Old School Grouped Story Content Advice

[OTGWraith]

Hey All!

  We're a group of four returning players, and we've had some time to try out the game solo and we've sort of gotten a pretty good idea of the changes and what the game is like from early to mid game, we would like to try a retro/return to the old school group content. So if you're so inclined we'd like to ask for advice on everything you think would help that goal, most importantly how to hit the best story content for a group. This can be contact story arcs or bigger raid stories. We're not going for levelling or farming (in fact we'll be meeting for this only once per week and playing our solos/farmers/PLers the rest of the week) but instead to see all the stories (or as much remains) that old school, later release, and now HC have to offer. No story is too big or too small in content, but I'd like it to be able to support four players without getting steamrolled, or steamrolling us.

 

Any other advice is welcome, also. Party composition, resources for story arc research, what Notoriety to set for certain parts to make it more/less challenging for a small group, etc. Veteran help (in advice only please) is welcome!

 

Thanks All!

Just a small group of old folks trying to relive their gaming past.

[Darmian]

I'm not part of this group, but perhaps sticking a query in to them might help 🙂 Yes, plenty will have done what you're doing, but these peeps were doing it old school!

 

 

 

[OTGWraith]

That's a big help! I'll drop something in their thread. We're not taking it as far as they did, we'll still be using all the ATs and powers, we just want the grouping outside of trials/TFs/etc., and the getting to explore the stories and lore CoH had and has. Thanks a lot! Glad there's some folks that have already tried what we're doing and to an even greater extent, we can look to for advice.

 

Edit: TFs not raids.

Edited May 1, 2021 by OTGWraith

[Darmian]

Happy trails!

[Judasace]

 

 

Honestly, if I had  steady group with weekly meeting times, I'd probably do a Praetorian team for 1 - 20, followed by First Ward/Night Ward. With 2XP and adding in the blue side TFs, There's probably enough content  for just that stuff to take you to the mid 30s

 

Praetorian missions are a little harder, they were designed I think for vets that had already run the blue or red side stuff and were familiar enough with the game to need the extra challenge, but I don't think there's anything there that would give a premade team any significant trouble, but tbh a premade, organized team will most likely steamroll both redside and blueside unless you adjust the difficulty up a few notches.

 

Alternately there are the contacts that were added in later in the game's life that have some good stories - Starting with Matthew Habashy at level 1, following his contact path, then doing Twinshot, Then Shauna Stockwell and Eagle Eye in Kings row, Do the revamped Faultline arcs,  then Laura Lockheart and Grham easton in SC, then the 3 FBSA agents in Talos. With 2xp on you'd probably outlevel some of the early stuff, though, especially if you wanted to do the AP and KR safeguard missions. And even with 2 XP you'd still probably have to fill in with some other stuff like the Midnighter arcs once you got into your 20s.

 

 

 

[Techwright]

@OTGWraith - providing which side you'd like to work on (blue, red, gold) might help those who would help you.  Sounds like you've got a fun idea.

[OTGWraith]

We'll be Heroes/Blue. I do like the Praetorian idea. We've never done any of that. That would all be new to us. I'll offer it up as a suggestion.

[Darmian]

If your gang does decide to run a team in Praetoria do NOT get XP enhancers/buffs, you'll outlevel the contacts too fast and miss half of all the cool stuff.

[MTeague]

Nova Praetoria:  use the "No Xp" option at lvl 9 / prevent you from dinging 10 for any Nova arcs you want to finish.

Imperial City:  use the "No Xp" option at lvl 14 / prevent you from dinging 15 for any Imperial City arcs you want to finish.

Neutropolis:  use the "No Xp" option at lvl 19 / prevent you from dinging 20 for any Neutropolis arcs you want to finish.

First Ward:  use the "No Xp" option at lvl 29 / prevent you from dinging 30 for any First Ward arcs you want to finish.

Night Ward:  fuzzier on this one, but I *think* its 39/do not ding 40.

[Yomo Kimyata]

If Blueside, I heartily recommend your team run all the Hollows content at levels 8-15, and all the Faultline content 15-25.

[Grouchybeast]

@Gulbasaur wrote a brilliant guide to levelling from 1-50 through story arcs.  Lots of great suggestions in there.

Edited May 1, 2021 by Grouchybeast

[OTGWraith]

1 hour ago, Grouchybeast said:

@Gulbasaur wrote a brilliant guide to levelling from 1-50 through story arcs.  Lots of great suggestions in there.

@Grouchybeast Perfect! This is EXACTLY what I was looking for!  

  

I[m pretty sure I can get TFs and other big stuff and their appropriate levels from the wiki.

 

Thanks a lot!

[Gulbasaur]

15 hours ago, OTGWraith said:

@Grouchybeast Perfect! This is EXACTLY what I was looking for!  

Hope you enjoy it!

 

There is a bit of a lull at about level 11/12 because the Hollows has unusual level boundaries for contacts, but I actually reran it recently, enjoyed myself and found it easy to pull teams together from the LFG. Have fun!

[NetWraith]

2 hours ago, Gulbasaur said:

Hope you enjoy it!

 

There is a bit of a lull at about level 11/12 because the Hollows has unusual level boundaries for contacts, but I actually reran it recently, enjoyed myself and found it easy to pull teams together from the LFG. Have fun!

 

Thanks very much for this guide. I think a lot of returning players looking to get that old school CoH feel back would benefit from reading this.

[Gulbasaur]

That's good of you to say, @NetWraith

 

I do try to plug it every now and again but I don't want to be annoying about it. Any feedback is always welcome - I've definitely missed a few things out that are worth doing. 

 

I've also got a Redside guide here: