What do you do when you log on?

[jpark]

I have a lot of high regard for this game - but my mates and I continue our sojourn in WoW.

There is no endgame - no crafting here that I am aware (not played for 1.5 years).  Not sure if the pvp is actually something folks  do - is it a flop like it has in EQ/EQ2 - any feed back there?  Any rewards from pvp?

Anyway - rather than ask for an "update" on the game - tell me what you guys are doing right now - questing? pvping?  What zones or levels are you in?

Good to see this game is till chugging along.

[Llava]

Whatever I'm in the mood to do.

I look over my characters and decide who I want to level up, or if I just want to PvP.

If I just want to PvP, obviously I pick the character I most want to do that with.  Generally that character is over level 22.  I then go to either Siren's Call (most frequently), Warburg (sometimes), or Recluse's Victory (infrequently because I currently only have one character high enough to go there, and I usually feel like playing someone else).  Each of these zones is usually pretty active, but every so often at the odd hour you will find them to be empty.  By "pretty active" I don't mean dozens of people fighting all over the place.  But about 5-10 people per side is average and more than enough to keep the zone interesting.  Actually with travel the way it is in the game, you can have fun in a PvP zone if it's just you and one enemy player.

If I decide I want to level, I will generally start off soloing.  I'll put on my LFG tag if I am, and then start doing missions.  Sometimes I'll get invited to a group immediately, sometimes I won't.  I haven't tried the tactic of sending tells to people who are in groups yet.

Sunday and Thursday nights my SG has scheduled get-togethers in which we all try to log in and group together.  Those are always fun.

[Glazius]

I'm crazy enough to make my own groups. It is really not that hard.

I grab a mission, look up someone around my level in the search tool, send a tell explaining the mission, and then wait for an okay if unflagged or just send an immediate invite if flagged. Repeat until team size hits at least 4, looking down for sidekicks if we've got people to support them.

And then we do the mission. And then I look around to see if someone's got something interesting, and if not, grab another mission. I fill in dropped spots as necessary, and add more people if I can find them quickly and the team I've got is doing well on its own. Repeat until I feel like doing something else. I try to end on a novel mission, or a badge mission, or the end of a story arc, so everybody goes away feeling like they did something.

Sometimes I peek into the PVP zones to grab a Shivan or some Warburg rockets, but that's mostly solo. I'm not a big PVP kind of guy.

--GF

[Llava]

I'm glad the game has people like you.

I'm one of those people who sees 6 other people say they're LFG in broadcast and thinks "They should form a group", then I'll turn on my LFG flag and do nothing about it.

[Hutch]

I'm glad the game has people like you.

I'm one of those people who sees 6 other people say they're LFG in broadcast and thinks "They should form a group", then I'll turn on my LFG flag and do nothing about it.

I actually did that a few weeks ago. I was leveling an alt in Skyway City, saw 3 people say LFG in broadcast in the space of a minute, and decided to do something crazy.
I invited them all and formed a pick up group.

And it turned into the stereotype of all pick up groups. For one mission, we had a pretty great adventure. Only one person employed Leeroy tactics (a blaster, to complete the stereotype), but as a group we were able to take care of each other and defeat the mission.

And afterwards, it was like herding a bunch of needy, self-centered cats (but I repeat myself):
I need to go sell and level.
I need you to invite my level 11 friend who has no travel power and will need to be SK'd.
I need to go help my SG, laters.
I need to do homework, laters.
Can you invite my friend who is 4 levels above us and will kill the group's XP?

And I chided myself: I set out today to get some xp for this character. Why did I participate in a PUG. Why did I *start* this PUG? I know better! I know that I get xp faster solo than in any PUG.

So let that be, not a warning (no one here needs a warning), but yet another anecdote. PUGs are hell.

But PUGs are people, and CoH/V is still the most ass-kickingest MMOG out there (imo).

[geldonyetich]

There's a knack to leading a group that doesn't suck ass in CoH.  It goes something like this:

1) Form a group from a core of roughly equal leveled members with no more than maybe 1 or 2 levels difference.  At least half, the rest can be sidekicked.  Only those who have powers that effect party members will be useful with more than a 3-4 level difference from foes.  If your core is too unevenly leveled you'll end up trying to do missions you can't handle or group members who aren't satisfied with the challenge.
2) Select missions from your highest level members to adequately challenge the group, noticing the difficulty modification.  Just as all heroes are not created equal, all groups are not created equal too, so don't be surprised if today's group does worse than yesterday's.
3) Now, rapidly select missions.  By that I mean, as soon as everybody's out of the previous mission map, don't take longer than 1 minute performing step #2 above.  This gives everybody an idea where to go next instead of sitting around wondering, "Hmm, is the group over?"
4) Although you should always have a selected mission up, give people 5 minutes between missions to sell, smoke break, whatever.  Send it over /team.  This prevents premature burnout as well as prevents people from wondering, "Why isn't everybody here yet?"
5) People will leave, that's life, /invite more.  Ideally your group size should be 4 player or 8 player.  Groups between 5 and 7 players are at a disadvantage having to do with the way spawns work.
6) If you run into dead weight, kick them.  Dead weight is generally defined as people who repeatedly sit there and do little or nothing during fights or go AFK for extended periods.  Sidekicks aren't necessarily dead weight, but you'll know when they're not up for the challenge.

