Veteran Rewards Info

[Llava]

I predict, then, that Nerva will kill the game for you.  Every contact sends you against Longbow, and none of the first tier are interesting. If you can get past that, the next tier is alright.

Hardcase in St. Martial is the worst contact in the game.  Skip him if you can, but you probably won't be able to because he provides a huge amount of St. Martial's missions.

But make sure you do Operative Wellman in Cap Au Diable.  He follows Marshall Brass.

[geldonyetich]

I can see why you'd have issue with Longbow, with those grenade-launcher using foes.  The biggest trouble I've had with Masterminds are when facing against foes with AOE attacks.  The mastermind himself is a weak little bugger, and his bodyguards are his external tank of hitpoints he can call upon to compensate for this.  An AOE attack that hits him and all his bodyguards (assuming he has all six) does essentially seven times as much damage as if the Mastermind was attacked directly (plus an additional 1/8th for each bodyguard in a six bodyguard configuration).

As you get higher up, get used to throwing away your henchmen like the cannon fodder they are.  Your summoning powers don't have that long of a recycle, and with recharge reduction enhancements - maybe even Hasten - and some careful endurance management you can keep those minions respawning from the inevitable casualties you'll face.

[Llava]

Oh I don't mean because they're hard to fight.  My Mastermind is 43, I'm plenty used to throwing the minions away and resummoning.

I just mean that at a certain point you get fucking tired of the same enemy group over and over.

[geldonyetich]

Ah yes.  Not a problem unique to Masterminds, alas ;)

[Llava]

It's why I really dislike the Nerva levels.  You get Lt. Demitrovich (Longbow), Darla Mavis (Longbow), or the Shadowy Figure (guess what- Longbow).  Darla Mavis has the most interesting story of all of them, and it's only slightly interesting.  Shadowy Figure really has no story at all.  "Go do this.  No questions.  Now do this.  Okay you're done. Bye."

Fortunately, Timothy Raymond and Psymon Omega are reasonably interesting contacts, and if you've beaten Scrapyard you can do Crimson Revenant who is pretty fun.

[Glazius]

You can also intersperse the Longbow Longbow Longbow with some contacts back in Sharkhead. Archmage Tarixus is an easy unlock (just grab some plaques in the newbie zones), Doc Buzzsaw is a leetle bit harder (get 1 million infamy before level 30), and there's Diviner Maros and Operative Kirkland who you should get introduced to or can newspaper for.

--GF

[Sky]

But make sure you do Operative Wellman in Cap Au Diable.  He follows Marshall Brass.

I found a nifty little site that lists contacts by zone, level range, and some hints on how to order them to get the most out of them. It's pretty handy, I was able to do everyone in Cap, I think. The only contact I know I missed was a special contact, at the big fort with ghosts, because the requirement was grinding out ghost traps for a badge. I just met one in Shark that wants me to grind out killing scrapyarders. So I'll be missing most of those special contacts, eh?

Longbow's not too bad. The worst so far was the guys in the Strikebreaker mission. Tons of AoE firebombs with big initial damage, my boys were falling like mad but I made it through. Second worse is probably Wyvern because of the high damage arrows and bolts.

Had an insane fight against scrapyarders just before I logged last night. Took on a mob of maybe 10 of them and just as I was halfway through another mob came rushing up on me from somewhere, it was insane. Traps is definitely a great secondary, and I love my little medic guy. Hit 22 last night and gave him 3 heal SOs.

[Llava]

The Scrapyarder contact isn't bad, just get the first badge for beating up Scrapyarders. It's like 100 of them or so.  Easy to do just with regular missions.

But almost no one gets to do Veluta Lunata, because defeating those ghosts is hard and requires a lot of coordination.

[Nevermore]

You only need to trap 10 of those ghosts now for the badge to unlock Veluta, by the way.

[Sky]

Since when? I did that maybe two weeks ago. I think I trapped about a dozen before the traps spawned about 8 purple EBs and I gave up on it.

Scrapyarders, I dunno. I think it's 200, and the badge progress bar after I've killed maybe 40 seems to reflect that (I had a kill 30 mission and more jumped me).

I will say this: 22 and no grind yet. Maybe I'm just following contacts better, I dunno. I barely have enough time to flesh out all my contacts before I outlevel them. So, cool beans. For now.

[CmdrSlack]

Hey Sky, what's the link to the site that lists the contacts, etc.?

I'm finally downloading CoV whenever I finally get unpacked (moving in the late fall FTW!), etc.

[hal]

Just to chime in, I am playing again and really enjoying my corrupter. And mastermind is the uber for soling. There very rough in groups. But the corrupter, a blaster with  heal? And I buff and debuff. Whats not to like?

[Llava]

Scrapyarders, I dunno. I think it's 200, and the badge progress bar after I've killed maybe 40 seems to reflect that (I had a kill 30 mission and more jumped me).

Can't remember off the top of my head what level Scrapyard's followers are, but that's a /fantastic/ way to get this badge up really fast.  Just jump on to a group taking him down, get sidekicked up to a level where the minions are all gray, and take out about 500 of them in 10 minutes.

Exaggeration, but not by a lot.

