Is early Praetoria (level 1-20) really that difficult?

[JJDrakken]

Gold is harder then say Blue. Most folks just stick to Blue. It's easy(Face roll easy). Least on my server, most players rather sit on a farm or 50 group and get PL'd. Having someone else play the game for them.

 

From easy to harder for it's level range: Blue, Red, Gold.  (Though red can spike over gold with stuff like say Goldbrickers & Longbow).

 

Gotta realize, your facing stuff that you normally wouldn't see at specific levels.  Lvl 1 alone, your already facing Energy & Psionic attacks.  With lots of Mez & AOE.  So you decide we'll I'll team up.  That just means more of that.

 

Well, lets make optimal team.  Say 4 man team of a Tank, Mastermind, Controller, & a Corrupter.

 

Doesn't matter what you bring, at those levels, it's going be hard. From Explosions, CC, Dmg types you don't normally face at lower levels on Blue. (Though Red is very well aware of that).  The mobs AI is a bit better in it's cycling of attacks.  They'll actually run away and try bring friends back, etc..

 

Ghouls...man...Pack Tactics is their foray.  If your not paying attention and just smacking away, not understand why stuff not dropping or as fast as you like. Probably a Painted One hiding in there healing & Buffing.

 

Many mobs make use of Leadership buffs inherent.  Even if you have decked out 50s, Mal' downed with n00b leader, forking out missions. It's still going have rough patches.

Edited January 30 by JJDrakken

[Snarky]

3 hours ago, JJDrakken said:

Well, lets make optimal team.  Say 4 man team of a Tank, Mastermind, Controller, & a Corrupter.

 

Doesn't matter what you bring, at those levels, it's going be hard. From Explosions, CC, Dmg types you don't normally face at lower levels on Blue. (Though Red is very well aware of that).  The mobs AI is a bit better in it's cycling of attacks.  They'll actually run away and try bring friends back, etc..

 

When Cosmic Council was active (the gold old/new/old days?) we regularly started a team and leveled through content.  One such weekly team did a Gold run.  i was on a Dark Blaster.  Everyone ran what they wanted.  I am nearly positive we ran at +o/x1.  But I seem to remember the leader always itching to crank it, so he may have bumped it a bit.  It went smooth and easy.  Except for keeping everyone in the same storyline, as it was easy to miss a 'talk to' and get off track from the groups mission line.  

 

Now, it was easy, but....    This was Cosmic Council.  At least 3-4 heavy hitters (not me) who were mad badgers and great players.  people who did weekly Really Hard Way Magisterium and Incarnate badge collections.  (I usually did those)   And we were coordinating (and laughing) on Discord.  So.... NOT a PUG.  The exact opposite of a PUG.  Now we did not have "required spots" but these people played fun toons that were pretty powerful.  And we were slamming in I/os as fast as levelling in the shallow end allowed.  They used every trick in the book for getting inspirations, team inspirations etc.  Market, stuck in email.  The toons were overtooned, for their miniscule level.  And, again, by and large great players. (again, not counting me, I stumble around like a crazy...me)   and major battles were discussed before and during on Discord.  It was a cake walk.

[A Cat]

I think that Goldside is in general harder. It has the best story though IMO. 

[Water]

No it isn't.

 

But when it was released in 2010  I spent a lot of time working out how to get all of the badges without missing any by changing alignment correctly to do so., It took several attempts and re-rolling to do it and I had a blast during the process, finally being rewarded with what I had worked for. I don't know about the replayability of Gold zone but it is no more difficult than any other zone once you become experienced in the game.

 

[Skyhawke]

For a first timer? I think it would be much harder than blue or red side. Everyone in Praetoria seems to have Super Reflexes and some sort of To Hit buff. Add to that what others have said and it's a pretty unforgiving place to start. I think some of us have lost our perspectives because we've been here with all the changes and new stuff, played, adapted and learned. If you've never played before, it's not where you want to start if you want to not get frustrated quickly. 

[ZekeStenzland]

At +0/x1, on blue/red side you’ll typically encounter about 3 points of mobs — 3 minions or 1 lieut and 1 minion. On gold side, you’ll typically encounter 4-5 points of mobs — 4-5 minions or 1 lieut and 2-3 minions.

 

It makes a difference at the under 20 range. 
 

[Go0gleplex]

That's strange...I've never ever encountered more than 3-4 mobs or 1 Lt + 1-2 mobs or 1 boss +1 mob on any mission I've been on with the exception of those that have the flunky wave attacks with most of my toons.  I have noticed that depending on my AT at the moment those numbers can go up or down. I dropped by one with squishies like Defenders and Corruptors but increased with strong melee ATs like my Fire Melee and Axe Brutes...

[Apogee]

I usually only see 1-3 mobs on most all maps in low end Praetoria (while playing at x1).  I also jog past a lot of mobs (not using stealth) to get to the end of the map to complete the mission, thus avoiding a ton of pointless clearing.  Mobs in Praetoria will not follow you unless you attack them or they are a scripted ambush.  Only a few of the ambushes you actually have to fight, and a lot of those give you NPC helpers.  There really is only one tough ambush and basically you just have to outrun it and try to defeat one guy before they catch up to you.

[Oubliette_Red]

20 minutes ago, Apogee said:

I usually only see 1-3 mobs on most all maps in low end Praetoria (while playing at x1).  I also jog past a lot of mobs (not using stealth) to get to the end of the map to complete the mission, thus avoiding a ton of pointless clearing.  Mobs in Praetoria will not follow you unless you attack them or they are a scripted ambush.  Only a few of the ambushes you actually have to fight, and a lot of those give you NPC helpers.  There really is only one tough ambush and basically you just have to outrun it and try to defeat one guy before they catch up to you.

 

I don't recall a mission that has given me less than 3 mobs, helper or not.

 

[Apogee]

7 hours ago, Oubliette_Red said:

 

I don't recall a mission that has given me less than 3 mobs, helper or not.

 

 

The last mission for Marauder gives you a single Lt in multiple spawn points is one example

[GM Crumpet]

It's not that Praetoria is super hard, it's just harder as a starting point for new players. The tutorial isn't really as helpful as it's more an introduction to Praetoria than it is an introduction to the basic game mechanics. Once you have a few hours playing blue/red under your belt you can do Praetoria reasonably well.

[starro]

Love Praetoria as a hidden spot you cannot steam roll as it is not old familiar starting content.  No ‘death from below’ to run for the dozen times over.  Oh zombies got me. Syndicate eats my scrapper.  I am held.  Ok maybe I need to lower my difficulty settings. Gdamn it I hate the sewers travel. Still cool buildings and art assets. The dialogue is long and lots to read when i solo.