I love this game but nobody teams anymore..

[qas_illustration]

I only recently discovered CoH was playable after having some of my best gaming experiences with it over 10 years ago. I booted it up today and while I love the game, nobody seems to team anymore. Back in the day I never used to do anything solo, I'd boot it up, find member, sort by level, DM the grayed out names (meaning they are in a team) and ask if they have space for me. Id spend the whole session in teams jumping from mission to mission, no matter what level I was.

 

I saw 2, maybe 3 grayed out names in the search today, everyone else was solo. The only time I teamed up was for DfB and even then everyone bolted the second it was over. 

 

Have I been unlucky today or does everyone play this game solo now? The reason I love this game was because it seemed to be designed from the ground up for teams, instanced missions, barely any kill x enemies ect.

 

What have you guys found? Im hoping I just got unlucky today but I'd love to hear what you guys think.

[EmmySky]

You may be on a lower populated server or you may be suffering time zone issues.

 

Highest population shard is Excelsior (very high population)

Unofficial RP shard is Everlasting (high population)

Unofficial PvP shard is Indomitable (low population)

First shard is Torchbearer (highish population)

Physically located in Germany shard is Reunion (others are in Canada) (low population)

 

If you are in the US most people are at work or otherwise out and about right now and populations and teaming will pick up later.  Whatever shard you are on try it for a week or so to see the busy times if they work for you and try other shards too.  You can use 5 transfer tokens and they are replinished every 3 days (all free) so you can move your toons to wherever is convenient.

 

Happy hunting!

Edited June 18, 2020 by EmmySky

[Patti]

Which one are you on?   Teams non-stop blueside on everlasting.

[MTeague]

My experience has been that more people use the LFG chat channel to find teams than use the in-game LFG tool.

It may be worth monitoring LFG chat and sending people a tell if they're announcing spots open for a group.

 

(I'm on Excelsior, if it matters)

[qas_illustration]

Okay you guys have made me feel much better. I'm on excelsior at the moment so I'll stay positive and keep going for a while. I might roll out an empath on everlasting too and see what's up over there :). 

 

I have such fond memories of running frosty in the hollows with a packed team. Glad to see those days aren't over! 

[Apparition]

Welcome back to Paragon City and the Rogue Isles!

 

As others have said, make sure that you are on either the Excelsior or Torchbearer shards, or Everlasting if you like role-playing.  Also, very, very few people use the player search these days.  Mostly all teaming is done on either the LFG channel or global channels.  For Excelsior, that would be Excelsior and Excelsior Badges.

[Apparition]

1 minute ago, qas_illustration said:

Okay you guys have made me feel much better. I'm on excelsior at the moment so I'll stay positive and keep going for a while. I might roll out an empath on everlasting too and see what's up over there :). 

 

I have such fond memories of running frosty in the hollows with a packed team. Glad to see those days aren't over! 

 

Make sure you do these:

 

/chan_join Excelsior

 

/chan_join Excelsior Badges

 

Those in addition to the LFG channel will help you out.

[Arcanum]

Welcome back to Paragon City! 

 

Re-iterating some previous comments; whenever I'm playing on my personal account, finding teams is usually pretty easy! There's usually always some Task Force or Radio Team running somewhere. Be sure to join the channels previously mentioned as well as flag yourself in the "Search" menu as "Looking for any". 

 

Additionally, time of day can often make a difference. I know on Excelsior we have a strong "East Coast" population, so there's a more active trend during 4/5PM+ EST on that shard.

 

You can also check the Super Group Recruitment posts on the forums or our Discord. Finding an active Super Group will make teaming a lot easier, and there are quite a few of them on Excel! ^_^

 

 

[Patti]

Well frostfire runs aren't maybe going to happen actually.   People like to skip the hollows to preserve their sanity the days.

[Patti]

*these days

[DrInfernus]

I definitely don’t team as much as I used to but that’s just me. Back on live I had a huge global friends list and great SG who were all very close. On HC I have none of those things tbh. In fact I’m a literal Billy-no-mates when it comes to my global friends list now. 
 

That said, it’s probably more down to how much I’ve changed in the last 12 years than how CoH has. I was a young man back then, confident, brash, single, loud, loved attention. Now I’m a mild-mannered middle-aged divorced English bloke with kids, and I’m just not as outgoing as I used to be. 
 

Think it’s quite easy to blame the game and/or community for changing, but it’s been such a long time since CoH started and finished that it’s an unavoidable fact that we have probably changed as people far more than it has. 

