Encouraging play through low level content.

[Greenwraith]

Hi Guys, this is my first post.  A lot players by pass low level content. A way to encourage players to enjoy this content is for them to get something other than just XP etc. The badge and accolade system is under utilised. First step would be to give all story arcs a badge at the end. Second, group these badges under new accolades. Thirdly, give these accolades a permanent increase in an attribute, defence, damage resistance or power. Just two to five percent per accolade would give players an incentive to play the the low level content. Lets face it, everyone wants that extra edge.

[Redlynne]

Actually, the early arcs all provide Merits at the end of them, which you can use to buy IO recipes with.  And there are also badges offered for completing ALL of the story arcs in a zone.

[NNDeepdish]

Tbh those same players would still pass it, and just blaze through them at Ouro for the accolades once they're higher level. You can't blame them for it, they've been there and done that and slogging through them with weak enhancements isn't always that fun for people.

 

Also chasing down existing accolades from level 1 is already enough to get you to halfway to 50 without ever running a single story arc.

 

For example I'm leveling a VEAT redside right now chasing the Force of Nature accolade. I'm almost level 20 from running mayhem missions and I've outleveled all kinds of low level stuff... and I WANT to do that content. 

[CU_Krow]

2 hours ago, Greenwraith said:

Hi Guys, this is my first post.  A lot players by pass low level content. A way to encourage players to enjoy this content is for them to get something other than just XP etc. The badge and accolade system is under utilised. First step would be to give all story arcs a badge at the end. Second, group these badges under new accolades. Thirdly, give these accolades a permanent increase in an attribute, defence, damage resistance or power. Just two to five percent per accolade would give players an incentive to play the the low level content. Lets face it, everyone wants that extra edge.

Welcome to the forums, Green. Whether as a first time visitor and/or poster. 🙂

 

Being a badge hunter myself, I definitely enjoyed the storyline/thrill of all the lower lvl content. I admit that on my main, I went through 95% of both blue/redside content through ouroboros, so I could read and enjoy it at my leisure. Unfortunately, it seems like there are less mission teams for lower lvl content mostly due to 1) DFB runs getting most ppl 1-20, and 2) People using the easy-access of AE to power lvl their toons.

 

I feel like badges are not a widespread attraction, they fit a certain segment of CoH players, but I 100% agree that assigning accolades+given bonus would definitely be a more appealing factor. Only downside is that still, more people might go the solo Ouroboros route. Regardless the outcome, I wish you luck in finding more lower lvl mission teams! Speaking for myself, I will join a low lvl mission just for the challenge/throwback of it.

[DrRocket]

It is an interesting thought

 

The issue is how to entice players to actually play the content rather than using the much more efficient leveling means available.

 

Obviously badges and accolades will not cut it at all, the missions do give merits when the thread is completed, if the mission support an accolade such as rescue the mystic for spelunker badge, the player would much easily just go to Oro and not deal with doing the threads that would eventually would lead to the mission.

 

So how to persuade in a positive manner?

 

I would think that the mission completion bonus needs to be dramatically increased, say by a factor of 100 at low levels and decreasing to say 50 at higher levels, same with the influence gain. At this rates, they at low levels may have a chance to compete against a DFB!  The difficulty is that a DFB takes all 15 min and your character can get on the average 3 levels, wow! A mission in a thread will take those 15 minutes if you are lucky, and you are not going to get 3 levels from it from their normal pay-out. At 100 times the exp from completion bonus, it may just make up for the 3 levels, it may turn out the factor increase may have to be larger; but I have not done the math.

 

V/R

 

 

[Saiyajinzoningen]

The best way to encourage play through low level content, is to make it not low level. 

Hear me out

People wanna feel powerful

at lower levels you just don't.

If the lower content scaled to your level you could feel powerful whilst also enjoying the deep lore that this game provides.

Edited January 22, 2020 by Saiyajinzoningen

[Leogunner]

Personally, I think the best way to encourage players to play the content is to give them more content...and customization.

