Zamuel
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Posts
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Quote:*gives Trashcan a hug*Originally Posted by SpittingTrashcan
I would like to use the "President Marchand's Office" map and place a boss fight in Marchand's office. I have not had any luck in getting this to happen.
That map has always been a headache in AE. In fact, I forget when it happened but a patch actually made it even harder to put enemies on the top floor. I think just about any office map will suit your needs unless there's something really specific you're looking for. -
Very good stuff overall. Surprisingly The Porcelain Mask is my favorite.
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May I request something be done for Blood of the Black Stream? Specifically, I think that a remix of the theme for The Devil's Coattails neighborhood in Cap au Diable would be a good starting point.
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I'm curious, did they ever get around to giving Street Justice's Assassin's Strike a unique name or is it still just Assassin's Strike?
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Quote:He's in the Longbow safe zone to the left of the helicopter. Very easy to miss but I think part of that works since he's concerned with aiding people.Originally Posted by Morgan Reed
I share your thoughts, except for Coyote. And that is only because I ran the Hero side once in Beta, and sped through it. I never even noticed Coyote.
I think complaints can be done all day but the right way to handle it is to offer suggestions on how to improve the current base. Something I sometimes try to do with concepts is brainstorm 3 or fewer changes to improve it. I can think of 2 specific ideas but trying to settle on the third. This requires knowing a set of ground rules. Despite comments about this feeling rushed, it still needs to feel fast paced since I'm quite sure that was the goal but our reactions are mixed. Also, it can't have an official instance. I state that since in open beta it was noted that instances pull on the server over time and since many new characters don't make it past level 7 they wanted to reduce the number of low level door missions. -
Quote:Despite some people's explanations, I still don't get the level fanaticism over the set.Originally Posted by AmazingMOO
I do not get all the slavering for Street Justice. I mean, I was excited for Beam Rifle and was happy to buy it first day it was available... but the excitement over SJ goes so far above and beyond what I understand that it seems odd to me... like waiting in line for a Star Wars prequel odd.
Would someone explain to me what makes Street Justice so hypeful and eagerly anticipated? Is it the new mechanics? Is it the animation? Is it the fact that it's a punching set that scrappers can use?
I don't get it. -
The positive side of Crey Corporation
The "reveal" that Crey is evil has little to no weight since you don't get to see them in a positive light beforehand. I think there's a single mission somewhere that you rescue a Paragon Protector who was in the process of helping some people and that's it. Oh, and the old tutorial had a Crey security guard. In fact, it's interesting that redside gives Crey a chance to look positive since they are giving tours of their facilities in Nerva. The better the devs can make Crey look in the low level game, the stronger the revelation of their actions becomes. -
Quote:Is this including or excluding the entrance room?Originally Posted by Madame Pistacio
- Contestants may design up to three rooms.
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Grabbing a pillow and some comfy sheets, it's time to tackle a nocturnal adventure with
The Sleeper
#521513 by @Mikya'el
Story and structure
Interesting premise and setup. Some may nitpick that it puts words in the player's mouth, especially since it's an author insert, but I don't think it's done poorly. However, mid twenties the player's character probably isn't a total unknown though admitted your notoriety may be limited. Also...
- Awesome, there's a defendable in this arc!
- Oh crap, there's a defendable in this arc!
I like defendable objects and feel they are woefully underused in the game. However, they tend to be destroyed quickly in large teams, especially if you don't see them beforehand and enemies get a heavy alpha strike. I think it should be kept but just pointing it out. Running this solo certainly affected things. I am a little on the fence on it being an outdoor map due to backtracking but it's not a huge map you used.
Your arc has uneven level ranges. I'm assuming that this is due to the inclusion of Mooks but it would probably be better to just sub them out with Family. Also, you have a Warrior EB that caps at level 27 and I was level 30. This brings out two thoughts. One is that he should just be a boss so that not only will he fill out the level range properly, it'll be more soloable. The other is to make him a custom since he's a named enemy who is mentioned more than once. In fact, part of me feels you should have had a rematch rather than him being taken care of offscreen though an outdoor map might create a bit of runaround and the arc should not be padded out with another mission.