[UnSub]

Hey Sky, what's the link to the site that lists the contacts, etc.?

I'm finally downloading CoV whenever I finally get unpacked (moving in the late fall FTW!), etc.

He might be talking about NoFuture, which I think has a url of

http://www.nofuture.org.uk/cov

[Llava]

I use this one:
http://www.trueevil.org/trekain/contacts.html

[Nevermore]

Since when? I did that maybe two weeks ago. I think I trapped about a dozen before the traps spawned about 8 purple EBs and I gave up on it.

Since Issue 6.  I did it 2 months ago and only needed 10 for the first badge.  There's a second ghost badge that still needs 100, but you only need the first to unlock the contact.  Check this badge site, the one we're talking about is the achievement badge called Pirate.

[Sky]

http://www.nofuture.org.uk/cov

That's the one.

Could've swore I did an even dozen ghosts before the EBs all popped and I had to quit. Ah, well.

[Llava]

So you guys know, the EB pops when a certain trapped absorbs a certain amount of ghosts.  You can avoid it by moving to other traps.

[Hutch]

Official Forums Announcement: Veteran Rewards now on the Test Servers

[Typhon]

Veteran rewards still haven't been launched?!  How many developers are actually still working on this product?  Or is there some other reason for their glacial pace?

[Hutch]

Veteran rewards still haven't been launched?!  How many developers are actually still working on this product?  Or is there some other reason for their glacial pace?

The veteran rewards are awarded based on how long you've been playing. So, instead of taking players' word for it, they've been waiting for some kind of update or uplink from the NCSoft accounting software. Or something along those lines. If you're really curious for details, follow the link. I'm sure there's a thread about it in there somewhere.

[Sky]

I'm in the 9 months bracket. Been a while since I'd played, since way before CoV came out. Still, I get a respec which I've really been wanting for my Merc/Traps MM.

[Typhon]

Thanks Hutch, but I'm aware of what/how the veteran rewards work.  Also, I read the news that they are waiting for account details from NCSoft acouple days ago...

Basically my comment was, "how freakin long does it take to get a frickin nightly feed from an accounting system with userid/time paid? Jesus Christ, pick up the fucking pace!"

I'm in the "subscirbed since CoH launch bracket", because I'm a moron.  Being subscribed for so long is probably why have no tolerance left for this game to get better, I'm to that "I can stand the way you breath" stage.  Why do I keep coming back here?  Because I love CoH flying, it's awesome.  I'd just like for them to patch in more fun... apparently that is too much to ask (c.f. "moron", above).

[edited for grammar and clarity]

[Llava]

I've been subbed since launch.  I still like the game.

I think you're just ornery.

[Sky]

I'd stay subbed if I wasn't saving for a mortgage. It's a great game to jump into every now and again, but I don't know how people can play it all the time. Maybe that makes them ornery.

I think the thing with accounting is that they built the rewards level right into the account system. When I looked at my account details before that last post, it showed the first bracket of reward levels (up to 12 months) with the veteran level name (Loyal or whatever) and 12 months was greyed out (because I'm a 9-monther). So it sounds like it was a bit more of an integration than a simple database check.

[Llava]

That's kinda cool, can see exactly how much I get.


Veteran Rewards

The Veteran's Rewards listed here will only be available in the Training Room until Issue 8 is published.
Reward Level    Date Awarded
3 months - Trustworthy    Nov 06 2006
6 months - Faithful    Nov 06 2006
9 months - Dependable    Nov 06 2006
12 months - Loyal    Nov 06 2006
15 months - Zealous    Nov 06 2006
18 months - Staunch    Nov 06 2006
21 months - Steadfast    Nov 06 2006
24 months - Devoted    Nov 06 2006
27 months - Dedicated    Nov 06 2006
30 months - Committed    Nov 06 2006

For complete details visit our Veteran Rewards Program page.


Good eye, Sky.

[Stormwaltz]

Good lord. I had no idea my account had been active for 1.5 years. I figured I'd be lucky to have a year in.

[Numtini]

Good lord. I had no idea my account had been active for 1.5 years. I figured I'd be lucky to have a year in.

I just reupped in COX and while I only started a year ago, I was shocked to find out that overall, it was the game I played the most in the last year. It doesn't have that "make a career out of it" feeling that most of the "end game" games do and I think that really makes you lose track of how much you play.

[Typhon]

So it sounds like it was a bit more of an integration than a simple database check.

I agree, I saw this last night as well.  Then I poured myself a big ole cup of STFU.  It tastes awful.

[Hutch]

My rewards are up to the 24 month mark. I first subbed a few months after retail, and then I shut down the subscription during the time I was hyper-active in WoW.

I copied a toon over to the test server last night, to play with the new costume items.
I took pictures of angel wings, samurai armor, demon wings, and the trench coat.

[Damn Dirty Ape]

That's my exact same story, Hutch.  I must be the evil twin as I have a goatee in real life.

I created a fire blaster during Halloween in anticipation of wings.  I initially thought my fire tanker would use them but a fire tanker needs Acrobatics to tank effectively and an eight-foot tall character's wings would clutter up the screen too much.  Not that anyone would seriously notice during the psychedelic freak-out effects going off during combat with a full team including controllers and defenders.