Wicked_Wendy
-
Posts
1639 -
Joined
-
I understand the concerns and I agree that DA is very unique compared to many zones that seem so much alike. The problem is blue side has aways been designed with overkill.. Atlas and Galaxy for levels 1 to 5 or 6, somehow amazingly only KR from say five to ten, Steel and Skyway from ten to twenty.. adding in Faultline from 15. ind port and talos, bricks and ff .. the only level range operating from one zone being peregrin from forty and up
in comparison red side all of the level work out of one zone and until later levels, long after any character would have a permanent travel power, and even the contacts rarely send anyone scurrying to the ferry to complete a mission elsewhere. in other word a contact in Cap Au Diable almost always gives you a mission that takes lace somewhere in Cap Au Diable.. while a contact in Kings Row may send you to Atlas or Galaxy, not anymore, or perez or even the hollows.
The result has been that many zones are much more popular than others and get used much more. While there were a number of players sorry to see galaxy become the new training zone.. the zast majority of people headed straight to Atlas after a quick run through the tutorial and looked for a sewer team. Due to things like the tailors, wentworths, and the university can anyone honestly say they dont think more players head to Steel Canyon at level ten than those that head to Skyway. For the exact same reasons more players head to talos than ip.
As if that wasnt enough then the devs added the hazard zones.. perez, hollows, boomtown, terra volta, da, eden, cf etc.. all the way u to the mutli zoned shadow shard. ... dont forget blue side we also have the sewer network and the abandoned sewer network.
The point to all of this is while I dont necessarily feel any great joy over them revaming Dark Astoria and converting it to a fifty plus zone minus fog ... LONG LONG ago they went overboard creating zones blue side and the result was virtual ghost zones that rarely got used unless a particular task force of contact sent you there for a single mission. To illustrate the point.. how many people visit Boomtown unless they are looking for exp and history badges, headed in to find Big Bertha on the Synapse tf, headed in to defeat twenty council on Numina tf, or forced in for one single door mission by some contact... Heck most people that even hunt for GMs dont bother looking for Babbage there since they can always find him by doing the Synapse TF or just going to help battle him when that tf spawns him in Skyway.
I really have no idea why they felt the need to eliminate the fog in DA but they are turning a vastly underused zone into something that may actually attract players. Frankly if I was doing it .. Id have converted the entire Shadow Shard into a coop zone with both joint missions, hero and villain, and a revamp of the task forces that exist there.
Now before the outcry begins I also admit there are advantages to advantages to all those added zones...
Hero side has a lot more tfs than villain side has sfs because we have the zones to support the extra contacts without having multile tfs begin out of the same zone.. pose 1 and 2 dont count that used to be one LONG task force lol
Hero side has more giant monsters to battle.. same reason as the tfs. more zones to put them in without having one tripping over the other.
And of course hero side has a lot more badges available, without side switching, because of all the added exploration and history badges.
Which all sounds good until you start to wonder .. okay fine but was it really necessary to design an entire zone just for a giant monster... Kraken spawns in perez but couldnt he have just as easily appeared in say Kings Row. Jurrasik shows up in Creys Folly.. Eden is filled with DE.. why couldnt he spawn there. Now of course other things take place in both those zones but absolutely nothing that originates in there. The fact is we have multiple zones that see little or no activity at all and while I dont necessarily agree with them converting DA over any other.. at least they finally found a way to utilize an existing zone instead of adding ANOTHER one. Hey at least we get to kee the old foggy DA access through Ouro for the badge hunting crowd.. which when you think about it means they actually are creating a new zone .. just giving it an old established name. -
I havent read every single response to this thread but I would add my views..
While I share the viewpoint that Dark Astoria is somewhat unique and it will be a shame to loose the dark fog that mad travel an adventure.. I am glad to see them finding a way to make it a viable and potentially useful zone. Lets face facts along with zones like Boomtown, perez park, and even the entire shadow shard there are a lot of hero side zones that sit all but empty most of the time. Until it was revamped this same thing held true for the rwz.
