DreadShinobi

Originally Posted by Energizing_Ion

I will say, sometimes people don't have league chat added to their chat window/tab...so it may be because of that.


It's all so "obvious" to us that aren't new to the whole thing but there may be some that are new and don't have it in their tab/window. I know I haven't checked to make sure everyone can read what I type (if I'm leading) in a long time but there are times when I wonder...

Originally Posted by MrCaptainMan

Poor Sally didn't stand a chance, really.

Originally Posted by DarkGob

There's a pretty huge difference between waiting to get through a server queue in order to even play and waiting some amount of time for new content to be released but still being able to play. There's also a pretty huge difference between 3 months between issues and 6 months between issues.

I'm not saying that your decision to unsub was stupid and ill-informed, but I don't really understand it.

Originally Posted by Texas Justice

Issue 21 came in September. Issue 22 isn't likely to go live until February or (more likely) March with it going to Beta in January.

September to February would be 5 months.

September to March would be 6 months.

Seems to be about the same or slightly slower than before Freedom.

Considering that even the mid-issue release of Issue 21.5 was around 3 mnonths, it still seems a bit slower than before.

Originally Posted by Necrotech_Master

her dmg debuff is prolly in the form of chilling embrace, shes honestly much easier to fight on a ranged toon since she only has like 2 ranged attacks one of which is very weak lol

Originally Posted by Seldom

Just passing along a fun little discovery: Telekinesis seems oddly useful in the MoM trial.

It can push the voids to Penelope Mayhem in the second phase. (Obviously detoggling once they have been pushed into range)

In the fourth, it can push Shalice Tilman back to the wall, if she is made properly mezzable. (Note, the walls are sloped, so don't just leave the thing on, untoggle TK at the wall once she's been pushed back.)

Not sure if this is common knowledge, but thought I'd share. The only tricks to it were (A) keeping the TK'er alive to toggle, rebirth/phantasm lore AB/exterior buffs helped there; (B) keeping them unmezzed, breakfrees/ clarion/ did clear mind and such helped; and (C) managing the recharge, which is slow.

I'm pretty sure force bubble could do the same, though the directional nature of TK is a bit more precise. Don't know if that helps any running incarnate trials, but there it is. *Shrugs*

Originally Posted by all_hell

cj -- one or maybe two slots
tough -- 3 to 5 slots depending on how badly I need the set bonus
weave -- 2 slots
maneuvers -- 2 slots
hasten -- 3 slots
super speed -- one slot

So that's only 6 to 9 allocatable slots total.
How many slots do you feel is necessary to make these powers worthwhile?

Originally Posted by DoctorWhat

It would also be worth slotting defenses with Luck of the Gambler in sets of four to get the 9% Accuracy Boost. Ditto with Crushing Impact (7%), when and where possible.

The fact is, TW shares the same problem as Dual Blades, just not as bad: Missing an attack will screw you over.

Originally Posted by Hopeling

Can you expand on this statement? Outside Momentum, Crushing Blow's DPA is exceeded by Rend and Follow Through; during Momentum, CB is second to last above Defensive Sweep, although only barely behind TS or WS. Procs and Interface should cause TS and WS to pull further ahead of CB in terms of DPA. However, I haven't yet figured out just how best to fit the attacks together in a coherent chain, perhaps there is a feature of this that makes CB better? It does have the fastest animation outside Momentum, so is it the best for starting each cycle with? Or is the ability to slot another Achilles proc enough to give it the edge?

Originally Posted by Judas_Ace

Other than these forums. it's the most poorly designed element of the game. I don't think I've actually seen people more bitter about something apart from ED. I know people that simply ignore the winter event or won't even log on while it's active due to how ridiculous the ski course is.

Originally Posted by Ultimus

Doesn't IR require you to be in a group?

Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex

Great idea, although it's come up a few times over the years and been rejected on technical grounds.

