Aett_Thorn

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For anything to be worthwhile, there has to be risk involved.

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No. Completely false. For anything to be worthwhile, the REWARD needs to be higher than the RISK.

What you are proposing is to do is vastly increase the risk, without increasing the reward. You'd be creating a scenario where players are given a stick, but no carrot.

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Granted, the penalty in my suggestion is zone-wide, but as I say, this should inspire people to take part.

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Actually, I'd bet that it would cause more people to complain than actually take part. You'd be forcing people to clean up the Rikti before they could do any hunt missions, or possibly even talk to a contact safely. If there's not enough people on at that time, or if they are on a support character that isn't on a team, they're likely to get massacred if they try to remedy this situation.

People play for a variety of reasons. The variety should be encouraged. Putting one option of play over another, and possibly forcing that playstyle on your players, is not a good idea.

I'd also vote for a "Range Finder" badge. There have been a bunch of times where I've healed most of the team, but just missed the guy that was really dying because he was just out of range. So you see a bunch of green numbers, only to have the guy you were trying to heal die right next to them.

A few things:

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Our guild was going strong with 5 on at all times 24 7 and around 20 evenings with about 40 loging in ever day. Then came the start of the nerfs to ae and skills players had spent years to build up. Now we are luck to have 2 loged in 24 7 and around 5 prime time.

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How long has your Supergroup been going? If, after 5 years, the population is starting to drop off, there's really no wonder on that one. People can burn out on games, or find new ones, or start a family and don't have time for it, etc. There are a lot of reasons why your SG population is starting to drop off.

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Then came the start of the nerfs to ae and skills players had spent years to build up.

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First off, I notice that this completely ignores the vast majority of buffs that have happened to diferent powersets and powers. The whole Dominator AT just got buffed, for instance, outside of a few powers that got whacked. But what did people say on the forums? That these were massive nerfs. People complain about nerfs, but forget all about the buffs that have happened over the past few years, even with as many of them as there are.

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Why spend a lot of hours to make nice builds and save up for sets to have the skills so dimminished.

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I've never had a build hit by a nerf so bad that it made a character feel unplayable. And I was here for both the GDN and ED. Characters are still playable after nerfs, even big ones. And while I can understand that the 'fun' (being entirely subjective) of a set can be diminished, that doesn't mena that the set is now broken, because you might have had a lot of fun knowing that your set was overpowered, and now don't because it is in line with the other sets.

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It will help the players feel excited to play and not kill off desire to build strong charcters and save up for sets.

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A rising tide lifts all boats. Except in this case, when you lift the players, there's still somebody left out: the Mobs. If nothing but buffs happened, you'd get a case where the Mobs would become ridiculously easy. People would leave due to boredom.

If you buffed every set, then buffed the mobs appropriately, then you haven't buffed anything, really. You've just created a new baseline that is functionally the same as it was before.

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Really 5 years into a game we should have been done with the nerfs years ago.

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AS somebody said above, powers are always being looked at in an MMO. As the game changes, so do some of he powers. Sometimes, underperforming sets are brought up. Other times, overperforming sets are brought down. That's how balance eventually gets achieved. But if you think it's an easy problem that they could have solved years ago, I think that you're fooling yourself.



edit -> Thanks, Samuel!

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no, positional defense does not stack with typed defense...the game uses the one that is highest and ignores the other. So its a waste to put bonuses in both.

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No it's not. Is it better to focus on one over the other? Yes. But in this case, that 10% is still protecting them from all melee attacks that have no S/L component to them.

We don't know.

But I hope not.

Still, even that can help a lot. There are several Mobs in the game that don't want to close the range at all, and Taunt makes them do just that. I can bring them into range of cones and AoEs where they weren't before. The -Range on Taunt was a great player-created addition to the power.

I would not be opposed to this.

HOWEVER. That said, I understand why they do it on Friday mornings. They are trying to get the servers ready for the weekend high periods of activity, which probably take place Friday and Saturday nights U.S. time. If they moved the maintenance to Thursday, there might be more problems come Friday and Saturday night for us.

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It's not my opinion that Defenders have low offense and low defense. They do. It is a fact.

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No. It is not.

My Defender Tanked a map filled with PPs. If you think that my Defenses were low, I don't want to know what your definition of high is. I debuffed their accuracy so low that the entire team was close to the soft cap of Defense.

So your statement that Defenders as a whole have low defense is your opinion. If it's a fact, it's an incorrect fact. SOME Defenders have low Defense, but they make up for it in their ability to buff the rest of their team.

