Old school playing is getting rare

[Six-Six]

1 hour ago, nightroarer said:

I don't get the idea that playing story missions is grinding. I think that is doing active content with something to hook your imagination into, not just a mindnumbing repetitive grind. To me, grinding is doing make-work or repetitive tasks to get a reward, as opposed to doing something that engages the imagination. Opinions will, of course, vary.

 

Oh don't get me wrong, I LOVE the content... I think the content is tremendously wealthy... so much so that I don't take it all in at once.

On my very first toon (I only started playing when HC came out early last year), I tried getting ALL the contacts I can and doing all of their missions. I was disappointed when I out-levelled them. On my next toon, I took the advise to turn XP off so I don't out-level certain contacts. Then toon number 3 onwards, each toon forged his/her unique story through the choice of contacts the toon made along the way.

Some toons only did story arcs, my vigilante only did radio missions, others only street-swept, others exclusively team, do Strike Forces and so on... depending on their character. While most will do a combination of activities, some would not. Is it harder to level? Yes. but that's the toon's story, and he has to stick with it.

I also tried door sitting, which to me translates hanging out with one or two friends and shooting the breeze in chat while a brute does his thing around the map--also fun and I have 1 toon who's never seen the outside of AE building to show for it. I've tried user-generated story arcs in the AE as well. Other times, I would go in to AE with a "mentor" to teach me how a certain AT/power set should be. Just last week, a friend sent a tell and wanted to chat while he was farming. I obliged and when I stepped out, I was 12 levels above what I bargained for. Incidentally, I saw a "beginner's guide to fire farming" here in the forums, so I might give that a try and be the one inviting people to door sit while brute does his/her thing.

But more often than not I still create a toon, skip galaxy/breakout (or not, depends), go to Kuzmin and seek my fortune as the Destined One from there. I'm now on my 24th toon on her way to 50. Meanwhile, I still play my spiders with a dozen T4s to choose from as the rest of my 50s wait in line to earn all their T4 incarnates. Some of my 50s will never be played again because after "grinding" them to Ramiel, I've learned that I didn't like the AT or power set combination or possibly the character I made for it. At the same time, I have still yet to try countless other combinations as well as ATs as soon as I concoct a concept for them. 

No, it isn't a grind to me. It's my dream MMO and I'm loving every single waking hour I can spend in it.

[GlaziusF]

I don't team up for story missions, pretty much ever. The reason is simple: unless somebody is exactly story synced with the leader, they get bupkis. Their contact doesn't progress, they don't get to see the story as it shows up in clues, and they don't get the merit prize at the end of the arc. I feel either selfish or shortchanged, depending on if I have the star or not. Those few story missions I team up for are the ones that do have a prize for all participants at the end - unlocking Karsis or Katie Hannon or Ernesto Hess as a contact.

 

Trials and task forces pay out to everybody equally. When I team, I play those.

[MoonSheep]

On 8/30/2020 at 10:37 PM, Greycat said:

So team and play at lower levels. Don't sweat people who don't. They don't affect you.

Some people enjoy RP. Others don't. They can coexist.

Some people enjoy creating "builds" for characters. Others don't. They don't affect each others play.

Some people enjoy base building. Others find it too tedious to do much more than a basic "here's storage, here's teleporters," if they do anything. That's perfectly fine, too.

 

There's room for everyone. Invite people along, don't worry about people who like something different. They're not wrong. Neither are you. Only saying they are or that they won't enjoy the way they play is wrong. They know what they like far better than you do.