I like that you mentioned the contradiction between a code of honor and murdering someone in their sleep. However, one piece of canon was incorrect on mentioning that Warriors are known for Kings Row when they are more known for Talos. Still make a point about the abandoned warehouses though.
"Defeat Larz and his cronies." and "Defend the dumpster!" have the same thing for the mission title and the objective. I'd suggest giving each a unique mission title such as "Investigate the warehouse" and "Protect the sleeper".
While not "wrong" I felt the open solicitation for feedback in the arc description sort of weird. I guess it just seems like feedback is such a default thing that it shouldn't need to be requested but I guess it's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.
Spelling and grammar
Arc description
Join him on his adventures, and defend him from an attempt on his life!
should be
Join him on his adventures and defend him from an attempt on his life! -
Quote:That may also be another part of all of it, I consider the Twinshot arcs to be wholly separate. It's a tutorial, and I do like it, but I consider it completely a separate part from the Fall of Galaxy City.Originally Posted by ObiWan
And if you take into consideration that the Twinshot arcs are continuations of the tutorial then i don't think it seems rushed at all.
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Due to some various situations, Fall of Galaxy City got brought up in chat last night. I stated my dislike of it which brought about some interesting reactions and a few different conversations in private tell. I think a lot of what I saw was a difference in mindset coming into it which in turn affected perceptions of the tutorial itself.
Running it in Beta it felt cramped and claustrophobic and that gave me the impression that the devs were simply trying to rush us out the door as fast as possible rather than actually teach us anything. Others I spoke with found it action packed. Despite being newer than most, I had a certain amount of nostalgia for the other tutorials despite their obvious flaws. In fact, I felt that Precinct 5 got it right, with a decent amount of info and just enough action despite the irony that I don't actually have a single Praetorian on Live (yet). The counterpoint was made that the others had too much text and were too slow paced. Plus, something they called me out on is that they know I'm a decent player and for the most part don't need a tutorial.
Something else is that I felt it was impersonal. While an alien attack is more "epic", the tutorial does a lot to make it feel like you don't actually matter. A lot of things are defeated without you actually needing to press a single button. The giant shivan can be defeated by you simply sitting on your hands due to the Vanguard airstrikes. As someone who doesn't quite share other's dislike of Statesman, it bugged me that it felt like Statesman, Positron, Lady Grey, Dark Watcher, and Apex seemed to be standing around doing nothing, chatting it up instead of helping.
Which brings me to Coyote...
For all of my rather strong dislike of the tutorial itself, I feel that Coyote's role is not only the best part of the tutorial, it's one of the strongest parts of the whole game. Here's a hero who's actually helping people in need in a rather calm reassuring manner that's done subtly without pompous flash. Perhaps the sole disappointments is that you can't help him out and that you'll never see him outside of the tutorial. It's interesting that in a game that seems to really take to heart Levantera's mindset of "kill your enemies" they had moment that displayed Borea's mindset of "save your allies".
I guess a lot of this thread has me wondering if I'm just massively off base compared to other player's mindset. The discussions had me really thinking about how I view some things in the game versus others. -
My thoughts were a little different. Add KD to the immob and add a full strength stun to Propel.
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Quote:I agree with this sentiment with a few additional thoughts of my own. I'm among the people that dislikes the CoT revamp but felt that the individual pieces would be good for player outfits. Knowing it would eventually be available I set aside part of my point stipend and waited for its release. Upon seeing what was and wasn't in the pack I'm boycotting it. It seems rather poorly thought out to redesign an enemy group for player use...only to not let players use the pieces. In a weird way, they sort of shot themselves in the foot by releasing the vastly superior Barbarian pack so closely to the CoT pack. Despite some of my problems with the Barbarian pack, it had a lot of really useful pieces. Most important to me was the belt which was the very thing I wanted the most from the CoT set. Intriguingly, the cloth CoT belt we got was what I wanted as opposed to the oddly missing jewel belt since it was a nicely generic mage belt. I mean the thing that bugged me the most about the Magic pack is that it's a "magician" pack instead of a "mage" pack. But in voting with your dollars I'm avoiding the whole CoT set unless more is added.Originally Posted by Carnifax_NA
So you spent all this time redesigning the CoT group so you could release Player cossie pieces for it, attracted a vast thread criticizing many of the changes (as well as some hilarious new memes), redesigned it again and then when it comes to release many of the things people were looking forward to aren't included because of "clipping issues".
