LordXenite

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What is with people trying to decide how other people should be allowed to play their characters? They pay for the account, they put in the time... they don't impact you other than some broadcast spam.

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Firstly, I'm not trying to decide how anyone should play. I am however saying that if one chooses to exploit the system, they should not get upset if their exploits get shut down.

You're also quite mistaken, in my experience, in assuming that using exploits to farm isn't harming anyone else. Since an exploit is sometimes "fixed" by re-balancing a power-set, or the custom critters we create -- and since these changes are downloaded into our client program, or appear in the server, on patches and updates -- we are all affected by anything that changes, be it power modifiers or the inclusion of ranged attacks that do more damage than the power-sets they're added to!

These changes for example could potentially cause a mission that was soloable on character X to be impossible to solo, which essentially changes the mission itself, thus decreasing the amount of control the missions' author has over it and forces the author to re-balance the mission. When this happens, that is a result of an exploit being found by Farmers who then used it so much that it appears on the GMs' radar and forces the Devs to balance it with counter-measures that in turn force the missions' author to re-balance their mission.

Sometimes, the exploit results in the Devs actually pulling out a specific NPC-type and all the missions that used that NPC-type are now either un-playable, or require the author to change them... so yeah... how is this not affecting me directly as an author?

Not to mention that if the Devs are busy responding to GM's marking missions that have new exploits in them, this means the Devs are not working on a game-feature or content. Isn't that affecting all of us?

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Great suggestions, Lord Xenite!

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Thanks

About the card-collecting idea, I think that essentially this could become a mini-game within CoX where we trade cards and use them to play a card-game based on our own characters/critters akin to 'Magic: The Gathering'. This of course is just an idea off the top of my head, and while I'd like to see something like that, I'd never ask the Devs to dedicate time for it instead of other changes.

Another idea that I think could be great is, remember those Arena Gladiator battles? Well, what if the same way that we earn Gladiators, we could earn Custom Critters from Dev Choice/Hall of Fame missions (or even regular published missions)? I think this could create new interest in the Arena Gladiator battle system and improve the longevity of the game.

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Yeah but the problem with CO's Nemesis system is that it starts when half of your character's career is over.

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Indeed, that is a problem, unless of course they plan to both prolong the career and actually have the first part of your career be dedicated to the story of how you got to being a Super-being in the first place... something I personally would love to see.

I doubt that I'd get my CO wishes come true as you're probably right and the Nemesis sub-system will stay the same, but perhaps other similar sub-systems can crop up later on...

The key to policing stuff is to take baby-steps and offer tighter integration between user-created content and Dev-created content. I hate to say this, but Champions Online, with its Nemesis system seems to offer a saner idea about how to create custom critters that are actually useful, individual and interesting and promote the story of the character they were created for.

It's not that I'm saying Champions Online is better. I am saying that there are ways to limit abuse of content that can be "baked" into the content piece itself.

The real problem is, old engines are not designed for that.

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Shouldnt this be powexec_toggle_off, if you want to go back human?

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The bind-file assume he already is in Human-form and wants to shift to either Nova or Dwarf.

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Depends on what you mean by min/max.
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If a team goes in to fight a group of lvl 54 archvillains and builds the team to do that, I see nothing wrong with that personally.
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Teaming, debuffs, and buffs have always been used in that way with how this game works. Hell we have a DEV-created TF in which you can FIGHT a team of the strongest AVs and Archheroes all at once. And folks have no issue in building a min/max team to take on THOSE scenarios. In fact at one time those AVs WERE also lvl 54. Many complained when they were toned down because they felt it was reducing challenge from the game.

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No, this is definitely not the min/max I'm talking about.

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Now if you make a map of lts or minions with no defense that's a different story.
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Not that I personally care what anyone does. That's the dev's job. Not any players.

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Yup, that's what I'm against, especially as described so eloquently by Folonius in his AE Farm Guide.

I agree that's the Dev's job to fix this issue, but I care about it being fixed because it is essentially affecting me because if I have to avoid an AE PuG team because all they're doing is going through story-arc after story-arc (or worse, the same story-arc) of one-mission with the same Lt's to be fought, and with no real effort required when fighting... I'm bored and I have to explain why I have to quit the team and go do something else.

