8 way. Five way. Foursome? 3-Some. Duo Teaming. Is it a thing?

[Herotu]

1 hour ago, Golden Azrael said:

Well, Ben fell out with everyone...

Well, he was as dumb as a rock.

[Ukase]

On 6/21/2022 at 2:39 PM, Golden Azrael said:

Do you have a preference?  What the pro's?  Cons?

If I'm being 100% transparent and honest, I have some days where all I want to do is team with goofy folks I don't know. 
Some days, I want to team with folks I've teamed with in the past, who don't type much, but get the job done quickly. 
Some days, I want to team with folks who are interesting, somewhat humorous, and don't care if they live or die, or what content we're doing, so long as we're doing something and enjoying the absolutely putrid puns and odd pronunciations of strange words. 

and most days, I solo. Not so much because I like it better, but because I firmly believe you're not much good to a team if you've no idea what you can do alone. It's always been my biggest objection to teaming. 

Say you start off with a support toon, say a controller. You do a dfb or two, maybe a posi. Then, you're level 17 or so, and don't see anything forming that catches your interest. 

You think, Synapse is next on the TFC chain, let's try and form a group for that. 

5 minutes go by, you've gotten one taker. 
another 5 minutes...one more player. 
Another 5 minutes, and you still have room for 5. The other 2 have been patient. But I'm not! And I don't want to do Synapse with three. 

This is why I don't particularly enjoy forming teams anymore, because I'm too damned impatient. If it doesn't form in a couple of minutes, I can find something else to do. 

And I do. 

And when I do...suddenly, I'm taking more aggro than I can handle. Not enough attacks yet. No pets yet, or if I have one, it's not sturdy enough. 
I thought I was super, but it appears solo, I'm super stinky. 

This is why teaming can be bad. You thought you were super, but you find out you're not. So, you need to find out how to make your character shine without team buffs. Without a tank/brute to gather aggro. 
There's a lot to learn if you're new, or playing an AT/powerset that's new to you. And a team can cover up a lot of those lessons. 
When you have a kin on your team, you may not realize you need to be concerned about endurance recovery.  

With any type of buff or debuffer, you may not really realize how strong or weak you are by yourself. 
The same way I told my daughters to not get married until they lived on their own for at least a year, I'll suggest to anyone not to team up until they gain a level outside of AE solo. Preferably several levels. There's a lot of lessons to learn. (maybe some of you are a quicker study than I am) 


So, for me, I'll solo if I can until I can learn what I need to learn. And because I go afk a lot during the weekday. 

[Sovera]

14 hours ago, Ukase said:

If I'm being 100% transparent and honest, I have some days where all I want to do is team with goofy folks I don't know. 
Some days, I want to team with folks I've teamed with in the past, who don't type much, but get the job done quickly. 
Some days, I want to team with folks who are interesting, somewhat humorous, and don't care if they live or die, or what content we're doing, so long as we're doing something and enjoying the absolutely putrid puns and odd pronunciations of strange words. 

and most days, I solo. Not so much because I like it better, but because I firmly believe you're not much good to a team if you've no idea what you can do alone. It's always been my biggest objection to teaming. 

Say you start off with a support toon, say a controller. You do a dfb or two, maybe a posi. Then, you're level 17 or so, and don't see anything forming that catches your interest. 

You think, Synapse is next on the TFC chain, let's try and form a group for that. 

5 minutes go by, you've gotten one taker. 
another 5 minutes...one more player. 
Another 5 minutes, and you still have room for 5. The other 2 have been patient. But I'm not! And I don't want to do Synapse with three. 

This is why I don't particularly enjoy forming teams anymore, because I'm too damned impatient. If it doesn't form in a couple of minutes, I can find something else to do. 

And I do. 

And when I do...suddenly, I'm taking more aggro than I can handle. Not enough attacks yet. No pets yet, or if I have one, it's not sturdy enough. 
I thought I was super, but it appears solo, I'm super stinky. 

This is why teaming can be bad. You thought you were super, but you find out you're not. So, you need to find out how to make your character shine without team buffs. Without a tank/brute to gather aggro. 
There's a lot to learn if you're new, or playing an AT/powerset that's new to you. And a team can cover up a lot of those lessons. 
When you have a kin on your team, you may not realize you need to be concerned about endurance recovery.  

With any type of buff or debuffer, you may not really realize how strong or weak you are by yourself. 
The same way I told my daughters to not get married until they lived on their own for at least a year, I'll suggest to anyone not to team up until they gain a level outside of AE solo. Preferably several levels. There's a lot of lessons to learn. (maybe some of you are a quicker study than I am) 


So, for me, I'll solo if I can until I can learn what I need to learn. And because I go afk a lot during the weekday. 

 

Synapse is one of the worst to get people for, and I say this as someone who runs/ran 3-4 Synapses a week during my peak in HC.

