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Posts
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Quote:Yeah, I know where I am headed, but no one who is playing does. And it doesn't even become obvious with the next one. Not sure what I should change it to, but you are not wrong to wonder where the hell the title comes fromJust finished part 3 of the Power of Magic series. I'm still not feeling the title but otherwise the plot seems to be making a natural progression. There are two intriguing issues with the arc.
Quote:First, Lucky Six + boss objective = bad. From personal experience, the only two spawn points for bosses are near the doorway so it might be better to use a different casino.
Quote:Second is level range. It's good that those weird scaling issues in mission 1are sorted out. It's best to level gate things so there's a more TF styled feel and so it's a bit easier to search for stuff your level in the MA. Problem is that the 8-15ish level you mentioned for the beginning won't really support the Freakshow in the final mission. This isn't something to immediately change (especially since custom Freaks are much harder to make than custom Family or custom Tsoo) but it's something to keep in mind.
Thanks again for the help -
Quote:Actually, you have this completely backwards. One person calling for a duel tends to draw gawkers and form a line for said FiteKlub. In zones with a low population, this pretty much ends the zone PVP, and can interrupt what was, to that point, a decent battle. Zone PVP is not standing in line, trading punches and not moving. That is called arena, and there are many places to form a match.Alright well yesterday while i was there, everyone but these "Police officers" Left the zone. You guy are a main cause for the reasons zones arent that full as they could be.
When I16 hits, do me a favor. Go to your Options menu. Look for the option that says Arena. Use it. Quit crying when people engage in zone PVP which means, you know, attacking people of the other faction in zone. -
Quote:According to my settings I have:What other enemies are in that arc? I ask since I know Family scales down pretty low. There must be some other enemy in that first mission that's jacking up the scaling.
1. 5-40 (Family)
2. 5-40 (Family)
3. 1 - 54 (Custom Mobs)
4. 14 - 33 (Family with an ally that caps at 33)
5. 20 - 40 (Freaks and Family)
I had thought that one mission did not control a whole arc but maybe it can. Have to check those settings. -
Quote:Thanks again for spending the time to review. It has been a while since I had some critical eyes play these through.Liez!!! Your global is @Teh Hippeh. In all seriousness, if you hadn't mentioned "Power of Magic" I might not have found it due to that. I ran the first two arcs in the series. Attempted the third but, erm...it's not for lowbies. I entered at level 11ish and the enemies were level 20. You'll probably need to directly set the mission parameters to something narrower. Still, I might run it tomorrow with something higher level.
The level problem is a very useful thing to know, thanks. The idea was that the Family would be about the right level range after playing both arcs. If you did that and were 11, I may have to think about some things. Or just make the level range more specific. This is even more of a factor with the upcoming XP changes in the architect.
Quote:Overall the story worked well. However, the first arc in the series had a crucial difficulty problem--multiple EBs. Having an EB at the end of an arc is fine but having them in the middle, especially since this is a lowbie arc was a bit jarring. I did notice the team recommendation after the fact so it's up to you if you want to make these changes. I'd sort of argue for downgrading 3K Kelvin to boss status.
The next mission had Frostfire who was rather annoying to solo since he summoned pets. When I died, I deliberately street swept until I leveled and then went to face him which was still quite hard. However, there may be canon issues with using Frostfire that might possibly make using a custom better. Since he essentially "went Rogue" but I believe the end of the Hollows had him attempting to clean up his act, I'm not sure if he'd still be the head of the Outcasts.
Quote:Your custom Tsoo looked nice but ALL of them lacked bios. Intriguingly, your custom Hellion LT had a bio but the custom Hellion Minion did not. It seems like they'd have the same bio based upon the story.
Quote:ARC 1
Mission 3: Azuria says "Upon his death he left it to me for safekeeping. What? Why are you laughing...?". While it took me a moment to get that it was an Azuria joke, someone not wise to that might mistakenly take it as the player disrespecting the dead. Perhaps, I'm a good example since I'm still sorta new and getting the fact that it was poking fun at Azuria losing things (and thus you wouldn't trust her for safekeeping) wasn't instantaneous. Instead of having the player laughing, perhaps it should be changed to "Why are you looking at me that way...?" This would also fit in with her followup comment that affirms that it's an Azuria joke.