An entire zone dedicated to fifty plus activity would be welcomed by many that play the game. As it statnds now, here on virtue, we rarely see less than 2 rwzs these days and on weekends as many as 3 or 4. A zone dedicated to over fifty content will make life much easier for the players trying to run mothership raids, at least twice a week on virtue, and the LGFT. Hopefully the devs plan includes the following
1 the same basic services as the rwz .. crafting tables, easy access to base portal, easy access to a store. The added bonis of a merit vendor and a tailor are minor but those big three mean that after a raid players can grab insirations, sell off unneeded enhancements, recipes, ect and even craft fresh ios. A wentworths somelace in zone would make it absolutely perfect.
2. A large enough zone population limit to allow several leagues to start up at one time. currently in the rwz if two trials leagues both try for the maximum 24 team members it doesnt take much to have the zone filled and the league cant start because they have to wait for some members to gain access.
3. The addition of solo content.. this has been sought after by many since the incarnate system began. Give us some contacts with missions we can do solo or on smalled 7 to 8 man teams.
4. make entrance similar to what we have in the rwz... Lets face it if Adamastor is staying its the only way a lower level layer can get into zone safely to join a GM hunting team. A Vanguard base or even Midnighters Club that allows access to the zone would allow anyone to enter and hook up with a team.
5. make it at least semi convenient to get to.. no there doesnt have to be a gate to the new DA in every zone but at least give us the same sort of access as the rwz (2 to 3 zones with direct access on each side red and blue]. much more convenient than the entrance to cimerora which requires getting to a midnight club, zone for the outer xhamber to the innner chambers of the club and then zoning again, a third time, to actually get to the task force.
The game is over 7 years old now and a lot of us have been around a long time. While there is always a need for added zero to forty content a lot of us have multile fifty levels and until the incarnate trials came along there wasnt a whole lot left to do acheive. Now we have reason to actually play characters we sents some time leveling. It seems that the devs have no intention of ever raising the max level above fifty but at least now we have the promise of ten new powers to use and more and more content we can enjoy .. instead of sticking another fifty on the shelf and starting another new alt .. then complaining about how we hate the lower levels and want new quicker ways to get to forty. -
Definately agree with the Rulu Shin the first time I saw their outfits my thought was ..
I WANT!
Also agree with carnival ... both light and dark variety and most definately PPD Hardsuit I look forward to getting this for 2 weeks every halloween. -
This is by no means the first time this has been suggested. Here are a few ideas I have had to stream line the TF and make it less tedious...
1. Eliminate mission #2 the defeat ten Clockwork hunt mission. Does very little to move the story along and half the time adds little xp.
2. As you mentioned eliminate or change one or two of the trio of defeat alls that follow that hunt to move things along a bit. There is no other reason behind this other than to make the tf take longer.. certainly isnt needed to obtain the gearsmasher badge .. most have that after finishing mission # 1. I would cut out one mission entirely and change the other two to defeat leader and minions.
3. Eliminate the patrols or at least one of them. They serve no real purpose and the reason behind them .. a search for info ... could easily be added to one of the door missions as a clue search. These things have no rewards attached at all and all they do is force teams to scurry around the zone trying to end them as quick as possible.
Overall try to reduce the required time to comlete to ninety minutes or less .. this seems to be an acceptable time limit for TFs and of course players will find ways to shorten that. -
I have done them all on my badger.
Doc Q is the worst as far as I am concerned because of the length. I have done it exactly 2 times in 6 years and have no desire to ever do so again. Yes it awards a lot of merits but I can do 2 or 3 shorter tfs in the time required .. and thats now that jet packs are available and so is the ouro portal.
Justine Augustine runs a very close second. It isnt all that long but as mentioned almost half the missions involve hunts in zones that have you attacking mobs well below the level that offers and sort of xp, inf, salvage or anything else. I did it a while back when we were all still deserate for shards and because half the missions were against forces too low to award anything else it also gave u almost nothing in the way of shards. The badge aside it seemed like a total waste of my time.
