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Aura_Familia

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  1. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Emberly View Post
    I do not, not do I claim to do so. For instance, I certainly don't account for those who get their panties in a bunch because someone else got something faster than they did.

    Seriously, why should I care if I farmed/marketeered up my IOs, and someone else bought them with cash? What harm does it do me if someone else accomplishes in five minutes and five dollars what might take me five days and five hundred million inf? It does me no harm at all, assuming I don't have a weak and frail ego and a need to feel like I am somehow accomplishing something in a video game.


    If you think that the main reason SWG failed is because everyone could be a Jedi, you never actually played the game.
    I lol'd.
  2. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Golden Girl View Post
    Both of those have improved the game.
    The CoT revamp wasn't quite right at first, but they took onboard our feedback and gave all the levels and ranks the hidden faces and robe pieces.
    CoT? Questionable at best. There wasn't any story arcs or anything else that was added at same time. It was a costume change. . . . ooookay? For folks who love costumes sure. For those that don't or simply don't care that much about costumes, it really didn't amount to much.

    Praetoria is so great that everyone asked for them to allow folks to start the game as hero or villain WITHOUT using Praetoria . . . which was Praetoria's original point/advantage.

    Also the morality system was added in and available via tips, which didn't not need Praetoria to be built for them to get said system in game. The could have done that without spending all that time on an expansion which had almost no effect on their bottom line. The morality system in Pretoria has bubkiss to do with whether you enter Primal Earth as a hero or villain. The FREE tip/alignment system has more control over whether you can switch sides than Praetoria does.

    The only thing the Grey Zone gave us was a setting for the trials . . . which I'd argue they could have done the trials without needing Praetoria.
  3. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by docbuzzard View Post
    I could actually see DA becoming the new assembly point for trials since you won't have to just stand around in a league waiting for it to fill. You could actually street sweep and do something. While missions won't be an option, at least you can do something which has a return.
    Aaaaaaactually if they get the enhancement in that allows you to run instances while que'd you COULD actually run missions.
  4. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jibikao View Post
    So what if Stalker does better Melee ST Burst Damage AND better Melee ST DPS? Is that really broken?

    Stalker is the worst survival of the four melee and Stalker has less access to aoe. Is that so wrong that the new Assassin Strike allows Stalker to do the best Single Target Melee Damage?

    It's correct that AoE has taken over this game but since we don't want Stalker to turn into "another Scrapper", we should at least allow Stalker to excel one thing which is ST Melee damage. If Stalker can't even do that, what is the point of this AT?

    This is exactly what Stalker is suffering right now. It has the least survival among the four melee ATs. It is terrible at tanking. It doesn't do the best ST damage and it certainly doesn't do the best AoE damage. And because of all the above reason, Stalker is the worst at soloing really tough enemies like AVs and Pylons.

    With the new change, Stalker still has the advantage to start the fight with BU + AS and after that, the new Assassin Strike allows Stalkers to take down ST targets quick. Just because you can unleash good ST damage, it doesn't mean you shouldn't use your AoE. If you are Spines, you can can/should use your Throw Spines.

    Stalker needs a better role in prolong fights too since Stalker isn't likely to be the meatshield or to be the debuff/buff machine like Corr/Defender/Controller/MM. The new Assassin Strike will make sure Stalker delivers extreme ST melee damage. Is this so bad?


    Some of you brought up Energy Melee and I agree that set should just need a big change.
    To bolded: No it's not bad, but in a game where everything is AOE now, it's kind of pointless in a fast moving team. But I'll keep my skepticism until I see how they peform during the I22 beta.
  5. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kitsune9tails View Post
    In a single player game, sure.

    In an MMO, the current design philosophy is that at default you want people to team. I think that is somewhat of a fallacy, but that isn't the point. If teaming is flagging it has to be shored up; it's the core.

    Soloable stuff is what is supposed to be there as an extra for those who want it.

    I think that in the minds of many designers, teaming = community. I personally don't think that is necessarily the case, but I can see why they think and implement that.
    Ture, but as to the bold I think solo content in recent years has gone on to be NECESSARY if you end up being on a crappy server that doesn't have that many folks on it . . . especially for some recent mmos that launched in the last year or two.
  6. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Golden Girl View Post
    Well, quite soon you'll be able to spend those 45 mintues of Trial downtime street sweeping or running missions in DA
    troof
  7. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by UberGuy View Post
    You have to be careful, here. A lot of people I know actively enjoy most of the Underground trial. A lot of those players aren't nuts about the massive confuse effect, but enjoy the rest of the fighting through the tunnels. Some feel it could be a bit shorter, but we're talking about looking for tweaks, not massive revamps.