Quote:ARC 2
Contact seemed a bit goofier than Azuria. Don't know if you intended that...
Quote:Hope I caught all of the typos but you didn't seem to have many. I do have one final nitpick, the title. Only the first arc seemed to involve magic (though I need to run part three for certain) and I was picking up more of a gang war conspiracy vibe with part one being somewhat magic based and part two being about drugs.
I agree with everything you pointed out. Thanks again for the play and review. -
Well, I wanted to be up-front that you would be seeing Hellions, Outcasts, and Trolls and not Malta or Carnies
I don't think any of the missions are ticket bonanzas, so I wanted to give people a chance to play them in XP range. Exemping down once I16 hits, though, would give you access to 5 levels of powers as well as some XP.
I'll try to add them to my sig tonight. I actually turned signatures off because of all the images, so I often forget about that being an easy place to list my arcs :/ -
I'd love to get some feedback on my arcs, but I would have to also post a warning:
1. They are all at least 4 missions
2. They are for lowbies
3. I am trying something where there is an integrated story for all 3. I'm not sure how well I am pulling it off.
I wanted to try something where a significant part of a character's leveling was based on one story. I have 3 done now, but plan to purchase more slots.
I am at work so I cannot look up arc IDs. My global is tehHippeh, same as here. The phase "power of magic" is also in all three titles.
Thanks to any and all who offer feedback -
Quote:I was certainly being very sarcastic in my post above, but I think it will happen. There are a lot of people who never touch the forums - if they did have someone tell them about the reductions, they could very well assume it is the author.Yeah, my arc has somehow averaged out at 4 stars... guess I didn't provide enough xpz.
I'm going to find time at some point to tweak it a bit more and trim out one of the missions... I'll see how that goes.
Probably isn't worth it 'til after I16, though. Seems like most people that want to play the game for stories or good content avoid it now, heh.
I wish low ratings did not come as easily as they do, but I know I got several criticisms for having too much text and small maps without enough mobs. -
Quote:Actually, standard mobs with the harder ones culled or made to be all bosses are probably more popular than custom mobs. Crazed were really popular, and we see them getting changed this issue.Instead of cutting the XP bonus for freaks, why didn't they increase the bonus for everyone else? Afterall, farmers are still going to farm so, instead of getting 4mill inf per hour, they will only get 3.5mill. Silly, especially since all the farmers are doing custom villain groups anyway.
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Game's still the same, with the farmers in Atlas instead of PI. Any bad taste is your thinning patience :P
I wish the devs would maybe just do one thing at a time instead of the shotgun approach to adjustments. The Super Sidekick system helps with the PLing as much as anything. Farming? AE is not even the best farm tool with the new sidekick system. But instead of seeing how SSK played out, we get a carpet-bombing of AE XP changes and changes to the Freaks. Speed bump for farmers, punch in the gut to AE authors who care about their arcs getting played, and potentially their ratings (Ur XPz suks, 1 star, lol). -
Quote:Not sure I agree here. There is a lot of room between "looking for awesome XPZ" and "Looking to get more than 10% of the XP I would get from a canon mission." It's not quite as simple as making it farmers versus story players.Yes, but the kind of people who care about that kind of thing aren't going to be looking for stories in the first place. They're looking for maniac slammer or freakshow boss spawns. Of course, those have their own kick in the teeth.
A problem with the system is that there is a very big range of "XP Potential" that custom mobs could fit between. They could be worth 10% of standard XP or 90%. However, the only warning we get in bright orange is "Custom enemies in mission." It's a lot easier for people who care at all about their experience gain to just avoid stories with the warning than to have them "try it and see." -
I have a ton of Steadfast and Karma at level 10, but no Zephyr
Do you know what drop pool those are in?
Edit: Nevermind. Instead of being stupid I went and looked it up. Both are rare rolls. 200 or 240 merits and 3000 tickets. :/ -
Check out those newest changes to the XP for the Crazed and the Freaks. Looks like the devs put on their big boy boots to kick the farmers in the nuts this time.
