I changed my mind on AE farming...

[Yomo Kimyata]

tl;dr -- I never understood AE farming before.  It seemed to me to be a monotonous, horrible way to accumulate the currency you wanted to buy things in order to do something else.  I totally get now that it's legit entertainment in its own right.  However I may feel about the reward system, I'm A-OK with messing around clocking errant Comic Con fans for 15 minutes at a pop.

 

My playing style is such that I rarely get on for more than an hour at a time, and when I do I rarely get to pay full attention to my CoH experience.  I have a lot of alts, and I generally enjoy the leveling process.  I team when I can but mostly solo.

 

The other day, I was working (solo) on the Hollows arc with my lvl 12 staff/fire brute, Hellion Keller.  I got the Atta mission and decided to put together an 8-person team, and it was awesome.  We had a great tank and, honestly, I don't remember what other ATs were on the squad, but we melted mobs like butter.  Then at one point, I accidentally went the wrong way from the tank and starting clearing some groups, wondering where everyone else was.  It was easy and fun, like shooting fish in a barrel.  It was like PLAYING A VIDEO GAME.

 

I got DCed from that mission (stupid Spectrum internet) but gained 4 levels.  Normally, I would teleport to Faultline and start that arc, but a little voice in my head said, "Feed me!"  So after I had a snack, another voice said, "Hey, this is kind of a farming toon.  Why don't you try AE?"  My attitude on AE farming, as stated above, was not favorable.  But I hadn't been in the AE building since Live, so I figured why not check it out.  Also, for my own arcane reasons I wanted to see how easy it was to accumulate AE tickets.

 

It was easy and fun, like shooting fish in a barrel.  It wasn't challenging.  It wasn't rocket science.  It was beating up wave after wave of exquisitely costumed pixels, and it was fun.  I leveled like mad (had double xp/no inf), and every five missions I'd visit Ms. Liberty and put IO sets in.  By level 20 I was at 0/x8.  By 26 I went to +1/x8, and by 30 went to +2/x8.  I just took a break to open patron pools.

 

I don't know if I am going to do any other content with this toon except for spacing out for 15-30 minutes every once in a while and mashing buttons without thinking about content or teamwork.  I now have a new and different way of enjoying playing CoH.  And thanks, ?@Brigg? for making the Comic Con farm.

 

I have no idea if the economics of AE farming are good or bad, but I'll probably experiment with that when this toon hits 50.  I don't love the fact that inf farming generates inf from nothing, which could eventually have consequences for the AH, but that's a different worry for a different time.

 

I also cannot imagine how easy this would be for a well-equipped alt and a more experienced player.  As far as I can tell, staff/fire brute doesn't even crack the top 10 of farming toons.  I don't think I could physically push buttons any faster than I already am!

 

Happy hunting!

[MunkiLord]

It's super easy mode and good way to make influence. Plus something like that I find rather relaxing as I don't have to really think much on my Spines/Fire Brute. 

 

In real world time an efficient farmer is the quickest way to make influence 100 million influence. Playing the market is still more efficient overall since I'm unwilling to farm for eight straight hours, but the profit is as immediate.

 

Plus on a decent computer you can PL an alt to mid 20s, or higher, super quick. 

[AboveTheChemist]

I never would have thought that I would enjoy farming but I created a spines/fire brute just to see what it was all about and I wound up finding it challenging fun. It's not something I'm going to do for an extended period, and not something that I am overly concerned about maximizing efficiency, but I can see myself doing 1-2 comic con arcs a week just to do something a bit different. I'm tinkering with a titan/bio scrapper at the moment to give myself a farmer that can do other stuff too.

[ed fray]

 

I find it a little tedious but really recommend it for the more or less instant gratification for one's early gearing up.

[Without_Pause]

For me I can go do some farming and wait and see what pops up for teams if anything. I mostly do 1-2 runs and then switch. I did a number of them early on as a way to level up to get to a certain point with the build. I am also working on a character for more regular content but S/L farming as I really don't want to take the effort to make Spines/fire for farming and regular content. I also had plans to dual box, but honestly haven't gotten around to doing so much.

 

For other builds, the "Bad" space map works wonders. Again, vastly for early levels to get a build up and running.

[Sidious]

I do the S/M version of the outdoor comic con to fund my alts.

I may not be playing the most ideally equipped AT (BS/WP Brute) but the mobs can't hurt me and I get enough to fund my toons.

 

I understand and recognize the appeal of Farming, as well as the pitfalls.

For new players that never played before, I do not recommend it until you hit the lvl 30 plateau.  

[DR_Mechano]

14 hours ago, AboveTheChemist said:

I never would have thought that I would enjoy farming but I created a spines/fire brute just to see what it was all about and I wound up finding it challenging fun. It's not something I'm going to do for an extended period, and not something that I am overly concerned about maximizing efficiency, but I can see myself doing 1-2 comic con arcs a week just to do something a bit different. I'm tinkering with a titan/bio scrapper at the moment to give myself a farmer that can do other stuff too.

Titan weapons is not a recommend farming powerset, it's a tad too slow and bio is a tad squishy since in offensive mode it doesn't max out its resistances to anything. If you want and oddball farming secondary pick /rad. It can easily cap smashing/lethal and Toxic (the tanker version of rad sits at 60%+ Resistances to almost everything, with a few in the high 70s but you're not going to go tanker for farming) plus it has a lovely +recharge aura. While it won't be as efficient as Spines/Fire at farming you'd also have a character you can use outside of farming too.

[Abraxus]

My son created a Spines/Fire farm character, and lets me use it whenever the desire, or need arises.  For me, that's pretty much only when one of my characters hits 50, and I dual-box a couple of rounds of Comic-Con to get all six Incarnate slots open.  For me, that's pretty much it though.  Everything else, I don't mind doing just via game play, because I love it that much! 😎

[Chalkarts]

I've had a distaste for AE since it was introduced in Live.

 

CoH is still a great game, but it was a better game before AE took the community out of the game and piled everyone into power level grind fests.

 

I only step foot in that building for the tutorial quest.

AE sucks.

[AboveTheChemist]

1 hour ago, DR_Mechano said:

Titan weapons is not a recommend farming powerset, it's a tad too slow and bio is a tad squishy since in offensive mode it doesn't max out its resistances to anything. If you want and oddball farming secondary pick /rad. It can easily cap smashing/lethal and Toxic (the tanker version of rad sits at 60%+ Resistances to almost everything, with a few in the high 70s but you're not going to go tanker for farming) plus it has a lovely +recharge aura. While it won't be as efficient as Spines/Fire at farming you'd also have a character you can use outside of farming too.

Thanks, but I'm going to stick with TW/Bio. Its been highly recommended in several places, and its been fun so far. If ultimately it doesn't work out, no big deal.

[Abraxus]

36 minutes ago, Chalkarts said:

AE sucks.

No, actually it doesn't, universally speaking.  If it doesn't work for you, that's fine.  But, others have a different opinion which is equally valid, so let's try to refrain from passing universal judgement in a negative vein. 🙂

Edited September 16, 2019 by Abraxus

[jubakumbi]

41 minutes ago, Chalkarts said:

I've had a distaste for AE since it was introduced in Live.

 

CoH is still a great game, but it was a better game before AE took the community out of the game and piled everyone into power level grind fests.

 

I only step foot in that building for the tutorial quest.

AE sucks.

The game is about arresting bad guys in a comic book setting.

The X-Men had the danger room decades ago, for 'power leveling' so they could be ready to fight.

 

The community you speak of consists of both those that use and do not use the AE.

 

The same community you speak of is, from my PoV, one of the cattiest, close-minded, arrogant, and down right 'mean' MMO communities in which I have participated.

Is it not enough that the busy bodies and hall monitors have to rag on the player base already constantly in telling the rest of us the 'right' way to have fun?

You still feel the need to come in here and piss all over the part of your precious community that enjoys something you might not like?

Sheesh.

Edited September 16, 2019 by jubakumbi
speeling

[chigiabelo]

Different strokes for different folks ... 

 

I like AE farming for influence and stuff, keeps my less capable alts well fed. I also enjoy PL-ing friends and will sometimes randomly offer to PL a stranger and top them off with some inf and rare recipes.

[subbacultchas]

51 minutes ago, AboveTheChemist said:

Thanks, but I'm going to stick with TW/Bio. Its been highly recommended in several places, and its been fun so far. If ultimately it doesn't work out, no big deal.

