Nethergoat

This is true.
I think this is fairly idiot proof, but we'll see.

=)

More than a few times I've been on teams that had missions in hazard zones they couldn't do because one of the sidekicked characters was too low a level.

But that isn't really the point- the point is that if intra-level teaming is going to be handled automatically in AE, it should be handled automatically in the 'real' world too. It removes one of the annoyances of putting a team together, and not coincidentally deals with a reward path they feel is a bit too efficient.

It does make teaming easier, so that's the spin they're putting on it.
Although they've never needed an excuse to nerf Pl'ing.

That's fine, since there's nothing wrong with it.


Interface improvements are always welcome and in most cases much needed- none of the search functions in the game are worth a darn and all could use a makeover.

There have always been epidemic breakouts of farming in the game.
Always.

Yes.
You get astronomically better rewards in MA than DA these days.
I don't farm MA, I still farm DA.
Because it's fun.

this happened to me recently with my ar/dev blaster.
Happily, cashing out his crummy enhancements after a quick respec generated enough seed money to prime the market pump.

A week later, he's happily frankenslotted with set IOs and sitting on 30 million.

Don't talk that way about my hero Unai, the fount from which all zombie farms flow!!1

>:z

Your obtuseness was old before it got off the boat.
"waaaah casual players can't get the best stuff!"
Give me a break.

Someone who is goal-oriented and spends a comparatively larger amount of effort accumulating game rewards, or discovering efficient reward paths than most of their fellow players.

One that plays casually, for fun, without the intense focus on results that typifies the hardcore gamer.

not necessarily.

He may not have had the right to "fly off the handle", but he certainly had the right to respond as he did, with a measure of baffled disbelief.

Which is worthless.

I run DA for pure fun.
But I am absolutely farming.

I'm defining the root of the behavior, not describing what the flowers look like.

Repeating content is efficient, that's why farmers do it.
If it was more efficient to behave some other way, they'd do that instead.

The "repeating content, as long as you're not enjoying it!" hairball the devs coughed up a while back was not a useful addition to the discussion.

When my level 30-ish travel time to any in-zone mission is measured in seconds, 10 minutes is an eternity.

A minute of in-game travel is a long time, relatively speaking.

If that travel time is leading me to some significant destination, I don't mind so much- the Treespec, for example. It's about as far away from anything as you can get, but it's a really cool area and you're making the trek for an 'important' reason.

But when I'm getting boomeranged around the game for no reason other than bad game design, I take exception.

Top tier loot/gear/whatever is BY DEFINITION intended for the more hardcore players of whatever game is under discussion.

Wake up.

I traditionally log off at the market- happily, most markets are located near other handy areas to pile up day job time- universities, stores, vaults, etc etc.

These days I hit the market, then jog over to whatever location I'm working on now to log out.

further information is useless when your original point is completely wrong.

In this case, take it as gospel because top tier loot isn't intended for anyone who won't put in the necessary effort to earn it.

The game is forgiving enough that literally anyone can get the best stuff it they want, but they need to make the effort.

Purple prices were very steady and predictable prior to MA.
They shot up after all the farmers abandoned PI for MA.
They are going to go back down when the farmers abandon MA for PI again.

Supply and demand isn't a sexy or fun explanation, but it's the one that works.

Again, prior to MA high level commons were listed at vendor trash prices.
Post MA prices went through the roof.
Once the general population settled down a bit, prices stabilized at a point above "worthless" with more volatility than before, denoting a smaller supply.

When the farmers leave MA, salvage prices will trend toward where they were before MA- cheaper commons, more expensive rares.

'regular' farming generates FAR fewer set IO recipes than MA farming.
IO prices for 'the good stuff' will shoot back up.

Making money in this game is so easy nothing is out of reach for anyone who cares to make an effort.

these things are, as always, relative.
I consider my 15 minute commute to work short.
I would consider a 15 minute trip in CoH to be a virtual equivalent to the Trail of Tears.

In the context of the game a multi-zone jaunt is a 'long time' however many minutes of real-world time it takes.

Back to my original point, I was running some missions last night, somebody in Bricks, forget the name. After a bit I get a fairly annoying "rescue 8 hostages and find information" on an outdoor map full of rikti. This was on my ar/dev, so the rikti were a pain. Finally finished it.
"Oh, go talk to this gal in Founder's Falls."
Not as wretched as it used to be, since they have a train station now, so whatever.
The entirity of our interaction was "Oh, the next Rikti raid is at this other place- go stop them!"
What was the mission, you wonder?
Rescue 8 hostages and click the glowie on the EXACT SAME outdoor map full of rikti.
Except now it's timed.

That was my cue to log off and let it fail.
Hopefully the remainder of this arc is less irritating.

Incorrect.

Wrong again.
As always, the BUY IT NAO market price bears little resemblance to what a patient player can get it for. I regularly picked up costume parts for friends on the cheap simply by bidding and waiting a bit.

No "casual player" has any need for purples or POs.
These sets are aimed at powergamers, not the 'average' CoH subscriber.

One, they don't "need" anything more than SOs to play the game.
Two, I don't farm because I "need" anything, I farm because I enjoy farming. This is the case for most of my farming friends as well.

Please do!
The creation of a real black market will make the prices you faint over now look like a sale at the Dollar Store.


The devs have an interst in curbing PL'ing because it potentially shortens the lifetime of subscriptions. The devs don't much care about farming except as it crosses over into PL territory or involves "exploits", however they choose to define that nebulous term.

How so?

This change will just shift around where the money goes.
More purples, so cheaper purples.
More salvage, so cheaper salvage.
Fewer set IO recipes, so more expensive set IO recipes.

It isn't worse or better, it's just different.

The features we've been getting lately have been tremendously resource intensive.

It seems churlish to gripe about missing story when they're delivering something as revolutionary as MA & one of the most requested features ever in Power Customization, and with an expansion on the horizon that I expect to deliver CoV levels of new storyline to the game.

It'd be fab if we could have EVERYTHING, but dev resources are finite & there are only so many writers to go around. We can either complain about that, or be happy that the rest of the team picked up their slack & delivered some pretty impressive technical advancements while the story crew were chewing on Going Rogue.

Well, nothing "matters" in the game- it's a game.
I realize I probably care less about the "official" storyline than many people, but I don't draw any distinction between a fun, well written mission delivered by a dev or one delivered by a player.
They both achieve exactly the same ends for me- a fun diversion that advances my character's goals.

Like what you like.
I mentioned Dev's Choice as a handy grouping of missions above a certain baseline of craftsmanship. It was shorthand for "AE delivered a lot of really good content".
I've played many other missions I enjoyed more and thought were 'better' than ones that were tabbed by the devs. Anybody who looks around will find arcs to suit their taste.

I14 delivered a tremendous amount of content.
Player stories set in this imaginary world aren't inherently less involving and compelling than official ones.

Or play one of the excellent stories realized by your fellow players.

Even ignoring everything but Dev's Choice I14 delivered quite a few fresh gameplay experiences.

Even better than I thought it would be!

Can't wait to spawn my zombie farm for 8 with no bosses.