Strong opinions / absolute statements

 

People who PL to 50 are a real pain if you have allocated 30-40 minutes in your day to play a TF or trial and several members of the team have no idea how to play and turn it into a 1 hour+ long saga of grinding. Or not being able to find many teams under 20 as everyone is obsessed with running DFBs into the ground

 

City of Heroes is an online game where people are able to team and play together, the quality of the online community is what makes the game a lovely place to be. People who don’t share the values of community, character development/journey, teamwork etc feel out of place in my opinion 

Edited September 1, 2020 by MoonSheep

[Neiska]

1 hour ago, MoonSheep said:

Strong opinions / absolute statements

 

People who PL to 50 are a real pain if you have allocated 30-40 minutes in your day to play a TF or trial and several members of the team have no idea how to play and turn it into a 1 hour+ long saga of grinding. Or not being able to find many teams under 20 as everyone is obsessed with running DFBs into the ground

 

City of Heroes is an online game where people are able to team and play together, the quality of the online community is what makes the game a lovely place to be. People who don’t share the values of community, character development/journey, teamwork etc feel out of place in my opinion 

It would seem that you also have strong opinions and abolute statments.

 

What about new players, or simply players who have never ran that TF or trial? Taking the time to tell them too inconvient?

 

I only think that your statement is kind of self defeating. You go from "I only want a TF to take 30-40 minutes, I dont want to grind" immediately to "the quality of the community is what makes it good" and then to "people who dont share the values of the community" (where you insinuate might be your own values) are out of place.

 

I mean, in your single quote there you say people "have no idea how to play" and then say "people are able to learn and play together", to "people who dont value teamwork". Well, teamwork sometimes means that you have to take the lead, or be the mentor, or help teach your skills or pass your game knowledge onto others, and not immeidately assume that everyone is a pro, or even fully geared up, or that everyone who powerlevels to 50 out of convience don't know what they are doing.

 

Your statements just come off as "people who dont play my way or enjoy the game the way I do" are wrong. Not everyone is going to want to play TFs, or trials, or even run them as many times as you have. Aren't they part of the community too? I  am curiosus as to what you are expecting: flawless speed TF runs? Thats a very... narrow.... group or playstyle to base an entire sense of community upon.

 

Not meaning to be a personal attack in any way shape or form. But what you said there just made me tilt my head a little, and they did come off as a little condensending, even if they are your stated opinion.

[Healix]

I am not fond of 'speed' runs that are so fast I can barely keep up. I enjoy teaming with folks who like to talk and laugh on the mish/TF. I also like actually using strategy and working like a well-oiled machine. (I team often with an 'old-school' tank who let's us know the spot he is bringing the baddies to, then herds them up like a sheepdog...he taunts over and over, and the bad guys don't stand a chance.) For me, this is much more fun than sitting in AE, hurriedly getting to 50 and missing all the great lore and thousands of small touches in the game. I will never demean anyone who dashes from 1 to 50 in AE...everyone should play the way they want to. There is no right or wrong way to enjoy yourself in this awesome game.

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

4 hours ago, GlaziusF said:

I don't team up for story missions, pretty much ever. The reason is simple: unless somebody is exactly story synced with the leader, they get bupkis. Their contact doesn't progress, they don't get to see the story as it shows up in clues, and they don't get the merit prize at the end of the arc. I feel either selfish or shortchanged, depending on if I have the star or not. Those few story missions I team up for are the ones that do have a prize for all participants at the end - unlocking Karsis or Katie Hannon or Ernesto Hess as a contact.

 

Trials and task forces pay out to everybody equally. When I team, I play those.

This is a pov I think needs more consideration, because while not getting merits myself has never kept me from helping those in need on the final big boss fight of a story arc mish, I have seen no few over the years of live and now this last year+ on HC that suggest it isnt as uncommon as Id like to think it is.

 

One of the things I have always loved about CoH and the community by and large is a lack of the mercenary " I need to be getting mine first and foremost"  so common in the typical fantasy MMO. Ive often thought this might well be due simply to the nature of the genre. In D&D player characters are by and large mercenary adventurers working for pay and the promise of great wealth.

