How to Get a Level 50 in City of Heroes in 2 Hours. Spines/Fire Brute Powerlevel

[VanValdenburg]

Can we fix this please? :D

 

It will kill CoH again. At least for me. I'm already close to quit because i feel forced to AE farm.

Imo the very appeal of an MMO is that you need to earn your lvl through time spend in the game and this whole AE farming just kills that.

You can say whatever you want but that's my honest opinion.

We might just give out free lvl50 chars at that point.

 

Or just open up a new server without character transfers and without AE. I would gladly play on that server.

[Dr. Gemini]

Wait, you're close to quitting because you feel forced to AE farm when there are almost zero AE farms running for the last couple weeks?

 

It doesn't sound like you have been playing, which would make it pointless to quit. Maybe try basing your opinion on what is going on in game and not on a YouTube video?

[Palad1n]

Welp, I keep seeing multiple botter groups with similar names and groups of players just standing around in central square, and suddenly they all "lvl up" after 5 min or so. I watched this for about 30 min as thse lvl 30 players magically gained levels over and over. I have spoken with a few players in game who are farming AE and yes, this defeats the entire purpose of actually "earning" your levels.

 

It's 1 thing to build up a lvl 50 and then twink new characters to level faster, it's entirely different when you see blatant botting / farming as I visually watched players go from 30 to 40 within 30 min. I hate that we have so many kiddos (that includes adults with this need to cheat the system) play this great game and degrades its worth.

 

I would love to see a server with NO AE and NO transfers allowed. Would pay a monthly fee for it in fact! The economy is a joke and even with regulated max values currently in place, low lvl stuff cost max value which any regular player simply cannot afford unless you grind out a 50 to support them. It was never like this in the days before AE and it trivializes the intent of the game.

 

No idea what our community admins plans for this are and would really love to hear from them with clear, spelled out intent for what they want and don't want in this once awesome game.

[Rylas]

Welp, I keep seeing multiple botter groups with similar names and groups of players just standing around in central square, and suddenly they all "lvl up" after 5 min or so. I watched this for about 30 min as thse lvl 30 players magically gained levels over and over. I have spoken with a few players in game who are farming AE and yes, this defeats the entire purpose of actually "earning" your levels.

 

So, you're saying you were sitting around in Central Square (Atlas Park, I presume???) and a bunch of characters, with similar names, suddenly gained levels while just standing there (as in, the leveling animation triggered) for absolutely no reason at all? I have to say, if I understand you correctly, that would be quite the feat. I'm not aware of any mechanic in the game that allows for people to gain XP from AE farming while outside of the AE map in which the XP is earned. I'm not sure I can quite believe that.

 

Also, I'm not sure how people getting PL'd in AE ruins my leveling experience. Maybe they could have have a negative impact on the market, but I don't see why I have to enjoy my game play less because they leveled differently.

[eldriyth]

Welp, I keep seeing multiple botter groups with similar names and groups of players just standing around in central square, and suddenly they all "lvl up" after 5 min or so. I watched this for about 30 min as thse lvl 30 players magically gained levels over and over. I have spoken with a few players in game who are farming AE and yes, this defeats the entire purpose of actually "earning" your levels.

 

So, you're saying you were sitting around in Central Square (Atlas Park, I presume???) and a bunch of characters, with similar names, suddenly gained levels while just standing there (as in, the leveling animation triggered) for absolutely no reason at all? I have to say, if I understand you correctly, that would be quite the feat. I'm not aware of any mechanic in the game that allows for people to gain XP from AE farming while outside of the AE map in which the XP is earned. I'm not sure I can quite believe that.

 

Also, I'm not sure how people getting PL'd in AE ruins my leveling experience. Maybe they could have have a negative impact on the market, but I don't see why I have to enjoy my game play less because they leveled differently.

 

I think he was trying to say he saw fresh characters one minute and the next 30 minutes saw the same characters at level 30. How? I have no damn idea aside from a crazy power level with this particular AoE brute. Just side kick them and do your thing with the brute. It seems rather intriguing if solo doesn't get fixed in general without these cheese tactics, so I can't blame people wanting to level as fast as possible. The game is far more fun when you're max and can start focusing on your build more-so wishing you had pieces of it.

