AT's - Silver Accounts - Whateveh

[Xev]

AT's often get a bad rap so I wanna mention what AT's have done for me.

By using AT's when first learning the game I was able to easily pick out a toon with a powerset that resembles one of my favorite CoH toons, give him a name, and a look.

With all the time I saved from not having to learn the FF system and guess what I think would work best in a game I never played... I learned things like which currencies are important to new players (Q - Zen - G), how to use the Q Exchange, Auction Exchange, how to line up my cones, how mob ai works, how hard mobs hit and how hard I hit them, which travel powers I like best, how I can interact with the geography, how to play with the character creator/hud/game setup options and etc. And, I still made toons that were a credit to the teams they join.

By using AT's I've become familiar with SS's and Talents and Specializations and Powers and Devices and have gathered enough info to get an idea of which ones fit my playstyle.

If you choose an AT you play well and get it to 40 and gear it, if nothing else, he will be a farming toon for you that can net you, daily, at the very very least an easy 2k of Q anytime you want to run 3 (you should rarely fail) alerts.


I'm of course looking to forward experimenting with FF's but I have fun playing my AT's and they have been really useful to me.

[Brou]

ATs make most power decisions for you, and that's good for new players. At any moment, a subscriber can convert that AT into a freeform. Nothing wrong with remaining an AT, of course.

EDIT: my brain short circuited and I said Freeform instead of AT up there.

[Xev]

AT's make *all* the decisions for you without you having to think about much else but what theme you like. This is good for new & especially new casual players.

You can change from FF to AT, or, AT to FF one time only.

Just clarifying the clarifications.

In hindsight I wish I woulda stuck to AT's as the subject because that was the main intention but I'll have to add that if you start out playing Silver AT's, which is free and allows you to enjoy all the content in the game, this also allows you a trial period to decide if you even enjoy the game without spending a penny. There are bound to be people who jump into CO and find something gamekilling about it that makes them not want to play beyond giving the game a chance by checking it out.

Also, if you like the game and a paltry $10-$15 a month is a paltry $10-$15 a month, to you, - get a sub! No-brainer. Unless you are just way way into farming (Q) and still not ending up with as good as benefits as a subscriber has for your reward.

[SARobb]

Also, if you like the game and a paltry $10-$15 a month is a paltry $10-$15 a month, to you, - get a sub! No-brainer. Unless you are just way way into farming (Q) and still not ending up with as good as benefits as a subscriber has for your reward.

I subscribe, and for the life of me I could never understand why CO does this.  If you put in the time farming Q or spend the money to get the Silver FF why are you not getting all the bennies that go with a FF? (yes the obvious answer is to coax people into the sub...but still...)

[Atlantea]

Freeforms make most power decisions for you...

Don't you mean Silver ATs make most power decisions? Cause damn sure freeforms DON'T.

[Brou]

Don't you mean Silver ATs make most power decisions? Cause damn sure freeforms DON'T.

Fixed it. Should not have posted before coffee.

[Xev]

I subscribe, and for the life of me I could never understand why CO does this.  If you put in the time farming Q or spend the money to get the Silver FF why are you not getting all the bennies that go with a FF? (yes the obvious answer is to coax people into the sub...but still...)

As a Silver player who has always had a sub in whatever game he played until now, I can't complain about 1 single restriction they have in the game for Silver players.  I get your point and you're right, it's to coax people to sub - good for them! I think they are extremely fair with Silver (not entirely Free, Silvers buy Zen) accounts and still give enough incentive to all players to have a sub.

To farm up that Q like I do - you have to play the game a lot over time. You have to like the game a lot to play the game a lot, so, in exchange for their nice Silver program, CO gets regular players who would not otherwise be there because they are too broke or cheap to buy a sub, but, who help fill up the servers and who like the game, for the Gold players to play with.

When they have bennies that entice Silvers like me then at least some of us are gonna sub eventually, too. At this point in MMO history this is all a decent trade imo.

[Xev]

Fixed it. Should not have posted before coffee.

If you didn't you would have helped ruin my useful posts @ fully awake vs. yours at half awake ratio which is prolly 1:1

edit: I'm probly not saying this right but you get what I mean!

There goes my ratio  : /

hehe

[dwturducken]

Don't you mean Silver ATs make most power decisions? Cause damn sure freeforms DON'T.

I only had one FF, during the brief two months that I carried a sub. I thought there were recommendations, though, at least when you picked powers. I only got him to level 15 before converting him to a (Zen-purchased) AT and a silver character slot, so feel free to disregard.

[Eoraptor]

see, that's a mentality difference. CO and many other games make their players sticky by "gently encouraging" them to pay up to unlock content. CoH went a different and largely uncharted route of cranking out more new content, and then making half of it for-pay and half of it F2P. Obviously one is more developer intensive than the other.

and yet we know that CoH turned a profit with its model. so I'm nclined to say it sys less about the respective values of the methodologies, and more about publisher laziness and greed

[Xev]

I helped to derail my own OP hehe.. It all started when I didn't simply title the post "AT's"

I have to refer to the OP and start over at this point. It's all about how useful (I think) AT's can be in a team and to the player and how I don't think they are a waste of time in the right situation.

There's a lot of discussion on the negative side regarding AT's and the OP is a rebuttal based mostly on my experiences and situation, with some personal opinion sprinkled in of course.

A percentage of folks reading here play AT's or are thinking to try them and I'm giving them a positive spin on AT's for a change with some details based on my experience.

AT's, be recognized!  : ) For all the OP reasons. You're a completely viable and useful part of the game to some, and never a waste of time to those who enjoy playing you.

