City of Heroes supergroup....

LoLth

I was playing CoH last night and started a TF (positrons). Unfortunately 3 people dropped out just as we went in to the 3rd mission and left it pretty much undoable...

To stop this form happening again I was thinking, could we organise the boards supergroup a bit more?

Maybe have a set night and time for doing missions etc and try to keep everyone around the same level? (eg: hobbes plays a good bit more than myself, so his chars level a lot faster than mine).

Maybe sign up brand new characters straight into the SG and see how we get along.

This way we can be sure to have enough for the TF missions.

thoughts?

Hobbes

I ran the Synapse Task Force on Saturday with 6 people.

After 4.5 hours (maybe longer), we had only managed to make it to the beginning of the third mission (there are about 15 I think). At that point we were so sick of it and clockworks we all disbanded.

I tried again Sunday, with 3 others (one was an expert on what to do). It took just a little over 3 hours to complete. It was much better and extremly intense, especially near the end. I will post some screenies of Babbage later.

Here are some tips to get the TaskForce working properly.

1. Make sure EVERYONE is in it for the long haul. Any "I have to go in a few hours", cut them.

2. Do not make the team larger then 4 people! If you do the missions get much harder. As I pointed out above. The first level especially gets extremly hard to stop cheating (doing first mission, then quitting, then restarting).

eg.
Saturday, first group at the door was 4 princes and about 10 smaller cogs.
Sunday, first group was about 6 cogs.

3. Have a high level team. At least 2 of the team members should be at the upper limit of the TF and they should sidekick the others if needs be. For example Synapse range is 16-21, keep your team around the 20 mark at least starting off.

4. Maintain a good balance of types. You need, a damage dealer, a damage soaker, a healer (+rez) and a buffer. Generally 1 Tank, 1 Scapper, 1 Defender, 1 Controller is best.

5. Fill up on inspirations while you can. Be prepared to throw them to others as they need them. Always carry an awaken.

6. All the damage dealers should focus on one target. Click your fighting leader and it will target through them. Actually I had to leave for 10 minutes, so Clicked on the Tank leader and pressed F (For follow) and switched on autoattack. He basically had me as an extra fighter for 18 minutes before the afk cut in.

7. Take a break! Seriously. The saturday one we didn't break and I and others were seriously drained after it. Sunday the expert guy forced a 10 minute break after the long mission points.

LoLth

good points and I will definitely be using them

However, i would still like to try to arrange a fixed session night for a supergroup to run through missions, as well as having a fixed team to game with. It's a laugh meeting up with other players to form groups but it gets annoying after a while 'cause you never really make a team as much as a collection of people. (basically I'd like to get going with the idea of a group of 1st levels training up together).

LoLth

by the way, if anyone is interested in startin ga new hero, I'm going to be online (as Cobalt 90) tonight - I should be hanging around atlas park for a bit around 9pm or so. Pinnacle.

P45

LoLth,

Sounds like a plan. I usually play for a couple of hours most nights, so I'll keep an eye out for Cobalt 90. I've a couple of "spare" slots left on the Pinnacle server. My toon's name will be "Vikr" (Rad/Drk Defender).

Starting a new toon will be rough, for me anyway. I've started, and killed, so many of them that just the thought of not having a travel power has me spooked. Spooked; enough to be exemplared for 20 levels.

Hobbes

yea until you hit level 14 it is a bit of a pain getting around.

Here is a picture of babbage.

Hes not the end of the TF but close to it. Seriously hard to kill (thats me whacking its shin).

At the moment I have three main characters.
Dr Archeus - Level 25 (Magic Controller)
Ig - Level 21 (Mutation Scrapper)
Bhall - Level 16 (Magic Dark Defender)

If yous want to do a Task Force I am up for it, but your going to have to literally do it on the weekend and clear your schedule for a good few hours.

Hobbes

Another thing I have noticed is the gullibablity of some players.

Ig is a lizard type creature. At level 20 I created a second costume that makes the character look human. The amount of people hitting on the female avatar+giving me cash is unreal.

Even putting on a freakshow costume doesn't seem to phase them. They do stop when I am lizard form though. I've made close to a million in cash so far.

Ivan

Hobbes wrote:

Another thing I have noticed is the gullibablity of some players.

Ig is a lizard type creature. At level 20 I created a second costume that makes the character look human. The amount of people hitting on the female avatar+giving me cash is unreal.

