no red love

[honoroit]

 

Rogue isles is so lonely.

 

Fired up a fresh character - and within minutes I had (by arachnos sanction no less):

 - 'negotiated' with a long bow by breaking his leg in a dialogue option

 - scrapped a bunch more and ninja'd a keycard

 - infiltrated a secret base! where I then proceeded to...

 - punch up the door guards, strip them bare and wear their clothes

 - snuck into its depths and punched up more of them

 - set the place on fire, as you do

 - chose to ignore the other villain passed out from the smoke who I'd seen longbow detain on the way in.  we can't have others rising in recluse's favor.  he'll be fine.

 - got 3x reward merits for my trouble

 

contrast this with hero side where:

 - make friends with cosplay group

 - go to base and talk a lot

 - rescue manticore because he really needs saving by a lvl 3

 

there's heists! casino action! an evil las vegas zone! and snakes, and super plague zombies, and luddites and boomers and legacy of chains or whatever the light mages are....

 

but no one plays red.   i want to scream.

 

I still think the powers-that-be should have a shot at xp/inf/something buffs with how long you stay associated FULLY with the faction that has less play - you could put it on the alignment powers.

like planetside did for underplayed factions.

 

Edited May 24, 2021 by honoroit

[Darmian]

I love the Rogue Isles.  My dedicated Redsider 4Evah (not even Rogue!) has sooo much fun over there. Wendigo Montoya, ex of the Skulls, Thugs MM, has come to kick your face in.

 

But yeah, love that place.

[CrudeVileTerror]

@honoroit, I apologize as I don't recall, but did you happen to get involved in https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/19655-weekly-discussion-53-how-to-increase-villain-population/ earlier this year?

 

And remember, folks:  Everlasting is still the community leader in dedicated Redside players.  We roleplayers have a deep appreciation for The Evil.

[honoroit]

53 minutes ago, CrudeVileTerror said:

@honoroit, I apologize as I don't recall, but did you happen to get involved in https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/19655-weekly-discussion-53-how-to-increase-villain-population/ earlier this year?

 

And remember, folks:  Everlasting is still the community leader in dedicated Redside players.  We roleplayers have a deep appreciation for The Evil.

no i missed that 😞  i was sulking and away at the time.  but i think game reward mechanics (extra xp, not in AE) to drive folk to the lower pop side (whatever that may be) - that takes time to accrue so you don't just hop , would help tremendously.

[Arli]

1 hour ago, CrudeVileTerror said:

@honoroit, I apologize as I don't recall, but did you happen to get involved in https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/19655-weekly-discussion-53-how-to-increase-villain-population/ earlier this year?

 

And remember, folks:  Everlasting is still the community leader in dedicated Redside players.  We roleplayers have a deep appreciation for The Evil.

I'm sure that works for Everlasting very well, but this is about Excelsior. I understand you admire Everlasting's redside presence, but it is also still important to maintain (and encourage) redside population and growth on all servers. 🙂

honoroit, there are many of us on Excelsior that do play redside and love all things evil. I myself (and a bunch of other dedicated redside players I do know) are fervent redside players, and we call Excelsior home because a large portion of our original legacy server also decided to go to Excelsior.

While it doesn't always work, I do encourage you to call out in LFG if you're interested in teaming. We're sometimes quieter, perhaps more reserved - but a lot of us are still willing to team and help out where we can. True independence and anarchy can sometimes be better attained with cooperation from others, especially if it furthers our own interests. I agree with you - redside is amazing. The zones look amazing, and the content isn't terrible. If you ever need help redside on Excelsior, hit me up via @Arli. 🙂

Edited October 23, 2020 by Arli

[CrudeVileTerror]

That's quite true, @Arli.  I shall not attempt to scoop players from your Shard if you continue to fight the good (evil) fight and promote Redside on Excelsior!

[Darmian]

1 hour ago, CrudeVileTerror said:

@honoroit, I apologize as I don't recall, but did you happen to get involved in https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/19655-weekly-discussion-53-how-to-increase-villain-population/ earlier this year?