 

Teaming just makes everything too easy. Even problematic places like Night Ward or First Ward are bulldozed where a solo or duo player can be flattened. Small teams at least have some elements of risk like when we reach the final room of Yin's TF and the big ambushes come and players start dropping under the overwhelming numbers and it's all clutch plays, kiting, inspirations used at the right moment.

[Golden Azrael]

Some enlightening and 'just interesting to read' responses so far.

 

I'll take the point about not getting married.  *(Unless she's rich...)

 

Though I do seem to recall an 'in game' Wedding in Founders Fall on Live.  (Was it Tiche?  Was that her name?)

 

Re: teaming.

 

1 = 'Me, me, me.'  I only have to think about myself (many of the reasons cited above by Ukase.)  I like to learn the AT.  Strengths/weaknesses.  How far I can push the AT.

2 = Duo.  Intimate?  Awkward.  Weird?  Tension filled?  Rewarding?  The other 'lone' hero can really compensate for any weaknesses.  But with that other person having their own personality and independence of thought, wants and direction you have to be on the 'same page.'  And even then, it may not work.  Familiarity can breed contempt.  One of you might like to 'quietly' kill mobs whilst the other talks you to death.  (Not guilty.)  My favourite style of teaming but it can come down to 'culture.'  Like asking someone to dance at the Dance Hall.

3. = Threesome.  Two's company...but three's a crowd?  Chance for a bit more chat, 'maybe.'  A bit more AT balance that might tip the balance vs eg. An AV.

4. = Fab Four.  You can almost have one of each CoH AT which means you'll be geared for most challenges and can push the envelope more whilst levelling.

 

On PuGs.  Like some have said.  It can be interesting how one person leaving can lighten the mood, change the team dynamic, make the team perform better or worse.  I used to do a lot of them on Live.  Not so much on HC.  I guess I've become more knowledgeable about the game and 'don't have to' make teams to make progress.  Though I have still done RWZ Raids (Shen' will ask me if I'm doing the Raid...so I say, 'Yes.')

 

Primary reason I can 'not' team is due to time constraints.  ('Are we there yet?' syndrome.)  Our USA cousins are enthusiastic but the time zone difference made me ill (hard to team tween 11pm-2pm...) and then someone wants to do a TF that seems to last forever.  Or team on CoV.  (Though I do have L50 alts on Excelsior specifically for teaming with USA based heroes and covert black ops CoV 'villains.'  Though don't tell anyone, my reputation, what's left of it, will be in tatters.)

 

I guess that's why I like Tips and Radios.  'In and out.'  Doesn't last that long.  (Please, no jokes.)  I'd rather the TFs broken up into bite size chunks or cut them in half size wise.  ('TF bailer!') 

 

Azrael.

[Golden Azrael]

1 hour ago, Sovera said:

 

Synapse is one of the worst to get people for, and I say this as someone who runs/ran 3-4 Synapses a week during my peak in HC.

 

Teaming just makes everything too easy. Even problematic places like Night Ward or First Ward are bulldozed where a solo or duo player can be flattened. Small teams at least have some elements of risk like when we reach the final room of Yin's TF and the big ambushes come and players start dropping under the overwhelming numbers and it's all clutch plays, kiting, inspirations used at the right moment.

 

Isn't Synapse the one that takes 4eVuRRR?

 

Good point about 1-3.  You still have that element of risk.  Especially with a 'cold' roll from Level 1 and up.

 

Azrael.

Edited June 24, 2022 by Golden Azrael

[Ukase]

3 hours ago, Golden Azrael said:

Isn't Synapse the one that takes 4eVuRRR?

Thing is, it doesn't have to. Yes, there are a number of kill-alls, but if the team is on the same page, making wise use of Team Teleports and ATTs, 40 minutes is quite doable. With a lot of AoE builds, even 30 minutes. If I'm thinking clearly, a group I know got it done in less than 20 minutes - but those rascals had special builds just for that TF. 

And ...look, I understand that not everyone playing has "arrived" as far as inf goes to buy these TP powers from p2w on every character. But, this is why when I would lead a Synapse I would share my own SG base macro, which is certainly no swanky place like Cosmic's public hub. 

If there were a way to buy 100's of them and give them away, I sure would. 

[Sovera]

3 hours ago, Golden Azrael said:

 

Isn't Synapse the one that takes 4eVuRRR?

 

Good point about 1-3.  You still have that element of risk.  Especially with a 'cold' roll from Level 1 and up.

 

Azrael.

 

'Normal' teams take up to hour and a half. 'Bad' team compositions can get to two hours (but it's rare). 'My' teams make it in around one hour ten with calls for TT, andering to find the workers, sometimes running ahead to get the bosses if they are the objective and I'm not the team's tank, and ATTing in the last mission. I've got it done in as low as one hour on the dot with Kins helping and good team compositions.

