Another Dumb Request

[Rudra]

Can we have the option to not get patrol xp on our characters while logged off please? Sure, we can just turn off xp for our characters, but I'm weird in that I very much dislike patrol xp for my characters. To the point of spending time getting my characters killed upon initial log on until all the patrol xp is gone. Thanks.

[Jacktar]

Can you just log out at any of the other day job locations, that would not acrue patrol xp, I think 🤔

[Rudra]

There is no place to log off that does not count as a day job. If you log out somewhere that has no day job icon for it, then you are automatically logged out at the "patrol" day job location which is every location that is not a specific day job. (Edit: So regardless of whether you are at a defined day job or not, you get patrol xp while logged off.)

 

Patrol Experience

(Redirected from Patrol XP)

 

Patrol XP shown in clear skies blue

Overview

While logged out in any location, characters gain credit toward the Patroller or Criminal Day Jobs (versus other Day Job Badges requiring specific log out locations), and are considered to be On Patrol. While on patrol, characters accumulate credit toward Patrol Experience. Characters can gain credit toward Patrol XP and a true Day Job at the same time by logging out in another Day Job's specific location.

Edited August 10, 2022 by Rudra

[Oklahoman]

I guess I don't understand the problem here, but maybe something you can get from P2W to turn it off, much like you can decline certain inspirations, etc.? Seems like that wouldn't be too hard to make, even if only @Rudra uses it. 🙂 Someone will want a badge attached to refusing x amount of Patrol XP.

[Rudra]

No badge please. Would just like to start playing when I log in on a character instead of spending upwards of 10 minutes committing suicide to get rid of bonus xp for not doing anything. If I have to pay X inf' to get it from P2W? That's fine with me. I'd be willing to pay 1,000,000 inf or so for a No Patrol XP power. Sure.

[Completist]

But... why?

 

Do 5 blue bars bother you that much? Or is it that you want to keep XP on, but not level up faster than normal?

[Rudra]

Having the blue bars does annoy me. Greatly. And yes, when I turn xp back on, I want to level at a normal rate. I hated the addition of patrol xp back on Live. If I had been on the forums then and been aware the devs were looking at implementing it, I would have ranted emphatically about it before implementation in hopes they would at least give the option to not get it.

 

Edit: If it helps for clarification, as I said 2 posts up, I hate get xp for doing nothing. And that is what patrol xp is. You get a pile of xp up to limit based on how long you are logged off for. Then as you earn xp, that free xp is converted to "earned" xp at a 1:1 rate. I've walked away from multiple games because they started forcing xp down my throat. At least with CoX, the patrol xp is there, but does not count to anything until you earn xp in a conventional way. It is still bonus xp, forced double xp time unless you take the time to commit suicide with your characters to burn off the patrol xp. And if you're less than 10? You can't even do that. You have to get the patrol xp. And yes, the way I play several of my characters? It takes me multiple days to get to 10. Moreso since when I log in and see blue bar xp, I turn off that characters xp until I think I've missed enough to compensate.

Edited August 12, 2022 by Rudra

[Black Zot]

I'm fine with adding options, as long as they remain OPTIONS.  A (default-off) switch to disable patrol XP for a character, which is what the OP claims to be looking for, is fine and dandy.

 

It's the inevitable demands by Team City of Dark Souls for this to be extended to default-on for everyone that I'll have a problem with.

[Rudra]

Being default off makes sense. Can't imagine there would be that many others like me this crazy obsessive about this.

[Arc-Mage]

On 8/10/2022 at 4:10 PM, Oklahoman said:

I guess I don't understand the problem here, but maybe something you can get from P2W to turn it off, much like you can decline certain inspirations, etc.? Seems like that wouldn't be too hard to make, even if only @Rudra uses it. 🙂 Someone will want a badge attached to refusing x amount of Patrol XP.

lmao, turn off Patrol XP so the toon can be tracked for a badge, for not wanting to be tracked, is still tracking the toon. 