Faathima and Sara Moore were far better to run with, in my opinion, Faathim the kin being the best and most interesting. -
Quote:Had this same issue Friday evening. Three of us from the SG met in Atlas to assist the one in leveling her new character. I had created a new one myself to join in and the third member was a level 11.Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
I got a similar issue with a Keyes trial a few days ago. I was trying to queue with a full league but whenever I entered the queue it boned me back out. Eventually after much gnashing of teeth we split the league into three separate teams and then reformed after which I was able to start the trial normally.
thee 11 level gave me the lead cause he didnt feel like leadeing and I ut together an 8 man team. When I tried to que I wasnt able to select Death from Below but since everyone on the team was ssked to my level, which was level 1, I was able to click on join the first available trial and in we went. We ran the trial 2 more times and had the same issue but were able to get aeround it using first available... Now if a bunch of fifty levels with incarnates that wanted the badges tried that they could end in any trial at all and dfb would more than likely be the last the q would look at sending them into. -
Quote:The Shard and the Rularuu where issue 2 per the wiki and Croatoa was issue 5.. I was a bit off I though Croatoa was 4.Originally Posted by shaggy5
And to go along with this, when was the Shadow Shard introduced? What about Croatoa?
The Hollows arrived in issue 2 as well but no mention of Trolls as a new enemy I guess theyd have to have been around before the hollowing occured.
The council arrived in issue 3 but I cant find any reference to the clockwork being added so.. they have probably been around since the start -
Well if you take just a dash of Arcane catnip and add two cups of Biometric Goo then season to taste and cook in the over for 1 hour at 275 degrees .. you get a very tasty cassarole.
I know several Yoga instructors that would be more than happy to take any medation techniques you have as long as the price is reasonable.
heheeh .. I am sure that either the next batch of powers will use the same salvage OR just like when we went from shards to threads there will be some method of exchanging them.... at that oint if you dont need a component break it down into threads and just convert.
Oh and by the way Father xmas thanks so much for making me feel even older LOL I saw Airplane in the theater when it first came out... has it really be 30 years.. my heavens of course I was... 2 years old then yeah yeah thats the ticket I was two. hehehehe
-
SIGNED! and lets include all the available SG logos in that as well or is that included in what you mean. I have always wondered why I can add my SG logo to my characters chest and even to a shield but not on the capes.
-
Quote:Originally Posted by Eldagore
Here is a list of ranged blast sets:
Fire blast
ice blast
dark blast
psi blast
rad blast
archery
assault rifle
beam rifle
dual pistols
electric blast
sonic blast
energy blast
here is what you have offered me:
Crab spider
AT where 90%of primary or secondary is useless outside of a team
Shapeshift mechanics where the high dmg output is saddled with a major survivability drawback, or vice versa. human form still gets mezzed and killed easily. Keybinds are needed for efficient play. not really a simple playstyle.
high lvl IO build
This is why i suggested this in the first place. you have offered me the same crappy conventional workarounds to my dilema that have been around for years. There are 12 blast powersets(outside of epic AT's) and the only way to play them is to either play a high risk blaster, or a team AT. I am looking for a ranged attack scrapper or brute, to put it simply.
I have played your suggestions. They are fun in their own right. They are good AT's, I wouldnt change them. they are not what i am looking for. I want to make "Captain blasto" and not have to have giant legs coming out of his back, or turn into a space squid. I want to have a secondary that has more then 3 powers that do something for me solo. I do not want to rely on a lvl 50 IO build to achieve these goals.
basically, i am fully aware of the conventional wisdom and I want something new that can achieve this goal out of the box without gimicks or drawbacks or the need for a high level Io build that draws from as many pool powers as possible and uses unconventional slotting and power picks as IO mules.
Not to start a fight but have you ever used a crab ... Yes several , 3 of 8, of the secondary do buff team mates when on a team but they also buff you on a team or off. And that is just the initial soldier set.. the crab set has 4 and not one benefits anyone but the crab. So basically you can load your build with ranged attacks and build a very nice defense for youeself when soloing .. and if you do team you assist your team mates. As for the primary where you get the idea that any of the AoE attacks, melee and the one debuff (venom] works out to 90% being team oriented I have no idea. I soloed with my crab all the way to 50 . between teaming and had no issue dealing with anything including elite bosses.
I also enjoy my Blasters but honestly I sort of doubt they will ever go for your idea. It would be great but I can see them discussing it being too powerful and wanting to nerf this or that to kee it equal to all the others. -
Quote:So all they did was shut off the old content to any new characters.. that makes no sense at all. If the content is still there why not leave it available to anyone.. as you mentioned variety makes anything seem better.. even if its old stuff.Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
They haven't even removed the original missions from the AP Origin contacts. I've been playing my old pre-I21 characters that I made and never got around to running and they've been doing their Origin missions instead of the new Habashy/DfB stuff.
