EvilGeko

Originally Posted by Toony

There needs to be soloability at the end game. Otherwise, why am I going to keep playing? To keep doing the same old content while you focus on end game stuff?

No thanks. I'd just go to your much newer competitors. I'm not the constant fanboy here who will support you even if you make a decision to send Positron to my house to kick me in the naughty area. You make enough bad decisions and I'll leave. And I assure you that the die hard fanboys are not the majority in this game.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville

CoX has actually *not* avoided that path at any time in its history. That it has seemed like it has to you is a coincidence. The game from its inception has always defined its gameplay as having a core "standard game" which has what I call the standard model of difficulty. That standard itself has evolved over time in terms of being refined, but its basic boundaries are essentially that to qualify as core standard content the content must be soloable by any archetype that is reasonably built to solo within a reasonable amount of time or attempts, using a reasonable amount of inspirations over the course of the content.

However, the game has always had content that was intended to be designed beyond that level of difficulty, either to target players wanting higher difficulty or to gate certain rewards, or both. Task forces are one such type of content. Respec trial is another, as is all the trials. The Praetorian arc (Maria) is another. Just stepping into a hazard zone is yet another.

The "standard" end game is already established. Its either to roll an alt, or to play the standard content that exists at level 50. That is the end game for people who want to remain within the standard content boundaries. That has always been a part of the game design as well. So for people who want an end game but do not want to leave the standard difficultly model, you've had your end game since Issue 1.

"The" end game is actually the alternate end game: the end game for people who want to leave the standard difficulty model. This is the progressional end game that ratchets both player power and player difficulty. Those two have to go hand in hand: you're not going to get a standard difficulty end game where you get to be more powerful and the critters stay the same or only scale with you. Besides the point that that would be extremely difficult to do with something like the Incarnate system (its already difficult to do with the invention system, and even just with scaling to level 50) it would be a lot of development effort to put players right back at the same place, which is simply not worth it. We already have a standard model level 50, the devs are not going to make another one.

Eventually much of the technology developed for the end game will be backported to the standard game, maintaining more or less the standard model of difficulty. The standard model missions will get more interesting, without getting materially more difficult. And the devs are not going to stop making standard content: most of the content in Issue 19 is standard content, skewed counting notwithstanding. So the standard model end game will continue to grow and evolve. But the simple fact is, if you want a standard model end game, you've had one for eighteen issues. Level 50 content *is* the standard model end game, and its not going anywhere. Honestly, given that the standard model end game has had an eighteen issue head start over the advanced one, I don't see the justification for a complaint.

To the extent that there's been a trend its a trend that was started at launch. It was evident in the design of Peregrine Island and its snipers and quad boss spawns. It was evident in Maria's arc full of archvillains. It was evident in the respec trial that most players failed the first time or two. It was evident in the design of the Rularuu, and the Vanguard, and the Cimerorans. The fact that you've been able to, I assume, dodge all these things is a lucky happenstance, it is not a reflection of the devs going out of their way to make non-standard content invisible. Optional to an extent, but not invisible. Just as the Incarnate system and the end game content is similarly optional, but not invisible.

One last thing: I don't think the Incarnate system and the end game content represents CoX just rehashing other games. The Incarnate system has the potential to be something genuinely new: a transitional end game progression system that uses essentially a modified skills tree in an essentially level-less or near level-less end game. The end game task forces and content is I suppose more likely to look like what other games have done, simply because there are more limits to what a game designer can do in that setting. But you could say the same thing about the standard content as well. The real question is how the devs ease the majority of players into the new difficulty paths.

Difficulty is relative. The ITF was considered a difficult task force when it debued. Its now considered an ATM. The LRSF and STF were considered extremely difficult when they debued. Now they are considered just above average in difficulty. And even the normal task forces were considered difficult in the beginning, but now they are not considered all that difficult even by average players with average builds.

This game targets the average player. Not you or I, but its average subscriber. The average player has gotten better over time. Not massively so, but noticably so. The game's center of mass is going to shift as a result.

Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect

That thing is: Why are so many people obsessed with being rewarded for the time they spend playing City of Heroes?

Originally Posted by Rikis

UberGuy, have you come across that old adage "If you didn't succeed with brute force, you didn't apply enough of it?" I got the Midnight Dodger badge in a team where each member had an HVAS and a Shivan. A few of us had bio nukes and a few others had chem nukes. I personally summoned a wailer, a rikti drone, a snow beast, and a devouring earth minion to boot. He went down so fast I don't think more than 3 mines were placed.

Originally Posted by Reverence

Dull Pain, Reconstruction, and Instant Healing are all on timers that benefit from more Recharge. In addition to that, all your survivability is based on HP regen (not including PPs and set bonuses) so I'd say the best for you would definitely be the Rech/Heal Alpha.

Originally Posted by Golden Girl

And fighting level 58 enemies

Originally Posted by bAss_ackwards

Have done it many times by now, at the estimated one hour mark or less.

Most people that I run both TFs with usually tell me they like the Apex TF better, specifically the epic feeling from the first mission and the Battle Maiden fight.

Originally Posted by Wolf_Reign

The final mission especially. Has anyone completed this?

Originally Posted by Vanden

I've been trying for days to switch back to Hero on my Scrapper, and I've stalled at Rogue. No matter how many enemies I kill in Paragon City, in missions or on the street, I'm not getting any tip drops. My fame bubbles are empty, and I'm killing enemies over 20, and yet I have no tips. I even went back to the Rogue Isles, and I haven't secretly gotten any tips there, so what's the deal? Am I the only one, or is there no way to switch sides now?

Originally Posted by Phedra

That makes me curious just how warm your card is getting....
GPU-Z can tell you your card's temperature. Grab it here if you want.
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/

I find my 5870 to generally run between 60C & 75C, at least, when I bother to look.

Originally Posted by Nethergoat

EA isn't broken, it doesn't "suck" or whatever.
It *is* derivative, outdated and less appealing than pretty much all the other Brute sets. I'd like them to address that before any proliferation takes place.

Originally Posted by Leandro

Vanessa DeVore was an Art History graduate student in July 2000; that would make her 26-30 years old in 2000. Penelope Yin was introduced in 2006 as a teenager, so it's very possible that she was born while Vanessa was 18-22.

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow

On that note, that same Blaster managed to down Hero 1 without dying, largely because Ring of Fire seems to -fly him for about five seconds at a time.

Originally Posted by Tenzhi

I can't beat Trapdoor now (at -1!) and they're making it *harder*? Inspirations helped a lot: they allowed me to remove 1/8 of his HP between chasing down his far too frequent and apparently unending "bifurcations" before the inspirations ran out and I died. I'd like to bifurcate the Midas-eared person who designed that encounter and then the bastitch who decided it couldn't be auto-completed - I have a sharp axe and a dull sword available for the task and right now the latter sounds altogether most suitable.