 

Like, if there was a system in the game where playing the content at the appropriate level grants "Rouge's Gallery" or "Arch Nemesis" points (doing them via flashback gives you a discounted amount of points and only 1 time) that can be used to create a custom enemy that sometimes attacks you and your team.  These points are not only used to upgrade your rivaled foe's abilities but also grant him custom benefits for fighting them like granting you and your team a small amount of these points, stronger so they're more formidable, groups of cronies that grant bonus inf, exp and/or recipe drops, or even having more than 1 (2, 3 or more) in your list of Arch Nemesis/Rouge's Gallery that will randomly pop up (sometimes even more than 1 of them).

 

Other things to spend these points on are content arc unlocks built for these this system with special rewards and badges (grantable only to those that unlocked them).

 

So the system incentives playing the content when it's available, only grants points to the mission holder (so you have to be running the arc concurrently with the leader), running missions with teammates who have nemesis that will randomly pop in to possibly get some other players more points and have special rewards toward the high level once you've used the points to upgrade your rivaled foes and unlocked their special content.

 

If a player went the quick route and powerleveled past certain levels, they'd have to farm the points which should be balanced to be much slower than just running 2-3 arcs per level range at min (some would go the extra mile and shut off exp to get in 5-7arcs a level range and get all those points).  They'd also have dinky rivals that people would 1 shot...they'd almost be an embarrassment to have pop up at all lol.

[biostem]

The OP is basically touching on the dichotomy of building/developing/growing a new character vs playing a fully fleshed-out and realized one.  Sure, there may be some comics out there that deal with Superman having to learn how to fly, use laser vision, freezing breath, or how to properly restrain his super strength, but those tend to be in the minority.  People, (generally speaking), want to play a character with a full series of powers to tap into, who doesn't gasp for breath after taking out a couple of baddies, and who isn't missing all the time.

 

Having gotten dozens of characters to 50 back when the game was live, (and very thankful for changes since then, like inherent fitness & early access to travel powers), I still find that it can be a slog in the "pre-SO/IO" levels, or when you don't have access to certain concept or powerset-defining powers.

 

I'm not against the idea of making the lower levels more rewarding, per se... just that doing so would still likely be taken as "doing it for those rewards instead of genuinely wanting to play said lower levels".

Edited January 23, 2020 by biostem

[Leogunner]

1 hour ago, biostem said:

The OP is basically touching on the dichotomy of building/developing/growing a new character vs playing a fully fleshed-out and realized one.  Sure, there may be some comics out there that deal with Superman having to learn how to fly, use laser vision, freezing breath, or how to properly restrain his super strength, but those tend to be in the minority.  People, (generally speaking), want to play a character with a full series of powers to tap into, who doesn't gasp for breath after taking out a couple of baddies, and who isn't missing all the time.

 

Having gotten dozens of characters to 50 back when the game was live, (and very thankful for changes since then, like inherent fitness & early access to travel powers), I still find that it can be a slog in the "pre-SO/IO" levels, or when you don't have access to certain concept or powerset-defining powers.

 

I'm not against the idea of making the lower levels more rewarding, per se... just that doing so would still likely be taken as "doing it for those rewards instead of genuinely wanting to play said lower levels".

Counter-argument:

 

CoX isn't a good comic book simulator...it never was.  It's a good comic character creator tho.  What is represented as comic book stories and how represented it is, frankly, shouldn't be considered.  CoX is a game first and games tend to revolve around progress and mastery.

 

An argument that diverges from the above is, the game already treats your character as a fleshed-out realized one, narratively (which is what you're arguing).  Even as a villain, people treating your character like a chump is mainly a tough face that you usually break past at some points in the story to demonstrate your prowess.  And before pointing out a few instances where you're "put in your place", so to speak, only matters if you've got some god complex Mary Sue.

 

If there's one thing Guild Wars 2 kinda got right it's that the whole game is pretty much End-game.  Technically, the "building and developing" of your character IS your character because no being is perfect and you're in an arms race against foes out to take you down.  There is no "done" if your character has any semblance of intelligence to not fall victim to that one lucky bastard who catches you on a bad day.

