Johnny_Butane
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Posts
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Joined
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My Tankers are playing this for Scrappers.
Quote:How's it feel having another AT come in and hijack your mechanic and assume your place?Not only that, but stalkers have the same inherent ability as scrappers and do it better (base crit chance of 10% as opposed to 5, increase to crit chance on teams
After all the complains I've made about Tankers not being the team's heavy hitter and having Fury stolen from them by Brutes and how you and others responded to those 'concerns', I find your present concerns to be deliciously ironic. By all means, try to refute and say that the two situations are nothing alike. Meanwhile, I bask in your anguish. Mmmmm, delicious.
Maybe it's just a perception thing, but I feel that Scrappers are getting exactly what they had coming for years. Go back to your Pylon challenges and take your tears with you.Quote:Maybe it's just a perception thing, but I feel that scrappers are getting a bit of a shaft here.
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Quote:Well I do street sweep and I'd do more of it too if most of the zones weren't full of enemies that con grey to me.Originally Posted by Xzero45
Or just give us mission arcs for all levels in a zone and forgot about the streets, because no one really does street sweeping anyway.
There should be reasons for super heroes to "go on patrol" or villains to go out looking for action and opportunity. That is the primary way many characters operate in comics. Spider-Man doesn't usually wake up and then get handed assignments from SHIELD or the Avengers.
We have zones, some of them quite interesting. They should serve a purpose beyond being a travel timesink between instanced mission doors.
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Quote:Batman is never going to 'outlevel' Gotham. We, as players, are discouraged from becoming attached to a zone or calling an area "home". That's another one of those things I wish was fundamentally different about the game; that zones have a specific and intended level range.Originally Posted by SuperOz
I also agree with the notion of having the zone revisitable. If CoH does one thing wrong with its zones, it's that you are never encouraged to go back and revisit places as a higher level character. It's a shame, seeing as the morality missions cause you to revisit old foes like Frostfire and you get the 'What are they doing now...?' updates.
I mean, if you have a magical type character, they're likely going to want to hang around Croatoa. Your street level vigilante should gravitate towards Kings or IP, but at 50 there no reason to go there and you can't even street sweep or "patrol".
Sometimes I wonder: would it be so wrong to use the "GM/Invasion Code" on everything to have enemies be levelless?
Yes, I know that's a loaded question with a lot of problems associated with it (hey, they just rendered Incarnate level shifts moot), but I can't help feeling like we shouldn't be on a rail and wishing the game was a bit more sandboxy in that respect.
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Quote:I should have specified it's a rare skill to find among professional writers. I agree, some of the people who are into things like writing fan fiction do a better job of checking their ego at the door.Originally Posted by Eva Destruction
Considering that I have played many AE arcs that did build on established canon, introduced the writer's own ideas and made them fit rather than just throwing everything the author didn't like out the window, no, I don't think it's such a rare skill. If a bunch of amateurs can do it for their own amusement, people who are being paid to create a consistent game world have no excuse.
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Quote:You know, it made me mad when Posi said that about why so many story threads are abandoned. "Writers don't want to write someone else's ideas. They wan't to come up with their own."Originally Posted by Eva Destruction
The "story bible," if there ever was such a thing, was likely thrown aside with the release of CoV, and newer stories ignore even lore that is explicitly stated in-game. Because Posi wants the writers to be able to be creative, dontcha know. The end result is a tangled mess.
You know, if you get hired to write Spider-Man and you don't want to write Spider-Man so you relegate him to a background character and make his book about the new "supporting cast" you introduce, you really shouldn't be writing Spider-Man at all.
I would KILL to write for CoH because I like the universe they've established. And I would love taking raw ideas and fleshing them out and giving them life, even when they're not my own, because to me THAT is the mark of a good writer. Anyone can make up their own stuff, but being able to build on an established foundation of canon and take something someone else started and run with it and make that work and be seamless is a skill far too few writers, let alone comic book writers, possess.
It's real easy to come in, try to pave over everything you don't like and stroke your own ego. It's another thing all together to be the caretaker of something greater.
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Quote:Except our Phantom Zone isn't full of cool alien super criminals for us to battle. It isn't full of anything except grey coning pallet-swapped enemies when you're 50.Originally Posted by GlassGoblin
That does describe the Phantom Zone pretty well. That's why being sent there is punishment, just as it is with the Shadow Shard.
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Quote:I've always thought of the Shadow Shard as CoH's answer to the Negative Zone/Phantom Zone. Except, you know, boring and empty and not worth exploring.Originally Posted by RosaQuartz
As for the Spiritual Plane, I mentally associated it with the DC Comics concept of the Phantom Zone.
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Quote:He says that ascended beings can create their own dimensions, but he does not say that only they can.Originally Posted by Acerbus_NA
Well. To derail my own thread.. But what Prometheus says about the well and dimensions and stuff.... Could that mean DJ Zero is a Well?
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Quote:It should be the best grim, rundown, industry choked, gang-ridden district Ultra Mode can do.Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
Any graphical update shouldn't make King's Row shiny. I *like* having part of the zone look industrial - run-down industrial. The effect SHOULD be somewhat jarring. If they can make decent broken and boarded windows...