 

 

8 minutes ago, Ukase said:

Thing is, it doesn't have to. Yes, there are a number of kill-alls, but if the team is on the same page, making wise use of Team Teleports and ATTs, 40 minutes is quite doable. With a lot of AoE builds, even 30 minutes. If I'm thinking clearly, a group I know got it done in less than 20 minutes - but those rascals had special builds just for that TF. 

And ...look, I understand that not everyone playing has "arrived" as far as inf goes to buy these TP powers from p2w on every character. But, this is why when I would lead a Synapse I would share my own SG base macro, which is certainly no swanky place like Cosmic's public hub. 

If there were a way to buy 100's of them and give them away, I sure would. 

 

Less than 20 minutes seems downright impossible. We are exemped down to 20 after all. 50 minutes I could see on some speed running tailored builds scenarios but there are a lot of kill alls and even the ones where we only need to clear a boss we need to clean the whole room which can be large ones. There's a speedrunning thread somewhere that might prove me wrong though.

[Golden Azrael]

Some of the 'kill alls' are a bit repetitive.

 

I remember doing Psy' in around an hour.  I had a crack at soloing one or two TFs from a lofty exemped alt.

 

End drain a bit of an issue.  Maybe a flaw in my build.  I never did get my head around building for lower levels.  But it did ok.

 

Azrael.

[Golden Azrael]

2 hours ago, Ukase said:

Thing is, it doesn't have to. Yes, there are a number of kill-alls, but if the team is on the same page, making wise use of Team Teleports and ATTs, 40 minutes is quite doable. With a lot of AoE builds, even 30 minutes. If I'm thinking clearly, a group I know got it done in less than 20 minutes - but those rascals had special builds just for that TF. 

And ...look, I understand that not everyone playing has "arrived" as far as inf goes to buy these TP powers from p2w on every character. But, this is why when I would lead a Synapse I would share my own SG base macro, which is certainly no swanky place like Cosmic's public hub. 

If there were a way to buy 100's of them and give them away, I sure would. 

 

I finally got around to making an SG base a couple of months ago after all that time on Live and HC...I finally did it.  Very functional 'does what it says on the tin' storage, crafting, transport, self buff and yes, an SG Banner and Conference table for my alts to sit around and drink Tea.

 

There is that TF that takes place in the orange dimension that takes ages.  To get that going fast, I was on a team that each had TT.  But it was still a dollop of time I'll never get back. 😄

 

I've only recently realise (...) that I can go to the P2W vendor and buy quality of life stuff like mission transporters, TT for group transport, SG base TP to give quick zone access.  (And yes, I've been sitting on hundreds of millions.)

 

Like 'crafting', and consolidating wealth from all my alts as part of one SG, it wasn't obvious that I should do it.  A bit like being stuck in 2003 on patch 3 or something.

 

Azrael.

[Golden Azrael]

2 hours ago, Sovera said:

 

'Normal' teams take up to hour and a half. 'Bad' team compositions can get to two hours (but it's rare). 'My' teams make it in around one hour ten with calls for TT, andering to find the workers, sometimes running ahead to get the bosses if they are the objective and I'm not the team's tank, and ATTing in the last mission. I've got it done in as low as one hour on the dot with Kins helping and good team compositions.

 

 

 

Less than 20 minutes seems downright impossible. We are exemped down to 20 after all. 50 minutes I could see on some speed running tailored builds scenarios but there are a lot of kill alls and even the ones where we only need to clear a boss we need to clean the whole room which can be large ones. There's a speedrunning thread somewhere that might prove me wrong though.

 

What's the one in the orange dimension called?  Dr. Quattermain or something?

 

Azrael.

[Sovera]

15 minutes ago, Golden Azrael said:

 

What's the one in the orange dimension called?  Dr. Quattermain or something?

 

Azrael.

 

Yeah, that's the longest one in the game. Best advised to have all eight participants with AT and ATT.

 

Or, y'know, just not be in a rush.

[Golden Azrael]

2 minutes ago, Sovera said:

 

Yeah, that's the longest one in the game. Best advised to have all eight participants with AT and ATT.

 

Or, y'know, just not be in a rush.

 

Yeah...no kidding.  (As in I wasn't in a rush to do it again.  I think I did it 'once' on Live.  Once on HC so far.)

 

Azrael.

Edited June 24, 2022 by Golden Azrael

[Ukase]

4 hours ago, Sovera said:

Less than 20 minutes seems downright impossible. We are exemped down to 20 after all. 50 minutes I could see on some speed running tailored builds scenarios but there are a lot of kill alls and even the ones where we only need to clear a boss we need to clean the whole room which can be large ones. There's a speedrunning thread somewhere that might prove me wrong though.

