Is Level 50 your start, your end, or a foreign land?

[DoctorDitko]

I don't *think* of 50 as a destination, but I generally find myself wandering off to a new alt once I get there. It's just more fun to watch the odometer click over than to craft Incarnate whatchamacallits and slot for sheer powah.

 

I notice I also tend to have stacks of freespecs sitting around on most of my characters. I try to think carefully about my power and slot choices, but fixing a few stray slots, or ditching a seldom-used power hardly seems worth the effort. Especially with the tray chaos factor. By the time I've got a character to 50, I'm pretty set in my tray arrangement. I need a big incentive to blow all that away and start over.

[Darmian]

I don't power level, but 50 is entirely dependent on the character and how much I'm enjoying playing them really.  And There you go.

[ForeverLaxx]

The only character I would ever PL would be a PvP character because that character is being built for a specific purpose and level and nothing else. All my other characters get leveled the normal way and as I'm a solo-er who takes his sweet time at said leveling none of my characters have cracked level 40. I build characters around a particular concept and look, so for me, the character is "done" once it leaves the character creator. Leveling them up is just a means to better realize the overall theme, so rushing to "the end" is just pointless for me.

[Haijinx]

It takes such a short time to get to 50 even soloing, and I usually PUG which even casually takes less than 2 weeks, so I don't abandon them right at 50 unless I'm bored with them already.  Which does happen. 

 

 

[Greycat]

50 is ... a number. Some characters don't get played as much after it, most do. I don't generally rush for it - if I get PL'd, it's for something like just getting to the annoying forced respec on a VEAT, or getting past the low-minion-count weaker levels on a mastermind. (Or to just sit around and gab in a farm.)

[Crysis]

I play most alts pretty much straight through from 38-50+3 and T4 out all incarnates by vet level 9-10.  I tend to use Experienced buff to power through vet levels if I’m growing bored of that alt. But as I’m a “completist” I find it hard to shelve a toon that’s not finished yet.

[Gentoo]

On 2/5/2021 at 2:53 PM, Gulbasaur said:

It's a "when I get there" thing. I don't see the point in builds that only work at level 50 (a problem with planned builds IMO) or rely on incarnates to function... level scaling is a big part of the game and some of the earlier content is really good.

 

That's an excellent point. Whenever I see the build plan threads I kind of zone out, realizing this is a finished character.... and so it isn't one I'd actually be playing 🙂

[Gulbasaur]

15 hours ago, Gentoo said:

That's an excellent point. Whenever I see the build plan threads I kind of zone out, realizing this is a finished character.... and so it isn't one I'd actually be playing 🙂

I only build characters for levelling. Yes, I do sometimes use purple IOs, but the choice of powers and the order of powers is important. Builds that skip a basic attack chain for Tough and Weave and can't exemplar down past about level 30 are silly. I generally don't start filling out utility/bonus powers until level 40 or so. 

[Clave Dark 5]

It all varies, but if I lose momentum, they stop wherever they are.  This can be dependent upon how much time I do or do not have to play.  I've recently been working more, so less time, so... See those 50s listed in my sig?  Those are all from many months ago; since then I've started at least as many new ones only to stop when either I didn't particularly care for the play or I just somehow lost interest.  Sometimes I just decide that say Trick Arrow isn't for me, too clicky or something, and that character's going to stop dead where they stand (I've even taken to starting to cannibalize them for IOs as of late if that happens).  Some I do keep around like a "maybe someday I'll level you all the way" though.  Most of my 50s with any incarnate stuff tended to earn it because they still had momentum rolling at that point, but again, I had more time back then.

[Clave Dark 5]

On 2/5/2021 at 4:57 PM, DoctorDitko said:

Especially with the tray chaos factor. By the time I've got a character to 50, I'm pretty set in my tray arrangement. I need a big incentive to blow all that away and start over.

I think there's a way to save the set-up you like, but I've never bothered to learn how, for much the same reason.

[TemporalVileTerror]

I've played plenty of 50s on Test or on generous players' accounts, and it's really not worth it in my perspective.

Sure, the Inf rewards are MASSIVELY in favour of the 45 to 50 range, to the point of making it questionable game design in the current meta.

And there's irksomely a lot of content that's still Hard level-gated to 45+ or 50.

But I keep playing and enjoying the content that's accessible at any level.  Thankfully that's most of it, assuming you have someone at a higher level to start it for you.

[The_Warpact]

I PL damn near everything to 50, low levels are bbbboooorrrriiiinnnngggg. 

Slowly slogging through the lower lvls waiting to get powers, its not a challenge its a chore.

 

I prefer to min/max my builds, not reliant on incarnate abilities because those should be attained slowly as an added bonus. 

 

I look at everything through a "comic book" kind of lens, Superman didn't have to gain experience to unlock his abilities he had them all and then had to learn how to use them.

 

While I do run lower level tf/sf all my enhancements are attuned to take advantage of them. Couple this with altitis and you never get bored with 50+.