Also, it NEEDS to have the Cyrus Thompson Community Center.
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Quote:I can't recall very many at all who've made that kind of comment.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
In this case, though, while lots of people have made this sort of comment before, its likely that this time the devs happened to pick out J_B's comments from the thread. But there's no question the devs have been thinking about this sort of thing before, because unless Aeon suffered a serious brain injury recently, he should remember all of the discussion surrounding the design of interesting encounters in the AE, given that this is fearghas we're talking about.
Regardless, I've been posting about my hate for the EB-AV mechanic since, well it would have to be as early as Spring '07. I remember the thread because it was only the only time a dev responded directly to anything I had to say in a post in the five years I've been here. In this case it was Statesman defending how the game presents our power progression but conceding that maybe having groups like the Family armed with tommy guns existing past the low levels wasn't all that super for players.
I was also complaining about Malta, calling them cowboys in blue pajamas and saying that for the high level they should really be outfitted with power armor for battling powerful supers. So, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with Max's personal story. Needless to say I'm pleased with DA as a whole making us feel super powerful.
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Quote:Instead, the traffic problem solved itself when the Clockwork started taking apart people's cars for scrap and many commuters switched to using the city's fleet of invisible buses and the Green/Yellow line rail system.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
Well, it was part of a traffic flow project in the 70s that was abandoned, that's why the bridges are only in that zone - the orginal idea seems to have been to create freeways over the city to reduced the amount of traffic on the normal roads.
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Quote:Yeah, I know. Brickstown always felt like a 'detour' where the 'real' path lead to Founders.Originally Posted by Electric-Knight
Do you find it funny that, somehow Brickstown should also fill this role, yet it doesn't (not for me, at least)?
It's got limited amenities, was harder to get to and never got much in the way of new content.
Also, it never felt right to me to have this big Super Max prison right in the middle of the urban center. Like, who's going to live next door to that and how the hell did the zoning board ever approve it?
Personally, I'd love to redo the whole zone from scratch. Make it a rural area outside of Paragon like Crotoa is, with "Brickstown" being a small town nearby the Zig.
EDIT: And, said small town is called "Brickstown" because they used to have a brick factory there until it closed down and the economy dried up, explaining why they would be desperate enough to allow a prison for walking weapons of mass destruction in their backyard.
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IMO, Kings Row should be the goto zone for urban vigilantes and dark crusaders of all levels to fight more 'street level' threats and when they need a more gritty and, shall we say, gothic backdrop for content. It saddens me when I make such characters and have to leave the environment perfect for them.
Contrast that Steel Canyon which should be upscale, all gleaming towers suited for high flying men and women of tomorrow.
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To go with the idea of "Staged" fights, I think that kills two birds with one stone and make some encounters less steamrollable for teams and more interesting solo.
Lets take for example the climax of the Terra arc.
"Terra has been turned into a monster and is rampaging through town".
That's what the mission text says, but the reality is she's standing motionless in an intersection, not really moving or harming anything. At BEST, you walk up to her, execute your attack cycle until her HP is gone. The end. Some climax.
What I would do for this encouter:
Make Terra an EB but with a visible rank of "Monster", and give her a map-wide power that scales her resistance based on how many players are on the map. Her regeneration is effectively zero.
I'd have it like a mayhem mission and have there actually be objects and citizens she attacks. If she wrecks too much/injures too many, you lose out on badge.
At various stages of her HP, she flees the battle, either jumping away or "tunneling" into the ground. When this happens, she summons an ambush of DE to her spot that you can either battle or run from. IE, their target is Terra's last location, not the player, so you can just get out of sight if you're not up to fighting an ambush.
After a set amount of time, or after the ambush is defeated, whichever comes first, Terra pops up in another area of the map and begins to rampage again. You repeat this until done.
The advantages of this design:
-It breaks up the fight. Even if you have a team that can carve her up, the fight is drawn out by breaking it up and having the "chase" element.
-Even if you're on a toon that EBs are tough for, you can keep "chipping" at her and playing hit and run without her regenerating back all her HP and losing all your progress, even if you faceplant.
-It's more interesting than simply standing there trading blows with her for a minute until she falls over.
-As least to my limited knowledge, it's fully doable with the game's current tech.
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Quote:Well...Originally Posted by QuarriosSoul
Something you say, JB? I wouldn't go taking the credit for this all by yourself. There are more participants in this discussion than you.
Quote:Originally Posted by Dr. Aeon
Hey everyone!
I wanted to start a discussion between me, one of your loving mission designers, and you all, the loving people of the forums. The point is to discuss challenge in mission content and how to make things challenging for solo players, small teams, and large teams, without just turning on and off the AV button. That's not to say that we can't still turn on and off the AV button for future content, however. There was an excellent example in a previous thread of how to make things more interesting with a fight, which was that instead of the EB scaling up to an AV, the EB has more EB allies to make things interesting for a full team. I thought this was a great idea, and I’d love to hear more.