 

I've got no argument for the boredom paragraph though.  If you just don't want to play that portion of the game, I got nothing.  But to me, that "pre-SO/IO slog" has continuously gotten easier and easier the more I've done it to the point I actually enjoy that portion of the game more than re-running the end-game incarnate stuff.

Edited January 23, 2020 by Leogunner

[UltraAlt]

F2P vs Subscription based games

We have to look at the mentality of a F2P player versus a subscriber.

Obviously, we don't have subscribers in CoH any more, but I would argue that there was much less power leveling when CoH was subscription only. People were paying to enjoy the game, so the were working to explore the game and enjoy all the aspects of the game that they could. Paying for a subscription means and breeds loyalty. People would stand around and chat. The Pocket D was full of characters dancing and hanging out. Each zone was a new experience that allowed you play differently and enjoy a different sub-genre of comics/super-heroics.

F2P players tend to be pass through players. They are playing multiple games and aren't focused on just one. They don't have time to enjoy the scenery, they just want to get to "the cool stuff" or "the end-game". That is to say they don't want to play "the game"; they just want to get to the content slapped onto the end of the game that is there to give the highest level players something to do. F2P players are also less likely to Alt. They are there to play their (one) character and not their to create or to explore the environment at a level that it would be "fun to play"  or a challenge at their current level.

 

The AE of Power Leveling

First big blow against low level content was, of course, the exploitation of the AE and the DEVs not standing up and using the 40-ton Ban hammer on the players that exploited it (and/or devising means of tracking and disabling excessive xp again). Almost as soon as AE was released, characters were standing at the door in AE missions and getting a free ride 50 without doing anything (which I define as a "leach")

This was bad enough with subscriptions, but as soon as F2P hit the door, a large majority of players would go to the AE and stay there for 2-3 hours until they were level 50 and then would have to ask how to get out of Atlas Park. To elaborate on that, the AE-powerleveled new players has no grasp on their powers, the mechanics of the game, or the feeling of joy of out-leveling a foe type that you had to struggle with and find yourself able to beat them down easily. (The joy of each "ding" is lost as it isn't gained through struggle).

It may very well have been the best option for the DEVs to have made the AE level 50 only. Maybe allow low levels to create, test missions (as if they were level 50's for no XP gain), and post missions, but only allow level 50's the ability to play AE missions and, even then, cap the xp and infl gain per AE mission and/or mission set/adventure.

None of this stops power-leveling through level-ranged sidekicking.

 

The L337ness of Eng-game aka "I just want to be Uber(wo)man"

Some players simply don't want to play the game (aka "the leveling content") because they just want to feel like they are the best of the best.

The thought is like this :: Obviously, I'm a better player (because I power-leveled to level 50 with my one character) than that person playing a level X (that hasn't hit 50,  is probably an alt, took Y times as many hours to get to level X as I did getting to level 50) and I'm playing the end-game and they aren't.

Most players (seem to) just want to feel like they are super-powerful and feel that nothing is a threat to them and/or just want to have all flashy stuff without working for it.

 

God-complex (or helping out a friend)?

Of course, the low level character can't bypass all of the low level content (or even know how to bypass content by alternate means - street sweeping, tasksforces, etc.) without someone to power-level them or show them how to quickly gain levels without really struggling for it.

I'm sure that this just started with some players wanting to game with a friend (which is what sidekicking is for), but they wanted their friend to be at the same level and the mechanics of sidekicking could be exploited to power level characters.

Next level of his was "I'm a bored 50, so what now". So the 50 decides that they will gain standing in-game by powerleveling other players characters to 50. "I'm cool. I'm the guy that is going to take you level 50 the quick way" (massively augmented by AE farms). This makes the level 50 feel good, but it robs the new player of the joy of the content and level progression.

 

The Game is getting old

Some players that have played the game a lot get jaded - even those that can't stop making Alts. They either just don't want to do content that they already did or (even if they don't want to farm or use alternate leveling paths) don't want to get put into a mission arc that is going to drag them halfway across the map and back or from one zone to another (which is all good for showing off the glory of THE CITY, but it takes away from the quick combat fix that most F2P gamers need to keep their attention).