 

And you're right! About being wrong, lol. Here's the post from Speedrun.com. 

@bloodom...or is it @dombloo...this dude is playing on a computer system from 2030, and seems to have the eye/hand coordination of a fighter pilot, and knows the game well. The last time I was on a tf with him - he was fighting the boss at the back of the map by the time I was pressing "reveal" after entry. Just really fast.

Now, I'm older, and can't recall too well, and am too lazy to look it up - but it's possible these times were from before the change to the SG macros. Now you have to be within 40 feet, or use a base teleporter to use the macro, or LRTP. Still, once you learn the tf, and know before the mission ends what you're going to be using to get to the next one, times will improve with experience. 

I was on a Shadow Shard TF a couple of weeks ago with the TFJ  (Task Force Junkies), a global chat channel on Excelsior, and those guys would have one person go to the mission after the current one, then incan us to the door when we completed it, saving a lot of time. I can only assume those mission doors are in the same place each time and they have them memorized. I don't want to think how long it would take me to remember what I had for breakfast, let alone where mission doors are in a lengthy tf in the shard. 

 

 

[Spaghetti Betty]

5 hours ago, Sovera said:

 

'Normal' teams take up to hour and a half. 'Bad' team compositions can get to two hours (but it's rare). 'My' teams make it in around one hour ten with calls for TT, andering to find the workers, sometimes running ahead to get the bosses if they are the objective and I'm not the team's tank, and ATTing in the last mission. I've got it done in as low as one hour on the dot with Kins helping and good team compositions.

 

 

 

Less than 20 minutes seems downright impossible. We are exemped down to 20 after all. 50 minutes I could see on some speed running tailored builds scenarios but there are a lot of kill alls and even the ones where we only need to clear a boss we need to clean the whole room which can be large ones. There's a speedrunning thread somewhere that might prove me wrong though.

I once completed a synapse in a little over 48 minutes with a pug full of ex'd 50s. Including Babbage. He lasted maybe a minute. I wish I had gotten a screenshot.

[Sovera]

1 hour ago, Ukase said:

 

And you're right! About being wrong, lol. Here's the post from Speedrun.com. 

@bloodom...or is it @dombloo...this dude is playing on a computer system from 2030, and seems to have the eye/hand coordination of a fighter pilot, and knows the game well. The last time I was on a tf with him - he was fighting the boss at the back of the map by the time I was pressing "reveal" after entry. Just really fast.

Now, I'm older, and can't recall too well, and am too lazy to look it up - but it's possible these times were from before the change to the SG macros. Now you have to be within 40 feet, or use a base teleporter to use the macro, or LRTP. Still, once you learn the tf, and know before the mission ends what you're going to be using to get to the next one, times will improve with experience. 

I was on a Shadow Shard TF a couple of weeks ago with the TFJ  (Task Force Junkies), a global chat channel on Excelsior, and those guys would have one person go to the mission after the current one, then incan us to the door when we completed it, saving a lot of time. I can only assume those mission doors are in the same place each time and they have them memorized. I don't want to think how long it would take me to remember what I had for breakfast, let alone where mission doors are in a lengthy tf in the shard. 

 

 

 

That sounds like a -1x1 solo Synapse run or am I wrong? That would definitely make the kill alls swift.

 

 

53 minutes ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

I once completed a synapse in a little over 48 minutes with a pug full of ex'd 50s. Including Babbage. He lasted maybe a minute. I wish I had gotten a screenshot.

 

Sounds like the 50 minute ballpark I mentioned then. Heck, even just in HC I remember when doing Yin in 40 minutes was normal times, then it became 30 minutes, and now it sometimes is done is 20-ish without skipping mobs.

[DoctorDitko]

In college, taking Psych classes means you get a lot of chances to participate in Psych studies. (Almost every paper should have "Survey of age 18-24-year-olds" replaced with "Psych college students 18-24," but I digress.)

 

One was Introvert/Extrovert scales and I was at the 99th percentile Extrovert, 100% percentile Introvert.

 

When I'm feeling social, I love me some teaming. (I have one character who is sworn to accept all invites. A blast when I play him!)

I find the most fun in the 4-6 teams. There's a reason for the Fantastic Four, not the Incredible Eight.

 

When I'm feeling shy? I may make use of /hide, sometimes even /ghide. That can be fun, too.

 

(As far as Dr. Q, on live I played it out over two days, with the whole bunch of loonies staying to the finish. On HC, a certain RTM would form up in Pocket D and buy ATT and TT for anyone who didn't have it, then run the whole TF in two hours of merry mayhem.)

 

[Golden Azrael]

What is /ghide?

 

Azrael.

[DoctorDitko]

It used to be the way to hide from your global friends, but it appears these days it brings up the same hide dialog that /hide does. Good to know.

 

(Insert "get off my lawn" meme here.)