Psychoti

I go for 100% usually. In some cases I don't for story reasons, but usually I go for 100% for the level range. Let me give a few examples:

One of my arcs is intended for soloers that desire a serious challenge. If you have it set for more than one person the enemies get very, very difficult very, very quickly. But on their own you just have to switch up tactics a little bit. The mobs have electric armor and electric melee, I think. The minions do, at least. If you try to herd then tank & spank you will likely have difficulty. If you try to kite, you do a little better. If you have strong control you do the best. Then there are the lieutenants (set as 'Boss' spawns typically) that have Rad blasts & an ally buff set. If you let them stick around they will toast you quite quickly with the help of the minions and other lieutenants. The other lieutenants are stealthed ranged attackers with electric blasts. The bosses which are not supposed to spawn outside of specific 'defeat boss' settings are also stealthers but with Dark Melee. They always have text to let the player know they are nearby and they are not intended to spawn regularly throughout a map. I think that sort of thing is cheap. The spawns were bugged though, so I removed the arc until I can get it sorted out. The EB was /Willpower and a definite challenge for most players with the mix of resistance and regeneration, but it was soloable on a number of my characters (Kat/SR scrapper, Cold/Sonic defender [which felt like cheating almost], FF/NRG defender, and Sonic/Pain corr). Most players found it impossible to complete though so I'll likely revisit the arc at a later time. It's very important that the arc be difficult and challenging but not impossible. That absolutely KILLS the fun factor and makes players feel as though they wasted their time.

In another arc (also down for repairs thanks to wonky text-input) called "Malpractice, the Undead, and You" (or 'How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Embalmed') the first mission seems like a boss farm to some people and they complained to me about it. Thing is... it's not a boss farm. If you read the story then you will understand what is going on. Hell, there's not even that many of them! These bosses were set for 90% I think. Some are melee, some are ranged, and all of them have the ability to self-rez. . . if you're not careful. Now the next missions are primarily set with existing enemies and thus the mobs give 100% experience except for the second mission (I think). In this case it was important that the difficulty and experience both come second to the storyline. Yes, the first mission does give you good experience but that is not what it is about. Half the people that played it complained about the 'boss farm' for a first mission while the second half that played it complained about the 'poor xp' in the rest of the arc. It's not about experience! It's about the story! Grr.

Now in another example I made a mission just for friends to show them how to do specific things and how not to make a mission. I set the mobs for 100% experience and used a map that spreads them out in some places and clumps them together in others. It's important that you not give every mob on a map a snipe for various reasons and it's even more important that if you're going to have a simple 'collection' or 'destroy object' on a huge map you either set the spawn point to a specific area (front, back, or middle; you must pay attention to the map given so you as a creator know where the object can spawn and limit it as much as is feasible) so that your players don't wander all over the map for hours listening for that magic hum. In the case of 'destroy object' goals you can give the object some text that will give nearby players clues as to where it is when they walk or fly by. All of this was accompanied by text that highlighted what one should and should not do. I got yelled at by other players for making an inhospitable mission even though the summary clearly stated that it was NOT made for other players in mind but as a personal tutorial for some friends.

I kind got off-topic here and started venting, sorry.

I guess the moral of the story is this: It is up to you as the writer to decide which is more important for the experience you want the players of your arc to have. Do you want them to have more experience? Do you want them to get more involved with the story? Is there a compromise between the two? Is the compromise even necessary?

Essentially a player-made storyarc.

I'd thought about 'argent', but it is typically used in heraldry and didn't know if it would fit here.

"Chrome" might be another word you would like in there. Chrome King, Chromancer, etc. Since you're going with Brute, I'm not sure if you're thinking more 'offensive' than 'defensive'. A couple 'defensives' might be Chrome Harbor or Chrome Guard. A couple more offensively-oriented names could be something more along the lines of ChromeGrip or Chrome Clash. Or maybe Chrome Gargoyle or Onslaught :P

Griseous Gargoyle?
Glaucous Gargoyle?

Yes, I like the 'Gargoyle' name for him for some reason. So sue me.

Other adjectives I like are 'cinerious', 'liard', and 'hoary'. 'Hoary' probably wouldn't work as well since it implies age. All the words indicate shades of gray, by the way.

This is what works for me:

First, I come up with a character concept. This doesn't have to be a whole backstory or anything like that. Do I want to smash stuff? Do I want a support character? I know, I want to stab people from behind! I'll make a new Stalker! That sort of thing.

Next, I look at the available powersets and see what fits the concept best. Backstabby... well, that rules out Energy Melee, Electric Melee, Martial Arts... Broadsword looks like fun. I'll go with that. (Do not be afraid to start the character and look at the power animations and such). For the secondary.... do I want to avoid getting hit, or do I want to be able to take a hit or two? I prefer not getting hit in the first place, so I'll go with Ninjitsu (helps that it has a heal!)

Next I choose powers that I want to use. I try to keep in mind that around level 22-25 I'll have a feel for how I play the character and will likely use the secondary build to remake the character more to my tastes, so I don't plan a 'set' build at first. That comes later.

Once you're ready to pick up sets you have to ask yourself a few questions:

1) Do I go for set bonuses over enhancement values? (there isn't always a trade-off, but for some sets there is)
2) What set bonuses are most important for this build?
3) How much time/inf am I willing to spend on purchasing/earning sets for this character?

