Did you actually Level an Automation?

chimerafreek

Are there polls? Because I'd like to have made this into a Poll, Also I don't know if this is the right forum for it, but it seems as good as any.

Did you actually Level your Automation to 40, or did you take an Already Level/Near Level 40 and convert it into an Automation? I'm just trying to get an idea of how many people actually played the new AT.

And if you did Level one, did you ENJOY playing the AT or did it feel like a chore?

pantagruel01

I technically levelled an automaton to level 40, though what I actually did was get in a vehicle at level 6 and, other than xp alerts, never leave.

chalupaoffury

I capped out at 30ish due to the insane squishiness/threat monster/low dps qualities the AT presented.

I'm an unabashed AT fan, check the sig. I literally couldn't bring myself to get that thing to 40. I will eventually, but it's a nightmare. Terribly thought out.

jonsills

I played an Automaton for a few levels. It's fun at the beginning. Then I started to get frustrated at some of the choices made, so I redid Spider-Bat (who was/is 40) as an Automaton, then started a new toon and made better choices.

baelogventure

I tried. I made it to 27 before I just couldn't handle it.

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flowcyto

I retrained one of my lvl 40 ATs just to get the new powers, but eventually my altitis and curiosity led me to level one up normally anyways.

It was.. umm.. interesting. Not terrible for me, but def not anywhere near great. I think I didn't find the Automaton as bad cause it at least has better dps than the likes of the Impulse or the Support ATs, and I generally like the challenge of playing squishy builds. Things got a bit better when I picked up energy wave w/ rev polarity, binding shot, and ranked up Circuits- then I didn't have to care about lining up AoE as much, and w/ some bonus heal gear stayed alive pretty well. It was a pretty repetitive grind before, though.

Fortunately, the poorly structured build + dps role did mean I usually wasn't doing enough single-target dps/threat in Alerts to pull boss aggro. Still had to LoS and run & heal a bunch vs. Alert trash, though. Energy Shield and/or the choice of an AD woulda been nice, as would be less Hand slot attacks for Eye Beams.

Also, fixing the options to always face targets on attack helped a good deal since energy building was pretty much unavoidable w/ the kit, and wrist bolter's frontal arc limit was annoying otherwise.

eiledon

levelled Tangleweb (my automaton) to 40. if memory serves did under 20 grabs. rest was done via missions. took 5 days (about 20 hours of play on her) during 2x. Did use my skyfox to speed up the 20s in canada and 30s in Monster Island.

meedacthunist

Yes, I did level my RA to 40 only by doing quests.

Only to try how fast I can do it.

Though I had both nemesis gear and anniversary XP boosts.



Also, it would be really hard to die on regular mobs in missions on a normal difficulty level.

monsterdaddy

I did it only to obtain Rocket Fist for a new PA build (only to discover later that RF isn't classified as an AoE for specs, grrrr.)

riverocean

I tried to do it.. twice. And gave up at about lvl 20 both times.

maleb666

I leveled one all the way to 40...

After that, renamed and retrained it to a FF. :biggrin:

chaelk

level 14.
@wayword did his to 40 and his first comment was "finally,now I can fix it."

jasinblaze

i retrained a 40, then i retrained it back.

kallethen

I have gotten one to level 20. I do plan to eventually get it to level 40. Going is slow, but not because of bad build but because I have other toons I am more focused on for RP.

jonesing4

pantagruel01 wrote: »

I technically levelled an automaton to level 40, though what I actually did was get in a vehicle at level 6 and, other than xp alerts, never leave.

This was me. Did some missions that are in indoor maps when necessary to complete a chain, but stuck to missions almost exclusively (with the occasional Grab to refresh the XP buff).

With Double XP going for 4 hours, it was pretty easy. Retrained into a good freeform build immediately afterward.

pantagruel01

jonesing4 wrote: »

This was me. Did some missions that are in indoor maps when necessary to complete a chain.

True, I did teleport through some missions.

crypticbuxom

I retrained a toon that I leveled up from a previous Dbl Exp Event before it was released.

