Anyone else prefer to just play "regular" coh?

[Greycat]

3 hours ago, Ravenplume said:

I'm still hoping to one of these days, when I have a new character to start from square zero again, to find a regular group to actually experience at least the full 1-20 Resistance story line in Praetoria, yes, with everyone actually running the arcs themselves as well.  Also have a Praetorian gal that managed to do SOME of that, but now has never been able to find a similar group to fully experience the First Ward/Night Ward arcs (which I have still never done other than on teams that just want to blast through it all as quickly as possible, not even time to train up or anything, no communications at all and when one does pause to try to type out anything, the team is already in the next mission, likely mostly through it before you can even get to the door, etc.

 

How does one get a team for that sort of thing?  Even when I do advertise specifically what I am looking for, it always ends up otherwise anyway.

 

I am also hoping to one of these days actually experience all the different TFs and SFs, instead of no communications or waiting up for anyone speed runs.

 

Oof. If you're looking through the storylines, honesstly you're either going to solo/duo it or spend half your time turning your XP gain off and on again. It's *really* easy to outlevel bits and pieces. Maybe if everyone does the exact same arc and makes the exact same choices - but you're still going to pull in more XP from having more mobs through playing with a team.

[Aeroprism]

Like most people who answered this topic, I also take it slow. I'm also far from being a skilled player so, I just can't have any fun in any "PI Radio steamroll mish, LFM". 

 

This is why I solo/duo a lot.  For group action, I think that 5-members teams is the sweet spot. 

 

Lately I've been enjoying my DM/Elec Tanker, Redside, doing every arc I can without any form of bonus XP whatsoever.  Most missions are done at +0 x5 (she's level 34) unless it's those darn Vanguard 😣

 

Slow has its merits.  OP, I would not hesitate a single second to join one of your teams.

[GlaziusF]

The main problem I have with putting teams together to do regular contact arcs is that it's competing with starting a team to do the Weekly Strike Target, a task force which pays out  - to everybody - bonus reward merits equal to its normal reward, some prism aether for tasty costume powers, and either an incarnate component for 50s or a big whack of XP for non-50s. I usually don't speed, unless my time management has been terrible for the day and I'm in a hurry, because setting a challenging difficulty and fighting a big crowd is also a pretty good XP payout, but the bonuses are in their own class of rewards.

 

Unless the stars align in terms of what contacts other people have available and where they are in the contact progression, getting other people to do my missions only pays me any bonuses at all, and then only the regular arc rewards.

 

But hey, there's Ouroboros, that pays out to everybody -- but it just pays out regular to everybody. I'll sometimes run the unlock arcs in Ouro on weeks where there are locked TFs, because that's an inconvenience people might want to get rid of.

 

I'd like it if there was some kind of first-run bonus or lesser weekly strike bonus on the other contact arcs, as something to offer to people to put up with waiting in line, taking direction, and teaming with randos.

[Sanguinesun]

10 hours ago, jprewitt73 said:

I think it's also important to realize that many of us have very limited play time. This is not a game populated by young adults and teenagers anymore. This is a game that us older folks enjoy. So, when I jump on sometimes I want to just steamroll while piling on the XP so I can play a character concept in my head at full strength. 

Recently I've been only playing my Dominator who is already at 50 and has nothing left to gain. I just enjoy the character. So, I've happily joined a few teams here and there that are going slower and just enjoying the scenery. It just depends on what's going on during the day/evening. 

 

 

 

Someone else also made a post in another thread running down just a smidge of the math on things timewise too:

 

[Forager]

20 hours ago, Sanguinesun said:

 

 

Are there people who play as you do and like playing as you do?    Yes.

 

Are there people who like to play completely differently, and don't like playing the way you do?    Yes.

 

Are the majority of the player base playing as you do?  No.

 

Im failing to see the issue here other than perhaps indirectly saying you feel others should play as you do?

It's impressive that you failed to see the issue but managed to nail it in your very first sentence! Good job! Maybe you subconsciously understood?