Time well spent. Kudos to the art team.
Also, there's a lot of...oddity...in what's missing. I can't see what the gauntlets, cape, and jewel belts would have clipped with. The hat is by far the biggest offense since it's the very piece that connects the old look of the CoT to the new and it's one of the things that actually sold people on the revamp. If pieces were lacking female or huge variants that needed to be completed, either holding the set back or reassuring people that they were on the way would have really calmed the situation. I mean, looking at the CoT ad picture it is rather bland and lacking variance when compared to the ad pictures used for other booster packs, even including Barbarian, which could have been alleviated with the boss/LT pieces.
I also wonder if some chances to think outside the box weren't used. For instance, I was surprised that the waist cape was done as a skirt/kilt as opposed to a belt like the Martial Arts pack but that probably was a smarter idea. However, why not do the longer waist cape as part of the trenchcoat category? It would allow a dedicated mage cloak while having a looser lower body part. It might even be a way to work the gauntlets in. I'll concede that one of the problems with the gauntlets for players is that it's effectively a four color piece. You could get around this by allowing the base color to be a "sleeve" option while letting the gauntlet get its own colors as a glove option. Why not do a piece from the robes section? I think there's a pretty sizable amount of additions could be made with some brainstorming and feedback.
As far as the feedback process...well, that's better suited for the other art thread. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Socorro
I consider Buildup -> Inner Light a damage buff.This is why I'm thinking a more buff/debuff centric branch of suggestion may be better. It's not that we aren't getting any damage buffs at all, I just don't think things will be elevated to what many are suggesting. I have a feeling that straight out damage isn't what devs want for PBs. Also, I think buff/debuff would make them more favorable for teaming. I've been busy lately but I've got a few ideas for some interesting things. I'll try to type them up at some point.Quote:Originally Posted by Grey Pilgrim
That said, Solar Flare and Pulsar are certainly still too weak. Making the improvements we have suggested time and again for these (KD instead of KB, guaranteed Mag 3) are in no way unbalancing, but actually make these powers and Peacebringers more balanced. I.e., in line with other ATs and powersets. I'm not going to let go on these changes at all, and the DPS numbers still make me think a little something more is needed.
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Quote:While something of a tangent, most modern rap may be garbage but a lot of older stuff is solidly done and culturally conscious. In fact, one of my personal biggest frustrations is that some modern stuff has offensive lyrics yet has a beat I like. So...no, not everyone agrees.Originally Posted by Lady_of_Ysgard
Stories in AE are like music. Everyone has different tastes, but they all agree that rap barely qualifies. AE farms are a lot like rap, just with a certain letter tagged on before it.
/end tangent
edit: Erm, what does IANAL stand for? -
Quote:One thing that bugs me about the game is that status resistance gets used so little. While in theory it's still binary, ways to adjust it would affect durations and could possibly use some concepts like the self stacking as health lowers from Super Reflexes' passive powers. It would also open up options for how enemy groups interact with each other such as giving each other high resistance to controls so they break out faster which would also give ST more of a role. I actually advocate the way to balance things is to make certain sets and tactics not ideal for some situations but it should be done carefully. More chisels and fewer sledgehammers.Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
I doubt it actually, because you wouldn't have anything to compare it to other than what existed pre-ED and even with "just" a 75% chance to activate, Controllers and Dominators would still by far have the best AoE control abilities. IMO the nature of the redesign actually ended up messing up Controllers worse than what I propose would have been the better solution, because the current rules for mezzes are completely binary. They basically allow Controllers to function in a protected, overpowered state--but only as long as they stay in their corner.