-
Quote:I agree .. I actually quit using those contacts long ago and new characters just joined one of countless sewer teams to get to a level high enough to head off to KR and do radios. But those old contacts would have given everyone at least a third choice. Its kind of silly really because they didnt delete any of them but only two show u as talk to contacts in later level missions so the others are just standing around doing nothing. Maybe the intent is to eventually redo their missions and add them later. Having started on cov I always found it interesting that no contact below level ten had a story arc at all hero side .. I could leave Mercy island with a few reward merits.Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
/This
I was sick of both the new Atlas Park content and the DfB three days after Freedom launched. Prior to Freedom I had 10 starting contacts in two zones to choose from to having to choose between the DfB and Matthew Habashy.
Would it really have killed the devs to leave the old contacts in the game and give new characters a pop up window like the introduction to new contacts window and let new characters choose between Matthew Habashy and their Origin contacts? Moving the Galaxy contacts over each character could have had three initial contacts to choose from. -
Quote:Originally Posted by DarkGob
I explicitly left out Doc Q because Doc Q is and always shall be Satan incarnate.
hehehehe I agree in 6 years I have done it twice and the second time was only because I wanted the badge .. The badger has done every TF, SF and trial and that is the only reason i did it the second time!
-
Quote:Originally Posted by DarkGob
It says a lot about how much the game has changed when Keyes and Underground are considered long trials. Old school Posi back in the day used to take 3 times as long (at least, if you were lucky enough to even be able to keep a team together long enough to do it), and it was a hell of a lot more repetitive and tedious.
Like Psychoti said, there's more to the game besides iTrials, and there's a few other things you can do to earn progress towards your Incarnate stuff (any non-iTrial content you do will drop Shards which you can convert to Threads, Apex/Tin Mage give 2 Threads per run, you can get 1 Emp/Astral per week from the SSAs after you run them for the first time). We've also got two new trials coming down the pipeline in the immediate future, and more after that.
Patience. Nobody becomes a god overnight.
You forgot one Gob.. Doc Q and it still hasn't changed just got a little easier to get around in with ouro portals and jet pack venders. That thing used take longer than the old Posi and I ran it a few months ago on my badger and it can still take 2-3 hours or more.
To the OP .. To date, as mentioned, there are 4 Incarnate trials available with another on the way when 21.5 hits live. A different TF, SF or trial is picked as the Weekly Strike Target and pays out double reward merits along with awarding a notice of the well. With the advent of Going Rogue its entirely possible to switch for hero to villain or visa versa and through flashback do almost every single arc and badge mission available. Through Ouroborus itself there are several short TFs that can be run. Don't forget we also have the new, well sort of, Apex and Tin Mage TFs available at 50 as long as you have your alpha slot open... not necessarily slotted just OPEN. If you are a VIP you have access to the new signature story arcs.. we are up to arc # 3 of 7. You can always run any of the 45-50 level TF/SFs.. Kahn, STF, LGTF, LRSF, Baracudda SF (did I leave any out). If you have been away there are two new 20-40 level tf/sfs.. Admiral Sutter (in IP) and Mortimer Kal (in Sharkshead).
Almost every single zone now has 8 exploration badges that award an accolade and an addition 5 reward merits. This includes all of the different zones in the shadow shard, the sewer network and the abandoned sewer network the hive, the abyss, .. okay I am just going to stop you can see what all is out there on Paragon Wiki. lol
The point is there is a lot more for a 50 level to do now than ever before and more on the way. As long as you are willing to exemplar down for some stuff there is a ton of content you can try besides the baf and lambda. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Rajani Isa
1 - Are you VIP? If so, you can disable these under misc. in the General Options section off the menu (and access the rewards and market windows via the menu too)
2 - Are you aware of /wdwsave and /wdwload?
Thanks Raj Yes I am a vip and after posting earlier I saw the in game pop up telling all of us about /wdwsave or /wdwload.
Still just a temp fix. they need to fix things so people don't need to use a slash command. But at least for now we have a way to stop it. I even had the screen switch back on me when I zoned from PI to FF once prior to the / command thing -
Quote:LOL they are targetable I shot mine last night and did damage but stopped short of destroying it .. then I'd have to BUY a new oneOriginally Posted by rsclark
Active and attacking you does not also mean targetable.