I've run groups in CoH like this and received complements on how awesome the group was afterward every time.  These 6 guidelines will probably produce groups that run better than most PUGs you encounter.  Only problem is, this takes effort and its easier to be a follower than a leader.

So, despite my positive experiences with that model, I usually just /search for levels at or slightly above my current level, find people whose name is in grey, and spam out a bunch of /tells if they've got room for me.  If so, I sign up and see how crappy the group is.  Often it's pretty good, but there are times when it bites, and in that case I'm best off leaving and either soloing or forming a better group.

So yes, to answer Jpark's original gist, CoH is primarily a PvE game.  Granted, CoH's PvE as the best combination of depth and excitement of any MMORPG PvE I've seen.  Kept me coming back long after I should have been burnt.

[dEOS]

- PUG Rule #1 :
The lower level you are the worst it will be.
It comes from the simple fact that clueless people don't go far in levels with their characters.
PUG-ing in the 25+ range is a lot safer :)

- Sending tells to people already in groups works. I do it regularly. I formulate in a very polite manner, asking and presenting myself so that people will be confident in telling their group leader to invite me.

- As to what I do when I log on.
Log on as my favorite toon of the moment. Look up global friends list, see if any is in my level range. Ask over global channel if anyone has something going on.
If no answer or not satisfying... put up LFG, do ToT, revise slotting and purchase accordingly, go solo some missions, look up badges I have yet to get on a website.

I have decided against my extreme altaholism syndrom and I am determined to not go play alts. Sure low level alts gain level fast and get some new powers that I can fiddle with... but I need to be reasonable and raise some toons above level 40. After 2 years playing the game that would seem like a good reasonable objective to at least reach level 50 with one of them :)

[Sky]

Dead weight is generally defined as people who repeatedly sit there and do little or nothing during fights or go AFK for extended periods. 

Hi! This is my primary reason for not grouping. I don't play games to be dedicated to playing a game. If I want to go play guitar, I do. If I see something shiny out the window, anything really. Another reason I like games with pausing (or something like feign death in EQ).

When I log on, I usually pick my MM and go work through some story arcs. I did his cape mission for the heck of it, even though he doesn't wear a cape. I used his new costume slot for a deserty camo setup. This game doesn't do tan well.

I rarely play more than an hour, but that's enough time to jam through a bunch of missions. I don't care about things like pvp, crafting, or end games. I roll alts but don't play them much, I like the MM.

[Glazius]

Dead weight is generally defined as people who repeatedly sit there and do little or nothing during fights or go AFK for extended periods. 

Hi! This is my primary reason for not grouping. I don't play games to be dedicated to playing a game. If I want to go play guitar, I do. If I see something shiny out the window, anything really. Another reason I like games with pausing (or something like feign death in EQ).

When I log on, I usually pick my MM and go work through some story arcs. I did his cape mission for the heck of it, even though he doesn't wear a cape. I used his new costume slot for a deserty camo setup. This game doesn't do tan well.

I rarely play more than an hour, but that's enough time to jam through a bunch of missions. I don't care about things like pvp, crafting, or end games. I roll alts but don't play them much, I like the MM.

Yeah, I have days when I just feel like putzing around, and when I do I go solo and turn off team invites. The expectation with a group is that you're giving 110% to knock those missions out - that said, I'm not going to kick anybody for "BRB changing diapers" (which is why I like the larger size, we can cover for an unexpected AFK).

--GF

[Sky]

That's my point. I never give 110% to a game. I give maybe 40%. On a sunday maybe 60%. And even that's only for an hour and then I'm off doing something else.

[geldonyetich]

The issue with CoH and giving 40% to the team is that the game adjusts the mission challenge based on the number of members of the group.  It's not an issue when the team is uber and can handle more and tougher mobs than the game is balanced to provide, but when this is not the case, when the group is just barely able to handle the challenges arrayed against them when everbody's giving 100%, then you are left with the choice of either cutting the guy giving 40% or the entire group dies.

But that's not the real reason I said cut the dead weight.  I said cut the dead weight because there exist players who believe the purpose of the group is to power level them.  So they'll basically follow the group into the mission, put somebody on follow, and go AFK for 20 minutes.  You are not worthy of the mantle "dead weight" compared to those guys.  I'd kick them and invite somebody giving 40% any day.

[Sky]

So they'll basically follow the group into the mission, put somebody on follow, and go AFK for 20 minutes.

Well that's just lame.

[Llava]

It's actually really easy to carry a couple AFK people if your team is good.

Hell, in my SG group I'm willing to bet that as long as I (Brute), our Corruptor, and our Dominator are playing, the other three could go AFK for the whole missions if they want.

[rk47]

"in your SG' is different from 'in a PUG'
just let it be man, the word random explains why some grps are great why some are not. I'd just go roll one or two missions and see how they perform before deciding to stay on or leave. But usually when I'm only up for 1 hour session I'd rather finish contact missions solo than invite more people.

[UnSub]

I find that duoing in a PUG can work out quite well. However, I screen based on character name and how well they player can communicate it /tells... as most people do, I'm sure.