Eva Destruction
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Posts
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Joined
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You can also use it heroside to get past a lot of the filler some contacts insist on giving out and just get to the arc.
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I guess I've been lucky. All my MO attempts have been with people who realize that failure is a possibility, that even the best players screw up, and I've never had anyone jump down anyone's throat about dying.
Quote:You've pretty much summed up why I despise speed runs.Originally Posted by ketch
I agree with this sentiment. More so though, I think it applies to speed runs (which I have grown to despise). At least with a Master of... the leader will explain why one person is going ahead alone so that other teammates avoid following them to their demise. Speed runners generally don't care if you're lying on your face while they finish the mission objectives. Speed runs also have a tendency to integrate themselves into otherwise normal runs. It hasn't been uncommon for a normal LGTF or ITF to be changed to the speed variety by a single member's suggestion. -
I'll guess 666 million. Because marketeering is ebil, so someone has to.
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I like them being there. It forces teams into a playstyle other than the usual "just steamroll everything," and they're completely optional.
That said, if I was ever invited to a TF and informed after joining that it was a Master run, I'd quit. Not only is it rude to invite people and not tell them what you're inviting them for, my expectations of the success of such a team aren't high. If the team forms up and then decides to try for a Master's, sure, I'll go along with it, but if you know you're trying for a Master run, and don't tell people before you invite them, it's a symptom of a bad leader, which leads to a bad team, which leads to near-certain failure. -
Nope, custom critters are always 1-54. You have to set the level of the mission to narrow their range.
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A few more that don't seem to have been mentioned yet:
260284: A Warrior's Journey - The Flower Knight Task Force (H 45-54)
176460: Just Say "No" to Dihydrogen Monoxide! (H 1-54)
8925: Forget the Rose, Send me the Thorns (H 45-54) -
Keep in mind that a lower-level build may be significantly cheaper, but it will also take a LOT longer to put together, especially if you're using a lot of rares. You put in a lowball bid on a level 50 IO, and you have it within a day or two. With a level 35 IO on the other hand, even an uncommon, you could be waiting for weeks, even months, especially redside. It's bad enough if you're accumulating sets as you level up, but if you're already 50, it may stretch your patience.
I've started building a lot of characters with level 35-40 sets. If I need a higher level to ED-cap the primary attribute of the power (damage, defense, etc) then I will use it, and I use higher-level sets in my later powers since those bonuses won't be available when exemped anyway, but my characters built with level 35 sets are still function very well at 50. -
Quote:Are you running 1-54 arcs when you're not 50? Or are you not accounting for the ally patch when you say 40%? Because a critter worth 40% should NOT be killing you that much unless it's one of those groups that has only one minion and one lieutenant and they're all Dark Blast/Devices or something equally stupid.Originally Posted by Rigel_Kent
Well, I'm not sure how much me sucking has to do with it. It's not like I die to +0 radio mishes, but I very much die to most +0 custom critters. So it's a comparative observation I'm making -- AE versus radios. If custom critters are above about 40%, I have to fly all the way from the hospital to a field analyst, set myself down to -1, quit the arc, start over, and hope it's enough.
Though, I'll be honest, if I don't think it's worth the hassle, I'll sometimes just quit the arc and move on to the next. -
Quote:Those blasts aren't nearly as bad as they were. You can also avoid having to take them by not using the melee sets.Originally Posted by Rigel_Kent
40%, which frees authors from having to take the overpowered blasts from melee sets?
If you've admitted that you suck, you shouldn't be judging customs as too difficult just because you had difficulty with them. Using tougher characters helps, yes, it's why I mostly do AE with Scrappers.Quote:What does everyone else think? Should I be advising people in reviews to tone down their customs regardless of the XP penalties? Or should I suck it up, stop being a casual soloer, and build tougher characters and team more? 
