Chyll

To be fair I would too if I were making the movie. I always felt they slightly missed the mark and it could have been better...

And it's so much easier from a film makers perspective it is almost lazy.

"We need someone super to fight superman... oh, look just as super for exactly the same reasons so we don't even have to explain it. And we get the ying-yang of what could have been if superman wasn't such a great guy."

That they are... and they are available, what three(?) different ways (pvp drops, alignment merits, on the market).

Multiple avenues, none of the particularly easy, but mutiple and attainable by any player regardless of play style choices.


I think I am done with this discussion overall. It is getting just a tad... no, completely ridiculous on all sides.


If the Devs would publicly offer anything resembling an intent statement or design roadmap it would stop the player base from ravaging itself. Yet, apparently, after this much angst and wailing, to me it is clearly what they must want this for some reason that I just cannot fathom.

Understood. But the audience of the film - broadly speaking - is targeted at the general moving going public not the superman fans and comic book lovers (to cash in big anyway), so I'd want a serious reset/fresh button to be pushed to get folks in the doors.


hhmmm, unless they figure it is straight forward and easy to explain, and the demographic audience isn't going to remember the old Superman 2 film anyway.....

So true, but...

it's been done.

The last Superman was OK, but lost my interest part way through when I realized it was essentially just a re-make of a previous movie... and now I hear the same coming with this.

My interest was shaky before. It is almost non-existent now.

If they want to re-invigorate this product and get it ringing the register like the Batman franchise they need to take a chance and get away from something that is going to be too familiar to much of the movie going audience.

I'd say you'd spend that same time and more trying to get the person who doesn't even know they have the acid temp to find it and trade it away then it would take to pop the container in the courtyard.

Yes, that happened in beta a couple times, too.
Same solution though, grab that courtyard container (so nice that decided to add that option) and close the remaining door.


Again, just my perspective. It runs fine using this when the leader insists on it. I just think you end up with some extra adds.

Besides, just add a level zone with higher level mobs.... and level shifted heroes can party without a level cap change.

I didn't see hate and anger... but I did see one returning player who joined us for a run.

We took time to explain, coached him up for the challenge, and had a nice hairy time running around with Marauder in his Lambda play ground.

When we exited, he quit and logged out without a word.....

I am still trying to figure out what that meant.

It is a grind in that its repetitive and gets kinda boring quickly, but they are pretty short.

Now if the trials get longer in the future...


This already started over the weekend.

*shrug*

Tool tips working for everything else in the game, but not for these for me.

I like huge, and I want GIANT also.

I'd say that a BAF a day is a middle ground player, not a casual player. A true casual players is probably a BAF a week or month. So that stretches a lot longer. But, no, I'm not hung up on the speed, Yes, I think it is slower because it is not a real option assuming no trial play (for whatever reason). I'm hung up on the flavor of the game play...

yes.
Only now for incarnates it is fast or glacial.

OK, yes there was an extended delay (in that example), but nothing in the game required you have those rewards to access it.

My issue, as stated, is that I expect another extended delay with this, and expect future fun cool content will gated by these rewards/abilities.

no, I don't think so.
cash falls like rain with a little effort if you try.

yes, I apologized for that mistake earlier. but we do agree it is far slower than it needs to be. Unrealistically so, IMO.

Oh, yep. I know. I've touted that mantra myself for the 4+ years I've been playing. And have been ever since the shape of I20 revealed itself to me.

Trouble is I do the math for that next issue (or 2) in my head and see it reaching 5+ going on 6 years before the change will catch up.
I just think the Devs have chased their tail a bit much this time. Not sure I can wait that long this time and stay as enthusiastically engaged as I have been.

I am glad some are happy, and gladder still for those that are happy but taking the time to listen to those with concerns for the game we all love.

That I'll disagree with.

CoX is a great game that happens to be an MMO.
Historically there has never been a wrong way to play it. Now suddenly there is?

There is no bad on anyone, nor are they doing it wrong.

bah. No. not for me.

Time and difficulty are fine. Give me a challenge, a variety of them. The wailing and gnashing of teeth over trapdoor never came from me. I love the idea of having an individual challenge as much or more as the giant "its war" trials.

It is options, flexibility, variety that is at the crux of my complaint.

Look at Alpha, it allowed you to unlock and progress solo, teamed, and on how many task forces at first? And the WST was a great idea that used the wealth of content in the game to support the new advance...

This new layer? It funnels down to one path. One realistic option.

It isn't a speed thing. It is a we-all-play-in-different-ways-and-for-different-reasons thing. One of the things that makes this game great is that it has satisfied most, if not all, of us with each new layer. This time it doesn't. That's all.

