for the advice. Rather than hijack the OP's thread, I'll start a new thread with a build and an example bad experience.|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
I'd say that triple-slotting Health is part of it. Health is a nice power and it does grant a good bit of regeneration, but for one, that third slot is barely helping you and, for another, those slots are better spent elsewhere altogether. I wouldn't mess with Health until your 40s when you had slots to spare and not much of importance to put them on.
Forbin has a point - posting your build will help, as would just outlining AT and powersets. That's really not not the whole story, though. Most builds can do well if you play your cards right, so what I want to know is exactly what you're doing to have such difficulty. I'd suggest recording video if you want to mess with Fraps and YouTube, but a basic text description will do, as well. |
--
Pauper
Welcome back!
Now buy something!! Do it for the game!
I wonder what it would be like to start over?
Tru
Great game while it lasts.
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Nothing. Didn't think it'd help or hurt. Wasn't expecting anything. Was honestly expecting it to either drop to nothing or maybe get one post. As stated, seeing how others were treated did not fill me with hope. The prevailing attitude felt/feels poisonous and unpleasant.|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
While your post is mostly constructive and quite welcome, starting it off with THAT increases your chances of getting yelled at ten-fold. This is known in Internet circles as a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you come to a forum and predict that the stupid, mean, evil people there will insult you... They probably will, but not because your prediction was accurate so much as because you threw a passive-aggressive insult in their faces and induced in them the desire to insult you.
Take my advise - whenever you're posting in an environment where you're worried people might be rude to you, your best bet is to be nice and courteous. Usually, you'll find that even otherwise rude people respond to this approach positively and those that don't will usually themselves be shouted down by their peers. At the very least, this gives you the moral high ground of having done the right thing. Let me ask you this, though: What did you hope to achieve by opening your post with a backhanded insult tossed in the community's general direction? I'm not trying to attack you here, I'm honestly interested to know in what way you believed this was helping you not get attacked. |
You know what they say about pessimists? That they're either proven right or pleasantly surprised? That's the mindset you're seeing. Seeing a 'backhanded insult' is a new one on me.
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Welcome back! Now buy something!! Do it for the game! |
If you're worried about using a credit card for any reason, it might be a good idea to try starting a Paypal account, since it's another accepted form of payment for game time and/or Paragon Points.
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I believe a top up cc means prepaid. People use them when they either don't have a bank account or don't want to let their bank info out on the internet. So if Bloody is having problems putting money on a prepaid card that problem will still exist trying to use that card to pay for Paypal charges.
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Originally Posted by QuarriosSoul
If you're worried about using a credit card for any reason, it might be a good idea to try starting a Paypal account, since it's another accepted form of payment for game time and/or Paragon Points.
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IOs don't work on Premium? Did not know that. Certainly explains a few things about my characters.|
Originally Posted by Bosstone
I think this really points to a problem someone else mentioned in another thread. There really ought to be a better explanation in-game of what you can and can't do. Like, if you have a character with IOs, there needs to be a pop-up saying "You've got IOs slotted. We're sorry, but without an Invention License or VIP subscription IOs will not work." Something that helps a Premium not feel quite so alone, even if it's just nudging them to pay more money. Something that provides grounding and context for why things are the way they are.
Admittedly, I really haven't seen the game from a Premium POV, so I don't know if such things actually do exist somewhere. |
Are SOs the same as always?
There's nothing obvious that says "You don't have and/or can't do such-and-such" as far as I recall. Hence the fact I did not know we couldn't use IOs.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
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Yea, SOs work just the same as they always did.|
Originally Posted by Ironik
IOs don't work on Premium? Did not know that. Certainly explains a few things about my characters.
Are SOs the same as always? There's nothing obvious that says "You don't have and/or can't do such-and-such" as far as I recall. Hence the fact I did not know we couldn't use IOs. |
Also, if you've played the game long enough to have completed Tier 7 or higher you have IOs permanently unlocked on your account.
MA Arcs: Yarmouth 1509 and 58812
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Or you can pay 1.52 Euro every 30 days just to unlock the Invention system (200 Paragon Points), double that if you also want to be able to use the auction house to buy and sell salvage.|
Originally Posted by Oliin
Yea, SOs work just the same as they always did.
Also, if you've played the game long enough to have completed Tier 7 or higher you have IOs permanently unlocked on your account. |
I agree with most of what was said above about soloing difficulties. I know that it's possible to solo even a force field or ice defender, even at low levels, but be prepared for a hard slog, be prepared to have to rest more often, and (the most important lesson when doing anything difficulty in CoH) use your inspirations, they fall from the sky like rain (and can be converted into each other if you have 3 matching ones) for a reason.
Or team. As a premium player, you can use /broadcast, /tell, and /search. If you're below level 15 or so, go to Atlas Park or Mercy Island, find 5 other players, and click LFG to queue for Death from Below. Once you hit 15, go to Steel Canyon or Cap au Diable, do the same thing with Drowning in Blood. Fast, fun, easy leveling that also grants scads of SOs, plus temp powers that give the equivalent of one free DO in acc, dam, and endmod, and half of a Luck, perma to level 30.
I don't know what it's like on Union, but I will say that on Virtue, villains solo. A lot. It has a lot to do with better written story arcs, in my humble opinion, but it may also be an attitude problem. Hero side, if nothing else, it's trivially easy to find teams for the task forces. Today's upgrade to the LFG tool may make it a lot easier, especially for free and premium players.
