Do you PL in AE?

[Nightmarer 2]

Heya,

 

I've been reading a few ppl complaining about "AE babies" and such, it is, ppl get PL'd to 50 and then they don't have a clue of what to do or how to play which seems to be annoying both for team mates and for them as well.

Thing is, in my case, I've lvld up enough chars both here and on live so I just PL new alts and start doing stuff at 50.

 

I am curious to know what ppl would do if XP was removed from AE. Would you still play with the perspective of more people to team with? Would you just play until lvl 35 and from there just one ITF after another?

 

I play little enough as it is now, the only way I would consider playing all the content again would be if new sets / AT's were incorporated ingame plus also a shard reduction to boost the number of players would also be required. 

 

What would you people do in such case the XP was removed entirely from AE?

Edited June 27, 2022 by Nightmarer

[Communistpenguin]

Continue to not use AE at all. 

[The_Warpact]

9 minutes ago, Nightmarer said:

 

 

What would you people do in such case the XP was removed entirely from AE?

Think its a ghost town now on some servers? Take XP away and see what happens. 

 

AE farming is a necessary evil, it helps the market and brings in a population of players.

I don’t get to play as much as my VGmates so yesterday I pl'd a toon up to 27 so I could play next weekend with them on their days that they play.

This is just an example, if I didn't have access to AE then I wouldn't play at all. 

[SeraphimKensai]

I think @The_Warpacthas a keen point. If xp is removed from AE, then people will go to other servers and negatively affect player population.

Edited June 27, 2022 by SeraphimKensai

[Nightmarer 2]

9 minutes ago, SeraphimKensai said:

I think @The_Warpacthas a keen point. If do is removed from AE, then people will go to other servers and negatively affect player population.

That is an interesting point. I've tried other servers myself, guess we EU players always get the short stick since one of them had 4 players and the other one 7, blueside. Both have new and fun powersets and even new AT's, however, they lack the (many) qol features HC has. Seems to me that, at least the two I tried, are stuck in the general MMO mentality where you have a "main" which is the one you spend 90% of your gaming time with, see, nothing for sale in AH (literally nothing) so I guess fully equipping a char with all bells and whistles is a matter of endless grinding (anyone correct me if I am wrong please) so, the two I've tried, are a no - no, for me at least. Still, reducing the n umber of shards and implementing new powersets even new AT's such other servers have already done, would go a long way in the population front methinks. Still, AE, I'd eventually need it so not sure all the above would do much if AE XP is removed from game as a few vocal ppl seem to advocate for ingame.

Edited June 27, 2022 by Nightmarer

[fancy ketchup]

Though I don't use AE I would think removing xp would anger a lot of players. I personally don't mind AE players PLing. The game makes us overpowered anyway imo and I don't mind if someone doesn't know how to play certain powersets well. (To rephrase maybe there is a learning curve if you pl to 50 that can be overcome. I don't mind if I am in the middle of someone trying to figure that out)

 

As far as my knowledge of AE goes, I see a lot of people looking for "hitters" and "sitters" for fire farms.. I'm curious if the hitters would continue since they are only in it for influence or if they are in it for other reasons I am unaware of..

Edited June 27, 2022 by fancy ketchup

[Marshal_General]

I never really understood farming AE. Other than xp, what is it good for?

[Erratic1]

If I've decided to rebuild a character (keep concept and costume but change powersets) I have used AE before to recover levels, but think the highest level character I've done that to was level 35 and I have done it three times out of scores of characters.

 

I am also not completely adverse to leaping into an AE session if someone offers (I never ask) if it is proving impossible to get DFB/Posi 1/Posi 2--my preferred way of running up to level 20ish or so. But that has probably happened under a half-dozen times.

[Greycat]

11 minutes ago, Marshal_General said:

I never really understood farming AE. Other than xp, what is it good for?

 

Generating salvage and recipes.

 

And yeah, if XP were removed from AE, I could see a migration away. For any whining about "AE babies," those of us who have been around and are recreating characters from live sometimes don't *want* to slog through earlier levels for various reasons (I hate low/mid level mastermind play, for instance.)

 

Don't worry about what other people do. If someone not knowing something bugs (generic) you, educate them.

[Akalabeth]

The problem I have is the begging all day and night especially on weekends for someone to level them.  If you wanna level your own characters that's fine, but I doubt a majority actually do that with second accounts. 

 

"it defeats the purpose of sitting" is what I've heard.

 

"Put them on ignore" is also what people say.  Dozens of different people would end up on my ignore list over time and then you get the problem of people talking to "themselves" because you can't see the other people.

[Akalabeth]

Oh if the xp was removed from ae, I'd have less Emps to send to my characters as I fire farm for myself for inf, drops and stuff.  I'm guessing there would be a huge increase in "lowbie LF PI radios".

[Shred Monkey]

I feel dirty just going to the AE building.  Removing xp from AE would probably make using it for real more attractive to me.  When AE first came out, I was shocked they awarded XP because custom PL farms are such an obvious result.  However, I've long since stopped caring about that subject.

 

That said. I think AE babies are a myth.  Some people are just less competent for a variety of reasons.  AE farms are often involved, but they're not the root cause.

 

 

Edited July 7, 2022 by Shred Monkey

[Doomguide2005]

1 hour ago, Marshal_General said:

I never really understood farming AE. Other than xp, what is it good for?

