f13.net

I think I will be in Egypt for the duration  :roll:

Nice!  Now I can finally unshelve my lv 41.  If I turn into a massive catass, I might could hit 50 by the end of it.

Yay!  Every weekend should be double exp weekend.  I'd play more then.

My current "main", the level 30 controller, would be 50 by now if every weekend was double xp weekend :)

Mmmmm double xp can't wait.

They need to just fix the XP curve period.  But people have been saying that since release.

Doubtful.  You'll just be 42 2/3 instead of 42.

I went from 35 to 41 during the last one...so it SEEMS doable...

Unfortunately it slows down even more in the 40s.

That is untrue, from 39 to 50 the leveling rate is steady.  The XP increase per reward goes up at the same rate as XP to next level.  If it takes 2000 even-con minions to get from 42 to 43, then it will take 2000 even-con minions to get from 43 to 44.

Then the question becomes: Does it take the same amount of time to kill an even con minion at 42 as it does at 43. 

The statement you have above seems off to me as nearly every mmo has a logarithmic sliding xp scale.  What you've described it linear.  I'd be glad if you're correct, but it certainly seems like I have to kill more even con mobs each level I progress through the game. 

Up until 39 the amount of even con kills increases (thus increasing time per level).  The 40-50 content was added after release and there were already grind complaints, perhaps explaining the flat time to level 40+.  Killing minions doesn't reallly take any longer as you level from 40 to 50, it also doesn't speed up either as most of the significant character development has already taken place.

Here is the even con mobs to kill per level as calculated from numbers here (http://"http://paragonwiki.com/Experience"):

Preview is your friend. (http://www.paragonwiki.com/Experience)

Holy City of Excel Spreadsheets, Batman!

This table from that link reminds me of one of my biggest irritations with PUGs in CoH.


This what most people forget when joining groups and worrying about whether to allow themselves to be sk'd for xp reasons.

Based on the assumption that any team is running missions of the same relative level vs team average level, this chart, plus the fact that xp per mob increases at a little over 10% per level, means you should always seek to be in the between -2 and +1 of the average team level. And what that means, is that if anyone in your team can sidekick anyone else, they always should, as it will improve their xp in almost all cases.

Taking the normal worst case example of someone going from -3 to be sidekicked by a team average player, bringing them up to -1. The sidekick gains 31% per mob (from the xp weight chart above 0.85 xp / 0.68 xp = 131%), then loses around 25% (because the mob now cons two levels lower), plus you are now a stronger hero contributing more to a faster mission completion.

Moral of the story : always sidekick. No matter how hard it is to convince your PUG, xp will always be better.

Now they have a title for Issue 10 :rimshot:

Wow. Interesting how that works out. I'll have to keep that in mind.

...of course, given that people are running 8-man missions on Relentless/Invincible at LEVEL FREAKING 10 because "BEST XP W00T!" it may not go over well.

--GF

Hint: wiping every 3 spawns is not BEST XP W00T!

If they doubled the xp rate in general, I'd play again.

QFT CoX is by far the most fun MMO in existence. However Character progression slows down way to much way to quickly. And while I made it to 50 once I won't make it again with the grind being what it is. While yes you whould just be playing to have fun with your friends and yada yada yada.... The fact is when you know you have dozens of hours in front of you till your next shiny new move all of which is going to be fighting the same stuff in the same missions (Freakshow are freaking cool, but not the 15000th time) it gets old quick.

Edit: What does the ^H^H^H^H signify?

RTF^H^H^HCheck out this link! (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=10129.msg307517#msg307517)

would it have a free weekend for inactive account owners as well?

Doesn't sound like it. I just an email a couple of minutes ago that said this:

o nvm then, I'll use my 10 day trial referral then to see how things are.
Doubt there's a lot of changes though.

What was the last issue you played? You can view the major changes here (minus all the major nerfs, which oddly they don't mention):

http://www.cityofheroes.com/game_update9.html

Yup, the reason it seems longer is probably because you're tired of the same name maps over and over again. Even the portal missions get old real fast as they have like one map per theme.

