A Humbling in the Hollows

[JasperStone]

Yesterday, late in the day, I was on my SoA looking for something to do.

 

Then I saw it

"Hollows Story Arc to heading to Frost Fire ... LFM"

 

Bingo... I join.

 

At the start ... that dreaded phrase

"+2/8 sound good?" 

A near-immediate from a teammate: "Sure!!".

And off we go.

 

A slog fest indeed, and many deaths.

There were a few near-team wipes.

I became very, very... very adept at backing up and firing.

And running away ... lol (to live another day)

Reminded me of the early days of Live when the enemies conning Purple to you meant something.

 

But no complaints.

And a lot of laughter.

I mean, no complaints.

No rage quits.

We stuck together, which I enjoyed a lot.*

 

Bed was calling, so I had to leave before Frost Fire.

I hope they succeed.

 

In truth ... I had a great time.

We can become so wrapped up with how awesome our characters are.

Mashing buttons... "Look at the big orange numbers!"

I enjoy that ... the hard end-game content.

 

We hear often that the game is too easy.

Well, that is relative.

Last night showed that.

 

*some of you might be tempted to say, "My X/X AT would chew through all that easy peasy."

If so, then you missed the point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FFFF]

Quote

"+2/8 sound good?" 

 

I think too many teams don't do this. I applaud the team for doing something reasonably challenging instead of just settling for the default difficulty. I feel a lot of the reckless behavior that gets told here comes from situations where the content is just too easy.

 

[Snarky]

2 minutes ago, FFFF said:

 

I think too many teams don't do this. I applaud the team for doing something reasonably challenging instead of just settling for the default difficulty. I feel a lot of the reckless behavior that gets told here comes from situations where the content is just too easy.

 

Blueside suffers from this a bit.

 

Redside... There isa rhythm.  Load in a pug group of 8 intrepid souls on a Redside paper or story arc mission level 15 - 25.  Set at +0.  No 50s, just organic team in that level range.  Almost always, Redside, one of your toughest fights will be right near the front door.  Judge everything about the mission/setting based on how your team does in that fight against THOSE foes.  But Redside was always pretty good for organic teams.  Foes were hard.  F-ing Longbow?  Arachnos with its wackiness? Then later Carnies and do not get me started on CoT.  But you could almost always tell right at the first fight Red.

 

Now Gold....no idea. wackadoo land there with missions self screwing themselves with glowies activating things that you run back to the front door to interact with, although there is no indication of that. 

[Oubliette_Red]

6 minutes ago, Snarky said:

Blueside suffers from this a bit.

 

Redside... There isa rhythm.  Load in a pug group of 8 intrepid souls on a Redside paper or story arc mission level 15 - 25.  Set at +0.  No 50s, just organic team in that level range.  Almost always, Redside, one of your toughest fights will be right near the front door.  Judge everything about the mission/setting based on how your team does in that fight against THOSE foes.  But Redside was always pretty good for organic teams.  Foes were hard.  F-ing Longbow?  Arachnos with its wackiness? Then later Carnies and do not get me started on CoT.  But you could almost always tell right at the first fight Red.

 

Now Gold....no idea. wackadoo land there with missions self screwing themselves with glowies activating things that you run back to the front door to interact with, although there is no indication of that. 

 

This reminds me of yesterday, some friends and I were running Mender Ramiel's arc to unlock Alpha slot on a character and were ambushed at the front door which we've never had happen before. It was quite refreshing.

 

When I run solo I usually don't bump the difficulty as I typically play support, but when teaming with friends we're almost always bumping level/team size/bosses.

 

[KITANYA]

If the Team is 8 people, what does */8 do?

[Snarky]

1 minute ago, KITANYA said:

If the Team is 8 people, what does */8 do?

nuthin'

[Gamma XIII]

These are the things that a lot of 'new players' miss while constantly begging for 'PD FFs'.  There is a LOT of content out there and if you've done it, great, but if you are truly 'new' sitting in FFs to 50 then gearing and saying 'things are too easy' isn't really doing you any favors.  Sure you can go back as an Incarnate and max IO set hero and waltz through Hollows content, but I'm sure that it would be far less exciting than using tactics to clear floor by floor until you get to Frostfire.  There is SO much content available at ALL levels and while I won't besmirch farming (to thine own self be true), truly new players should want to see the layers of the game for what they are - extensive.

[JasperStone]

49 minutes ago, FFFF said:

 

I think too many teams don't do this. I applaud the team for doing something reasonably challenging instead of just settling for the default difficulty. I feel a lot of the reckless behavior that gets told here comes from situations where the content is just too easy.

 

It was doable. Hard, but doable.

I feel that if we had gone +4, people may have quit.

 

29 minutes ago, KITANYA said:

If the Team is 8 people, what does */8 do?

LOL, it may have been a habit. But yeah..., did nothing.