Returning player - do I just suck?

Hey, all. Came back to CoH after a long hiatus to try out the free-play options (though I'm currently VIPing on a game card), and I'm finding that the game seems much harder than I remember. Best example I can give -- the toon I rolled to try out Praetoria:

Manicheus Uno
Thermal Rad/Dual Pistols Defender (just hit 17)

Warmth - 16+ DO End Red, 15+ DO Heal+, empty
Power of the Phoenix - 10 IO Rech Red

Pistols - 16+ DO Dmg+, 20 Trn Dmg+, 14+ DO Acc+, 16+ Trn Acc+, 14 Trn Range+
Dual-Wield - 10 IO Dmg+, 17+ Trn Dmg+, 19 Trn Acc+, 16+ Trn Rech Red, 15+ DO Range+
Empty Clips - 16+ Trn Dmg+, 15 DO Acc+, 11 DO Range+, 14 IO Explosive Strike (Chance for Smashing)
Bullet Rain - 19 Trn Acc+

Health - 14 DO Heal+, 15 DO Heal+, empty
Stamina - 15 IO End Mod

Stealth - 10 IO Def+
Invisibility - 15 IO Def+

He's also got Teleport as a travel power, but not sure how relevant that is. I'll also say that nearly all the enhancements slotted are drops or built from drops, though I'm low on 'Information' due to some teething issues related to the Praetoria vendors being 'all-origin' vendors (and thus accidentally buying DOs that didn't include my own origin).

As an example of my frustration, I'm currently doing the Bobcat arc in Pretoria. In the 'kidnap a psychic' mission, I'm encountering Syndicate, mostly Sword Adepts and Pistol Adepts. If I run into a group of 3 yellows (minions one level above me), I generally either try to arrange so that only one has me in LOS or hit Stealth; generally this will allow me to pull one at a time and handle the group, albeit slowly. But if something goes wrong and I aggro the full 3-enemy group, I generally get hammered, even with maneuvering to try to keep as many as possible in the arc of Empty Clips. I have noticed a slight animation delay when going back to the guns after using Warmth to heal up mid-combat, but I've also found that if I hit a Dual Pistols power that's recharging, the animation will play even if the power isn't recharged, which often covers the remaining recharge time. Then, at the conclusion of the mission, I finally encounter the psychic I'm supposed to kidnap (and her surprise companion), and I just get hammered. Currently I'm doing what I typically do when I discover that I can't finish a scenario -- wait three days, then hit the 'complete mission from this contact' menu item to get past it and keep on with the story.

This is the best example, but I'm having similar troubles with most of my toons, save one -- a Martial Arts/Super Reflexes scrapper I rolled way back when and am running through First Ward with now. Most of my toons, except this guy and the scrapper, have been dialed back to -1/-1 difficulty just so I can experience the missions without having to make multiple trips from the hospital back to the mission map.

Has the game gotten tougher, or do I just suck?

--
Pauper

Parts do seem harder. Other parts are easier. Thermal is a more supporty oriented set, especially, so if that alt is trying to tackle the tougher stuff solo, I'm not surprised you're having some tough times.

I'd be willing to bet if you started in Paragon City and ran the Death from Below a couple of times, and got yourself a few SOs and the long term buffs, that it would seem worlds easier. And that you'd probably be able to team more, if you were so inclined, which makes the low level content easier still.

All that said, you might suck a bit, too. I honestly don't know on that front, but I'll admit when I take even a short hiatus, my skills do for sure drop.

What server are you on? If you're in-game on any of the servers I play on, I'd be happy to team for a bit, to lend a hand, or whatever..

I have soloed Praetoria several times for the badges. On Brutes only, my preferred solo toons. Squishies are hard for me solo, and I would think Praetoria would be insanely hard. The enemies in Preatoria are "cutting edge" mobs, with the latest datamined ways to challenge characters. The arcs are neat, but some of the missions have grand little tricks in them like "stand here and wait for the endless ambushes to successfully complete this" I would rate this content the hardest to solo in the game for a solo low level player.

It has been pointed out Praetoria is very quiet compared to other zones. Hard to find teams, especially big teams. Its great content, well written, but hard.

Try running on Virtue heroside for awhile. Or Freedom. Get with some teams, see how you like it. And GL.

