help channel chaos

[Queen Nefertiti]

So the other day someone was asking on help channel about what to do now they had hit level 50, and a number of people (myself included) talked them through how to get the alpha slot unlocked by Mender Ramiel, how to open the Dark Astoria arcs, how to pick a power that compliments the build or play style or character concept etc. The usual things that people are unsure of.  I asked the same questions myself when I dinged 50 and the community was extremely helpful. 

 

Anyway, this person started to get very aggressive about the whole thing. Demanding to know why he had to grind for threads and empyrion merits, how it was ridiculous how difficult it was to get all the slots unlocked, how they weren't going to farm the same mission over and over again, etc. This was totally out of left field and floored everybody. Yes, you can farm the story arcs for rewards if you want to, but it's not a requirement. I've done trials and TF's of all levels, not just the incarnate ones, and got threads and merits and all manner of goodies.  I don't know about anyone else, but I haven't found it particularly difficult or grindy to tier 4 all the slots on my mastermind.  Sometimes threads are rare, other times they drop like rain. He stopped paying attention to what he was being told and just became unpleasant and rude. It went downhill from that point.

 

I can't for the life of me understand why this guy had such a problem. I understand incarnate stuff can be intimidating to start with, I've had to literally walk someone who was vet level 10 through slotting their alpha step by step, telling them what to click, where to click, which items to craft, and how to slot it once made. After that they were flying and suddenly had an uber incarnate. They hadn't done anything because they were too worried about making a mistake. Once I walked them through the process they realized it was quite simple after all and went from nothing in their slots to tier 3 in everything.

 

This isn't the first time I've seen weird replies to people helping. Sometimes it's almost worth stopping the mission and grabbing popcorn to concentrate on the arguing going on. It's the only one that stuck in my mind, but anyone else seen a help thread crumble into chaos?

[Justaris]

For the most part people are glad to offer help and most people are happy to get help.    There's the occasional toxicity on either side but it still seems far and away to be the exception rather than the rule in my experience.    Sometimes people come on help just to complain - either because they have the mistaken impression that someone there has power to change the parts of the game they don't like, or just to be mad.    In those instances, there's often no salvaging the situation.    On balance, I've found help chat to be mostly on-track and helpful and those asking questions to be mostly receptive.

 

Then there's the 'what's the best ____?" questions - those people are sometimes frustrated at the lack of easy answers to ridiculously open-ended questions, but even then it rarely turns nasty.

 

[THEDarkTyger]

Going to guess the guy was new to CoH, got PLed to 50, and was shocked to find he'd actually have to work for advancement beyond that. 🙄

[Sanguinesun]

Sounds like their wants just simply didn't match the reality of their situation and their inability to roll with things got the better of them.  No amount of advice for those folks ever works until they decide things on their own, outside of wishing them the best of luck.

 

 

[PhroX]

Knowing the internet, it's more than possible that the conversation the OP describes has happened multiple times, but I believe I was watching that guy having a tantrum on Help. He was moaning about being given contradictory advice when it was one person listing all the options he had for getting incarnate stuff. Was rather amusing all in all, although had I been one of those trying to help, I can see how it would've been pretty infuriating.

[jubakumbi]

Lesson Number 22: Blessed SIlence.

I turn off the Help channel _first_...

 

 

[Apparition]

1 hour ago, jubakumbi said:

Lesson Number 22: Blessed SIlence.

I turn off the Help channel _first_...

 

 

 

Yep.  One of the very first things I did back in April was remove the Help channel completely, and move the LFG channel to its own chat tab. 

[Queen Nefertiti]

18 hours ago, Apparition said:

 

Yep.  One of the very first things I did back in April was remove the Help channel completely, and move the LFG channel to its own chat tab. 

I do find the help channel useful, and often stop what I'm doing to help out. Most of the time it's simple things like "I forget, how do I get to Striga again?". Something I needed help with when I first got back on. Other times its interesting to read when people get into the deep stuff like procs and bonuses. I just find it bizarre when people get snippy because they aren't getting the answers the want.

[Lunchmoney]

Help and LFG went to their own tabs, but removing entirely is just not helpful. 

[DSorrow]

Help and LFG channels are the only places I've found ignore worthy players, but fortunately only a handful (maybe 3 or 4?) of them since I started in the beginning of May. Even then, I haven't removed either tab because I like answering questions and forming/joining TFs.

 

22 hours ago, THEDarkTyger said:

Going to guess the guy was new to CoH, got PLed to 50, and was shocked to find he'd actually have to work for advancement beyond that. 🙄

I definitely agree with this assessment. Sounds like someone who just finds it off-putting that you'd actually have to play the game first to get your gear rather than the other way around, while also being completely oblivious that you can easily get all the level shift T3s in a couple of evenings from a combination of a few veteran levels and iTrials.

[dasefex]

On 8/5/2019 at 4:50 AM, Queen Nefertiti said:

 

 how it was ridiculous how difficult it was to get all the slots unlocked, 

This made me chuckle. Nothing in this game is super hard to do or out of reach of any players. 

 

Yes help chat seems to get off topic at times and I just sit back and enjoy it.

[Razia]

20 minutes ago, dasefex said:

This made me chuckle. Nothing in this game is super hard to do or out of reach of any players. 

 

Yes help chat seems to get off topic at times and I just sit back and enjoy it.

That's why I love this game so much. No special raid gear who you can only get if you are in some ub0r SG. And of course you need other gear to participate in such raid.

[dasefex]

44 minutes ago, Razia said:

That's why I love this game so much. No special raid gear who you can only get if you are in some ub0r SG. And of course you need other gear to participate in such raid.

Exactly. When I’m in the mood for more challenging content I just pop over to wow. I play city of heroes to relax and kill skulls with a few friends.

[Razia]

17 minutes ago, dasefex said:

Exactly. When I’m in the mood for more challenging content I just pop over to wow. I play city of heroes to relax and kill skulls with a few friends.

I used to play a lot of typical holy trinity MMOs and I don't find them less relaxing than CoH, it's just that I don't like the elitism that usually comes with this and the attitude of the players.