On a side note I wish they would stop making it so Detention Field doesn't work every time it turns out to be useful. There is a rumor (not sure its true) that it used to be useable on the psychics in the TPN trial, now not. Same as the AV in Keyes. A real tragedy too, since prior to that I believe they made it so Force Bubble doesn't push the bombs in Tin Mage back (and it never worked on the swords in Apex at all). Would be great if FFs powers actually worked in situations they would actually be useful.

Originally Posted by GuyPerfect

Yay video! Here's an artist's conception of what a Toxic-oriented Arachnos Soldier would be like.

Originally Posted by gameboy1234

So the question is, WAI, or not? I think the voids can be held. If so, then that's likely the secret. Don't taunt them, get the controllers to work on 'em. You'll have to wait until they get close to Penelope, the boom, stick 'em down and beat them up.

Originally Posted by AmazingMOO

Thoughts on Trials after i12.5 - Mob Rule

Since the announcement that Dark Astoria was going to be revamped as an Incarnate Content zone, I've found myself a bit more willing to do trials. The fact that my characters will not be 'Stuck' in a 'nothing but Trials' routine has been a warming change.

However, there are still some serious problems with the whole Trial scene. While the two new trials, TPN Campus and Minds of Mayhem have added new dynamics to the Trial equation, they haven't necessarily made everything better. They both have some serious problems of their own.

Positron has mentioned a worry that if the solo and single-group Incarnate content is more rewarding than the trial content, then the trials will wither and dry up. To me, this indicates a pretty serious problem. I've mentioned before that the trials are not very much fun. If the single-group and solo Incarnate content is fun at all, and it certainly has the potential to be, I think it's going to serve as a pretty rude wakeup call. I think that people are going to angle for the non-trial content because it won't be as painful as the trial content. The trial content will wither and dry up even if it is more rewarding simply because folks don't like them.

So why isn't the trial content very much fun?

The devs have stated that they want the trial content to be fun and accessible. The problem lays pretty squarely on the last bit. The content is NOT very accessible and is therefore not much fun. This happens for a few different reasons.

The first reason is the league mechanics. Despite assurances that it would be fixed, the 'Team-up-Teleporter' still seems to be reporting very skewed times. There was also no 'official' patch note that it was fixed. While this is broken, most people seem completely unwilling to use it. They have to volunteer to stay away from instances of any kind - the vast majority of the game's content - for an undetermined amount of time.


My suggestions to fix this are to first, exclude any players from leagues that enter the queue more than 60% 'full' from the average. A lot of leagues will announce that they're launching in a Global Channel and if players want in, they should queue. When players queue and get in 30 seconds later because they KNOW a trial is rolling, the average is reduced significantly. Likewise, drop the lowest queue times to help smooth the statistics. Last, the average should be of a 90 minute window. Lots of servers have slightly different peak times. If the average measures queue times since the last server reset, there will be long stretches of 'non-peak' times when the average is very low compared to reality, even if it were working perfectly.


Another reason is league leadership. I heard a player tonight on Victory announce that they had a team built in Pocket D for a trial, but needed someone who could lead it. That says to me that there is willing, but no confidence. The person who was confident enough to build the team did not feel that he could lead it. This is a problem. There are parts on all the trials where a lack of leadership will doom the trial to failure: the escaping prisoner phase during Behavior Adjustment Facility, the maze hunt during Lambda, ALL of Keyes, the Lichen-Infested Warwalker fight during the Ungerground, ALL of TPN, and the Mother Malaise fight during Minds of Mayhem. It's not enough that players are familiar with how to accomplish the goals. They need, at the very least, someone to make sure that the sub-goals are being accomplished in the right order, that anyone making mistakes is corrected, and that if someone is griefing, they are booted from the league.

The 'Vote to Kick' feature isn't exactly well-documented or very accessible.

BAF and Lambda have been around long enough that people will step up to provide leadership during bits they understand. Even then, it's still very possible to fail. MoM is MAYBE doable without the leadership since the goals are straightforward. Keyes, UGT, and TPN are simply not doable without a strong leader. That's not accessibility. If these trials are going to be 'fun' and 'accessible', then the goals are going to have to be SIGNIFICANTLY simplified. Even with the changes to make Keyes less punitive, there are still LOTS of folks who don't understand the goals after several runs.