 

In CoH not so much, even our currency is called Influence, to divorce ourselves from the idea our characters are motivated by wealth, rather they seek greater influence to change the world for the better, or in the case of villains are more interested in being the most infamous truly worst of the worst. In either case, the nature of the game universe, and content always directs our characters down the path to being chosen by the universe itself as great champions( anyone ever feel like the writers of the shows like arrow and flash played a ton of coh?, like seriously that crisis cross over was even using the term paragon for their chosen of the well concept) of the forces they fight for.

 

Yet there is a portion of the players who basically will not play any content they do not get merits for. Its the number 1 grumble I see on radio teams, the lack of merits. I see it as the most common grumble for those who enjoy casual street sweeping. I get the feeling there is certainly a meaningful portion of our population that is in fact very reward driven, and its not just AE farmers.

 

Can I ask you specifically though and truly am asking, why cant you help someone with their content, even if it means they get some reward you dont, if you value being a friendly and helpful member of the community, I mean if you are enjoying playing the game, enjoying the company in the game, then why does you getting yours matter so much?

[ShardWarrior]

16 hours ago, Crimsonpyre said:

Sounds like piss poor management at NCSoft. Look at what the folks at Homecoming are doing with just donations to cover cost, imagine if they could have subs and make some money.

NCSoft tried subscriptions already.  It did not generate the money they wanted and is a big part of why the game (like many, many others) went F2P in favor of micro transactions.

Edited September 1, 2020 by ShardWarrior

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

17 minutes ago, Healix said:

I am not fond of 'speed' runs that are so fast I can barely keep up. I enjoy teaming with folks who like to talk and laugh on the mish/TF. I also like actually using strategy and working like a well-oiled machine. (I team often with an 'old-school' tank who let's us know the spot he is bringing the baddies to, then herds them up like a sheepdog...he taunts over and over, and the bad guys don't stand a chance.) For me, this is much more fun than sitting in AE, hurriedly getting to 50 and missing all the great lore and thousands of small touches in the game. I will never demean anyone who dashes from 1 to 50 in AE...everyone should play the way they want to. There is no right or wrong way to enjoy yourself in this awesome game.

See I both agree and disagree with this. On the one hand the sentiment of enjoying the game how you like, totes agree with.

 

On the other, I myself loathe tank and spank design and always have, I am one of those who def appreciate the better AI in more modern games that negate that frankly imo exploitative game style which exist only to abuse very limited AI mechanics.

 

I far more favor modern aggro mechanics that usually switch around much faster based on things like most recent dmg dealer, highest dmg dealer, most powerful character, weakest character, character out of range of ally support etc. In other words I hate everything about the traditional concept of aggro magnet tanking. And if I had one wish for this game it would be to see it go the way of the dodo. The simple truth is the concept of an AT being squishy is entirely out of place in the comic book genre, actual active heroes in the comics are all capable of defending themselves. We dont include the likes of Prof X or Oracle because they are not field operatives so to speak.

 

But the fact is when you translate some of the weakest and most fragile comic characters like a 14 year old human child in tights armed with nothing more then ninja skills and a staff into one hard to put down staff/ninja stalker who by virtue of being one of the Melee ATs ends up at the forefront of survival ATs, the fact is, the truth is that none of us should be squishy, all of us should be taking our share of aggro. If anything TFs should of been the solo affairs because in comics the long quest to face a specific big bad is almost always a one on one heroes journey to face a personal nemesis kind of story.

[Ukase]

On 8/31/2020 at 7:59 AM, Silverado said:

"wHy dOn'T oThEr pPl pLaY tEh wAy i LiKe???"

Why don't they type and spell the way I like? Those capital letters in the middle of a word make my eyes hurt. 

[Ukase]

23 hours ago, Judasace said:

It also prevented things like people quitting because of frustration from things like slogging through the Hollows. 