I have to admit it was strange sending out a memo of the day to members... Avoid the vault room. the chain guns WILL attack you! -
Quote:That is pretty much standard tactics for longbow... They have several former members of monty python as trainers and the general rule of combat is "shoot at them then RUN AWAY RUN AWAY!!!!"Originally Posted by TheLucas
This happens to me with Longbow...maybe they've always been that way and I just never noticed it until now, I dunno. Very annoying.
I also have the UI problems that the OP has. Window size/position resets when I zone (not every time, but a couple of times a day).
I think the most annoying for me has been logging on and finding everything on screen moved .
My map isn't where i left it. the on line store and paragon points icons ar back where they were before i moved them out of my way. Several times already i have had to rearrange everything to where i like it before I could think about playing. -
Quote:I think this may be one time I have to disagree Forbin. The new tutorial content is fine for new players but until i see other option my plan for any new character i create is 4 straight DFB trials to get the buffs and hit about level 14 and then i will move on to other things. Those buffs do come in handy until i hit 22 and pick up my SO enhancers.Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Same thing can be said about people using the AE power level farms, TF's, Mothership raids, the old sewer runs, and begging for PL teams in PI.
The DfB is simply the newest flavor of the month to be run. In a few months interest will drop off just like it has with everything else and people will return to their old favorites or whatever the new fotm is.
I KNOW some people are still using it into the 30s but honestly I don't see how that is faster than running TFs, etc. By level 12 or so I am lucky if I get enough xp from the trial to gain 2 level.. So I have to assume at some point it starts taking several runs to even get one. But if they are happy with it.. whatever.
Now if they add some new contacts with missions that don't involve locating the hospital on my mini map or riding the train to kings row.. I'll try those. Until then all my new toons spend time in the sewers.
[note please dont take this to mean I dislike the new contacts or their content. I think its great that they extended the tutorial to better prep new players on how the game work.. but I have 6 years in game. I don't need lessons at this point.] -
I am curious if anyone has seen this yet.. Last night my duoing buddy and I were running Tina s arc and overheard someone saying they had actually seen Vanessa on the streets. At the time we were about to enter the mission where you talk to Devore about why the Clockwork attacked Carnies... Knowing what has been going on I wondered if our mission had created her.
I didnt have time to confirm and didnt actually see her myself but several others were talking about it.... So has anyone else found DeVore roaming around outside missions. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Frostbiter
I blame it on unconscious guilt.
Yes after this....
The AE farmers are a nervous and paranoid bunch. They tend to imagine that vicious nerfs are hiding around every corner.
I was thinking that same thing. maybe if we didnt take all our in game time looking for ways around the TOS so we can level faster than a bullet.. we would feel so paranoid. -
Quote:Because there are some leaders out there, and I use the term leader liberally, that just automatically assume that everyone is willing to do whatever THEY want. I have posted before about some of the teams I have joined only to discover what I was told in broadcast was a hugh lie.. just to get people to join upOriginally Posted by akarah the hunter
I see broadcast in a tf chan "Kahn forming pst." So I respond and receive invite (I'm 3rd member of team at this point). I join, we exchange our hellos and then I ask "is this speed or regular for I only run speed?" The Ldr replies "yes we are speeding it." Team fills to 8 and we're set. Without warning we are set for a Master run. (there was no team discussion re: Mo) Though I'm irritated I say nothing but simply state "I thought we were speeding." Ldr: " yes we will be speeding this tf I just set it to Mo for kicks so no harm if you happen to die. Let's roll." Instead of raising a stink I deal with it.
I bring this up because it seems to happen frequently. For me personally; yes you can speed a Mo but not as fast as a normal speed run. You lose access to some very handy temp powers (nukes-shivans etc) making for a much faster run of any tf. My main point being if you plan on running a Master then why do you not state that when broadcasting for a tf?
1. ITF that was advertised as a shard/xp run.. now to me, and the vast majority of the players I know, that means non speed. Not necessarily a kill all but definately a kill most and definately not taking the usual shortcuts a speed run entails... Mission one is sort of hard to speed through and went normally but on mission two the tank and 2 brutes were very quickly half way through the map taking out crystals and not defeating anything they didnt have to to finish.