I try to be polite, of course, but once I even got a tell asking me what I was still doing in the AE center from someone who lead a farming team I quit moments ago.

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In essence, "farming is bad for the game" is little more than a myth perpetrated by people who are on the opposite end of the ideology spectrum.

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In essence, MMO games are grinding games where players engage in roughly the same activities from level 1 to the level-cap. This of course will encourage people to attempt to find the fastest way to maximize their character on every possible facet, be it build, gear and skills. This is unavoidable, but that doesn't mean the Developers of any MMO should simply stop trying to find ways to allow people to create their own content and at the same time develop counter-measures so that the content isn't exploitable.

I lead an All-Kheldian SG on Infinity, it's called the Umbra Illuminati and we're always looking for more Kheldians. We sometimes do AE missions, but that tenancy has subsided greatly as of late.

I've seen a thread about a new Liberty SG (I don't remember their name though) that is plainly against AE content whatsoever, so I will not be surprised if this increases as a trend.

Personally, I'm not against AE, or farming AE missions, as long as they're not missions that were intentionally created to min/max. I'm just against the min/maxing which leaves me with a boring combat-only mission.

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Here's some ideas off the top of my head:

1. I'd like to be able to trigger goals based on a combination of accomplished goals. In essence, Goal.A is triggered only after Goal.B and Goal.C have been completed, even though goals B and C are spawned at the same time!
   
2. I'd like to be able to remove an NPC entity and immediately replace it with another NPC entity, think of the Kheldian story-arc that has you cure the Lost and what happens when you use the Cure power on a Lost NPC.
   
3. Speaking of the Cure the Lost power, I'd like to be able to craft temp-powers and trigger them by the completion of certain goals. Imagine collecting some magic-dust canisters and once the collection is complete, the magic-dust can be "sprinkled" on your character resulting in a temp-power that is essentially a buff that lasts for as long as the story-designer designed the power to last.
   
4. I'd like clues to include an image from the library of objects AE already lets us use as collectible objects.
   
5. I'd like clues to include an image created from the costume of a custom critter Boss we defeated in mission.
   
6. I'd like the ability to reward the player with "trading-cards" (or Badges) carrying the pictures of custom-critter Bosses and allow players to swap and trade these "cards".

There's probably more, but I'd like to be take a break now

EDIT :: Just thought of and added #6.

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Report a farm and it will be dealt with. Nothing other than that can be done by players.

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Already doing so, whenever I find one that isn't a simple recreation of stuff we already have in-game. However, due to boredom, I joined a new SG, made new characters... played through content... you know, the usual... and pretty much ignored AE lately.

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Well there is something else you can do if you don't like that folks are doing nothing but playing in the MA: Vote with your wallet. Nothing at all wrong with that.

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Indeed, I recently returned from a short break in which I played lots of single-player stuff...

The only way to stop power-leveling in CoX, as far as I understand it, is to ensure that if someone's character isn't fighting (i.e. door-sitting) that character gets nothing for the fight. I doubt anyone would play on a Server that has this as a core-rule.

The only way to stop farming, is to introduce diminishing returns and timers on tasks, much like TF Merits have. Again, I doubt anyone would play on a Server that has this as a core-rule, either.

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So, to summarize:

1. To meet the end-goal that AE should allow players to level-up and grow a character from Lv1 to Lv50, AE needs XP.
   
2. Exploits and broken NPC's/powers should be fixed a.s.a.p.

Yes?

Allow me to quote and respond according to what's important to me first:

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The reason we don't have a more robust feature laiden MA is because the devs have not been as creative as they should be in including those things. It has nothing to do with having to spend time fixing KNOWN exploits. The two are not related.

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Being a developer and working under a management that has to worry about meeting deadlines, I know full well that sometimes creative thinking, and the addition of key-features can be postponed (if not outright thrown out the window) because there are other policies that management wants enforced.

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I really don't think them waiting to fix the KNOWN exploits, then scapegoating the players is something the players should now turn to each other fingers with pointing.