Because the option exists... you could skip the hami raids and still get hami-os if you want.

You can skip pvp and get pvp ios if you want.

You can skip all TFs and still get reward merits.

You cannot skip the trial content if you want incarnate abilities.


And I do not expect this requirement to shift given current available information.

And sure all the old content is there... but is it irrational to want to continue progress the characters I've taken the time to progress so far?

(again, personal viewpoint - not pretending to speak for all with similar opinions. and not a ragequit, a sadness for inevitable change)

To be fair, after playing for years, there has been some general slow down in my play anyway... it has actually gravitated to more solo activity - I like to play because it is a good game, not because it is an MMO.

There is no denying that this content is MMO targeted, which is absolutely fine but does not fit my current play activity.

That is a layered and nuanced question. Yes, it is different than an LGTF or ITF and it isn't any different at the same time.

While I recognize that people do run ITF religiously for the rewards, that is not my style. I'll run it maybe once a week. Maybe every other. The merits, and even the shards, haven't been worth my doing the same thing over and over. And, I don't need to - there are other avenues and activities that can provide equivalent benefit, solo, duo, team, whatever.

(Let me add here I think the WST has been a excellent way to drive some variety in repeating content for special reward.)

Well, I haven't left yet...
(GG, get away from my keyboard!)

That is a blunt way to state it... but perhaps it is accurate.

I have many characters I enjoy, many of those are 50 and don't get a tour around the block as often as I'd like. Of those I have... 3-4 Alpha shifted. I'd like the same ones to get additional slots... I've worked one so far, and well, we'll see how many others get attention.

I like to play all my characters, I want them all to be nifty. That is the heart of altitis, perhaps. It doesn't feel like this avenue of advancement embraces the altitis mentality lovingly.

Have no fear, I read no confrontation into the question.

(My response is also perhaps blunt, but not meant confrontationally)

"Don't do them," is a valid and accurate reponse, but seems undeniably trite on the surface. Because I don't like the trials suddenly my characters can't get Destiny, or Judgement, or Interface powers? That locks out a significant segment of future content I bet - for when future new incarnate content comes out... Then the game has kicked me out even if I wanted to stay. CoH has, to this point, been flexible enough to allow many activities to advance. This is a major change in approach, no matter how you look at it. Right or wrong, it feels off putting given my love for that previous flexibility.

As to change of direction, again, it is supposition on my part, but I don't see the future path changing any time soon. There has been enough rumor that we know more trials in the Praetorian story are likely looming. So that's I21, at a guess, with the barest of barest hints at anything else beyond that.

If it is incarnate targeted - even if it is traditional story arcs or TF - is it going to be gated or challenge designed based on the premise that those participating are 50+3, or with powerful debuffs and aoe that a normal 50 doesn't have? Or Lore pets running about? If even partially true... again then the game has "kicked players out" of new content due to flexible play style choices. Which is in contrast to previous CoH style.

As it is, I've put a good 12-15 50s on the shelf with the idea that they won't ever advance as incarnates - which means they aren't getting played at all now. And I've been dreading pillaging them for recipes to sell.
And I have multiple characters sitting in the 40s that leveling feels almost pointless now... Let alone various lowbies I had been looking forward too, or hoping for proliferation in the future.

That is part of it... it feels like a must do, because unless they tell me different I suspect my favorite characters are going to be capped out of future new content. And, lets be fair as much as I enjoy the old content that I've played the heck out of, it is that new stuff that is exciting.
But it is the sudden and abrupt carving of pathing down to a narrow, repeating margin (poorly narrated at that - but that is another conversation) with a hurdle that limits my character and play choices that feels unsatisfactory.

As someone who has turned off their auto renew, I'll take a stab at this...

I like CoH for what is it and how it plays.

I wanted something new, and got it. While the trials are fun in their own way, it is not in the same way as most of the rest of the content. It has been discussed to death, but I am firmly in the camp that acknowledge that incarnates abilities have made character(s) stronger the trials do very little to make me feel more super.

Next, while it isn't yet, I know the trials will get old. I am not one that runs the same TF every day, nor the same arcs. I'll go months without having to repeat anything. The Trials are set up to foster a play it again and again mentally.

And the crafting element feels fiddly. I can't help but feel it could have been implemented cleaner... but that is a minor picking of nits.

Long story short, I'm glad many people like the trials. I wish the Devs weren't being so darn close mouthed and would make some sort of directional statement that lets me know something beyond trials for my incarnates. In the past, no matter what was in an issue I felt confident that the long term game arc was promising. I lack that feeling this time.