2. I joined a BAF in the rwz that was being advertised and somehow.. we wound up at the front door of Anti-Matters reactor on Keyes Island. One of the last players to join the league before we queued mentioned wishing we were doing a Keyes Trial and then suddenly, after a ton of people joined to do the BAF, we wound up doing Keyes. On that one a lot of players quit because they had no desire to do that trial.. including me.
3. Joined an STF when it was the very first WST. Absolutely no mention at all of it being a master run until we began and all my temps went grey. I forget but I think by mission 3 we had someone die and lost the MO.. THE Leader was upset but said it didnt matter and we'd continue. Which was fine until we hit the final mission and out tank couldn't hold aggro face to face and survive. Of course the leader then suggested he simply fly above Lord recluse and keep him occupied that way.. which woul have been fine except the tank had only one method of flying.. the raptor pack he now had no access to because it wasn't available during an attempted master run. We tried several different things to compensate and then the entire team just gave up and quit.
I'm not opposed to MO runs but don't seek them out and unlike you I prefer not to do many speed runs. the lambda trial is an exception. But I do like to KNOW what I am volunteering for.. I am not one of those you find in the rwz advertsing "looking for any trial" I wait till a leader advertises something I WANT to do and then send a tell. It always amazes me when people join a league and after the word HI the first thing they type is ... So which trial are we doing cause I'd really like a BAF. ....... Then don't you think it would have been a good idea to ask .. Is this a BAF .. before you accepted an invite! DUH -
Because I enjoy the play style. Tanks/Brutes and Scrappers charge in and pound on things... A stalker uses a bit more finess .. creeping into a room and picking a target to destroy before dealing with the others. The chances are very good that any mob of 3 will be a mob of 2 by the time anyone relaizes I am there. A Tank just rushes like a bull and lets its foes pound away while it takes them down. A scrapper uses the same sort of technique but trades hp and def for damage.. taking things down quick enough to survive any damage taken but a stalker eliminates the bigger threat and then mops up the rest.
Now years ago they were awful to solo with and I gave up on the one I had back then because I'd basically have to use AS and then make for a door or elevator to survive.. Thankfully they put some work into them and now they can stand and deal damage just like a scrapper.
When I have the time I sometimes enjoy seeing just how many NPCs I can take out with AS. Using obstacles to block line of sight or pickiing off the one villian that wanders away from the mob and then I take 2 out of 3 without ever being seen. In other words.. its black ops stuff.. sneak in, destroy the enemy and sneak out without anyone ever knowing you existed..
Hello my name is Bond.. Jane Bond ! lol
-
Okay lets see to respond to several posts..
First I do like the new 1-10 content but as a vet I am not about to do it over and over .. I have said it numerous times in other threads I have close to 6 years in game and do not need a mission that requires me to a) find the train station in Atlas Park and then b) ride the train to Kings Row. The only alternative, at this point, is Death from Below. I do like this option and I have started several new characters and each has run the trial 4 times for the buffs and left between level 13 or 14 to go do other things. While the old missions were boring beyond belief I think they should have kept them in game as a third option for players.
Second.. I agree with the majority here. I do not MISS being in debt. Not even a little tiny bit. I also don't miss being dirt poor.. thanks to innovations all it takes is one rare bit of salvage to fund a low level character for quite some time and keep them performing at maximum. Between that and how easy it has become to erase debt the game has become much more enjoyable.
Third I agree that more content between 30 -40 is required but perhaps even more important is content betweem 40 and 50. As bad as it is from 30-40 there are still several TFs that open up and you can jump on to level faster. Manticore at level 30, Numina at 35 and the ITF at 35 all give you other options beside just running contact or radio missions. Once you hit 40 all you can do is go back and exemplar down to run anything you may have missed or run the same stuff again until you reach 45 when the STF and LGTF kick in. Thankfully at all levels, above 20, we now have the added option of tip missions to increase the different means we have to advance. Its much better than it used to be but we could definately stand for a few more options between 30-50. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Except that's not how it works. Whenever I've tried to use it, I'll click a button, then sit on my hands for 45 minutes because I can't enter an instance, and then eventually join a pre-formed Trial team I hear about in Broadcast or over Global and go join that. I don't know if the tool is just broken in some way or if people simply never use it unless they have a full team, but I WILL NOT put my game on hold for 45 minutes in the vague hope that something happens.
