Is there any way to make teams less boring?

[Fayre]

2 minutes ago, golstat2003 said:

 

Overall your post was good, but I disagree with the bolded. Introducing more options is directly giving folks what they want without invalidating the game as is for those who like it as is. 

 

More difficult content is needed as much as more options for the notoriety system are.

I see your point. I didn't mean to say that no additional harder content should be generated. As you correctly pointed out that is still beneficial and has the option for interesting new additions.

My concern is more about scalability. The Homecoming team is rather small, so a solution would ideally affect the game as a whole instead of only providing a limited number of new story arcs. If I only had one chip to place it would be on the system change. But if I had more chips I'd like some cool new missions as well please 😄  

WoW and other theme park games always run into the problem of having to constantly produce new end game content with the old one becoming irrelevant. What I like about City of Heroes is that all (or rather most) content is relevant.
 

[Chance Jackson]

I love it when I can trust that my team mates can handle their business which frees me to seek my own challenges.

 

I told this story before but it is a favored memory from before the shutdown: On an LGTF I told the group that I would go ahead & solo the Clockwork King while they were fighting their way back to the front door. What follows for me was one of the most difficult AV Solos I ever attempted(without dying) after the smoke cleared I reigned supreme & my team then caught up with me. I guess someone on the team wasn't paying attention to the chat log & asked "what happened to the Clockwork King?" someone else mentioned "Liege Cheetatron X(my toon) soloed him" what is more super-hero-y than that?

Edited April 1, 2021 by Chance Jackson

[Sadsquatch]

14 hours ago, Darmian said:

A bunch of us regularly get together and search for SFMAs to do, round robin pick.  Find something fun?  Did that person write more?  Look for that!  And then we have the Ratings game. Ok, this has no plays but sounds interesting, let's give it a whirl.  Oh, that was godawful. Spin the wheel again.  Oh, that one was great.  Confer on merits of it, award stars, rinse and repeat. 

And when I say a bunch of us, we usually recruit a few so it's a semi PUG at least.

 

That sounds delightful! May I ask which server this happens on?

[Infinitum]

When I'm on a team that has little or no communication I will routinely break the ice by asking how long dead bodies will keep while frozen.

 

You will get a lively response and sometime may not be what you expected.  lol

 

Its a running SG joke now when one of us goes Thp thp thp thp we instantly segway into talking about fava beans.  Hehe.

 

The amount of fun to be had in this game isn't in any mechanic or slotting or setting but in the company you find and keep.  That's the treasure of it all.

[Darmian]

3 hours ago, Sadsquatch said:

 

That sounds delightful! May I ask which server this happens on?

Reunion.  But it ain't copyrighted!  Start your own AE Exploration Gang on the shard of your choice!  Drum roll!

[Killobot5000]

Know I'm a little late to this party, but... I'm a bit of a chatterbox in-game most of the time, I generally tend to play defs & trollers mostly so if I'm not spamming out buffs/heals constantly trying to keep everyone alive and topped off then I'm cracking jokes or trying to be goofy in chat between hitting the mobs with whatever powers I have off cooldown.

 

Once in a while teams get really weird about that or are just not in a talking mood at all so as soon as the mission I'm on with them is done I'll just drop from the team and go find some new folks to play with.

 

Sometimes the team will join in and we'll all have a riot just joking around with one another as we're cracking skulls and kicking butt.

 

Really all is all just about random luck and bumping into people on the right or wrong day from what I can tell.

 

In terms of the challenge thing, not much I can add that hasn't already been said, but as far at the teams being too quiet... Well, make more of an effort at being sociable in the team chat and generally people will respond in kind (from my own experience any how).

[Snarky]

4 hours ago, Infinitum said:

When I'm on a team that has little or no communication I will routinely break the ice by asking how long dead bodies will keep while frozen.

 

You will get a lively response and sometime may not be what you expected.  lol

 

Its a running SG joke now when one of us goes Thp thp thp thp we instantly segway into talking about fava beans.  Hehe.