Controlling what the map and foes are and what they are capable of doing.  Of course those factors in turn influence what sort of xp you get.   At least that's my understanding as someone who rarely power-levels

 

And I think @Shred Monkeyis largely correct about AE babies.  For one how many actual new players do you think are truly present on HC servers.  Even most of the 'new'  players are typically returning players not first time players.  Second farms and power leveling with door sitters have been around much, much, much longer than AE.  AE is just easier and shorter to say than "Dreck, Knives, you name it babies" all of which existed since farms were a thing from probably day 2 or so onward.  Players simply learn at differing rates and to different levels of capability for a huge variety of reasons.  Interest, avaliable time, sg mates, random helpful folks (including some of those PL, friends who already play and many more.

 

PS:  and I'd probably suck on a SS/Inv Tanker but while I'm rusty from my hiatus I'm hardly a newbie and like to think competent player.  I'd suck on that Tanker because both sets would be completely new to me having never played them on any AT nevermind a Tanker.

Edited June 27, 2022 by Doomguide2005

[arcane]

If there was no more XP in AE, I stand ready with Harvey Maylor’s demon farm. 

[Fire Chief]

yes...yes I do (Do you PL in AE?) I think with no XP that would be counterproductive to alotta ppl's altitis and the reason why we have 1000 char. slots. Right now HC imho revolves around the AE for alotta ppl love it or hate it.

[Lazarillo]

AE's already nerfed for "normal" play, and I end up avoiding it on HC as a result.  Further nerfing it, or not, wouldn't make much difference, sadly.

What seems more reasonable, and what I don't understand, is why they don't turn MARTy back on?

[Six-Six]

Why would you take XP away from AE? They already took double inf away which caused quite a stir when it was implemented.

I play AE for a few reasons: one is to play content that people painstakingly crafted. some of those are really good, arguably better than some of the regular missions. Second reason is to hang out with friends who happen to be farmers and just shoot the breeze. Third is the rarest and that is to actually PL a concept that I don't deem a priority to grind.

Others I'm sure will have their own reasons, and I don't mind. As others have pointed out, and I'm not smart enough to, farmers help the in-game economy.Just because something doesn't fit my view of how the universe should be doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong. For all I know I could be the one that's wrong. I for one like to learn about a toon's powers by earning them slowly, changing my tactics as I gain more powers, re-shuffling slotting and IOs along the way. I also am not fond of AoEs and nukes. Another bloke may prefer to learn a toon when everything is available to him (level 50). So as long as their version of fun isn't taking away from mine and vice-versa, I'm good.

[ShardWarrior]

Brand new players getting instantly PL'ed to 50 right after the tutorial are an urban legend, like Bigfoot or Loch Ness.  I have seen way more veteran players with years of game play under their belt who are still absolutely clueless on how the game works. 

 

The game itself does not do a very good job in teaching you how to play either, which is not at all a bad thing.  People learn by trying, failing, then trying again, so complaining about it is rather silly in my opinion.

 

Those pointing out that removing XP from AE would turn the game into even more of a ghost town are correct.  All one need do is look at other servers out there that are set up to be more "classic" to the live servers.  If they have 12 people on at any given time, that is a lot.

 

The era of living in your parents basement playing MMORPGs 24/7 ended a long time ago. 

Edited June 27, 2022 by ShardWarrior

[AboveTheChemist]

13 minutes ago, ShardWarrior said:

The era of living in your parents basement playing MMORPGs 24/7 ended a long time ago.

 

If the raid scene on Project 1999 is any indication, I am not sure this statement is entirely true!

 

To answer the OP, I do not PL in AE, and removing XP from AE would not directly impact my day-to-day gameplay. I did level a fire farmer to 50, just to see what the fuss was about, and I mostly abandoned him until I ran some inf gain tests after double inf was removed from AE. I don't think I have stepped foot in AE since, although I would quite like to run some of the non-farm/dev's choice type content at some point.

[RCU7115]

2 hours ago, Marshal_General said:

I never really understood farming AE. Other than xp, what is it good for?

Influence, rare salvage and recipe drops.

[SeraphimKensai]

16 minutes ago, Krimson said:

Should AE stop giving XP, I will sit back and watch what happens to prices on the Auction House.

I guess that they would inflate towards the price ranges seen on the live servers, where it wasn't uncommon for fully IOing a toon might range from 8-12 billion influence.

[Darmian]

3 hours ago, Nightmarer said:

I am curious to know what ppl would do if XP was removed from AE. Would you still play with the perspective of more people to team with? Would you just play until lvl 35 and from there just one ITF after another?

I'd love to think that the story arcs I write are enough to entice players into them without earning any XP, but that's ludicrous.  Much as the AE is clogged to the gills with farms, it's NOT THE ONLY STUFF THERE. So removing XP would not help.  Sure, back in the day it was tickets, and only Dev Choices had the option of both, but that ship seems to have sailed too.

 

[RCU7115]

1 hour ago, arcane said:

If there was no more XP in AE, I stand ready with Harvey Maylor’s demon farm. 

I stand ready with the demon farm and a council farm. You also gain more influence per kill on those farms than an AE farm.

 

[Troo]

3 hours ago, Nightmarer said:

What would you people do in such case the XP was removed entirely from AE?

 

Simple answer: Find some other way to farm XP.

 

Folks would actually have to explore the game a bit, travel to missions locations, and risk losing a saved special mission if the glowie is clicked.

 

[RCU7115]

3 minutes ago, Darmian said:

I'd love to think that the story arcs I write are enough to entice players into them without earning any XP, but that's ludicrous.  Much as the AE is clogged to the gills with farms, it's NOT THE ONLY STUFF THERE. So removing XP would not help.  Sure, back in the day it was tickets, and only Dev Choices had the option of both, but that ship seems to have sailed too.

 

I still run ticket farms once in a while to get salvage  when the prices in the AH start rising over 500, 1000 or 500k for the common, uncommon and rare salvage. I could easily afford the AE inflation but I refuse to pay someone more for something that I can get cheaper.