I consider Nemesis the textbook example: more or less immune to a Controller's AoE confusion powers (not a Dominator's though). Because the mezz powers don't do anything except mezz, they are vulnerable to shutdowns. The same thing happens with Fire Control and Dispersion Bubble, and to all Controllers when they go up against all-boss spawns. So you throw your Seeds of Confusion or Stalagmites or whatever and basically nothing happens, because these powers pack no kind of debuff or secondary effect that would warrant a less binary "on or off" condition for having used them. It's no surprise that Controllers went on to become top farmers of the easiest content, because that's basically what that design facilitates. -
This should still be a go for tonight.
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I think Mister Dead is a situation where it might be best to add a custom boss. He's recurring so a unique look makes him feel like a stronger part of your arc. Plus, with Darkness Manipulation being added for custom sets you can get a decent match of Viridian Fear's powers and still have other options.
Also, I was slightly wrong on the Ancestor Spirits. It's a maybe-kinda-sorta on them actually being related. Sometimes they are and sometimes they aren't and are just used to lure more into the Tsoo ranks with a fake tie in. However, the followers would probably still be in full out gang war mode over their capture. -
Quote:In all due respect, I'd probably avoid control sets like the plague if this was the case, specifically since there's no way to make affects more likely to occur. You make good points on Jack Frost and Shiver though.Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
Their mistake was nerfing the Accuracy of powers like Stalagmites and Flashfire and not changing them 100% chance to affect to 75% or 80% chance to affect or something.
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I disagree. A team of Stalkers can easily coordinate a simultaneous AS and if it did stack then it would be excellent team mitigation if you could floor an AV's tohit in that way. Plus, timed right you could keep it up.
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The fear/terrorize stacks. The tohit debuff doesn't stack and isn't enhanceable unless they changed that with I21.
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A lot of players don't know there's a difference between Developer's Choice and Hall of Fame...
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Quote:I'm curious about why there's so much antagonism though if I'm simply misreading your response since this is the internet I apologize. One of the things I've been saying is that changes may need to be made here and there. I also find it a little humorous that you single out Repulsion Field when it's the very power I don't take and it actually is one of the two powers I'd change/remove if I rebuilt the set from scratch. Personally, I'd also argue that Nemesis Staff/Blackwand do too much damage but that's a long drawn out discussion for another thread.Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
Actually one of the problems is it leads to arguments like this one where it is claimed that with infinite skill you can accomplish infinite things.
The specific reason I want a video is I want to see what happens for true believers. If they do a grand slam, that's motivation for me to learn how to do it. If, as I suspect, what they produce is as paltry as "sometimes you can knock a boss backwards twice in a row which is faster than a temp power even though it does one eighth as much damage" then my point has been illustrated that these powers are costume accessories. I have no problem with costume accessory powers, only with preposterous claims backed by insults about other players skill level, mind set, or dedication.
I also can't help but wonder why, if Repulsion Field is indeed a worthy power, an exact clone of it is allowed to exist in a travel pool. Maybe almost everyone is a terrible player and only a select few can unlock the magic. :P
As someone newer than most, this is actually pretty interesting and eye opening. I do wonder how the game could have went if a few things were designed differently.Quote:Originally Posted by BurningChick
Howdy folks,
Pressed for time, so I'll just toss some things up ... errr ... out.
One of the design problems with FF is that, the more def it provides, the less good the rest of the set seems. I.e., a blaster bubbled by a defender running maneuvers has, IME, more survivability than my WP scrapper. The same buffs used by a controller or MM have less than HALF the effectiveness. When I see mention of how effective FF's non-buffs are, the comments disproportionately come from non-defenders, in part, IME, because they have to look elsewhere to provide survivability to their pets and teammates.