The offer was well timed to show up a week after anyone who resubscribed for a month was up for their account lapsing like mine was. Unfortunately they didnt redefine weekend to be 52 weeks long so I'm not coming back. I actually got my scrapper from 36-49 in the time I was back but couldn't even be bothered logging in to do the last 3 bubbles of 49 when I knew my account was coming up on expiry.

I like the gameplay in CoH. It's one game I found where your chances of finding a competant pickup group are quite high. Way better than WoW or LoTR in that regard. However, it just gets old too fast, and the one interest I would have, leveling alts, is crushed by the knowledge of the soul destroying grind it would take to accomplish it.

Make it double exp weekend every damn day and we'll talk.

With the exp grind the way it is, a person should be able to have insta max alts once hitting max_level on one toon.

I love double xp weekend.  I got my corrupter from 12 to 17 (almost 18) in around 3 hours.

I took Teleport as my travel power, I'd never taken it.  It's great fun. 

After this last weekend, all I can say is holy shit.

I haven't seen server loads like that since...heck, since release. Virtue was a zoo and (aside from the lag) I rather liked it.

I mostly avoided playing my 46 brute and stuck to hero-side. My brute did gain 1 level in about two hours (which is saying something at that level). There were actually 2 instances of Grandville which I haven't seen since, umm, ever? The fun was hero-side, though. My ice/SS tank went from about 8 to 15 in about 8 hours over two days. Not bad, and I actually had fun in *gasp* pickup groups. I wish I'd have had time to work on my fire/dark corruptor, but whatever.

I'm not sure I'd want to see double xp all the time. It's already too easy to outlevel certain important contacts. On the other hand, it's nice to get out of the pre-20 doldrums--or move the post-40 game along, though there's that pesky outleveling the contacts thing again. I suppose it doesn't matter post-45.

I had a good time. It was nice to see new people in the game again. Lots of them.

The server loads looked like this at the last Double XP event too  8-)

I got my fire/rad theme team corruptor from 33 to 35 in a four hour continuous session, and my level 32 controller got most of the way through 34. I've never had a controller pet in this game before, and I have to say I like it :)

I agree that PUGs are a lot more tolerable (and even fun!) when everyone is focused on a goal, like getting the most out of double xp weekend :)

Freedom seemed to die with three red dots and only 3.5K users.  That's not very good, is it?

Where did you get the 3.5k from Signe? I'm interested to know the concurrent player numbers from that weekend.

Also: several teams went from lvl 1 - lvl 50 (or close to it) thanks to double xp. And that was with Freedom going down. Just FYI, cause I found it interesting to know.

I tried to play tonight, couldn't find a group for shit.  There were plenty of people on.  Just no replies to my broadcast, or the LFT system.  "You are looking for any."

Is there a trick?  Maybe a meeting spot on most servers?  Wasn't hard during the weekend XP frenzy, but I had this problem last weekend, and now tonight.  I don't like solo'ing in CoV.  I can even heal and res! 

One of the things I used to enjoy about CoV was I could log in, and within 5 minutes, be rolling around in a group.  It was easy.  Where's the easy!  It's weird, I don't really group up in WoW, and.. I don't think ever in EVE.  CoV just seems wrong without grouping though.

I just ended up doing what I usually do, make a new character.

Open 'Find members' window.
Set search parameters to your level range, and everything else to 'all'.
Click the search button
Notice the greyed out people. They have a group.
Click on a greyed out person, 'send tell' then send them 'Do you have room in your team for a level <level> <class>?'.

Rinse and repeat untill you get an invite. Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes assuming there are more than two or three people in groups at your level.

Alternatively form your own group by pming everyone who is in blue (ungrouped), asking if they want to join a group doing whatever you are doing.

Don't bother flagging unless maybe if you are a controller, defender, corruptor or tank.

CoV populations are low. Some nights groups find you, others you end up soloing.

Another thing: if you're a corruptor and spamming "Healer looking for group", you've just turned off a significant number of people that might have grouped with you. There's serious backlash against the "healer" mentality in CoV (people that play corruptors--like me). It's even worse hero-side with defenders, but there's a far larger pool of potential groupees and a significant population of those don't care about defender/healer angst.