 

I find the people that say higher level content is easy,  try running everything on ×4×8 not on a league, not on a team of min/max builds, just regular PUGs or TFs/SFs at any level.

The game hasn't gotten that easy.

 

Even with my VG mates, running +4×8 content is a good challenge on any mish or TF'S.

 

But everyone is different, play the game how you want and what is fun for you.

[Gulbasaur]

35 minutes ago, The_Warpact said:

I look at everything through a "comic book" kind of lens, Superman didn't have to gain experience to unlock his abilities he had them all and then had to learn how to use them.

I mean, what's the difference in real terms?

 

That sorta thing is literally the plot of comics like Super Sons and X-Men literally has a school for mutants (many of whom become superheroes) as the setting for a lot of it. Learning how to use your powers is also a common theme in superhero fiction. Dr Manhattan being unsure of the extent of his powers and becoming convinced he's a walking carcinogen is a major plotpoint in Watchmen. Liz in Hellboy's origin story is basically her being a walking bomb until she learns to control her abilities through experience.

 

It's an incredibly common storyline for superheroes to either not be able to use the full extent of their power until they've got more experience or to discover new powers as they explore their own abilities.

[TemporalVileTerror]

And as much as we each come to the table with our own perspectives and visions for what we want from the game, and as much as people have called it a "comic book" over the year, the game itself is its own narrative vehicle.  It has its own rules and systems which present a particular ludonarrative.  Mercifully it's one that is rather accommodating in a lot of ways, but sadly also extremely restrictive in others.

The Homecoming Team have helped to offer more flexibility to players to define this narrative on their own terms with the Double Experience feature.  While it seems the Homecoming Team are still largely focused on this game being "a game" first and foremost, they do also seem to have members who try to adhere to strict narrative elements.

 

This is a complicated way of saying "It's complicated" when discussing the game and its narrative.

So, yeah.  We can each have our views on the game, the story, and our characters . . . but it's important to realize that other players are under no obligation to agree with those views.

[Snarky]

I play City of Villains...errr Heroes...multiple ways. 

 

One regular way is to slow level a character through all story arcs, stopping experience to do so.  Every contact. I have only ever done this on a Brute, although I started and abandoned a few Tank efforts.

 

Another way is to experiment with ATs and builds.  On these I level DFBs, TFs, DiB.  My main thrust is to get a little over the top level of a TF and then run the character through the TF.  This lets me see how the AT/Powersets perform.  I enjoy TFs and this earns merits as well.

 

Sometimes I do try to get Powerlevelled as fast as possible.  Even working 45 hours a week this can be done on Excelsior in a couple evenings really easy by just asking for AE teams.  Very comfortable community.  The AT/Builds I tend to do this with are ones I have played before, or powersets I pretty much know but are trying in different combinations.  Then I I/O and run through various TFs to see how good/bad the decision was lol.

 

Finally there are my EPIC Timesinks lol.  Like my Main, A Dark/Dark Brute that I slow levelled through every story arc Redside.  Now at 800 badges (and I havent even finished every location map badge) and incarnate level 54.  I am still learning how to squeeze the most out of the build.  Inspired by Hyperstrikes use of Rune of Protection on a unrelated project and pushed by a really horrid 50+4 ITF team (I was not lead) I recently revised the build (after months unchanged) and now have either Rune of Protection or Melee Core Embodiment up nearly all time.  And Accolade powers.  The thing is Tanky, yet has a damage aura and two "harassment auras" - one with a damage proc.  And does Brute Dark Melee ST damage.  I am forever finding new ways to push builds I thought were 'complete', probably because I am not a great builder.  But also, importantly, City of Villains allows beautiful customization.  You can run whatever you want, and build it however you desire.  Then revise that. Endlessly.

 

Then, lastly, but maybe most importantly, I can try new things.  I havent tried an MM in nearly a decade.  I remember i could not get the pets to "do what I wanted"  Never got past Mercy Island.  I am tempted to try again.  If nothing else for AFK farming lol.  (I do spend a lot of time with game up but...typing...)  I have never gotten a good corruptor project finished.  I have never tried a Defender.  I have only had one Scrapper 50 ever.  (I was impressed, Elec/Elec back on live)  There are mountains left to climb.  And, oh, so many costumes yet to create...

[The_Warpact]

1 hour ago, Gulbasaur said:

I mean, what's the difference in real terms?

 

That sorta thing is literally the plot of comics like Super Sons and X-Men literally has a school for mutants (many of whom become superheroes) as the setting for a lot of it. Learning how to use your powers is also a common theme in superhero fiction. Dr Manhattan being unsure of the extent of his powers and becoming convinced he's a walking carcinogen is a major plotpoint in Watchmen. Liz in Hellboy's origin story is basically her being a walking bomb until she learns to control her abilities through experience.

 

It's an incredibly common storyline for superheroes to either not be able to use the full extent of their power until they've got more experience or to discover new powers as they explore their own abilities.

If I PL a build to 50 then is it not the same? New build, new abilities, a learning process to perfect them.