It's dangerous to go alone. Take a friend!
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If you think CoH's Forums are an unpleasant and poisonous place to post...well, you should try out WoW's.|
Originally Posted by Bloodly
Nothing. Didn't think it'd help or hurt. Wasn't expecting anything. Was honestly expecting it to either drop to nothing or maybe get one post. As stated, seeing how others were treated did not fill me with hope. The prevailing attitude felt/feels poisonous and unpleasant.
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The amount of flaming, name calling and probably banning from the forums for disagreeing with the Devs would spin your head.
This place is a paradise compared to other forums.
I sit in my zen of not being able to do anything right while simultaniously not being able to do anything wrong. Om. -CuppaJo
It is by caffeine alone that I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning. It is by caffeine alone that I set my mind in motion.
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I'm curious what, in this thread, would give the OP the feeling of a poisonous and unpleasant attitude. It seems that just about everyone has been very helpful and pleasant? Or did I skip some posts?
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Originally Posted by KianaZero
If you think CoH's Forums are an unpleasant and poisonous place to post...well, you should try out WoW's.
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Thought for the day:
"Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment."
=][=
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This is inaccurate. Many servers have populous redsides. I happily play exclusively villains on Justice, for instance. Membership in global channels helps a ton... for all aspects of gameplay.
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Originally Posted by dugfromthearth
if you want to play redside - play on Freedom. It is probably the only server with an active redside.
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I've taken a couple months off from CoH and let my account drop back down to Premium. I'm starting to get the itch to play again soon (I'm starting to recover from my knee injury). Money's been tight for me IRL, so I'll likely be playing at Premium at least for a little while.
I've seen the world a little bit through the eyes of a Premium when my brother reactivated his account briefly back a few months ago, but it'll be handy to fully experience it for myself.
And welcome back to the OP!
Still at it. May probably use this as a 'diary'. Better than seperate topics.
This time when I went into the WATER MISSION, my minions actually moved and fought, so I got to actually clear it out.
Slowly.
I dunno how a meleer would deal with this-it was a mess even on the Mastermind, with repeated minion deaths and forcible retreats to get everyone back. Then again, the Patron arc is meant to be a level 40+ arc(according to the Wiki at any rate), and I'm doing it at 37-8 for whatever reason.
And now I'm fighting Serafina. Times like this I wish for damage reduction rather than being Pain Domination.
Her idea of 'Moderate' damage is something like 360+ HP damage to everyone hit by that damm tornado. She tears through pets and henchmen both even with Bodyguard and there's only so much I can do against damage that high. I mass heal for 110, single heal for about 220 or so. Heals are slotted (1xHeal, Recharge, End Cost), minions are slotted (2xDamage, 2xAccuracy, 1x End Cost). All three Leadership Auras(1x End Cost), the +Regen Aura(1x heal, 1xend cost)...Wish I could buff my or my minion's HP somehow. I've gotten her to <50% one time, <25% the next. Maybe I should add +heal to them. Maybe it could make the difference.
It's odd, but I'm looking forward to 50 a little, even knowing I can't really progress after that.
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The first two Patron arcs were changed to start from level 35 onwards, along with Hero epic pools being unlocked at level 35 as well.|
Originally Posted by Bloodly
Still at it. May probably use this as a 'diary'. Better than seperate topics.
This time when I went into the WATER MISSION, my minions actually moved and fought, so I got to actually clear it out. Slowly. I dunno how a meleer would deal with this-it was a mess even on the Mastermind, with repeated minion deaths and forcible retreats to get everyone back. Then again, the Patron arc is meant to be a level 40+ arc(according to the Wiki at any rate), and I'm doing it at 37-8 for whatever reason. |
A Melee person simply goes into melee range and hits stuff and relies on resistances or defences to protect him. In addition, he also has mez protection meaning holds don't do anything to them unless heavily stacked.
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And now I'm fighting Serafina. Times like this I wish for damage reduction rather than being Pain Domination. Her idea of 'Moderate' damage is something like 360+ HP damage to everyone hit by that damm tornado. She tears through pets and henchmen both even with Bodyguard and there's only so much I can do against damage that high. I mass heal for 110, single heal for about 220 or so. Heals are slotted (1xHeal, Recharge, End Cost), minions are slotted (2xDamage, 2xAccuracy, 1x End Cost). All three Leadership Auras(1x End Cost), the +Regen Aura(1x heal, 1xend cost)...Wish I could buff my or my minion's HP somehow. I've gotten her to <50% one time, <25% the next. Maybe I should add +heal to them. Maybe it could make the difference. |
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| It's odd, but I'm looking forward to 50 a little, even knowing I can't really progress after that. |
Ideon's Paragonwiki page
Member of Paragon/Rogue Knights
Arc: 60092 - Supa Rumble in the Park
"Keep living the dream, and never let any jerk tell you what to do."
-- High-Roller
As for the OP, it seems like he's judging the game on the hardest part (pre-20s) and on the least populated side. I doubt this is the typical experience of a returning Premium player.
Agua Man lvl 48 Water/Electric Blaster
"To die hating NCSoft for shutting down City of Heroes, that was Freedom."