The fewer players there are playing at lower levels (and running teams), they shinier and more alluring the need to powerlevel/leach to level 50.

 

The real issue : Power-leveling and Leaching

There will be ever fewer people to play low level content when 1) new players are looking to bypass leveling content to get to the end-game and 2) level 50's (could be a player who has only played a couple of hours) is willing to help get another player to 50 as quickly as possible (which the leveling content won't do).

 

Too late to fix the insta-50's

It's too late to stop the mechanics that caused this. The lower zones aren't populated. A new player would have hardly anyone to game with if it wasn't for the sidekicking mechanism, but if they sidekick, then they bypass the low level content. It's a two-edge sword. Even if they just want to find a team, they are pulled away from experiencing the lower level content.

 

So how do we fix it?

The only way to fix this in the current game format would be to level cap characters to the zone's level cap so that all contacts are available to any character in the zone.

Potentially the door missions could be regulated based on the the max level. Influence gain would probably need to be increased for the level 50's to make it worth their time.

There are many great missions and taskforces in the leveling content and all that hard work is wasted because players are lured into bypassing it by powerleveling/leeching and then it is simply too late to have access to it and/or simply hate it because they don't have access to all their powers.

The best fix appears to be giving level 50's an incentive to seek out lower level players and be mentored by them in order to run the lower level players missions - perhaps merits? What is that thing that a high-level character wants once they have everything? (I don't know. I'm not an end-gamer. I'm an alt jumper who loves making new characters, trying out different power sets, learning new tactics, etc.)

 

 

[Patti]

Encourage low level/all level play by bringing up low level awards to match high level, unlock all zones and content to all levelds (yes even incarnate), and create new  gameplay which favours low levels.   Who will that hurt?  The egos of people who "earned" the entirely pretend and make-believe powers, maybe.  But that was trained behaviour of sunk cost fallacy to maintain subscriptions for money.   Time to get over it and just let everyone play  anything.  Some people will get bored and leave sooner rather than later but those are also the people who say the game is already too easy with nothing to do.  

[RocketJefferson]

I’d say the way to do it, would be as the OP said, have accolade powers that are low level.

 

But the trick is then to not make them available through ouro. So people either have to do them as they level, or SK to someone that level who has the mission. Much like you used to have to with Cavern of Transcendence.

[ShardWarrior]

On 1/23/2020 at 10:16 AM, UltraAlt said:

First big blow against low level content was, of course, the exploitation of the AE and the DEVs not standing up and using the 40-ton Ban hammer on the players that exploited it (and/or devising means of tracking and disabling excessive xp again). Almost as soon as AE was released, characters were standing at the door in AE missions and getting a free ride 50 without doing anything (which I define as a "leach")

People standing at doors getting PLed was being done long before AE was ever introduced.  Certain maps - like the Council portal map - were (and still are) used for farming and PLing. 

 

On 1/23/2020 at 10:16 AM, UltraAlt said:

The real issue : Power-leveling and Leaching

This depends on your definition.  Is someone who is level 35 to 40 joining a level 50 team for a +4x8 ITF run leaching?

[Greycat]

On 1/21/2020 at 8:52 AM, Greenwraith said:

Hi Guys, this is my first post.  A lot players by pass low level content. A way to encourage players to enjoy this content is for them to get something other than just XP etc. The badge and accolade system is under utilised. First step would be to give all story arcs a badge at the end. Second, group these badges under new accolades. Thirdly, give these accolades a permanent increase in an attribute, defence, damage resistance or power. Just two to five percent per accolade would give players an incentive to play the the low level content. Lets face it, everyone wants that extra edge.

Welcome.

 

Much of this is already done, as has been mentioned. YOu get merits for the various Atlas and Mercy arcs, as well as badges, merits (not many, as they're short arcs, but that's consistent) and even badges for getting everything in a zone done. And the stat boost - at least through 20, when you're pretty set with your own powers - is done through DFB. (Itself probably part of the issue you're describing - it gives those boosts, plus early level SOs.)

