BrainBrillo
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:Fair enough. I didn't get any Super Packs, and was unaware that they had doled out huge amounts of reward merits.Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
/unsigned
Premiums don't need to spend $45-50 to get started using Reward Merits. A single $5 dollar purchase can easily get them several hundred merits from Super Packs, and a $2 dollar market license will allow them to sell any unusable ATO's they get from the packs for tens to hundreds of millions of inf which in turn will allow them to buy ATO's they actually can use from the Merit Vendor.
Minimum spent $7 bucks which is a very inexpensive carrot to entice premiums to subscribe/buy Paragon Rewards to unlock Reward Merits or decide that they want to continue as they are. -
Quote:Issue is, despite this distinct mechanical advantage to being redside, blueside is still vastly more popular. Combined with Paragon turning this into a revenue stream with side-changing tokens, there is essentially a zero percent chance of them simply making patron powers available without a switch.Originally Posted by Paladiamors
It's not that it's 'that hard' as a hero to go redside, its that it's an eight day round trip if you want to get one without spending points to buy tokens. Meanwhile the villains get Ancillary power pools right off the bat, nothing extra needing doing. Its a bit of an imbalance. Okay its a BIG imbalance. There either needs to be a heroic patron power pool, or heroes need another way to access patron powers, without having to spend over a week on it as a project.
Mind, not that I think you shouldn't have to work for it, but there is no redside equivilant. There is no reason that large for redside to go blueside, then go back to redside.
Heroic patron powers that would give villains a reason to switch...maybe, a nonzero chance of that. But I would purchase a hat solely for culinary purposes if Corruptors/Defenders/Blasters heroside somehow acquire an epic power pool that provides defense - Paragon has provided an answer to this problem, and it costs 1600 points round trip. -
I would like to see this as well, but the instant the "Side change token" showed up in the market, I knew it would never happen.
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Quote:Thank you, LB. That was indeed what I meant, though it was a little unclear.Originally Posted by LightBlack
Hmm, I think what Brain is referring to as a flat amount would more correctly be identified as a one time fee rather than the continuous subscription fee.
Agreed. I'm suggesting that Reward Merits are a widely-available resource (a new player would hardly need to seek them out) that would give players something that's both useful to them now and hints at what else is out there.Quote:Originally Posted by LightBlack
In regards to whether or not Brain's suggestion would work, I think the key issue (as many have alluded to) is the necessity of the reward merits. While useful, they are by no means necessary. You can already have a pretty substantial game experience without using them as a free player. Would it be more satisfying if you could use them? Certainly. And that's the enticement to move up the rewards ladder.
However, they can't exactly give away too much to the Freemium players because that would undermine the value of being a VIP player (as IBtT mentioned). There's a certain fine line that they have to balance on with the hybrid model.
The point of a continuous fee though is to slowly reel in customers, not give them everything immediately. While they could bring in more players by giving away more, the point isn't to bring in more players, it's to bring in more customers. They are running a business after all.
And I'm suggesting this at tier 3 completion for a very specific reason: that represents a player spending $45-50 in the Market. That amount of money is what many gamers who would never consider an outright subscription regularly pay for a new game. Offer these players rewards outside of chain-running Death From Below, and see if the promise of more game that the Reward Merits hint at motivates them to either spend more or go VIP.
Agent White mentioned that ATO can be both purchased with Reward Merits and used by Premium/Free players. Perhaps a Premium player would work toward that as a goal, than get tempted by IO options? It'd give level 50 Premium toons a goal, in any event. -
Quote:Right, for long-time players Reward Merits have been piling up for years and you've gotten pretty much whatever you wanted that they can help you acquire. I only started playing in December 2011, and I actually do the WST for the Reward Merits - they are indeed useful when you're not saturated with them. I was arguing that allowing new Premium players access to them at an earlier point might serve to make a the game appeal to people who will spend $50 on a game but not necessarily commit to a subscription.Originally Posted by Lothic
Not to brag (too much) but I think I've got something like 12,000 left unclaimed in my account based email alone. Basically I've gotten everything I've wanted in this game via methods that don't involve Reward Merits too much. I obviously see no real need to have new ways to get more of them. *shrugs*
That said, Kitsune points out that Reward Merits are of limited utility for folks without Invention access, and IBtT adds that the Market isn't designed to appeal to one-time-purchase customers anyway. Essentially, I'm arguing for a marketing approach (Get a much fuller game for a flat fee) that this game isn't interested in. *shrug* Fair enough, just wanted to float the idea. -
Quote:Also, some of them might like the ability to go back and forth. My girlfriend has a blast juggling people with her Sonic/EB defender, and it'd be nice if she could also do more than buff when running Minds of Mayhem.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
As it does for me at times, when it comes to creating characters. But all I'm saying is that its likely most people who hate knockback are likely to avoid sets with lots of it. Not all of them, just the majority of them.