I remember those days. In retrospect, I can blame my issues with speed boost (I'd constantly run into higher level trolls or igneous) from a well-intentioned fellow player on my system's inability to render the npcs in a timely fashion. I literally didn't know what hit me until I was dead. My system simply didn't show the npc to me until I was defeated. Without speed boost, I could safely sprint my way through most of the time. With it - and I'd run smack into them because I never saw them until it was too late. 

But through all of THAT frustration, it never occurred to me to quit, and I'm having a hard time accepting that someone would quit over having to travel with sprint, or hover until level 14. Not saying it didn't happen, it's just hard to wrap my head around it. But then again, I do know that getting those ouro badges by completing arcs without a travel power are not my favorite. So glad those badges are optional! 
But quitting? May I argue that they really didn't like the game for other reasons as well? It can't just be that. 

[Ukase]

10 minutes ago, Bentley Berkeley said:

But the fact is when you translate some of the weakest and most fragile comic characters like a 14 year old human child in tights armed with nothing more then ninja skills and a staff into one hard to put down staff/ninja stalker who by virtue of being one of the Melee ATs ends up at the forefront of survival ATs, the fact is, the truth is that none of us should be squishy, all of us should be taking our share of aggro. If anything TFs should of been the solo affairs because in comics the long quest to face a specific big bad is almost always a one on one heroes journey to face a personal nemesis kind of story.

I'm going to digress, forgive me. But when I first bought this game at the now defunct Circuit City, I had no idea what the initials MMO stood for. I was 35, I think. I'd always loved Marvel Comics. DC not as much. Certainly a childhood fan of Captain Marvel of Whiz comics (and later DC). I was a bit dismayed to read through the EULA and other rules to learn I couldn't make a Spider Man or a Thing. 

When I made the first character, and I figured out there were other people in MY game, I was bit pissed. I'd be wailing down on a clockwork, and some other player would see fit to "help" and still my kill when it had just a sliver of hp left. This didn't just happen a few times, either. I was completely ignorant of the forums then. I had no idea how to slot beyond the tool tips that revealed which kind of enhancements would be accepted. There's no question in my mind this game should have been developed for solo play, without requiring an internet connection. (truth be told, without those "other people", I would have never learned how to slot with any purpose or efficacy)

 

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

7 hours ago, Ukase said:

 

 

By PL'ing to 50, yeah, you get your inf and the nice drops. And you can always do stuff through Ouro, armed with all of your attuned IOs and all the slots, sure. But with Ouro - you're locked in. By doing the content when you're that level, you can stop, do a tf, whatever. With ouro...you're stuck, or you're re-doing it. But you do you. 

As for teaming during the lower levels, I don't seek them out. Most of the time, they want to do radios, which don't give merits. Story arcs give merits. And if you're doing a story arc - I don't get the merits, you do. So unless I'm doing the same story arc as you, and I opt for simultaneous completion, I'm leveling beyond my story arc, and missing out on merits. So, that's why I don't team up much. That, and  I find so many inexperienced players taking what should be a 30 minute posi 1 (even if you kill all) and making into 90 minutes of frustration because they don't want to learn, they just want to kill stuff without regards to their hp. They don't consider waiting for a blaster to pull to a corner, or a tank or brute to taunt. As one other put it - it's like leading a cat to a bath. Just not easily done, and even if you can do it, the cat doesn't like you afterwards. 

Still, because of this post, I'm going to try and not sweat merits and team more. It's not like I need the merits for anything. I have my next 100 alts funded already. I would even consider mentoring beginning players on how to market, how to make a farmer to subsidize their character's needs, and how to get the 4 passive accolades in a fairly efficient manner. I've often thought about making a super team start off with ZERO from any alt, no assistance from anything other than what drops. How to get those first batch of converters to make enough inf to get your character into the 20's, and then how to get enough inf to get to the 40's and then to a billion before 50, and still be kitted out, and have about 750 badges. (amazing how many badges aren't available until 50!) 

Maybe I should get off my high horse and do that. 