 

What would be needed is more variety. Redside doesn't have another starter zone. Blueside lost one. Blueside, at least, you get some variety (hollows/kr, sky/steel/faultline, talos/ip, focusing on different groups and such.) When you've made a bunch of alts... well. (I do still tend to play through some of it, granted.)

 

Part of the other reason people skip, though, isn't just what some people mention with "wanting to feel powerful," there's also" wanting to feel effective." Masterminds leap to mind for me here, especially in the 18-mid-20s range. You have three -2 minions, two -1s, no top tier and no second buff. They die *fast* (especially with all the AOE introduced - looking at you, Demolitionists.) It was just an annoying range, so I get people wanting to skip that as much as they can.

 

And no, not everyone chases accolades and buffs. 🙂

[Doc_Scorpion]

10 hours ago, ShardWarrior said:

People standing at doors getting PLed was being done long before AE was ever introduced.  Certain maps - like the Council portal map - were (and still are) used for farming and PLing. 

Nobody ever claimed otherwise.  What changed with AE, especially with the Rikti Communications Officer exploit, was the speed and efficiency at which characters could be PLed.  The number of characters/players that were PLed took a marked and noticeable upswing with the introduction of AE, and again when CoX went F2P.

[Zeraphia]

Honestly, I would feel more inclined if as @Saiyajinzoningen said, having this content actually scaling to my level. Honestly, I'd be much more "open arms" to Synapse if I was able to actually do this TF as a level 50 with my AoEs and ageless. I think possibly keep the TFs as a bare minimum level, but scale up to the user's level with enemies scaled as well. That would actually be a great way to introduce a lot of variety into the palette of what my 50's generally end up doing. I'd love so many more task forces if this were the case, and it would be very enjoyable! It would be very nice to see Synapses, Citadels, Positrons, etc. into more of my task force rotations other than the (now getting a little stale) MLTF/LRSF/LGTF/ITF/Khan/Tinpex combination that I typically run because I enjoy using my powers to the fullest and being able to actually have my character feel powerful. I think this would also go a long way toward helping people in the lower levels to team with people at higher levels and help each other out!

 

Really love this idea! +1!

[Saiyajinzoningen]

igneous, prisoners, contaminated, red caps, dockworkers, hellions, infected, skulls, and luddites. 

 

Having just finished all of oro both red and blue side (it was fun......seriously......no joke......honest) those are the only mobs off the top of my head that don't appear in some form in an arc at level 50. 

 

So to those naysayers that say it would take a massive overhaul of many enemy groups: that simply isn't true. A few enemy groups perhaps.

[ShardWarrior]

5 hours ago, Zeraphia said:

Honestly, I would feel more inclined if as @Saiyajinzoningen said, having this content actually scaling to my level. Honestly, I'd be much more "open arms" to Synapse if I was able to actually do this TF as a level 50 with my AoEs and ageless. I think possibly keep the TFs as a bare minimum level, but scale up to the user's level with enemies scaled as well. That would actually be a great way to introduce a lot of variety into the palette of what my 50's generally end up doing. I'd love so many more task forces if this were the case, and it would be very enjoyable! It would be very nice to see Synapses, Citadels, Positrons, etc. into more of my task force rotations other than the (now getting a little stale) MLTF/LRSF/LGTF/ITF/Khan/Tinpex combination that I typically run because I enjoy using my powers to the fullest and being able to actually have my character feel powerful. I think this would also go a long way toward helping people in the lower levels to team with people at higher levels and help each other out!

 

Really love this idea! +1!

My understanding from prior threads about this is that converting all the lower level NPC to scale from 1 to 50 would be a monumental undertaking.  However, I personally think it would be worth the effort in the long run for the reasons @Zeraphia mentions above. 