Well, them and anyone else encountering Freaks in normal missions. And TFs. And MA missions. -
Quote:Xp flow is constant.. no waiting... no boredom. If you start a new toon like this you will be lvl 14 in 2 hours without ever using AE. Just playing the game as it should be played.
Yes, because using the AE to level was never intended. And any XP gained there must be some kind of horrible exploit and an affront to the gods above.
Next time I am kind of a lot loss for what to do when I log in, I'll make sure I send you a tell so you can tell me how I should be playing. -
The only way to make this game challenging for those who form teams with synergies in mind - e.g. including +res and +def buffs, adding debuffs, using control - is to apply DR to the PVE game. Yes, the same DR used in PVP zones. Then it does not matter how well you put your team together, and the devs know the exact numbers to balance around. What, you brought 2 FFs and 2 Sonics? Does not matter, each one adds +2%. Oh, that kin you brought? Sorry, recharge and recovery can only be boosted so much.
I actually hope they do this, mostly for selfish reasons. The tears of the anti-PVP crowd who insist that the PVPer complaints are not justified would sustain me for years
It would also make team build not matter as much, and would hopefully increase the willingness to PUG/take any AT. -
This is a long post, so I didn't want to quote the whole thing, but throw some questions out there. Would not mind hearing anyone's opinions on them.
It certainly was a major complaint that it was too easy to run away from combat in zones. Some toons did not have access to a lot of -movement powers outside of temps, and it was easy to build for maximum escape. Probably something had to be done, but do we need both the mez changes AND all this travel suppression?
With the mez changes, I think every AT has access to some kind of mez - immob, stun, hold, whatever. With Epics, I think everyone even has access to a ranged mez. With that, everyone has a way to slow a runner down. As long as they do not get too far away, you have at least one tool to force the other player to re-engage.
Except, using those mezzes suppresses you. IIRC, the suppression times for attacking are still longer than the suppression times for being attacked. So, even if you slow them down, chances are you can't follow up before they get full movement back.
There was a very good idea posted in I13 closed that would have eliminated all travel suppression except when you are the target of a melee attack. Castle even mentioned that this system or something close to it would be implemented. *cough*
Removal of attacking suppression would have allowed people to keep up the pressure and force continued engagement. If the target started to run, you could mez them to slow them down. If they were in the mez suppression period, you could still pursue because you were not suppressed for attacking. If you were melee, or someone melee hit them, this would also slow them down. Melee solo would have an easier time, and melee on teams could initiate spikes and further use taunt to disrput attackers.
What was lost in the whole "too easy to run" debate was the fact that attackers were suppressed longer than the target. In my experiences, this meant you got one attack to try to do something before the target ran. If the target had mez protection or TP protection, it was pretty hard to stop them in that one attack. The fix to this was to add all sorts of new suppression - or say that the target being able to move was the problem. I think that is wrong. I think the attacker not being able to move was the problem.
There are many who argued that these changes were too much, too soon. And I have to agree. If this were done incrementally, you could have implemented, say, the mez changes without additional suppression. See if that helps. If not, make melee attacks cause suppression. Does that help? And so on and so on. When everything has to make it into one issue, you get what we had - so many new game mechanics at once that there is no chance for fine tuning or no way to separate what worked from what did not. And really, if you know that you will not be able to do much for several issues after a major change like this, the best decision is probably not to do anything at all. More proliferation or additional changes to the AE critter powers would have been time better-spent. Those would not be worked on then dropped.
Are more toons PVP viable now? Probably. If they take phase or Hibernoob. Minus those oh **** powers? Yeah, not so much. -
As long as we're talking the arena and we can turn off most/all of the gimp options, I am game. We could even try pentads or something similar where people could try to achieve the precious badgez without just rolling over and dying for each other.
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I do much of the same thing, but have 1-8 on the numpad be team select, then use 0 and Enter for SB and ID. Then I have + on the numpad for target nearest friend, and 9 on the numpad for target next friend. The last two help when on ship raids or otherwise surrounded by people not on my team.