Ill Be brutally honest, your more likely to drive away players from the game trying to mentor based on those lines of yours I highlighted. If your the kind that feels stuck when locked into a group via flashback or tf, and get frustrated easily by how others and especially newer/less meta gamer play.

 

For example in the above,a  posi 1 no one can really tank at those levels, most tanks and brutes who try to hold aggro even with support will face plant that low. Posi 1 is one of those that is simply understood to become a real pita the bigger the team. Solo Stalkers rule that baby. And in general you are going to find both old gamers who enjoy modern games and young gamers are not going to embrace tank and spank but see it as the most boring way to play, right up there with door sitting at an AE farm.

 

I mean new players dont need to sweat inf, best tip anyone can give them is 5 slot their best early attack and slam all 5 of the prestige enhancements in it to have it basically be a one shot attack through the early levels as early game wasnt designt to have a high dmg attack with a 80% dmg buff until much later, so early mobs melt to that. Get the acc buff from the sewer run and good to go for a while. Usually keep a stack of lvl 15 common IOs of the acc dmg and recharge variety I just toss at folks of those levels when I see them, that 19% percent that doesnt go away is a nice interim boost till 22 and the decent lvl 25 common IOs.

 

But really mentoring is all about your own mentality and yours does not sound ready for it. I dont say that to be unkind. I myself recall my own evolution to mentor very clearly. Way back on live it was around the time I had my first solo AV capable toon. I started running TFs and basically  ignoring the team in the last mish, ghosting straight to the AV and killing it before the team ever got near. This ended up getting me on a lot of peoples shit list. But I was so intoxicated by my lack of any need of others beyond starting tfs I did not care. They were all just noobs!, envious of what I could do, and holding me back, being nothing but sources of frustration for me in my goal to prove I could defeat every AV solo!

 

Then one day I shed that youth induced narcissism, when I learned that a regular I RPd with had legit quit the game after a TF run I was on and was a right proper arse to everyone on. Like a good beating and a toss in a cold river I awoke from what could only be described as a legit case of being corrupted by power even if it was all in game. I had let my character reaching their peak influence both their rp concept and my own behavior and for the worst.

 

I thought to myself what a terrible fool I had been, a real berk... and then I recalled an NPC a curious one, in an old story arc. A guy with a funny name, one that the nickname berk would be oh so fitting for. And so I became Bentley Berkeley the old berk. I embraced the persona in game of an old mentor, one who often gets in over his head and needs the help of others. In fact in any council map with a cell room, I used then and still use self destruct to put myself in a cell right away on Berk. Yes he is also strong enough to carry teams of puggles through most content, and has, and always will be willing to. But his number 1 reason for being, is to act as a mentor, a guide, to help others explore their potential.

 

I mentor by teaching players to explore their builds, and to not use guides. Rather to make use of the liberal respec system and at the same levels we can first access the respec trials, to run those, as they tend to be a good test on build performance. If you struggle you likely should look over your powers and ponder what is and what is not working well for ones playstyle as an example.

 

As a guide, I try to show people the areas and arcs worth running both for the story and insight to the world, and the early rewards. Like the hollows, faultline, early  TFs, and sometimes just enjoyable locals visually to also street hunt in for casual time.

 

And as a right proper Berk I try to keep things amusing and fun, like a modern jester. You wont get through a pen yin run without me making some wise crack about clamors hand!

 

So to be frank unless you really are ready to shed the attitude that makes you find frustration in how others play, and seem to lean more to control freak then teacher, your likely not ready to take on the mantle of mentor.

[Heraclea]

With Ouroboros, is there in fact any content that a character is excluded from by levelling past it? 

 

I know there used to be.  High level characters used to spend inf for a crack at the fortune teller mission.  You had to be careful not to bypass the contacts that gave it out.  Magic origin characters had the inside track.  Now I just call it up in Ouro after running enough Moonfires.  It's more fun when you have a few slots in your low level attacks. 