[Darmian]

I've not checked this, but do you get Patrol XP for logging off inside a mission in the AE?

 

I suppose, like the base monitor badge, it might default to an AE day job. I don't know.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Darmian

[Rudra]

When you log off while in a mission, AE or other, you are in that area, not the mission. So yes, you accrue patrol xp regardless of where you log off.

 

Edit: It is like bases. As long as you are in the vicinity of a base portal, you are at the Monitor Duty day job location. So logging off in your base is you logging off outside your base at the base portal. Instances do not have locations. So your location if you log off or are disconnected while in an instance, base or mission, is at the instance entrance on the zone map your character is on.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Rudra

[Wavicle]

Just turn off XP gain entirely for long enough that you feel you've "earned" the extra xp. Problem solved.

[Rudra]

I already turn off xp. I also go out and commit suicide until the blue bar is gone. See my comment 7 posts up for why.

[Wavicle]

11 hours ago, Rudra said:

I already turn off xp. I also go out and commit suicide until the blue bar is gone. See my comment 7 posts up for why.

Great, sounds like you found the solution to your own problem!

[Rudra]

I figured this suggestion would be murdered in the cradle, but would you be willing to explain your opposition? The option would be default off, so no one would even notice it unless they looked for it and they would have to be enabled by the player if they wanted it. It does not empower any power sets or make the game any easier. It does not nerf any power sets or make the game any harder.

 

So the opposition has me confused.

[TheZag]

If a dev feels so inclined to add a no patrol xp option then i dont see why there is a problem.  I imagine it would be easiest to do as a temp power through p2w and revoking it to restore patrol xp.

[JasperStone]

Don't see the need.

But if it helps you, sure.

[Mallador]

@Rudra So, temporary Patrol XP ruins your experience for every game you play, for every character, even when that temporary XP is only about 50% (in CoH) and effects generally one level of your character?  Even the badge itself bothers you...  This bonus XP won't let you just out-level all your Contacts and you will eventually have to reach the level cap and beyond.  Additionally, if you're worried about "...getting XP for doing nothing," then I have other questions: Do you play alone?  Do you search for teams?  How exactly useful are you on said teams (if you play on teams) and are you useful enough that you believe you deserve the amount of increased XP you're receiving compared to playing alone?  Are you fine with the bonus XP that many mission arcs give you after you complete them, since that is also "free XP"?  Do you have any 50s yet and have you enjoyed the journey of leveling them up as you previously explained?  If you don't have any 50s yet and you've been playing as you've previously explained, how do you know that Patrol XP effects you that much if you've never done a comparison test (assuming) versus the hours you play the game (and a particular character) a week?  If you like RP and you just want to stay lower level then just turn off the XP entirely for as long as you want, or for whatever other reason you have, I don't know.  Your obsession for this seems a bit excessive, especially since you already found a "solution" to it at the moment.  You seem to make the game (and every other game) miserable for yourself and that's on you, in which I feel bad for you that you live like that and can't enjoy many games you find.

 

I'm fine if there's no Patrol XP or if there is--I forget about it entirely.  I'm fine if you reach out to the HC team and talk to them about adding a Patrol XP on/off switch somewhere because it bothers you so much (and who knows who else).  What I'm not ok with is you just having this (odd) obsession that is ruining your experience in so many games you play and just trying to basically "deal with it" while playing the game anyways.  It's supposed to be entertainment and I'm not sure if you're just purposely trying to find a problem to ruin your gaming experience or if it's something that you never asked for--if it's the latter (or former), work to change it.  I have a couple friends with very odd obsessions similar to yours (relating to games) and it makes some of them literally sick or it fills them with pure rage.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Mallador
Fixing a sentence.

[Rudra]

2 hours ago, Mallador said:

Do you play alone? 

Yes. Most of the time.

 

2 hours ago, Mallador said:

Do you search for teams? 

No. Never.

 

2 hours ago, Mallador said:

How exactly useful are you on said teams (if you play on teams)

When I team with my friends, I at least hold my own. Sometimes I do more than my friends. Sometimes they do more than me.

