It gets lonely out there...

[Squishee]

Howdy y'all, 

 

I have recently joined Homecoming a few weeks ago. I played CoH/CoV 2009-2011, mostly CoV. I am still trying to get my sea legs here, as there is some differences to what I remember about the original game. When I first signed up for Homecoming and installed the game, I saw two more populated servers and randomly picked one, only to find out I picked the one (Everlasting) that is more oriented towards role playing. I switched over to Excelsior server after I learned that because I am not a role player.

 

I loved this game back in the day and am thrilled to be back. However, as I am sure y'all know, the game is just not populated, at least on red side, as it once was. It's pretty empty. In the couple/three weeks that I have been on Homecoming, I have found exactly 3 mission teams. I don't like to farm up on AE so I stay away from that. I prefer to level up by doing mission arcs and chasing badges and reward merits. I can tell from observing global chat that there are more folks over on blue side, but I just don't like it nearly as much as red side. 

 

I am a bit shy so it doesn't come easy to me, to try reach out and make friends. I do try to greet others when I see them in game, but so far no luck making any friends. Mostly I have been soloing with my brute and he is now level 37. I registered an sg so I could make a base and store my salvage and stuff. However, it is getting pretty lonely just mostly playing solo every day. I do have one friend from another game I play who made a MM and he occasionally comes on and plays with me, but he isn't on very often. 

 

If anyone would like a buddy to run missions with red side, feel free to friend me. My global is @Squishey. I live on the west coast of the US (Pacific Standard Time)  and play mostly in the afternoons and sometimes late evenings. If you have an active SG red side on Excelsior, I would be happy to add an alt there. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Happy questing y'all. 🙂

[MoonSheep]

yeah redside is quite dead, it’s mostly TFs that are ran

 

do you monitor the LFG channel? it’ll make it easier to spot redside TFs forming

[Shred Monkey]

I think on Redside, if you form your own teams, you'll easily find people to join.  But if you're looking to join others who are forming, that's much more frequent on blueside by far.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Shred Monkey

[ZemX]

1 minute ago, Shred Monkey said:

I think on Redside, if you form your own teams, you'll easily find people to join.  But if you're looking to join others who are forming, that's much more frequent on blueside by far.

 

I was just writing the same thing and you beat me to it. 😈

 

Yeah, you gotta be willing to run the teams yourself.  Call it soloing but with team advertisements.  Start a mission arc and occasionally advertise in LFG that you are running REDSIDE (yes, all caps) missions.   Say REDSIDE more than once because people will still try to join your team from blue side.  e.g. "LFM: Running contact missions / papers REDSIDE at level 'n'.  Come to REDSIDE and send tell for an invite."  And then just run the missions.  You may get some people joining you.

 

Also, regarding Everalsting: (1) You don't need to roleplay there.  (2) It sometimes, oddly enough, has more people redside than Excelsior, despite having fewer overall people on the server.  Server transfers are free so bop back there and test the waters redside sometime to see if it's more active than Excel or not.  Not saying it will be.  I've never tried to run exclusively red there, but who knows... could surprise you.

[Scarlet Shocker]

I've played on all four servers. I did spend a lot of time on Excelsior but I found it mostly people hanging in the Pocket D AE, so I've gone from there to Everlasting. Redside is not as empty as you think there and if you shout out you'll often get a team quickly enough

 

[Story Archer]

4 hours ago, Squishee said:

Howdy y'all, 

 

I have recently joined Homecoming a few weeks ago. I played CoH/CoV 2009-2011, mostly CoV. I am still trying to get my sea legs here, as there is some differences to what I remember about the original game. When I first signed up for Homecoming and installed the game, I saw two more populated servers and randomly picked one, only to find out I picked the one (Everlasting) that is more oriented towards role playing. I switched over to Excelsior server after I learned that because I am not a role player.

 

I loved this game back in the day and am thrilled to be back. However, as I am sure y'all know, the game is just not populated, at least on red side, as it once was. It's pretty empty. In the couple/three weeks that I have been on Homecoming, I have found exactly 3 mission teams. I don't like to farm up on AE so I stay away from that. I prefer to level up by doing mission arcs and chasing badges and reward merits. I can tell from observing global chat that there are more folks over on blue side, but I just don't like it nearly as much as red side. 

 

I am a bit shy so it doesn't come easy to me, to try reach out and make friends. I do try to greet others when I see them in game, but so far no luck making any friends. Mostly I have been soloing with my brute and he is now level 37. I registered an sg so I could make a base and store my salvage and stuff. However, it is getting pretty lonely just mostly playing solo every day. I do have one friend from another game I play who made a MM and he occasionally comes on and plays with me, but he isn't on very often. 