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To this, I wish to respond with another quote I've seen in Timeshadow's signature:

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On the Mission Architect: Not everyone reads the forums, after all, and not everyone might realize that the Rikti Communication Officers were out of whack. But you'd have to be incredibly, pants-on-head retarded not to know that leveling at that speed was broken ~Justaris

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So, if I'm to believe that Timeshadow has quoted Justaris faithfully and accurately, and I am to believe Justaris, all those who exploited AE (and especially those who still are) are either pants-on-head retarded, or knowingly using exploits against the Devs wishes.

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I don't think is is accurate or fair to give the devs a pass on not making MA more robust with the extra's you are talking about.

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I'm sorry if it looks like the player-base is the only group I seem to be holding responsible for this situation. Of course the Devs are to be blamed for this, first and foremost. However, just as the Devs have to own up to their failures and fix them, we as players have a moral obligation to ourselves as a community to uphold our very own standards and if those standards include wanting and encouraging Developer-created features and content, at the very least, we should follow our end of the agreement we sign when we click that "I agree" button.

My apologies to all of you who think that just because you pay your subscription fees this means you can play the game Your way. Paying the subscription fees means you can play the game your way under the confinements put in-game by the Devs, and also... we are always warned, "Online Experience May Change", well, it's changing as we speak, for better and worse.

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Destroying the xp wont change that, buddy. Most people are [censored], uncreative writers. No amount of limits on xp is going to suddenly make them shakespeare.

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I'm well aware of that which is why I said already that I know it's not going to happen, you probably missed that part of my post. Sorry.

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I dont rate arcs based on their xp. I rate them based on whether they were fun and the storyline was engaging.

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That's great and I hope many do the same.

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...oddly enough, finding an arc with BOTH of those factors is rare. People usually let their "amazing" story be so important that they lose sight of the fun factor. And Frankly, if an arc is fun but the story sucks, I don't see that as quite as bad. Story is great, but we're playing a game, not a shakespearean novel.

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When I talk about story in story-arcs, I don't set my sights on Shakespear. I know full well this is a game and is supposed to be interactive, which by the way is one of the greatest sources of disappointment to me about both this game and AE in particular. When I craft my story missions, I'm trying to think about what would the player feel when they play through my story, and I'm sorry to disappoint anyone who may be disappointed by this, but the last thing on my mind, is how to maximize the player's rewards.

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If people are so wrapped up in making the AE into a pristine land of happy storytelling where fun isnt the point, then count me out.

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For me, happy storytelling is when I get comments like these, and forgive me for advertising my story-arc like this. My story-arc isn't really farmable, to my knowledge, and won't give you the most rewards, but most people who have played it and commented about it to me, have enjoyed it because it was fun.

You won't see me publish a story-arc about the Origins of any of my characters because of several reasons, none of them having to do with being afraid of all those people who'd tell me writing Mary Sue stories because that will not be how I write stories.

My only sin perhaps is that I want more power in AE, power to do cool things like use keys to unlock doors, like allow the player to actually have a dialog with the enemies before, or even instead of blowing them up... I want stuff like multiple triggers where a goal is triggered only by activating several other goals in combination... and my resentment of people exploiting AE to maximize rewards and minimize risks isn't even because this can potentially create Lv50 n00bs, I love sharing information with others and help people understand their AT better, if I know it myself. No, the reason I'm against the AE exploits being used, and the AE being released with those exploits still in it, is quite selfish... it forces the Devs to spend more time on removing exploits and re-hashing AE sub-systems rather than adding more powerful tools at a faster rate.

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To be blunt and to the point, MA would've been a colossal failure and a tremendous waste of time and resources if it had been released with no rewards for player-generated content.

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As far as I'm concerned, AE is currently a tremendous waste of time and resources because of the two goals it has, it accomplishes one in a very sub-par way (story-telling) and the other goal (of being a tool to grow a character from Lv1 to Lv50) is exciting on paper, but is clearly not an improvement over the other in-game tools previously used by players to grow characters, unless of course you consider the exploits it allows you to use, in which case you're already considering things the Devs are quite in disagreement with.