 

2 hours ago, Mallador said:

are you useful enough that you believe you deserve the amount of increased XP you're receiving compared to playing alone?

What?

 

2 hours ago, Mallador said:

Are you fine with the bonus XP that many mission arcs give you after you complete them, since that is also "free XP"?

Mission reward XP does not bother me. I did the mission, I completed it. I'm fine with earning rewards.

 

2 hours ago, Mallador said:

Do you have any 50s yet and have you enjoyed the journey of leveling them up as you previously explained? 

Yes. I have several 50s. I also have most of my characters in the teens to 30s range. I suffer from alt-itis. (Edit: Actually my level range for non-50s is 6-40. Apologies for the error.)

 

2 hours ago, Mallador said:

If you don't have any 50s yet and you've been playing as you've previously explained, how do you know that Patrol XP effects you that much if you've never done a comparison test (assuming) versus the hours you play the game (and a particular character) a week? 

Not relevant. Either as a stand alone question or in consideration that I already have fully incarnated 50s.

 

2 hours ago, Mallador said:

 If you like RP and you just want to stay lower level then just turn off the XP entirely for as long as you want, or for whatever other reason you have, I don't know. 

I stopped RP'ing quite some time ago. I spend most of my time alone. I also don't understand the relevance of this comment. RP'ing won't stop me from leveling. As for turning off XP, as I have said on multiple occasions even in this thread, I do turn off XP. It is the only way to play through all the content without having to go through Ouroboros.

 

2 hours ago, Mallador said:

Your obsession for this seems a bit excessive

Yeah, I agree. However, seeing upwards of 10 bars of blue XP telling me I got that much XP for doing absolutely nothing is upsetting. I can't explain it.

 

2 hours ago, Mallador said:

You seem to make the game (and every other game) miserable for yourself and that's on you, in which I feel bad for you that you live like that and can't enjoy many games you find.

I actually enjoy a great many games. They don't force XP down my throat for blinking and sneezing though. I quit Vivid Army (Top War) because everything I did immediately leveled me at least 1 level. So finding a stable point to build up was impossible until you were max level. So your level 80 account would be competing against fully developed level 80 accounts with no means to do anything to anyone. I like earning my progress. I enjoy taking the time to develop a character. I enjoy playing CoX. I hate being made to level to 50 as quickly as other players seem to like, and the fact the game has progressively been moving in that direction even back on Live is aggravating.

 

2 hours ago, Mallador said:

What I'm not ok with is you just having this (odd) obsession that is ruining your experience in so many games you play and just trying to basically "deal with it" while playing the game anyways. 

So... uhm... I'm not sure how to take this... it reads like you are saying to just quit the game, but the rest of the post says otherwise.

 

2 hours ago, Mallador said:

It's supposed to be entertainment and I'm not sure if you're just purposely trying to find a problem to ruin your gaming experience or if it's something that you never asked for--if it's the latter (or former), work to change it.

That was the purpose of this thread. I fully expect this thread to die a horrible death on the forums and be buried under concrete with warning signs posted to not approach the grave. However, I am hoping that even if each and every one of my characters has to pay an exorbitant fee at P2W, that some option to no longer be subject to patrol XP is available so I can stop spending the first 10 minutes of my game time committing suicide with each character I decide to play that day.

 

Edit: Oh yeah. The blue bars of XP don't give a badge or have one associated with them. The badge comment was in response to someone commenting that someone was going to eventually ask for a badge for not getting patrol XP if this suggestion were to somehow be implemented.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Rudra

[Mallador]

@Rudra "are you useful enough that you believe you deserve the amount of increased XP you're receiving compared to playing alone?"

You said you don't like any extra experience whatsoever, then, since you have a problem with even a little bit of extra experience, are you okay with being given increased amounts of experience while playing on a team--assuming that the team leader increases the difficulty and you think you're doing good enough on your part that you deserve that increased team XP gain?  Normally you level faster in a group than alone when going up the chain.