Unless I missed someone else's post, I was the one to bring up my hatred of the EB to AV mechanic in general in the thread and I made the suggestion about backup EBs. Also, in the past I've made numerous other posts on the topic and even PMs asking for the devs to consider alternatives to the EB to AV mechanic.
Quote:Originally Posted by Johnny_Butane
Additionally I hate the EB to AV mechanic. Some characters have no ****ing business ever being AVs. Arbiter Sands on the STF; he's a nobody in the grand scheme. I beat his head in solo back in Faultline. He's got no story or lore rationalization for suddenly popping up 8 times stronger than me.
A character who's roughly on peer with the player character shouldn't suddenly be able to take on 7 others. Instead of bloating them up to an AV, they should not have been used for a challenge in team content to begin with. Either give said character backup in the form of additional EBs, or have them subbed out by someone worthy of challenging eight heroes of any given level. In the case of Incarnate content, there should be very few individuals that fit the bill considering the smack down we lay on Reichsman, who as the dialogue states, is roughly on par with what Statesman used to be, meaning we're now AT that level or above.
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Quote:Maybe if the EB lives too long after being aggro'd, he takes a level shift down? So like instead of level 35, he drops to 35(-1)? Can they do downward shifts?Originally Posted by Twoflower
I'd like to address the other side of the equation -- how do you handle it when an EB is TOO challenging?
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Quote:You know, I take a lot of crap for speaking my mind on these forums, but consider how often something I say sparks an important discussion or dialogue with the devs.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
Dr. Aeon's just started a discussion thread for the topic of difficulty levels and challenges for different play styles.
Just sayin'.
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Like I said before, I like the idea that if you brought your team to the mission, the enemy EB could summon his.
Captain Mako, for example, always has the option to call on the other Patrons for assistance.
Synapse can always call up a few Phalanxers or Vindicators.
Unaffiliated enemies don't have that luxury, but there's always groups like the Shining Stars and the Civic Squad to help out heroes. Villains have Dr. Graves and company, but really there could stand to be a group of mercs operating out of the isles that act as high quality hired guns for when you need something more than cannon fodder.
Also, and I admit this is getting ambitious, but maybe the CoH universe needs a being along the lines of Mr. Mxyzptlk or Captain Universe' Uni-Power that can power up random heroes and villains to fight teams or summon a giant robot to help them, just for the lulz. IE, if you have to use the EB to AV mechanic, make it a story thing.
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Quote:No problem.Originally Posted by Nalrok_AthZim
Thanks for the spoiler.
If you haven't done the Diabolique trial and are not intelligent enough to stop reading after the words "given what Prometheus says after you complete the Diabolique trials", because what comes next is extremely likely to be a spoiler, I'm not going to feel bad; that was your warning.
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Quote:Except, we have infernal CoT demons which are clearly designed with a fire and brimstone Hell in mind. And we have Hellfrosts, which their info alludes to them being from the lower depths of Hell which is possibly frozen, as in Dante's Divine Comedy.Originally Posted by Zombie Man
Do a search on the Wiki for "Netherworld." It's basically a 'negative energy' dimension that is Hell. CoT demons come from there. Souls of the damned reside their. It is the source of negative energy for Dark Powers and demons and vampyrs.
Just like Christmas is Winter Holiday in CoH. Hell is the Netherworld. A religiously sanitized word despite the fact that demons and damned souls reside there (damned by whom?).
Also we have Statesman from the Freedom Phalanx novel claiming to have visited Hades as it was known to the Greeks and having met Sisyphus.
I think given what Prometheus says after you complete the Diabolique trials, that beings who ascend and become their own Well can create dimensions and even life all on their own, I think there's room for a lot of Hells, afterworlds and shadow dimensions each ruled by someone different.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Arcanaville
I'm compelled to partially agree with J_B on this one
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Quote:Like I said before, for future content, rather than seeing EBs (and by extension characters that should be around the same power level as player characters) automagically turn into AVs, I wish you guys could look at other ways to provide a challenge for teams. Like having multiple other EBs show up. Or have them summon a more powerful entity to fight the team. I know that's easier said than done, but I honestly don't feel turning a nobody character into a huge sack of HP and regen is any more compelling than steamrolling over an EB.Originally Posted by Dr. Aeon
Hey guys!
We have been reading peoples feedback regarding the EBs in Dark Astoria. Right now, were planning on leaving them the same. The goal of Dark Astoria was to provide challenging content for solo players and small teams; upgrading these EBs to be AVs that scale down, at this point in development, has the risk of causing a number issues that could hamper this experience, which is something we want to avoid. However, we are taking the feedback into consideration for future arcs, so please continue to give us your opinions about this. Thanks!
Dr. Aeon
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Quote:This.Originally Posted by Everything_Xen
Pretty much the rest of the game.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Kiken
I don't want to run Trials. But I might want to fight AVs with a couple of friends. Where's my choice?
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Architect_Entertainment
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Quote:The choice is already in their hands. They can choose to run DA and fight EBs, or they can choose to join a trial. That's more choice than soloists get for their Incarnate possibilities.Originally Posted by Bionic_Flea
If the choice is in the players' hands they can make it as curbstompy or challenging as they want
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