 

The other content you might miss by outlevelling is the safeguard/mayhem missions.  This is a bigger deal redside than blue.  Even then, there are workarounds. 

 

I'm sure I'm missing something. 

[detour]

On 8/30/2020 at 7:04 AM, Diantane said:

So many players want to get their character to max level VERY FAST (insta 50). They do this by "powerleveling" (PL) with 50's killing AV's and other high level missions. All they have to do is stand there and watch the XP fly in. I've tried this and it's dead boring. Then I deleted the character, because I have no good memories or great experiences of "actually playing that character". Plus once you get to 50 using the PL method all you have is an empty 50. What are you going to do, put millions into the enhancements and still don't know how to play them? That would be a waste of your time and resources.

 

My enjoyment of City of Heroes or any other mmo is "playing the character all the way through". Fifty levels on COH isn't a lot so leveling is too fast already. Enjoy your character while you still can.

 

Note: I'm currently leveling a dedicated tank on the Everlasting server. He reached 17 last night. If you ever wanted to play a Blaster, PB or Mastermind with little chance of taking damage (because I'm pulling it all to me), now's your chance. His name is "Tankalot", a BlueSide Hero and my global name is @Diantane. Will be playing all day today: Sunday, August 30th EST. Also play in the evenings and weekends. Hope to see you ingame!

 

PS: We could use a dedicated defender empathy healer. They are fun to play, are always welcome in a group (and often asked to come back), but are very rare to see anymore.

 

See you ingame!

~Diantane

My group is exactly the same.  Get the XP boost, everything's +4 level and purple, get to 50 in an hour.  One of our group is burning himself out fast, as he only plays dps characters, so now that he has his favourite blaster, brute, and scrapper, he's struggling for other things to play, and he's done it to himself.  I'm not possessed to get to 50 the day I make a character, because I want to enjoy the journey with my friends. 

[Richnats]

Ever since 2004 when I first played COH I have always power leveling. Every character I create goes from level 1 to 50. The journey is the best part 

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

35 minutes ago, Ukase said:

I'm going to digress, forgive me. But when I first bought this game at the now defunct Circuit City, I had no idea what the initials MMO stood for. I was 35, I think. I'd always loved Marvel Comics. DC not as much. Certainly a childhood fan of Captain Marvel of Whiz comics (and later DC). I was a bit dismayed to read through the EULA and other rules to learn I couldn't make a Spider Man or a Thing. 

When I made the first character, and I figured out there were other people in MY game, I was bit pissed. I'd be wailing down on a clockwork, and some other player would see fit to "help" and still my kill when it had just a sliver of hp left. This didn't just happen a few times, either. I was completely ignorant of the forums then. I had no idea how to slot beyond the tool tips that revealed which kind of enhancements would be accepted. There's no question in my mind this game should have been developed for solo play, without requiring an internet connection. (truth be told, without those "other people", I would have never learned how to slot with any purpose or efficacy)

 

Actually this certainly explains a fair bit about yourself as a gamer and I will certainly keep it in mind in future discussions. While CoH was my first MMO, I had dabbled in MUDs( multi user dungeons) basically online text D&D like games. Also I had read a very interesting and indepth article about everquest in an issue of Playboy. So I had a fair bit of understanding of MMO even before getting into one. It was actually at a D&D session that a friend first sat me down on his copy of coh to check it out. That was I think about 3rd month of live, and I would have my own account not very long after that. For me playing in a game world with other gamers( wasnt really into RP online just yet)  was a hell of a thing, as soon as I was high enough level I started a positron tf, oh the brutal pain of that. Good times;).

[Ukase]

I actually have a clear memory of one of my classmates telling me they were doing the beta for CoH and asking if I wanted in, as we were both in the masters program for computer science at the time. But, because I had more than just computer science in my mind when I was with her, I passed, not wanting to get in that friend zone. She ended up transferring to Georgia Tech and is actually part of a game design team. I ended up doing something with nothing to do with gaming and very little, if anything, to do with computer science. Should've done the beta! 