 

If anyone would like a buddy to run missions with red side, feel free to friend me. My global is @Squishey. I live on the west coast of the US (Pacific Standard Time)  and play mostly in the afternoons and sometimes late evenings. If you have an active SG red side on Excelsior, I would be happy to add an alt there. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Happy questing y'all. 🙂

 

I've had a similar experience - I pretty much gave up Redside play after a while and I suspect that many have done the same for the same reasons... meaning that if everyone who had switched to Blue because Red was dead had chosen to stay, Red side might not be nearly as quiet. Perhaps we should make some sort of community effort to lead a Redside renaissance?

 

Additionally, the game has a lot fewer new members than it had in the day - I only recently rediscovered that it had come back myself - and with vets making up such a high percentage of players, there seems to be a lot more 50+ / Farming / Incarnate activity than anything else, with most characters just power-leveled up to where the vets don't feel constrained by the more traditional grind. That can make people trying to play through actual content feel pretty lonely at times too, especially those stricken with sever alt-itis like myself, so I feel you. 

 

At the end of the day if we want there to be change, we can't wait around for it, we have to make it ourselves, so you'll probably be happier if you get outside of your comfort zone a little bit and try to invite other players, as suggested above. The one thing that hasn't changed is the incredible (and in my opinion unique) spirit of helpfulness and community that the players in this game share.

[Without_Pause]

5 minutes ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

I've played on all four servers. I did spend a lot of time on Excelsior but I found it mostly people hanging in the Pocket D AE, so I've gone from there to Everlasting.

 

I'm not saying there aren't a lot of people in Pocket D, but I can see non-farm teams being filled asap to where if I don't instantly send a tell saying I'm switching, by the time I do switch the team is filled. 

 

I've never did any roleplaying on either RP server here or on Live. If you are looking for people on redside, Excel will still be the best for it. If you want to do specific content with teams, then yes, start that team.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Without_Pause

[Doomguide2005]

Heck Everlasting may very well get more Redside folks just because it's the "roleplay" server.  Folks are there because they want to roleplay being a little less noble than a hero but as mentioned above we and the server in general have many folks who do it casually if at all.  Also see Null the Gull in Pocket D.  If not familiar with Null he's a literally seagull bird npc sitting a top a truck (REDSIDE of the D) who can do all sorts of interesting things including altering your alignment basically at will.  Become a Rogue and be able to move between Red and Blue with Red being the primary side while some restrictions occur if you are Blueside.  Gives you options anyway.  Consider joining the Repeat Offenders Network we are a relatively active SG and we run both blue and red side content.  Currently in fact there's a group of us running an all VEATS team through the VEAT arcs on REDSIDE (Thursdays, currently in our upper teens for level).  We would be happy to have another RO member to join the fray with us and most of us while predominantly Blueside do run on Redside with fair regularity and often you can find folks who will jump over to help or join you.

 

@Doomguide in game, currently running a VEAT on the above mentioned grouping.  You can catch one of us RO folks online daily at all sorts of hours.  I'll drop back in and make sure I've exact channel name (custom channel) correct to reach someone that way after the servers comeback up.  You should also be able to find a thread in the Supergroup forums to find us.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Doomguide2005

[Snarky]

6 hours ago, Squishee said:

Howdy y'all, 

 

I have recently joined Homecoming a few weeks ago. I played CoH/CoV 2009-2011, mostly CoV. I am still trying to get my sea legs here, as there is some differences to what I remember about the original game. When I first signed up for Homecoming and installed the game, I saw two more populated servers and randomly picked one, only to find out I picked the one (Everlasting) that is more oriented towards role playing. I switched over to Excelsior server after I learned that because I am not a role player.

 

I loved this game back in the day and am thrilled to be back. However, as I am sure y'all know, the game is just not populated, at least on red side, as it once was. It's pretty empty. In the couple/three weeks that I have been on Homecoming, I have found exactly 3 mission teams. I don't like to farm up on AE so I stay away from that. I prefer to level up by doing mission arcs and chasing badges and reward merits. I can tell from observing global chat that there are more folks over on blue side, but I just don't like it nearly as much as red side. 

 

I am a bit shy so it doesn't come easy to me, to try reach out and make friends. I do try to greet others when I see them in game, but so far no luck making any friends. Mostly I have been soloing with my brute and he is now level 37. I registered an sg so I could make a base and store my salvage and stuff. However, it is getting pretty lonely just mostly playing solo every day. I do have one friend from another game I play who made a MM and he occasionally comes on and plays with me, but he isn't on very often. 