Edited June 18, 2020 by DrInfernus

[SuperPlyx]

18 minutes ago, Patti said:

Well frostfire runs aren't maybe going to happen actually.   People like to skip the hollows to preserve their sanity the days.

You know I still see FrostFire teams advertising in LFG form time to time. Something about badges,,

[EmmySky]

With CoT being WTF this week lots are running Frosty.  And I often take my baby heroes through Hollows since you can get travel at 4 its not nearly as difficult (although I usually forget to get travel until 12 lol).

[Peacemoon]

Try the LFG channel, I get almost all my teams from there 🙂

[Gulbasaur]

1 hour ago, Patti said:

Which one are you on?   Teams non-stop blueside on everlasting.

I've noticed a dip in Everlasting in the last few months actually. Not in numbers, just people using the LFG channel. Could be wrong, though.

[Shred Monkey]

My biggest problem finding teams isn't that I can't find them.  It is that I can't reply to the team up ad fast enough to get a spot before the team fills up. 

[Bopper]

1 hour ago, qas_illustration said:

I only recently discovered CoH was playable after having some of my best gaming experiences with it over 10 years ago. I booted it up today and while I love the game, nobody seems to team anymore. Back in the day I never used to do anything solo, I'd boot it up, find member, sort by level, DM the grayed out names (meaning they are in a team) and ask if they have space for me. Id spend the whole session in teams jumping from mission to mission, no matter what level I was.

 

I saw 2, maybe 3 grayed out names in the search today, everyone else was solo. The only time I teamed up was for DfB and even then everyone bolted the second it was over. 

 

Have I been unlucky today or does everyone play this game solo now? The reason I love this game was because it seemed to be designed from the ground up for teams, instanced missions, barely any kill x enemies ect.

 

What have you guys found? Im hoping I just got unlucky today but I'd love to hear what you guys think.

What server are you on and when do you play?

 

I recommend finding a good super group to join. Our SG organizes leveling up teams. So everyone starts a character at level 1, then plays together throughout the week, leveling up with each other. I'm sure others may do the same.

[Communistpenguin]

I feel like there’s less “normal” teaming than on live? Like it used to be everyone had missions and teams would roll through each persons in turn. Now it feels more like teaming is for stuff like trials, Tfs, farming and radios. That could be my bias though.

[Apparition]

7 minutes ago, Communistpenguin said:

I feel like there’s less “normal” teaming than on live? Like it used to be everyone had missions and teams would roll through each persons in turn. Now it feels more like teaming is for stuff like trials, Tfs, farming and radios. That could be my bias though.

Possibly.  I only ever team for TFs, SFs, trials, Incarnate trials, and raids, unless someone needs help with a mission.  But then that is what I did prior to sunset as well.

[Arcanum]

57 minutes ago, SuperPlyx said:

You know I still see FrostFire teams advertising in LFG form time to time. Something about badges,,

 

Wait - people play FrostFire for reasons OTHER then sliding around on the ice?

 

I mean...erm...yeah...badges. Same.

[Marshal_General]

17 minutes ago, GM Arcanum said:

 

Wait - people play FrostFire for reasons OTHER then sliding around on the ice?

 

I mean...erm...yeah...badges. Same.

I used to see how much air I could get. We need an area with no ceilings.

[SwitchFade]

1 hour ago, Patti said:

Well frostfire runs aren't maybe going to happen actually.   People like to skip the hollows to preserve their sanity the days.

I host frosty weekly on excelsior.

[SwitchFade]

1 hour ago, SuperPlyx said:

You know I still see FrostFire teams advertising in LFG form time to time. Something about badges,,

That would be me, I host 9+3 Frostfire missions weekly on excelsior

[Coyotedancer]

56 minutes ago, GM Arcanum said:

 

Wait - people play FrostFire for reasons OTHER then sliding around on the ice?

 

I mean...erm...yeah...badges. Same.

Nope. They may SAY it's about XPs and merits and all that.... But we all know the real truth.

 

It's about the ice slides.

 

*nods*

 

 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Coyotedancer

[MTeague]

2 hours ago, Patti said:

Well frostfire runs aren't maybe going to happen actually.   People like to skip the hollows to preserve their sanity the days.

It probaby wouldn't be that that hard to setup a Hollows run, but I admit, that's one I don't see advertised as much anymore. 

I blame Twinshot and her arc for that, as well as DFB.

 

Still doable, but you might need to start up in LFG chat something like:   "Returning player looking for Hollows group!  Starting on David Wincott arc!  C'mon, help a new hero out!"   I suspect that would get at least a few bites from people who are nostalgic for old Hollows runs, even if it's not a common levelling choice nowadays.