Yes, I realize that the only way the currently discussed enhancement could be used to go back and forth is by making multiple builds, but both myself and other posters had raised the idea of making this a Null the Gull option. -
Yes, it's another post asking them to give more away. But hear me out. To me, earning Reward Merits is a crucial part of the game - almost all leveling activities in the game hand them out, and they're useful even without an Invention license. And by making them available at Tier 3, a commitment-averse player could spend $50 - the price of a standalone game - and be able to profit from doing story arcs and taskforces instead of just re-running DfB until their eyes bleed.
Do people think this would help attract people who want to pay a flat amount for a game? Would it not work? Is this even an audience worth targeting? I think it is, but I'd like to know what other players think. -
My hope? That in the aftermath of this thing going live, we can get KB-KD conversion as an option on Null the Gull.
If they're going to devote whole Trials to careful positioning, they shouldn't render entire sets useless in those trials. -
Quote:I hesitate to guess how easy it would be, but the logoff change does indicate it's possible.Originally Posted by Cerulean_Shadow
If the game can remember the toggles you had on between logins, I can't imagine it would be at all difficult to extend that to the vanity travel powers.
More likely that the team would make newer, more expensive travel powers that do this and possibly offer (paid) upgrades for the existing ones. -
Got a group together and motored through it in a little over 20 minutes. Dear God, that was the easiest 80 reward merits I ever earned. I'm surprised people don't do this one more often - 40 merits and some minor Incarnate stuff as a sweetener is a nice payoff for a half-hour's work.
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Quote:Will do. Also put a word in with Mistress Dawn to catch people coming off iTrials. Just worried that I may have trouble getting people when it's approaching midnight on a work night for most of the server's playerbase.Originally Posted by OV_ohms
You could try recruiting in Defiant Events EU. There were quite a few Apex's formed in there today
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Awesome - now we get to deal with me being on US Central time. I'm hoping to do this on Wednesday when I get home from work at 5:15 US Central - that's 11:15 p.m. BST. That work for you?
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The Apex Task Force is the Strike Target from May 8th through May 14th. Since it takes a full eight 50s with Alphas, I'm not hopeful about being able to spontaneously put a team together. So...anyone interested in putting together a run? I can offer my psi/pain dom corruptor, and can recruit an ice/dark tank and a sonic/enblast defender pretty easily. Let me know if this appeals to you.
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Quote:Basically, what you are suggesting is to cannibalize the existing PvP content to provide some more PvE content.Originally Posted by Thirty-Seven
Personally, I feel it is far more humane to "tear off the bandaid quickly" by implementing the above suggestion than it is to string the PvP community along with false hope.
At this point, PvP has been pretty much untouched for years, and most of the PvP community that's left has made their peace with that - I don't know if a few well-publicized PvP forays by a forum mod constitute "false hope". PvPers who continue to do so are (largely) happy with the limited PvP content as it is, or at least happy enough to stay despite their interest receiving basically no additional support since issue 13. Ending that niche community to provide a few new zones for PvE, which has gotten regular updates and continues to receive them, seems harsh.
And I say this as someone who loathes PvP. -
OK, the WSTs for May have been posted, and they are *stunningly* samey. Three that were previously chosen in April, and one from late March. I don't like the lack of variation, but I can chalk it up to "random is random."
However - PLEASE reconsider the Numina task force for a WST in May. The Nemesis Invasion sounds awesome - I'm looking forward to it - but if it uses the same mechanics as the Rikti invasion (having all mobs in a zone vanish to make room for the invaders), it will put a hold on any Numina hunts taking place in that zone. Please, please, please hold off on Numina as a WST while the invasion is going on.
Unless the Nemesis invasion works differently and *won't* interfere with the hunts, in which case I'm sure I'll be corrected shortly. -
Quote:Might they be sympathetic to the inconvenience of having to run them once for every member of the team? Ouro was already there, and the task force mechanics aren't too onerous (anything but Dream Doctor's can be completed in under an hour), but if you and a friend are both on and want to do a DA arc you will be *penalized* for teaming, in that only one of you gets credit with Gabriel.Originally Posted by Red_Raccoon
I get the impression that the Devs consider empyrean merits to be pretty substantial rewards. I don't think they want it to ever be "easy" to get them, so they are probably not going to be sympathetic to complaints about the inconvenience of using Ouroboros to earn empyrean's repeatedly.
CoH usually encourages teaming, and for me at least the game is far more enjoyable teamed than solo. Encouraging all the level 50 VIPs to gather in one zone and then rewarding them for ignoring one another seems...kinda foolish. -
Quote:Thing is, you *personally* have to do it through Ouroboros. If you team, nobody on the team gets credit with him besides the leader.Originally Posted by Ironblade
Sure, after the first run of an arc, you have to do it through Ouroboros - just like every other story arc in the game.