    But before recent changes, all of them agreed that it just didn't make sense to run it for iProgress unless you needed Empyreans. Spending that much more time than a BAF/Lambda didn't make good practical sense even if you enjoyed it.

    See, in my experience most people aren't playing games like this for pure, abstract fun. They want it to be fun, but they also want a sense of progress. In the Incarnate System, for better or worse, a significant part of progress is how many Rare or better components you can get as drops.

    It wasn't that everyone hated the UGT. The biggest problem was that the UGT just didn't give enough reward return on time invested.

    (Some very good posts have been made in other places about what I think are some real problems with the nature of the challenges in the UGT. Despite that, they seem less hated than Keyes used to be, despite being technically harder {IMO} to overcome.)
    When I call BAF/LAM easy mode, I mean in part, easier to form for. The length of time it takes to start any of the others directly relates to the desire of folks to try and run those others. Or in other words, why should I spend 45 minutes standing around for something that may not get going, when I can just jump on a BAF/LAM and get my daily emps easier?
  8. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rsclark View Post
    Well, since not many would, shouldn't it be more difficult to form teams? Isn't a less popular feature supposed to be used less?
    I don't like the direction that question points to, because it then potentially becomes harder to justify spending more resources on that less used feature.

    See also bases, pvp and AE.

    If the majority of initial content they could create was trials then you'd hope that they don't see interest drop on that content, or it might be harder to justify spending resources on the non-trial parts of Incarnate system.
  9. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dispari View Post
    Maybe my wording wasn't that good. I'm not talking about people being overjoyed that there's a Stalker on the team. What I'm saying is that right now your team might need one of a few roles: damage, support, tanking. You can toss whatever AT vaguely fits those criteria and succeed in most cases.

    If I add a Corruptor to the team, I know what roles they're filling and how they help the team. If I add a Stalker to the team I get more of a sensation that they aren't that useful. I'd be much happier with the game if I felt more confident that adding a Stalker to the team would contribute the damage I was hoping to fill with that particular slot.

    Or for people who just roll dice and get 8 random ATs, I'd feel more comfortable if I felt like that Stalker was as useful to the team as any other random AT. Right now I feel that Tankers, Defenders, Stalkers, and a few other miscellaneous things offer a sub-par contribution. And even if we can all get by on that, it'd be better if AT appreciation was more even.


    I don't think the goal is to make you invite Stalkers more, but to make people more inclined to play Stalkers and have an increased ability to enjoy them. You may end up inviting more as a side-effect of them becoming a more popular AT.
    Ahh I see what you are saying. Getting folks to play an AT more is a very good goal. So by that Stalkers will get invited more because there are more of them.

    I don't think they will get invited more because they fill some role that really isn't needed. If we take that to extremes then the lack of AOE of stalkers is still an issue, since single target dps isn't all that important except in specific situations.
  10. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dispari View Post
    That's an issue I've raised countless times. In theory it should work like this:

    Best to worst Defense:
    1) Tanker
    2) Brute
    3) Scrapper
    4) Stalker

    Best to worst Damage:
    1) Stalker
    2) Scrapper
    3) Brute
    4) Tanker

    Unfortunately, it actually works like this:

    Best to worst Defense:
    1) Tanker
    2) Brute
    3) Scrapper
    4) Stalker

    Best to worst Damage:
    1) Scrapper/Brute
    2) Stalker
    3) Tanker

    Brutes do a ton of stuff for their role. Not only do they get more HP (which means more health per regen and more health from heals), but a higher RES cap, and still pretty much do comparable damage to Scrappers.

    Stalkers, despite being the easiest to kill, are largely considered to do less damage than the leading two ATs. And Tankers, while technically existing in the correct order, are essentially made unnecessary simply because Brutes exist.

    There are tons of ways to approach the situation and plenty of room for error. Personally if it was my job to balance the ATs I'd start by making Stalkers have 1.125 damage scale and their BU doing 100%. Yes, they'd do more damage than Scrappers at all times. Which in my opinion they should, considering they're easier to kill. Some other options I've thought of would include nerfing Brute RES caps (personally I feel the RES caps should be 90%, 85%, 80%, 75% for the ATs respectively, following the defensive list), buffing other AT HP caps (and probably nerfing Brutes' HP cap since they're the only non-epic AT with a cap more than twice their starting HP). Other people have tossed around other ideas like making Hide and/or AS inherent and restoring some lost Stalker powers.