Even putting on a freakshow costume doesn't seem to phase them. They do stop when I am lizard form though. I've made close to a million in cash so far.

In fairness that holds true for most games where cash becomes plentiful at points.
In Anarchy online, my first character Neeka, was given 300 thousand cash in the first 25 mins of starting, simply because young, horny teenage boys assume
Female Character = Real Life female.
And hey, even if the female is millions of miles away, you have to do whatever you can, if there is even the tinest of chances.

I must admit, it was strangely disturbing but at the same time, informative. Realising for the first time the power I unwittingly give to females on a regular basis, on a day-to-day basis.

Smellyirishman

A hint for posi, is that if its your first go, make sure that YOU are in for the long haul.

the VERY, VERY LONG haul!! Im talking 5+ hours, maybe 7+!!

It is a good idea to do all the TFs tho as they are great for XP and teaming.

I have done all the TFs so far (Except the carvern which was added when I was well past it!) so if you need tips on any, give me a shout.(although im on virtue, ALTHOUGH! now with cross server chat, that might not be to hard )

Gravaknight - Grav/Storm controller - lvl 43 - Virtue

Hobbes

Here is not how to do caverns of transendance (did it after the TF for a second time.If you know what you are doing it only takes 10 minutes).

1. Join team. Ask them have they done it before. (nearly all are level 15).
2. They say no, so you tell the lot to wait at the entrance to tunnel of trolls while you map the way. Find out that one can't join because he's 13 and can't enter. We get a new team member and go in.
3. Everyone goes running off in all directions getting slaughtered by trolls.
4. A lot of them think "I'll log out and in again to get back to the entrance" only to find they can't.
5. You spend 10 minutes explaining they are in a zone, not a mission area.
6. You make it to the Transendance entrance only. You ask if the TP'er (TP=teleport)can make it there. Reply "We have no one who can TP". Bang head against wall.
7. Point out you need a TP'er for the mission. Offer to log out and get a character who can.
8. Come back with the other character and TP the people to the entrance.
9. The first 3 people head on into the mission despite saying don't four times.
10. They leave and the mission fails. The main guy restarts the mission and another person runs in only to be slaughtered due to the fact no one has sidekicked me.
11. He exits out, they sidekick me and restart the mission.

... At this point nearly all the team except myself have died once or twice. This is only starting the mission.

12. Just about to start when one person quits. Totally screwing us over (you need 8).
13. Thankfully someone I know (also high level) is on and joins. We go in sidekicked, but after we are in I unSK (because I just know someone is going to die).
14. We go into the place. I say "Stay where you are and I will TP you to each location".
15. 3 of them go running ahead to fight, kill off the first lot and run into the middle only to be slaughtered (Forgot to mention to them anything they kill respawns 3-5 seconds later). TP thier corpses back and rez them.
16. Everyone stays put.
17. While invisible I slowly make my way from keystone to keystone. Teleporting one person at a time. After I have done the 4th person I go back to the centre to find two of the guys I TP'ed are flying in the middle shooting at the monsters. I say "WTF are you doing? Go back to your location". He flys back down the wrong tunnel dragging a load of monsters to his friend. I have to TP them both out of there. At this point they are starting to realise that debt isn't nice.
18. Now I am lost as to what keystones are free. I start again.
19. I finally TP the lot into position and say "Don't touch anything until I am in position".
20. While trying to find which one is free I spammed with "xxx touches the keystone" followed by "Why isn't it working".
21. I finally get into position and tell them on 3 I will say go and everyone touch the stone.
22. Everyone ignores the timer and clicks it when they dam well feel like.
23. After two times of this, I finally get them to click it at the right time. I tell everyone "NO ONE MOVE FROM THIER SPOT AND DONT DO ANYTHING UNTIL I SAY SO".
24. I head to the door (as its empty area). I proceed to TP the lot of them and buff them and make them invisible. I tell them they can now go in and fight.
25. I open the door to let them go in and fight, 2 go running off in the oppisite direction (as they see monsters) and the rest stand there for about 10 seconds wondering what to do.
26. I keep them alive while my friend slaughtered the end guys.
27. Everyone gets the badge followed by "Woot! we rock". We all leave.
28. I tell them to wait while I TP them out of the tunnels. Only one listens to me, the rest go wandering off getting lost and 1 person dies.