I've seen people who just picked up the game make better builds than what this was.

xydaxyda

I leveled my automation to 40 within the first week by doing missions mostly.

I considered it a fun challenge.

wingedkagouti

maleb666 wrote: »

I leveled one all the way to 40...

After that, renamed and retrained it to a FF. :biggrin:

Same here (except the rename).

That AT has an amazing amount of anti-synergy in it. It also relies on a semi-broken Offensive Passive, which doesn't make things any easier.

monaahiru

Meh just spray the fevered citizens and grind tokens but going to end farming next day of Tomorrow. o3o

tfavsb10

I just used a retrain token on a lvl 40 alt.

spinnytop

I'm leveling one right now. It's fun. Not sure what all the high-pitched complaining was about. I guess some people can't handle anything other than a min-max-optimized FF anymore.

sterga

I leveled mine from 1 to 40. I still have my Automaton. My Inferno was deleted after I finished the video and stripped all of his worldly possessions.

Rocket Fist was fun enough to carry me through the leveling. Having RAD Sphere helped. And an awesome looking toon. I didn't hate leveling the Automaton any more than I hate leveling in general.

chimerafreek

Personally I couldn't tolerate leveling through the AT. Other AT's, to me, didn't feel like they where trying as hard as the Automation was to keep me from enjoying playing as it. I retrained an unused 40 for it instead.

Thought I'd post now because;
A) I didn't when I made the thread.
Bump.

warcanch

Created and leveled an Automaton from 1 to 40 doing:
..>80% standard leveling missions
..about a half dozen Alerts (enough for 2 turn ins at Lt Patil(?))
..some area NPC farming

I did retrain her (for free) at 40. I did it for the Rocket Punch, which I put on a couple of other characters.

I started her out with one device, Psionic Accelerator, which does not proc Targeting Computer. Gear was all 6 Nemesis Heirloom pieces.
There were a few places that were tough, but Reconstruction Circuits + BLOCKing helped over the harder fights. And, I'm a LTS from Open Beta.


(Enough comments from others already cover the flaws in the AT design)

thelastsonofzod

I leveled Scapheap to 40 in four days on the opening weekend. It wasn't horrible. Poor build, but I made it work. Armadillo gear made him tanku enougg for face tanking. Respecced as a FF now, and I'm happier with him.

chaelk

warcanch wrote: »

Created and leveled an Automaton from 1 to 40 doing:
..>80% standard leveling missions
..about a half dozen Alerts (enough for 2 turn ins at Lt Patil(?))
..some area NPC farming

I did retrain her (for free) at 40. I did it for the Rocket Punch, which I put on a couple of other characters.

I started her out with one device, Psionic Accelerator, which does not proc Targeting Computer. Gear was all 6 Nemesis Heirloom pieces.
There were a few places that were tough, but Reconstruction Circuits + BLOCKing helped over the harder fights. And, I'm a LTS from Open Beta.


(Enough comments from others already cover the flaws in the AT design)

Psionic accelerator for major aoe damage instead of blast, blast, other blast

chaelk

spinnytop wrote: »

I'm leveling one right now. It's fun. Not sure what all the high-pitched complaining was about. I guess some people can't handle anything other than a min-max-optimized FF anymore.

I've got most of the other at's levelled. The only one nearly as annoying as this one is Inventor.

blast, blast, other blast.

spinnytop

chaelk wrote: »

I've got most of the other at's levelled. The only one nearly as annoying as this one is Inventor.

blast, blast, other blast.

Yes I can see why repetitive power use would be unusual for someone in this game o3o

chaelk

yep, you can hit the first blast o r the second blast or the third blast . or if you don't pay attention, you can hit 2 at once and watch an odd effect happen, as it tries to do both at once.

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guyhumual

To answer the OP, yes I leveled an automation from level 6 all the way up to level 40. I started playing with Archetypes so this was a lot like getting back to my roots. I didn't find it that difficult, I didn't really need to think very much leveling the character up, but I can't really say that I found it all that enjoyable. Then again I've leveled up 45 characters to level 40 so I can't say that I've had much fun leveling characters for a while. In my mind it was probably no worse then any leveling any other toon.

avianos

TRYING!