    So there are a lot of ways to approach it. It just depends on what the devs' eventual goal for Stalkers even is. And it's also best to take it one small change at a time, since overcompensating and later nerfing usually makes for unhappy players.
    And none of that would get me to invite stalkers more or less.

    I'd simply still invite whoever was available to team.

    Which is the point of the way City of Heroes works.

    Also EvilG raised a good point, single target or even single target dps focus isn't really all that important in a game in which a team can AOE even bosses to death in a small amount of time.

    The proposed DEV buffs to stalkers are great but I'm not seeing how they will make stalkers more desirable except in specific situations like fighting Nightstar or Lord Reclsue, which isn't 90% of the game.
  11. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Johnny_Butane View Post
    That situation sure sounds better when you're an AT that can more easily fill multiple roles (Brute) than when you're a closely related one trick pony that was built to fill one SPECIFIC role (Tanker).


    .
    SPECIFIC roles is something that should have gone the way of the dodo bird.

    Which is why I LOVE the fact that there are no AT specific restrictions on any of the Incarnate abilities.

    I don't see how we could push that towards the ATs without tearing out the point of the game: which is pickup and go, not standing around broadcasting for healer or mezzer that I see in other games.
  12. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dispari View Post
    I still wouldn't need those things even if they were really good at their roles. I could still beat anything just by throwing random melees and support ATs at it. Just because Tankers get a buff doesn't mean I'd start needing them.

    The ATs already have roles, and people already mostly ignore them. What I'm saying is some of the ATs are so closely defined by their role that they lose in other areas. And not with the tradeoff of being really good at that role.

    Even if Stalkers suddenly became really good at killing AVs, I wouldn't need to go find one and people wouldn't start requiring them for TFs and trials. It'd just be nice if you did have one. Just like any other AT. Right now, is anyone really excited to have a Stalker on the team?
    Your last line is my point. I really don't care what's on the team. I've found that more to be the case in Incarnate Content now, because everyone can bring the SAME Incarnate abilities.

    I think that's a STRENGTH of City of Heroes tha shouldn't change.

    I DON'T need to be excited to have this or that on a team. That smells too much like the things found in other mmos that have me not playing those other mmos.
  13. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Johnny_Butane View Post
    There are serious AT issues in this game that need hashing out, and the devs have been understandably reluctant to deal with it. It's just easier to ignore, let people who want to play the niche ATs do so, and maybe toss a bone when the moaning and complaints get too loud (hence the upcoming Stalker changes).

    Off the bat, there's too many melee ATs at this point. They step all over each other and Stalkers and Tankers get the short end from Brutes and Scrappers. Also, they seemed to logically be balanced with survivability against damage, but in practice that falls apart: Stalkers are more fragile that Scrappers, but people feel Scrappers are better at dealing damage. Brutes are tougher than Scrappers, but again many feel Brute damage is better. And Tankers, Tankers are tough and pay for it in damage, but average to high end Brutes and Scrappers aren't exactly dropping like flies and just get tougher the more IOs and Incarnate powers you throw at them, while comparably, there's still less room to improve Tankers offensively. And again, I point to my assertion in my previous post about better survivability becoming less useful that more powerful everyone gets.
    Then maybe we need an Incarnate Ability that supes up your damage for some time. Ofcourse the hiliarious issue is that EVERYONE could also use it.

    And that'd only be for the level 47-50 game.


    Quote:
    Then there's the gap between melee ATs and everyone else. For most players, melee is easy mode compared to trying to level a Blaster, Corr or Defender. It's down to the mez system, IMO. Melee gets mez protection and that is a big part of what makes the difference. MMs and Doms have it a little better in this area, as do Controllers when they get their pets, but the squishy stigma persists.

    And Khelds versus VEATs...yeah don't even have to go there.

    There's a myriad of other problems, and nearly eight years it's not getting any more likely they'll every be fully addressed. Devs come and go, inherent the old problems and then pass the buck themselves. In the end it's about keeping the status quo and trying not to make things worse.


    .
    That last line is pretty much nails it. The changes necessary to fix the things people list would require something on the level of another ED. Can a seven year old game take such another shock?
  14. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by EvilGeko View Post
    I agree with that. But then that leads to the conclusion that we have too many ATs (we do). Too many toes get stepped on and it's too hard to make each AT feel special.

