Redside DFBs and low level Redside support. (Not much)

[Snarky]

I have organized these.  They are not impossible.  Yet I have gone two weeks without one recently while desperately trying to get one.  Do not even get me started about DiB.  Trying to organize one of these things in Ouro or Pocket D with new alts is like herding cats.  I am so frustrated about it right now I may take a day or two off my projects.  Might be time to herd cats.

 

Will this Dev team ever resolve any solutions for Redside team ups?  Echo plaza would have been a natural.  But instead of granting everyone the ability (the way they did for anniversary) they revoked that.  It would have been an easy way to get lowbies together to team on things like DFB.  Which Redsiders (and Goldsiders?) would love to be a part of.  And....another lump of coal.  Look at that.

 

People talk for years about things that would get people on Redside more.  How about not starting them off at a huge teaming disadvantage for things like DFB?  Lets see.  i create a toon.  I was thinking Villain or Rogue.  Choose alignment time.  oh, right.  No teams, no DFB Redside.  Okay, starting Blue.  The cycle just reinforces itself.

[Apparition]

As you've said, successfully forming a red side DFB isn't impossible, but extremely unlikely and not worth the time nor the effort, IMO.  Also, forming one in a co-op zone like Echo Plaza, Ouroboros, or Pocket D won't work.  I tried.  If you try, it will tell you that heroes and vigilantes on your team are ineligible, and won't let you queue.  Sorry.  If you want to do DFB or DiB, you're going to have to go to a blue side zone.  It sucks, but that's the reality.

 

Personally, as a 100% exclusive red side player, I just power level myself up a character to level 50 in a few hours, and then run red side mission arcs via Ouroboros Flashback.  I just no longer see the point in leveling "naturally," but to each his or her own.  As for DFB and DiB, I solo them at level 50 for the badges.

 

It sucks.  I hear you.  But too many people are scared of red side and refuse to start a character there.  Only increasing reward merits for everything red side will change that IMO.

[Hew]

I don't do DiB. When I am on, I am exclusively playing redside nowadays, and have been for several weeks. I shout out in lfg.

 

 

[Snarky]

20 minutes ago, Apparition said:

As you've said, successfully forming a red side DFB isn't impossible, but extremely unlikely and not worth the time nor the effort, IMO.  Also, forming one in a co-op zone like Echo Plaza, Ouroboros, or Pocket D won't work.  I tried.  If you try, it will tell you that heroes and vigilantes on your team are ineligible, and won't let you queue.  Sorry.  If you want to do DFB or DiB, you're going to have to go to a blue side zone.  It sucks, but that's the reality.

 

Personally, as a 100% exclusive red side player, I just power level myself up a character to level 50 in a few hours, and then run red side mission arcs via Ouroboros Flashback.  I just no longer see the point in leveling "naturally," but to each his or her own.  As for DFB and DiB, I solo them at level 50 for the badges.

 

It sucks.  I hear you.  But too many people are scared of red side and refuse to start a character there.  Only increasing reward merits for everything red side will change that IMO.

Sigh.  Yeah.  Screwed lol.  It's hard out there for a Supervillain.  I was trying for a 'pure' Redside run.  (This is a solo all story arc toon Redside)  Finally gave up and went Rogue.  I feel dirty.  I have always let my Brutes that do this go Rogue for the DFB/DiB buffs.  This is a Blaster.  I seriously need all the juice I can run for the kill alls and EBs.

[Luminara]

26 minutes ago, Apparition said:

too many people are scared of red side

 

[Hew]

You can TOTALLY do a redside, all generic IOs only, nothing but mishs, zero power leveling, no xp booster at all chill experience.

 

I can give you a list of arcs I did which very smoothly got me to 37 or 38 with a mix of solo and group, followed by my first ever TF on that char (ITF), which dropped me at 42. They werent particularly hard, except the end of Mr G ( I did this in the mid 30s and got face smashed by vangard and, well, everything in that arc....),  and Doc Buzzsaw, which kinda sort is a TF of sorts the way we ran it.