Lastly, it'll depend who you are. My 46 brute usually gets spammed with team invites when she logs on. Many are looking for "tanks". A brute isn't a tank, but resistance brutes--especially stone and electric armor--can fake it pretty well with proper support. Dark corruptors and/or MMs are usually in demand, too (the "healer" thing, though most have the decency not to mention it). If you're a stalker, forget it. Get used to soloing or find a dedicated group. Doms run hot and cold, depending how tuned in your group is (usually not very).

I haven't played hero-side in a LONG time and not enough recently to get a real feel for things. Tanks are always in demand, that I do know. DPS types like blasters and scrapper are a dime-a-dozen, but you usually need several in a full team, so there's work to be had. Controllers and defenders are good things, but, again, it depends on the group leader being tuned into how things work to get the proper ones for a group or make proper use of the ones you have. Many are stuck on the "healer" thing and don't get buffing/debuffing all that well.

Basically, it's like every other MMRPG when it comes to PuGs.

Various people did checks, some around the time when Freedom started having problems.  I was reading posts in the official forums.  Sorry, don't remember the thread names.  I do know that ValkyrieRising did some checks but I don't know when she did hers. 


http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=8500306&page=0&fpart=6&vc=1

Sorry not to be more helpful.  Something shiny must have caught my eye.

I have a Rad/Dark Corrupter that I've been playing.  I do use the search tool, thanks eldaec.  Send out a good amount of tells/invites.  Maybe it's just a run of bad luck.

I learned quick that Stalkers aren't in much demand, and the bad ones get you killed.  Brutes, Masterminds, Dominators, all make good teammates.  Well, so far at least.

Thanks for that Signe - I always wondered what the numbers were for red / yellow / green status in CoH/V.

CoH always struck me as the ultimate in Alt/Twink games. So many class variations, but levelling is such a chore. I'd maintain a monthly account if they'd move to a more WoW-like level gain speed.

How long does it take to go level 30->31 or 40-41 in WoW?

Because even in the really awkward bits of CoH it's only an evening or two with a pick up group? Is WoW that much faster?

Yes.

I think WoW just seems faster because you aren't running into the same 4 instance types. 

WoW also has rest exp and no exp debt for dying. On the other hand CoH mission dynamics allows for some really fast PLing with the right group setup (a la late levels Fire/Kin + 7 padders).

Oddly enough, I'm not interested in power leveling if I want to play a game.  And I'm happiest with small groups most of the time.

Neither of which preference is conducive to quick leveling.

Well, I was actually looking for more of a number. Because people keep saying CoH should move through levels quicker, I'm interested in how fast would be ok.

And it's something you can compare with other games because whether it is one level in WoW, EQ, DAoC, CoH, or whatever, they all add about the same amount of character advancement.


Now don't get me wrong - I agree with you guys.

I've been shouted down any number of times for saying that if you don't like the grind in CoH its because you've run out of interest in CoH gameplay, speeding it up won't help.

So I'm looking for numbers, how fast would make the CoH grind no longer a grind? How fast is ok in general for a dikumud where a 'level' means about the same as it does in WoW/CoH/EQ/etc.

How fast do you level in WoW? Because while I got bored of WoW by level 10 (I'm not trying to denigrate WoW, it just didn't grab me), it didn't seem to be running any faster than CoH, or EQ2, or any other recent dikumud - once into the main game they all seem to give you one level every evening or so of xp-driven but not powerlevel play.

I only played WoW for a couple of months and I remember it moving at light speed compared to CoX, which I still play.  I really think CoX moves too slow.  I can't seem to get a character past level 35 and I have quite a fewl at that level. I don't know if double is too much or not.  Maybe in the beginning when it's very easy to level, but not in the later game?   I'm not usually very motivated by just leveling but post-35 does get to me.  I've suggested before and I really do think that having rested xp might help a lot for us very casual CoX players.  I'd probably even play a bit more if they did something like that. 

Yeah... and gimme some more tile sets, please.

It doesn't need to be faster.  It needs to be more varied and more incentives need to be added for me to continue past level 36.  Give me more mission choices, more power sets, and more fun loot options.  Then the "grind" would no longer exist.  It seems like a grind in CoH/CoV because each level after 35 gives you less and less to look forward to.  If your fun comes from more than just getting to 50, you're out of luck.