 

And remember, folks:  Everlasting is still the community leader in dedicated Redside players.  We roleplayers have a deep appreciation for The Evil.

Oh, I look at Everlasting and think, "Will I?" and then I don't.  Mainly because I spent a chunk of time in the Cam back in the yore and I can't be doing that again!

[Apparition]

Like @Arli pointed out, there is a red side population on Excelsior.  Is it even half as large as the blue side population?  No.  But we're there, and we love red side.  Every single character I play on Excelsior is red side, and all but one of my non-retired characters started out red side.  My friends and I play at least one strike force per evening, generally.

 

Arli gave some great advice.  Listen to it.  In addition to LFG though, I'd advise also checking out the Excelsior and Excelsior Badges global channels as well.  The traffic in those two global channels is nowhere near as great as LFG, but that also stands to your benefit.  I have LFG in its own separate chat tab which I tune out of most of the time because it is so busy, but I pay attention to the Excelsior and Excelsior Badges global channels.  I doubt that I'm the only one that does that.  If you post something in the two global channels, it stands out more than it would in just LFG alone.

 

To join, type: /chan_join Excelsior

/chan_join Excelsior Badges

 

If you need any help or just want to team and do villainy, feel free to look me up at @Apparition

[Coyotedancer]

I have... one Rogue among my Excelsior "bird-things". Huh.

 

I'm not really helping the situation any. <_<

[Player2]

Increase red side population?

 

Easy.  Put hero missions over there.

 

Face it, more people want to be heroes than villains.  Red side could have the best content, but blue side is heroes and people want to be heroes.

 

Well... most of us do.

[Darmian]

17 hours ago, Player2 said:

Increase red side population?

 

Easy.  Put hero missions over there.

 

Face it, more people want to be heroes than villains.  Red side could have the best content, but blue side is heroes and people want to be heroes.

 

Well... most of us do.

What about the Vigilante aspect of this suggestion then? You're still a "hero", but you have to head to the Etoiles to "do some business".

[Player2]

1 hour ago, Darmian said:

What about the Vigilante aspect of this suggestion then? You're still a "hero", but you have to head to the Etoiles to "do some business".

Ehhhh...  vigilantes are sorta heroic, but not everyone wants to be a vigilante.

[Apparition]

18 hours ago, Player2 said:

Increase red side population?

 

Easy.  Put hero missions over there.

 

Face it, more people want to be heroes than villains.  Red side could have the best content, but blue side is heroes and people want to be heroes.

 

Well... most of us do.

 

You could do that, but then they'd start complaining (and some already have), that they want the Rogue Isles changed to be more "clean" and "friendly" like Paragon City "if they have to spend time there," which would just honk off those of us that exclusively play red side and love the Rogues Isles as they are now, (including moi).

[Player2]

Nah.  Faultline is far from clean and friendly, and people loved when that zone was revamped into its current form.

 

Striga Isle?  Okay, cleaner than the Rogue Isles but not exactly Atlas Park...  Still, I hear no complaints about it.

[honoroit]

Not much of a hero if you insist on clean streets and order for you to deign to appear! 

 

 

Might get dust on the leotard? 

[Taffer]

My main, Peaceful Embrace, is a villain (well, Rogue), currently playing blueside for badges (900+ wooooooo!). She'll be back soon(-ish).

 

I mostly solo, but I haven't had much trouble finding help when I need it, or providing it when someone else is in a bind. I used to run weekly villain respec trials on live, and I've been thinking of organizing things again, just haven't gotten around to it yet. Also, I haven't run a Trial since before free-to-play happened, so I'm worried I might not know how to do it anymore. 😉

 

[UltraAlt]

On 10/23/2020 at 3:56 PM, honoroit said:

 

Rogue isles is so lonely.

 

Fired up a fresh character - and within minutes I had (by arachnos sanction no less):

 - 'negotiated' with a long bow by breaking his leg in a dialogue option

 - scrapped a bunch more and ninja'd a keycard

 - infiltrated a secret base! where I then proceeded to...

