The Officially Unofficial Weekly Discussion #65: How much variety in content do you play?

[DougGraves]

Do you run the same TF every other day?

 

Do you run through the same arcs as you level your character?

 

Between arcs, TFs, AE missions (farms or story content), pvp, blue side, red side, gold side, etc - how varied is the content you are playing?

[Greycat]

I RP. Content's always fresh.

 

As far as dealing strictly with what's in game? I have a variety of characters, so I try to take a variety of paths. About the only common thing I'll try to do is run magic-themed (not necessarily origin) characters through Croatoa. (Also part of why I don't do redside much. Always going to the same place in the same order, even if you're trying to skip around different contacts.)

 

Once in a while I'll hit a bunch of MSRs and/or Hami raids, but that usually runs in streaks.

[Snarky]

I tend to do the same things. But usually pretty big “loops”.

 

My short loop is leveling a fast 50. For it to be fun for me I do not self farm.  That is very grindy.  Instead I take a toon through every TF/SF/Trial in the game.  In level order.  Takes a few days even if not doing anything else.  

 

My current project is taking an AR/Dev Blaster through every contact redside.  Every arc and every side mission. Running Rogue so I can badge Blue/Gold as I roll. I am working 50+ hours a week and just started this two weeks ago. Long time to go.  I have done this type of thing about once a year.  Usually on a Brute.  
 

[UltraAlt]

1 hour ago, DougGraves said:

Do you run the same TF every other day?

 

No.

I might run a task force more than once a week, but with different characters and generally on different servers.

I don't run task forces for merits. I run them to run content on a team.

 

1 hour ago, DougGraves said:

Do you run through the same arcs as you level your character?

 

I run arc based on character conception, but I have outleveled content that I wanted to play with a character because I was running on task forces. 

Over the last several months, I've been trying to keep better track as I level and shut off the xp so that I don't outlevel arcs I want to play with that character.

 

2 hours ago, DougGraves said:

Between arcs, TFs, AE missions (farms or story content), pvp, blue side, red side, gold side, etc - how varied is the content you are playing?

 

I run arcs, TFs, trials, police scanner missions and hunt Giant Monsters on the hero side.

I run arcs, AE missions, and the Summer Blockbuster in co-op zones.

 

I run newspaper missions to get and run mayhem missions on the villain side. I think I have run more than one villain strike force since starting on Homecoming. My rogues tend to team up on the heroside, and I don't have any "villain" characters that don't turn "rogue" pretty quickly after zoning into the game.

 

I haven't created any Praetorian characters, and I have no intention of doing so.

 

[Water]

I mainly PUG TF/SFs to accumulate merits, recipes, salvage, iTrials for incarnate salvage. TFs are easy to get as everyone wants their TFC. Fortunately for me I get a lot of fun from the TFs, even Synapse 😜. Besides, from a Synapse their are tonnes upon tonnes of sundries to acquire due to the insane amount of foes to defeat.

 

Sometimes I'll take a character through a few Ouroboros missions for completion sake or a missing badge. I have some soloists I play occasionally and will slowly take them through the completionist grind.

 

Other times I'll just hang around AP chewing the cud with other players, mainly on Excelsior but sometimes on other shards, less so these days though.

 

I like to think I do any and all content at some time or other but TFs are the current winner for me.

 

Additionally I get involved in the annual events.

 

 

Edited February 1 by Water
addition

[SeraphimKensai]

I tend to very it up as much as I can and typically rotate my toons I'm playing throughout the week for the limited playtime I do get. I do like task forces, but having the time to do them is often problematic with the toddler randomly deciding to wake up half an hour or so after going to bed.

 

Thanks btw @DougGraves for taking these over. You're doing a great job with it.

[FupDup]

I try to mix up which contacts/zones I level through if possible (much easier blueside than redside) and I have a decent mix of both blue/red (usually 1 villain for every 2 heroes). I run a bank mission every 5 levels for the exploration badges. Every once in a while I do tip missions if I get really bored of the normal contacts. I join TF's periodically throughout the journey to speed things along and grab badges/accolodates. 

 

That being said I haven't made a goldsider in a while nor have I done the Croatia arcs for a while either. 

[Xalon]

I have a Kheldian Peacekeeper and an Arachnos Soldier.  Both are really quite fun.

 

I start with doing Atlas contacts and arcs > kings > steel/skyway + boomtown/hollows/etc hazard zones. There is a lot I want to do. The trials and all the taskforces. Even if I outlevel some story arcs, I can always see them in Oro, which is amazing!

 

I thought about stopping xp but after an hour, it ruined the pace for me. So I put it back on and I'm having a blast! 

 

 

I want to do all the contact missions (at least all the story arcs) for all city zones, 1-50. I get some missions to go to hazard zones and when there, I'll explore and pick up a few other missions from contacts, if there are any in the hazard zone I'm in. Even if I don't get to complete everything, I'll at least get to adventure across all zones and hazard zones. And trials in trial zones when I can.

 

 

One question:  

 

What level should I start heading into PVP zones?

What level should I start doing Rikti Invasion zone? 

 

Just need the minimum level so I can start exploring before I outlevel these areas. Any help is appreciated

 

 

[FupDup]

41 minutes ago, Xalon said:

One question:  

 

What level should I start heading into PVP zones?

What level should I start doing Rikti Invasion zone? 

 

Just need the minimum level so I can start exploring before I outlevel these areas. Any help is appreciated

Those are two questions. 😛

 

As a serious answer, you can't actually out level either zone because PVP scales you down when necessary and Rikti stuff scales up to 50. The only limit to worry about is the minimum level, which is 35 for RWZ and variable for the PVP zones.