 

I am doing it a second time with a new char. The first char was an arachnos soldier/crab/bane (she has a bane build and a crab build), all generics. It slogged through things, but it worked. The second is an ice/sonic corr, and that is SUPER slow compared to the soldier, but should pick up at 16 when I get my pbaoe defense.

[DrZeus]

Comment Deleted by User

Edited July 27, 2021 by DrZeus

[macskull]

People can make excuses for lower redside population all they want (zone layout, graphics, enemy factions, etc) but redside has never had a large playerbase. It was added over a year after the game launched and required a separate purchase, and then I18 put the nail in the coffin when you were finally allowed to create any AT blueside so the only real reason to play redside (the villain ATs) was gone. The live devs as much acknowledged this when they merged the hero and villain markets.

[Snarky]

5 minutes ago, DrZeus said:

Firstly, there is no immersion in the storylines. As a hero, I have motivation. I want to help people and contacts point me in that diffraction.  But CoV doesn't give me that. As a villain I'm self interested... Therefore I work for any group that gives me a job without pay? That makes no sense. I'm not ever furthering myself or my goals.

 

Secondly, this is a role-playing game.. And that influences player actions. Players aren't as nice while playing villains. This is to be expected by the way, it is commonly found in research. If you have a friendly avatar for instance, you're more friendly on a forum.

 

We do get paid as villains.  Influence and temp powers and climbing the ranks within (and without) Arachnos ladder.

 

Are you sure a pleasant avatar makes a pleasant person?  Sounds like horsecrap to me.

[DrZeus]

On 7/25/2021 at 7:58 PM, Snarky said:

 

Comment Deleted by User

Edited July 27, 2021 by DrZeus

[Snarky]

4 minutes ago, DrZeus said:

And as a note... if someone tells you a scientific finding and your response is "sounds like horsecrap to me"... it doesn't make you look like an intellectual giant.  But I'll just write this off to you being abrasive again and answer the question I think you tried to ask instead of what you said. (either that or you're just trying to fight, which is kind of boring so I'll assume you're not doing that)  And I do often bite bait that makes me talk about psych research. (in this case, it's communication research)

I take it you missed the whole me making that comment while having Willem Dafoe in vamp drag as my avatar was an attempt at a wry statement?  M'kay then.

[DrZeus]

On 7/25/2021 at 8:21 PM, Snarky said:

 

 

Comment Deleted by User

Edited July 27, 2021 by DrZeus

[Snarky]

11 minutes ago, DrZeus said:

yes, the wryness did not come across.

 

i will work on that.   hmmmm.  how to become more dry and mocking.  hmmmm.  i will figure it out.  give me time.

[Miss Magical]

51 minutes ago, DrZeus said:

Secondly, this is a role-playing game.. And that influences player actions. Players aren't as nice while playing villains. This is to be expected by the way, it is commonly found in research. If you have a friendly avatar for instance, you're more friendly on a forum.

 

Manipulative, abusive and toxic people prefer to present a facade of friendliness, approachability and concern for others; the better to prey on victims and conceal their true nature. Such people will also gravitate towards pleasant avatars,  which balances out any hypothesized positive effect that playing such avatars might have on players' conduct.

 

As a newer player, the reason for low villain population seems pretty obvious to me. It was released later in the game's life and required a separate purchase. Hence it had a smaller population, which further dwindled over time because players tend to congregate on the most populated factions/shards for ease of teaming, socializing, etc. For evidence, see how Praetoria is even deader for the same reasons (even later in the game's life + separate purchase required at release), even though many explanations for low redside population (ambience, writing, etc.) do not apply or only partly apply to it.

Edited July 26, 2021 by Miss Magical

[DrZeus]

On 7/25/2021 at 8:43 PM, Miss Magical said:

 

Comment Deleted by User

Edited July 27, 2021 by DrZeus

[TraumaTrain]

Do me next! What does my avatar say about me?

[Luminara]

Just now, TraumaTrain said:

Do me next! What does my avatar say about me?

 

You're green.