I farm just fine with a TW/Bio Scrapper. It isn't hard to get your smash/lethal near capped, and with a decent melee defense you can cap that as well with defensive sweep. Fighting +4/x8 on a s/l farm is pretty breezy as TW/Bio.

[jshmoe1236123]

2 minutes ago, subbacultchas said:

I farm just fine with a TW/Bio Scrapper. It isn't hard to get your smash/lethal near capped, and with a decent melee defense you can cap that as well with defensive sweep. Fighting +4/x8 on a s/l farm is pretty breezy as TW/Bio.

I'd have to agree.  I have a tw/bio that I didn't really build for farming, but it handles it just fine.  It packs so much damage that everything just melts.  And there's nothing squishy about /bio.  It has a lot of utility to survive because you can soft cap defenses and then throw in the heals and regen.  It's  a fine choice if you want to dabble in some farming with a tw/bio.

[Chalkarts]

1 hour ago, jubakumbi said:

The same community you speak of is, from my PoV, one of the cattiest, close-minded, arrogant, and down right 'mean' MMO communities in which I have participated.

Is it not enough that the busy bodies and hall monitors have to rag on the player base already constantly in telling the rest of us the 'right' way to have fun?

You still feel the need to come in here and piss all over the part of your precious community that enjoys something you might not like?

Sheesh.

 

You clearly haven't experienced the same community I did.

I'd expect that kind of attitude in WoW, but I always found CoH to be quite welcoming.

 

No one is telling you the "right" way to play.

You can run that treadmill until you're hearts content.

You do you.

 

What I'm saying is I remember finding parties to play through the content with, until AE showed up and most players stopped playing the actual game and running the loot treadmill.

 

I dislike AE, in my game AE does more damage than good to the community.

[Abraxus]

18 minutes ago, Chalkarts said:

 

You clearly haven't experienced the same community I did.

I'd expect that kind of attitude in WoW, but I always found CoH to be quite welcoming.

 

No one is telling you the "right" way to play.

You can run that treadmill until you're hearts content.

You do you.

 

What I'm saying is I remember finding parties to play through the content with, until AE showed up and most players stopped playing the actual game and running the loot treadmill.

 

I dislike AE, in my game AE does more damage than good to the community.

I get that.  But, in my experience (at least since I started playing on Homecoming), I have not had any trouble finding teams to play on, whether it be missions, Radio, Task Force, or Incarnate Trials.  It might not always be immediate, but I play primarily on PUGs without having to wait too long to see something pop-up in the LFG channel.  If I get impatient, I start a team myself to do what I'm in the mood for, and on we go!  That's on Torchbearer, but I'm assuming it's relatively the same on the other servers.

 

[jubakumbi]

2 minutes ago, Chalkarts said:

 

You clearly haven't experienced the same community I did.

I'd expect that kind of attitude in WoW, but I always found CoH to be quite welcoming.

 

No one is telling you the "right" way to play.

You can run that treadmill until you're hearts content.

You do you.

 

What I'm saying is I remember finding parties to play through the content with, until AE showed up and most players stopped playing the actual game and running the loot treadmill.

 

I dislike AE, in my game AE does more damage than good to the community.

CoH is very welcoming....right up until you mention the AE, PvP, Farming for loot, power-leveling, and/or not being creative enough, then the 'community' shows up to tell people they are doing it wrong.

 

Using the same community, I have never had any issue finding teams when I want them, before and during the AE addition.

 

Only the followers of Matt Miller who wanted to villify the AE because it used more resources than anticipated, IME, were the issue. 

Now, the resource issue is mostly solved, yet we still have traditionalists...

 

IME, the community around the AE encapusaltes the very best of CoH and those that attack it do not.

AE farmers help farmers, they PL just about anyone that wants it, show other players how to do it and IME, don't tell those that enjoy content outside the AE they are 'doing it wrong'....IME it's the ones that hate on the AE that are a community problem, IME, not the AE.

 

My memory of Retail Live and experiences in HC Live have shown me that negative voices come from people that think everyone 'should' level up through 'traditional' means and are mad because other players choose a different path...these players think the game itself should change, so they have players forced to play with them in traditional content...

 

Disliking to use a tool and villianizing it as the reason for a lack of the kind of players you like are two different things, IMO.

