Biospark

Hehe, my apologies for how I worded my post. I was actually trying to say just that very thing. Influence was relatively difficult to come by (to me) until IOs and Wents came about. Even after they came out, I stayed away from it all for quite awhile telling myself that when I made 50, THEN I would get involved in all these recipes/IO sets/salvage etc...

But then a Miracle happened. No really ! A Miracle +rec recipe dropped from a mission in Brickstown. Sold it for a nice 60 million, which was about 30 times as much influence as I had ever had at one time and Wentworths became one of my favorite places to visit.

Actual Newbies would be well advised to check out some guides on buying and selling, because I have built characters (recently even) without giving them a slush fund who were easily able to get to level 20 and have a few million in their pockets.

Yeah, I like this suggestion. It makes alot of sense as opposed to the current system where you have considerably fewer slots to enhance and they are at 1/4 strength until 12th. Then at 1/2 strength. And a change like this would not favor any AT.

hehe

Except that those same new players are probably dirt-poor as well. So they also need to get involved as early as possible with Wents. I know that before IOs, I struggled to get influence just to keep my SOs current. Once IOs came around and I learned how to make inlfuence and build better, it got much better. Its kinda like every other MMO out there, once you get someone into the end-game, they can "rich uncle" any of your newbie characters, which makes leveling alts so much more enjoyable.

I am 100% in agreement with you on this Sarrate. The vet powers help out alot, especially if you also happen to be playing a toon that can lower defense of their opponents and make acc a non-issue. But how about any new players coming on board. Its safe to say that many of them will try solo-ing and run into that "tough-spot" in the teens.

Not trying to suggest any changes myself, and I know that the more astute newbies will seek out help from the forums or other players in-game, but would say... changing all store-bought enhancements to SOs kinda solve this whole level to 20 question ?

Iron Man is one of my favorite comic heroes, so of course I have played an homage character to experience the fun of what it could be like as Iron Man. I have tried both the Defender and Blaster versions (several variations as well) and I feel that Energy-Energy Blaster is as close as you will get in the game. Just take some defensive powers, IO as much as you can and enjoy. As far as the comic version of him not being "squishy", I am gonna have to say that he was quite fragile compared to other heroes (and villains). In fact, both He and Human Torch could very easily be classed as hover-blasters more-so than just about anyone else I can think of. The fact that Iron Man could do some melee carnage doesnt make him less of a blaster in my mind either. Lets face it, Energy Melee is pretty deadly and in addition do we know how much money Tony Stark had to spend to repair his suit after every fight he was involved in?
Good thing he was a rich man.

My apologies then. For some reason I cannot see my rep messages at the moment.
And I made an assumption. One of my many human faults I guess.

Wow.... You are an unusual person Talen_Lee.

Try to remember that every person that posts on the forums is a human being, with feelings, faults, desires and impulses. You can never know what effect your words can have. That Karma goes to you whether you believe in it or not.

I wish you all the best, even though you probably don't feel the same.

I am not positioning myself in any way. Never did I say that I was better than anyone else in any way. In fact, I am sure that my many faults and foibles as a human being place me nowhere near the top of the "ultimate example of humanity". But if I said that a plant was "green" and you disputed my right to say so because you think I am trying to place myself above a blind man is kind of silly, since "truth" can fall from the lips of a moron just as easily as from a genius. It doesnt change what is true.

And you Talen_Lee are well known as a person that speaks his mind in blunt, harsh, cruel, sarcastic ways at times( thats how I choose to describe it). Whether your point is "truthfull" doesnt change the manner in which it is presented. So speaking your mind in a disdainful way is NOT respectful, even if it is correct.

Just to clarify my position on the whole thread as well. I dont agree that there is a problem.
I DO agree that getting from level 1-22 on ANY character (some more than others) is an endurance challenge. Luckily, there is plenty of game to explore after 22, so its not a major concern for me (or others, apparently). Can the road to 22 be improved? Certainly. Should it be improved ? Dont know. Will I stop enjoying the game either way ? Nope.
Can all these points be discussed without getting offended ? I would sure like to think so.
But apparently not.

P.S. Thanks for the NEG Rep too.

This thread probably should be locked down.