[Healix]

Newly created characters can get a lot of levels quickly by teaming and running the DFB mission. Perhaps that's one of the things he saw. Whether you like the slow progression to 50 or the PL speedway, you should be able to play the way that's most fun for you.

[_NOPE_]

Leveling pacts? I'm not sure how they work since I've never used them, but could you make a leveling pact with someome and sit in Atlas Park while they do all the work?

[eldriyth]

Leveling pacts? I'm not sure how they work since I've never used them, but could you make a leveling pact with someome and sit in Atlas Park while they do all the work?

 

https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Leveling_Pact

 

 

These exist in Homecoming right now?

[Healix]

I think leveling pacts are disabled right now because they are borked, PK. It's nice because if one of the pack buddies is offline and the other is playing, they both stay the same level.

[Rylas]

Leveling pacts? I'm not sure how they work since I've never used them, but could you make a leveling pact with someome and sit in Atlas Park while they do all the work?

 

I think they've disabled the level pact mechanic for now because of the issues it causes. I know I've seen in mentioned at least a couple of times in GM posts.

[JusticeBowler]

I definitely don't like the "people aren't playing the game the way it is supposed to be played" sorts of posts. But, if this powerleveling is wrecking the economy then something needs to be done to address the economic impact at the very least.

 

We owe so much to Statesman, but on the boards in the early years his "I'm a controlling dungeon master who demands you play his game the way he wants you to play it" was a major problem.  The thing is, sometimes States was right (Purple Patch) sometimes he was wrong (Enhancement "Diversification"). It's the attitude that I'm talking about here.

 

If people want to powerlevel a dozen characters to 50 in the course of a month (or even a week, I guess) I think they are foolishly wasting their time and not enjoying the game. Let them powerlevel... but don't let them ruin the economy.

 

Let everyone play they way they want (even if it is stupid), but protect us from griefers!

[Rylas]

But, if this powerleveling is wrecking the economy then something needs to be done to address the economic impact at the very least.

 

Let's at least wait and see if it does that. And should the market get wonky, let's make sure we know this is the reason why before acting.

[eldriyth]

I definitely don't like the "people aren't playing the game the way it is supposed to be played" sorts of posts. But, if this powerleveling is wrecking the economy then something needs to be done to address the economic impact at the very least.

 

We owe so much to Statesman, but on the boards in the early years his "I'm a controlling dungeon master who demands you play his game the way he wants you to play it" was a major problem.  The thing is, sometimes States was right (Purple Patch) sometimes he was wrong (Enhancement "Diversification"). It's the attitude that I'm talking about here.

 

If people want to powerlevel a dozen characters to 50 in the course of a month (or even a week, I guess) I think they are foolishly wasting their time and not enjoying the game. Let them powerlevel... but don't let them ruin the economy.

 

Let everyone play they way they want (even if it is stupid), but protect us from griefers!

 

The ED system made City of Heroes lame as hell. I do remember playing without it when it first came out. What a wonderful time that was. Hopeing to see a server pop up out there with it disabled. That would be damn fun.

[Palad1n]

Leveling pacts? I'm not sure how they work since I've never used them, but could you make a leveling pact with someome and sit in Atlas Park while they do all the work?

 

I am presuming this is what they must be doing, because I was baffled to see them get so many levels so fast. Yes, I watched the leveling up animation effects and kept checking back on these groups standing around.

 

Honestly I felt it was a bad mechanic if the system allows players to be unattended and no where close to where the leveling is being done, but still get all the benefits from others doing the work.

 

If you want to PL characters, I thought you would be required to be actively participating (or at least be in the same instance or close proximity to where the fights are taking place in) which clearly isn't the case based on what I witnessed.

 

I am all for playing it "your way", but when you destroy a server economy and abuse exploits just because "the system lets me" is just a affirmation to how far down the reasoning and mental state of mind many players have dropped to over the years. Just because it's "fun" for you as you contribute to destroying the economy doesn't mean it's "fun" for those who have to deal with it.

 

 

[Rylas]

Yes, I watched the leveling up animation effects and kept checking back on these groups standing around.

 

Two things. One, I'm still extremely skeptical of what you saw. Two, since they were standing in front of you and magically leveling up (not training up), then how can you be sure where there XP was come from, be it from AE or from some other PL technique?

[Palad1n]

Yes, I watched the leveling up animation effects and kept checking back on these groups standing around.