 - punch up the door guards, strip them bare and wear their clothes

 - snuck into its depths and punched up more of them

 - set the place on fire, as you do

 - chose to ignore the other villain passed out from the smoke who I'd seen longbow detain on the way in.  we can't have others rising in recluse's favor.  he'll be fine.

 - got 3x reward merits for my trouble

 

contrast this with hero side where:

 - make friends with cosplay group

 - go to base and talk a lot

 - rescue manticore because he really needs saving by a lvl 3

 

there's heists! casino action! an evil las vegas zone! and snakes, and super plague zombies, and luddites and boomers and legacy of chains or whatever the light mages are....

 

but no one plays red.   i want to scream.

 

I still think the powers-that-be should have a shot at xp/inf/something buffs with how long you stay associated FULLY with the faction that has less play - you could put it on the alignment powers.

like planetside did for underplayed factions.

 

Villains aren't a faction.

CoH doesn't need game balance between heroes and villains.

It is not PVP. The "sides" as you might call them (you're a villain. you should be arrested, you bad person you.) are not struggling against each other to win anything. (when it comes down to it, not even in the little PVP that this game does have).

 

This is a superhero game. People play superheroes.

Yeah, you are in the minority since you play a villian. 

 

Sometimes I'll play a villain, but it is very rare. I simply don't enjoy being evil as I enjoy playing a good guy.

 

It isn't Blue vs Red. It's Good versus Evil. Hero versus Villain!

(That whole red blue thing is a villain plot anyway. It's all so villains can type less characters. Blue and Hero are both 4 characters, so what typing is that saving? Obviously, created by villains and some heroes were conned into  using it.)

 

You chose the evil path (break some longbow guys legs because you think that makes you cool).  

You see the result of that -  loneliness and despair.

I'm sorry for you since you must play evil and want to force other people to play with you because they don't want to be evil.

 

This is a game of choices.

There are plenty to game with on the hero side. Change your ways or get used to playing the way that you have been playing  - in which case, you will experience more of the same.

I chose to play heroes 99.8% (or so) of the time.

[UltraAlt]

On 10/23/2020 at 5:59 PM, Arli said:

I'm sure that works for Everlasting very well, but this is about Excelsior. I understand you admire Everlasting's redside presence, but it is also still important to maintain (and encourage) redside population and growth on all servers. onoroit, there are many of us on Excelsior that do play redside and love all things evil. I myself (and a bunch of other dedicated redside players I do know) are fervent redside players, and we call Excelsior home because a large portion of our original legacy server also decided to go to Excelsior.
🙂

h
While it doesn't always work, I do encourage you to call out in LFG if you're interested in teaming. We're sometimes quieter, perhaps more reserved - but a lot of us are still willing to team and help out where we can. True independence and anarchy can sometimes be better attained with cooperation from others, especially if it furthers our own interests. I agree with you - redside is amazing. The zones look amazing, and the content isn't terrible. If you ever need help redside on Excelsior, hit me up via @Arli. 🙂

 

So silly.

It's like PvP. 

If if you all really want to get together to run content with the small villain population, then pick a server and everyone that wants to be a villain moves their characters there. You do that and you might have heading on a half of the hero population on that server.  As it is villains are ranking less than a 1/3 of the number of heroes on any given server and much of them have an even lower ratio than that.

 

Villain side missions aren't "better" - they are simply evil instead of good and, frankly, there are fewer people that want to be evil than good in this game.

 

Not judging you for picking a side. It's just a game.

But if the population is low, then go where the population is higher. 

 

People have been trying to lure players to the "red" side for a long time ("Come to the dark side, Luke") and that doesn't appear to be working.

[Apparition]

7 minutes ago, UltraAlt said:

Villains aren't a faction.

CoH doesn't need game balance between heroes and villains.

It is not PVP. The "sides" as you might call them (you're a villain. you should be arrested, you bad person you.) are not struggling against each other to win anything. (when it comes down to it, not even in the little PVP that this game does have).

