I Like to Complian

Why do powerlevel? I suppose I highlighted it a bit in my little rant about MA, but I'd like to give it a full explanation as to why.

Anti-powerlevel says that it isn't a challenge therefore it is unfair for those that are power-leveled to be rewarded without facing little risk or challenge.

But my argument is that low level grinding through tedious and repetitive missions are not challenging either, but it has that added con of wasting time. As mentioned previously, its about the mechanics of the game. Its designed in such a way that there is no real challenge and no real strategy to succeed in (about 99% of) the game. Any halfwit who knows how to push and click can play fairly well in this game.

I remember back in the day when the Terra Volta trials used to be hard. You and your teammates had to know your stuff and strategize in order to win. The result was that the trials were nerfed because people complained that it was too hard. True, the level 24 trial might be a bit rough for barely SO'ed toons, but the level 34 and level 44 trials were nerfed at the same level, effectively making it a joke to play -even on the invincible difficulty setting with Tankers and Scrappers on the team not bothering to get the radiation shields (red bubbles) during the Reactor Core room. Everytime I run the stupid trial, as I am beating up blue, green, and grey conned bad guys, I find myself wishing (out loud) that the devs would make a button or trigger where we can just spawn all the stupid mobs at once to make it more fun. Because as it is, its no challenge, and no challenge, no fun.

I also remember when the Preatorian Infernal mission was actually hard. This was when he had gobs of spawns from the portal. They kept coming and coming, and you and your team had to be on your toes, and know what the heck you're doing to beat him and win. And when you did beat it, you felt like a million bucks. But because people complained -again, how hard it was, that the mission was nerfed and portal now only spawns once, and thats it. I remember being so very disappointed when that happened. That used to be one of the best missions ever. It was short, difficult, and when you beat it, it was pretty sweet.

But in both instances, the TV trials and the Infernal missions were neutered to the point where anyone with half a brain can beat it.

So to make it actually fun? I was drawn to playing my Tank -all the time. Because as a Tanker, I was able to set the pace of the game. I made it challenging by pulling two different 4+ purple conned groups, capping my argo limit and keep myself and my teammates alive and well. We were able to steamroll the crap out of those missions. It was fun, but even that gets boring.

As it is, the only real challenging gameplay I can think of is running a Master of Statesman task force. Beating it (as my Inv/BA Tanker as the main and only Tanker) was one of my most exhilarating and memorable moments in this game. My only complaint is that its 3-5 hours long and if you screw up anywhere, you'd have to start over, and that can get tedious (and you know how I feel about tedium, bleh).

So there are a few things wrong here. The core of the game is tedious as shit. There is no real challenge to the game. Any existing challenges will be nerfed into tedium due to complaints from less that able players. The end game content is pretty much creating another character to play through the same tedious content.

And no, tedious and repetitive missions is not challenging gameplay (but it is quite challenging to my sanity), hence my preference to get power leveled to at least level 20 to skip the bulk of the drudgery.