 

The amount of fun to be had in this game isn't in any mechanic or slotting or setting but in the company you find and keep.  That's the treasure of it all.

they will keep indefinitely while frozen, but if not dressed before they are frozen the meat will most likely be pretty rancid when it thaws

[gamingglen]

3 hours ago, Snarky said:

they will keep indefinitely while frozen, but if not dressed before they are frozen the meat will most likely be pretty rancid when it thaws

 

Sounds like you have some experience in these matters.  😉  

[Luminara]

46 minutes ago, gamingglen said:

Sounds like you have some experience in these matters.  😉  

 

It's basic food preservation knowledge.  Freezing, dehydrating, smoking, canning, salting, pickling, et cetera.  Human bodies are still mammalian bodies, and we've been preserving mammalian bodies for food for millennia.

 

Freezing would still leave the body subject to desiccation, and possible aerobic decay, though.  For optimal storage, it should be frozen in water, completely submerged, to prevent air from reaching it, or sealed in plastic with a vacuum sealer, then frozen.

[vysirez]

I know it's a bit late but for me, when I finish a TF or trial and I say good job or good run or whatever, I'm talking about how the run went. We didn't have wipes, nobody did anything dumb, it was quick and easy. It's not a comment on how entertaining the other people in the team were or were not.

[gamingglen]

😎

2 hours ago, vysirez said:

I know it's a bit late but for me, when I finish a TF or trial and I say good job or good run or whatever, I'm talking about how the run went. We didn't have wipes, nobody did anything dumb, it was quick and easy. It's not a comment on how entertaining the other people in the team were or were not.

 

You weren't handing out an Oscar or Tony, or... whatever is the equivalent on CoX?     Arpee?  

 

(yes, I realize emphasis will be placed on the 2nd syllable... kids these days) 

Edited April 2, 2021 by gamingglen

[Snarky]

It's been said before, many times, many ways.  Enjoy yourself.

 

Last night I join a MotherShipRaid.  I reallllllyy do not like MSRs lol.  But, I want badges, so....4 to go.  It is a very experienced leader.  We recruit fast, head out.  Kill pylons.  Boring.  Check, done.  Up onto Ship.  I need a bomb badge. (5 actually)  I go to the farthest door, kick it in fast.  Someone (Mutha Puss Bucket!) zips right past me for the bomb.  Blood Pressure goes to 2000 .  I check my badges.  I got credit.  Grrrr.  Sigh.  I zip to the center.  The General is already a 1/3 down.  I slap him for credit.  Okay.  Both badge requirements done.  Now, a half hour grindfest.  Shit. As a Brute I cannot just sit in the center either.  I sullenly go about the job of herding the aliens (Which I have gotten pretty good at...)  1/2 hour later.  Done.  But not done.  We go kill the drop ship.  Knock it down.  I got the kill shot.  100 million!  lol.  Okay, that takes the sting out of an hour of alien boring and stress lol.  I didnt realize but at least one of my SG mates were on the League, I gotta congrats.  

 

Now, just 4 of those dam things to go.  But even though I do not like them I practice running the character and each time learn how to herd better, how to use my powers a little more effectively.  Even at something I "do not enjoy" like a MSR I find something to do.  Different technique to pull mobs.  Pull from farther.  Whatever.  Of course, a 100 mil would be nice after each MSR.   Devs?  You hear?

[Cherry]

On 3/23/2021 at 4:41 PM, The_Warpact said:

I have dedicated group of friends from all over the country and we primarily team with each other.

Don't like pugs or the strangers attitude? Make friends, start an SG, play that way.

 

this.

[Cherry]

On 3/24/2021 at 5:03 AM, Shred Monkey said:

My #1 piece of advice for online gaming:  Try to make at least 1 snarky comment per mission.   And if you don't feel comfortable/capable with snark, then by the one who types "LoL" when someone else makes a snarky comment.  Seriously, imagine an ITF with 32 snarky comments.  Would that not be the best ITF run ever?

 

 

 

or do what i did just lastnight.. mistype your snarky comment in team chat, that was meant for SG chat. 

