I Burnt The Toast

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow

I want to comment on this, and I want to comment with an example. Let's talk about Vanguard Weapons before and after the Vanguard Pack. Before the Vanguard Pack, a character needed to be level 35 to collect Vanguard Salvage and then needed to collect 200 of those in order to craft a Vanguard weapon. This is quite an investment if that weapon is central to your character, since you'll have already earned 35 levels and beaten up quite a lot of Rikti. I have earned the weapons on multiple characters, but pretty much only used them on one - Nathaniel, my Mercs/Traps Matermind because it was a long rifle. I admit, I was VERY satisfied because his long hours of using that insultingly small Mastermind rifle were now over and he was using a really cool gun.

Then I "earned" the Vanguard Pack by virtue of being subscribed to the game for three months (so for the low-low cost of $45), and then proceeded to remodel a LOT of my older characters to now use Vanguard weapons, a well as making new ones to us them. Emillia got dual Vanguard Katanas, Kim got dual Vanguard Broadswords, the Steel Rook got a Redding Rail Rifle, Annabella got a new Vanguard Katana, Hagan got a Vanguard Axe and a Vanguard Shield and so forth. Do you know what I remember from that Vanguard Pack? Because it wasn't typing my credit card in. What I remember is the unmitigated sheer fun I had with the characters in ways that I could NEVER have had if I were working under the old rules.

My point here is that praising the satisfaction someone feels from the achievement which unlocks a certain piece of content typically isn't even applicable to the kind of person who pays for it, because that person - like me - cares nothing for the achievement and just wants the content to play through. You're essentially comparing apples to oranges and it's why the "Is it not the effort that makes it all the sweeter?" doesn't work on people like me. Some people have something to prove and are driven by the sense of achievement and accomplishment. Others just want to have something and treat the "accomplishment" as a cost, thus they're willing to pay a cost of another kind if it seems like a better deal.

This, then, becomes less a question of accomplishment and honour and integrity and a question comparing the cost of time vs. the cost of money vs. the cost of effort. Some people play sports for the love of the game. Some people play sports because they pay well. It's sort of the same thing here.

Originally Posted by Snowzone

Ice Control is pretty bad and thoroughly outshined by Earth Control in nearly everything it can do.

1) Chilblain vs Stone Prison - Chilblain is faster at activating.
2) Block of Ice vs Fossilise - Block of Ice is, again, faster at activating.
3) Frostbite vs Stone Cages - Stone Cages wins because it can be stacked with Stalagmites to create a pseudo-hold.
4) Flash Freeze vs Salt Crystals - Salt Crystals is better, despite being a PBAoE sleep, simply because it activates over twice as fast and doesn't have to delay the sleep for meaningless damage.
5) Ice Slick vs Earthquake - Earthquake is better because it debuffs to-hit and defence rather than speed.
6) Shiver vs Quicksand - Shiver's area coverage is huge compared to Quicksand's. However, Quicksand does do a nice -25% defence debuff. This, along with Quicksand being able to be placed around corners for mitigation, makes it the superior power.
7) Glacier vs Volcanic Gasses - Volcanic Gasses is the best AoE hold in the game so it wins by default.
8) Jack Frost vs Animated Stone - This deserves its own miniature breakdown.

a) Jack's Ice Sword vs Stone Fist - Stone Fist wins because it can stun. Damage-wise they're both easily resisted, but at least stunning is useful.
b) Jack's Ice Bolt vs Hurl Boulder - Whilst Hurl Boulder does do a lot of damage it is very slow, especially when compared to the speed of Ice blasts. Jack's Ice Bolt wins.
c) Jack's Freezing Touch vs Seismic Smash - The damage is around the same, one is DoT the other is up-front. Freezing Touch's hold lasts quite a bit longer and doesn't rely on RNG. Freezing Touch wins.
d) Jack's Greater Ice Sword vs Seismic Smash - Jack's attack does more damage but it doesn't hold. Can also fire Seismic Smash off twice before you can with Jack's attack, increasing DPS. A draw.
e) Resistance vs Resistances - Jack is still pretty fragile, even with the buffs. The Animated Stone is pretty resistant to all damage and is excellent when given resistance buffs. Animated Stone's Resistance wins.