The way FF's buffs work for a defender allows her blaster pets to become borderline unkillable blappers -- and blappers have some of the best raw DPS in the game. Anything to disrupt the blappy goodness is ... unfortunate. One of the best things in the game is teaming my bubbler with a nub blaster ... and watching him slowly realize that he can get scrapperlock and just run around punching mobs in the face without consequence.
Further, I've seen mention of bots / FF as an effective combination. My rejoinder? Bots are ranged. They have additional (de)buffs to fill in FF's gaps. The two were designed to work together, thematically AND from a min / max perspective. That kind of synergy is completely lacking between FF and any defender secondary. FWIW, the classic bots / FF combination is one of ... what ... 20 different possible FF combinations? Again, it points to the idiosyncrasies of the FF that the set FF works best with is one designed to work with it.
Some other things ...
Force Bubble was designed to be an always on power. No, seriously, it was. It was NEVER intended to be situational. FF, as far as I can tell, was supposed to go from a buff set to a distance / buff hybrid, the way Empathy evolves from heals to general purpose buffing.
In this view, the squishies would huddle around the bubbler, protected by distance and Dispersion Bubble. The original 3 ST buffs (fire / cold and NRG / neg would collapsed into Insulation at release) were on 2 minute timers -- i.e., it was the BUFFS that were supposed to be situational. My guess? Just the melee toons were supposed to get the ST buffs once Force Bubble was out -- they honestly didn't need much more to be unkillable at release.
Further, mobs tend to get spread out by Force Bubble. Remember me saying that Taunt was single target also? I'm going to say that the design was for the tanker to hunt down and taunt the boss in the spawn, everyone else would focus on taking out the mobs at the perimeter, sharing the non-boss aggro. Anyone, at the time, under Dispersion Bubble could take hits from a ranged mob and survive. Anyone. And, FWIW, an overachieving tanker with Provoke could grab /ranged/ aggro from other mobs, leveraging the game's innate 20% non-lieut damage debuff from distance.
This game was single target, tactical, and would require some degree of understanding and cooperation.
Much of this isn't really speculation -- it comes straight from Castle and Jack, with sides of info from people who did beta.
By about 2 hours after release, the game had become an AoE-fuelled zergfest. And one of the first tanker buffs nearly eliminated high mag tanker KB. And the devs have never, AFAIK, increased a power's KB mag.
And Issue 5? When the devs capped AoE targets, Jack came onto the forums and pitched FF's non-buffs. Interestingly, he didn't mention positioning mobs -- that was never a design feature of FF. Instead, he talked up distance as defense. Caging a problematic boss. Saving a squishie from melee with the old, ally-targetted Repulsion Bomb.
The devs got FF wrong because they got their game wrong. If the game were about small numbers of strong mobs (say, 2 or 3 at a time), FF would make more sense. But it isn't -- it's about mowing down huge numbers of ridiculously weak mobs.
And then devs went for theme over performance (what does FF do? it shields and keeps stuff away!) ... and FF went along for the i7 def buff ride.
What should the devs have done? When the I5 feedback was in, the devs should've had a long look at the set and tweaked the set to better fit in with the game the players were enjoying. But, instead, they crossed their fingers and hoped that they had created the tactical game they had intended.
And, with all that said and done ... FF has a lot of cool powers -- Force Bubble is spectacular. But "cool" and "useful for how most people play" are sometimes different. -
Quote:My assumption is that it's not about is it usable at all. Rather it's coming from a min/max mindset of is it the best at something. One of the problems with positioning is that it's more qualitative than quantitative in nature.Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
... ok, I've told you flat out how I use it. I'm not sure why you're insisting you "need a video" to understand the usefulness of the powers.
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Quote:It does!Originally Posted by Zamuel
You know if this works both ways? I need to see if this means that enemies hit by Dimension Shift are no longer trying to attack players. That will clear up a decent chunk of confusion.
This will help lessen some of the confusion centered around using Dimension Shift. However, Singularity keeps trying to attack shifted enemies.