[Forager]

16 hours ago, Aeroprism said:

Like most people who answered this topic, I also take it slow. I'm also far from being a skilled player so, I just can't have any fun in any "PI Radio steamroll mish, LFM". 

 

This is why I solo/duo a lot.  For group action, I think that 5-members teams is the sweet spot. 

 

Lately I've been enjoying my DM/Elec Tanker, Redside, doing every arc I can without any form of bonus XP whatsoever.  Most missions are done at +0 x5 (she's level 34) unless it's those darn Vanguard 😣

 

Slow has its merits.  OP, I would not hesitate a single second to join one of your teams.

 

I used to think it was a skill issue for me too... but sometimes there's a difference between not being very good at something or just not knowing a lot about it.

 

Do you differentiate between those?

[Crysis]

On 6/18/2024 at 3:04 PM, Forager said:

Lately I've been trying to just play "regular" ie going to contacts, getting a mission, completing arcs... I have only two 50s since returning from 2005... i barely know what's going on in the endgame... and this method of play is more relaxing to me.

 

I advertise in LFG some version of "old school mission team, unknown enemies, unknown maps..." sometimes I add "we will probably have to use pulling and other tactics... we will die some"

 

I usually get only a few takers who say "sounds fun" or "let's do it" which is fine because I personally prefer small teams. It either goes really well... or people are leaving halfway through the first mission.

 

Croatoa is the latest culprit. The maps and quality of the missions are all over the place. I don't even know that it's an xp issue, because it seems fine to me. I play on +1/x4 maybe that seems low to people? But i never stop moving and fighting.. 

 

Is this just not a thing anymore?

 

This is largely how I play COH solo.  When with PUG’s or friends, I go with the flow and let the leader and/or team sort of dictate what/how they want to play and I just plug in.  But solo, I generally do arcs.

 

Caveat: I no longer do any contact missions below lvl 22.  I’m just done with that stuff.  

[Sanguinesun]

7 hours ago, Forager said:

It's impressive that you failed to see the issue but managed to nail it in your very first sentence! Good job! Maybe you subconsciously understood?

The point was that even though you felt there is an "issue", that really there isn't one, except your attempting just to contrive one.

[cranebump]

On 6/19/2024 at 4:03 PM, Sanguinesun said:

Im failing to see the issue here other than perhaps indirectly saying you feel others should play as you do?

What I got was that the OP was just wondering whether anyone played the way they do. Not that everyone should. A question rather than an assertion. It didn't seem to me there was any disparagement associated with it. (or am I way off here?)

[Aeroprism]

20 hours ago, Forager said:

 

I used to think it was a skill issue for me too... but sometimes there's a difference between not being very good at something or just not knowing a lot about it.

 

Do you differentiate between those?

 

A noble sentiment my friend.  I completely understand what you mean.  

 

However, I read a lot, I love data and I have been on these forums (and CoH's old forums) forever. Like everyone else, there are aspects of the game that I'm unfamiliar with (like those daggers everyone talks about, what in Recluse's dandy beard are those??) but I know pretty much all of CoH's functional inner workings so in theory, I should be competent.

 

Yet... in a group, I feel like the dead weight, 

Then again, maybe a lot of people feel like that. 

[Ukase]

On 6/18/2024 at 2:04 PM, Forager said:

Is this just not a thing anymore?

So, this is still done. I know this, because I run story arcs routinely throughout the day. However, during the day, I'm on the phone as often as not, so I don't team up often. 
There is still a demand for teams that kill through objectives. I know @Lunar Ronin hosts a weekly team on Indomitable server where they kill most, or all, but they ramp up the difficulty because they can. 

I know Sovereign on Excelsior hosts a Gold crawl team and a lower level blue crawl team for their sg members. 
I also used to host a crawl team for Cosmic Council until leaders had real life get in the way and folks started doing other stuff. 

I suggest you just stick with doing it the way you like it. 

[Forager]

14 hours ago, Sanguinesun said:

The point was that even though you felt there is an "issue", that really there isn't one, except your attempting just to contrive one.

 

My issue is that I have difficulty finding or forming teams that play at my speed. When you say there isn't an issue, are you saying that has not been my experience? I did find and form teams that play at my speed?