But not gonna give up, I have LvLed up to 40 The Inventor, nothing scares me

The Automation is not that bad actually, but it has many flaws that drive me insane

and I found that neither Missions nor Alerts were fan on early lvls (Vehicles are AWESOME... to Speedrun Westside)
many useless Powers (Power Gauntlet is A WASTE OF POWER)

My main issue is the ENERGY MANAGMENT, still lvl 24, 1 more until I get Overdrive but I can see Overdrive being the WORST Energy Unlock due to the lack of Toggles (Not touching Gauntlet Chainsaw leaving me with only Reconstruction Circuits)
This needed another Power Armor Toggle like EYE BEAMS~!

Wrist Bolter is also one of the most Frustating Energy Builder I used so far
I really started appreciating using the Energy Absorbing Crashsuit Device

Rocket Punch is FUN!

I can see that Aspect of the Machine is in the same team of Toggles with Inertial Dampening Field AND Mental Discipline which is RANK IT TO 3

What bothers me the most is that I made a new Character which I end up loving!



He is called Star Stroke and he is a robot coming from Space~!

Except of Crescendo, I'm not really into Robot Characters, but this one came out really good cute robot

Gonna give him Bonus Healing Gear once he hits lvl 40 and some END Secondaries
and once i got Lifetimer he will become Freeform

I can't focus on him currently, I already have 2 other characters to lvl and I don't have the same amount of free time to play CO i used to

flyingfinn

Nope.
.
.
.
.
.

chalupaoffury

Isn't mindlessly repetitive the very *definition* of boring?

Synonyms: Repetitive

Granted, some people like boring. The Inventor is a good example, I gave the thing a remarkably high rating in my AT thread. But, yeah, when it's going right it sure is tap 2 for great justice.

blakanblu

A build that basically starts with the Rocket Punch attack (that affects multiple targets in one shot) that you can add knock-back to, plus the high-damage chest beam and Con as a primary stat and leveling is a problem?!?!? Seriously?!? This toon blew up to 40, solo, in no time with no difficulties at all. I have several vehicles that I could have used, but the Automaton did way more damage, way faster, without one. I beat Armadillo when the toon was barely of level to get the mission and promptly kicked 'dillos sorry butt all over the cave. Didn't even get defeated for the first time until level 20-something during a solo run of Resistance, and it was more sloppy play than an issue with the build. I'm not using any special sets of gear, and I'm running as a balanced build. Other than one run of Resistance, it was all normal missions, no Alerts, Rampages, etc., never teamed, no PVP. Maybe in a group scenario or in PVP it won't work, but for basic mission-play and leveling I'm not seeing the problem here.

pantagruel01

The Automaton has the problem of being one of those ATs where you go "it could be so much better with just these tiny tweaks". For example:
Replace Power Gauntlet with Eye Beams
Replace Gauntlet Chainsaw with Micro Missiles
Replace Aspect of the Machine with Concentration

Suddenly, Overdrive is a useful unlock, you can maintain your stacks outside of combat, and you can actually run multiple PA attacks at once. It's not a super-optimized build, but it's not gratuitously terrible.

kenpojujitsu3

jasinblaze wrote: »

i retrained a 40, then i retrained it back.

100% this.

spinnytop

chalupaoffury wrote: »

Isn't mindlessly repetitive the very *definition* of Champions online?

Yes. Yes it is.

chalupaoffury wrote: »

Isn't mindlessly repetitive the very *definition* of most MMOs?

Another good point.

chalupaoffury wrote: »

Isn't mindlessly repetitive the very *definition* of an incredibly large percentage of video games, especially some of the most popular ones?

You are on a roll.

chalupaoffury wrote: »

Isn't mindlessly repetitive the very *definition* of "adult relations"?