Granted, I think this is the first time an Ouroboros mission gave rewards beyond what you're provided at completion (and which are given to the entire party), so it was never a problem before. But it is now, and it would be nice if they addressed it. They put in Gabriel to encourage people to run all the arcs, not just speed through Heather Townshend's as much as possible; while he may address this issue for soloers, the leader-only credit means Taskmaster Gabriel is not performing his intended function for people who run in small groups and he is actively discouraging the kind of spontaneous teaming that so much of the game is built around. -
Quote:This, a thousand times this. I ran these arcs with my girlfriend and my brother and we all got the Empyreans. Now, in order to do that again, we need to run it once for each of us.Originally Posted by Rodion
The real problem I have with running the DA arcs through Ouroboros is that it discourages teaming.
I would like the ability to do something else in the middle of an arc, or to add people, but I'd be plenty happy if I could just run a DA in Ouro with someone else leading and get credit with Gabriel. -
Morgan - nah, not copying to test and testing because, well, I'm lazy. Also, the red post Doomguide excerpted pretty much answered my question. Thanks, Doomguide!
Important bit I was missing is that foes have *way* more Endurance than players' 100 base, and Electric Fence is one of the few attacks that drains *points* of Endurance, rather than *percent* of total Endurance. Which means it's gonna be fairly insignificant on Bosses and AVs, even enhanced. *sigh* Off to load up on -recovery. Thanks for the help, everyone. -
Technically, this could go in Blaster or Corruptor forums, but my character is a Defender, so I'm asking here.
Electric Fence drains a small amount of endurance each time it ticks (2.5, per Red Tomax's site), and it ticks every two seconds. Can these ticks keep computer opponents from using the endurance from their regular regen tick, or can the opponents instantly use that endurance as soon as it ticks?
To clarify - a critter has been reduced to 0 endurance, and is hit by Electric Fence. Then it's regular recovery tick happens, restoring 6.667 endurance; within the next two seconds, Electric Fence ticks and drains 2.5 endurance. Given this setup: is the critter A) always able to use any power the 6.667 endurance can pay for, regardless of the delay between the recovery tick and the EF stamina drain tick B) sometimes reduced to using only powers the 4.167 remaining endurance can pay for after the EF tick, depending on how closely the EF tick follows the recovery tick, or C) always reduced to 4.167 available endurance by the EF tick.
I suspect the answer is "A", but I'd just like somebody to pat me on the head and tell me I'm correct before I go nuts loading enhancements for maximum -recovery. -
Thanks all for the help. I'm not complaining that the sets are different, just was wondering what could be done since I'd been thrown off my usual plan. Ball lightning is still a bit too long at 16 seconds base recharge to use regularly, and I don't yet have the ranged Veteran Rewards (and my only global +acc is Tactics).
But Kyriani's suggestion got me looking at Ancillary pools. Turns out Electric Mastery has an immobilize attack that actually does blast-level damage, plus does gradual Endurance drain that will help me keep foes form acting - and it'll mean more powers that benefit from an Agility alpha.
Thanks again for helping me get a handle on this. -
During the DXP weekend, I began leveling an Electrical Blast defender. Normally, with characters using Blast powersets, I find three single-target attacks and slot them up with enough recharge that my character is constantly busy; problem is, EB only has two low-recharge attacks like that. I tried using the sniper attack as part of the rotation, but unsurprisingly that didn't work well. Any suggestions? Or am I a noob to be 3-powering my way for single-target damage in the first place?
Primary power set is Kinetics, FWIW. Thanks for any advice you can provide. -
Looking for folks to join us on the Major Richard Flagg Trial this Wednesday at 11:45 p.m. GMT. It's the Weekly Strike Target and a chance to bust up Rikti for Vanguard Merits. Need to be 44+; we've got an Ice/Dark tank, a Psychic/Pain Dom Corruptor, and a SonicRes/Eblast defender. We're all fresh 50s, Alphas unlocked but empty. If we can get a second tank or tank-like character (Brute, Peacebringer, Thug MM, etc), I'll be happy to do it on x8.
Let me know if you're game, hope to get a full crew going.
Edit: Looking to do this March 7th. Board won't let me change the thread title. Until now. Gah. -
I'd love to, but I'm on US central time and will still be at work when you start. Good luck.
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Got room for a fresh 50 Dark/Ice Tanker, a 48 Psych/PainDom Corruptor, and a 47-48 SonicRes/EBlast defender? Assuming that you lot are Incarnate'd up and willing to show us the ropes, we'd love to come along.