[Cherry]

On 3/24/2021 at 4:27 PM, Grindingsucks said:

 

I'm not scoffing and, indeed, you are not alone in thinking that teams are often boring.  My play experience is precisely the same as yours.  Solo play is fine- one can dial the notoriety up or down as needed, and get precisely the level of challenge that is exciting, while not being a steamroll or so hard as to be frustrating.

 

Teams tend toward the steamroll at levels 50 and over, which then renders AT specialties (tanking, controlling, heal/buff/de-buff) almost an afterthought and often makes for a boring (if frenzied) experience.  

 

I had once thought to address this by creating an RP supergroup dedicated to play with characters of lvl 35 or lower (players would voluntarily shut off xp so that they would not level beyond 35).  I never tried it because I reckoned there would not be enough people interested in that kind of play over a long term duration (must players I see when I use search are 50 or higher).

 

But reading this topic makes me wonder if there aren't enough of us to form our own SG specifically dedicated to the sort of play we enjoy.  Maybe we ought to start a recruitment topic and bat around ideas for a group of this kind?  If there are at least a dozen or so of us, maybe we could get something going?

 

If so, then we could hash out the specifics (Villains, Heroes, or Vigilantes?  SO's, Standard IO's, IO's sets? etc.).

or make your own global channel, like we did, and invite people that enjoy the same play style. Its worked great.

[MTeague]

22 hours ago, Infinitum said:

When I'm on a team that has little or no communication I will routinely break the ice by asking how long dead bodies will keep while frozen.

 

You will get a lively response and sometime may not be what you expected.  lol

 

Its a running SG joke now when one of us goes Thp thp thp thp we instantly segway into talking about fava beans.  Hehe.

 

The amount of fun to be had in this game isn't in any mechanic or slotting or setting but in the company you find and keep.  That's the treasure of it all.

 

Mine is *team zones in*  *looks at giant mass of CoT mages, summoned demons on fire, shrieking spectral ghosts, etc*

my character:  "They look friendly. I think we can talk this over."

 

usually gets a few chuckles and encourages more banter from the rest of the team. 

[gamingglen]

Another possible funny starter is to give a sales pitch.

 

"Say, this place would look so much better with aluminum siding.  I have samples right here."

 

[Darmian]

Started Posi 1 yesterday by continuously commenting on all the fridges.  "Ooh, there's a fridge here!  Don't fancy whatever is in a sewer fridge!"

[Coyote]

3 hours ago, Cherry said:

Seriously, imagine an ITF with 32 snarky comments.  Would that not be the best ITF run ever?

 

Heh, you mean, slow down with my snarky comments? I mean, if 32 is the goal, then I should pace myself 😉😄

[Coyotedancer]

Bad puns and movie quotes... 

 

You can do a lot with bad puns and movie quotes.

[Snarky]

2 hours ago, Coyotedancer said:

Bad puns and movie quotes... 

 

You can do a lot with bad puns and movie quotes.

Ask yourself, "What would Jack Burton do?"

[DoctorDitko]

"Yes sir, the check is in the mail!"

[Apparition]

On 3/30/2021 at 6:19 AM, UltraAlt said:

 

either you are targeting the same thing as everyone else or the other characters that you are running with have power-levels much higher than the foes you are facing.

I actually do what I can to avoid running with players that have veteran levels just because of this reason ... well .. and others ...

 

You see, some people just level past all the low levels to get to 50 and then think that that they know how to play the game since they have a 50. They just want to plow through everything and show off how super they are and could care less  about what the rest of the team thinks of their behavior (other than adoring them because they are so mighty, powerful, etc.)

 

I too am annoyed when someone rushes around to speed/stealth something that I wanted to get xp from.

I don't like chasing players that act like a ping-pong ball or a tank the rush through a mob and into the next one and could give bat-droppings about the rest of the team.

That can go for someone that runs ahead of the team and agros mobs and dies after leading the enemies back toward the group.