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If all else was equal, there might not be a problem. However, all else is NOT equal. Defenders have HALF the health of Scrappers AND do less than HALF the damage. As for debuffing, that remains to be seen. Scrappers with Darkness powers can do a pretty impressive job debuffing, and that's just one example. Further still, Defenders being better at buffing the team does nothing for him when he has no team. It's not a valid comparison.

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Yes, it is.

You're taking one specific example of play and using that to view balance. That is like me saying that Blasters are out of balance with Tankers because Blasters can't hold aggro. It's a ridiculous comparison. Both Defenders and Scrappers shine in different scenarios. On teams, Scrappers aren't as useful as Blasters, because Blasters can do more damage, and somebody else usually has the aggro, so incoming damage for the Blaster is usually minimal. Defenders have a number of roles on a team, depending on their primary/secondary combination.

My Dark/Psi can Debuff, Buff, heal, rez, mez, or do decent damage, depending on what I'm focusing on. Solo, it isn't that great (but I'm at no risk of dying). But it more than makes up for that with what I can do on a team.

Happy Birthday, Memphis!

Please search. There are a number of topics on the AE.

The AE was advertised as an alternate leveling means from level 1+. As such, it will never be moved to a restricted zone of any level.

SOs. Always has been.

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February 8, 2010 2:31 pm eastern time...

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NOW THATS an answer. We all know it's probably wrong. But I have you in the pool, and I will notify the winner. Which, so long as you do not go over (Price is Right rules) will be you cuz you are the only person who submitted a date!

[/ QUOTE ] Since we are doing Price is Right rules I pick one second from now

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Finally someone who knows how to play the game.

I pick tomorrow.

Soonish

because we'd like to have them.

Just because there are or have been technical limitations for stuff doesn't mean that we can't want it.

Purple inspirations give you Defense (you get hit less).

Orange inspirations give you Resistance (each hit hurts less).


Unless you're already at the soft cap of Defense though (45%), eating a purple is almost universally better. The percentages on the purple inspirations are better than the orange ones, and Defense means that you can also avoid secondary effects from attacks.

Only 5 of the Kinetic Crashes should work.

But the LotG +7.5% recharge does indeed stack with 5 other 7.5% Recharge bonuses from set bonuses, since it is named something different.

However, the rule of 5 will come in against the Kinetic Crash set bonuses, and only allow you to have 5.

Weapons are just a costume item, it was found out, and easier to change.

With I16, we look to be getting power customization, which may allow you to customize your MM pets. However, your pets are static objects right now, with each one having a defined look in the system. They don't have as much information in them as a player does, because of this. In order to customize them, they'd need to be recreated as actual player-like models instead of static displays.

On top of that, right now some of the models have custom parts in them, that work because the rest of the model has a set look. If you changed various parts, you may have pets that don't look right at all, with lasers coming out of a robot's crotch instead of his arm, because you changed his scale, and things like that.

You are correct on everything you just said.


Well, except that I don't believe there are any truly untyped attacks. I believe that they are all typed as something, however, some don't have a damage type, but they will have a positional, and some have a damage type, but not a positional.

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1. When I talk to a trainer I have the option for a primary and secondary buid. If I create a secondary build, can I still go back to the primary if I do not like it? Also, once I create one of the builds, is that locked in forever now, or is there a way to still change my build later?

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If you create a second build, you can switch back and forth from one build to another every 15 minutes. This allows people to have something like a PvE build and a PvP build that they can switch to depending on what they're up to.

You can change your active build (whether it's your second build or first) with a respec. You can only change your active build with each respec, though. But yes, you can change either build.

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2. I have a mission that deals with stealing capes. At what level will I get to wear a cape? Is this mission required before hand, or can I Just skip this and still wear a cape later?

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There are certain capes that have come with various Booster Packs. However, outside of those, you need to be level 20 to get a cape. At level 20, you need to do the mission in order to get the capes unlocked at the tailor. At level 30, you unlock auras the same way.

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3. If I use all SO enhancements, is this bad in some way? Should I be mixing the enhancements with SO, DO and regular training ones?

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Once you get to SOs, they are what you should be using. There's almost no benefit to mixing SOs, DOs, and TOs. Also, since you've been gone for a while, check out ParagonWiki, which has a lot of useful information. Specifically, what you're going to want to look for is the article on Enhancement Diversification (ED).

However, Invention Enhancements can be mixed freely with SOs, depending on what you're doing. I also suggest reading the ParagonWiki article about Inventions.

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5. I went to a tailor and was able to pay for a costume change. How often can I do this and is this different that the mission at level 20 I heard about.


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You can do that as often as you want, as long as you have the money to pay for it. It is completely independent from the cape and aura missions.

Also, at levels 20, 30, and 40, you can unlock new costume slots by talking to some of the Facemakers/Tailors.

I'd be all for it, personally, even though I don't usually have to work weekends.


