Eva Destruction

Not doing it when the opportunity presents itself is the opposite of what villains do. Why aren't there any "go into Praetoria and steal anything that isn't nailed down" trials?

The main character is the mission owner. A TF setting is more like a team book, where there isn't necessarily a main character.

I was referring to the part where you save the world from yourself. You could have gone ahead and destroyed it, but you chose not to. The future is safe only because you let it be. Then you walk up to Recluse and demand his respect.

And then he sends you out to beat up his ex so you can wear a Servant of Recluse badge over your head, but that's neither here nor there.

My villains wouldn't appreciate someone like Westin Phipps as a co-op contact either. I don't run his arcs redside, why in the world would I want something like them for co-op content?

Peter Themari on the other hand....

Mender Silos has a different arc for heroes and villains. He was also irredeemably evil at one point, and Mender Tesseract is still said to be evil.

It's even worse because you only made the mess because you were stupid. The Barracuda SF is a textbook example of how not to do a task force. The only thing it does right is let you fight 5th Column.

You beat up a bunch of Malta...that could be kinda heroic, I guess? Maybe? No? Ok fine.

I only want to force heroes to do morally questionable things if the alternative is making villains play hero tag-along. If heroic and villainous content were equal I would have no interest in making heroes do anything dark.

At level 45-50 you decide to save the world from yourself. As stupid as all that "Destined One" crap was, at least it's clear that you are a real threat.

I really don't see much incentive for heroes to help out either, honestly. The hook is essentially "there's an interdimensional war going on and we need to you to save a kitten from a tree." Oh, and before you can save that kitten you need to talk to five people just to find the little girl that lost her kitten, and prove yourself before she'll tell you where it is.

Um, why? Westin Phipps is the Nelson Muntz of CoV. Real villains don't work for bullies, they have bullies work for them.

Reducing a 30-second stun to a 20-second stun doesn't really help you when you're dead in 10 seconds.

Not that I think 30-second stuns have any reason to exist in the first place, see above.

By the time someone has been around long enough to develop a preference that isn't born out of ignorance and the impressions they've received from other MMOs, they probably know how to get themselves PLd without resorting to RMT.

It's not about the Puddle unless the devs make it about the Puddle. Just like it's not about Praetoria unless they devs make it about Praetoria. Since they actually seem to think the Puddle is a good idea no matter how often players who are frankly better at putting together a coherent story than they are tell them it's terrible, they're going to keep making Incarnate content about the Puddle.

Is the Furious Well going to be teaming up with Numina after she makes daddy's skull into a bowling ball?

The presence of feedback threads on the beta forums implies they are looking for feedback. Therefore, players provide feedback. If you don't feel players are entitled to provide feedback on lore, then I hope you haven't provided any feedback or expressed an opinion on any other aspect of the game either, because the development of the whole game is the province of the developers, and you are not entitled to a say.

Edit: I notice that you recently offered some criticism regarding the upcoming superpacks. Perhaps you should vote with your feet and simply not buy them.

The four paths in Praetoria allowed you to get four alts to level 20. Whatever content we get for Dark Astoria, I highly doubt it'll get even one alt to Rares in every slot without repetition. Therefore, it must be designed with repetition in mind.

Furthermore, the four paths in Praetoria were designed with the express intention of allowing a character to get to level 20 in mind. This means most of the missions were fairly basic, because those require less time and resources to create. The fancy and "creative" mechanics took a backseat to the purpose of the missions. Do you honestly expect DA to have a lot of missions, if any, without fancy mechanics or custom maps? Because I don't. Which will mean the devs can create fewer missions in the allotted time, which means even more repetition.

At this point, I suspect they think we'd rather they pad out an arc with talk-tos and cutscenes than with generic encounters, because somehow "we don't like defeat-alls on a four-story office maps full of enemies standing around pounding their fists" translates in the devs' mind to "every encounter must be unique and significant." Of course, this means you run the two-hour arc full of fed-exes and walls of text and a convoluted story that your character is a secondary participant in, and then have to spend another half hour running papers to actually get some XP. (Or running repeatable missions to get some iXP and threads, in the case of DA).

As the trial mechanics get more complicated, the "no talking" convention is becoming a rule. "Everybody shut up and do what this guy says" is a form of social interaction many of us don't enjoy.

Suck for which people who hate trials? The FF/Elec Defenders or the SS/Fire Brutes?