 

Luckily, I PuG at good bit and generally get to be on teams when people actually figure out how to work with each other and move at a pace where the team is able to fight foes without falling.

 

... and that happens a lot more on servers other than Excelsior.

 

Excelsior is like the new Freedom server. And I mean that with all the bad connotations that obviously go with that. 

Even before AE and City of Heroes when F2P back-in-the-day, it was already a different kind of server population. AE made it ... well the AE babie paradise. F2P just doubled down on it.

Back then, the behavior level was like of DCUO global chat out in Metropolis or inside of the Watchtower gets at some points.

If people like to play like that, that's great. I hope they are enjoying themselves.

 

If you want a team to talk to each other talk to them.

Gratz people. Woot out and thanks when the gratz you. A lot of that used to happen in the game.

 

And, as always, if the team really is that bad, make an excuse and bail out of it. There are better teams out there ... especially in the lower levels from my experience.

 

Teaming isn't the problem. It's your teammates. 

 

You are correct about Excelsior.

 

From April 2019 until December 2020, I didn’t PUG much.  I had a bunch of friends playing the game and I didn’t want to play with random people while the base macro was a thing.

 

Now that the base macro situation has been nullified and most of my friends have long since stopped playing, I have been PUGing quite a bit, all on the Excelsior shard.  It has been... not pleasant.  I only team for TFs, SFs, and trials.  It seems that there are a bunch of relatively new people to CoH who have been essentially taught all of the wrong ways to play the game from all of the farms they’ve joined (AE, PI Council radio, or both), and apply that to the TFs, SFs, and trials they join.

 

Just about every PUG TF, SF, and trial I have done over the past few months has had someone leave before it was over.  Either they would silently log (and then come back on on a different character a minute later), or after a couple of missions say something like “Thanks for the team.  Take care.”, and quit.

 

Then there are those who insist on trying to speed every mission... without any form of stealth, aggroing all of the mobs on the way, making the mission ten times more difficult than if we just cleared everything.

 

It got to the point tonight where I started a couple of new characters on another shard.  We will see how that goes.

[Lunchmoney]

Come to Reunion. We have cookies.

[Snarky]

Last night we started boiling my main, Dark/Dark Brute Snarky, in lava again.  He is at 40% of the last damage taken badge and will need to cook about 2-3 more days.

 

So I jumped on the alt account I set up the last time we boiled him 2 days.  Making a farmer on it for levelling alts.  At level 43.  This is on an older rig, with a smaller screen, and does not have my two gaming mice (mouse, + 20 hot key bad)  So...I was even clumsier than I usually am.

 

I jumped on my SS/Fire Brute wondering...then...Hey!  a Tarikoss Weekly...  Sure!

 

Folks, this was NOT a smooth run.  Nobody had TT, nobody knew objectives.  This was huddle together and kill in a giant swath until we find w/e we are supposed to be doing.  There was one other teammate that knew the objectives.  My Fire armor does not allow me the freedom of Dark armor.  Dark has stealth.  I can zip to objectives.  Fire....holy crap.  I built the guy to take the pain, but he just forms a ball of wasps all trying to kill him anywhere he goes.  Funny, I enjoyed it, useless (or nearly) for helping zip to team objectives.  

 

We were around 50 minutes to complete.  I actually had a good time once I quickly realized that it was not going to be a pro run, or semi pro.  or college.  or...you get the idea.  

 

A similar thing happened on a LGTF I joined with my main earlier in the day  But I knew from the add +0 LGTF.  Not speed LGTF, +0 the ad said, need melee.  I knew when I saw it that it would be rough around the edges.  Lol. it was, and it was fun.  We knocked it down.  semi-cleaning maps in some cases because the objectives were not known to the players.  I had a blast.  

 

How do you 'make teams less boring?"  Look for content you want to do WITH the players willing to do it.  If you are not willing to run with a PUG team of people who have not played since live....DO NOT DO IT.  Once on the team, HELP.  When on a team of people better than you (which is usually my case, i belong to a nearly pro SG) make weird comments and soak in every tactic they are using.  HAVE FUN