I would like to attend your seminar.

wingedkagouti

blakanblu wrote: »

A build that basically starts with the Rocket Punch attack (that affects multiple targets in one shot) that you can add knock-back to, plus the high-damage chest beam and Con as a primary stat and leveling is a problem?!?!? Seriously?!?

Adding knockback to Rocket Punch makes it perform worse. It may look cooler, but performance suffers. Also, it only affects multiple targets if you take time to line them up since the cylinder is fairly narrow. Performance wise Minigun is better (and with the advantage even easier to use as an AoE), even if used without other PA toggles. Chest Beam is good, but the knockback hurts performance in the Automaton build.

Knockback is in general bad for your dps, and only really good as a defensive option for ranged characters. Unless you're using it purely for the fun factor, and if that's your reason, be mindful of any melee characters you're teamed up with.

Also:

Other than one run of Resistance, it was all normal missions, no Alerts, Rampages, etc., never teamed, no PVP.

Normal missions are so easy that you should be able to do them with a character that only has an energy builder, a single target attack and the default Block, all at rank 1. Enemies in Alerts are tougher than what you face in solo missions.

spinnytop

wingedkagouti wrote: »

Adding knockback to Rocket Punch makes it perform worse. It may look cooler, but performance suffers. Also, it only affects multiple targets if you take time to line them up since the cylinder is fairly narrow. Performance wise Minigun is better (and with the advantage even easier to use as an AoE), even if used without other PA toggles. Chest Beam is good, but the knockback hurts performance in the Automaton build.

Knockback is in general bad for your dps, and only really good as a defensive option for ranged characters. Unless you're using it purely for the fun factor, and if that's your reason, be mindful of any melee characters you're teamed up with.

Also:

Normal missions are so easy that you should be able to do them with a character that only has an energy builder, a single target attack and the default Block, all at rank 1. Enemies in Alerts are tougher than what you face in solo missions.

You have a lot of strange ideas about what "hurts performance". Knockback is only bad for your dps if you're melee, which the Automaton isn't. DPS archetypes generally need "defensive options" especially in alerts where NPCs can do some serious damage to them - being able to knock a target back with Chest Beam, then follow up with the knockback from Rocket Punch means an extended period where that NPC isn't damaging you and is taking some good damage itself. You know what hurts your performance the most? Being dead.

Also if that melee dps isn't doing enough damage to rip aggro off of me, then I don't really care what he thinks about me knocking the target before it kills me.


These aren't WoW raids, it's not just one big dps calculator.

flowcyto

eh, the kit already has enough knocks avail in other powers that I didn't feel the need to get it on RP. Would rather knock everything into one nice clump and then burn it down w/ follow-up AoE than scatter 1-3 mobs w/ a tiny-cylinder AoE opener. Can always use chest beam if I want a scattering knock.

avianos

blakanblu wrote: »

A build that basically starts with the Rocket Punch attack (that affects multiple targets in one shot) that you can add knock-back to, plus the high-damage chest beam and Con as a primary stat and leveling is a problem?!?!? Seriously?!?

Actually I will never use the Knock-ADV for the Rocket punch since it scatters the group of enemies i need to hit with it (also OUT of range and no energy trigger since this AT doesn't have Concentration)

Chest Beam is a Double-Edged Sword, it does great damage on AoE and apply Debuffs BUT it has Hi-Energy Cost and Scatters the enemies sometimes even OUT OF MY OWN RANGE
Only using Chest Beam when on desperate times for Crowd Control, and small-taps to apply the Debuff

Nemesis Gear to lvl, still the inside Instances of Westside were freaking Obnoxious with this AT

nextnametaken

Level 18 and really bored. Maybe robots aren't my thing , I never liked any of these powers as a free form either. That binding shot thing is pretty cool. If it wasn't on a cooldown, I could catch thieves like flies like an amazing friendly neighborhood binding bot.

wingedkagouti

spinnytop wrote: »

You have a lot of strange ideas about what "hurts performance". Knockback is only bad for your dps if you're melee,

Or if you knock enemies out of range for your follow up. Which does happen with both Chest Beam and "Advantaged" RP unless they're close already.