Text overload is the problem in newer content. It is even more of a problem with content that is designed to be repeated, as the DA arcs must be. If they're full of talk-tos and cutscenes and instances of the player standing there and watching NPCs yak at each other, I will complain and not just because of the repeatability issue, but because it reduces the player character to a spectator. This is an interactive medium where 99% of our problems can be solved by punching something in the face, and the mission writers need to stop pretending they're writing a novel.

I honestly think the mission writers should have all their toys taken away and be forced to write mock-ups of new missions in AE first. Then they can add in shinies and unique encounters if they really feel it's necessary instead of coming up with a whole arc just to justify the special encounter.

I like this better than the official explanation.

Psst...I have a bridge in IP I'd like to sell you.

It's pretty and otherworldly, but not creepy like the current fog is. Yeah, it's a cheap and dirty effect, but it works.

You can't. Destructible objects do no damage in AE.

They don't. FFG is a Traps power, which isn't available in AE.

If you share lore news, you will get snark. I highly doubt any of it is directed at you.

The thing is, that short draw distance, with things in the fog not being visible until you're right on top of them, was part of the creepy vibe.

The Well of the Furies as a gateway to the powers of the gods has been around for many years. The Puddle as Overgod is entirely new, as is the idea that even the powers of the gods come from it.

I'm fine with them picking one story and cutting out anything that directly contradicts it. If someone else screwed up, they should fix it. I'm not fine with them cutting everything just because they think their idea is better.

What he said.

And that is why I don't want them going anywhere near the Shadow Shard. I don't really care about DA as much as some people do, so I don't mind it being revamped. But I will still complain if the story sucks.

Wow, really? I would have hated to see what it was like before.

What, a DA revamp or an alternative to trials? I'll believe DA, but considering how surprised they all acted when players didn't immediately fall in love with the iTrial treadmill...yeah, can I have the IP bridge with that?

Except that giant crossovers have tie-ins in solo books. The excuse still doesn't fly.

Probably easier than doing totally separate content, but as long as villains actually get to be villains I'm not going to complain. Unless the villainous choice is something nobody with half a brain would do, that is. Then I will complain.

I'd also like to see some Vigilante choices, but that's probably too much to hope for. Rogue choices will probably be covered under villains.

Hopefully that means the zombies with their stupid high negative and psi resists will be replaced with something more balanced.
Yeah, haha, funny. No. Leave the forum jokes on the forums.

And yet, people ran TFs for the Alpha slot even though their awesome farmer could get shards fairly quickly.
Then maybe the trials weren't worth spending the time and money on.

Hey, look on the bright side: at least they're not keeping it level 20-30

Yeah, me too. If they add in any content that can only be done solo I suspect I won't be able to resist the urge.

The Alpha slot can easily be unlocked solo, and you can get at least a common in it fairly easily as well. If it requires or is balanced around the assumption that you have anything above an uncommon Alpha I will call shenanigans though.

They can?

Having spent my last few Sunday afternoons trying (and failing) to get the MoKeyes badges, I'm just about ready for badges that can only be attempted solo. I say this even though my badger is an AR Blaster with all the survivability of wet tissue paper.

We do, however:

Do you honestly think the revamped lore for Dark Astoria would be any better if it wasn't tied to the Incarnate system? And if you answer "yes," need I remind you that both the Puddle of Annoyance and Evil Goatee Paragon have shown up in non-Incarnate content too, because the devs love them and will use any excuse to include them in everything. Do you honestly think they will be able to resist the temptation to tie the BP in with the Puddle somehow? I don't.
Yes, that is why we are getting a solo path; for people who want to progress their 50s and don't want to farm the trials.

Addressing it would first require them to acknowledge that it exists and that their new idea isn't automatically better just by virtue of being new.

If the battle actually involved armies rather than the "I solod my first AV!" gang dialed up to 11, then maybe. But I suspect not, since the lore of the trials is clumsily written around the mechanics of the trials and could be easily re-written to account for a solo-friendly system.

No, don't. Spend them. If you hoard, they'll introduce a new currency.

I would believe this if they hadn't been told that a huge chunk of the playerbase wanted an alternative.

Um, no. The Designated Helper system was put in place to remove the reward penalty for multiple allied critters. Only the first ally/escort you pick up will use buffs and debuffs. The rest will only attack.

That's only because the Puddle of Annoyance decided to wake the Banished Pantheon up to further test us because...wait for it...they were a test inflicted on humanity by the Puddle all along!!!!

What a tweest!

This doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

You hear that? That is the sound of a thousand Psi and Dark Blasters crying.