 

If anyone would like a buddy to run missions with red side, feel free to friend me. My global is @Squishey. I live on the west coast of the US (Pacific Standard Time)  and play mostly in the afternoons and sometimes late evenings. If you have an active SG red side on Excelsior, I would be happy to add an alt there. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Happy questing y'all. 🙂

I started on live, Redside, on Liberty.  For 6 months.  Because I did not know better.  Had a blast.  Deserted. Switched to Freedumb.  Slightly more active redside.  
 

Redside, Bestside!   (Deadside).  Always been so.  
 

Welcome home!!!!   Yomo is giving away a chunk of change to anyone ghat sends him an email.  Do that.  I will bump his thread to the top of general so you can find details 

[Greycat]

7 hours ago, Squishee said:

only to find out I picked the one (Everlasting) that is more oriented towards role playing. I switched over to Excelsior server after I learned that because I am not a role player.

 

 

There's plenty of non-RP teams on Everlasting. I'd say it's *mostly* non RP, with people there for the population. You don't have to roleplay on the server. Half the time it's just chat going on anyway. If you mostly avoid Pocket D, you'll miss most of the public RP. *shrug*

 

Given we've got three double-Hamis and at least two MSRs a night going on (and ... next sunday? Quick Trix is running her "smushening," at least 12 hours *straight* of MSRs...) as well as fairly steady monster hunt teams- well, you won't be hurting for activity.

[Black Talon]

Welcome to the revolution, Squishee.

 

To be quick about it - for myself, yes, I did have the full crew on Redside, Back In The Day, but have only bothered to recreate and play one on Homecoming; Torchbearer, specifically.  That boy, who hit 50 long, long ago, does solo missions almost exclusively; he's exhausted the contacts so these days it's either rent himself out to Vanguard or check those classifieds.

 

I do agree with MoonSheep, Shred Monkey and ZemX wholeheartedly; get on that LFG channel, proclaim loudly that, like The Kid from the unexpurgated version of The Stand, you'd piss Redside if you could, and are looking for others who want to taste societal extremes.

 

If you have any inclination to "play for both teams", as it were, it is perfectly possible to visit Null the Gull in Pocket D, have your alt go Rogue, do both the Hero/Villain thing as you see fit, and double your chances of a date on Saturday night.  Otherwise, just very pleased to see you over here, looking forward to be able to exchange "hellos" if we're on the same server, and very much hoping that you can find the teams you're looking for in this resurrected, recalibrated funhouse.  All best.

 

[Go0gleplex]

I switch between blue, red, and gold as the mood hits. But I'm also solo by preference. One thing I have noted is that there are fewer transition contacts between zones, especially Mercy and Oakes unless you've joined up with Graves. That is a bit of an unwelcome headache...as well as the villain missions not really seeming all that villain-like outside of textual context. 

 

I'm mainly on Torch but never seen things totally deserted yet...I always seem to run into one or three other toons flitting about. 

[Scranker]

Hiya Squishee, I'll shoot ya a global friend request. I also play on Excelsior (though mostly on blueside), but almost all of my toons are either Vigilante or Rogue--so zipping over to team with you on redside won't be a prob. And I'm an Eastern Time night-owl so my play times probably synch up decently with yours.

[Snarky]

6 minutes ago, Scranker said:

Hiya Squishee, I'll shoot ya a global friend request. I also play on Excelsior (though mostly on blueside), but almost all of my toons are either Vigilante or Rogue--so zipping over to team with you on redside won't be a prob. And I'm an Eastern Time night-owl so my play times probably synch up decently with yours.

[Doomguide2005]

18 minutes ago, Snarky said:

What happens to Snarky when he gets too much sun.  An even more beautiful complexion.

[Snarky]

37 minutes ago, Doomguide2005 said:

What happens to Snarky when he gets too much sun.  An even more beautiful complexion.

[Doomguide2005]

1 minute ago, Snarky said:

A whole new level to Sun Burn.  Never leave home coffin without your spf 10,000 and a suitably fashionable trench coat

[Snarky]

25 minutes ago, Doomguide2005 said:

A whole new level to Sun Burn.  Never leave home coffin without your spf 10,000 and a suitably fashionable trench coat

and a winning smile

[Squishee]

6 hours ago, Scranker said:

Hiya Squishee, I'll shoot ya a global friend request. I also play on Excelsior (though mostly on blueside), but almost all of my toons are either Vigilante or Rogue--so zipping over to team with you on redside won't be a prob. And I'm an Eastern Time night-owl so my play times probably synch up decently with yours.