I"m not going to get into the WoW vs. CoH thing. Too much depends on class and who you play with.

However, it IS possible to level pretty quickly in CoH with the right group. Sure, post-40 can drag like anything, but I10 might do something about that.

This last weekend was alt-weekend for me. Hero-side no less. My sonic/energy blaster went from 8 to 12 in two hours. Fantastic pick up team running (gasp) invincible missions. I'm still a little surprised this worked as well as it did with the melange of classes we had coming and going, but there it is. When I figured that my blaster had had enough, I logged my dark/electric defender in and went from 12 to 16 in about 3 more hours. Not bad. If I'd had more energy for another few hours, I would have stuck around and see if they'd made to to 19 and log my ice/SS tank in for a quick boost to 22 or so.

It was just a lucky day on team finding, but, damn, I had fun.

And there is my problem.  I'm not interested in finding the "right" group, I want to duo with my roommate.

I'm fine until the early to mid-thirties.  We actually spent from 17 to 32 in perma-debt so we had time to do all the missions.  After 40 though, it felt like we were slogging through it.  Over the  course of two or three free return weekends we went from 43.5 to 44.  When playing for a single weekend only moved us marginally towards the next level we just couldn't get into it.

And so I'm clear, we aren't interested in leveling for the sake of leveling and we'd rather not play than power level.  It's just the same villain groups on the same maps, over and over again.  Even we need a little ding, or something, so it doesn't get stale.  For that kind of play style, the game does become a grind.

Oddly enough, the new I10 content starts at 35, on both sides. Is it going to be enough? I don't know.

--GF

Since launch of CoH I have played on and off, hero is 26, villain is 31. Played WoW for a couple months, hunter is 58. WoW is way faster and more interesting, though I like CoH's gameplay far more.

Wow as more... 'fiddly bits' than CoH.  Or at least, CoH front-loads them, and your character becomes less-variable as time goes by.  Whereas with WoW your character gets more fiddly as time goes by... more talent points, more equipment variation, etc.

I think part of the 'wow is faster' is the more significant quest-related exp rewards.  In CoH, the exp reward for a mission is mostly the exp you got for killing defeating stuff.

--
Alkiera

FIFY

I'm 32, and the XP is reallllly starting to get slow. Mostly because the higher level types (arachnos, council) seem to take more damage and have stronger abilities, making the time to kill much less. I'm starting to get burned out at the game, again. Fuck, this god damned game has so much potential, but I groan internally at the idea of creating another character and having to level him to where he gets his nice abilities.

Here is the 'grind' in CoH in a nutshell.  When leveling my blaster, which was at launch so it may have gotten better, I tracked how many even con 'minion equivalents' it took to go form lvl 26 to 27 and then lvl 27 to 28 (I'm a nerd, sue me).  The number was how many even con minions I would need to kill to get the next level, I forget what the numbers were exactly but it was a clear linear progression between minion level and exp and also between minion to lt to boss.  Which meant that a boss mob was, I think, equivalent to 8 minions.

Lvl 26 to 27 was around 500 minion equivalents, when killing boss mobs that were +1 and +2 levels that wasn't too much of a grind because you only needed a 50 or so orange/red boss & lt groups.  Lvl 27 to 28 was something like 800 minion equivalents.  Combine that curve with the fact that by 28 you have almost all your final abilities so you aren't going to get vastly more efficient at mob slaying and you can see there is a problem developing.

EQ2, in comparison, at lvl 50 required about has much effort to go to 51 as it did to go from 10 - 11.  One yellow con (+2 or 3) solo mob is around 1% of exp.  If you do 10 quests then you can probably get through a level killing somewhat less than 50 mobs.  Total.  AND as my character progresses toward end-game raid gear and abilities the game is experiencing a 'wimping' effect where the power of my toon is progressing more rapidly than the power of the average mobs and so I am becoming more efficient rather than less.  I won't get into the issues with 'raid gaming' we all know what that is like but at least the progression of the character 'feels' quick and that helps to make it at least seem like you are accomplishing something every time you log in.