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Quote:Even with all of the benefits of the changes mentioned by several others in this thread, we're going to go with that as the primary motivation?Um... I like the idea of this "super sidekicking," but I'm a little concerned about the MANDATORY nature of the change. I liked fighting a couple of levels above what a mission is set for. It's not rare that I'll leave a mission behind and it will be a level or two below me. I don't feel like exemplaring to it, honestly. I also like levelling up mid-mission and suddenly seeing the rest of it become easier. I'm also terribly worried about what this will do outdoor travel, especially with exemparing put into account.
It's an interesting idea, but is fighting powerlevellers reason enough to make it mandatory? -
Quote:AE is actually a very nice boon for the vets in the 1-20 game. No running around zones to talk to a contact. Tickets can be used for specific things instead of the random drops. And the missions are (to me at least) more interesting than the dev fare. Those things kind of make up for the fact that Stamina is not available yet.We used to have a method of powerleveling that took about half an hour (and the help of a high level friend) to make a whole crowd of level 20s and it was GREAT. No idea if it still works, as I haven't tried it in years. I always found the early levels extremely tedious, and wouldn't hesitate to use the "I'm 20!" button on every character from now on.
Edit: But I would use the button for sure if it were there. -
Quote:I'd imagine those elements of the UI are going away, as if Im reading this correctly, SKing is going away.
I know -alot- of people that are going to be unhappy with this, and it's probably biggest spin job of a candy coated nerf that I have ever bore witness to in 10 years of MMOing, but..
I agree with it, so Im not complaining, and the fact Pos owned up to the "negative" impact it has in his statement does a lot to increase my respect for this dev team.
And previously, I pretty much just hated you guys.
Though Im still unhappy you hid my angry smiley icon. > : (
Can you help out the slow kids in the class here? Biggest spin job of a nerf? I am not really following it, unless you mean it is a nerf to PLers. In which case, really, this is the biggest spin job of 10 years of MMO? I doubt the PLers here have the numbers to pull that one off. -
I play on Victory. I may have a coronary if I find anyone in zone who is not a VEAT or scrapper, let alone another defender
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I am curious. What was detoggling? The only thing that should be affected is offensive toggles. Anything that does damage or applies a debuff to the target. Travel powers and self-buff powers stay up the whole time.
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I agree. It takes me a long time to get enough end drain on someone to drop their toggles or otherwise allow my pitiful damage to come into play. In the new PVP it can be hard to live long enough to apply all of the necessary end drain, especially if you are outnumbered. I still use my Kin/Elec a lot, but it is not based on effectiveness. I am just too cheap to purple out another toon given the sorry state of zone PVP. :/
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I think it's a bit of a leap to say "buffers still do just fine" simply because an empath can do okay and make a difference. Of course you can "make a difference" if one side has an empath and the other side doesn't have any healers. Empathy buffs are +damage, +regen, and +recovery, along with their heals. The impact of DR on those buffs isn't as noticeable. The only thing that's really impacted is their healing, but if you're using absorb pain, you can still hit people with big heals a couple times. However, what about all the other sets, who DON'T have access to something like AP?
Now try the same thing with a thermal. Or a cold dom. Or a FF character.
Then say "oh, it's just fine, my buffs made a big difference".
One set doing okay does NOT make up for all the others being crushed under DR. If every OFFENSIVE set except for one were sucking wind in PvP, would it be just fine, because everyone could just use that one set and still be effective? Would you say "damage-dealers are just fine, look at this one set"? I don't think so.
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The only "buff set" that I think was somewhat seriously hurt/crippled in the new pvp system is Sonic. Simply because, now Sonic Resonance brings very very little to a team, outside of a dependable single target -res debuff.
All other sets, to include FF, are fine. Sure, some of their toys aren't as useful anymore, but they have other VERY useful toys that they can still fall back on, so it's not a wash at all.
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Kinetics? Suppression overriding Inertial Reduction and Speed Boost, DR hitting recharge rate, ID not providing mez protection and ID's damage resist giving just a tiny percentage.
Yeah, kin is doing JUST FINE out there in the zones and arenas. -
Posi actually went on record to say they deliberately removed good rewards so people would not feel they "needed" to do it, based on their difficulty. I was on the raid on test where we beat about 50 of them and were subsequently buffed. After that buff, I think the devs had thought they would not be taken down and people would lose interest.