[Snarky]

8 minutes ago, TraumaTrain said:

Do me next! What does my avatar say about me?

Love in an elevator

Livin’ it up when I’m goin’ down

Love in an elevator

Lovin’ it up ‘til I hit the ground

 

[kiramon]

I’m with the guy that just power levels. Totally understand the “fun” of leveling, but my fun comes from getting to max level so I just power level.

[RageusQuitus2]

Cov waa an incomplete game at release.  Lower level cap, no hami-o for starters.  Villain side were always second class citizens.  It was alot harder than hero side (now not so much).

 

Beyond that I suppose the asthetics.  But tell me grandville processing and lord recluse speech on the monitors.  One of the coolest things in game. Doc buzzsaw is a great arch.

 

Im genuinely surprised this is a thing.  I play both sides.  And yeah i bet you could reward villain side to move encourage more play.  Increase rewards across the board vill side, drop rate, merits, inf.  So as to not encourage a 30 min sf and change back, but the journey. 

 

And regarding avatars and psychology lol.  Spot on.  Im a fat nerdy ahole griefer with carpal tunnel : )  Wish i had that dudes hair!

Edited July 26, 2021 by RageusQuitus2

[Hew]

44 minutes ago, RageusQuitus2 said:

Im genuinely surprised this is a thing.  I play both sides.  And yeah i bet you could reward villain side to move encourage more play.  Increase rewards across the board vill side, drop rate, merits, inf.  So as to not encourage a 30 min sf and change back, but the journey. 

 

We tried this. People exploded in fury. "Why should I HAVE to play redside for better rewards?!" was one of the common threads.

 

edit: here is the thread started on that exact topic: 

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by Hew

[Ukase]

On the bright side, the dfb on blue side and the dfb on red side - much to my surprise - are identical. Run the dfb on blue, then go see null and proceed as a villain. 

Yeah, I get it - it's distasteful to do it that way, but it's an easy enough solution and there's no waiting for people to figure out if they want to do a dfb on red side. 

While I get that there are some that enjoy red side - to me, that's for good reason. The view is horrid, the content isn't that great - both of which are subjective - and there's far fewer zones to get the free merits from explorations. My red crawl toon is eagerly awaiting the switch to vigilante so it can gather all that free money off the streets. 

The best solution, as I see it, is for the devs to flag dfb and dib as co-op trials, like Market Crash or Apex/Tin Mage. 

[DrZeus]

On 7/25/2021 at 11:00 PM, TraumaTrain said:

 

Comment Deleted by User

Edited July 27, 2021 by DrZeus

[Snarky]

15 minutes ago, Ukase said:

On the bright side, the dfb on blue side and the dfb on red side - much to my surprise - are identical. Run the dfb on blue, then go see null and proceed as a villain. 

Yeah, I get it - it's distasteful to do it that way, but it's an easy enough solution and there's no waiting for people to figure out if they want to do a dfb on red side. 

While I get that there are some that enjoy red side - to me, that's for good reason. The view is horrid, the content isn't that great - both of which are subjective - and there's far fewer zones to get the free merits from explorations. My red crawl toon is eagerly awaiting the switch to vigilante so it can gather all that free money off the streets. 

The best solution, as I see it, is for the devs to flag dfb and dib as co-op trials, like Market Crash or Apex/Tin Mage. 

Yeah, again.  In my mind I wanted this character to be pure Redside.  I finally did see Null and do the 4 Blue DFBs.  I am excited about all the badges.  At level 9 he has nearly 100.  Blueside opens up a world of badges.  

 

Then I get back to Redside and start grinding story arcs.  And there is a Blueside Cop contact in my list.  And I can look forward to a whole slew of Blue contacts telling me I am ignoring them.  Like a bunch of junk robo callers telling me my warranty has expired.  Instead of a sweet clean completed every contact organized list of evil that I would have had.  It is hard out there for a Supervillain.

Edited July 26, 2021 by Snarky

[ZemX]

12 hours ago, DrZeus said:

yes, the wryness did not come across.

 

 

Not to you, you mean.  I thought it was hilarious.