Charging for Powerlevelling to level 50

[Queen Nefertiti]

Recently I've noticed a trend on a couple of the servers for people advertising their services to PL an alt from level 1 to 50 for the "bargain" price of between 20 and 30 million inf. I was wondering what other people thought about the whole situation. The people running the fire farm and charging for the PL defend their actions by saying that at the end the toon will have plenty of inf, especially if they had a purple recipe drop.

 

Now I often do fire farming to get inf for my own toons. I have Pink Pussycat and Blue Barracuda who's sole purpose in life is to fire farm. I often throw it open to anyone in Atlas who wants to door sit and I never charge, I just like the company. It seems a number of other fire farmers feel the same way, and recently I've seen a number saying they are running a free fire farm if anyone wants to jump on board.

 

The reason I find it so concerning is that to me, it seems a lot of the level 1 to 50 PL'd toons are new players caught in the idea that the game starts at level 50 and when they do ding up, have no idea on how to play the game or slot their alts. If they are losing tens of millions of inf to some farmer they haven't got the inf to even slot their alt properly. 20 million inf will slot a level 50 with IO's and a few decent sets with change to spare. If it's a new player then they don't know any of the mechanics such as Auction house, rule of three for enhancements, team dynamics or any of those things we all find out as we level our first toon. As an experiment I PL'd a toon of my own to level 50. After 5 runs of Twisted Visages cityscape fire farm he hit 50 and selling everything sellable on the  Auction House and one purple recipe drop he only came out with 27 million inf. Now I did have double XP running so there was no enemy inf dropping, but I doubt if a PL seller would let anyone do it NOT double XP'd, that would take too long. Even charging 20 mil for the run it would leave the alt pretty low on inf to slot properly. 30 mil would leave me in negative.

 

I've seen the argument that if someone didn't want to be charged they should make their own fire farmer and dual box their alts themselves. It's a good argument, but not every system likes or is capable of running more than one instance of the game. My desktop will happily run two games for dual boxing, my laptop won't. We all play the game the way we want to play, and that is fine. From my own personal perspective though, charging new players for something they can get free from someone else is a bit naughty.

 

On chat last night there was a bit of an argument going on and the person charging defended their actions with the argument that it was their time they were charging for, and if people didn't want to short cut to 50 they didn't have to. I get the argument, I really do, but as another player pointed out, if you have a fire farmer and need 30 million inf that badly you are doing something wrong.

[Haijinx]

LOL

 

Its so easy to get to 50 now. 

 

Why bother?

 

 

[Clave Dark 5]

8 minutes ago, Haijinx said:

LOL

 

Its so easy to get to 50 now. 

 

Why bother?

 

 

There's a sucker born every minute, fella say.

[boggo2300]

18 minutes ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

There's a sucker born every minute, fella say.

said by a not very nice man, no matter what Hugh Jackman would have you believe

[boggo2300]

I would never pay to be P/L though, I also can't think of anything that would make me want to be PL anyway and skip the actual game

[Razia]

If I farm inf for myself I usually run alone, but if someone tells me if they can stick along, they get invited. I never charge but I also never PL all the way to 50, not myself, not anyone else. I do not do it for my onw toons, as I like to see if I like the powers and such (I am mainly rolling toons with powersets I did not back on Live). I don't think it's a good idea if a completely new player gets PLed all to 50.

 

Oh, but I usually run PI Teams with any of my level 50 and everyone is welcome to join, even lowbies.

Edited January 10, 2020 by Razia

[Lines]

The market for this seems niche: they'd need to have played the game enough to have the money to spend. They've not powerlevelled another toon, else they'd know plenty of folks will let you doorsit in a farm. They wouldn't have many 50s, else they'd know it can be easy to 1-50 even with regular content. At least I don't think it's 30 mil worth of effort.

 

I dunno how many people out there fill that niche, but since the price is a little high to be a complete noob trap, I guess it's mostly harmless. Maybe a little predatory, and hopefully nobody is scammed out of this.

[Haijinx]

Don't think it matters - at 50 you can earn the 30 mil back pretty fast.

 

Maybe get a farm toon power-leveled.  Then you can power-level yourself .. AND ... start selling a Powerleveling service for 25 Mil.  =p

 

In a week cutthroat competition will have the price down to a Pack of Gum and 3 Menthol Cigarettes. 

 

 

[boggo2300]

Just now, Haijinx said:

Don't think it matters - at 50 you can earn the 30 mil back pretty fast.

 

Maybe get a farm toon power-leveled.  Then you can power-level yourself .. AND ... start selling a Powerleveling service for 25 Mil.  =p

 

In a week cutthroat competition will have the price down to a Pack of Gum and 3 Menthol Cigarettes. 

 

 

I'd buy that for a dollar!