[tidge]

I like the idea of low-level accolades (that is, powers that only stay with a toon while at low levels), but that is what the Death from Below is offering... and spamming DfB is a  major contributor to skipping so much of the low-level content. An alternative is temp powers, but that is what the Safeguard/Mayhem missions offer.

 

I try to experience as much of the 'low level' (sub 30) content as possible, but unless XP is disabled almost any amount of teaming will mean that you miss some of it. I haven't had a character that didn't outlevel the Hollows arc since... I don't know when. Hero Zones like Faultline and Striga have decent arcs that have always felt level appropriate (less so Croatoa, which I find to be a slog)... but again, if a player is teaming through TFs it will be very easy to outlevel those zones. There are rewards for playing in those (newer) zones: temp powers, unlocked contacts (including Ouroboros), but as a practical matter nobody really needs to do those zone arcs to get most of the goodies.

 

Pure Villainy makes it easier to do more low-level content. There are fewer folks to team with, and there are a variety of low-level contacts with very good merit rewards in Mercy Island. It's possible to do enough content in Mercy that you actually outlevel content in Port Oakes. Blue side, I find that the original contact chains will still insist that you take "defeat X" missions which are often not appropriate for your level (e.g. Hellions in Perez Park at lvl 6, CoT in Talos at level 21)... Why can't I just get the fun missions from those guys? (I can, using Ouroboros).

[MTeague]

You're not wrong but I agree with @NNDeepdish.  The people who already skip low level content to power level via DFB or AE would continue to do so.  Then they'd come back via Ouroborous as a decked-out lvl 50 exemplared down and one shot everything.

 

I see only two ways to convince people to do lower level story arcs at content level. 

• if friends start a group and invite them along, OR, 
• if you put in some kind of desired reward, like a badge, that CANNOT BE OBTAINED LATER, if you're already outleveled it. 

Make no mistake, that second one is a Horribly Bad Idea.  The entire point of Ouroborus is you shoudl be able to do any content in any order, and I still rank that as the ABSOLUTE BEST change that was ever made to the base game.  I rank Ouro above the Invention system and above the Incarnate system.  And for that matter, adding rewards that require you do to it at content level, wouldn't even be convincing people to do it.  At best you would be COERCING the badge-hunters, forcing them into a corral they DON'T want to be in. And what about characters who are already 50?   Too bad for you?

 

Really the only viable option is the first one.   If you see people blowing past content and you think they're missing out on something fun?  Start a team.  Invite them.  Make it a fun experiance.  I do not see any solution requiring developer action as a viable solution to this. 

Edited June 11, 2020 by MTeague

[Shadowsleuth]

 

I wish that all the starter contacts (Azuria, Rick Davies, etc...) were added to flashback.

 

Even though they don't have storyarcs; all missions from every contact should eventually be added to flashback.

 

Perhaps in the future that is something the new devs could look into (when time allows).
 

On 1/21/2020 at 9:57 AM, Redlynne said:

Actually, the early arcs all provide Merits at the end of them, which you can use to buy IO recipes with. 

I remember that some contacts gave out DOs or SOs for completing their storyarc, was there ever a list of which contacts did?

[Parabola]

I love the feel of the low level game. I love the zones and the enemies. I particularly love the more down to earth stories. I also love the teaming dynamic at lower levels, with the team really being greater than the sum of its parts.

 

However, not all characters are enjoyable to play at low levels and that creates a real problem. Some AT's and powersets within them have really back loaded ability curves. Controllers and Dominators are good examples. They are both transformed at higher levels by things like epic pool powers and decent slotting.

 

It pains me a little to find myself blasting through the part of the game I prefer to get to the point where I have a character working in the way I would like. Several times I've done just this and shelved the character almost immediately due to lack of investment and not finding the high level game as satisfying in various ways.

 

It's difficult to say what could be done to address this though. I've often thought that TO's and DO's should be removed from the game; you are already limited by slots without having only rubbish to put in them (I am aware of the changes currently in progress in this area). Even with all that though at low levels you are going to be limited by your available powers. Maybe there could be a case for a review of power order in the more back loaded sets to bring the powers that define the feel of the character a little earlier?