Welcome back!

First, you might just be rusty. A character created waaay back with say just single origin enhancements should perform basically as well now as it did then, not taking into account any 'balancing' of powers.

Did parts of the game get more difficult? Yes and no... maybe. The new content you are playing may have different vulnerabilities and strengths that you are not used to. Praetoria can be pretty tough.


At level 17 - to be able to challenge the foes at the level you want, you may have to adjust.

- Use the in-game market 'trading house' to upgrade from DOs to SOs. (this is a great bump)

- Use inspirations. Don't horde them. Use them as you get them. Don't have an empty tray but never have a full tray. We are just missing out on the next one that could have dropped because our tray is full. (I hate inspirations but they work, 3 reds + 3 purples or 3 oranges can really change a tough encounter)

- A different archtype? If you're solo and want ranged maybe a Corruptor is more your style. Blasters are effective but squishie. A Corruptor might be a nice balance.

See you out there!

Also of note and warning: while you're currently VIP, thus having access to Invention Origin enhancements, if you drop down to premium/FTP they will become "deactivated" unless you purchase the IO license from the market or you have enough paragon reward tokens to fill up the T7 reward line (I think). It's like $2 a month for the license, but some returning players choosing to go the premium route have been caught off guard with builds using mostly IOs that just weren't running.

It's not just you. The new Praetoria content is DEFINITELY harder than the Paragon City / Rogue Islands content. Also, Defenders are one of the hardest things to solo, while Scrappers are one of the easiest, so that probably explains a LOT.

You do NOT suck. Praetoria IS harder.

Yeah, Praetoria is much harder, especially for those without mez protection. On top of that Therm/DP is a poor solo build at low or mid levels.

Make the most out of the Market while you're VIP. Selling low level salvage can really give you a boost towards outfitting your toons. And scouring the Enhancements section for people unloading low level SOs can also both improve your toon and save you money at the same time.

You also might want to look into buying some temp powers. Stun Grenades are usually cheap and can really help a squishy out in early levels. All the attack type powers are very cheap, if you have toons with holes in their attack chains. Kinetic Dampers can really help for tough fights, as can Backup Radios. Though those, especially the latter, can be pricey.

Lastly, find some friends online even if you don't play with them often, as there are a ton of people in the CoH community who will go out of their way to help you out.

In addition for Praetoria being harder, thermal radiation is a very team oriented set with warmth being the only power early on that's useful to a solo'er (Masterminds excluded.) And given the relative difficulty of Praetoria it can be fairly hard to find groups as most people don't start characters there after running through it a few times for the story (if that.)

I think Arcanaville made a comment around when Praetoria came out that the devs had forgotten how to design low level critters, based on how tough they made them. They were designed more like mid-to-high level critters in terms of attack chains and capabilities.

The Praetorian stories are very interesting, and worth repeating to see the different faction variations, but I'd suggest trying them on a fairly solid soloing character. I'd suggest a Mastermind, but you may not have access to that once you go free to play. Other good choices are a Brute (ideally with a low level heal), a scrapper, as you found, or maybe something like a Fire/Dark corruptor or Fire/Plant controller, where you have more ability to shut down or debuff some of the critters.

If you want to stick with the same defender, try to do some searches and find someone else to pair with. You could provide some good support to another character.

Welcome home

Thanks for the advice and support, folks -- I feel a lot better about my progress after reading all this. And I will say that I like the missions where you get an NPC ally to pitch in -- those seem tailor-made for defenders and tend to be much easier missions for me to complete.

I've been playing on Victory, since that's the server I started out on back at launch, and I can't say I've run across any other player in any of the Praetoria zones since I started working this toon. I have earned a few character transfer tokens from my prior paid time, though, so I'll probably look into moving a few toons to a higher-traffic server fairly soon.

--
Pauper

Praetoria is harder... Dual Pistols is a low damage, long animation set and defenders have a severe damage penalty to boot.

While you might be rusty and DOs are not as powerful as SOs, I can speak from experience when I say that parts of Praetoria can be really rough. The "stand here and get pummeled" missions routinely fail with my DP/Therm corruptor because I can't use many of my usual tactics. Its frustrating. I love the storylines, but I drop those missions all of the time because I just don't have the ability to handle them.