 

For PVP it might be prudent to build out your character a bit before heading into them, because you still keep set bonuses while you're examplared down (if the enhancements are attuned or give attuned benefits). And you can keep powers/slots up to 5 levels over the level that you're examplared (for example if you're scaled down to level 30 you can keep all your stuff up to level 35). 

[ZorkNemesis]

I admit I don't have a whole lot of variety.  Most of my level up paths follow the same story arcs and I typically play solo.  I do mix up which arcs I play, like sometimes I'll go Hollows while others I play Twinshot.  Gold i'll pick a path based on my character headcannon and what they would do for/against Praetoria. It's rare for me to do radios/papers, but I enjoy tips (devs: please add more allignment tips, they're the best villainous content by far) and often run those between major arcs.  Occasionally I jump into TFs, I keep the LFG tab open and if I see a shout I'm in to i'll go for it, but I generally don't form teams myself.

[Oubliette_Red]

I have redsiders, I have bluesiders, only a few don't switch sides, they run the gamut of freshly minted to 50+, I have goldsiders that... well, they stay goldside because there's nowhere else for them to go until they run out of content or manage to make it to Primal Earth, which not have yet done. I have one goldsider currently running the whole Resistance Betrayal shebang with 36 hours and 8 of the 12 arcs under her belt so far.

 

What I don't spend a lot of time on are TF/SF and Trials. Endgame never interested me much.

 

[Perfidy]

I do have certain things I do with each character. One mainstay is Maria Jenkins' arc. You just can't get Portal Jockey without defeating all those super villains, so doing her arc is essentially required if you want PJ, or you have to tag along to who knows how many PI teams and hope you get lucky. 

The other is an AND/OR type deal. In the high 20's, I'll want to either do a Moonfire TF (vamps/wolves for Atlas Medallion) or the Hansen contact..the third contact in the zone. Lars or Tobias, can't recall which - they have a couple of missions filled with nothing but vamps. You can hunt the wolves any time, but waiting for night on the vamps is tedious to me. Sometimes, I'll do a combo of these things. 

Schweinzer's list of Mayhem missions. I don't actually complete these missions, I just grab the explores for the Invader accolade. All of my characters do this. 

I try to fit in Aaron Thiery's arc because of the spider ops in it. Means less hunting if I can knock those out. I usually get the family in Stephanie Peeble's arc. These defeats go towards the villain equivalent of the Freedom Phalanx accolade. 

The one contact I do try to fit in with each character is younger Yin's story arc. The spacing of the enemies in those missions, well, it just seems perfect for my playstyle. And I do like the ambiance of Daddy Yin's shop, even if the enhancements sold are not very special at all. 

Occasionally, I try to finish Talshek's arc out of the Hollow's simply because of the Atta map. So damned many trolls in there. You can go in with it at +1 and gain a few levels in there fairly quickly. One of my fonder memories from the game is doing that mission back on live with certain teammates. 

[BurtHutt]

I like variety. I have about 4 pages of toons and play most of them. A few have been shelved and get the odd dusting off. Not one of those toons has the exact same leveling path. For some, I liked doing most TFs/SFs etc. Then you get sick of them and just do missions and the odd TF...maybe jump into a farm here and there.

 

This game has a lot of different 'content' but at the end of the day, a lot of it is very similar. Radios/papers get repetitive quickly. Some of the TFs and SFs are awful (I think I've played Citadel like 3 times since I found HC 3+ years ago).

 

I don't find much value in adding these story arcs that play the same as what we keep getting. Get original. I don't find a lot of value in the story aspect of the missions. At the end of the day it's the play that keeps me going on.

 

I was hoping Devs would add original or different missions that use some newer playstyles. I pushed for my AE player created canon missions so the Devs wouldn't have to add lower tier missions and we'd get something different to play.

 

Anyway, this game has been around for a long time now and a lot of the missions have been done to death. Yes, I like to change it up as much as one can on this game.

[UltraAlt]

On 2/2/2024 at 4:27 PM, Xalon said:

What level should I start heading into PVP zones?

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/PvP_Zones

 

Bloody Bay - combat level 25

Siren's Call - combat level 30

Warburg - combat level 38

Recluse's Victory - combat level 50

 

I don't know what server you are on, but, basically ... I'm guessing (except maybe on the weekends), you aren't likely to find any other player characters in the PVP zones.

I honestly don't think I've gone into any PVP zones on Homecoming except for Torchbearer, but the only other player characters that my character ran into in the PVP zones were the ones that came along and were in the same team.

There are some different missions to run there. Some of them require more than one player to complete due to various factors.

 

To me, Recluse's Victory is the most fun. You have to capture pillboxes/control points, and you can man them or let them self automate. The Signature heroes and villains show up to fight. There are PVE enemies in the zone. You get Vanguard Mechs to use as pets in the zone. Capture all the pillboxes in the zone to change the timeline. 

 

 

[Clave Dark 5]

I PUG mostly, and have started crossing things off my list of "do I ever want to do these again?"  I won't do MJ in PI,  won't do a Yin but once on a new toon, I won't do DfB more than 3 times, maybe only two per toon.  The influx of population has been pretty helpful in this; previously, those few rules right there kept me out of about 75% of PUG member-calls in chat.  We'd really become a community of grinders for the numbers instead of the fun.  Bleah.

[NotsoevilDM]

My default activity is soloing whatever arcs come my way (I don't worry about outlevelling contacts but will usually pick contacts that feel right for each toon).

 

I tend to avoid hunt missions in favour of instanced ones. I'll team up with SG members if they are on and will join TFs when I can with the aim of completing all of them on each toon (eventually).

 

As a committed altaholic, I tend to switch between toons which helps to keep the content fresh. If I'm getting bored of Atlas Park and blue-side content, then I'll do some red-side or Praetoria missions on another toon.