 

oh hang on, I wouldn't never mind

[EmmySky]

This was an issue I had way back on live when AE first came out.  So many 50s who didnt have a clue.  On HC I havent found that problem, and I am fine with PLing if that's what someone wants to do. 

 

But charging them for it?  Yeah, sounds like a noob trap, too many people offer it free that if someone has been playing for a week they will have seen free farms in LFG, especially on Indom.  I see them almost every day and certainly on weekend mornings.  

[Queen Nefertiti]

28 minutes ago, Razia said:

If I farm inf for myself I usually run alone, but if someone tells me if they can stick along, they get invited. I never charge but I also never PL all the way to 50, not myself, not anyone else. I do not do it for my onw toons, as I like to see if I like the powers and such (I am mainly rolling toons with powersets I did not back on Live). I don't think it's a good idea if a completely new player gets PLed all to 50.

 

 

I Feel the same way. I will either DFB and DIB for a while, or if there is none of that going then I will PL my toon to 22 or so for the IO's. I only tend to do a couple of farm runs for the inf when I'm trying to get those pesky purple sets on an alt. I did do a 1 to 50 run to A) see how long it would take and B) to see how much inf I could get with double XP running. I probably won't do it again though, as I had no attachment to the toon and found trying to decide what to slot and how to play too confusing compared to playing it properly and levelling normally. I strip mined him for the inf then deleted him.

[nihilii]

It's so easy to earn influence as a level 50 I have no concern whatsoever people paying to be powerleveled might be in trouble later. There's no gatekeeping to learning anything in this game; nor does the leveling process act as a particularly good guide, for that matter. Only time teaches you how to play.

 

Someone who played 50 hours starting at level 50 is likely as competent as someone who played 50 hours, period. They might even be *more* competent in the specific range of level 50, because the new player going through the leveling process might not know as much about level 50 play yet (if they even reached it).

[Murcielago]

Only 20-30M? That's pretty cheap.

[Frostbiter]

If someone want to do it that's whatever floats their boat but not my cup of tea. I don't want to pay someone to level past content I'm just going to have to come back and run through Oro. I like running my heroes through all the story arcs.

[roleki]

If someone wants to run farms, it's their time, fine by me.  If someone wants to pay to door sit, that's their choice, fine by me.

 

What I *do* object to is people advertising to PL for compensatuon X; it seems... tacky and unnecessary, and it puts an unnecessary spotlight on PL/farming when there are already people who strenuously object to that method of play without the added attention and notoriety that comes with advertising to do it for even more profit.

[theDarkeOne]

Or you know,  you can start a second account and PL your own toons for FREE!

Someone quoted PT Barnum earlier in the thread and I also love: "a fool and his money are soon parted. . ." 

If people want to pay they will, ignore and move on in life. I often throw up "Free farm run" when I have time to farm and believe it or not, I don't get that many takers. . . I, also, never farm my own toons to 50. . . 38 is where I start to really enjoy playing them so that is usually where I take my own characters then play them until they are complete on incarnate Tier 3's.

[Shred Monkey]

So... before I start, I honestly don't care what other people do in this game.  Happy to have you here, go have fun.  But you asked how we felt, and here's my answer.

 

I will never be power-leveled.  I will never power-level someone else.  I'll never do a fire farm... or even go to the AE building in it's current state.  I'll also never share my builds.  And here is why I won't do it.   You see, to me, doing these things is basically playing the game for you.  I honestly feel like I am stealing from you if I PL you because I'm taking away the very thing that makes this game a game.  I had a huge amount of pleasure and satisfaction in creating my build, why would I take that away from you by giving you the end result of my work?  If you want to be Power-leveled... if you want someone else to make a build for you ...if you buy gold, or beg for gold, then I really don't understand why are you playing.   Why not just watch someone else play on YouTube or Twitch.  (and why do people do that?  anyway...) 

 

I'll very gladly share any and all information I've learned about this game.  I'll help anyone complete any content they ask for help on.   Or give them advice on how to win without my help.  I'll tell you what I do to when I need influence.  This is helping you achieve the fullest and most rewarding experience possible in this game.  But I won't go so far as to play your game for you.  That cheapens the experience and strips from you the opportunity to enjoy this amazing game as much as I do.

 

Again, that's how I feel.  But you go do whatever you want.  It's fine, really.  I honestly don't care.

 

Edited, just to add this...

Most people who PL others for money or for free are basically just doing it to stroke their ego.  They're saying "look how amazing I am.  I can level you to 50 in a few hours... I'm awesome."  That's fine.. congratulations, you won the game you're playing.  Good for you.  

 

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by Shred Monkey

[golstat2003]

5 hours ago, boggo2300 said:

I would never pay to be P/L though, I also can't think of anything that would make me want to be PL anyway and skip the actual game

Having seen the game about 60 times on live, I would prefer to start characters at a level where I think the game is fun. YMMV.