 

I can't tell if you think I'm lying or I'm mistaken. Or maybe you are still a little confused about what my issue is? If you go back to your first reply, it was the very first sentence of your post. You found the question all by yourself and answered it.

 

Or maybe you are confusing a belief that there shouldn't be an issue with the idea that there isn't one? You just seem really confused.

Edited June 21 by Forager
Grammar

[Zhym]

On 6/20/2024 at 6:44 AM, GlaziusF said:

The main problem I have with putting teams together to do regular contact arcs is that it's competing with starting a team to do the Weekly Strike Target, a task force which pays out  - to everybody - bonus reward merits equal to its normal reward, some prism aether for tasty costume powers, and either an incarnate component for 50s or a big whack of XP for non-50s. I usually don't speed, unless my time management has been terrible for the day and I'm in a hurry, because setting a challenging difficulty and fighting a big crowd is also a pretty good XP payout, but the bonuses are in their own class of rewards.

 

Unless the stars align in terms of what contacts other people have available and where they are in the contact progression, getting other people to do my missions only pays me any bonuses at all, and then only the regular arc rewards.

 

But hey, there's Ouroboros, that pays out to everybody -- but it just pays out regular to everybody. I'll sometimes run the unlock arcs in Ouro on weeks where there are locked TFs, because that's an inconvenience people might want to get rid of.

 

I'd like it if there was some kind of first-run bonus or lesser weekly strike bonus on the other contact arcs, as something to offer to people to put up with waiting in line, taking direction, and teaming with randos.

This. 

 

I do "story mode" a lot, but I usually do it solo because there aren't any merit rewards in doing someone else's story arc.  Plus, a lot of the fun of the story mode missions is taking the time to read the mission text, clues, etc., which isn't entirely compatible with the way most PUGs operate.  Even if a team runs the missions in "slow mode," that usually means KM, not stopping to read all the text. 

 

So for me, it's story arcs solo, then teaming up for TFs, SFs, and Trials. 

[cranebump]

I think the common mode of play -- on Excel, at least -- can be summed up by this exchange on the Yin TF I was on this morning:

 

Player A: Is this a speed run?

Player B (Me): I was wondering the same.

Player C (not the team lead, who has leapt past the first Council Raid Leader Objective in the Alderman mish): Sry. I always default to speed mode. (continues speeding, albeit slightly less fast).

 

You really do have to be ready to runrunrun on an Excel TF.* I've come to expect it (though I really don't like objective skipping/soloing, leaving everyone else to actually do the work of completing the mission).

 

*(as opposed to my experiences on an Everlast TFs, where you have to be ready to runrunrun away, because, at any moment, someone's going to perform the equivalent of throwing a rock at the Rabbit of Caerbannog,):-)

Edited June 22 by cranebump

[WumpusRat]

I pretty much only do story-arcs and TFs when I play. I don't farm, I don't do PI +4/8 maps, I just run around getting contacts and doing arcs. 

It's why most of my characters end up with like 750-1000 merits by the time they're 50, and can use that to fund their builds. 

[Ravenplume]

On 6/19/2024 at 2:57 PM, Greycat said:

 

Oof. If you're looking through the storylines, honesstly you're either going to solo/duo it or spend half your time turning your XP gain off and on again. It's *really* easy to outlevel bits and pieces. Maybe if everyone does the exact same arc and makes the exact same choices - but you're still going to pull in more XP from having more mobs through playing with a team.

 

Heck, I'd be happy just to get groups to simply run through select classic arcs and other older forgotten content, even if it means switching around on the characters regularly.

 

In fact, I am pondering logging in now and seeing who I have that may be able to get the Freakalympics arc, a huge favorite of mine and one I don't think I have run since the Time Before(tm).  Wouldn't also mind next time I have someone in that level range running the entire Hollows line including the trial with the same steady group.  Stuff like that.  Faultline story could be fun to run like that too, as well as Striga and Croatoa.  Shame there was never a proper TF to top off the Faultline arcs.