 

This is a superhero game. People play superheroes.

Yeah, you are in the minority since you play a villian. 

 

Sometimes I'll play a villain, but it is very rare. I simply don't enjoy being evil as I enjoy playing a good guy.

 

It isn't Blue vs Red. It's Good versus Evil. Hero versus Villain!

(That whole red blue thing is a villain plot anyway. It's all so villains can type less characters. Blue and Hero are both 4 characters, so what typing is that saving? Obviously, created by villains and some heroes were conned into  using it.)

 

You chose the evil path (break some longbow guys legs because you think that makes you cool).  

You see the result of that -  loneliness and despair.

I'm sorry for you since you must play evil and want to force other people to play with you because they don't want to be evil.

 

This is a game of choices.

There are plenty to game with on the hero side. Change your ways or get used to playing the way that you have been playing  - in which case, you will experience more of the same.

I chose to play heroes 99.8% (or so) of the time.

 

This isn't just a super-hero game.  It's a super-hero and super-villain game.  Remember that City of Villains was sold as a separate game for years?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice that "City of Heroes" isn't mentioned on the box anywhere at all?  (I still have two of these boxes with all of their contents, BTW.)

 

So yes, villains are a faction, heroes are a faction, and there does need to be balance between the two sides.   FWIW, while blue side has more players, red side has better quality players, and honestly I'd rather play another game entirely than be forced to play blue side.

 

I play villains 100% of the time.

 

11 minutes ago, UltraAlt said:

 

So silly.

It's like PvP. 

If if you all really want to get together to run content with the small villain population, then pick a server and everyone that wants to be a villain moves their characters there. You do that and you might have heading on a half of the hero population on that server.  As it is villains are ranking less than a 1/3 of the number of heroes on any given server and much of them have an even lower ratio than that.

 

Villain side missions aren't "better" - they are simply evil instead of good and, frankly, there are fewer people that want to be evil than good in this game.

 

Not judging you for picking a side. It's just a game.

But if the population is low, then go where the population is higher. 

 

People have been trying to lure players to the "red" side for a long time ("Come to the dark side, Luke") and that doesn't appear to be working.

 

Villain missions are indeed better.  They're better written than blue side missions on average, require less traveling to different zones during mission arcs and strike forces, and the red side mobs present a greater challenge than blue side mobs from level one on up, (which is partly why the red side player base is better than the blue side player base on average).

 

Having all red side players congregate to one server isn't the answer.  This isn't City of Heroes, (and oh, we have red side on one server).  It is City of Heroes and City of Villains.  For a healthy City of Villains population, it needs to be spread throughout the various Homecoming servers.  In addition, people have prejudices against various servers.  Some people don't like Indomitable because it has a significant PvPer population.  Reunion is on another continent than most red side players.  Some people don't like Excelsior because some people consider it the Freedom of Homecoming.  Me personally, you couldn't pay me to touch Everlasting with a ten foot pole, (no offense meant).  Not only that, but some of us have friends that exclusively play blue side (because they are silly or just don't know any better), and we can still play with them as Rogues.  Having one concentrated red side server would just cut us off even more from the blue side population.

 

It is just not a tenable solution, as it's not really a solution at all.

[honoroit]

They'd flock in droves if there was a game mechanic incentive to do so. More xp lvls 1-[50.veteran level 50], exclude ae... The blue/red ratio would flip overnight. 

 

Alignment aside, there's good stuff red side. I couldn't agree more about mob groups. 

 

The maps are better, the zones feel more npc occupied. It's as if it were a second iteration of CoX. 

 

Red side, the wards, even funny praetoria place. It just goes unused. People (en masse) would feel the game bigger, more varied, and enjoyable if reward mechanics would push them onto the tour bus of this great game's experiences. 

[UltraAlt]

City of Heroes was created as a superhero game.

City of Villains was stuck on to it the same way that the incarnate system was.