Personally, I think that respect for differing viewpoints is an important quality of mature and intellegent human beings. Looking around the world and watching the news makes me wonder how many of them we actually have on the planet, but I remain optimistic.

We don't have to all agree, but discussing our disagreements should not result in "name-calling".
That's something we used to do on the playground when we had only single-digit birthdays.

I would hope the forums could be an example of the better nature of MMO players but when it gets ugly like this, it should be stopped.

Interesting thoughts Miladys. I too, wish that Stamina were more "optional", but even in its current form Stamina is not the "all-powerfull" gift most would believe.

Let me explain;
Stamina will give you a nice boost once 3-slotted, but there are two other things that occurr simultaneously. Your Attacks get a huge boost at SO level. So fewer attacks required to down a villain means less endurance used overall. And most folks (including me) will slot endurance reduction in the higher cost powers. Some people even slot endurance reduction in the smaller cost powers. I have known several Tankers that have done this in order to keep pluggin away with their attacks for indefinite amounts of time.

Dont get me wrong, I always take Stamina because its that good, but its not the "only" thing thats contributing to the wonderfully better experience after level 22 and SOs.

Absolutely ! I have heard this idea before and completely agree.

Pre-20 slotting is at such a premium that even SO-level strength will not do a huge amount to upset the balance, and if it did change things too much, they could always tweak mob HPs to fit their desired balance.

Ouch ! What do you have against Empaths Frosticus ?

The first 22 levels of the game can be challenging on your endurance bar (I will admit), but this experience varies from AT and combination quite wildly. I have played toons from 1-20 that were gasping for air halfway thru every fight, while others seemed like they didnt need endurance at all.

Here are a few things that I have used to help out;

Attacks always get 2 ACC first off. Even Training Origins will give you approx 15% more accuracy. Missing is REALLY bad in the early game (Not so great at any level really).

Take your small endurance cost powers and use them almost exclusively. You can take AoE powers and high cost attacks if you need to, but use them sparingly. Lets face it, if you think that you can AoE stuff prior to Stamina, you are fooling yourself.

Take more single target attacks, even pool attacks. A good attack chain makes life easier.

Don't take a lot of toggles pre-stamina. 1 or 2 at most depending on the character and their powers. This is one of the reasons I love the willpower set. WP Tankers can have better than stamina by level 12. But everyone else has to wait till 20. You may think your survival depends on toggles, but that is not correct. Just play a Blaster to 50 and you will find out what survival IS.

Conserving endurance is a game of precision. Know exactly how many "shots" it takes to get to the center of a tootsie... uhm, Villain. You will be surprised how much endurance you can waste using your big hitter on a sliver of health. Instead wait for the appropriate smaller attack to recharge. Same goes for using small attacks. If the Villain has more health than your small attack can finish, then wait for the bigger attack. Dont use 2 shots when 1 will do the job.

Finally, play different variations of your themes. Some combinations are simply late bloomers and no matter what you do, the road to Stamina is going to hurt. If the theme cannot be changed, then get on teams for your early levels. Nothing saves endurance as much as having other players around to assist in Villain clean-up.

I appreciate the effort Tenzhi, Thirty-Seven and GreenFlame

Truth be told, I start every character these days with a search for a decent name and then see if I can design a concept around it. If you try to develope a concept first and then find a name, you are bound to be disappointed.

Also to be truthful, I ALWAYS choose 1-word names. Many will argue that therein lies the problem, but from my personal aesthetic paradigm, Superheroes are more pleasing with single or compound single-word names. Even though some may think I am complaining (which I am not), I have managed to collect quite a few decent super-hero names.
What IS dissappointing is the amount of time needed to spend in front of the character select screen trying to find the over-looked names. Time that I would rather spend IN-GAME.

So I guess that this thread will be /unsigned by myself just as the majority who have visited here. Thanks everyone for stopping by to share your views and good luck in-game

Programming could be a challenge, but since we are only dealing with one element of a character's data-set, it doesnt seem like a huge difficulty for programming.

I guess the real problem lies in how many other game functions are "touched" by the name-bit. Imagine being force-joined to a team because your alter ego hit invite accepted. Ewww