Arcanaville

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Quick question on the subject of inspirations:

Will we ever be able to buy the better inspirations from our contacts? Likewise will this new inspiration be available from any contact what the other ones are?

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Better than buying them, it would be neato (but I'm not sure if too powerful) if, when you get a drop, if your tray is full the drop boosts an existing inspiration of the same type instead (if you have one). So over time, if you don't use them, you will slowly get the bigger respites, breaths, lucks etc. Maybe disable this for awakens if that is too powerful. Kinda analogous to letting us ++ enhancements.

Jonbo298_:

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Your assuming that the Epic Power Pools are gonna be insanely overpowered. That is your assumption. My view is that these will be as strong as any pool power is. It's not the same "oomph". So when my scrapper might get an Energy Torrent, it doesnt mean I'm gonna be doing the same damage output as a Blaster's version does. I know its gonna be weaker because its a POOL POWER. Keyword: POOL POWER.

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Hands off my torrent. Go over there and play with those flares. Nice scrapper. And leave integration right here before you go.

Edit: I did read the update, Rise of the Phoenix? Well, if any AT will get a lot of use out of that power, its us.


Statesman:

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Let's sing the song of Doom!

Doom.Doom.Doom.Doom.....


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Well, they say you make it worse, you say you make it better...

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No one wants to go to shadow shard or the crash site and I cant say I blame them.


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And that's why those zones will get some attention...

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I don't mind dying in either zone as much as the fact that when you die, its a long way back. But actually, I loved the RCS, I would hate for it to become the new Ghost Hangout.

I would make serious attempts to figure out surviving the shard, if there wasn't so much flight time in between attempts.

The Shard isn't like a new zone, its like a new city. Perhaps there should be a slightly gentler learning curve to ease you into it. Its the only place I've been afraid of +1's, or for that matter, evens, or heck even -1s -- and in and of itself, that is not a bad thing.

Here's a thought: put contacts at strategic locations that you can do missions from, and after so many, when you call then on the cell phone, besides "ask for mission" and "get more info" there was another option for "request teleport" and they would port you to them. Maybe have a "port you" and "port entire team" kinda option. Then people could slowly run shard missions and build an easy path across the shard while doing so. End of day, you fall back down to firebase zulu, and you can always port back to your last "base camp."

Infernius:
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It's sure sounding like this expansion has some nice stuff - if you're over level 40. Am i the only one who seems to see that at least 2/3 of all the new content introduced into the game has been aimed at high level players? It's looking more and more like the developers don't care about anyone under level 20 that plays.

Issue 1 - Game is finished as intended by initial release design
Issue 2 - Screwed over low level players with design errors in the hollows, added lots of nice effects and another extra zone for high level players, effects and capes if you were not under level 20.
Issue 3 - More high level stuff and no mention of stuff for low levels (yet). It's like the percentage of players who aret 38+ don't matter in terms of content for them - oh sure...we get the odd revisited and updated mission, but when it comes to anything else we are just expected to patiently wait through the 2-3 month publish cycles so they can add more for the high levels and tell us to wait again.


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Dunno if you are the only one, but if I was just looking for an argument, I might rephrase as:

Issue 2: screwed over high levels with a zone that kills everyone once you figure out how to get to any part of it, negates 3 of the 4 travel powers, and leaves you with the one that moves like grass grows, added an extra zone for lower levels with content high levels can only really see by using the oft-broken EXM feature, while offering capes and auras beginning at the low level of 20.

Issue 3: Adding way for 50s to progress by becoming 1s.

I suppose you probably think the Epic ATs are just a conspiracy to allow the 50s to take over the Hollows with Kheldians, too.

In fact, lower levels now have huge mission bonuses, more inf, badges that can be had starting at level 1, end-of-arc rewards, access to instanced outdoor missions (not just portal), the hollows zone, and quite frankly, calling capes a high level treat is like calling perez a high level zone. Plus, respec at 24, less lower level mezzing, and special events that cross all the zones, not just the high ones.