I'm really not cross about the winter event itself, though. I hate events as a general thing. I didn't run a single Halloween Trial and I think I trick-or-treated by accident once when I clicked on the wrong door. Events don't interest me in the slightest, so the Winter Realm being gated behind multiple teams is as irrelevant as iTrials being gated - who gives a crap? I wasn't going to run that one way or another.
What bothers me is this mentality of crowds, in that all the best stuff is always reserved for all the biggest crowds. It also bothers me that the game is vacating its persistent world and migrating into instant teleportation from instance to instance. I like having contacts, I like having overworld doors to enter instances, I like having to travel a bit. With this over-reliance on the LFG Queue, City of Heroes is changing from what used to be an open-world game, into a hub-based online arena style game. We still have our old content, obviously, but so much of the newer content is this kind of lobby-style arena type that I really don't enjoy the prospect.
Yeah Sam that is probably the BIGGEST flaw with that system ... Almost no one uses it and when you try you can stand around for a LONG LONG time without ever getting into an event. Now Death from Below has been the exception to that, at least on Virtue, I have been able to simply join the queue and find a team relatively quickly. But again the thing just throws together who ever happens to be looking and forms the minimum sized team allowed.. Never was on a LFG team that had more than 4 team members. While the trial is certainly doable with 4 its a lot easier with 7 or 8... maybe they could add an option allowing you to select a minimum tem size you are willing to join! -
Quote:Originally Posted by Doctor_Gemini
Except that, for people who can only play in the wee hours of the morning or on low population servers, you're telling us if we want the rewards to change our sleep schedules in order to play a game, or transfer our characters to a more popular server.
That said, it doesn't bother me if some of the content is designed for large teams. That's a good thing. The more different playstyles that the game embraces the better. As long as the content does not give access to rewards that cannot be reasonably gained any other way (like the incarnate trials do), then people should stop being troubled that a few things are made for large groupings.
I can understand what your saying Doc but the devs cant base every single thing they add to the game on how it will affect a small percentage that can only be on line from 2AM till 5AM on the lowest populated server.
If they did absolutely everything would be designed to only be soloed.. Like it or not the game is designed around players teaming. That is NOT a definition of what an MMO stands for its a fact...
We have ...
21 Task Forces hero side starting as low as level 10
11 Strike Forces villain side staring as low as level 15
7 trials hero side starting as low as level 10 (COP)
and 4 trials villain side as low as level 10 (again the COP)
Now some of these are Coop ... Lady Grey, Apex, Tin Mage, ect
and of course now, to date, we have added another 4 incarnate trials and with issue 21 we have added the sewer trial (Death from Below) which can be run on either side and starts as low as level 1 or 2. The point is that is an awful lot of content that has a mimimum numeber required to begin and a maximum number of players that can join at any one time. The game, for as long as I have played, also has always had easy to use mechanics that allow players to form teams to do even the content that has no team size restrictions. It's pretty clear that while the devs have made it possible to solo they tend to build new ideas around the idea that people want to team up and have fun.
Just look at one of their newest inovations.. while flawed the LFG allows players to simply click a button and then stand around waiting while the game itself forms a team for them. While this doesn't necessary make sure the team will have any sort of balance and any real chance to complete some tasks isn't the point HERE (they need to fix the thing imo) .. its just another example of them showing they are committed to making a game that revolves around team work and keep adding more and more thing to assist and encourage it. Do people solo content designed for x number of players.. yes they do. But it usually requires lining up a group of volunteers to act as fillers until the trial or TF starts and then having them all quit.
Now back to the upcoming event that started all of this.. The Winter Lord's realm didn't used to have a size restriction.. But I never participated in a single one that didnt have at least 1 full team (8 players) and depending on the time of day may have had as many as 2 or more teams in there battling. And as stated numerous times.. unless you have spent Billions on your build you need team mates to defeat the Winter Lord and claim the rewards. All I see is them making it easier to join an event.. previously you had to defeat the Winter Lord in a city zone, locate the present, and quickly form teams before the timer ran down so you could enter. Now it sounds like you can either just go to your LFG tab and sign up to join one or form a team before hand and them join the queue to enter. While it may still take time and effort to form a team depending on time of day and server .. sounds like they eliminated the need for a WL to spawn and be defeated before the event could even be considered which should mean a lot more of them will be run this year than there were last year. So .. again the question is .. this is a BAD thing because.......