[golstat2003]

4 hours ago, Haijinx said:

Don't think it matters - at 50 you can earn the 30 mil back pretty fast.

 

Maybe get a farm toon power-leveled.  Then you can power-level yourself .. AND ... start selling a Powerleveling service for 25 Mil.  =p

 

In a week cutthroat competition will have the price down to a Pack of Gum and 3 Menthol Cigarettes. 

 

 

Or simply log in with your own farmer and offer free farms to everyone at the same time. 😝

[Snarky]

 Bwah hah hah. Evil laugh required

 

first. It is a bargain price.  Farmers will lose more than that hauling someones butt to 50 then they make with the payment.  Then there is the matter of focus. That is a lot of runs in one sitting. Who takes industrial grade ritalin?

 

second. Its up to all consenting parties

 

third. I do not recommend it.  But i like doing low level gaming. Some hate it

 

my Preferred method (if it was perfect) would be 4 DFB for bonuses.  One PI run (or farm run) to 20 or so. Both Posi 1and 2. One PI to 25. 4 DiB then Synapse. From then on basically leveling up to 5 above TF available and doing TFs

 

for me this accomplishes a number of great purposes. 1) i am playing the alt that fascinated me enough to spend 30 min creating. 2) i am learning the power sets and possibly archetype i rolled. 3) i am earning Merits for funding alts

 

this method is my own odd version. Everybody has a preference.  Many times i will modify this to what is available. But that would be my mic drop perfect run to 50

 

i remember on Virtue i got a chat ban on my birthday for advertising asking for farming to 50. I was paying serious cash. But it offended enough people i got reported and chat banned. Made level 35 in a few hours back when that was hard.  Never Played the toon again i was irritated lol

 

let peeps do w/e. 
 

i did get kicked off a AE team a couple days ago. 1st kevel Dom. Was doorsitting. Got kicked for not helping. I was like...  if you need the help of my toon may the AE lords bless you. You need all the help you can vet

 

 

[vegetableknife]

Yeah if you could list people who would PL 1-50 for 20-30 mil influence I would totally be down.

[Lockpick]

45 minutes ago, Shred Monkey said:

or even go to the AE building in it's current state.

You may be missing out on some very good content.  There are some very good missions in AE; they are not all farms.

[Mitchman]

Different strokes for different folks.

 

If that is what people enjoy doing then good on them. I find it weird when people try and tell other people how to play the game. Some people LOVE AE, some people do not. If you want to spend your influence on being PL'd then do it.

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

To me this practice is no less abhorent then the SGs back in the day that used to use it as a recruiting tool " Join us and be lvl 50 today!" adverts disgust me to no end. While I as  one who really doesnt care to farm, still always strive to create a welcoming environment in game especially for new players and recent returnees. Just yesterday I saw someone in PI struggling to just wipe out lvl 49 minion and LT mobs on a lvl 50 ruptor. Id met them a few times over the last week while running PI radio mish teams and new they were either new to the game or freshly returned. So after watching them, struggling with taht group while tossing thema  barrier to help them and a few blues I asked if they would like to tag along with me to a trip out to the Storm palace.

 

Once out there while clearing we chatted it up. I looked at their build window, saw they were dark blasts. I was on a dark melee and had a few attuned to hit debuff sets on hand from the leveling phase and passed them over, likely a good 20 mil worth, I offered a bit of fine tuning build advice mainly on their pool choices, they had both super speed and flight with afterburner which seemed abit wasteful to me.

 

We had got a nice bit of casual inf about 5 mil, I had a purp recipe drop always nice, they had their alpha nearly unlocked. And the player a long time lvie player and very recent returnee was super thankful and even offered to pay me back when they could. I said no pay it forward to another down the line. we became global buds. and our game likely has one more old live player very happy to be back and more then likely will be sticking around knowing our community is still the best in any mmo ever.

 

I say frack off to anyone charging for PLing. If it seems to become a growing trend I will once again push for an auto level 50 option at P2W which Id much prefer over seeing people exploiting others in game for such an option.

[Snarky]

22 minutes ago, Bentley Berkeley said:

I say frack off to anyone charging for PLing. If it seems to become a growing trend I will once again push for an auto level 50 option at P2W which Id much prefer over seeing people exploiting others in game for such an option.

I do agree with this but only from a PR perspective. PLing at that cost is really free or below cost. But on Everlasting it is a real community vibe where cash is not king. RO costumes and teaming are king. New people will not understand the economy be able to afford it or realize how below cost it is.  So in that manner it is a very bad thing. Even though in reality (at that cost) you are really making money paying for that and get a 59 to boot. But only if you already know the deal