I can't answer those questions for you, but I often find myself reaching for Crushing Impacts for my melee characters, Touch of Death (I think that's the name) for some others for the +melee def.

Also (though this is probably not true in your case) people should know that just because the game says your rig can run Ultra Mode doesn't mean it actually should be doing so.

I got the message and I have a GeForceFX 5200. It's like 8 years out of date, runs the game at a respectable 20-30fps on minimal to moderate settings. I'm not about to mess with water reflections or shadows, though.

Have you tried maximizing the window or changing the way the powers are presented (like, 2 columns instead of three)?

I would like to clarify that my question in #4 isn't really telling people how to spec or anything along those lines.

For instance, on a particular SF one of the MMs on the team was letting his pets run wild and it was not helping the team one bit. Another had the habit of setting his pets into doorways so nobody could get by. He would do this before our melee characters (the majority of the team) could get to grips with the enemy, making it both harder and frustrating. The first we just asked to keep his pets on defensive and pick selectively pick targets since his pets were pulling adjacent mobs on a regular basis. The second we just asked to send his pets in after our melee train ran through the doors. Both MMs were fine with this, with the second saying he was just so used to playing solo.

People tell me I have the worst luck with PuGs. Sometimes it feels like that, but I also get pretty lucky meeting new people. So here's a few questions that I'd like to ask the rest of you.

In an average gaming week:
1) How often do you PuG instead of grouping within your SG or friends?
2) How often do you group with friends and fill the rest of the group with PuGs?
3) How often do your PuG members do what you feel needs to be done without being told to do so?
4) How often do you find yourself telling PuG members what you feel they should be doing (for the good of the current team/session)?
5) How often do you find yourself adding PuG members to your friends/global friends, and if those lists are full, using other methods of remembering them?
6) How often do you group with complete jerks in a PuG?

As for me:

1) Very, very rarely. Maybe once in a hundred teams.
2) Any time we need to run a Strike Force or Task Force, so virtually daily, sometimes several times daily.
3) A bit more than half the time, maybe 2/3 of the time.
4) Maybe 1/4 of the time. That remaining little little sliver left over is me just hoping they figure it out or we make it through it because they're just so darned nice.
5) Not too often because I nearly always forget to.
6) Usually one person out of any given PuG is a complete jerk to me or someone else in the team.

If you're going to put in a prompt, need to have the auto-choose ability in the options IMO. I freaking *hate* the fortunes, personally.

I tried searching but came up with nothing. I had an old link to a thread that listed every story arc, TF, and Trial for heroes and villains and how many merits each awarded you. I can't find it anymore since the forums changed.

Anyone have an updated link?

One important thing to remember, no matter which archetype/powersets you choose:

Your character doesn't really come into its own until level 20-ish. That's when you'll really start getting the hang of your powers and notice that your powers are getting more powerful or more useful. Especially once you get SOs, or Single-Origin Enhancements, which are much more effective than that crap you get at the beginning.

1) I just came back from an extreme "AFK" myself and find myself leveling a lot faster than I used to. I play for about 2-3 hours every night and usually gain a level or two in that time period. At the very least, you make marked progress.

2) I agree with others that it isn't all about 'being 50' as much as the journey in getting there. That said, while there isn't any 'ongoing end-game' like in many other games there is still plenty to do. One of the great things about the game is the replayability through different power sets and even different slotting/power selections within the same sets.

3) I don't really enjoy the PvP in CoX, but you might. I'm not going to tell you "it sucks" or anything like that. Give it a shot, maybe hook up with a pro beforehand so they can show you the ropes.

4) Every server has its own 'flavor'. I'd suggest starting with Freedom or Virtue (they are the most populated) and if they aren't to your liking try Pinnacle and the rest.


But to answer the question in your subject line:

Yes. You should come back.

I have to feel a 'connection' with a character to play it past 20, typically. I only have 2 50s that I doubt I'll ever play seriously again, one is "Lord Niveous", a Cold/Rad Defender. I [censored]ing hate /Rad blast after playing it with this character to 50. I can not adequately describe it, really. The other is my Dark Blast/Cold Domination Corruptor, a different take on the character that replaced Lord Niveous (a Cold/Sonic) that I enjoyed for the most part but just find bland at 50. I can't really explain it too well, I don't hate the character I just don't feel any level of immersion while playing the character, it's almost like work. Not fun.

There are only 2 characters that I regret deleting. One was one of my first characters, a Fire/Storm controller. This was waaaaay back when the game first started and I got him to level 23-ish before deleting him to make a new character. I loved his backstory then, and I love it now.... in fact, the new character I made was a continuation of his backstory when he became a Warshade. Then, when I got tired of the Warshade (I hate the shapechanging and didn't care for the human form's weak damage) I decided to reinvent him again by inventing a storyline where he was forcibly separated from his kheldian and then turned by Arachnos brainwashing. Now he's a Fire/Psy dominator and I'm enjoying the character even if I don't play him often.

I came back today after a while off, only had 6 of them on my level 23 villain on Freedom.

I can not speak for anyone else, but in my experience I just don't like being part of largely inactive SGs/Guilds/Societies, etc. I have a limited time to play each day - if I have to spend literally half of my time either forming or looking for groups then I am not having fun and not getting my money's worth out of the game.

That said, I've been part of new groups before and I find that the experience is either very rewarding or very antagonistic. Not much grey in between the two, in my experiences, which is a shame.