XP should have nothing to do with how difficult you make your critter, IMO. If your critter's backstory demands Super Strength, and you MUST give him KO blow to get full XP, and it's a level 20-30 arc, then screw XP, avoid the KO Blow and the ensuing ragequits. If your critter gives near-full XP and it's a level 45-50 arc and you're stomping him into the dust with your Emp/Elec Defender, you can make him a bit tougher.
That said, I tend to aim for 90-100% XP on my critters. If I can't get that high and maintain a reasonable difficulty with the powersets I'm using, and no other powerset fits, then meh, I'll deal with less rewarding critters rather than overpowered critters. -
I'd go one further and hide arcs flagged as "Work in Progress" by default as well.
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Quote:Thank you for proving my point.Originally Posted by korncob
Thinking about it I tried to make an AE when I played about a year ago and I made all of my mobs extreme/extreme because I thought "May as well make it challenging, right?" then when we tried it taking on one group was so hard, not to mention ambushes) that I don't think I had a team that got past the first room...haha. Would explain it though if the extreme/extreme is just plain too hard, I guess I never thought that could have been the problem.
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Quote:The last time I played an arc with an allied ambush, admittedly a while ago (it might even have been yours...) only one critter actually came to the player. The rest just stood like idiots at their spawn point or near it.Originally Posted by Coulomb2
I wasn't aware that they'd stopped working. I just recently (as in last week) tested one of my arcs that uses an allied ambush, and the ambush did work - although it did seem to spawn in fewer allies than I'd like. I'd assumed it was because the ambush difficulty was set to easy, but maybe not...
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Quote:Do those actually work now?Originally Posted by Coulomb2
One other possible idea for allies is to trigger ambushes based on engaging a boss (and perhaps one or two more as the boss continues to lose hit points), but set the ambush to allied. If you make the ambush difficulty hard, it'll usually spawn in a fair number of allies per ambush. But like Eva's suggestion, once the allies arrive, they won't follow you around.
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Quote:Yeah, but how do you gate something like that? In an ideal world you would have to prove a basic grasp of English before you could publish anything, and a comprehensive knowledge of game mechanics before you could create a custom critter, add an Archvillain or use ambushes, but there's no way to implement that.Originally Posted by Talen Lee
AE is one of those things that I, in my elitist way, wish was somehow gated. Not necessarily 'you can't play AE unless you're one of the chosen,' but I would very much wish there was some way to ensure you had to be good at using the tools before your material could get put up in the AE.
Gating by level and/or vet badges would only serve to annoy creative newer players while still allowing barely literate 6-year vets to make "Kill Riktiz for ticketz!!1!!"
The Standard, Hard, and Extreme settings are awful. Hard is actually Extreme for a lot of powersets, and I'm increasingly of the opinion that the Extreme setting should be removed entirely. It seems to just beg some people to make overpowered mobs. Yeah, you could still make them overpowered with custom settings, but then at least you'd have to make a conscious decision to go wreak havoc; the Extreme setting is like leaving a chainsaw and a stick of dynamite where a deranged lunatic is sure to find them.Quote:Originally Posted by Rigel_Kent
Fair enough, but the Standard, Hard, and Extreme setups strike me as outdated. The custom critter XP formula seem to imply that the system is now balanced around a hard maximum of 5 damaging powers per critter, a suggested maximum of 3 damaging powers per critter, and non-damaging powers totally optional. -
Outdoor maps are most likely to cause critters to fly. Ambushes do tend to fly if they can, patrols often do to, although neither flies very high.
As for your allies, you can use patrols and boss spawns set to "allied" to give the player big groups of friendlies. They won't follow you though. -
Quote:Then I'd lose even more HP bonuses. I should probably change out the Crushing Impact to a Dam/End though.Originally Posted by Santorican
LOL, I'd probably go with the second build. More recharge means you can spam Siphon Life quicker and it also means you have Shield Charge up more often. The one thing I can recommend is to slot 3 dam/acc and heal/end HOs in Siphon Life as you have enough recharge to run Smite >SL >MG chain.