Going by the number of wins will make it a draw. However, survivability is crucial meaning Animated Stone comes on top.
9) Arctic Air vs Stalagmites - Two incomparable powers. Both are really good. A draw.

So, that is 7-3 to Earth Control. Poor Ice Control needs some love.

I'm not going to go into huge detail about this, but if Electric Blast is awful then that means Electricity Assault is too. It misses out on a number of things that are standard to Assault sets, such as a Utility/Survivability power (e.g. Drain Psyche, Chilling Embrace, etc), a PBAoE (e.g. Engulfing Darkness, Tremor, etc), and a Tier 3 blast (e.g. Blaze, Power Burst, etc). The lack of these things hurts the set quite considerably.

Originally Posted by Shubbie

Yeah but having one slot thats so valuable and will not be available after july 30th is going to lead to some insanely massive prices on that item.

Thats poor design.

Originally Posted by Golden Girl

The timer should always be random, and set a limit between 25 and 49 hours.

Originally Posted by Slaunyeh

He's really not. Maybe you don't feel the same way, and that's great, but I certainly share EG's sentiment. If, tomorrow, they released a "Badge Pack" on the market, containing every badge in the game, I would lose interest in hunting badges. Even if I never actually bought that pack, I wouldn't care nearly as much about badge hunting, simply because I'd know, in the back of my mind, that I could just buy it with two simple clicks. The effort, to me, would lose meaning.

I don't care whether other people have "bought" or "earned" their builds. The fact that I have the option to buy it, actively detracts from my desire to build anything in the first place.

I think that's what EG was getting at, too.

Originally Posted by Bronze Knight

I have now run this on all 18 of my toons that are eligible to do it.

Casino Heist:

Fun. Its fun because it breaks from the normal mission content and has objectives that require you to think. The AV fights in the WH kinda throw me off because I don't get why they happen. All it says is that we were followed back to our hide out. Something should be done to spice these sections up.

Would love to see an iTrial version of this that has two teams split into groups with two players each on their own objectives.


Time Gladiator:

Is a fun beat em up smack em down. The ninja and monkey sections are the only bland part. Would rather see them spawn at all 4 gates and run into the middle (I.E. Gladiator chariot fight.)


IO set:

I don't like the pressadent that is being set by this IO prock that converts KB into KD it suggests that the Devs are unwilling to tackle the KB problem in a wider context, which is disappointing.

My totals if anyone cairs

End/Rec 1
Dam/End/Rec 8
KB->KD 3 (all locked at L50 slot able at 47)
Acc/Dam/End/Rec 1
Acc/Dam/End 4
Acc/Dam 1

Originally Posted by Shubbie

Its becoming especially unfun, because the percieved easiest/fastest victory is with a taunter Brute/tank and -regener cor/def/cont/mm

If you dont get both of these, people tend to drop team.

Im starting to think that way too.

Originally Posted by Goliath Bird Eater

Speaking of the proc: Can anyone confirm that it's working?

I got it while running the event on a lowbie, and mailed it to my 50 Crab Spider. Put the proc in Frenzy, which is a PBAoE. I've been running around DA diving into big spawns and using the power until they're cleared. So far, I haven't seen any NPc get knocked down.

Originally Posted by Futurias

Why would I want to run what is basically mini-trials designed for more optimal characters that are hampered by being dropped to a fairly low level? I can see why they don't want level 50 Incarnates, but dropping everyone to level 29 basically made sure none of the 'squishy characters had all their Ancillary powers.

My SS/Electricty Brute got almost instantly killed against the Minotaur and archers. My Dark/Dark Defender started to get hit so hard that I was running from the lobby several times and when our friend DCed we ended up fighting three or four AVs from Casino and barely had enough damage/debuffing to defeat the AV after a long (and boring) grueling fight.

Yeah, sounds perfectly fun and peachy for 'casual' entertainment.

Originally Posted by DarkSideLeague

Except for the status protection. That's either dangerously near, or over the Pay2Win line.

Originally Posted by Shubbie

Here is hoping its fixed before the event ends........

Originally Posted by Socorro

I tend to find it much easier to kill something when I can actually damage it, which is much easier to do when it's close to me.

Originally Posted by Paris_NA

Any power that slows defeating enemies is a giant waste of time for everyone involved. That is all that knockback does. I have been praying for this enhancement for about 7 years now.