.. The right way to do it.
1. Get everyone to the transendance entrance safely. A TP'er/Invis can do this.
2. Everyone stays inside and waits for the TP'er to TP them to the keystone.
3. Everyone clicks the keystone at the same time once everyone is in position.
4. TP'er tps everyone to the door and everyone buffs up.
5. Open door, kill bad guys inside.
6. Mission complete, tp everyone to the tunnel entrance.

and thats it.

LoLth

well, myself and P45 ran through afw missions and reached the lofty heights of level 4!!!

If anyone wants to join us, we are thinking of making a regular night of CoH goodness, kicking off from Atlas Park for the lower levels each session.
Keep an eye out for

Vikr - 4th level controller
The Torturer - 4th level scrapper

currently beating some 5th column and Hellions to a pulp.

mayordenis

if anyone is on the protector server around levels 20-30 /tell campman or tachi both of us are irish and we'll put you in our sg oh yeah and we do tf's all the time.

Hobbes

Just as a matter of intrest does anyone have the level limits for each TF? Also anyone any details on the respec (not that I want to do it yet).

mayordenis

http://cityofheroes.gameamp.com/coh/viewTaskForces

P45

LoLth, and other members of "Spawn of Boards",
I won't be online tonight, and probably tomorrow (not 100% sure on tomorrow... but playing it safe).
Vikr 'ill catch you with you folks either later on in the week, or Mon/Tue next week.

(Mightn't be a bad idea to pick a permanent weekday, & time, now)

P54.

LoLth

I'd go for tuesday nights personally. nothing on tv, pubs arent open late, no football to distract etc...

On a side note, I've been getting my three main chars on pinnacle into mission groups. Basically running through the trolls missions (Cobalt 90 did the frostfire mission 4 times in a row ).

This would be the kind of thing I'd like spawn of boards.ie to do.

Hobbes et al, fancy starting a new character and getting up to 4th level for next week?

we have a scrapper and a controller. tank, defender, blaster would be useful. If no-one wants a blaster and would prefer a scrapper I'll happily recreate the Torturer as a blaster.

LoLth

bumpage....

anyone on for meeting up tomorrow night? low level mob beating to be done.....

Mixie

Just downloaded this, level 8 Blaster i fink on Pinnacle - what's everyones names?

mayordenis

right ill start a new character tonight what level do you want him to be for tomorow night??

P45

LoLth wrote:

bumpage....

anyone on for meeting up tomorrow night? low level mob beating to be done.....

See you tomorrow night.

AP, around 9.00 PM 'ish, for a couple of hours of "arresting" fun. You never know we could get to Lvl8 in under an hour, or Mixie could powerlevel us (j/k'g).

P45

Mixie

I don't mind helping you guys level, or starting a new low level too, upto you. Might be an idea to start a few chars we just level together once a week or something - I think Hobbes said he was only free at weekends, how would that suit everyone?

Mixie

Right, so I have a level 8 blaster and a level 4 scrapper now, I should be good to go when you guys wanna group.

mayordenis

i have a lvl 5 blaster can get him to whatever level is necessary just tell me

LoLth

sounds good. My lvl 4 scrapper The Torturer will be around AP about 8:30 , 9 ish.

cyas then (look for the guy that's a member of the SG Spawn of Boards.ie )

Mixie

Looks like nobody turned up, damn ye all, left a good group too :P

LoLth

sorry pesky real life (tm)

P45

Mixie wrote:

Looks like nobody turned up, damn ye all, left a good group too :P

Lol. I must have been playing with a ghost then.

Great crack. Nice to be doing the Hollows missions, too. We've to clear out the Outcast & Troll bases next week (I think), so that's gona be interesting.

Catchya next time.

P45
Vikr Lvl6 RAD/DRK Defender

PS. Mixie which character are you gona keep in the SG?

Mixie

Yeah, sorry posted this and then found you

No idea what char im gonna keep in it tbh, I'd put them all in only with the infrequency with which I get a chance to play you'd never be around

Hobbes

Sorry Mixie for not replying to you until now

I haven't had much time to play (what with the kid). Here are the characters I have if you want to get added to the clan.

Dr Archeus
Alyx
Ig
Deus Machina (Might delete this one)
Bhall

Although playing Alyx at the moment (natural tanker). I finally see why there are so many mid-low levels running around, its such a pain to level at high level.

quaalude

Hi -

I play *a lot*, and I'm on Guardian, so If anyone wants to team with me, feel free to send me a tell. I play missions mostly, with a group of about 8 really nice people, 1 an RL friend.
The char I'm playing mostly now is Ipanema Girl, lvl 36 ill/rad controller, but I'll be switching to a Kheldian when issue 3 goes live I reckon.

