I've done some sums

So I opened up the hybrid slot on my main. It took 5 runs in all, about 2.5 hours playing times not including recruitment. After I had done this I worked that that I wanted this slot on 18 other characters.

This would mean that I would need to be involved in 90 Magisterium trials which means 45 hours-ish of grind.

With that in mind I decided there are far more interesting things to do with my time.

Have fun everybody and as always 'best of luck all'

Bye =) can i haz your stuff?

Thats a lot of characters Thyristor...
Maybe that is the reason why I have limited incarnate stuff to currently 2. (Ok another reason might be, cause I've only got 2 lvl 50 to play But many other lower tiers. )
Even with nr 2 I look at all I need to equip her and go more "... in time... no rush"
My namesake though gets the full bit.

I decided as soon as incarnates came out that i could only afford to fully incarnate 2/3 characters, rest of my 50s can only be worked on in any spare time i have or bored.

Though i do think its unfair to judge a system on how long it would take to get to the new level with anything over 10 alts I know a lot of us have that or more, but kind of impossible to make a fair system based on it being run for 20+ or so characters.

I knew you said something along these lines on chat last week @Thy, however I have to say...

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease don't go!
And I have to agree with Damz in that my main gets my focus for new IO's and Incarnate slots, my other characters are getting what they can as and when I play them and generally I find that a good way to play

Sounds like one of those "It's not the destination, it's the journey" situations. I'm running Volkanik on the DA Arcs at the moment and really enjoying the story and its rather sinister flavour. I did wonder last night what I was going to do after I'd finished those given that I'm only 33% through my Lore and Destiny slots. I have a handful of other characters that I'd like to get some Incarnate powers for, but not the end of the world if I don't.

My advice would be the same as it was to all those people complaining about lack of end of level content before we got our end of level content. Enjoy the process of reaching those new heights of awesome, don't focus or stress on getting there. I really enjoy the Incarnate content, and I still really enjoy a small team of level 8s running Frostfire missions in the Hollows. The game is fun; just play it.

"You can play the game you've enjoyed for 5+ years for free, but to talk about it you have to pay for the new trial-grind that is why you didn't enjoy other MMOs."

I sympathise, Thyristor. I'd also miss you if you left.

Generally speaking, I tend to only alpha my 50s, and maybe interface them too. Sophia is the only character of mine who has gotten the whole Incarnate treatment so far, mainly because I still regard her as my main, even if I don't play her that often these days.

Mostly though, once I get a character to 50, it stops there. I put IOs in them (not sets necessarily), and leave them. This only changes when I can see that I might use them a lot - such as Zoe, Sophia, Phoenix, Aisho & Abyssal - and the likelihood that i'll retire them is low.

Still being a relatively casual MMO gamer, I've come to resent this grind, which time-locks and price-locks some potentially useful game mechanics and/or equipment. It is perhaps the main reason that CoX has for so long held my attention - that, until recently, there was a lack of this screwing over the casual gamer.

Useful <> Required.

Most toons are still perfectly viable doing old school content on SO's. You don't HAVE to fully Incarnate your characters to make them useful unless you're going to be regularly doing Incarnate content. There is still non Incarnate content being developed and implemented.

I don't see the problem, frankly.

Existing <> Populated.

A lot of people left because they couldn't find other people to do non-incarnate content with once they got bored of it. With the amount of instancing CoX is an unusually easy mmo to be alone in.

I can see how it might have the potential to affect things in the way that you describe, but other than the anecdotal evidence you mention that is posted on the forums (which, it's worth remembering, have only ever represented a fraction of the total playerbase), we have no real evidence of that. Indeed, the situation you describe has long been the case and long before Incarnates was introduced.

I played originally from i6 to about i12ish and I left because it became increasingly difficult (for me) to find teams and find team members for teams that I started. That's why I'm of the opinion that there's a whole load of other issues that you need to take in to consideration before placing the blame solely on the Incarnate Systems shoulders.

I'm relatively fortunate in that respect now, in that a handful of members of an SG I played with towards the end of my original CoH tenure have all resubbed, independantly within a few weeks of one another. Had that not been the case, I'd have probably played through the DA arcs with one or two characters and then left again. It's also worth mentioning that over the past couple of weeks, we've not done any Incarnate stuff as a group despite talking about dusting off 50s to run through some of it. My point being that people who like and want to do the Incarnate content can and do. Equally the people that don't still have stuff to do with like minded people that would rather not.

I think perhaps if you are someone that wants "proper" end game content other than just re-rolling and doing it all over again, and what you get isn't what you want, you're going to be understandably disappointed and make you more inclined to review your subs. I also I think under those circumstances it's difficult to remain objective in assessing how your opinion of introduced end game is perceived by everyone else.

Ah Thy, I hope you don't go, not now I've finally dusted Spanky off and got him out of retirement.

I suppose it's different if you feel you NEED to have everything on every toon, but thankfully I've managed to avoid that. I want to gear up Spanky and then, if I'm still in the mood, one of my other 50s.

Anyway, I hope you decide to reconsider mate.