Full DIsclosure - never really PLed in the AE on Live, not even run a single AE mission on HC...

 

[Fan Mail]

Just my perspective but there seems to be 4 different kinds of players in CoH, generally speaking.

 

1. PL'ers that do it for gear/INF to PVP. 

2. PL'ers that do it for the best gear/INF and do the end game content.

3. Players that can't get over alt-itus, they have 40 toons.

4. Content-delving players - can't miss a thing on each character: TFs, Trials, Badges, etc.

 

I would be in the number 3 category.  But I'm having fun and that's what all this is about, right?  To each their own.

[Chalkarts]

7 minutes ago, jubakumbi said:

 

Only the followers of Matt Miller who wanted to villify the AE because it used more resources than anticipated, IME, were the issue. 

 

Full DIsclosure - never really PLed in the AE on Live, not even run a single AE mission on HC...

 

Who's Matt Miller?

 

also,

 

You aren't missing anything.  Enter Zone, Giant weeny storm, level with zero effort and no chance of failure, rinse repeat until you have 10 level 50s.

[Jon]

9 minutes ago, Chalkarts said:

Who's Matt Miller?

 

also,

 

You aren't missing anything.  Enter Zone, Giant weeny storm, level with zero effort and no chance of failure, rinse repeat until you have 10 level 50s.

Matt Miller is Positron, one of the old CoH Devs.

As for the topic at hand... farming definitely has a place in City of Heroes. I like to farm just to get all of my favorite characters to 50 and IO'd out super quickly so that I can spend more time playing the game on characters without limited power/slot availability or lack of a proper build. To me (and I'm sure many others) characters simply aren't fun to play without being IO'd at level 50. I'm at a point now where I don't really have to farm at all anymore because I made an effort to do all the farming I needed early on, and I think it has been wonderful for my overall experience in this game. I don't have to worry about grinding out TFs for merits, running out of inf, having enough resources... I can just play the game and not think about all that stuff. Throw in the fact that, with farming, you can experiment way more with different AT/Powerset combos than you could ever hope to do without farming, and it starts to make sense why so many people like to do it.

[jubakumbi]

8 minutes ago, Chalkarts said:

Who's Matt Miller?

 

also,

 

You aren't missing anything.  Enter Zone, Giant weeny storm, level with zero effort and no chance of failure, rinse repeat until you have 10 level 50s.

AKA, Positron, one of the main developers of the game for a while, unless I mixed up a name.

 

I recall enjoying the hell out of the missions I played in AE on Live, some were head and shoulders quality wise above anything in the game at that time.

Better writing, better stories, all of it.

 

I also love horde killin' games, so fighting waves of enemeies I find very fun, used to try and solo all kinds of hordes.

Personally, I like variety, so I just solo the mission I do get at -1 or 0 x4-8, and occasionally reset them if I have fun arresting that particular group.

IMO, that is no different from the AE.

 

People were farming content and PLing long before the AE hit and those poeple just moved to that, IME.

 

Your words, IMO, suggest you dislike the AE for more reasons than just, 'not finding enough teammates', but because it makes things easy and I guess therefore 'bad'.

 

 

[Jon]

3 minutes ago, jubakumbi said:

I recall enjoying the hell out of the missions I played in AE on Live, some were head and shoulders quality wise above anything in the game at that time.

Better writing, better stories, all of it.

This is also a really great point. AE adds so much more to this game than just farming. Some of the best content I've played in City of Heroes was player-created through AE. Lets face it, a lot of this game's non-AE stuff is very dry and unfun, so being able to create your own game experience is something that really stands out to me about CoH.

[Abraxus]

True.  Straight Farming missions were a minority of the player written missions.  Many of them were very creative missions, and arcs, some of which deserved to be included in regular game content.  The fact that the most widely known aspect of AE became the dedicated farming missions is regrettable, as it was not always the majority of what it was used for, especially back in the days of live.  Some really talented folks left their contributions there for others to play, and leave feedback. 

[jshmoe1236123]

34 minutes ago, Chalkarts said:

You aren't missing anything.  Enter Zone, Giant weeny storm, level with zero effort and no chance of failure, rinse repeat until you have 10 level 50s.

....and?

 

When you are fighting a mob, do you think about these people and become upset?  I'm failing to see something here.