Anyhow, send me a tell if you're on Guardian and have a char around the 30s.

Mixie

quaalude wrote:

Hi -

I play *a lot*, and I'm on Guardian, so If anyone wants to team with me, feel free to send me a tell. I play missions mostly, with a group of about 8 really nice people, 1 an RL friend.
The char I'm playing mostly now is Ipanema Girl, lvl 36 ill/rad controller, but I'll be switching to a Kheldian when issue 3 goes live I reckon.

Anyhow, send me a tell if you're on Guardian and have a char around the 30s.

What's the server population like at 'normal' times here? Pinnacle is sometimes dead, especially for lowbies such as myself. Might consider moving server before I'm too invested in a char on Pinnacle if Guardian is a better option?

quaalude

Mixie wrote:

What's the server population like at 'normal' times here? Pinnacle is sometimes dead, especially for lowbies such as myself. Might consider moving server before I'm too invested in a char on Pinnacle if Guardian is a better option?

Well, Guardian was originally supposed to be the unofficial Euro server, but I've not seen t(s)oo much evidence of that. I play at both normal hours (I guess you mean after-work hours?) and antisocial hours, and there's always someone on to play with. I'm not working right now, so I've found I've adopted to US times a little bit too well, as most of my friends are in the US!
On the issue of having a lowbie char, my friends and I frequently bring lower alts on, and just get sidekicked for missions. It's still fun, and a great way to gain xp without powerlevelling (cos you're actually helping), as the kill turnover is much greater for higher level characters compared to lower levels.
I love Guardian, I've met loads of great people on there, and there are always lots of people on, but I'm sure everyone thinks their server is the best anyhow!
When issue 3 comes out there will be a lot more lower-level char activity on every server; I know I for one will be starting all over again; most of my supergroup too.

Mixie

Posted at 2:37 am - 'antisocial' hehe

Yeah that's exactly the kinda thing I meant, but the unfortunate thing is that regular groups will tend to leave me behind do to RL commitments - I know this isn't a problem with the sidekicking thing, but still.

Since we're on that, sidekicking - best thing ever? That's what I hated about DAoC, if you fell behind you couldn't really group with friends till you caught up. Do most MMORPGS have a 'sidekick' system?

quaalude

Mixie wrote:

Posted at 2:37 am - 'antisocial' hehe

Yeah that's exactly the kinda thing I meant, but the unfortunate thing is that regular groups will tend to leave me behind do to RL commitments - I know this isn't a problem with the sidekicking thing, but still.
.... Do most MMORPGS have a 'sidekick' system?

Well, CoH is my first MMO - most MMOs have a fantasy (i.e. wizardy) bent which leaves me totally cold, but superheroes and comics I like, so I can't really comment on SK'ing in other games. The only problem with SK'ing is that if you're a lvl 8 SK'd to a lvl 36, say, you have many less powers available to you, even though your current lvl is comparable when SK'd - you're 1 lvl less when SK'd, so in this situation you'd be playing as a 35. It doesn't bother me or anyone I play with if the person who's getting SK'd is nice, and able to play.
Also, there is reverse SKing for people who've outlevelled trials or task forces and want to do them - I don't know if that happens in MMO's, but it's a very cool reversal of roles i.e. the higher chars having to suck up to lowbies and get on a team! Plus they lose the uber-powers they got after they RSK down to that lvl.
I find CoH really friendly and nice - my only other experience with MMOs was a 2 week trial of EQ which came on the front of a magazine, and I *hated* it. It was so unfriendly, and *such* a pain in the ass to lvl or feel useful at all - all that bat-hacking wrecked my head. In CoH you feel useful out of the box.
Also, off-topic, but something to note with CoH, is, in my experience, about a quarter (maybe more) of the playerbase is female, which makes for a much more pleasant enviroment, just as a working enviroment comprised of both genders is much more pleasant than one totally dominated by one sex. My SG of about like 12 people has 4 women in, me being one of them.

Hobbes

quaalude wrote:

The only problem with SK'ing is that if you're a lvl 8 SK'd to a lvl 36, say, you have many less powers available to you, even though your current lvl is comparable when SK'd

Also if you are over 10 levels in difference (maybe 15, can't remember) the XP gain will be really bad. Its to stop powerlevelling.