However, from a company standpoint, there are usually a few reasons why companies have events on weekends:

1) You get the most people playing. Basically, you tailor the times to when you normally have the most people on, so that you are benefiting the most people.

2) You get the most people playing. These events are good ways for a company to stress-test the servers and other hardware pieces and software to identify inefficiencies that can possibly be corrected.

3) You get the most people playing. This tends to build a sense of camaraderie during those weekends when events are going on.

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Because learning to navigate thru a zone without getting killed by mobs is a valuable skill.

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Sure it is, in a level appropriate zone. I would hope no one would be advocating someone learn this where mobs are +4 to them?

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I used to do it in the Hollows all the time.

Getting to the second or third mission from Mr. David "I'm gonna git ya" Wincott usually involved navigating your way through streets packed with purple-conning mobs. I learned, real quick, how to avoid those guys.

And that was IN a level-appropriate zone, technically. At the low levels, a +4 is not going to kill you, and the AE building could be moved right across the street from the tram, eliminating the need to avoid anything anyways, since there are no spawn points there.

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Again, a lvl 1 should not be sent to a higher level zone in which there is a chance to frustration of dieng repeatedly. I just don't like the sound of that. Especially with this being the first mmo for many players. I can tell you I would have gotten frustrated back in the day with something like that.

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Put it across the street from the King's Row train station. If you're removing the building from one zone, why not move it in another to eliminate the risk?

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People need to read the thread.

Not going to respond to any of these, as Aett and I already came to an understanding on this ages ago.

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Did I get drunk and pass out again?

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If you feel "overly new" consider that I once spent several minutes trying to go in the "exit only" door of the Paragon City Tram.

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Hell, I did that the other day!

As I was going into the tram, a citizen pushed me out of my path into the out door of the Tram without me noticing. I spent a couple minutes, and almost sent in a petition, before I realized what I was doing.



Also, as a newbie, I thought that enhancements were locked and couldn't be overwritten, so I was too scared to slot any enhancements because I thought that they'd red out, and I wouldn't be able to get rid of them.

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I wouldn't recommend sending a lvl 1 noob (especially from what I've been hearing about these new players we are getting) to a lvl 5 zone. For some this game is their first mmo. I can see the frustration from that scenario already.

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That's actually kind of the point. Sending a new player on their first character straight into the AE building is what we've been advocating changes for. Once they get sent to Kings Row (I like Steel and Skyway for this better, but *shrug*)
they will find the AE building and see that you can use it at level 1.

End result: They have at least played 5 levels of the normal content and have (hopefully) learned something about the basics of the game, like how to use the trains.

If they want to create a new character and go straight to the zones AE is in, there is nothing preventing them from doing so, but at least this way they know that AE is optional content, not the only content.

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Again, a lvl 1 should not be sent to a higher level zone in which there is a chance to frustration of dieng repeatedly. I just don't like the sound of that. Especially with this being the first mmo for many players. I can tell you I would have gotten frustrated back in the day with something like that.

If we're going this route, then you should only get the AE contact popup at lvl 5, AFTER you have done the necessary stuff (wther by sewer team or by missions) to get to level 5. Still forces you to ask "where is kings row?" in b-cast when you get to lvl 5. And still forces you to take the train to go there. But reduces the possibility of unnecessary frustration.

EDIT: The COH tutorial does not ask if you want to go to Kings Row when you complete it. It gives you the options of the level appropriate zones of Atlas and Galaxy for a reason.

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Yes, of course. The contact should NOT pop up at level 1 when you first log in. The system can be there, ready for access at level 1, but the pop-up shouldn't be there until a higher level. that has been said hand-in-hand with moving the AE out of AP.

And nobody would be forcing new players to go to KR for the AE in order to level up. If a player WANTED to, they could go there, and yes, there would be risks (gasp! you might have to learn to avoid detection by enemies!) but they would not be that severe, especially since you don't get debt at level 1.

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Not a good idea. For lower levels to go team with higher levels they would have to go to a more dangerous zone. NOT a good idea at all.

At that point you might as well just get rid of the auto sk. Also, it's a restriction that doesn't exist anywhere else in game.

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Ummm...yes it does. To SK to a friend with a higher level mission, you usually need to leave the starting zones. Sure, maybe they get a random mission in Atlas Park or something, but usually it's in Talos or Steel Canyon or some other zone that is of higher level.

That was exactly the case the way it was before the AE was put in. The AE created that freedom.


Newer players probably don't have these friends in the game that are higher level. If they do, the friend can usually help them get to where they need to be anyways.


I don't get this as a problem. New players would only have to risk level 5-10 enemies, not level 50 enemies, if it was moved to KR.