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How would XP removal strip ratings griefing?
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OTHER than by turning the MA into a ghost town?

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To be blunt and to the point, if a story-arc is rated, even in part, for it's rewards rather than story-telling and design, then the system missed its mark, at least as far as I'm concerned. So yes, I'd rather see a ghost-town with a few honest story-telling efforts at first, and perhaps have the Devs restore rewards to MA story-arcs once the Devs have figured out how to balance the nightmare.

Even though that's my opinion, I know for sure that this won't happen. No Rewards for AE content is how things SHOULD have started, not how they should end.

Ok guys... I've got good news and bad news...

The good news first... Absorption seems to work in Nova form (according to the attribute-monitor), but for a few seconds only right after you switch, this of course being the bad news.

However, you'd be glad to know that Nova itself has 15% energy damage resist which is more than the 11.25% energy damage resist that unslotted Absorption provides.

If you're solo, this may mean something to you, but if you team, most likely, Dark Sustenance will provide you with more damage resists if you're teamed with Tankers, Masterminds, Corruptors or Defenders.

Is it possible for Nictus Fragments embedded in a Void Slayer that has died, to embed themselves in another life form and transform it into a Warshade? If not, can this be possible because the life form in question is from another dimension?

Thanks!

It does! <-------- Scratch this until I get home and check actual values!

EDIT :: I thought you meant the inherent power. Those do work for the form, but the inherent energy damage resist, I'm not sure about. As I've just started a new TriFormShade™, and he's currently un-slotted I'll have to get home and log on to my Lv50 TriFormShade™ and check out the answer to your question, sorry for the confusion!

You could of course use the /monitor_attribute <attribute> command to open up the attribute monitor display and check for yourself in Nova if the inherent energy damage resist is affecting your Nova or not, that's how I intend to check it when I get home.

I just came back to the game after a brief recess and joined an well-established SG on a new Server (new for me, naturally) and created a new TriFormShade™ on it who's going to probably become my main (except for Thursday nights when I still hope to play my main TriFormPB on Infinity with her All Kheldian SG).

Kheldians are just so much fun for me, I keep getting pulled back to them despite other AT's being shiny.

Well, Human-only Kheldians are a mixture of the following elements:

1. No Human-form mez protection unless you're with Controllers/Dominators.
2. Debuffing in each attack; DefDebuff for PB; Slow/Recharge for WS.
3. Shields.
4. Some ranged attacks.
5. Some melee attacks.
6. A melee hold.
7. Some stuns.
8. Self heal powers.
9. Self buff powers.
10. Self rez power.
11. Awesome pet for WS; mini-pet/mini-nuke for PB.
12. Two wonderful shield powers that stack with the normal shields.

The trouble with Kheldians though is that they have to be extremely active at all times. So if you're used to aggressive gameplay, you should be fine, but if you're used to the strategic combat a Controller/Defender can engage in, you may find yourself biting more than can chew at first, especially soloing the Kheldian story-arcs. Just hang in there, both Kheldians are somewhat late bloomers, Warshades more than Peacebringers at that.

Another important advice, play both AT's and read every guide you can find in the Kheldian Guide Section.

Oh... and most importantly, Welcome!

Personally speaking, I go TriForm. Seeing how useful Nova can be when your Kheldian is sidekicked by high-level characters, and yet you can blast and debuff at the same time, I'd say that Nova is very useful and its worth taking even on a temporary basis, especially if you're going to use the 2nd build to be just Human/Dwarf.

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Thanks. But I've been developing for years too. The framework is already there. Just a case of changing some coding for contacts, mish start point, remove the buildings, some other minor points, and Shazam. For the most part this would be an easy and quick fix.

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You're starting to sound like a Manager to me... and I've learned over the years to never trust any Manager that is trying to tell me how easy something should be without intimately knowing the code in question.

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Long story short, MA is fine, it just has a few design kinks that need working out. Par for the course in any "new feature" of an MMO, honestly.

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Which are usually a heck of a lot more complex to fix than implementation kinks.