 

"If you don't have any 50s yet and you've been playing as you've previously explained, how do you know that Patrol XP effects you that much if you've never done a comparison test (assuming) versus the hours you play the game (and a particular character) a week? "

This is relevant because, as you even replied, "I already have fully incarnated 50s."  You don't want additional experience no matter how little it matters in grand scale of the game and end game.  You have 50s, what do you do with them now?  What exactly matters to you when you level a character...  the stories/arcs?  Simply playing until you get to level 50+?  Leveling so that you can unlock the cool abilities?  Patrol XP is like a drop in a bucket so I'm confused for what you want exactly and why it's a problem.  You said you don't want any free XP given to you, but why exactly?  As you said you can't explain it, I get that, things can be weird like that.  Depending on your goal for playing the game and leveling characters however, this could answer questions as to why Patrol XP might bother you or as to why your obsession against Patrol XP is just something completely random you can't control (or can).

 

" If you like RP and you just want to stay lower level then just turn off the XP entirely for as long as you want, or for whatever other reason you have, I don't know. "

This is also relevant.  RP takes many, many different forms.  Even just thinking yourself as this cool character of justice, defeating the villains and enjoying slowly cleaning the streets from baddies while you play, is RP.  You said you that you want to play ALL the content and fully complete ALL contacts so that you don't have to go through Ouroboros--this could be you simply wanting to enjoy the ride while even having your own internal RP thoughts.  If this is the reason you don't want Patrol XP, then how do you know that Patrol XP is exactly what allows you to over level some of your contacts?  Obviously additional XP is additional XP, but I'm not sure if you would over level contacts simply because of a boost of ~50% XP, though it's entirely possible.  So, the answer (or the closest answer) to your Patrol XP obsession is that you want to do all the content in all areas naturally without any additional XP, which is more understandable than where we were at before.  Also you get Patrol XP because you're supposedly (as I see it) performing off duty patrol when you're offline, so your character in the world of CoH doesn't just vanish when you log off, they go somewhere, which is patrol.  "You have spent your free time making the streets of Paragon City a safer place for its citizens earning the Patroller Day Job."

 

"I actually enjoy a great many games. They don't force XP down my throat for blinking and sneezing though."

I've been playing countless games from all kinds of sources since 04, so I know what you mean by that.  In my own opinion, CoH doesn't do that with Patrol XP (plus they at least tie it in with some explanation as to why you get it), especially since I was an alt-aholic in my past and I never got many of my characters anywhere so it didn't matter.  The couple characters I focused on though, I was able to complete everything without any problems.  I see what you mean though and I get what you are worried about now--some games are horrid with the giving out of free XP, but CoH is no where near as bad as 95% of those games on my personal scale.

 

"So... uhm... I'm not sure how to take this... it reads like you are saying to just quit the game, but the rest of the post says otherwise." 

If you're having fun still stay of course, though from past readings of your posts it sounds like you're being tortured to me.  Basically, depending on whether you've created this problem yourself or if it's just something you can't help, even if you don't know why you feel this way, or, if it's because you've created the issue yourself without even knowing about it, you should then try to not let this mentally ruin your games.  The reason I said this, was because it sounded like your time in CoH had been absolutely soul wrenching the way some things were phrased (to me), yet you've still tried to just trudge through it and play although you're in so much pain... "I am hoping that even if each and every one of my characters has to pay an exorbitant fee at P2W, that some option to no longer be subject to patrol XP is available so I can stop spending the first 10 minutes of my game time committing suicide with each character I decide to play that day."  As well as manually stopping your XP gains and worrying about everything else other than just enjoying the game and playing.  Sounded like there was little fun to be found in the game with phrasings like this.