    I wonder what would have happened when creating CoV, if they hadn't just given Fury (but a bit weaker) to Tankers and Hide Crits & Placate (instead of confront) to Scrappers. Left Assassin's Strike out altogether. That would have made two REALLY different ATs. Even with all the same powersets.
    That . . . would have been interesting. Maybe allow Scrappers to select Hidden Crits or to stay the same as they are now if they became villains.

    Though I don't think they could have had the side switching mechanic up in time.

    But hindsight and all that jazz.
  15. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dispari View Post
    This is kind of my issue with a few ATs. Defenders, Tankers, Blasters*, and Stalkers. They're designed to be one-trick ponies. The problem is, the one trick they have can be done "good enough" by other ATs.

    Most well-built Brutes can tank for a team. Especially if they have some support behind them (support, mind you, that is good enough on a Corruptor, Controller, or Mastermind in most cases). Adding even more HP, RES, and DEF isn't going to make you die less than "not at all." There's a cap on survivability, where you aren't dying (which is the goal of survivability after all). Once you hit that point, adding more does nothing. Except maybe allow the support to slack off more. Although I have Brutes who can do x8 by themselves with no support (one of them +4/x8, even though I don't because it's slow).

    Defenders are really good on buffs/debuffs. But really, once you get 2 or more of any support AT (including VEATs), that no longer matters. I suppose in theory you could get by on a single Defender in some situations where you might otherwise need 2 of any other support AT. But with the way buffs and debuffs stack, I don't see why you'd run an 8-man team with that ratio if you have the option not to. Personally, I like my teams to be about half support just for good measure.

    Problem with Stalkers is they fill a role that nobody feels like needs to be filled. Which for the most part, with the way the game is currently designed, I agree. ST burst damage is very unnecessary. ST DPS would be useful but probably not enough that people seek it out unless it was really something special.

    And problem with Blasters is they sacrifice everything to just do damage. Which really, every AT already does just fine. Some of them dangerously well (Shield Scrappers, SS Brutes, Fire/Kins, and so on). And all those ATs have secondary functions and much higher survivability. Blasters, like Stalkers, are supposed to excel at doing a certain type of damage. So they should be really good at it.

    Personally speaking, I have nothing against any of these ATs and won't deny them from being on my team. But in a void, if I had the option, I'd never take a Defender over a Corruptor, a Tanker over a Brute (okay, maybe for STF, even though I've tanked Recluse on my Brute), or a Stalker over a Scrapper. And I'd usually rather a Dominator than a Blaster (I kind of feel like Doms are Blappers with mez anyhow; at least that's how I play mine).

    * Blasters less than those others because I still enjoy playing them a lot.
    I have to ask, isn't this problem also one of the reasons that City of Heroes is so fun to play? That you don't need to stand around looking for that one AT that can fill that one SPECIFIC role?

    I understand what you are all saying, but I can't see anyway they could change any of that in a significant way that wouldn't cause City of Heroes to be WORSE off after such a change.

    Let me put it another way, how much longer do you think forming for Incarnate Leagues would be if you needed to fill specialized roles?
  16. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jagged View Post
    And we are back to where I came in. Its seems to me people are acknowledging that the iTrials wouldn't get done without stacked rewards, so its okay to stack the rewards!

    That just doesn't seem like good design strategy to me but since I am now repeating myself and the Devs most certainly don't agree I shall bow out of this thread as gracefully as I can
    Ohhhhh I've acknowledged that a long time ago.

    The fact that they had to bribe folks to run more than the easy mode BAF/LAF speaks volumes about how not that great the iTrials on their own are. Or more precisely how many more folks care about the fast rewards and not the actual CONTENT of the trials.
  17. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by EvilGeko View Post
    I don't see 'less' I see 'slower'. Which I agree with. If soloing is as fast as the trials, then that's all anyone will do. Some folks play solely for rewards. They would do whatever is the most efficient. Soloing is inherently more efficient than grouping which is why every MMORPG gives grouping advantages over soloing.

    We can argue until we're blue in the face, but you know and I know that the trials will always be faster and more efficient than soloing. That's not my opinion, it's the devs.
    It's also one I and many others agree with. Yes the solo/small teams path should not SUCK, but it sure as hell shouldn't be faster or as fast as the iTrials way (despite what I think of the level of sucktasticness of some of the trials).
  18. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by EvilGeko View Post
    It's not that serious. The devs are just trying to enhance a sense of community.

