Monsters and invasions

The problem with Giant Monsters in the starting zones is that really-low-level characters don't have many tools with which to handle something like that, even with "levelless" foes. That's proven to be a pretty significant hassle with holiday-event monsters and zone invasions over the years; even if the enemy cons, say, orange, if it's a huge pile of hit points with a number of attacks and all you've got is the first two tiers of your primary and secondary, you're not going to accomplish much. You end up with a horde of higher-level heroes coming down to deal with it, since lowbies just don't have enough firepower (or defense, come to that), and there's not a lot of point in making more of that, IMO.

IIRC (and I'm sure someone will jump in if I'm wrong), the invaders in those events spawn wherever there are player characters out-of-doors. So if they're congregating in one small area, that's because the PCs did it first, bunching all up in some easily reached rallying point at the start of the invasion. If they started just scattering all around the zone, you'd probably annoy the people who like the huge lagfest fights, who, since these things have been around for a while now, are presumably a pretty well-established group at this point.

Me, I couldn't really care less. I've never particularly liked the invasions and wish they would go away entirely, not get bigger and louder.

The "bread and butter" as you say isn't so much Monsters, at least for a lot of heroes. Street-level heroism is a much bigger deal for even some big name heroes (Daredevil, Spider Man). I'm of the opinion we have enough neglected monsters, but not enough street level heroic (or villainous) events. Hellion Fires and Troll Raves are cool (and could use an upgrade to take advantage of destructible objects like some King's Row spawns use).

Events like Vahzilock Body snatchings, Carnie Parades, Freakshow Freaklympic rampages, would be a lot more interesting and accessible for even small groups or solo heroes.

As for point #2, as Cap said, invasions are zone wide, and it's only player behavior that concentrates the action in specific spots. If you want a zone wide battle, wait for Halloween, or participate in a Ship raid in the RWZ.

Part of the problem would solved by reducing lag. I've got a Bubbly / Rad defender and I once got kicked from an invasion team because the only thing I was doing was hovering in the middle of the fight with the Dispersion Bubble on and my PBAOE attack on auto... which... in the middle of the fight, was all I could do. There was a 30+ second delay between clicking on a power or hitting the number for a power before it activated.

Now, I do understand why there is so much lag. There is a hard-capped physical limit on not just the amount of information a server can-process, but also on how much information an internet connection can transmit and receive. In the Pre-I9 Hamidonk raids most raiders would have macro's instructing new players to use costumes without aura's, without capes, or without any additional costume parts. Also, since the Hamidonk's damage was untyped, tanks and scrappers would be better off turning their aura's and armors off. Most raiders took the time to instruct new players these procedures minimized the amount of information the server and the graphics system had to process, and the less the information the system had to transmit and receive, the less painful the lag.

Many of the players that have joined since then don't understand, or have not been taught, the performance impact that their powers and costumes have. With the I16 power customization, the situational lag is going to get even worse. Many spines players aren't going to understand that while the performance impact off color tinted spines is not noticeable on an 8man team... it does put a dent on what other users have to draw on their computers.

Some people say something to the effect of Turn your graphics down. Well, this is an incomplete solution, since it only affects the rendering on you're computer. Turning your graphics system down does nothing to affect the information being transmitted or received by the server. Turning settings down will only affect processing lag... not network lag.

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There are some viable solutions to the lag problems though. One of the first is to improve Server efficiency. If the server's running Microsoft software, format and install a Linux or Unix. As the London Stock Exchange found out the hardway, Microsoft's server software just isn't up to the task of supporting a wide range of users in an efficient manner.

Another is to limit the number of players that can be gathered in one area. The Hamidonk zones were limited to what... 50 players now? Limiting the number of players that can participate limits the amount of processing power that the server needed for that instanced zone will need.

Another option is to improve network transmission efficiency. This can range from techniques to limit the amount of information needed by the server, to improving data compression ratios.

With more developers on staff now, perhaps there is hope that some of these options are under consideration or implementation.

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Okay, onto the original post.

More monsters; Yep. Want them.

I'd like to see more GM's tied to Task Force's. e.g. in the Hess Task Force: Put the final mish on a timer. Don't take down Burkholder in time, his monstrosity threatens Striga Island... and if the GM makes it off Striga, it resurfaces in Talos Harbor after knocking it's way through the War Wall.


Also, Photon's right about the way existing raids work. Enemies go where the players are. So if the players are spread out, it looks like a warzone. However, the spawn rules are such that the Elite Bosses only spawn with a certain number of players are grouped together... hence the huge number of players congregating together.

The way current invasions are designed, none of that is necessary. Truly. If performance is truly an issue, then make an effort to change player behaviors. You don't need 4 full teams in one single area of the zone to succeed and get all the rewards. All you need in a single spot is a group that can kill enough foes quickly enough so that when the next cycle checks, the equation decides players are winning. When that happens, it sends a more potent spawn, and you get the bosses and elite bosses for the higher rank badges.

In fact, it actually quite often hinders badge hunting if you all gather in one spot. If you have what you feel is a competent team, head off to a different area and fight on your own. I guarantee you won't have to fight the lag, and understanding the system will give you success.