 

The simple answer, if you want it... I hope they add an option somewhere so that people like you can turn off/on Patrol XP so that you can enjoy your time playing how exactly you want, as it's 100% possible to do so and it's not asking for the impossible.  My whole post was mainly directed to figuring out your pain and frustrations as to why such little extra experience would completely botch all of your gaming experiences, in this game and many others.  There are just some things that people shouldn't worry over (doesn't mean they can't request for "it" to be changed/added) and if they didn't their free time would be filled with a more relaxing time instead of a constant, unnecessary frustration--met many, many friends and other people like that.  Not going against you and I'm not trying to drag your argument into the grave.  It's all love, although I may not phrase things entirely as such.

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Mallador
Fixing a sentence.

[Rudra]

1 hour ago, Mallador said:

assuming that the team leader increases the difficulty and you think you're doing good enough on your part that you deserve that increased team XP gain?

Typically, I'm the team leader when teaming. Unless my brain is fired in which case a friend is leader instead. And while on the team, our difficulty is either +0/x1 if I'm running, or lower if one of my friends (specifically) is running. And I view any increased xp as the price to pay for running around with my friends. Not that it seems like we're actually getting any extra XP. We keep our teams small.

 

1 hour ago, Mallador said:

You have 50s, what do you do with them now?

Most of them? Nothing. There are a few 50s I use when I am teaming with my friends. Because those are the characters they prefer I run. Otherwise? I'm usually doddering around somewhere on a lower level character. Though sometimes I break out a 50, or an incarnate 50, to run end game content by myself.

 

1 hour ago, Mallador said:

What exactly matters to you when you level a character...  the stories/arcs?

Depends on my mood.

 

1 hour ago, Mallador said:

You said you don't want any free XP given to you, but why exactly?

Aside from the perception that it is being forced down my throat? Or aside from the fact having the blue bars of patrol xp triggers something that makes me moderately angry? (Possibly because of the perception that xp is being shoved down my throat unless I spend an unpleasant amount of time finding mobs to just stand in and die from over and over and over before it feels like I can finally play the character.) Like I already said, I can't explain it beyond I just don't.

 

1 hour ago, Mallador said:

You said you that you want to play ALL the content and fully complete ALL contacts so that you don't have to go through Ouroboros

I didn't say that. I said I played all content without having to go through Ouroboros. I'm fine with using Ouroboros aside from the fact that some missions that seem to be critical to parts of the story aren't in it.

 

1 hour ago, Mallador said:

If this is the reason you don't want Patrol XP, then how do you know that Patrol XP is exactly what allows you to over level some of your contacts? 

Even if I burn through all my patrol xp, I still have to turn off xp to be able to play all the content in any given level range short of 50. So playing with patrol xp while gaining xp would rocket me past much of the content. And yes, I turn off xp to make sure that doesn't happen. (So I often wind up having to run papers/radios after all content in any given range is complete to level to the next set.)

 

1 hour ago, Mallador said:

Also you get Patrol XP because you're supposedly (as I see it) performing off duty patrol when you're offline, so your character in the world of CoH doesn't just vanish when you log off, they go somewhere, which is patrol.  "You have spent your free time making the streets of Paragon City a safer place for its citizens earning the Patroller Day Job."

Yep. That is the reason given for patrol xp. Even if you are at a day job location like Ferryman/Ferrywoman. You're working on a ferry earning patrol xp running around making the city safer or progressing your next scheme. Even if you are working a ferry. Or sitting in Icon fetching apparel for Serge to work his magic updating heroes' costumes. Or working at a store selling whatever origin goods they carry. (Edit: Or just sitting at a dock fishing.)

 

Appreciate the concern. I do actually enjoy playing CoX. Despite its age, it is a much better game with less flaws than some of its "successors". (Looking at you in particular, CO, with your broken item placement literally everywhere, impossibly easy enemies outside of very specific individuals, excessive use of puns for every mission name, ... ... ... I should stop this before it turns into a full blown rant....) Anyway, I do enjoy CoX, even if I might do a very poor job of presenting that. And I apologize for that. It's just things like the patrol xp that does a pretty good job of triggering my smash-maim-kill-make it go away already response.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Rudra

[Ruin Mage]

I tend to forget patrol XP is a thing.

Sure, options are cool and all. Forum Cop gives his thumbs up.