Also, I'm not sure I should listen to you 'cause your avatars are creepy. -
Quote:Bots/Forcefields Masterminds used to do that to my characters. I don't have protection against them either. Those stupid demons with their stupid roaring also apply a strong annoyance debuff, as do players running Quills at Wentworth's.Originally Posted by Void_Huntress
I must cheerfully assert that Speed Boost applies a mag 1 'You can't play anymore' to my characters, and I haven't found a way of getting any protection against it.
So I demand the following prompts:
[Playername] Would like to bring his pets into your vicinity.
Accept/Decline
[Playername] Would like to activate Quills.
Accept/Decline -
Quote:That one still goes up to 50 doesn't it? I think I'm going to hold off until I have more Fire defense than my current nothing.Originally Posted by Bubbawheat
Looks like you're in range for Matchstick Women #3369, and it's been recently revamped.
Yep, I'm still doing this. I've been doing a LOT of Bronze rolls....over 8000 tickets so far, and I want to clear out all my tickets before hitting 26. This just happens to coincide with me actually having stuff to do in RL that pretty much precludes having chunks of playtime. However I did squeeze an arc in just to keep this thread going:
#15976 Glory Days
Why I chose it: Author suggestion.
This one kind of starts in the middle. There's enough exposition to let me know how I got here, and most of it is my retired hero contact's flashbacks to, well, his glory days. There's good characterization, the narrative style works, but while the flashbacks have a cheesy, silver-age feel they don't do enough with it. This arc could definitely benefit from flavor objectives, and lots of them. -
Because Santorican told me to, here is the build I am currently running. It doesn't have any actual problems really, but could be better:
Code:Here's the one I'm thinking of respeccing into. I'll gain 10% recharge, but lose 40 HP, and a bit of regen:| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1424;713;1426;HEX;| |78DA9D93D952134114867B3213429299646288EC8435094406F00AD1D252812A28B| |09020572A35240DA44C85D44C58E2950FE095EB9577AE8F60F9462E4FA0329EA543| |95E59D53C9F97AF9FB9CBFBB67D64F174D219EDC105AE276CDF5FD9D52D9731B0DE| |945EEB8CD23CFADD98BAEF768AFEAC9E19BC7B2BE0F134288DEB66A675DD6A47450| |C3CDECF9CCA2DC93755F3AA583AAAC55DADDD44AFD407AB2DE74DA0D73E3F0B0E6A| |C49B751ADEF7367B9DAAC4BDF8F51A7D490B262A9F1FD8326A8524B8D6AD9B97558| |69EDACBB7E537AAD1E3035097F72474F60880A604EC4CA8484245C7419BB3C67013| |492EB22A3E1506855272C133A570871D0694AA7B1CE609DC1BA0ED6F9505E57E5F5| |632EF198609E304E09768B5D803CCC6943614EDBD145E8B4094720E01D05E1482E8| |4437DD7A0D7A18B01DECF409A0A0F7511C6E7711292C2A2282716D169125AB08538| |A7D2E20B004388045117DD20B7784E580592476028A9AC2557A19117F60AA167893| |00A829412A48AB4E6C25FE804419A05E1F433F2DEF59CF19AD0F38237F492907B45| |48808F0C5D4920322394280943DD6A33DD7C4AA790BB9755E1DE9FB470E817E3376| |1E48C1110C6059D8E0989FA95A3FE1225CA6F33EE12A6EE11A637195BFC4240AD41| |753883F88EA5450B86B2EA5AB2535462B8C0C83326B97C9130CD579582F2A36AD52| |89B1E63D3636C7A8C4D8FB3E93C9BD6A1D6847AF526F0180645EE3ADF726E861473| |97F94D046141EDAE1023EB937186C9B07893094692B0056B8BCA54F12D15BEF48EF| |19EF18130F791F1897002B51C3E7FDDF91A425333DF18DF193F08366C79565DDD2C| |5FDD8071FE85C20F1EB1F6CFC886A1BE4A18D168246B9C7FA841D426A560F17F3D9| |FCD76BAE8660CE216860D08DA36B6EE637880DD87D872B1B58BA18CDDE08BD9369C| |9C475F57302C60B88A2103FEC4535446F0838B6330315818121892186C0C690C7D1| |8DE6008FE003B05F882| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