[Seed22]

On 6/20/2024 at 10:02 PM, cranebump said:

What I got was that the OP was just wondering whether anyone played the way they do. Not that everyone should. A question rather than an assertion. It didn't seem to me there was any disparagement associated with it. (or am I way off here?)

To me it seems disingenuous. Obviously people play like you. Sure, depending on the time of day it’ll be lite or maybe there’ll be more of an immediate spam of endgame stuff, but it’s still stupid easy to put a team together for regular content

 

And the bit at the end, while not passive aggressive was…for an extreme lack of words almost pouting? I don’t think OP forms teams, or they would quickly realize how easy it is to pit ateam together for the slow n steady method of leveling

Edited June 22 by Seed22

[Shred Monkey]

I play this way, although mostly solo because I like to go slow enough to read the stories and also stop to update and play around with my build as I level up.  I still go all the way up through the endgame.  But I have way fewer alts then I suspect most players because i never farm and I am not in a particular hurry to level up.  In fact I have a few alts frozen at level 25 and another at 40 with the intention of just playing those toons at that level because they're fun that way.

[Forager]

On 6/20/2024 at 11:02 PM, cranebump said:

What I got was that the OP was just wondering whether anyone played the way they do. Not that everyone should. A question rather than an assertion. It didn't seem to me there was any disparagement associated with it. (or am I way off here?)

 

Exactly that. I can't imagine how anyone got anything different. 

 

[pawstruck]

I don't encounter the steamroll people until 50+. Everyone else seems really chill on Homecoming.

[Snarky]

These days (when not after “a badge”) I find tge thing i enjoy most is a team of old schoolers like Justice Superteamers or Sisterhood Friends doing a “kill most” whatever TF.  These “murder hobo” smashing mission tactics are just hilarious.  Is that “normal”???

[cranebump]

We have a VERY small group dedicated to slow play on Torch. As far as I can tell, there's maybe 3 people who are semi-active, all soloing since we never seem to be on at the same time. I happen to be on a lot during the day, since it's summer. In any case, the OP is welcome to join up to use the base (which has a lot of room for sprucing up, if you're into that). Here's the original premise and such:

After going on a power trip for a few weeks - and AE scripting and reviews - I've been running a new mission-oriented character called Nayles. I'll run story mishes, if anyone's ever looking for some company.

[coggy]

I have pretty much solo`d since i came back as all i see in DFB and need to be maxxed out to play, its got to the point where i gave up looking or forming teams and it disheartens me to the point where i barely log on .

[Triumphant]

On 6/18/2024 at 2:04 PM, Forager said:

Lately I've been trying to just play "regular" ie going to contacts, getting a mission, completing arcs... I have only two 50s since returning from 2005... i barely know what's going on in the endgame... and this method of play is more relaxing to me.

 

I advertise in LFG some version of "old school mission team, unknown enemies, unknown maps..." sometimes I add "we will probably have to use pulling and other tactics... we will die some"

 

I usually get only a few takers who say "sounds fun" or "let's do it" which is fine because I personally prefer small teams. It either goes really well... or people are leaving halfway through the first mission.

 

Croatoa is the latest culprit. The maps and quality of the missions are all over the place. I don't even know that it's an xp issue, because it seems fine to me. I play on +1/x4 maybe that seems low to people? But i never stop moving and fighting.. 

 

Is this just not a thing anymore?

 

It's not common these days (as far as I can tell, anyway) but I know there ARE players that enjoy this style.  I've seen posts to that end, on these very forums and in the discord.  You may have to network a bit to find these groups (I do believe there is an actual group formed around this sort of play, I can't remember what it's called though- or which shard it is on).  But, yes, such players do exist.  That's the main thing I want to express to you.

 

Also, starting a topic like this is a great way to find them (though you might get more traction posting something similar on Discord, the internet being what it is these days), so good job! 👍

[Paradox Fate]

Been enjoying running flashback missions with challenges on my Necromancer/Dark Mastermind, it vibes completely different when playing a MM for this.

 

I was also surprised that level 10-15 stories pay a lot better in merits and than the newer ones in Talos (tagged as level 25-29 with Keith Nance, Roy Cooling and Adair).