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

2 minutes ago, Ukase said:

I actually have a clear memory of one of my classmates telling me they were doing the beta for CoH and asking if I wanted in, as we were both in the masters program for computer science at the time. But, because I had more than just computer science in my mind when I was with her, I passed, not wanting to get in that friend zone. She ended up transferring to Georgia Tech and is actually part of a game design team. I ended up doing something with nothing to do with gaming and very little, if anything, to do with computer science. Should've done the beta! 

Considering I had 2 in game friendships with women in coh turn into RL physical relationships over they years back on live, yeah you really should of played with her;)

[Greycat]

10 minutes ago, detour said:

My group is exactly the same.  Get the XP boost, everything's +4 level and purple, get to 50 in an hour.  One of our group is burning himself out fast, as he only plays dps characters, so now that he has his favourite blaster, brute, and scrapper, he's struggling for other things to play, and he's done it to himself.  I'm not possessed to get to 50 the day I make a character, because I want to enjoy the journey with my friends. 

Flipside for me is I've done "the journey" so many times (400-some alts total live, around 100 here,) I have content I enjoy, but my "journey" is more defined with the character itself and RP, which - like RL PNP - can throw things you don't expect in the way since it's created by the people you're with. Doesn't mean I PL to 50 - sometimes, sure, or to other levels (low level masterminds are a draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag) - but I'm more interested in what it does to the characters. I had a warshade, meant to be a PI turn into one of the leaders of a large, decidedly not "PI" focused RP group. Definitely not what I had in mind when I created her. I've had joke one-off, cameo characters get lives of their own and become favourites to play.

 

Of course, there's always part of what drives my altitis - that even in the same AT, different powersets can lead to very different experiences. That group that X character could just slice through is going to give Y character with a different powerset fits, and so needs to be approached differently. Combine that with my characters *being characters,* well...

[Judasace]

1 hour ago, Ukase said:

I remember those days. In retrospect, I can blame my issues with speed boost (I'd constantly run into higher level trolls or igneous) from a well-intentioned fellow player on my system's inability to render the npcs in a timely fashion. I literally didn't know what hit me until I was dead. My system simply didn't show the npc to me until I was defeated. Without speed boost, I could safely sprint my way through most of the time. With it - and I'd run smack into them because I never saw them until it was too late. 

But through all of THAT frustration, it never occurred to me to quit, and I'm having a hard time accepting that someone would quit over having to travel with sprint, or hover until level 14. Not saying it didn't happen, it's just hard to wrap my head around it. But then again, I do know that getting those ouro badges by completing arcs without a travel power are not my favorite. So glad those badges are optional! 
But quitting? May I argue that they really didn't like the game for other reasons as well? It can't just be that. 

Sure there were other things they didn't like about it. Hollows was , at one point, new content. It didn't release with the game. these were people who had already slogged through an alt or two, then the brand new content comes out...and it's another great big slogfest. The run across the Hollows was the straw that broke the camel's back.

 

While I admire their ingenuity, the simple fact that the game gave rise to people playing as Taxibots should tell you there's something horribly wrong with the way the game is designed.

[huang3721]

14 minutes ago, Heraclea said:

With Ouroboros, is there in fact any content that a character is excluded from by levelling past it? 

 I think there are old missions from contacts that are not belong to a story arc and do not give badges. (e.g: Azuria's missions in Atlas Park). Those mission are not listed in Ouroboros.

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

1 minute ago, Judasace said:

Sure there were other things they didn't like about it. Hollows was , at one point, new content. It didn't release with the game. these were people who had already slogged through an alt or two, then the brand new content comes out...and it's another great big slogfest. The run across the Hollows was the straw that broke the camel's back.