Code:| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1424;710;1420;HEX;| |78DA9D934953134114C77B980921C94C323144760208091099104F6C6AA94815145| |84890934A0D490329532135139678F20378723D7973FD0896DF443F8ACBF0960E55| |9637A792F7EB7EFDEFB74C4F6F9C2D9B423CBB29B4F89D9AEBFBBBA5B2E7361AD20| |BDF739BC79E5BB3975DEFC97ED59323B74E64FD001684107D6DD5EE86AC49E9A086| |87998B9565B92FEBBE744A875559ABB4A7C9D5FAA1F464BDE9B407E6E6D151CD599| |76EA35A3FE0C94AB55997BE1FA549A92165C552FE83C326A892771BD5B273FBA8D2| |DADD70FDA6F45ABD50D414FCA93A7A0243540045112D13E29270D965ECF19A05D04| |8AE8BB486AE8E359DB042E85A25C440A7299DC63A837506EB3A59E7437A5DA5D74F| |38C5538279CA3823D82DAE02E4210EDB11E2B09DDD842E9B700C02EE280885B31DE| |8EA5F8259A72E06B99FC114251EEE268CCFE12204854D110E2C223324B4A0851887| |D2620B0043883851173D20B7D49AF59DD2D83F08615849A840893518E4C418B892A| |AE8649E625FFA0B5D2048B120947A4161BA5F32DE127A5F31DE7043AF097128204D| |671188F428054A80AB4725EFE1D77306B1FB5865F45DA78DC3F38C05C2E82263896| |042840155CA40892264B709B91DC67DC2F403C2CC167F029064885F8718C2AF2A25| |5AE0CAA883C84C53EC9149468E31C579F384713E9C24A41F53BBC67ED2CA955F8CD| |F8C3F2C0F08394187A843AE09F5B14D60FF43227B83CF355B2045F11A7F7B209C54| |DD4D46A9F4A918C36458DC5D9C91206CC3DEBC2A2AFF9E125FFDC0F8C8F84498F9C| |2F84C38855C0EBFF890C3AD14B89502B752E0568ADC4A915BB1E105CCAA139CE513| |1C342E6E28FCE011EBFF78360D752BC1A39127635C5CD420629352B0F8BF9EAF663| |B5C642B0A761BCD26186D07470FD13CC2E9631CB938DA4353C669F0CD6C179C98C3| |BAE6D12CA059449386FAC4735486F1C2C5D098682C3471340934369A149A7E34EFD| |004E701FAF762| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
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It also helps to narrow it down to "Looking for Feedback" and "Final."
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Quote:Maybe a game works if you don't take damage. But THIS game does not.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Sure it does: it simply means you can't die. And actually, there's a lot of people out there that think silly things like "game balance" are actually hurting the game as a whole, and would rather have conceptually unbound sandboxes where every character concept, including invulnerable ones, are allowed to exist.
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Quote:Because when it comes down to it, the game itself consists of taking and dealing damage. If you could turn off damage, the next step would be to turn off damage resistance...after all, why should I let the enemy resist my damage to any degree? Why should I let the game do that to me? I want to feel "super" and one-shot everything with Brawl.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Besides, that definition doesn't even cover the trivial example I gave: why can't I optionally shut off damage. The game engine definitely does follow me around and continue to do that. In fact, it does that to a higher degree than all other forms of objectionable activity combined.
At that point we don't have a game anymore. We have the AE test mode.