It could be viewed as either I suppose, Superman has all his abilities but it takes time to learn to use them hence the PL to 50 build.

 

Other side of the coin, a mutant who first comes into their powers and grows and gains more access to better abilities or a tech build whos armor upgrades as they make the necessary advancements ie; leveling.

 

So realistically any view or justification can be given through how a person levels their toon based on any fantasy or belief that they wish.

 

 

 

[Crysis]

One of the reasons I continue to play this game even 17 years after its launch is that while I may have 40+ T4’d out Incarnates, the team mix I’m playing with at any given moment could always use a little more X.  
 

in general, I retire a T4’d/tricked out toon.  Sometimes won’t touch them again for months.  But then I join a team with my SG mates (Go EG!) or a PUG and realize they could really use some more X/whatever and so it’s back into the vault to pull some alt out of mothballs and suddenly....what’s old is new again.

 

Having a well stocked library of fully capable alts is what keeps this game alive for me.  That and friends.

[Clave Dark 5]

15 hours ago, The_Warpact said:

Superman didn't have to gain experience to unlock his abilities he had them all and then had to learn how to use them.

He used to only jump tall buildings with a single bound, he couldn't fly yet.

[Snarky]

On 2/7/2021 at 3:42 AM, Gulbasaur said:

I only build characters for levelling. Yes, I do sometimes use purple IOs, but the choice of powers and the order of powers is important. Builds that skip a basic attack chain for Tough and Weave and can't exemplar down past about level 30 are silly. I generally don't start filling out utility/bonus powers until level 40 or so. 

On a whim Saturday I joined a Posi 1...with my main, a Dark/Dark Brute vet 50.  Purpled, Winterized, and with as much Nitrous Oxide as you can cram onto a build.  But when I build a Brute (or any character, but I know Brutes best) I place powers as if levelling.  Armors come in 1st, primary attacks as available after Armor choices, flight as soon as possible (I do hate jetpacks, love flying) then kick, tough, weave, and then wherever the build goes.  It would drive me crazy to just randomly pick the powers from wherever on the build as I respec.  CRAZY!

 

The Posi 1 went quite well.  In a shock to no one a high end Brute is still playable when exemplared to level 15.

Edited February 8, 2021 by Snarky

[The_Warpact]

5 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

He used to only jump tall buildings with a single bound, he couldn't fly yet.

In actuality he cannot even fly, when he first came in the comics scene in 1938 he could jump 1/8 of a mile, in 1941 he started "flying" out of the blue in comics and on radio.

This was again explained in 2015 that he doesn't fly per se but in actually "jumps" but indefinitely, confusing yes, as was the Flash reaction when Supes explained it to him (Superman #40 2015).

 

BUT, as a comic book character that has an ever evolving ever changing powerset, who's to say what next week will bring.

 

So let's say he does at level 1 only jump an 1/8 of a mile, now at level 50+ he's able to jump indefinitely, same power just boosted based on lvl. 6 slotted super jump....?

 

[tidge]

8 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

He used to only jump tall buildings with a single bound, he couldn't fly yet.

Sounds like a respec into a different travel pool!

[golstat2003]

The low levels are borring as watching spit dry on a sidewalk.

 

I play some to 25, but mostly PL most to 50. At 50 IO them out and start the more exciting Incarnate Adventures.

 

I've done the base game to death on live. NO thanks.

[Yomo Kimyata]

I organically play all my alts, mostly at double xp, but some I go old school.  

 

My 50s are mostly melee, and by the time my melee characters hit 50, they are generally already capable of playing at max difficulty.  That doesn't mean that I run them there, but I'll generally try a few missions just to make sure they can.  So I'll generally get them alpha slotted and then they mostly sit unless I have a project for them.   A few are partially T4ed.

 

I'd like to get more of my non-melees to 50, but I don't really like ranged combat nearly as much.  I suspect that I will find that incarnating them will lead to a bigger jump in performance.

 

For my sub-50s, I really like making new alts and playing them up until the mid 20s.  By 26, I've gotten to the primary T8, and I probably have a really good feel as to how I like to play the character.  And at double xp, it really doesn't take that long.  Keep in mind, I slot expensively and aggressively and up my difficulty so the xp comes a-flying!  I tend to lose steam with a project in the mid to upper 30s.  At 35 I join Vanguard, go to Cimerora, and get patron pools unlocked.  By then I'm usually around 37, and I need some impetus to push through into the 40s and beyond.

 

 

[Black Zot]

50, as Greycat said, is a number.  Nothing more, nothing less.  How much I play the character has more to do with how much I enjoy it and what mood I'm in than with a number.  The number just determines how many options I have for what I'm going to do today.

[Nemeroff]

I have yet to hit 50 on any HC character.

Only using Oro for traveling. Not sure if I'll like Incarnate; I don't know enough about it.

 

But getting to 50 isn't a race. And about mid-30s or early 40s I turn the Heroes to Villains. I like the late villain stories better.

 

All along the way "Altitus."