Most of my play time is under L38. A large bulk under 20. I don't feel especially neglected. In fact, the lower levels feel much more fun than the first time around. I know a lot of people that feel similarly. In fact, just mission bonuses and badges have turned hardened street grinders the first time around into mission runners the second time around. I would say that is dramatic change.

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But I have to say either people just aren't getting it, or they aren't trying to get it.


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This would seem to be the only point of agreement in the entire thread. Sort of.

In an attempt to be constructive, here's an idea for improving the large group experience. This won't boost xp into the stratosphere - deliberately so, but it may make larger groups more fun, which at this point is certainly a reasonably agreeable goal. What if the devs were to add a bonus on teams that acted something like tactics, but instead of giving a flat bonus, it was designed to mitigate the purple acc falloff - and just like tactics, the bonus would depend on the team members being "in range." The "team tactics" would have no effect on +2 mobs and lower, a proportionally increasing effect on +3 to +7 mobs, falling off again past +7 (making the sweet spot somewhere around +7).

To be specific (although the actual numbers are subject to tinkering) the numbers (for acc) were:

75,68,61,55,48,41,34,25,11,6,5,5,5 (the base percentage to hit for even con up through +12)

Let's say that for every team member in a certain combat radius, your to-hit on +3 to +7 was boosted by +5% of the base, by +3% on +8 to +10, and no effect above +10. Thus, if you are attacking +6, your base to-hit is 34%. With one team member nearby, it goes up to 35.7% (.34 + .34*.05). By the time you have an 8 man team, your percentage is up to 45.9% (.34 + .34 * .05 * 7) - you are hitting almost 1/3 more often, and in fact the base is comparable to attacking +4 solo.

Leave damage alone, and its still gonna be tough to take down the +4 or better mobs, but there will be less whiffing, which I understand is irritating. Now, a low level team taking on +6 would be much like a high level team taking on an AV (they can hit, but the purple damage reduce acts kinda like the ultra high hp of an AV). You would want to max out your team with 8 to make sure you could pour enough damage into the mob(s) to kill him.

Then, modify the xp cap so that the xp cap per person goes up slightly for each team member - again in range. That way, when they go for the high stuff, they won't be capped as badly. If the cap is normally 500xp, say, it might be 600 with a 4 person team, and 700xp with an 8 person team (note, I understand the cap is applied after the split, I'm specifically talking about the per-person cap after the split).

This is certainly not necessarily xp efficient (an efficient 4 or 5 man team hunting +4 and +5 would probably still be optimal), but that is not the goal of this proposal. The goal is to give big groups something to do thats fun and challenging. It only works if the team is really functioning as a team, not as 4 2-man hunting parties (the in-range requirement - much like sidekicking). It would even give lower level players some practice in team tactics against very tough opposition before diving into trials, AVs, or other things that will just get them killed.

Anything that would improve the game, I'm all for. There is a huge caveat. If there are people that want to race through the game in so they can see everything in whatever time they allot, and that causes the majority of players to get bored with the game and leave it, then that is not an improvement of the game by at least one difficult to argue standard, namely that "cease to exist due to lack of subscribers" cannot be considered an improvement.

There is a difference between something that benefits the players as individuals, and something that benefits the game as a whole. Perhaps it is evil to say this, but if the treadmill keeps people here, then it is a Good Thing, even if it is a bad thing. If taking the treadmill away causes people to get what they want too quickly, and that causes them to move on, it is a Bad Thing even if it is a good thing.

Bottom line, I want more interesting things to do, and I believe that everyone else would tend to stay to see it, so I have no argument with adding content. I believe that people should not have to do too much of what they do not want to do, so if the two xp tracks are missions and street sweeping, adding just enough xp to guarantee that just as you run out of the last mission, the next story arc is just about to open for you is also fine by me.