That's bad design.

The alternative to simplifying the trials is to make them single-team content. You can expect a single team to be lead through complex challenges by a willing private. An army of 18-24 players needs a general.


Developers, let me challenge you here: We know that the trials scale and that the limits are arbitrary. Build test versions of Keyes, UGT, and TPN that will allow you to go through with 6-8 players. Go through them with teams of 6-8 and see how different YOU think they are in terms of fun.


My thoughts on Keyes:

All three reactors need to have the mechanisms for unlocking terminals be exactly the same. My suggestion is to remove the bit where you have to lead Anti-Matter to them and instead make it so you have to clear the Warworks away from them. Make Anti-Matter more aggressive to compensate for him not being at the reactors. If you want the terminals on the 2nd reactor to stay accessible, don't have the Warworks spawn on top of them until Anti-Matter arrives.


My thoughts on UGT:

This is a fun two trials. It NEEDS the extra rewards. However, the mechanism to use the Lichen temps on the Infested Warwalker is confusing. Make these work MORE like the Pacification Grenades in Lambda. We need screen popups that say something like 'Lichen Infested Warwalker is Regenerating. Use Lichens!' Ditch the glowing NPC lichens that help with his regeneration or make them destroyable like the crystals in the trap room. Most Leagues spend a lot of time trying to position the Infested Warwalker away from them. The fact that they CAN and that it seems to be NECESSARY to win the battle is, again, BAD DESIGN.

Additionally, there's a pretty serious problem in that all the Giant Warwalkers tend to get stuck in the walls causing the trials to fail because no one can hit them. This needs to be fixed.


My thoughts on TPN:

The 'Approval' feature on this trial is confusing. It doesn't make a lot of sense unless someone explains it to you and there's nothing that says, 'If you lose all approval, you fail.' Either eliminate it and go for a straight 'You need to activate X number of terminals' metric or spend some time explaining it IN the trial. A cutscene where H.D. explains it at the very beginning of the trial would be a good idea.

The 'Chase Maelstrom Away/Defeat the Telepaths' phase is the funnest part of this trial, but the mechanics for converting the Citizens are confusing. Leave the citizens BLUE until they're converted. Rather than have rioter defeats reduce the Approval Rating, add a badge in for not defeating any of them.

I'm personally really surprised that players are reporting that there don't seem to be any significant changes to this trial since it was in beta, despite the long delay. Why did you bother delaying this if you thought it was ready? Why release it if it wasn't ready after you delayed it once?

The rare recipe on this trial is really dumb. The fact that the Empyrean unlock is for one character only rather than account wide is also really dumb.


My thoughts on MoM:

The whole trial is pretty fun. The 'Create a void to fight Penny Mayhem' is the weakest part. The NPCs are hard to see and this mechanic is confusing. I suggest making the NPCs much more visible and to have the void NPCs be untargetable.

It's also confusing to try to figure out which room you're in when trying to keep Shalice from hurting Aurora. I thought I was simply lagging badly the first time I went to buff her and that the multiple clones of Mother were lag artifacts. There needs to be some HIGHLY VISIBLE graphics to differentiate the reflections, Shalice clones, and Aurora. I suggest very bright auras on the Shalice clones and the reflections. The two rooms could also be two different colors. A switch from red to green highlights would be adequate.

I would also do more explaining on the fight with Mother Malaise. The fact that the monsters can help slow and root Shalice is not readily apparent. Give us a popup like 'Defeat Monsters next to Shalice!'.


The fact that any of these trials is failable due to players simply not understanding what's happening is BAD DESIGN. It CAN be fixed, but the developers need to make some hard decisions either way. Either simplify the goals so a mob can understand them, or cut that mob down until it's a single group. I think you're going to have to do one or the other, or they will indeed wither and dry up the second there's an alternative.