 

While I admire their ingenuity, the simple fact that the game gave rise to people playing as Taxibots should tell you there's something horribly wrong with the way the game is designed.

Taxi bots arose with in the early months of live, places like perez parks woods being a literal maze legit had players get lost in there, which was imo brilliant design. few MMO have ever had the balls to make a legit maze you could not map nav out of easily. Taxibots were a noble and venerated super group, one that was oh so very coh and the fact the game gave rise to them a positive not a negative. Because heaven forbid a game make travel powers actually useful by having long travel distances, and a reason to want to use such powers. Some of us gasp actually do enjoy flying around and actually appreciate the breather between missions that such trips give when moving quickly on a tf.

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

6 minutes ago, huang3721 said:

 I think there are old missions from contacts that are not belong to a story arc and do not give badges. (e.g: Azuria's missions in Atlas Park). Those mission are not listed in Ouroboros.

I know there are several one off non arc related mishes that give charged temp powers one can keep as long as they keep the mish up in their actives rather then completing it. Enough of them one could easily end up with only 1 active mish slot to use because the others are acting as place holders to keep a tem power. Used to do them with most new toons on live as temp collecting was a hobby of mine in game back then.

[blazingcoconut]

I have to say in most cases I don't enjoy the journey.

Level 1-10 isn't a challenge it's a chore.  You have limited abilities and the game boils down to using PTW powers to actually play.

Level 11-22 is meh.  You still don't have enough abilities to make things interesting.  You likely have gaps in the things you need to be effective.   

 

Level 23-40 Is decent and probably the best CoH experience.  Most ATs are balanced for their task in this range.  However, I have already planned my final build.  Having to spend 12million on a set that I'm not going to use once I hit 50 is annoying since even if I play normal, that's probably only a couple of days at best.

 

Level 41-49 Also decent with more annoying groups.  Most people in this range seem to just want to hunt council because people still don't have finalized builds and some endgame groups are far more annoying to play with no better rewards.  However, AT imbalance picks up as kill speed increases.  

 

Level 50 You can finally make your build.  However, because kill speed is through the roof, control and a fair amount of support powers are just pointless.  Radiation Infection?  You'll barely get it applied before the mob is nuked into oblivion as Incarnates pretty much skew any sense of team dependence out the window.  Most mobs you'll get a single -RES out before they are dead.

So yeah, the journey is not all that great for me.  I'd rather powerlevel to 50, make my build with farmed inf THEN exemp/oboros down to play the stuff I didn't bother with on the way up.  So while I respect your want to slowly level up, I'd rather quickly level up and then play the content I want from 1-50.  I have a few characters who have done nearly every Oboros mission.  Playing a controller from 1-32 can be a really crappy journey.  Playing a controller from 1-32 exemped with some bonuses is much better.  Other ATs have huge gaps too that are not too fun to deal with.

For me it's a superhero game.  I want flashy powers and cool stuff to use.  It's just more fun to fight people with a full suite of abilities than waiting for one of your 2-3 relevant powers to recycle.  But I also RP, so spending a lot of time leveling takes away from the real fun of the game 🙂

[Mister Mass]

10 minutes ago, huang3721 said:

 I think there are old missions from contacts that are not belong to a story arc and do not give badges. (e.g: Azuria's missions in Atlas Park). Those mission are not listed in Ouroboros.

Right.  Every original contact has maybe a dozen missions outside of their story arcs & badge missions.  Half of those are pointless hunts, along with the Talk to Security Chief missions - which turn into pointless hunts. 😛

 

But most original contacts have a handful of door missions, some of which shed light on the game world or have temp powers that can be earned.  These missions are not available via Ouro - although a few are.  The SCORE or Homecoming devs may have added these to Ouro for player convenience.

 

In any event, you can get almost everything by Ouroing for it.  But I still shut off xp & do it at level appropriate range when I can.  For me that is more fun - hardly efficient, but more fun.  YMMV.