Also, there is reverse SKing for people who've outlevelled trials or task forces and want to do them - I don't know if that happens in MMO's, but it's a very cool reversal of roles i.e. the higher chars having to suck up to lowbies and get on a team! Plus they lose the uber-powers they got after they RSK down to that lvl.

Where this is really good is debt. Level 16 character died 4 times in a row. I cleared all that debt in 20 minutes Exmp'ing with a level 2 character.

I find CoH really friendly and nice

In general. I've seen intentional asses, although they are few and far between. Most of the idiots are generally clueless when they team up people and end up getting whole teams slaughtered over and over. Its sad to watch as nearly your whole team is ripped to shreads twice because the level 12 guy you are with thought it would be good to stick one level 18 on the team. Then watch as people leave in disgust and they invite more totally oblivious to the death they are about to have on them.

Also, off-topic, but something to note with CoH, is, in my experience, about a quarter (maybe more) of the playerbase is female, which makes for a much more pleasant enviroment,

Where did you get that figure from? If you ask me there are more raging hormone teens in the game.

One character of mine "Alyx" (I call her the 'Money Wench') has made close to 2 million influence by the time she hit level 14. Generally I Would have to say something like "Anyone got 1k I can borrow", but I swear people were just coming up and handing out money to me. Shes not even dressed in the usual Xena/elastic band bikini that so many are in.

The male characters I have pretty much had to scrimp and save to get their stuff. Likewise with my lizard character (until I gave her a second costume of a girl).



just as a working enviroment comprised of both genders is much more pleasant than one totally dominated by one sex. My SG of about like 12 people has 4 women in, me being one of them.[/QUOTE]

quaalude

Hobbes wrote:

Also if you are over 10 levels in difference (maybe 15, can't remember) the XP gain will be really bad. Its to stop powerlevelling.

I think what you are talking about there, Hobbes, is if you are *unsidekicked* to a person over 7 lvls higher you'll get rubbish xp - to stop PLing. Optimum xp gain is a 7 lvl gap, so if you are, say, lvl 20, and playing with a lvl 27 unsk'd, the minions will con purple to you, and you'll have a hard time hitting them, but you'll get excellent xp. This works well for, say, a defender being the lower char - they can help with buffs and debuffs, regardless of lvl. f the same lvl 20 is playing with a 28 unsk'd they will get rubbish xp.
*But* a same lvl 10, sk'd to the 28 will get good xp simply because the kill rate of a 28 is faster.

Hobbes wrote:

Where this is really good is debt. Level 16 character died 4 times in a row. I cleared all that debt in 20 minutes Exmp'ing with a level 2 character.

Agreed. RSK rules for clearing debt.

Hobbes wrote:

In general. I've seen intentional asses, although they are few and far between. Most of the idiots are generally clueless when they team up people and end up getting whole teams slaughtered over and over. Its sad to watch as nearly your whole team is ripped to shreads twice because the level 12 guy you are with thought it would be good to stick one level 18 on the team. Then watch as people leave in disgust and they invite more totally oblivious to the death they are about to have on them.

Well, yeah. Pickup teams can suck. As you get higher in lvl the proportion of nice, smart people grows.

Hobbes wrote:

Where did you get that figure from? If you ask me there are more raging hormone teens in the game.

One character of mine "Alyx" (I call her the 'Money Wench') has made close to 2 million influence by the time she hit level 14. Generally I Would have to say something like "Anyone got 1k I can borrow", but I swear people were just coming up and handing out money to me. Shes not even dressed in the usual Xena/elastic band bikini that so many are in.

The male characters I have pretty much had to scrimp and save to get their stuff. Likewise with my lizard character (until I gave her a second costume of a girl).

I said in my original post *in my experience* about the female players. I have both male and female characters. and I've never been treated differently by anyone. Then again, I've never stood around shouting for free influence.

What server are you on Hobbes?

Hobbes

quaalude wrote:

I think what you are talking about there, Hobbes, is if you are *unsidekicked* to a person over 7 lvls higher you'll get rubbish xp

No there is also an upper limit while sidekicked. Its basically to stop level 1's SK'ing with level 50's.

I've never stood around shouting for free influence.

You don't shout. I was something like 50 influence short of an enhancement one time and asked if anyone had it. Someone handed me 100k. But again it really depends on the character.

What server are you on Hobbes?

Pinnicle.