TheOtherTed

Historical plaques. Whenever I see one, I always have the urge to "read" it by pressing my hand on it.

I tried DFB a few times in original COH, and intensely disliked it (too easy with too much reward, IMO). I started running actual old-school sewer teams as a counter to it and was consistently able to get good groups together, but then the curtains came down. Might try again.

Thanks for all the feedback. Looks like I'll have to suck it up and form my own teams on LFG. Since I've been back, I've done so for Cavern of Transcendence and the Spelunker badge, but those experiences were hit-or-miss. Once each I got a full team no problem; since then, nothing but crickets. And one plucky Fire/Something scrapper. On an unrelated note, does anyone do old-school sewer teams?

This sounds like a job for Anecdotal Evidence! Here are my impressions from the one and only time I was involved in a full banner event: 1) Someone whose name I've forgotten formed and led a league for the banners. 2) The leader had us "stake out" each banner - his only rule was to have "at least one" person at each site. 3) I have no idea if we needed to clear the mobs that spawned at the banner. My stakeout partner and I did so because, well, they weren't being very nice. 4) When the banners became vulnerable, the leader directed us to each banner in turn. This leads me to believe that they don't have to be attacked simultaneously, but I have no way of knowing if there were people at the other banners. All I know is that we pig-piled on all four in series, and the banners' health seemed to be at or near full in each case. I also accidentally kicked off a banner event by getting too close to one. BTW, you don't need to be in the circle to get things started, or to have mobs spawn. I soloed the mobs there, but the banner did not become vulnerable before the timer ran out. I was the only one at that banner - I have no idea if anyone else was at the other sites. Also, I was hovering over the circle. No idea if that counts as being in it. Edit: Aaaand beaten to it by EmmySky.

So I finally mustered the courage to set my team flag last night on my level 17 controller. I initially had the flag set for anything, but shortly after set it for missions. I got a few tells pretty quickly - but they were all for fighting AVs, or DiB, or some TF or other, and each character who sent a tell was a much, much higher level than me. I politely declined all - I wasn't close to SO or IO territory, and I hate the sense of being carried (even if the team leaders don't see it that way). Do people not run old-school mission content? Or is the population such that there just isn't a "critical mass" of players in that level range to get a team going? If I try to put together a team (which I haven't done in, oh, say, 10 years), are there enough people in the late teens / early twenties (level-wise) to be worth the effort? Sorry if I seem a bit sour - my favorite aspect of the original COH was casual mission teaming. I'd hate to think that it no longer exists.

Playing a Trick Arrow/Archery defender is a bit rough solo. IMO it does well on teams, but is a bit "undervalued." It can also involve a lot of footwork and tactical positioning - I wouldn't recommend it if you haven't played a "busy" defender before. That said, I'm running one now, and having as much fun with it as I did in the original COH. Is there a reason you're limiting yourself to Trick or Tactical Arrow? I'm also running an Archery/Martial Combat blaster, and finding it suprisingly fun.

Just found out last night that if an Illusion controller uses Deceive on a mob that summons pets, it affects the pets as well. Had too much taking down purple "Lead Scorchers" in Steel Canyon with that trick. Played an Ill/Emp controller on live for years and never figured that out...

You wait patiently for the train, start to wonder if it's bugged, then realize you're at the wrong entrance. Bonus points if you do it two times in a row...

My relatively uninformed and likely unpopular take: Stalkers are tied to their Assassinate power. Brutes are bound by the Fury mechanic. But Scrappers - Scrappers are free like the wind, man, they can just do their thing and be, ya dig?

Are we, though? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c08ODTt1m8Q

Well, if we're doing that... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYmA0zPiVHY On a side note, I think I have that sweater...

I remember playing this game on a pentium III computer with a factory graphics card when Issue 9 dropped. Even with the graphics settings minimized, my screen turned into a slide show whenever I got within half a zone of Wentworth's. On a related note, I never knew what my characters really looked like until I got one of the early quad core computers with a relatively current graphics card. I also remember literally making a sandwich while waiting for my character to load into a "hot door" situation.

Speaking of that, and speaking of personal history/experience, I'll throw it out there that the mentality of the person you encountered (and perhaps other, similar, people) does have some history behind it. You said in your initial post that you didn't have a chance to play back in the day, so there's no reason I or anyone else could expect you to know the history. I'll give a quick recap here (as I understand it); maybe it will help see where "the other guy" was coming from. In 2009, "Mission Architect" was introduced. This allowed players to create their own content. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, there were two issues. First, some players quickly made powerlevelling maps. Second, the Architect Entertainment buildings, where player-made content could be accessed, were placed in the starting zones. Problem one, by itself, wouldn't have been much of a problem - powerlevelling was going on in high level zones anyway. Problem two, however, meant that many new players would join AE powerlevelling teams - and would never play anything else. The term "AE babies" was coined to describe players who got to level 50 very quickly, but had no real idea how the game worked, what their powers did, or other basic information. How extensive that was, I honestly have no idea. I just remember that nearly every zone, including starting zones, seemed devoid of life for a few months after Mission Architect was released. Regardless of whatever "really" happened, the legend of the AE baby had been born. When I read the initial part of the chat in your OP, I didn't blink an eye - I knew that history, and I probably would have been inclined to think similarly had I seen your request for help. Does the history justify the assumption, either on his part or mine? No, of course not. But the history is there regardless, and flavors our "first impressions" whether we want it to or not. More generally speaking, it took me a long time to realize how diverse individual histories and points-of-view could be - but when I finally started to "get it," it changed my outlook on a lot of interactions. Nowadays, if I hear someone say something that's a bit "off," my first reaction is usually not to call the speaker a jarkarse or moron or other bad word (usually), but to tilt my head and say "Why do you say that?" But, yes, I have my thresholds. Ironically, one of them is when I make a statement that I think is relatively safe or innocent, and someone calls me a jarkarse, or moron, or other bad word, It's not necessary, it's not helpful, and it tells me the person would rather draw a line in the sand rather than actually discuss.

Fine, you know what, whatever. I'll give you a "like" on the condition that you never do that again. 😒

Where's the "conflicted" emoji? You know, the one that says I want to "like" this but I don't want to reward anyone for a terrible string of tea-related puns?