Wile_E_Canuck

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Why do people feel the need that they *have* to be "Optimal" to have fun? Why does everything have to boil down to the numbers?

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For the people that just have to wring every last tenth of a percentage point of efficiency, I guess it boils down to creating the best character they can. It's fairly normal to want to create the most powerful character you're able to with the tools you're given. Levels of obsessiveness over just how far to take it may vary.

Myself, I like to know the numbers not necessarily to be completely optimal, but rather for things like flight speed enhancers for example. I'd be a wee bit irked if I just dropped 6 slots into flight and spent 180k+ influence on SO's, only to find out that it capped at 3 (or 4, whichever makes flight hit the speed cap). There's nothing that isn't player-published that says 'Hey, flight speed caps at 3 (or whatever) SO's. Don't put any more in.' Now I've wasted a bunch of influence and 2 or 3 slots that could've been used better in defenses or an attack.

It's not necessarily all about wringing mathematical perfection out of slotting and power choice. Sometimes it's just a matter of not being wasteful.

Wile E. Canuck.

I think my thoughts on the matter can be condensed into one simple question.

Why does 'encouraging grouping' have to come at the expense of soloing?

I just don't get it. A fairly reasonable number of missions seemed soloable by most people before, they were having fun, and they weren't harming anyone in doing it.

Now, the option to run a solo mission or two is gone for some people. I don't have the numbers, heck, now that I think of it, the numbers are pretty much irrelevant.

It just doesn't make sense to me to remove an option that people might enjoy rather than improving things for the people that do group. How does 'making it nigh impossible for many to solo' equate to 'rewarding grouping'? I guess in the broadest sense it does, because your reward is 'being able to advance in the game', but that doesn't necessarily make it the best option.

If you want to 'reward grouping', why can't you just tweak the xp so that no matter what the condition, groups are able to get better xp than soloing? Bang. Groups get every possible benefit. From faster xp, to folks to chat and joke with other people while they play.

Meanwhile, us soloists are off in our corner, contentedly beating things down alone in between writing our paper, surfing the net, taking care of our kids, or whatever it is that makes us prefer to solo. Someone, please, tell me where the downside is to this, cause I just don't see it.

Wile E. Canuck.

There's a slight wrinkle in your plan I believe, particularly in the 'punish the lowbie ganker' section. In my experience, lowbie gankers tend to frequently have an entire SG/clan/guild/flock of like-minded individuals backing them up.

Under your system, they've effectively got no penalty because they don't log on unless 20 or more of their buddies are on anyways, so they'll always have the option to get broken out of jail. Now, the broadcast about the jailbreak helps some, but still, you'll wind up with the uberSG's ganking with relatively little fear because they've got the numbers and tactic of the week to fend off the attackers and keep their buddies out of jail.

At the same time, if none of your SG is on and you happen to AOE the guy that was sidekicked who accidentally 'clicked the wrong button' and unsidekicked in the middle of your AOE, you're suddenly in a world of hurt because if you die, you're stuck in the gulag for 2 hours.

Not trying to drag you down, just pointing out flaws, cause I'm sure you know, when it comes to PvP, if the code allows it, it will be done.

Just a thought or two.

Wile E. Canuck.

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All you have to do is come to terms with the fact that the game will have BOTH solo content and team content, and no there will not be "solo alternative" versions of every single task and mission in the game implemented just to appease the 2% of the people out there who outright refuse to break down and find a team now and again.


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That's swell, I applaud a game with the ability for both. I don't think there's anybody who's reasonable that's saying they want solo options for every bloody thing in the game. However, what's causing the uproar is the fact that bosses are a dime a dozen. You trip over them walking through city zones. The vast majority of door missions have one in it that you have to kill.

If you can't kill the boss, you can't solo your door missions. If you can't solo door missions, the only option you have if you want to solo is street sweeping. Street sweeping is like watching paint dry.

Turn it around. Would you enjoy a game where the only unsoloable content was to zone herd?

I reiterate- what gets people is that the VAST majority of door missions have bosses. If bosses are unsoloable, the ONLY option is to street sweep. IMHO, that's just not enough 'content' for the soloists.

Wile E. Canuck.

I don't quite follow you here, Icarus. Are you saying it's because their words can be twisted and taken out of context, or because a flaw in what they're attempting to design the game as is pointed out?

If street hunting is a 'last resort' and they envision people doing their missions for advancement, but all people are supposed to be able to solo though for some the only soloing they can do is street grinding blues...

The conclusion I draw from that is 'Yes, you can solo by grinding in the streets. Please ignore the majority of your missions unless you wish to team.'

Being that the missions are supposed to be the thrust of the game, that kind of makes it a bit less solo friendly, doesn't it?

Wile E. Canuck.

I'm positive I saw a red name saying in no uncertain terms that they wouldn't be doubling up on subscription fees for CoV and CoH. It was quite a while ago though, and I don't feel like wading through all the old posts, but I can't see it happening any other way.

Has there been anything from an official source saying otherwise that I've missed? All I've seen is rumor mongering by players.

Wile E. Canuck.

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Now I know when CoV comes out that I should check with everyone in CoH as to when it's convient for them to launch my evil plot to kill them and take over the world


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7:03 PM PST would probably work best for most. And no bringing along any henchmen! It wouldn't do to do something that might be considered not fair!

Wile E. Canuck.