But any change to the game predicated on the singular assumption that "what I want shouldn't hurt you, so bugger off" is to me fatally flawed. Ultimately, suggesting that is like saying that being drunk in the park shouldn't bother other people who should just mind their own business any way, so they shouldn't complain while you vomit in the bushes, nor should they lodge any opposition to your proposal to the city council to legalize bush-vomitting.

I should also point out that you ought to be playing the game because you enjoy playing the game. You enjoy the current mechanics, you enjoy the multiplayer experience, you enjoy playing with friends. If the entire game is just a means to an end for you, namely getting every power, badge, souvenir, and access to every zone so you can take pictures, well, the game simply will never be designed for you. And neither will any other MMOG - such a design is self-destructing on its face.

I used to know people who made the same complaint about school, seriously. They were only there for the diploma/degree, because they "needed it." But boy, was it hard work just to get it. Maybe if school didn't force you to take all those "unnecessary" classes, or shortened them to a month each, lets say.

My point is you go to school to take classes, ostensibly to get an education. You subscribe to CoH to play the game, not to earn xp. If you are playing it to earn xp, you have yourself already converted it from a game to a job, all by yourself. The only question is how hard of a job it is.

Sorry if this seems harsh, its not intended to be. I can appreciate those people who really believe that certain changes to the game would benefit some, and hurt none. I just don't agree that accelerating the xp progression more than just enough to make mission-leveling credible is not harmful to the game. I know exactly one person that quit because they got tired of the grind. I know of more that intend to because of hitting 50, and that is sad.

Anecdotal, I know, so an argument it is not. Just a feeling, which is what I have now. Someone called it BS, and asked if anyone would play this game if you were stuck in Atlas at level 2.

If my friends were stuck in there with me? Yes.

I guess I'm just weird that way.

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I'd like to take this moment to applaud PainGod's Sig.

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I love teaming with kinetics, but I agree. Heh, I've actually seen, or rather not seen, what happens when 2 kinetics unleash fulcrum shift at the same time I'm setting off nova. CoH becomes Powerpoint, the dreaded 100fx dialog becomes your friend, and you start checking for immobile (d/c) teammates. Yet another facet of the game that requires you to go find a group to experience

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Secondly, now your just being obtuse. What "penalty" has been described in 4 or 5 posts now.

Here are the cliff notes. The xp gained per mob defeated goes down as you add players. At 4 players, you have capped the difficulty of mobs you can face (+4 your level) and have found the largest concentration of mobs you can face. THE XP LOST DUE TO ADDITIONAL PLAYERS CAN NO LONGER BE MADE UP BY FIGHTING HIGHER LEVEL MOBS OR MORE MOBS BECAUSE OF THE PURPLE PATCH


You know damn well what the penalty is, you are responsible for it. Even though I disagree with the vast majority of your 'Vision' for CoH, I never thought you were unable to see past it. If you cannot grasp the difference between what you see on paper in front of you versus how it actually plays out in the game, CoH is doomed to your 'Vision'.

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Well, first of all the limit is really more +5 if you are in a large group rather than +4. You can still earn more xp at +5 than +4 (although you probably are capitated somewhat) and you can probably take down +5. Its slow in small groups which is why people don't do it, but large groups might be able to speed it up enough to be worth it.

Which is the other point. The factor you are ignoring is time. Unless every single hero can one-shot every single mob, more heros can speed up xp if the larger group can take the spawn down quicker. I've actually seen the fifth man improve xp rate, and sometimes reduce the xp rate. Unless you are an xp-maxer, and are in an extremely optimized group, it is difficult to tell whether the incremental addition of another player will make a team of 4 better or worse, from a purely xp/hour perspective.

But I can say with absolute certainty that there is no "4 man pivot point" in team xp, period. It is much more blurry than that, except again, in extremely optimized conditions.

Add me to your group of 4, though, and xp/hour definitely takes a hit. Even with all the novas, I tend to be chatty on team channel