We can go on /hide. We can disable team invites. We can disable all manner of player interactions if we choose. This belief is already being encouraged. And yet, players choose to enable many of these interactions. for some people the desire for interaction makes the risk of bothersome players worth it.Quote:Originally Posted by Arcanaville
This is interesting to me because as I said, I believe one of the features of MMOs that actually makes them desirable relative to single player games is the interaction with other players. But I'm wondering if a sanitized version of that interaction is actually worse in the long run, even if it has apparent benefits in the short term. What does it mean to the long term culture of an MMO playerbase when you encourage the belief that all player interaction is voluntary and they have the right for it to be maximally controlled. Where do you draw the line?
For this one, detrimental I think. There are very few points where other players can halt your progress in this fashion, and those are really just examples of outdated mission design (hunt 50 Carnies in PI, I'm looking at you) and should be addressed individually.Quote:Suppose that the technology existed where if I'm street sweeping and someone kills a target I was about to engage, I could simply push a button and that target would reappear for me specifically to allow me to kill it. It would still appear to be dead to the other player. Essentially, everyone would be in overlapping instances. Ignoring the technical limitations, good idea or bad idea for an MMO?
In other games? My experience is only with WoW, but there were several points where player competition for limited spawns did make completing some quests difficult. If the point was to encourage players to team up, it didn't work. Maybe the fault lies with WoW's player base, I don't know, but in games that are less instance-heavy than CoH, I can see how it could be beneficial. -
Quote:At least make the summon interruptible, like the comm officer and Malta Engineer summons are.Originally Posted by Iannis
Dear Posi--make Death Shaman worth more XP due to the fact they're virtually guaranteed to pop two pets--or put the XP back on the pets! Frankly, I just skip defeating the stupid zombies the Death shaman pop in the instances where I decide to go do some old story content that uses BP. Why should I? Even in defeat alls summoned husks don't count as required defeats.
Base builder and server channels are player-created global channels, the AE channel is a server-wide dev-created channel, like Help. Take it out of your tabs if you don't use it.Quote:Originally Posted by Capa_Devans
And for the love of mike, let me take that AE channel out of my list of subscribed channels. It should be like base builders or server channels - optional for those who want to use it.
And those poop man pets the Tuatha bosses summon please. Those are really annoying because of their resistances.Quote:Originally Posted by Lazarus
And while you're at it please make the friggin Malta auto-turrets despawn upon defeat of the summoner like they used to back in, what was it, issue 3? I used to just leave them behind as well but now that they can follow you to the next spawn it just gets too damn annoying. -
Quote:This is the first exploit fix that I recall had no patch notes. So I'm writing that off as the usual patch note oversight, not that those aren't common with AE changes in general.Originally Posted by Rigel_Kent
My issue is that we have so many speedy "exploit fixes" -- reward reductions viewed by the devs as so super secret that they're fast-tracked to live with no patch notes, player testing, or feedback -- but we have to wait issues for reward refinements that actually benefit real story arcs.
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Quote:That is my complaint. Slapping on a ham-handed fix to kill the exploit NAO is fine and good if a fix for the fix is brought out in a timely manner, NOT half a year later as an afterthought along with the new shiny.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Your complaint should then be that the devs should find better ways to deal with the exploits, not ignore them. And that complaint would be entirely valid.
Nope, I'm pointing fingers at them for throwing in BAD FIXES and leaving them rather than coming up with something better, when the non-exploiting players have come up with a better solution within an hour of Dr. Aeon's post.Quote:Originally Posted by Stormfront_NA
Mmm
I see a bit of dev bashing, and some pointing fingers at them for not developing well enough to pre-empt them.
What if the concrete poured on it is leaking toxic chemicals that affect everyone around the dam, do people care then?Quote:Now, perhaps, how they go about fixing these exploits or errors could be done better. But when the dam is cracking, no one cares if the concrete poored on it is of the right color.