Thank you so much!!! 🙂

[Shenanigunner]

Hey, Squishee... I hear ya on all of that. Welcome back.

[GM Crumpet]

On 12/5/2023 at 10:39 AM, Squishee said:

Howdy y'all, 

 

I have recently joined Homecoming a few weeks ago. I played CoH/CoV 2009-2011, mostly CoV. I am still trying to get my sea legs here, as there is some differences to what I remember about the original game. When I first signed up for Homecoming and installed the game, I saw two more populated servers and randomly picked one, only to find out I picked the one (Everlasting) that is more oriented towards role playing. I switched over to Excelsior server after I learned that because I am not a role player.

 

I loved this game back in the day and am thrilled to be back. However, as I am sure y'all know, the game is just not populated, at least on red side, as it once was. It's pretty empty. In the couple/three weeks that I have been on Homecoming, I have found exactly 3 mission teams. I don't like to farm up on AE so I stay away from that. I prefer to level up by doing mission arcs and chasing badges and reward merits. I can tell from observing global chat that there are more folks over on blue side, but I just don't like it nearly as much as red side. 

 

I am a bit shy so it doesn't come easy to me, to try reach out and make friends. I do try to greet others when I see them in game, but so far no luck making any friends. Mostly I have been soloing with my brute and he is now level 37. I registered an sg so I could make a base and store my salvage and stuff. However, it is getting pretty lonely just mostly playing solo every day. I do have one friend from another game I play who made a MM and he occasionally comes on and plays with me, but he isn't on very often. 

 

If anyone would like a buddy to run missions with red side, feel free to friend me. My global is @Squishey. I live on the west coast of the US (Pacific Standard Time)  and play mostly in the afternoons and sometimes late evenings. If you have an active SG red side on Excelsior, I would be happy to add an alt there. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Happy questing y'all. 🙂

There is a large difference to live, in that now people often have their own SG and base filled with their own alts as a handy storage and transport hub. On live that was more difficult due to the sheer cost of running an SG with prestige requirements.

 

Saying that, there are are open SG's on all the shards, and they are very good at welcoming and helping new and returning players. If you do regular events on the different shards like Mothership Raid, Hamidon, costume contests etc you can throw out a desire to join an SG and there is a high probability of an invite. Not guaranteed, but many of the organisers of those events are in open SG's.

Edited December 6, 2023 by GM Crumpet

[Bionic_Flea]

Hi Squishey!  Welcome home.

 

I play on Excelsior.  Although I haven't been on much lately, I should be on a lot more during the holiday season.

 

It's true that red side is a lot slower than blue side.  If you really want to feel lonely, try starting a Praetorian (gold side).

 

I also tend to play mostly solo as I may need to stop in the middle of a game session to attend to work or family issues.  But if someone calls for help to complete something, I almost always volunteer.

[Scarlet Shocker]

I did try a few times to get some teamage together goldside, and those attempts failed spectactularly with less of a whimper than the dampest squib.

 

That might be me, perhaps my eau du cologne doesn't suit, or perhaps it's gold side, which seems to get less player love than even the reddest zones.

 

More likely it's just that people tend to stick with what they know and they already have stuff going on, and not that many people seem to enjoy running actual content consistently these days.

 

That said if you wanted to team, you're welcome to find me (mostly on Everlasting) and my global is @Riff - if I'm not busy I'll gladly accompany you on the road less travelled, especially if it involves bashing the heads of goody two-shoes heroes!

[CFIndustries]

I play redside when the opportunity presents itself, I quite enjoy it, but loathe leading so…my own worst enemy I guess. Unfortunately for the OP, I'm also on Torch and too lazy-minded to shard hop.

[Snarky]

7 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

I did try a few times to get some teamage together goldside, and those attempts failed spectactularly with less of a whimper than the dampest squib.

 

That might be me, perhaps my eau du cologne doesn't suit, or perhaps it's gold side, which seems to get less player love than even the reddest zones.

 

More likely it's just that people tend to stick with what they know and they already have stuff going on, and not that many people seem to enjoy running actual content consistently these days.

 

That said if you wanted to team, you're welcome to find me (mostly on Everlasting) and my global is @Riff - if I'm not busy I'll gladly accompany you on the road less travelled, especially if it involves bashing the heads of goody two-shoes heroes!

the only time i teamed goldside was an SG "crawl" through all content.  that had it's own issues in that over weeks we lost peeps and it was very hard to keep everyone on the same mission that was doing the arc.  Goldside just be that way.