Yoru-Hime

I like the idea a lot. I thought WST did a fantastic job revitalizing neglected Task Forces.

One of the major problems we've run into with regards to trials is that of inertia. In groups as big as leagues, players can handle just about anything that isn't so far above them that it falls under the purple patch. Fundamentally, what makes trials different and challenging is the gimmicks. Kill the AVs at the same time, Stay out of the green/pink patches, Check your temp powers for acids and grenades. Don't let time run out. Without these, it's just another brawl.

Gimmicks are hard because players don't know how they work. Learn them and they become easy. The problem is that given a choice between something hard and something easy, most people tend to go for the easy, particularly when there is a fear of failure. We did BAF and Lambda when they were hard because we had to. There was no easier alternative to get the reward. When the new trials started coming out though, the players were faced with a choice. Do the hard trial you don't understand or the easy one you've done dozens of times?

Most went with the safe road, to the point that the devs were ready to break out the nerfs just to get some variety going.

I like the WST idea because it gives an incentive to push the players in a new direction without being punitive. On servers where these new trials have been given a real chance, they're growing roots and becoming popular. On others, they hardly get a chance. Once the badgers have their shinies, that's pretty much it and it's back to BAF/Lambda.

The question is what sort of incentive to offer. We've seen extra Emps added to Keyes with limited effectiveness. I think that it needs to be a powerful incentive, one strong enough to get the players to attack a trial they have trained themselves to avoid, and therefore limited to one per character per week. I'd be willing to suggest an extra guaranteed Rare/VR reward roll. It's about on par with the WST Notice of the Well.

My hope is that by briefly putting the spotlight on a trial, you not only create a reward incentive but a brief surge of interest in that one trial alone, making it more likely to form and giving more players a chance to learn the gimmicks, removing the stigma from it in the minds of the general populace, so that when someone tries to form it for a regular run, more players are willing to consider joining up.

Yes, I had this happen twice tonight and my partner in crime had it happen once, all in Peregrine Island/Infinity. Had once problem like this last night, but never before then.

Grandfather: She doesn't get eaten by the eels at this time.
Grandson: What?
Grandfather: The eel doesn't get her...I'm explaining to you because you looked nervous.
Grandson: I...I wasn't nervous. Well, maybe I was a little bit concerned but that's not the same thing.
Grandfather: Because we can stop now if you want.

I'm sorry, I know this is how comic books like to do it, but it's still really, REALLY stupid. From the arc title to this sudden and premature death of all the fun speculation, I'm almost embarrassed every time I do one of these at how they're advertised. It's like the writers believe the core of the work is crud, so they need these ham-fisted gimmicks to sell it. Which is sad, because it's a pretty good arc that could stand on its own, IMO. If it had a normal name and no spoilers, what was going to happen in the next week or two was going to hit like a thunderbolt we'd all be talking about for months.

Now, well, it's one of the biggest moments in the history of the game lore and we've been spoiled on it, but barring any other "screaming eel" moments, we can at least wonder *how* it happens. Yay?

/signed

This isn't about how well the pack sells or how ridiculous the female "Gunslinger" looks, it's about the breakdown in the development and beta process. It feels like marketing has taken over. Feedback is increasingly irrelevant, "filed away for future use" and we all know what that means. So what if the testers are outraged and raising very valid complaints? Marketing needs something to slap a price tag on and they need it by Tuesday! If it has problems, we'll fix it later... though fixes don't make money, you know. Marketing thinks that maybe you should work on the next shiny to sell instead. Next Tuesday is just a week away, after all.

Between the Super Packs and this, it's hard not to feel like there's a lot more interest in my bank account than in me as a player.

Did you do anything different? I've been bashing my head against this bug all afternoon.