 

And, yeah, it did sell separately, and, yeah, IF (was there really a choice) a super hero wanted to have a base they HAD to by City of Villains.

I played in the CoV Beta. Attached an image shot just before the CoV pre-release Beta server was shutdown.

 

There is some fun to be had. Some people started to play simply because they could play villains instead of heroes.

I played a limited amount of CoV (I think I had one 50 ... no farming), but was more because I payed for the game. I never enjoyed CoV as much as City of Heroes.

 

... and that is why I am against some mechanism to try to force me to play as a villain and THAT is the original posters goal ... to force people to play villains so that they can have someone to game with.

 

Current server status

Shard - H/V

Torchbearer - 119/18

Excelsior- 299/50

Indominable- 71/25

Everlasting- 169/31

Reunion - 99/22

Totals - 757/146

 

If I'm calculating it correctly that's 19% of the players playing villains.

Populations are higher at other times, but I don't think I have seen the villain population be more than 25% (roughly 1/3 the number of heroes playing).

 

I'm not trying to argue about it being part of the game any more than the incarnate system or Praetoria.

But I don't see the much activity in Praetoria, but hard to judge though since they are considered heroes or villains depending upon their early game choices. (based on villains alway saying how superior the villain game is, then praetoria created even later should be so much better, but, apparently, villains want to play the CoV content rather than Praetorian villain stuff... so... yeah... people like what they play; they don't play what the don't...)

[UltraAlt]

36 minutes ago, Apparition said:

 

It is City of Heroes and City of Villains. 

Scroll up to the very top.

 

Its City of Heroes :: Homecoming.

Edited October 27, 2020 by UltraAlt

[honoroit]

3 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

City of Heroes was created as a superhero game.

City of Villains was stuck on to it the same way that the incarnate system was.

 

And, yeah, it did sell separately, and, yeah, IF (was there really a choice) a super hero wanted to have a base they HAD to by City of Villains.

I played in the CoV Beta. Attached an image shot just before the CoV pre-release Beta server was shutdown.

 

There is some fun to be had. Some people started to play simply because they could play villains instead of heroes.

I played a limited amount of CoV (I think I had one 50 ... no farming), but was more because I payed for the game. I never enjoyed CoV as much as City of Heroes.

 

... and that is why I am against some mechanism to try to force me to play as a villain and THAT is the original posters goal ... to force people to play villains so that they can have someone to game with.

 

Current server status

Shard - H/V

Torchbearer - 119/18

Excelsior- 299/50

Indominable- 71/25

Everlasting- 169/31

Reunion - 99/22

Totals - 757/146

 

If I'm calculating it correctly that's 19% of the players playing villains.

Populations are higher at other times, but I don't think I have seen the villain population be more than 25% (roughly 1/3 the number of heroes playing).

 

I'm not trying to argue about it being part of the game any more than the incarnate system or Praetoria.

But I don't see the much activity in Praetoria, but hard to judge though since they are considered heroes or villains depending upon their early game choices. (based on villains alway saying how superior the villain game is, then praetoria created even later should be so much better, but, apparently, villains want to play the CoV content rather than Praetorian villain stuff... so... yeah... people like what they play; they don't play what the don't...)

I'd argue it's less 'I dislike cov' and more a self perpetuation of 'cannot effectively group with frequency of blue side, so I don't go there'. 

 

Again, example planetside. Why would you elect to join the losing faction, if there weren't incentive to do so. Without incentive to do so gains are quicker on the winning side. Time investment efficacy dictates 'go with winners', and a faction is effectively suppressed or eliminated. 

 

Giving people xp changes the user calculus. 

 

And wth is wrong with you! Don't you like robbing banks and stuff? 

[Darmian]

Oh Praetoria!  How I love thee!  So much so I never left and am an Incarnate Loyalist. Patrolling constantly, knowing that the war with Primal Earth is forever around the corner.

Edited October 27, 2020 by Darmian

[Onemantankwall]

Could be like me run whatever you want either side ive never forced a toon to stay on 1 side kinda silly now with null