    Sure some people hate large grouping and always will. Others will embrace it and find new playstyles and friends. MMORPGs are and are intended to be social constructs. The devs will always be looking for ways to create incentives to be social. That doesn't mean soloing is being punished. It means grouping is being rewarded.
    I find much of the trials to be NOT social. I find talking on the global channels to be more social than any grouping activity in this game or any other mmorpg.

    On some teams barely anyone talks. On the harder trials I'm not focused on idle chatter, I'm focused on listening to the leader so that none of my mistakes frag the entire trial/league.
  19. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kitsune9tails View Post
    An alternative to that could be time-gating zone and trial rewards differently.
    I'd prefer this method.
  20. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Golden Girl View Post
    There might need to be a guarnteed rare or very rare for completing the full zone storyline, otherwise it could be a bit rough to spend a few hours playing through it, only to have the RNG give out a common or uncommon at the end.
    Good suggestion.
  21. Aura_Familia

    Recipe Catalogue

    POST-ACTION

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Forbin_Project View Post
    Well that character will never be buying any type of IO's because it's a free account. The test was to prove that free players aren't playing under an inf earning handicap and would never be able to afford DO's and SO's starting at levels 15+.

    As to the other it depends on the individual players definition of "serviceable", as well as the individuals willingness to use the tools provided in the game to assist in the accumulation of wealth. Some players don't think a character is serviceable unless it's totally purpled out. Me, I'm content with using basic IO's.

    I am a very casual player. Just ask Impish Kat or her hubby how often they see me online because I'm a member of several of their SG's. And even tho I'm casual I have no problem accumulating wealth. The reason I'm not flush is my penchant for converting inf to prestige every time I hit 100k cuz I like playing with the base editor.

    In any case I can easily have 1 mil inf by level 10 on any character I make from just selling drops for 1 inf on the market. I don't flip items like some people do. Instead I simply pay attention to what's in demand and run missions against NPC's that drop those items. I also take advantage of being able to turn off exp on those occasions when I feel like working on increasing my wealth rather than leveling. Also when I decide to upgrade a characters IO's I pull off all the ones I'm replacing for use on other characters. That recycling saves me a lot of influence. Merits and AE tickets are other great ways to make inf.

    Oh another thing that saves me a lot of inf at the market is patience. I resist the urge to overpay for something just to satisfy that "gottahaveitnao!" impulse. I make what I feel is a reasonable offer and wait for it to be filled. In my mind there's nothing in the game I can't play without. My enjoyment isn't ruined because I don't have a particular enhancement.
    AKA anyone who says you can't make inf by simply playing the game doesn't know what they're talking about. The argument that inf is hard to make has been dis-proven numerous times. It needs to STOP being used as an argument, cause it's never been valid.
  22. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Black Zot View Post
    You mean they give us a ladder to get past her bosom?
    I lol'd.
  23. Aura_Familia
    Everyone but Statesman. That character annoys the hell out of me.
  24. Aura_Familia
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kitsune9tails View Post
    As I type this in Colorado, it's almost 2pm Mountain Time on Tuesday, November 22, 2011. That's Mountain Time, y'all.

    4 hours from 'now', I'd like to meet you on the Beta server to test the new iTrials, MoM and TPN.

    That will be 6pm my time. I'll be recruiting in the RWZ.

    I think the Copy tool may still be down, so you may want to bop over to the Level Bump thread and get bumped if you don't already have a 50 over there. E-Merits are artificially cheap, so it will be relatively easy to Incarnate out. You can hit me and any Devs up for inf to get SOs and IOs.

    It will be fun to meet you, talk and hang out. In addition, these trials need data for mining and your opinions and ideas for the forums. They are chock full of neat ideas and new systems, but still need balancing.

    Besides, you get to punch Maelstrom and Mother Mayhem in the face.

    See you there!
    I'll be home too late, but wish you all luck

    As to the bold, to the devs I say:

    Fix the damned copy tool already!

    Yeah I know, you had the pummet and this is a short week. Fine.

    NEXT WEEK put a dev on it for a day and have them fix the infernal thing.

    This is hurting your beta testing!
  25. Aura_Familia

    Producer's letter?

    POST-ACTION

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Grouchybeast View Post
    Depends. If it's whoever wrote the Market UI, then definitely posting.
    LMAO, I see what you did there.

    Yeah many folks used to rage against the Auction House UI. After seeing the Paragon Market UI (and I use the term UI looooosely for that monstrosity) I think we're all fine with the Auction House UI now.