[DBadger]

I find ATs incredibly poor in comparison to Free forms, in particularly in terms of survivability. The whole point of Champions, the main crux of it's initial marketing was freedom of choice in character abilities.

I downloaded the game today and converted a few alts to ATs and I just found it incredibly frustrating how poor the builds are in comparison to my freeform builds. So I've uninstalled the game.

[Xev]

I downloaded the game today and converted a few alts to ATs and I just found it incredibly frustrating how poor the builds are in comparison to my freeform builds. 

So someone actually *would* do something like this. Interesting.

[Rust]

My biggest problem with the Archtypes is so many of them are locked behind a Pay Wall. I really want to try out the Specialist and Invincible, but my budget doesn't really call for the funds to unlock those two ATs. I can understand putting some Archtypes behind a Pay Wall, but considering you unlock them all if you Subscribe - and get access to Freeform - I don't see why they can drop a few more down and whet the appetite a bit more.

Not that I really am complaining about the ATs we have available, but another Tank option, a non-Blade Melee option, and another Hybrid would be welcome.

[Eoraptor]

Not that I really am complaining about the ATs we have available, but another Tank option, a non-Blade Melee option, and another Hybrid would be welcome.

That would really add to the enjoyment on the free side. As much as CoX put almost everything out there for free RE: character types, CO seems to put almost everything behind the wall, and it's hard to get a flavour of the game.

[Xev]

My opinion of AT's overall is that they are a *great* way to get introduced to the game and they are completely competent Q farmers.

Anything you get out of them beyond that is a bonus. imo.




Also, some people will try CO and instantly be turned off by graphics/game mechanics/avatar movement-travel powers/avatar appearance/Zone chat/the HUD/the character creator/the different currencies/how tanks-melee-support-healing-control-etc function/that it's not CoH/etc and so on. Stuff that doesn't require a FF especially when you are new to the game and haven't a clue how to play it.  So, why pay 16 bucks for that experience even if you are lighting your cigars with $100 bills.

Luckily I'm pretty easy to please these days. I like to improve my toons' uberness but I play extremely casually so AT's still suit me just fine after like 5 or 6 months or so of playing. I'm so close to getting my first FF that it's an experience I'm definitely looking forward to. Gonna get the Penthouse soon too! Next Z store sale.. should be able to get both.

[Rust]

That would really add to the enjoyment on the free side. As much as CoX put almost everything out there for free RE: character types, CO seems to put almost everything behind the wall, and it's hard to get a flavour of the game.

Basically this. I had to stretch concepts to get a viable character in CO. It lends itself to creativity (Especially with the multitude of Travel Power options), but the lack of AT selection just really hinders creation design. About the only AT I don't feel has that issue is the Behemoth, as it's an open ended power set that just hits stuff.

[Thunder Glove]

AT's make *all* the decisions for you without you having to think about much else but what theme you like. This is good for new & especially new casual players.

Not quite all, so you can still customize your character to a tiny extent.  You can choose from two alternate powers at levels 11 and 35, you can pick what powers to add Advantage points to, you can choose your Talents, you can choose your Specializations (though you can't choose your first specialization tree, you can choose what abilities to put points into in that tree, and you can choose your second and third trees freely), and, of course, you can choose your Travel powers.

It's nowhere near the amount of customization as a Freeform, of course, but you do have some options.

[Xev]

Not quite all, so you can still customize your character to a tiny extent.  You can choose from two alternate powers at levels 11 and 35, you can pick what powers to add Advantage points to, you can choose your Talents, you can choose your Specializations (though you can't choose your first specialization tree, you can choose what abilities to put points into in that tree, and you can choose your second and third trees freely), and, of course, you can choose your Travel powers.

It's nowhere near the amount of customization as a Freeform, of course, but you do have some options.

Yeah you are right of course. One can probably screw up their AT pretty good if they try and the options that *are* available, do add some spice to AT's. It's not a complete no-brainer.

For example, on the sometimes not so insignificant power choice: I had a Friends vet in-game shunning me for taking Fire Snake with Senge and I kept telling him "Look, whenever I get killed it's generally not due to 1 mob, so why choose a single target hold over some significant added aoe dps?"

The other options like Talent and Specialization choice will customize gameplay too.

Good point. 

I enjoy having these options. They feel (I haven't made my first FF yet..) like a good way to get an introduction to some concepts that are important for FF's to master in order for them to make a toon that more fits their playstyle, too.

Edit...
Oh yeah, and, they are relatively ea$y to change, too, after playing for awhile and deciding you want to try a different approach.

[Xev]

Basically this. I had to stretch concepts to get a viable character in CO. It lends itself to creativity (Especially with the multitude of Travel Power options), but the lack of AT selection just really hinders creation design. About the only AT I don't feel has that issue is the Behemoth, as it's an open ended power set that just hits stuff.

I get this. It's not me, but I get it!  : ) And I think a lot of people would substitute "Behemoth" for another AT as well as agreeing with you. Unleashed, to me for example, has the least fat of any AT I've tried. Everything in it is good and useful for how I play.

Kudos for giving the Travel Powers a shout out. I'm never gonna dis CoH here or anywhere but Athletics was one of my first loves regarding CO due to that I lub Combat Jumping and Athletics is what I wish Combat Jumping was. I spent a significant (trendsetting...) amount of time leaping my way onto interesting geography like statue-boob (sorry, crassness!, I'm a guy... : /) to sit on when I first experienced the joy that is Athletics. If you have a toon that looks good with the moves that is a major added bonus..

Hey, you play your way, I'll play mine! hehe