Years and years ago, in the days of Diablo II, I read a fascinating “journal” written by a player who decided to try completing the game on Hell difficulty while killing only the monsters that had to be killed in order to proceed to the next stage of the game - basically, no kills except for the end-bosses of each zone/stage. He documented the entire journey, with detailed explanations of how he overcame challenges without killing, and included plenty of screenshots to illustrate what he did. He used a Necromancer and made extensive, complicated use of of that class’s crowd-control abilities to fence off the monsters so that he could pass by them without fighting. It was quite fascinating! (And yes, he succeeded in his goal.)
Yeah, I remember that guy. He’s the same one who made Irene the Infirm, a sorceress who made her way to and killed Andarial, without any skills or stats. I think he had a couple of other challenge characters, too, though I don’t remember them. And of course, they were all hardcore (character death means complete end to the character).
I was able to get into the Ski Chalet from Pocket D just now…
Yup, it’s open year-round.
I did not know that! Was waiting for Winter to get my Trucker badge.
You’ll have to gain a level from something else before you can get XP from exploration badges–they don’t award any when you’re level 1, so don’t “waste” any until you level up from something else. Maybe you can find glowies-only missions in the Mission Architect. Autocompleting missions (however often that’s allowed) could also give you a small boost or get you past mandatory fighting missions.
On live, I had Agoraphobic Man, a FF/Psi Defender whose only purpose was to get exploration badges without ever gaining any XP. (It was his desensitization therapy–he wasn’t actually a hero, he just registered for the medical benefits.) Playing him was excellent practice for avoiding aggro. When the servers went down, he was standing on the Storm Palace, still at level 1.
Since you actually want to level the character, though, I think a Stalker would be your best bet. Hide is just too good compared to other stealth options. Otherwise, a /FF controller with an early sleep power might be good. Mind would probably be the best choice, since it offers strong non-damaging control options higher up as well. Plant is another option, as it gets the earliest AoE sleep of any set.
I already made him, as an Illusion/Force controller, on the grounds that that gets me good powers in both primary and secondary. I might need to re-make, though: I haven’t gotten any exploration badges yet, but I did get a few other badges that I thought should have given XP, but didn’t. I didn’t realize that they don’t work at level 1, because most of my characters, I’ve started with one of the tutorials.
I don’t think that a glowie-only AE mission grants any mission XP-- On my farmer, I did a map with a glowie without realizing that it was technically the only objective, and IIRC it didn’t give me anything. But the once-every-three-days skip would probably work, if I’m patient (and I am): I don’t think I’ll do it after 2nd level, but it gives a way to get started.
I think that only exploration badges award XP. I haven’t messed with the MA at all since Live, and not much then (aside from making the Deadliest Mission Ever once), so I don’t know its XP rules.
The downside to Illusion for your purposes is that its non-damaging AoE controls are limited and cause aggro; it does get a native stealth, though, which is good. Sleep and stealth should be your best tools, I think, since you don’t want to use confuse. (Though you could confuse lone mobs–if there are no other mobs in their aggro bubble, they just stand there until it wears off.) Pair Illusion’s Superior Invisibility with Super Speed, and you should be able to stealth almost everything–just avoid enemy factions with lots of snipers, like Nemesis.
Thursday at 8 Eastern, Hellfury will be doing some fire farming along with Laura Ingalls Wildest - any CECILians are welcome to come along.
Might possibly be 8:15 or so; it’ll depend on how late my tutoring runs that day.
But yeah, I’m getting pretty good at the farming, and with two of us spamming AoE, we should be able to support a lot of bystanders.
And I might even have my own farm finished by then. I don’t know if it’ll be the most efficient, but I think folks will like it.
So, we did fire-farm, and I got seven levels out of it (unlocked epic pools, so now doing a patron arc), but nobody door-sat.
And we got to officially try out my AE map, Flamboyant Fire Farm. Even if you’re not a fire farmer, I recommend you try it (maybe at a lower level modifier); I think most CoH players will enjoy it.
I really dislike door-sitting (not in the sense of holding it against anyone–I just hate doing it myself). I could never stand to do it even when leveling Bal the first time. I’ll admit that the idea will be tempting when I start to level up some of my alts, though.
Yeah, I don’t think I could door-sit. I have to be *doing *something. When I occasionally go to Atlas Park to show off my costume, I last about three minutes before I need to go *do *something. I was the same way in WoW - I just could never be one of those players who just hangs around in a capitol city for hours.
Well, contribute, then, just let the specialized farmers take all the aggro. More DPS (or control, or buffing) is always welcome.
Yeah, the fire-farm thing can be tricky to deal with if you don’t like being idle - the spawns are big enough that nobody can keep 100% of the aggro, so the instant anyone else gets within range, some of the baddies will peel off to blast them - and if you’re not pretty fire resistant, you’re probably looking at being two-shotted.
I’ve seen different approaches to deal with that - stealth enabled healers and buffers can do pretty well, as long as they resist the temptation to attack, and don’t get too close. And of course, capped fire resistance goes a long way towards survivability - so aspiring farmers can do alright, within reason.
The most common approach I have seen is to let the fire farmer thin the herd - then jump in to start blasting the Elite Bosses. Still have to watch out for runners, and it helps to bring along a wakie or two, but you feel more involved that way.
You could also spend a thousand inf to craft a fire resistance temporary power that lasts for an hour. In the crafting room of our base, there’s a machine in the middle of the right wall where you can make them (and other temporary powers).
Last night I ran that new vigilante story arc that HC added. Very well-written, fun, and best of all, contained within a single zone. 20 Reward Merits for completing it, too. If you have a vigilante, or plan to have one, be sure to check it out.
Who’s the contact for that one? My blaster could use another arc.
And 20 merits is a ton for a story arc.
From the October 1 patch notes:
Probably best to use the Contact Finder to locate her - she’s kinda tucked away in a non-obvious spot.
Aw, does that mean that, since I’m already over 29, I missed out on her? Can I flashback the missions?