 

Two things. One, I'm still extremely skeptical of what you saw. Two, since they were standing in front of you and magically leveling up (not training up), then how can you be sure where there XP was come from, be it from AE or from some other PL technique?

 

I don't know where their source of XP was coming from, that's why I am asking the community how this might be possible. I took screenshots of these groups, 1 group had 3 characters all named very close to the same as each other (they simply re-arranged the 4 letters making up the name). I can assure you I saw them leveling up over and over and over while watching them.

 

There were actually 2 groups of 3 in my screenshot, both groups were leveling up about every 5 min. Both groups were in their early 30's when I started watching and ended up at 40 when I last looked before leaving. So I am baffled how this happens, or how PL in general happens. I can give the dev / admin team the screenshot and they can review the logs to verify quite easily that I am speaking the truth on what I saw.

 

Not sure how else you get XP this fast if your not farming AE or using some exploit mechanic that allows you to be in a totally different region / area from those doing the PL and still receive the benefit while not being anywhere near where the XP is being earned.

[JusticeBowler]

The ED system made City of Heroes lame as hell. I do remember playing without it when it first came out. What a wonderful time that was. Hopeing to see a server pop up out there with it disabled. That would be damn fun.

 

I certainly wish it could be undone, at least partially, but you couldn't do that without breaking everything. The whole game balance and economy is now built on that foundation. Besides, the reasoning (making the way for Inventions) isn't without merit.

 

However, it did cripple the ability to make truly diverse builds, even worse than that, it actually locked in things like Stamina and Hasten as universal necessities just to tweak a few specific powers in each set.

 

Why should someone have to take hasten and invest hard in that just so they can have one power (like Tar Patch) perma? That was the irony. It made every build the same. Even with IOs all they do is give you more bang for your six slot buck. They aren't really diversifying (except for exotics like procs and set bonuses).

 

But ultimately the reason wasn't about Inventions, it was about how Statesman wanted people to play. That is, certain powers not being perma was a decision that was supposed to force you to play the way he envisioned you playing. He wanted Tar Patch to be "every other group" and not perma during an archvillain type fight. And I get why he believed this. But I want other people to be free to disagree and play differently.

 

The truth is, with modern XP scaling taking hours instead of days to level up even going slowly, the powergaming side of what ED broke is probably better left broken. I'm playing on the servers now and if anything I level up a bit fast in groups and feel like I'm missing out on content and storyline in the lower levels. The only reason to break ED would be to "be creative" and "do weird stuff"... which would be a hoot, but not necessary for the price that it would cost to undo what was done.

[Gigajoule]

1 group had 3 characters all named very close to the same as each other (they simply re-arranged the 4 letters making up the name). I can assure you I saw them leveling up over and over and over while watching them.

If I had to guess, it was one guy multi-boxing eight characters, with one low-level character in the group who was the group's leader and the others all exemplared down to that character's level. Then all he would have to do is run around with only one of the characters killing Skulls and Hellions, and the higher level toons would be raking in experience and influence appropriate to their own true level. If I am not mistaken, there is no penalty to gaining exp and inf if you are far away from the rest of the group, but you do have to be in the same zone.

[Waypoint]

People enjoy the game differently than others. There was already an AE experience nerf. Just let people play how they want.

[mattwo]

Welp, I keep seeing multiple botter groups with similar names and groups of players just standing around in central square

 

Pretty sure multiboxing was disallowed until the servers were more stable. Be sure to report suspected multiboxing.

[wjrasmussen]

If that is your kind of thing, great.  power leveling isn't an accomplishment to me.

[Palad1n]

1 group had 3 characters all named very close to the same as each other (they simply re-arranged the 4 letters making up the name). I can assure you I saw them leveling up over and over and over while watching them.

If I had to guess, it was one guy multi-boxing eight characters, with one low-level character in the group who was the group's leader and the others all exemplared down to that character's level. Then all he would have to do is run around with only one of the characters killing Skulls and Hellions, and the higher level toons would be raking in experience and influence appropriate to their own true level. If I am not mistaken, there is no penalty to gaining exp and inf if you are far away from the rest of the group, but you do have to be in the same zone.

 

I couldn't remember how the whole sidekick or exemplared worked, but yes, this would make more sense as to what I saw!

[Jon]

PLing ruins the economy? That's a new one. How much of an economy would there even be without farmers generating the inf and the inventory to keep it afloat?