[Greycat]

2 hours ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

igneous, prisoners, contaminated, red caps, dockworkers, hellions, infected, skulls, and luddites. 

 

Having just finished all of oro both red and blue side (it was fun......seriously......no joke......honest) those are the only mobs off the top of my head that don't appear in some form in an arc at level 50. 

 

So to those naysayers that say it would take a massive overhaul of many enemy groups: that simply isn't true. A few enemy groups perhaps.

Red Caps actually do have high level versions. They need to due to the holiday stuff with Snaptooth. You will occasionally see a level 50 Red Cap group in Croatoa - at least I did on live. Not sure if that spawning got fixed.

Some groups are "segmented" - either through the entire 1-50 run (COT, Council) or with gaps (Tsoo disappear by 30, then show up in Incarnate variants, as do Banished Pantheon.)

 

And there are quite a few more without high end, level 50 critters. The *rest* of the Croatoa critters (Cabal, ghosts, Fir Bolg and Tuatha don't - the holiday GMs are levelless, and the ghosts they summon are a different group.) Red Hands don't show up. Trolls, Destroyers (goldside Troll analogs, think that's the name,) ghouls/experiments, spetznatz (though they barely appear,) I don't *believe* the neoshivans do (and the shivans are ... one mission? so they can get added to the "with a gap" group,) - and a lot of groups are sort of "barely" there at 50, used for one mission or one arc (you don't *really* see high end Shivans, to my recollection - I half recall the mission from Ouro exemping you, as it is, but might be wrong.)

 

It would still be a lot of work, yes.

[UltraAlt]

Honestly, I have no pains paying the lower levels. The P2W stuff takes the grind out of it. I don't even always take the x2 XP boost - in most cases I don't.

 

I tend to like playing the lower levels more than say level 43+.

This is when things really seem to get redundant and a grind to me. Not because I don't like running missions with my character or that they are necessarily too long, but that it tends to be the same kind of fight over-and-over.

 

When I get on a level 50+ team (I've only been on one a couple of times since I have been back, but it immediately reminded me), the higher levels are just bulldozing everything so it might as well be an AE farm at that point. Also it turns into a huge light show. I don't enjoy the combat as much for both of these reasons.

 

I'm not against some massive battles against Giant Monsters. That's always fun.

 

But I'm mostly a PUGer.

I enjoy running with different people with different power sets and game styles and watching a group come together as a team.

That never gets old to me.

 

I do really like the early story arcs. Some are wonky. But the original origin story arcs are a lot of fun.

 

One thing that the lower level stuff does is give you a chance to explore THE CITY, get a bit scared of a new group you have to fight, and (after leveling up) defeat those foes that seemed so hard to battle.

 

Running/flying/jumping around THE CITY never gets old to me. I like the way the different zones look, so I enjoy the view while traveling. It also feels like a bit of a race to get to the mission first!]

 

Ah, well. I guess I'm old school.

 

[Uun]

I don't remember when this got changed back on live, but the leveling pace used to be a lot slower. People used to play through all of their contacts at a given level because you had to in order to level up. It was possible to complete all the contact missions at lvl 35-39 and not reach lvl 40. This was before the introduction of radio missions and many of the new zones. While new content alleviated this, I recall that the devs increased the pace at which you earned xp as well. In the earlier years of the game it would take much longer to reach 50 and you needed to play through much more content in order to get there. Now it can be done in matter of weeks even if you're not PLing. I would be in favor of dialing it back a bit.

 

It also feels like all the PUGs do nothing but radio missions. One issue is that the contacts offer missions in 5-level bands and with the faster leveling pace it's very easy to out-level a story arc prior to completing it. I recently formed a team to do Stephanie Peebles arc, and by the time we finished it I had out-leveled Long Jack's arc. I know that the arcs can all be done through Ouro, but if you want to do it with a team, that requires everyone to commit to it. Would it be possible for teams doing Ouro arcs not to be in TF mode and to allow recruiting new members? This would allow people to play lower level arcs with a team over several days without requiring a long-term commitment.